Sewing: Jeans

I’ve made the little one some jeans. They are so gorgeous but too big. It will probably only take about 2 months for him to grow into them but I am impatient because I'm so happy with how good they look. I’ve cut out another pair of pants that I’ll size down a little so that he can wear them now.

I’ve just realised that I don’t have a photo of the finished front. Here is one in progress. I did faux pockets on the front, just stitched them on.

I'm loving making trousers for Ash, they are so quick and easy, especially when I just do an elastic waist to make it easy to get over the nappy butt.

Blogging…

Well we are back from our quick holiday up north and I have a new big stash of fabric from Mum and her friends and I have had little time to even unpack the bag let alone do any real sewing. I’ve darned holes and reattached buttons but I’ve done very little else. I’ve haven’t even been blogging much, the laptop has been languishing in the kitchen as I’ve been knitting, by hand, to finish a project that I started at least a year ago.

The beautiful spring weather has deserted us and it is miserable and cold again so I think that is why I have been living on the couch with my knitting when I get any spare time in the evening.

During brief moments of sunshine we managed to get to Floriade twice this year so here are some beautiful spring flowers that I have been enjoying on my screensaver.

Mobile blogging, I love it. It's v cool,

Fair Isle experiment number 2

I had another go at Fair Isle yesterday before packing up the machine. It was a rough start, I didn’t have the second yarn in the right position so I dropped all the stitched for that yarn, but then I got it sorted out.

Here is the result:

Here is a shot of the back of the fabric. It is so interesting and sometimes I think it is just as pretty as the front. I plan to cover it up though. I’ll back it with polar fleece so that all those floating threads are less likely to catch. Then it is getting wrapped and gifted off to my Mum. (Lucky she doesn’t read this blog yet, eh!)   It is interesting how tastes change, I never liked Fair Isle patterning. I thought it was too granny-ish and it is so 80s, but I guess the 80s are back in so many ways and I really like this now. I don’t think that I could come at a jumper for me, but definitely one for the little tacker is in the works.

Machine knitting fun

As I posted a while ago I dragged out my knitting machine and I’ve been playing with it. I have yet to finish anything and I have ripped back nearly everything, which can be frustrating but then again I haven’t really been following a pattern. The pattern books that I have are the original 70s and 80s ones that I’m not really into. The 70s basic raglan and crew neck jumpers are really cute but from previous experience they aren’t really designed for my body, they sit incredibly high under the arm and the rest of the sizing is very fitted as well.

 

  Here she is, my wonderful old hunk of metal. It’s pretty heavy and is precariously attached to my dining table at the moment, which hubby is not so fond of looking at :)

Here is a sample of the fabric it creates, it is so uniform and fine. I’ve used an old 5 ply  merino in this sample, it has a really silky kind of texture.

I tried out some fair isle patterning which went ok, unfortunately a couple of the needles need replacing and kind of wrecked one side of the intended project. I’ve serviced the machine now and hopefully the next attempt will be perfect.

I can’t wait to do some more, but I have to pack it up for the long weekend :( I really wish I had a large studio so that I could leave all my machines out, that way I could just walk in and pick up where I left off in those rare moments the bub is asleep or entertained.

Knit Couture – a review

Lately I’ve been on a bit of a knitting book binge. Knit Couture is the latest victim. I feel like I am looking for the perfect pattern to inspire me. I currently have quite a few knitting projects on the go but I’m still looking for something else.

Well… onto the review. I’m disappointed. The book has a lot of history and development of contemporary fashion designers who use knitwear in their collections which I found really interesting. I even remember studying a couple of these designers myself a few years ago in design school. People like Vivienne  Westwood and Kenzo who have done absolutely amazing things with knitwear.

When it came to the actual knitting projects I just wasn’t inspired. The photography is all  dark, arty and broody so you can’t actually see the detail. This was so frustrating, other people probably wouldn’t find it  a problem but I am a visual learner. I need to see things in detail in order to understand them. The written pattern is fine, but I like to see a visual representation in order to know where I am going and to know that I am on the right track with the patterning. There is an absolutely gorgeous skirt in the book that looks to have beautiful lace detailing but the pattern is written and has no supporting graph or close-up photograph.

I consider myself an intermediate knitter, I like a challenge every now and then and probably could easily handle something that is a little advanced as long as the instructions are clear. The other problem is that this book is geared to imperial measurements and does not have metric in brackets for ease of use by Aussies.

Sleep, what was that

With a 6 month old baby you kind of forget what it is like to get a good nights sleep. The trouble is that in the last couple of months of the pregnancy I didn't sleep very well either, so that means that I haven't slept a solid 8 hours in at least 9 months. Last night I got 6 hours in a row! It was so nice. Bub has had a shocking week, his cold has meant that he hasn't been sleeping very well. But yesterday he seemed to turn a corner and is starting to do better. (Plus we had a big day out in the lovely sunshine and that wore him out.)

The middle of the night breastfeeds have not been too much of a chore. I've been catching up on some podcasts to keep me awake. I caught up on Cast-on which has been really good. I love the music that she chooses for the show. I've really enjoyed the most recent series of "Make do and mend". I've been trying to do more of that myself since I started maternity leave. When I look at my wardrobe it horrifies me. I don't just have one wardrobe I seem to have 3, with large bags of clothes lurking in the bottom of each containing maternity clothes, work clothes, fat clothes... the list goes on.


The other thing that I have discovered is audiobooks from my local library. I've started listening to Chasing Harry Winston (the same author of The Devil wears Prada). The library has heaps of different titles to choose from and I can transfer them from my PC to an MP3 player which is really convenient. I now have no excuse not to go walking or cycling. I'm a bit of a lazy exerciser, I get bored really quickly so if there is no one around to make me do something or to keep me interested I kind of slack off.

Anyway, I may head off to bed now, I'm actually looking forward to my late night wake-up call so I can get on with more of the book :)