Final piece all finished. Now I can sleep. Next, the sewing!

Finished the little giraffe toy over the weekend.

I showed it to the boys before I wrapped it up for my friends' baby shower. Had to make sure it was recognizable to kids, you know.

They're saying "giwaffe!"

Mom- and Dad-to-be liked it too. So it was a great success all around!

Don't know how many of you out there have, like me, been subjected to one too many viewings of the Blue's Clues "Love Day" episode. All the clues are related to Cinderella. And since Joe has stopped drawing the clues, they draw themselves and sing what they are. This all means that I have been walking around the house for a week singing "I'm a glass slipper." (Much more catchy than the first clue: "I'm a mop.")

Well, I'm no Cinderella, but I do have a slipper.

One crochet slipper almost done. I've still got do a crochet edging around the opening. More crochet - surprise, surprise. I'm enjoying the crochet, though, and I like this pattern a lot. The only change I made was to shorten the front of the slipper, making the opening wider. This is my attempt to eek out two slippers with only 3 1/2 skeins (and not 4) of the Handknit DK called for. As usual the color I have has been discontinued. Surprise, surprise.

Can you hear it? "I'm a crochet slipper."

Time again for a clearance sale at my favorite almost-LYS, Wild & Wooly in Lexington. I went with Shannon, who by the way is great person to shop with - she can give you sensible reasons to put something back and then enable you to get something else! The first thing that caught my eye was Classic Elite Spotlight Cotton in tons of beautiful colors. This is the yarn I used to make my holiday island sweater. It's the most fabulously soft cotton. It felt wonderful to work with and is even nicer to wear. I was so pleased to see it on sale! I immediately snatched up a bag of it in salmon.

Shannon got some Spotlight in red along with some red sparkly yarn (she's a sparkle girl). Red seemed to be the color of the day. I also took home a baggie full of incredible red mohair.

I see red. I see red. I see red.

And pink.

After the sale, I popped by the fabric store to pick up the thread I need to sew on the cardi raye hook & eye ribbon band.

What a great day!

Just got back. Woo hoo!

My first sophie bag was really for my secret pal, Marie. Hi, Marie! But I couldn't tell you that until we did our big reveal at the end of May. My secret pal, by the way, was Sarah. Thanks for everything, Sarah!

Anyway, I just had to make another Sophie bag for myself. This time I used some Cascade 220 I got from Colleen at our Knitsmiths' swap. I really love this pattern. And the lighter shades of Cascade are so pretty when felted. All sorts of little little color flecks show up that you wouldn't really notice otherwise. I think I want another one in the light green shown in the pattern pic. You can't ever have too many bags, can you?

While I was at the fabric store this week, I picked up some closures for the bags. The new beige sophie got a sweet frog closure and the pink kureyon sophie a matching zipper. Now where does one find those magnetic purse snaps?

Hey, May ended and I didn't finish my sew-along project. Anyone else need an extension?? (Stephanie even made two more wrap tops and a ton of other things - man she's fast!)

So no sewing again this week. Well, no machine sewing that is. The cardi raye is, however, is coming together nicely!

Elsewhere in knitalongs I've neglected for the cardi raye, Linda finished her Tricot! It looks gorgeous on her. Yay, Linda! Cat finished a super fun spring fling top. Froggy made my spring fling tank (now a Chicknits Fun Fur Pick!) and Julia finished the back of her Linen Drape sweater. Way to go, knitalongers!

Melanie, who in addition to being an amazing artist (really, go see her stuff on her blog!), is so generous that she sent me these incredible vintage knitting magazines.

Totally 40's! I couldn't even imagine knitting this suit dress - at a gauge of 7 st./in. Look at her waist - no wonder they had to wear these! Check out the sweet dress on this little, bottle-fed cutie. I do love this jacket though. Unfortunately, you need(ed) to send away for the pattern. It would be fun trying to redesign it, wouldn't it?

It seems that some things haven't changed even in fifty-five years. We're still buying Susan Bates' needles.

And we still block our knits the same way.

In our heels and pearls. Right, Melly? Ha ha!

So first Jane gave the Paris Loop capelet a try, decided it wasn't for her and offered the yarn up for sale on her blog. Now I have it and am giving it a go.

This Gedifra Cicco yarn is soooooo freaky. It's just little tufts of wool every couple of inches and a nylon thread inbetween. When you knit it up, the little wool tufts make loops. Way weird. I'm trying to withhold judgment though until it's all finished. I don't dislike it. But I'm not sure I can get away with wearing it.

Wanna see what my boys are getting away with wearing around the house? Hip boy board shorts and mommy's mary janes. Look, S's even got his on the wrong feet!

Crochet slippers all done! Since I just scraped by on the blue yarn, I trimmed them in a contrast color. Then I bought some padded insoles like the pattern calls for (Dr. Scholls, thank you very much!). I couldn't wait until I had the insoles and wore the slippers a few times without them. Ouchie. And I had the crochet pattern on the bottom of my foot. So note to self: you gotta have the insoles. I decided however, not to cover the insoles in felt like the pattern suggested. I think the slippers are lovely enough as they are and I didn't want this becoming some sort of out-of-control craft project! I did sew the insoles in place though so they don't slip around while I'm wearing the slippers.

These slippers are really comfy and surprisingly un-slippery on the hardwood floors. I love them! I wish I wore slippers more, so I could justify making a second pair.

Crochet: I'm hooked!

Finally I'm LD-ing-along. Yes, my linen drape project (maggie) is on the needles.

I've only just begun and I've already tossed the pattern aside in order to make up my own numbers. I did a lovely gauge swatch, got gauge with 3.25mm needles and then saw the first few inches of the top come out way too small. A slight change in gauge was only part of the problem though. The real problem is that the top is so short. I'd prefer something that covers the, um, stretch marks, you know. So I'm lengthening the top and that means making it a bit wider as well. So it's another experiment in sizing.

Sizing aside, I'm really enjoying the linen drape. It certainly does like to split, but by knitting a bit more carefully, I've been able to keep that to a minimum. Otherwise it's knitting up evenly and feels good in my hands. I'm knitting this project along with my advanced beginning knitting students (five weeks to a baby sweater!), so I'm hoping that I can finish her up in time to wear at the beginning of summer. If the last remaining skeins of linen drape are still at my LYS when I'm done, I may have to get a few more. Heh, heh.

I spent an evening and a half sewing on the collar for the cardi raye and weaving in all the remaining ends. Now she only needs the satin hook & eye band and she's all done.

Can you stand it?!

Here's ava - fronts and back - sewn together. It's an avavest, if you will.

Now to make some sleeves. What me knit?

Oh yeah.

I spent an entire evening and part of the next morning sewing in that satin band. Not a simple task, let me tell you! For anyone planning to make this sweater, here's what I did. I folded the band over the edge to see exactly where it should be attached and then basted a line down that column of stitches. This was my guide for the actual sewing to insure that the band would look straight. Then I pinned the band in place along the basting to the inside of the sweater and sewed it on using a slipstich (see here for a photo of the slipstitch technique). After the inside was sewn down, I folded the other half of the band to the front and could sew it down the same way, but without having to pin it in place (so no pin holes on the front!). Then I could tack down the left over bits at the top and bottom and remove the basting thread. And here's the band in all her glory. (Update: You asked for it, you got it - a close up of the hook and eye band. Here's what the hooks look like while I'm wearing the sweater.)

And just because I can't look at this sweater enough, here's another shot.

Oooh la la.

Yup, I've knit enough of my maggie top to get to the toilet paper tube in the middle of the linen drape ball.

Up to the armhole shaping, thank you very much. Can't go back to class tonight not having made any progress, right?

Speaking of progress, both Mary and Amy finished their LD tops! They look amazing. Go see them. Really, go now, I'll wait here. Nora has started her Rowan table runner project (anyone else get linen drape with your new subscription?). And Julia has even made some emotional progress with her LD sweater. Wink, wink.

Two balls in and I couldn't wait any longer - I had to try on the paris loop poncho.

I've been unsure about how I'd like it. But now that I see it on, I love it. It's so cool looking! It is, however, no longer cool here in Boston, so this poncho is going to be put on the back burner until the heat wave passes.

I've been looking for some "short knitting" to bring along with me when I take the boys to the playground. Short knitting is the way I think of small, but interesting, portable projects. Like the short game in golf, small projects can be good practice for improving your knitting overall - when the whole project is only a few inches big, it's important to do a good job. They're shorter, not necessarily easier (case in point: the little stuffed giraffe I just finished). Well, we all know that I don't really like knitting socks, so that's out. And the sleeves of ava are pretty boring and will quickly become long, so I'd rather not bring them. As the boys say, "what'da gonna do?"

Annie Modesitt to the rescue! After seeing her Fiesta Tea Set in this summer's Interweave Knits, I knew I'd found some fun, short playground knitting. Here's this week's progress. One saucer and most of a cup.

I just happened to have vaguely Wedgwood-y colors in my little stash of Sugar n Cream (perfect name for yarn to make a tea set, don't you think?!) I made most of the saucer at the playground yesterday. Note: we were at the playground a LONG time. Knitting the worsted weight Sugar n Cream down on US3's goes slow and it's none too good on my fingers, let me tell you. It's like one never-ending Bottoms-Up brim. Oh heck, I'm breaking in summer sandals anyway, what's a few calluses on the fingers!

This little tea set is going to look great on the dining room table. I've had to leave the table bare (no flowers, no vases, no candles, no nothing) because the boys tend to push whatever's on the table on to the floor so they can play with their cars on it. Here's hoping an indestructible tea set will be a good compromise.

I can't stop making this little tea set! I finished another saucer yesterday. I still haven't blocked any of the pieces yet and the cups still need i-cord handles, but all I want to do is start another. I love 'em!

Kerstin asked in the comments yesterday if the pattern wasn't a bit fiddly. Oh yeah, it's fiddly as all get out! There's tons of little increases to make, purling in the round, and then a bi#*ch of an i-cord bind off that takes me hours to do. I know, I know, I usually can't stand fiddly, double-pointed-needle projects, but I can't help it, I'm loving this one. The only thing I don't like is that the pieces are knit tightly so the knitting goes a lot slower. I'm used to having many inches of progress in front of me after an evening of knitting. But with these I'm averaging a day and a half's worth of knitting for each piece. That's a lot when you consider there's still the tea kettle, the sugar bowl, the creamer and more cups and saucers to come. I think each family member should have a cup and saucer, don't you? I saw on craftster.org that someone had modified the pattern to make a coffee mug - I may have to do that for hubby's! Too fun.

And proof that I've completely lost my mind: once I'm done with the tea set, I really want to make one of these little dolls that Kerstin just finished!

The guys from Threadbear Fiber Arts Studio rule! They just got some Phildar Onde in and you know I had to get some. After seeing Theresa's incredible sweater in the chlorophyll colorway, I was sold. And if Rob & Matt are going to make it so easy to get the yarn, well, what'da gonna do?

And guess what arrived the very same day? A gift certificate from Sarah, my secret pal for more goodies at Threadbear. Life is good. Bear-y good.

Yes, my fellow phildar fillies, the time has come. Not only have I finally fininshed my cardi raye, which was the initial inspiration for starting this knitalong, but the guys at Threadbear Fiber Arts Studio will now be carrying some Phildar yarns, so we can all be phildar fillies!

phil' fall knitalong
fall Phildar fashions

fall & winter 2003

As usual, let me know if you finished so I can update your link here. And if you're still working on your project (maybe it's on hiatus for summer) just drop me a line when you start working on it again. I'd love to reopen this knitalong next fall. I'm sure I'll have plenty of new Phildar projects by then!

Just because you're not sewing doesn't mean you can't add to your sewing stash. Right?

Lynn generously sent me some old Burda mags, including the issue where they introduced their redesigned superpattern sheets.

Before.

After.

Okay, I will never again complain about the burda pattern sheets. That first one would stop me sewing forever!

And Sharon kindly sent me some kids' fabric that she didn't need anymore. This cord fabric is my favorite of the bunch. So sweet.

Thanks so much, ladies! I love looking through patterns and trying to decide what to do with the great fabrics I've got. It's so much fun. Now someone just needs to send me a swift kick in the pants to get me motivated to start sewing again.

...to a summer tea party knitalong.

Helene's already on board. Go look at the amazing little set she's made! Too cute with the pastries and everything. Her set is from Jean Greenhowe's Little Dumpling Dolls Part One and is a part of Miss Muffin's Tea Shoppe. I'm working on the Fiesta tea set, of course. Any other great patterns out there?

So who else is coming to the tea party?

Update: Jackie's joining the party - check out her tea set so far!

Update: Like me, Laura wants to make the little best friend dolls that Kerstin made (see Kerstin's here). Wouldn't they be perfect guests at the tea party?! Anyone planning on making them, join the tea party.

UPDATE: The Summer 2002 Interweave Knits issue where the Best Friend dolls pattern was published is out of print. No more copies are available from the publisher. Sorry!

Maggie.

Oh how lovely the linen drape feels again after all that Sugar 'n Cream on US3's. The back here has turned out a bit small, I think. I did get gauge, but for some reason didn't keep it. Ha ha. My plan is to wash this piece and see what size it is after washing. I'll adjust the numbers for the front depending on whether it shrinks or grows and how much stretch it seems to have, to give me the breathing room I need. I'd hate to lose out on all the promised drapey-ness of the fabric by making the top too snug.

But why is maggie coming to tea? Well, I've found a use for the toilet paper roll from the linen drape balls - it's perfect for blocking the tea kettle of my fiesta tea set!

I'll show you pics of the tea set so far later this week, after blocking and finishing. But first a little more linen drape therapy is in order.

Linen drape therapy is over. I now have a little callus on my middle finger from holding the tension on the yarn. So, it's back to ava. Oh how lovely calmer feels again after all that Sugar n Cream on US3's and linen drape on my callused finger.

First sleeve underway.

Some updates for the tea party ladies.

Christine has just posted her pattern for a crocheted version of the fiesta tea set. Her cups and saucers look great and the pattern seems very clear. And I can really imagine that the crochet would be much easier on the hands.

If you're making the best friend dolls, be aware that there is a correction to the pattern.

Now check out Melanie's perfect little orange teacup, Jessica's first teacup blocking on a beer bottle, and the beginnings of Cat's crazy teeny-tiny cup made with thread and size 0000 needles!

Still blocking here:

You don't mind if I start another project, do you? I know I'm supposed to be making tea sets and sleeves, but some projects will insist upon having deadlines.

Here's a start to the next baby sweater. This one is nice and simple and nice and small. In other words, it's flying off my needles! Kerrie and I are both making this one and hers is progressing just as quickly. It's the 20 second knitalong - better keep your eyes peeled next week, or you just may miss it!

Just got back from a quick fiber-filled day trip down to NYC! Sandy (above), Kerstin, I, Leigh, and Carrie and Cindy all decided to meet up in the big city to see how many yarn stores we could hit in 5 hours. We ran into some unfortunate summer/sudden store closings, but still managed to see several shops. I finally got to see The Yarn Co. We didn't spend much time in the store, but I couldn't leave without these neat retro buttons for a future project for the boys. The coolest place we visited had to be Habu, where they had hundreds of amazing yarns made from all sorts of fibers and materials hanging on display in a teeny-tiny hallway.

Carrie and I both fell in love with this beautiful cotton in red. I bought enough to make one of these asian-inspired tanks from Rebecca #26.

After all the shopping we even squeezed in a little knitting and giggling time in a midtown deli.

Thanks gals, for such a fun day! Next time I wanna try to stay longer and maybe meet up with some of my NYC knitbuds. I seem to have developed a little nyc knitting habit - hee hee.

The best knitting I've done in weeks was on the Peter Pan bus down to New York this weekend. With eight hours of travel knitting time, I managed to finish knitting all the pieces of the phildar baby sweater.

And I knit the little intarsia patch at Knitsmiths on Sunday.

I plan to start sewing this one up with my advanced beginning knitting students tonight!

PS - Check out how far Kerrie's gotten on hers. The 20 second knitalong is living up to its name!

After taking a weekend break from maggie, I sucked it up and went back to the linen drape in order to finish up the first sleeve. Isn't it sweet? I'm working on the sleeves so I won't have to think about how I am so totally fudging the numbers on this top now. I blocked the back, but still have absolutely no idea whether it'll fit. Don't know why, but so far I find this more amusing than worrisome. Hmmm...

LD updates: Jackie joined the knitalong and before I could remember to add her name to the list, she'd already finished her sweet little linen drape/linen stitch purse. Check it out! Sarah's almost done with her linen drape tank. And Stephanie has made linen drape ruffles - brave gal!