Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Knitting and Sewing

My aunt Ann's funeral was yesterday. It left me with a lot of thoughts about funerals, which may coalesce into a blog post someday. Or not. I do remember, at her husband's funeral, my stepmother's grandmother commenting that she was sad that her husband was gone, but it was so nice to see everyone. I suppose that is the way it goes.

I was thinking about what to wear yesterday and decided I needed a new dress. I had acquired some black corduroy in a fabric buying frenzy with the intention of making a Retro Jumper. Looking at the directions, it seemed feasible to make in a couple of days, so...I did! Here is it with my patented Terrible Mirror Picture:

Black Jumper

To be honest, I think it is more flattering in person than in the picture.

I finished another dress a few days ago:

Green Duro

This is the same pattern that I used for this dress, but the long sleeve version. I made the bodice an inch longer and several sizes smaller, but left the skirt the same size (I gathered it a bit more). I've already popped armhole seams so I need to shore those up, but otherwise I'm completely in love with this dress.

Knitting: A few months ago, Stef offered me some Manos del Uruguay, which wasn't working out for her. When she offered, she used words along the lines of "I know you usually knit for that annual Euchre Tournament. I have all this yarn you might like to have." So when it came time to think about knitting this year, it seemed very reasonable to use the yarn (whether she meant it that way or not).

So I have in the works, a scarf:

Scarf

The stitch pattern is Pinnacle Chevron. It took much too long to get comfortable knitting this stitch, but I love how it is coming out. I will probably make a hat to go with this.

And, the ubiquitous Clapotis:

Clapotis

This is going to be hard to give up, I have to say. The color is gorgeous and it is a perfect match (to me) of yarn to pattern.

Clapotis

3 comments:

Sharon said...

I am so with you on the dress design. My closet has been on my mind for months now. I'm really glad to see the Empire waist has come back into vogue. I think it's a good look.

Valerie said...

Your sewing looks grea...And the knitting as well! Thanks for the link to the Walker Treasury Project.

I too love the yarn colors in your Clapotis. But you know, I could never make myself knit one of those (Clapotis, that is)....the name sounds way to much like a social disease!

Happy knitting!

bspinner said...

I haven't seen an Empire style since I got married, 1968. My wedding dress. Sure does look nice on you, Lee.
I love the color of the yarn in your Clapotis scarf!!!!! I'm with Valerie, never tried the pattern and now I know why. She's right it does sound like a social disease.