Woo Hoo!

Does my daughter look happy? She is - their team received a bid to Worlds!!

Band Meme

Saw this on Nored No More blog:

Anyone seen the BAND MEME going around? Basically, you go to three sites to randomly select your band name, album title, and cover art.

1. Go here for the band name: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
No matter what the title of the article is, that's the name of your band.

2. Go here for the album title: www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words from the very last quote on the page makes up the title of your band's album.

3. Go here for the cover art: www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
Whatever the third picture is, that's the cover to your band's album.

My results:

Name of my Band:
Joe Girard

Title of my first Album:
"Those We Don't Like"

Cover Art (To those of you who really know me, How perfect is this????!!!):

Hello, IT Department? Ummm, I think I need a new keyboard

Ya see, I received an email from Vogue Patterns in which they are highlighting their new spring designs and one of their new patterns made me spit my coffee all over my keyboard.

I don't care how nice your butt might be. That is NOT a good look!! Michael Kors, I love you but what are ya thinkin????

Apron Swap - how cool!!

First, Thanks for all the good tips via comments and emails regarding the McCalls jacket. I am not completely abandoning my robe... I mean my jacket but I'm going to let it sit on Lola for awhile while I ponder what to do with it. Life's too short to sew things I'm not in love with.

But on a more exciting note... I just read about a great swap - The Sassy Apron Swap! It sounds like a lot of fun. Click on the button to read details on the blog. I also added added a button on the sidebar. To summarize:

• sign-ups are open until January 20th;
• participants must sew an apron or purchase a homemade apron (i.e. from an Etsy shop or something similar);
• the apron must have a pocket;
• you must include a soup recipe in your package;
• apron must be mailed by March 1st.

BTW, the hostess, Lucy, intends to do other swaps later in the year. Very cool!

Yay or Nay?

I am almost finished McCall's 5479 and can't decide if I like it or not. These photos are terrible but hopefully, you can see what it is looking like. The black fabric has embossed daisies on it - almost impossible to see in the photo but you may be able to distinguish them in the facing / lining picture. So what do you think? Is it too 'big' of a look for me? I don't mean the size. It fits fine - I'm just not sure my body is right for this style jacket. Or maybe it's simply the wrong fabric choice. The plaid versions I've seen here (hi Lori!) and here are adorable. It looks very similar to the picture on the envelope and the line drawing but I just can't decide if it looks good on me. I either look like I'm headed into the courtroom or I'm getting ready to graduate and the dog chewed the bottom off my gown. (BTW, I would not be wearing it with the lovely Pepto-Bismol pink sweat pants. LOL.)

Calling Cincinnati Knitters

Hey you Knitters in the 'Nati.... Anyone interested in a downtown lunchtime knitting group?

Let me know via comment or email if this is something that you would be interested in. Or if you know any other knitters who work downtown and might be interested, pass the word. Thanks!

Destashing

I always try to get organized in January. I've made a good dent in cleaning / organizing and have made a couple trips to Goodwill as well as filled the cans a few times. I even organized my patterns and realized that I had some duplicates as well as some that I don't want. If you want any or all of these patterns, email me (bonnie_crocker yahoo com) and I'll mail them to you (sorry but within the US only.) None of the patterns have been cut. I have some vintage patterns that I will be giving away at some point but I haven't figured out which ones I want to keep!


Vogue 9396 Dress; Size 8-10-12 (oop)


New Look 6087 knit Top; Size A 6-16 (oop)


This one is gone: Simplicity 4084 Threads trench coat; Size 6, 8, 10, 12, 14


This one is gone: Simplicity 3964 Top / Tunic / Dress; Size D5 4, 6, 8, 10, 12

Political Survey

Thanks for all the nice comments on the jumper in my last post. It is a great pattern. I appreciate all the feedback on the light versus dark look. I think people unanimously preferred the dark, which is funny as I was leaning the other way. I'm thinking I should reach out to you all more frequently when I am trying to figure out what to wear to work!

I'm a sucker for online quizzes. So today, instead of figuring out what flavor ice cream I should be or what kind of Goddess I am, I assessed my political affiliation via this poll that I saw on Beth's blog. Because I have both conservative and liberal tendencies, I was curious to see where this poll would put me. Wow! Although not surprised to see more red than blue, I was surprised (and a bit alarmed!) to see which candidates I was more strongly aligned with based on my answers to the questions. (Beth, maybe I should not come back to knitting group until mid-November!)

73% Mitt Romney
72% Fred Thompson
68% John McCain
67% Rudy Giuliani
63% Tom Tancredo
60% Mike Huckabee
58% Ron Paul
54% Bill Richardson
44% Chris Dodd
43% Hillary Clinton
41% Barack Obama
41% John Edwards
33% Joe Biden
31% Mike Gravel
26% Dennis Kucinich

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

I FINALLY sewed a Burda WOF!

I finished up this Burda jumper tonight. I had everything done last night except the hem. I wanted to do a twin needle hem but I didn't think I had matching thread. I checked again and VOILA. Found some. I found a great tip for knit hems via Laura's PR review of this same jumper. I used it on my hem and it works great. No more bulky seams!

So what do you think... Cream turtleneck and tights and brown boots or black turtleneck, tights and boots? I'm leaning towards cream. (Hey... how come I look shorter in the cream ensemble??)

The details:

Pattern: Burda World of Fashion, September 2007, #121 "Pinafore Dress"
Size 36 although I ended up taking it in at the hips so a 34 probably would have been fine
Fabric: Some really stretchy cotton lycra (I think) blend in a heathered denim color that I've had in my stash forever. I am reasonably sure I bought this fabric to make leggings when I was pregnant with my son. Who is now 13. Which makes the fabric 14 years old. And the lycra has not dry-rotted!

LOVE this jumper!

This is the first Burda WOF pattern I've actually made. I have had another one cut out for several months but I haven't started sewing it yet. The style in the WOF patterns is awesome! I have still not subscribed to the monthly publication but I think it's just a matter of time. For now, I buy the monthly issues that I like for $8 plus $2 s/h.

I had a little trouble figuring out the back pleats. Burda WOF is skimpy on instructions as well as drawings and pictures. I THINK I was sewing the back pleats correctly but they caused the skirt to stick out at weird angles. Not sure if it's the size of my behind or maybe the shape of it or perhaps simply user error but I went with a box pleat and it seems to be laying flatter. Here is a picture (do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your own b*tt?)

Grrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

That's me in my new bathrobe. Do I look like a Leopard or a Jaguar? Or a Cheetah (as Lori pointed out!)

I can never find a RTW robe with all the "features" that I like so I came across this pattern before the holidays and decided to make myself one. Hancock's had lots of fun polar fleece prints from which to choose. I almost picked a purple plaid but then I decided to let the animal in me out. Ha ha.

So what features you ask? I like to lounge in a robe on weekend mornings. I prefer a robe that zips so I don't accidentally flash my family - not pretty. Because I frequently cook or clean while still in my robe, I need the sleeves to be form fitting so they don't catch on fire at the stove or get dipped in the toilet. I like it to be all the way to the floor so of course, it needs to be wide enough to walk comfortable. I have to have pockets. And it needs to be cozy. Doesn't seem like it should be that hard to find but it usually is.

This is a PERFECT pattern for me. The particulars:

Butterick 6881, View E
2 1/4 yards 60" wide polar fleece (this is less than the pattern calls for, however, I did not make the pockets from the fleece to minimize the bulk.)
Ribbing for the sleeves
1 22" zipper
a zipper pull - I happened to have a little tassle that worked well.

Pictures of some of the details:
Rib Trim on the sleeves:


Tassle Zipper Pull:


I used some cotton rather than polar fleece to reduce bulk for the pockets:



This took about 1 1/2 hours to sew. Went together very easily and it is sooooo cozy. I can't wait to put my jammies back on tonight!

Uh oh, Am I getting old? Say it ain't so.

My 13 year old son is making dinner right now - Schezuan Chicken to be exact. One of the ingredients is chicken broth. The electric can opener was behind the mixer and hard to get to so I handed him an opener similar to the one pictured above to open the can of broth.

He looked at it like it was some complicated piece of equipment; held it next to the can; paused and then said, "What am I supposed to do with this?" LOL. I showed him how it worked and then launched into a "when I was a kid" story about how metal soda and juice cans did not always come with the openers built right in.

BTW, I googled it to find a picture and found out that kind of opener is called a "church key opener." Who knew?

1/6/08 Edited
Well.... my son had all the ingredients measured out and ready to go. Then his buddies showed up and they got distracted with the newest Xbox 360 game. They ate leftover pizza and all the ingredients went back in the fridge for tonight's dinner. He really does like to cook. I bought one of Sandra Lee's "semi-homemade" cookbooks for him. Not as manly as Emeril or Bobby Flay but her recipes are definitely more in line with what he likes to eat. He and his buddies made bacon, eggs and homemade waffles for breakfast this morning!

Now.... if I could only train him to cook for me every night. hee hee.

Last FO of 2007

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope everyone found some time to relax this past week.

I have spent the last week or so on the road at a basketball tournament and then a cheerleading competition. Lots of sitting around time so I did some knitting and reading. I made this headband and I LOVE the pattern. I intended it for my 20 year old for those cold walks across campus but she looked at it and said, "You're kidding, right?" Guess it's not fashionable enough for her. Whatever.... Another piece for MOI!

Pattern: Knitty Calorimetry
Yarn: Malabrigo - Autumn Forest
Needles: size 4
Cast on 100 stitches instead of the 130 called for in the pattern. I could have probably gotten away with only 90 stitches. I'm going to weigh the yarn on my postal scale at work tomorrow but I'm guessing it used about 100 yards.

No resolutions for me but I do love this time of year for the "fresh start" it presents. I have spent the last two days cleaning and sorting and organizing my sewing room including patterns, yarn and fabric. I'm not quite done but here are the before photos:

And here are some photos I just took today: