Socks!

I finished my second pair of Jaywalkers over the weekend!!  I am loving them!!! I was actually a bit chilly yesterday, so I wore them around the house!!  I love the brightness of them.  I love how well the colours came through with the zig zag pattern, and hardly any pooling at all!!  I made these with Fibrewebs Original Sock yarn and they feel so great on!! I even got to use my new sock blockers for the first time!!  How great are they!?  I love how they really hold their shape after being blocked!

I have already cast on a pair of Nutkins - and so far I am loving the pattern.  I am using Ewe Give Me The Knits Sock Yarn and the fabric is turning out so great!!  Its quite thick, but is still stretchy.  The only issue I am having at the moment is the colour.  I am unsure if I like the pooling, although since I took the photo below, I think it is starting to grow on me a bit more and the longer it gets the more I think the colour is suiting it.

I have also managed to snap a photo of a swap project before I posted it off today, however I will have to blog about that after Christmas to avoid spoiling any surprises.

Quick Catch Up

Well, it has been a little while since I have updated, so here is a quick little post!

I have been busy working on a new dress for Nessa.  It is now finished, and she has worn it, I just haven't taken a photo of it yet.  I have to say that I am really proud of it!! I think it is the best one I have made so far.  This one is lined and has a zip!  Both are firsts for me!!  Nessa loves spinning around in it - which is what I used to love when I was little too!

I have quit my job!!  I have been unhappy at my current job for a while now, and as of last Tuesday I quit my job!  I gave the full 4 weeks notice which was great as I didn't have another job lined up (I just hit that point where I just had to get out of here!!), but funnily enough, I had a job offer on Wednesday night - I am now going to be a Spotlight employee!!!  How about that!!  Some of my friends have asked if I will be paid in money or fabric/yarn! haha!!  I will be going to work there part-time/casual as I have made the decision to go back to uni to study nutrition (so going from full time work/part time study to full time study/part time work).  I am really looking forward to the change in my lifestyle and I can't wait!  Now all I need to do is wait and see if I get accepted to a local uni or if I will just continue to study by distance for the time being.

I have also managed to sign myself up for 3 Christmas swaps!!  This coming from a person who swore off swaps from being burned in the past! (Mostly from the person I have made for - why don't they post photos?!  I worked so hard on those projects/packages!!)  So I have been getting those all ready.  I have already basically completed 2 of the 3, and now I am working on the big one!  I am so excited! It's for the Selfish Knitters Group - and the people over there are just wonderful!!  They make me laugh and our chatter thread is already  37 pages long!  It is also my first international swap (I don't think NZ counts lol), so while the postage is gonna be expensive, I think it's going to be totally worth it!!

A quick note on the cats.  They are settling in really well in their new home.  I have been lucky enough to be getting "reports" on how they are doing.  They have been acting the way I expected they would; Nanashi is a bit of a whore when it comes to being pet, so he was out there for one and all for cuddles and pats; Bala was a lot more reserved and cautious and took to hiding under beds until all was quiet before she would venture out, but has now started coming out a lot more.  It's a relief to know that they are in a loving environment and I am so glad I was able to home them there, but I miss them a lot and try not to think that I have let them down as their owner... For the options I had at the time, this was the best course of action that I could take and the best outcome I could have hoped for.

The last day...

Today is the last day I will have my beautiful cats, as tonight we will be taking them to their new home.
I am so appreciative of the wonderful family who has offered to take them in and add them to their home, but I cannot help feeling like the worst owner in the world.

As I have talked about before, to me if you take on a pet, you are responsible for them for life.  I feel like I have let them down in the worst way possible.  Yesterday, I went to the flat to sit with them for a while to say goodbye with a big snuggle.  As most of my furniture has been moved out over the last few weeks, I popped the stereo on, and sat on the lounge with my knitting, as I always do.
As expected, Nanashi was straight into my lap and Bala was at my side.  It was strange to realise how much I had missed the weight of their little bodies as I sit and knit and having their company in general.  We have been constant companions for 7-8 years now, and through all the years, we have all been there for each other.

These thoughts were rolling around in my head as I sat there and cried a little over my knitting.  While I actually held my emotions in check before I went to the gym, it was after I got home that I had a massive meltdown.  I was fine until I started talking to my aunt about borrowing her cat carrier so that I could move both cats at once.  From here it just kind of snowballed into the kind of crying that could get hysterical pretty quick.  I have to say, I am happy that I had B there to calm me down. I hate crying and it took me a little while to rein in all of those emotions... they are now safely back in their little box, and I will just have to deal with them later.

The Dress

Nessa got to wear her dress to day care today as it is finally warming up.   She was very excited about it, and I even came across a little pink bolero for her to wear with it.  She did want to wear the blue Leafy Shrug I made, however I have to admit I am not so comfortable about something knitted going to daycare - especially when it is small and could be lost.

I quickly snapped a couple of photos of her wearing it this morning, although she kept moving, so all of the pics are slightly blurry lol.

I have to admit, she looked really cute in it and I felt so proud :D

Clouds On My Feet

Last night while knitting my Candy Jaywalkers, I decided to pop it on my foot and make sure it fit...

Well... that was a bit of an issue because after that, I didn't want to take it off!!  So, I sat there for a couple of minutes, admiring my work and enjoying the feeling of having those glorious socks on my leg/heel (that's as far as I have gotten! haha! the pic to the right was taken last week)

If I get stuck with the second sock, I will just have to simply put the sock on my foot, and feel how nice and warm and soft it feels!

As much as I find knitting socks tiresome, I do love the finished product... and I need more!!  I am already dreaming of the next socks I want to knit!

I need more clouds on my feet!

Projects Off the Needles

Last night I finally blocked out the Maluka!  I think it came out quite nicely!  I have to get some better pictures though as I haven't been able to take any nice pics of it being worn.

I also finished off my brothers last sock.  No pics at this stage, but will hopefully get some soon.

Now to finish off some of the other projects on my needles at the moment!

A Crafting Weekend

The only good thing about being so sick you don't think you can move, is when you have your knitting in hand and a blanket in your lap as you sit on the lounge watching movies.  This weekend was one such weekend.

As I am once again sick, and stocked up on Codral Cough Cold and Flu tablets, yesterday I was so tired I didn't get out of my pj's until late afternoon, and I just sat on the lounge, with my knitting in hand, and then after lunch I decided I would finish sewing up Nessa's second dress.  It was a very lazy weekend, but a much needed one!

After I made the first little dress for Nessa, I realised that she won't be able to wear it for a while as it's still a little chilly outside.  So, I went on a hunt on Ravelry for a shrug or bolero that she could wear over the top of this dress, and the green one which I was planning on making.  I came across this Leafy Shrug (which comes in a range of sizes! best $5 spent ever!) and decided to make this in a dark teal, so it would go with both dresses.  It took no time at all to make, especially as she is only 3 and it was made with 8ply and 5mm needles!  I was quite happy as I even got to knit up stitches (yes, I am strange like that! haha!)

After I finished this shrug, I jumped onto the sewing machine to sew up the next little dress.  This one was green with a pink hem and buttons and I thought I would mix it up a little by sewing the hem with green stitching.  This one seemed to go more smoothly than the first, but I think that's because I knew what I was doing.  I decided to try something different and iron the interfacing onto the fabric and then cut the fabric around the shape of the interfacing, however that didn't quite work out as it seemed to shrink a lot more than it did the first time around.

The dress didn't take long to sew up at all, so I was at a bit of a loss as of what to do at that point.  So, I pulled out my Brothers Socks that I started to make for his birthday (back in July!! lol! but that is a whole other story.)  They are almost finished now.  I completed the food section, and tonight all I need to do is the toe, which will take no more than half an hour and it will be all finished and I will be able to give it to him (to go with the sock he already has!) and get it out of my queue.

I also really need to block out my Maluka as that has just been sitting there, waiting to be blocked.  I really want to get that off my WIP list too and to take some nice photos of it.  Hopefully tonight I can get both done.

Complete: Little Dress

Last night I finished the little dress!! I did my first button holes and i even managed to do the curved hem - a little tricky, but doable!

I have even started cutting out the pattern again to make another one!  So I must have enjoyed making it really! haha!! no, I really loved making it.

Anyway, I have a photo of the finished dress, and one of Nessa holding it up this morning (before we had dressed her or brushed her hair lol!)  She is so excited about wearing it! I was hoping that it might be warm enough tomorrow for her to be able to wear it, but I'm not liking my chances.

 

My first little dress!

Not only is it my first little dress, it is also the first item of clothing I have sewn... ever!

Now, it's not finished yet, but it will be tonight.  I just need to figure out how to sew a curved hem - which I have found a tutorial here - Burda Style: Curved Hems and I also need to do the buttonholes (something else new!! I didn't want to play around with these last night when I was tired as I didn't want to make a mistake). 

The interfacing part was quite easy.  I would have to say the hardest part of this project was sewing the interfacing section to the top of the dress to reinforce it.  It was so curvy and a little hard to navigate the sewing machine around, but I got there!  Even if one of the straps does look a little dodgy haha!!

So, at this stage, this is what the dress looks like.  Can't wait to finish it!!  I have to say I am feeling very proud of myself and I don't think it looks too shabby at all!

Shopping...

Whoops!!! Went to Spotlight yesterday and spent over $70 on fabric!! haha!!  Looks like I have gotten the sewing bug!

I wanted to pick up some wadding, backing and bias binding for the Sock monkey blanket, but I also found this cute little dress on a dummy that I wanted to make for Nessa.  However, it turns out that one of the employees there "made up" the dress, so I couldn't make it!! bah!!  Carrie and I spent the next hour or so trying to find similar patterns in the book.  We found these two that we liked (after finding quite a lot that weren't available!! lol)

I have decided to make the top one first.  I will make it quite basic with just the 2 tones of fabric and buttons, no other embellishments.  Because Spotlight had the buy one get one free deal, I bought the second pattern for when I am a bit more confident.  Nessa has already pointed out the pink one with the white sash (the one I had picked out too) as the one that she wants for that one.

I meant to take a photo of the fabrics I bought, they are so bright and fun!!  I will have a look at making them (I bought enough fabric to make 2 dresses of the first pattern).  There is a pink material with orange, green and blue spots, a lime green material with purple and pink printed pattern and then I also got some nice fuchsia pink as the colour for the hem.  It probably sounds a little out there (and I know B isn't so sure lol!) but Carrie has an amazing eye for colour and I think they will turn out well... or at least I hope they do and that Nessa likes them!  I also had to buy some interfacing - something new and very different for me! I have never used it before, so I think I will be you-tubing a fair bit!! lol  I'm actually wondering if it would be worthwhile doing some sewing lessons to learn how I should be doing things lol.

Anyway, back to the Sock Monkey Blanket.  Last night I added the backing  and wadding to the front part that I made over the weekend.  It was quite tricky to try and get it all to line up and not gather.  Which I made it most of the way around, and managed to get a bit of a gather in one of the corners.... I was not happy!!  However, I am just not sure how I should have done it to avoid the gather.  I joined them all together using a zig-zag stitch (very exciting for me as I couldn't use the different stitches on my old sewing machine!! it's the small things! lol), and I am hoping that having this will help make sewing the bias binding to the edge a bit easier.  Oh yeah, I got a dark blue backing and some red bias binding.  If possible I might try to pin the bias binding on tonight and sew it all in, which will mean that it will be finished.  I hope it looks ok!!