oh tannenbaum

the last couple of weekends have been filled with this...

the madrigal dinner theatre the choir classes at my sweet friends h.s. put on every december. if i wasn't at a performance, helping at a performance or cooking for a performance, i was sewing costumes for the performance.

and from the weekends of this...

came this...

which was one of 10 that were part of the madrigal decorations. the music booster board decided to off set the cost of the trees (which have been donated in the past) by having families "sponsor" the trees. the new house has cathedral ceilings so we decided to sponsor a tree. so here it is. the catch is, our 6ft ladder seems to be MIA. both the cute husband and i were sure we saw it at the new house but now cannot locate it.

i will keep you posted on how decorating the tree goes!

ok, ok, ok

so, i reassessed the small blue bag last seen on my sweet friend's head.

i modified the corded closing so there are pull cords from either side of the bag, which makes opening and closing of the bag a bit easier. modifications were done in time for a ferry trip to the city for a meeting; i decided to do a test run with it. i filled the bag with my cute husband's socks, which are being knit on two circulars, a small pair of scissors along with some stitch markers. not only did it all fit, but the bag worked out really well!

the only thing was the bag got lost in my big tote. so i decided it needed a snap tab that would connect it to the tote handle. that way i could snap the tab around the handle of the my tote bag and always have my knitting available and easy to get to. which prompted me to put snap tabs on all of the bags i had made, so now they look like this:

as you can see, there is a big blue bag that matches my small blue bag. i found i had inadvertently cut out more material than i needed for the small blue bag. not wanting it to go to waste, i made a dark pink bag, only bigger and with cording modifications. instead of running the cord from the inside, i put contrast casing on the outside and thread the cord through it. the big blue bag is the perfect size to carry long single point needles without them peeking out the top, which is what i was wanting.

but the most exciting project made this week was these:
needle cases. the straight point case is just that. it was supposed to have two pockets on the inside, one on the bottom for knitting needles and one on the top for crochet hooks. it also was to have fusible batting. i left off both the fusible batting and the top pocket. if i make this again, i would shorten it by about 1.5-2inches.

the case i truly love is the circular needle case. it holds my circulars snugly, including my new size 7 natura's, and though i had a difficult time envisioning the way it was put together, it was rather easy to make. the material selection for the pattern was a little odd. it calls for 2 contrasting colors and a remnant. the remnant is for the front and back (dark blue); contrasting colors are for the inside. i found what i really needed was 3 contrasting colors. 1 for the outside, 1 for the inside and 1 for the pockets. luckily i sort of figured it out, but didn't really think through the pockets so had to use some muslin i had lying around. if i were to make the case again, i would choose material and colors differently. cases and bags are a butterick. if you would like the pattern numbers, let me know.

in knitting news, i once again goofed up the eggplant stole. i spent a couple of sessions trying to get it back into knitting shape instead of unknitting it. and i think i may be there. wish me luck!

two hits and a miss

sorry, couldn't resist. the allstar baseball game was played in san francisco last night and the whole city seems to be gripped by the frenzy of it all.

but it is true. two out of three project bags turned out well. the third one just fizzled.

the two that worked out are just square lined bags; the light pink bag has 12, count them, 12 buttonholes that gather the bag in an interesting way. the darker pink bag was supposed to be all frilly and beaded. i chose to leave the frills and beads off. which threw the casing off because one of the frills was supposed to be along the top of the bag, which helped create the casing. since there was no frills, i had to do something different with the casing. but it all worked itself out and i like both bags. next time i will try making the dark pink one a little taller so straight needles will fit without poking out the top.

the miss was the circle bag. it also had extra curricular frills etc. which i left off. which then prompted some modifications which didn't work out. so i thought i would modify the modifications just to discover the bag wasn't big enough to hold a knitting project. which ended my interest in the bag. my sweet friend modeled it as a hat with no better success.

sew until next time.

all in a sunday afternoon

so this is what occupied most of my sunday afternoon.

it may look like a heap of odds and ends, but this heap represents 3 project bags, 2 pairs of pants, 1 circular and 1 straight needle holder.

i am not fond of cutting out patterns so tend to cut everything out at once. will keep you posted on their progression.

nestled among the various pattern pieces are two balls of sugar and cream. it must be selective reading, but my first encounter with this yarn was via my stitch n' bitch desk calendar where it was a yarn of the week. i had never even heard of it. as i continue to explore knitting blog world where knitted dishcloths seem to have a life of their own, this yarn is mentioned a lot. so when i saw it at joann's fabrics i thought, why not! let's see what all the hub bub is about. doubled with tea and cakes sharing a really sweet dish cloth pattern which looked extremely enticing in a different colorway of this very yarn. thought i would give it a whirl.

in other knitting news: oceane is going well. i like the way the smaller needle size is making it look. and though i am a slow knitter, this is knitting up very quickly.

even though i do not need another project, i couldn't resist. i was really just meaning to make the hank into a ball, but the yarn was so pretty and i bought new brittany needles in just the size i needed for it so...i cast on and it practically started knitting itself! so, yes, the sari ribbon yarn is in the midst of becoming a drop stitch scarf. and i really like it.

the bug has bit

the upside of all of this sewing is i came across a bunch of leftover pieces from previous sewing projects. these leftover pieces once again got me thinking of knitting needle cases.

about a month ago i made a needle case for straight points but i made it to big. i made one big rectangle which i folded in half. the rectangle had the ability to store straight needles on either side of the fold, with the tops of the needles toward the center. the problem being, when being unfolded for use, half of the needles would fall out. also, since the rectangle was big and made of corduroy and flannel, it was a bit bulky.

so i cut the rectangle in half, sewed a flap into the open seam to protect/prevent the needles from escaping and voila! a new straight point needle case. it can hold about a dozen pairs of straight point needles of various sizes, as well as my size 3 dpn's and it is a lot less bulky.

the original plan was to make a circular needle case holder also. i had seen a couple of designs i liked which i thought i may be able to recreate somewhat. while figuring out the design, i discovered i have so many circulars, i would need a minimum of two of these type of cases. or, if i made it big enough, the case would be so big that it would be to bulky and i may not like it.

but i am really liking the newly revised single point holder! especially since all of my single points needles can be in one place and easy to transport.

so i made pants instead

i am participating in a costume "sweatshop" for the kids spring musical so i felt the need to finish up the pattern cutting clutter in the sewing room.

i finished cutting out the last pair of pants and decided to ride the pattern cutting momentum by continuing with the blouses. i have had various blouse material since forever and chose some white material for one of my favorite blouses. i got out all of the pattern pieces, laid them out on the material to make sure they all fit and proceeded to pin and cut. then i moved onto the next blouse. after gathering and arranging all of the pattern pieces i came to the conclusion whoever decided 2 and 1/8 yard of fabric would fit this particular pattern had not taken their morning medication. and then i noticed it, a stray pattern piece. pattern piece #13, a side back piece. i thought it odd since the pattern i was working on didn't have a piece #13 or a side back piece. and then it dawned on me. this was the side back piece from the previous pattern, which used up all of the material i had. so i had this very essential side back piece but no material in which to make it. and i had no idea where i got the material. had i picked it up at britex during one of our city jaunts or had it come from the local joanne's fabrics.

i sat there gobsmacked. between not being able to fit the second pattern onto material that, technically, should have been sufficient to finding a stray pattern piece i had no material for, i decided pattern cutting was over for the night.

so i looked through the various pant patterns i had cut out, picked the easiest one and started sewing, determined to finish them to wear the next day. thankfully they came together pretty quickly (2 cd's worth of time) and i had a new pair of black pants to wear to work on friday.

and i will take a swatch of the material down to the local joanne's fabrics in hopes they have it or a reasonable facsimile so i can finish making my favorite blouse. if my sweet friend stops laughing about this whole situation long enough, i may even take her with me.

a sewing repose

this weekend is the annual madrigal feast put on by the music department of the h.s. the kids go to. this is the only year both kids will be in it. this will be the big guy's fourth and final year; and it is my sweet friend's first. it is a real joy to see them both performing in the same production. except for the costumes.

i have known about this weekend and all of it's responsibilities since forever. unfortunately, possessing that knowledge did not inspire me to get started on the costumes until about a week and a half ago. luckily the big guy had most of his costume. he just needed a few additions. it was my sweet friend who needed a whole costume from scratch. the last few days have found me glued to the sewing machine. i came home from work early today so i could finish putting bone in her vest as well as finishing some other odds and ends. i don't think the fam has heard such gnashing of teeth and cursing since...well..forever. it is what happens when i continually prick myself with the pins and sew the shoulders of the vest in such a way it resembles a horse harness instead of a young woman's vest. but amazingly, it all resolved itself. they are at dress rehersal, as i type, with costumes completed. well, everything except for a muffin hat!

i miss sewing. i have sewn my whole adult life. i love being able to make something new to wear. then i discovered knitting. with these last few days of sewing i found i missed sitting with the fam and catching up on their day while i knit. sometimes in the quiteness of knitting, my sweet friend and i have the best talks. that can't happen while sewing. at least not while crunch sewing! so, though muffin hats still need to be made, i can take a breather and knit a bit.

with that said, here are some pictures of the felted bags! i love the way they came out. i shared them at the LYS this past weekend and they were oohhed and aaahhhed over. i love the tweedy look knitting with two colored yarns held together gives. and i love the spice the third yarn contributes. i like the surprise of felting. when knitting, i liked the look of the red yarn combo and was concerned about the green yarn combo. after felting, i love the look of the green yarns. the size of the bag is just what i envisioned. the pattern had called for knitting 6.25 inches before starting the keyhole handle. i knitted 7.25 inches which made the bag a bit bigger. after i finished knitting them, i was concerned the bags were to big. when felting, i let them agitate five times in a row, each time adding a full kettle of boiling water to get them to this size. they came out much better than i expected. i can't wait for christmas to come so i can give them to my friends. i may even make one for me.

and sew a new christmas blouse to match.