Sewn Up in One Day! A Music Class Set

I'm so glad I had prepped a few projects, tracing-wise and cutting-wise.  It makes it that much easier to start sewing when I push the kids and their dad out the front door.  Last weekend, they went to Skylight Cave for a couple hours while I got my sew on.  I pulled out the fabric for the Music Class top and skirt by Oliver and S.  I feel like it's the third time I've sewn the top, but it's definitely only the second time I've sewn the skirt.

First full incarnation of this outfit...Summer 2013

Other than sewing up the twelve pintucks, LOL, the outfit goes together quite fast.  I love that the skirt is stinkin' cute but super simple.  The top takes longer, of course, as there is hand-sewing at the collar.  I'm not sure if it's my cleanest finish, but I'm always trying to get that placket/collar join better every time I sew it.

I used stash fabric for both items... The Alice in Wonderland print is something I've had for a few years, and there was only a yard, so, I was never quite sure what to do with it, but yay - a solution!  I was originally going to pair the shirt with pink corduroy, but I couldn't handle all that blinding pink in one outfit, aha!

My, my, a little homeschool girl

As always, I lengthened the top by a full size or two, and I did lengthen the sleeves this time, too, even though they're short.

I will have to WAY apologize for the disappearing ink NOT disappearing.... YIKES.  I had "washed" it out before leaving the house for Camden's Community Day, but it reappeared, of course.  And I'm not a magical faery elf creature with fancy photoshop skills ;)

Simple as that, though - easy outfit, cute results, yay for one more outfit out of the way!  I thought I'd get a chance to sew up the Zonen Jacob pants, too, but that didn't happen....maybe this weekend!

And....recent times...

Second week of Community Day

A day at Shevlin Park

Paint (or Knit???) Me a Sweater

Camden's second sweater of the season is the Paint Me a Sweater by  Elena Nodel.  It was originally published as a free pattern under a publisher no longer in business (why am I blanking on the name???), but it's now offered as a free Ravelry download, which is much better, aha!

I had liked it when I first saw it, because it seemed a bit hip  - and simple, which is sometimes nice.  I do find that it's a quick knit, in that it's stockinette, but it sadly is hurting my hands to use the size 4 needles, even though they're wood (Karbonz Dreamz...I was hoping to partly remedy the hand issue with wood circulars, but 'tis NOT the case).  I ordered from Handsome Fibers, as I keep doing with my Karbonz needles, and they are AWESOME with shipping super fast!!!  I totally recommend them!  I do definitely enjoy using the needles, but I have such mad hand issues now that it probably wouldn't matter what I DO use.

The sleeve increases took my forever, partly because of hand issues, partly because it was hard to sneak in knitting (crazy baby is having a hard time getting to sleep at night) and partly because there are two knit rounds between each increase round.  The sweater doesn't have much length, though, so, that's nice!

I used Colour Adventures on Dia Worsted in Pinktastic and Irises - both lovely colorways!  The yarn is nice, and I feel I haven't used this base before....or maybe only once.  I have no idea, but I'd like to use it again.  I do like the results, though I wish I'd gone a teeny bit longer, as, because of the design, anyway, it likes to creep up over her belly.  So, an extra inch would have made me happier.  Either way, it's fun, and it works as a ballet top before I finish her actual ballet sweater - also, incidentally, to be knit with CA yarn ;)

Now....this is what happens when brother attack....

Oh!  There is the little guy!

Isn't he just hilarious?

Here I come!

He found a stick????

Get away! 

Out of harm's way

Perfect Timing for September....Banyan Shorts and Tees!!!

Omigosh....does THIS ring a bell???  Woe is me, for I cannot sew up a simple pair of shorts in under three months....?  How about THIS blog post from last year?

I want to say I'm not sure WHAT could have stopped me from finishing a pair of shorts I started THREE months ago (one week short of three months, to be exact).  I would LOVE to say I have no idea, but the reason is two-fold.  One:  Matt has been working in Idaho for the past four months, and he is about to be home - YAY! - it was pretty much a sewing buzz-kill with him gone.  We were busy most days of the summer (albeit busy in a FUN way, but busy, nonetheless), and I rarely got a chance to sew in terms of daytime or weekend sewing (especially when a certain little boy is tiring me out).  Essentially, after I tossed these shorts aside, I didn't sew all summer, which is pretty ludicrous (though I DID knit; I wasn't totally lazy, aha!).  I bemoaned EVERY day that I wasn't sewing, but I just couldn't get myself to the machine.

Where are her eyes???

That neck binding gap situation is making my twitch

So.  Here we all are, almost September, and I finished one spot of summer sewing - the Banyan Shorts and the Banyan Tee (I have the paper versions, but they are now sold separately, as PDFs on-line).  That is a total bummer, too, as I honestly did have a good plan set up, with a list of patterns I'd wanted to sew the past few months.

Oh - and the second reason is the heat.  I get sluggish and hostile when it's hot out, and I just wanted to sit around and knit, whenever I had the chance.  It seemed somehow easier, LOL.

Past incarnations:

That neckline totally lies flat!

Her first-ever pair! 

Gosh - Spring of 2013!???

Really, though, let's not lie.  There IS a third reason...and it's the fly extension situation.  It has been my nemesis through two previous pairs of Banyan shorts (and one pair of Small Fry Skinny Jeans).  I knew I somehow hadn't done those correctly, but I didn't know WHY....and I have to say that, after MUCH staring and reading and staring and reading, I don't think the directions in either pattern explicitly say HOW to create the correct look for the fly.  I finally nailed it, but only because I winged it, and they turned out okay.  I folded the fly over about a half inch and pressed it - where I thought the zipper should go, and it worked out pretty well.

Will my pants always have that funny gap because of kid bellies??

Not perfect, but it works

I do realize that I shouldn't have added length to the waistband - as in, if I had added MORE length, it'd be a cool off-center/side-button tab situation, but as it is, it looks like "Does Autumn realize her waistband doesn't align with the shorts?" - LOL.  I don't really care - no biggie.  I'll hopefully remember that for next time.

Also, I misplaced the fly guard, so, I ended up finding some cotton lawn from my Violet top (pictured here), interfacing THAT and making it work.  I tried to insert the fly guard in sort of the same way that I saw in a pair of jeans I had, though it obviously doesn't work on the left side (and ignore the non-matching thread color), but I love the fly guard as a different fabric, so, it'll do.

I have to say this is my favorite version of these shorts - so, third time's a charm, eh?  The pattern itself has always been lovely, despite that I think the fly extension directions for the wearer's left side should be more detailed.  Other than that section, I don't believe I did anything differently.

My signature two lines of stitching, LOL

As for the Banyan tees....I totally sewed those before the shorts, knowing that was the smart thing to do, so, the tops have been sitting around, unused all summer, as I wouldn't let Camden wear them until the shorts were done.  I definitely still need to work on my neck binding, as it gaps.  The green knit is heavier, but both knits work for this top.  I always find this tunic/top to be a bit long, so, on previous versions, I have sliced the bottom off a bit, though I can't recall if I did that with these two.  You can see I added the pocket to only one of them.  I may have tried on the green top but found that the pocket was coming out wonky.  Camden gets a LOT of use out past Banyan tees.  They're pretty stinkin' cozy, I'm guessing :)

For real - a LOT of words to say that I love the outfit that hopefully gets a ton of use in the next month - and then next Spring and Summer, aha!

Of late....

Sad morning kid??

Happy grape time!

The beginning of the end of the river days....

Her first missing tooth!!!  FYI - that other middle tooth was noted as loose mere minutes later :O

Not Just a Song: Penny Lane, the Sweater

Oh, holy cow.  Has it been four score and eighteen decades since I last blogged???

Feels like it.  I actually swear I have a pair of socks and something else I need to blog about, but the dog days of summer blew past AND dragged on, if that's possible, and I have done NO sewing.  So, in all actuality, DARK days.  Camden has no clothing for the fall, other than a few dresses.  Thankfully, she just wears swimsuits and leotards all summer, so, we've been golden so far ;)

But check out, peeps!!!  What a fun sweater (project page here)!!!  This is one of those great yarn, easy pattern, lovely outcome sort of posts.  The sweater is obviously meant for the coming months (not sure why I chose to do a short-sleeved sweater AFTER this one, LOL), but I'm glad we're ready.

Getting that dance on!

The pattern is Penny Lane, by Julia Stanfield (Facebook page here).  I'm belatedly noticing that she has a sale in her Ravelry store with code "k2tog kal" - if I publish this today, August 13, go check it out!!  It's a pretty simple pattern with cable work down the front, only.  I did find the needle requirements written sort of loosely, so, I wasn't sure which needles to use where, only because I'm weird, I think.  I originally tried the neck on a smaller needle but went up to a size 5 and did the main sweater on size 3 needles.  My only issue with the pattern is that the sleeve count at the split is too high - in my opinion.  I think it's too much positive ease, and I wish I'd thought about that/realized that before I was as far in. In the end, I went with laziness, but I super decreased those sleeves.  In project pictures on Ravelry, you'll probably notice other people knit looser sleeves, but I don't like them baggy on the forearms.  The sweater is definitely meant to be knit as a tunic, when it's knit for girls, but I knit it a bit shorter - in essence of time and hand-pain.

My yarn is Colour Adventures, base Dia Twist DK in colorway Raspberry Chocolate (I also just checked out her store, and she has a lovely green gradient worsted set in stock!), and it was super lovely to knit up.  It's definitely tricky to get the colorway across correctly in the pictures.  I always recommend Elena's yarn, and she does co-ops a couple times a year, where you can pay less for her yarn, which is awesome.

This photography stuff is EASY ;)

Nothing much else to say - other than crazy photos, due to light and a kid who doesn't care to pose these days ;)

And....how summer has been going....

Awww, little guy can only party so long

Friends in town!!!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!

LOL at the only slide camden was able to use....

Of course....