Finished: Scarf for Mum

Mum taught me to knit when I was five. Unlike sewing, which neither of us remember her teaching me, we just remember me being allowed to use her machine, I remember her teaching me. I still have the scarf I knitted, somewhere. It's about twice as wide at the end as the start, is made up of multiple colours and different yarns, even has a block of a different colour in the middle of one stripe. You can totally tell it's a beginner piece. But you have to start somewhere.

So, where I'm going with this ramble down memory lane. I like making things for other people, but only people who appreciate the effort it takes to make something for them. Mum is one of those people. I don't think I've made her anything since a knitted pair of socks 6 years ago, (my first pair, still being worn) and thought it was time for something else. I know she likes scarves, so I decided to knit her one. But plain was no fun, so I designed an eyelet zigzag, which it turns out I really like. Very tempted to make myself one in the same design, different yarn of course.

In my 'Little Dresses' post I posted a photo of me working on something for my Mum. Now I can show the whole thing. Well, as much of it as I photographed as it was just over 2m long. It took ages to knit, but nothing worse than a scarf that's too short, so I'd checked how long Mum wanted it.

Mum's zigzag scarf

So here is the finished product, well, both ends of it. You'll just have to trust me that the middle section looks the same. 

Mum likes it. Says it feels nice and is warm too. I'm hoping she'll send me a photo of her wearing it. Or wear it next time I'm down. 

My Day Friday

One of the things I'm trying to do currently is take some time to myself. I feel like I have so many projects that I should do, both unfinished and planned, plus everything around the house. It's overwhelming at times.

On the trip up to Levana (I haven't written about it, but two of the others in the WSBN have, read about it here and here) I went up with Elisabeth of The Sewphist. There was much chatting on the drive. One of the things she mentioned was on Friday's she makes things for herself, even if it's just a cocktail, as she's blogged about here Which I thought was a fantastic idea. After a week of mulling it over in my mind, I decided that I was going to declare Friday's as My Day. This meant that I would only work on projects I wanted to, nothing that I felt I should work on. This included housework. Time for guilt free selfish sewing. Or just guilt free relaxing. And if I wanted to start a new project rather than work on an unfinished one, well that is fine too.

The first Friday I did this I ended up with Gynn home sick and a friend visiting. And you know what, I still drafted the pattern for my cloak. Then cut out two of the three layers. By then it was nearly time to go pick up the little one from daycare. I still need to cut out the lining for my cloak. It's a striped fabric, pale lavender and black, reminds me of Beetlejuice. I need to work out how I'm going to do it, mainly if I've got enough to try and pattern match the stripes, which I didn't think of when I bought the fabric, I just loved the colour/pattern. Even though it's going to mean more work and more time, I'm hoping I can pattern match, as it should look better that way. If I can't, I think I'm going to cut the panels going in two directions, so that it looks like it's not meant to match.

Cloak fabrics

The pale stripes are more lavender in real life, compared to the pale pink they look in the photo.
I can't decide if I'll work on the cloak or my Cake top tomorrow.

And I'm Back

I just realised it's been over two months since I wrote anything on here. Life got a bit overwhelming when my depression decided to rear it's ugly head. So while I've been crafting, even completing projects, writing about them has just had to take a back seat as I've only got so much time and energy to go around. I'm slowly trying to build more balance and supports into my life, plus somehow rewire my though processes.

I thought for a while that my UFO pile was going down. Actually, it was going down, I've finished a bunch of them. But we're going to Burning Man in less than 5 weeks. There is a whole bunch of things I need to get made before then. Like some merino clothing for myself and my husband, it gets cold in the middle of the desert at night. Thankfully my wonderful mother in law has already outfitted Guinevere in merino for this winter. I've got cloaks to make for myself and Guinevere, 3 layer affairs, with a fun fur outer, a polarfleece inner and a satin lining. Nighttime warmth plus blanket for when we get back to camp. I think there are about 15 things on the list.....

I want to write about all the awesome things I've finished recently, especially the scarf that arrived with Mum today. But I think I'm going to curl up on the couch tonight instead. I'll try for more rambles tomorrow.

I'm a little plagueling....

So this past week I've been a little plagueling, something my darling husband has called me when I get really sick. Guinevere got it first, a virus with a bonus ear infection. Then after a night of me barely sleeping as she was coughing and had gunky breathing, I started coming down with it too. Just as it hit me full force, the little one was happy and healthy again, with lots of energy and wanting to do all the things. I just wanted to sleep. Gynn was down with it too, he was sleeping so he could recover and get back to work.

I'm finally starting to feel like myself again. The house didn't turn into too much of a bombsite while I was sick. I have a few hours cleaning to get it where I'd like, it's livable. Still using Guinevere's daycare days to catch up on sleep. Last night was bliss, she slept right through without waking, for the first time in I don't know how long. Part of me was wishing I hadn't set my alarm and had woken when my body felt like it and taken her to daycare late.

This has meant that Me Made May '13 has taken a backseat. I've been wearing jeans, tee and top since my last post. I kept thinking that if I repaired my handmade PJ pants, I could count those, but I just wasn't motivated to do that. So instead I made slow progress on a couple more skirts for myself. I have worn my purple panel skirt for the past two days. I had to wear it yesterday as I'd mentioned it to a friend, and she said she hadn't seen it. Turns out she had seen it, she just hadn't realised I'd made it. Got to love it when that happens :)

I have managed to spend a reasonable amount of time in my sewing room, as I can do things sitting down and in small bursts. There also seem to be lots of things in here which will distract Guinevere....

Guinevere playing on the end of my sewing desk

She's worked out how to climb onto my sewing desk and get to the bits on the windowsill. Thankfully she can climb down too. Plus she'll sit there while I sew. I think that makes it mostly good.
My main worktable is somewhat clearer. My sewing desk is clear. My computer desk is mostly clear. Two small knitted projects were finished, all they needed were the ends woven in. Progress has been made on several projects, two of which were paused due to lack of matching thread. A situation which has now been sorted.

I also sent a parcel to a friend, adding some bits of fabric I thought she might enjoy. Four more pieces that are out of the stash.

Fabric that was gifted

 I managed to make a project from start to finish one evening. Just a little drawstring bag. I was sending a birthday present to a friend and didn't like any of the wrapping paper I had. So I thought I'd wrap it in fabric. Then decided it would be prettier to make a little bag. This was the result. Also, yet another (small) piece of fabric used up.

Present bag for a friend

My favourite project that I've been working on is my Epic Purple Skirt. More about that when I finish it. I've only got the hem to go. Which I know doesn't take long, but it's something I can do with Guinevere home, so I'm working on a UFO that I can't do with her around. Best thing about the skirt, is it's made from stash fabric, so totally counts towards my stash-busting challenge.

Guinevere 'helping' me cut my Epic Purple Skirt

Me Made May '13 Update

Unfortunately, I don't have many photos of what I've been wearing  Partly because I forget to ask someone to take them, and partly because my only full length is somewhat blocked, so I can't use it to take photos myself.

Day 1 I wore jeans. I currently have no me made tops. I really need to do something about that. 

Day 2 I wore my purple panel skirt. I love this skirt so much. The fabric, the drape, the fit, the comfort. Mum bought me this fabric back from overseas, it was a big tube. It hung in my wardrobe till I finally decided to make this skirt. I've worn it so often since. I don't think a week goes by that I don't wear it. Sneakers are because I need new shoes and I was walking around Fielding with my daughter and mother in law that day. Top is from the Warehouse, and I think it's starting to get a bit big now. Scarf is my MIL's, as I forgot any of mine. 

Me Made May '13 - Day 2

Day 3 I only left the house to pick up the little one from daycare, I threw on my knitted gloves. I knitted these while I was still studying, so about 5-6 years ago. Knitted them during class actually. The class was called 'Occupation', it was totally appropriate. The multi-coloured wool was my first attempt at dying. A friend was going to do some rainbow dying and invited me to join her. This is what I ended up with. The gloves always make me smile as they remind me of all the fun we had that summer.

My fingerless gloves

Day 4, home all day, not sick, just exhausted. So it was a jeans and t-shirt day. 

Day 5 I wore my infinity dress to a two year olds birthday party. I wore it differently to how it is in my blog post, I put a twist in the strap as they went past the top edge of the bandeau  to change the neckline. Silly me, had my camera (well, phone) out to take photo's of Guinevere, but didn't get any of me. I did get some compliments, which was really nice. 

Day 6 was another jeans and t-shirt day. Guinevere's now sick, so I spent the day looking after her. 

Day 7 (today) I'm wearing my infinity dress again. This time I put a long sleeved tee under it, and wrapped the straps so it was topless. I was getting frustrated, as the first wrap kept falling down. So I'm now wearing it as a skirt with the straps wrapped around my waist and the bandeau folded down. 

This means that after the first week of May, I've worn me made items 4 times. If not for the challenge, I don't think I would have worn my infinity dress twice. So it's good to try out different ways to wear it. 

I was working on another panel skirt over the weekend, made with a $5 remnant of pinstripe from The Fabric Warehouse. It's not a good photo, the seams really need pressing, but a friend wanted to see the fabric. It's now on hold until I can go get some matching thread to do the waist and hem. The black I did panel seams with is fine as they can't be seen, but is slightly too dark for visible seams. I popped into one store this morning, but they didn't have a suitable colour. I'll have to wait till the little one is better to make another mission out to get the right colour. 

Pinstripe panel skirt, partially made, seams unpressed. 

Me Made May '13

Ever since I read about Me Made May '13 aka MMM'13 over on Zoe's blog I've been debating if I do it or not. That's three weeks of debating. The thing I'm loving about the challenge, is that you set your own level. Which really is the bit I'm having trouble with. I want to do it, no doubt about that, but I'm not quite sure at what level. I don't have a lot of things I've made myself. I have lots I've partially made or that I'm planning to make myself. But most of my finished garmets are my SCA garb, finished because I had an event deadline. Sorry, I couldn't find a better link quickly, and I'm still watching little one but have to get this post done tonight. I guess I I could wear them, but as they're not my everyday wear.... Altho, I did see this fantastic post, about Nessa, who made a period dress to wear while she was on holiday. Seriously made me wonder about pottering around the house in my dresses, as I do love wearing them.

Anyways, back to MMM'13.

 'I, Holly of PolyCraftual, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear me made garments at least 4 days of 7 for the duration of May 2013'.
This can't always be the panel skirt made from the fabric Mum brought me back from somewhere overseas (I can't remember as it took me several years to work out what to do with it), even though I tend to be wearing that or jeans. 

I'm also plan to work on sewing for myself this month, I've always tended to sew for other people, so I really need to to learn to do it for myself. I'm currently, as in, I stopped sewing it to write this post, sewing myself a panel skirt in a subtle pinstripe fabric. Yay for $5 remnants from Fabric Warehouse. Doesn't count as stash busting tho, I bought the fabric earlier this year. But it does count towards using up 2/3 of my new fabric purchases.

Back to sewing something for me, should be able to wear it in a couple of days :)

Little Dresses

I showed you the orange floral dress the other day, and two that I've cut out ready to sew. I finished one of them today. So happy. I was hoping to finish both of them, but with child and husband home sick, I'm just glad I've been able to spend as much time in my sewing room as I have. Mainly because I either tucked them into bed together or on the couch together with a movie.  Little one alternates between lots of energy and running around, then crashing and snuggling up to one of us.

Here is the orange star dress. I didn't manage to get a good photo. She was in my sewing room as I finished it. When I showed it to her she immediately wanted to put it on. Then she didn't stop moving. I could wait till later, but I have time on my computer now, and I'm taking advantage of it.

Orange star dress while playing with my sewing desk

Shuffling backwards as I try to take a photo

 I managed to finish all the inside seams too, only zig zag, but still done. I need to work out how to thread up my overlocker. I'm thinking I might do French seams on the Hungry Caterpillar fabric, I quite like French seams. Plus it will give a nice finish to what I'm hoping will be a pretty dress.

I'm glad I've done one I'm not worried about first, loving wearable muslins. I'm definitely getting better at buttonholes. Oh, buttonholes, something I've been avoiding. I tried them on my Singer, so simple, loving them. Still need to work on placement however. On this one I need to shift the buttons so that the straps are longer, I'll make the buttonhole higher on the next one. It will mean a slightly larger arm hole. I'm also not liking the front piece with buttonhole going over the back strap with button, even though that is how the original dress is done. So I'm going to switch that around for next time.

Haven't finished the purple one yet, still working on what I'm going to do as embellishment on it. But here is Guinevere helping me sew it up.

Guinevere helping me sew her dress

I also managed to get some knitting done today. Some while watching episode three of the Great British Sewing Bee on YouTube, and some while a little one snuggled into me. 

Knitting around snuggled toddler

Yes Mum, the knitting I'm working on in this picture is for you. The colour is actually a little lighter than it appears. I  think I've even managed to have it scrunched up enough on the needles while knitting it that you can't see the pattern :)

I think I need to learn how to take better photos. But that can wait for another day.