stockings

I whipped up some Christmas stockings last weekend in an effort to try and make it look festive in our house. We don't have a tree because I'm paranoid about Fenix trying to climb it and potentially pulling it down on himself -- not worth the anxiety!

So we hung garland over the the doorway, wreaths on our front door and in another spot inside, and the stockings are hanging above the mantle.

The stockings were really easy to make. I bought a yard of blue and gray felt and a quarter of burgundy felt along with a spool of burgundy satin ribbon. I drew the pattern freehand on a big sheet of paper and then used my Olfa rotary cutter with a scalloped blade to cut out the pieces of fabric.

I cut the letters freehand and then stitched those onto the blue front panel first. Then I stitched the front and back panels together with a regular old top stitch - sandwiching a strip of ribbon folded in half between the two to make a little loop for hanging.

I finished it off by making a pompom from some variegated scrap yarn that happened to match perfectly!

Here they are, waiting to be filled:

hand made, mcg made

photo: me knitting a baby hat whilst still pregnant, august 2007

So apparently handmade gifts are super trendy this year. I'm feeling kinda good about this because it's always been really important for us to put a personal touch on the gifts that we give to our loved ones.

My friends are very creative people and I feel lucky to have received handmade gifts from them. But the good news is that you don't have to be creative to make nice handmade gifts. They can be really easy and in most cases none of it requires a lot of work or money to execute.

Last year we gave away homemade vanilla extract, pregnant belly salve, lip balm, infused whiskey, rosemary limoncello, change purses made from upcycled leather, mulling spices (for wine or cider), and things knit by me

This year we plan to give away more whiskey and mulling spices to folks that didn't get any last year as well as more hand knit and home sewn items.

What are you making this year?

elf baby

I have been googling around looking for a knitting pattern for a gnome hat since Fee is going to be a garden gnome for halloween. In my searching I stumbled across the pattern for this hat which is actually more of a pixie or elf hat but it was really cute and the pattern was very simple so I threw it together over the weekend. It came out even cuter than I had imagined and I intend to make several more for Fenix and to give away as gifts. I actually used the pattern found here and then made the chin strap and crocheted neck band with a mod found here.

I used bulky weight Patons yarn instead of worsted weight as the pattern indicates, so I went down to size 6 needles.

simplicity 3692

So I finally got around to making that dress that I mentioned ages ago. It's a Built By Wendy pattern... Simplicity #3692.

Now that I've made my first dress, I can't believe how easy it was and I feel stupid for being intimidated by the idea of making clothes.

For this dress I used bamboo jersey in a heathered dark purple color. The pattern has 3 options -- A, B and C. A is an a-line dress with short sleeves, B is a 3/4 sleeve tunic style shirt and C is a sleeveless top with a gathered elastic bottom. I made a combo of A and B -- a dress with 3/4 length sleeves.

The most taxing part of this project was the sewing of the sleeves but even that wasn't really too troublesome.

Here is a photo of me in the finished product:

Craft room update

Howdy kids!

Been awhile since we talked about the craft room project (link and link) & wanted to provide an update. the project is going OK, all things considered. not moving too fast because life keeps us pretty disgustingly busy.

the best part about this project is reaching a minor milestone without screwing anything up, running out of materials, or hurting myself. the worst part has been tying twelve foot lengths of 2x4's and 2x6's to the roof of the jeep and driving home in the rain.

so anyway, here's the proposed floor plan, for reference (click to see it full size):



aaand here's the progress! First I had to do all the site plans and measurements and all that jazz, then relocate every damn thing in the garage to make room to work on the project.

I got up the walls as noted and the door temporarily installed.



After the main wall was up then I put on the 2 @ 2x6 header on top of the wall, then ran the joists as referred to here. the joists are also 2x6's, which should be strong enough to allow me to throw a bunch of storage on top of this whole thing.

it's really hard to see due to the cramped quarters in there and my non-wide-angle lens on my cell phone, but here's a couple shots of the space...

I'll keep working it and try not to hurt myself. cross y'fingers for me!

goodbye cords, hello skirt

I came across a project on cut out and keep the other day that totally inspired me. It's a pretty basic idea - you take your old jeans or pants and turn them into a skirt. This was right up my alley.
You see, I am very guilty of holding onto clothes that don't quite fit properly in hopes that I will some day regain my girlish figure. This is not happening folks. That's where this project comes in since it's good for those old pants that are really cute but are a little too snug in the thigh and ass region.
Click here for the tutorial.

Check out my finished version below. I have another pair of these cords in yellow and I'll be skirtifying them in short order. Notice that I took a little more care in the finishing than what is shown in the tutorial by using the cut off pant leg to form a panel in the front and back of the skirt. This makes a more a-line silhouette which is more flattering on someone with a curvy figure (such as myself).

sew happy. sew very happy.

I got my new sewing machine. Finally. I went in looking at one model and as I am often prone to do, I ended up buying a much more expensive one. But it was on sale. Half off! But it's a freaking dream boat. I love it. Now to get 5 minutes of free time so I can actually use it.

Side note... Jason is building me a craft room in the back half of the garage. He's already started the work! So those 5 free minutes are really going to be hard to come by over the next several weeks but the end result is that I will actually have a proper place to sew and craft and do whatever the hell I want to do without making a mess out of the common areas of my home.

Anyway here is a picture of the sewing dream machine:

sweater bags

I had a dream the other night that I sewed up all these nifty handbags and wristwarmers made from old sweaters. Apparently others have had the same vision so my idea isn't so... uh unique. Here are some cool examples that I found on etsy while poking around.

stretchy wool bag


recycled jcrew sweater bag


green sweater tote

how much fabric can i order?

Seriously how much fabric can a person reasonably stock pile before it becomes hoarding? Mind you, I'm not there yet but I can see how this is a very slippery slope that I'm headed down.

So why am I rambling about fabric anyway?
Check out this fabric store:
http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/fabric

They have some of the same stuff that repro depot carries but then there are lots of other very cool things that repro depot doesn't have. Also it looks like just about everything is roughly 9 bucks a yard. That is a sweet deal in my book.

Some faves from purl soho:

and now my ears are warm

I finished knitting the headband that I mentioned in my last post.

It came out really great in spite of the fact that I used different yarn than what was called for in the pattern and I neglected to do a gauge swatch first. It came out a little big but I washed it in hot water which shrunk it down quite a bit and gave it a nice felted look.

The finished product:


I used a little red plastic rose button as a fastener:


Ready for a cold damp Seattle day:

fabric.... want

Lookee here:
Repro Depot Fabrics
I haven't ordered anything yet but I'm pretty sure that I will. They have lots of vintage repro fabrics. Really love their stuff. I can't find anything nearly this cute in our local fabric stores which is a tragedy. And the prices per yard are really good.

Here are some of my favorite swatches from the site (can't wait to order a few yards!):

etsy... finally!

Finally got my etsy site going. Only four items listed so far but I have a couple of hats to add to that and will add more and more as I make new things. Come check me out over there.

Metagestation on Etsy

Here's the final set of blankets that are up for sale on the site:

the fall thing - craft fair in phinney this weekend.

I am participating in a craft fair on Saturday. It will be held at the Phinney Neighborhood Association Community Hall.
If you are reading this and you are in or near Seattle you are hereby obligated to attend or I shall never forget this trangression. :-)

Go here for all the details:
http://www.yelp.com/events/seattle-the-fall-thing-craft-show

I'm not saying that you have to buy anything but I have a feeling that your cheddar will be burning a hole in your pocket once you see all the cool stuff that folks are selling.

another blankie

I went back to the fabric store and got more minky dot backing in yellow and pink as well as some nice printed flannel and a brown and pink polka dot fine wale corduroy.

I also switched to a top stitching method for attaching the front and back of the blankets so that they will have a more squared edge.

What I don't sell at the fair, I'll either keep and use for Fenix or give away to a few of my pregnant friends as gifts.

Here is one of the fruits of my labor from today:

saturday is sewing day

Today I tried my hand at sewing up some small baby blankets. My friend Tyesha asked me to participate in a craft fair with her next weekend and I wanted to have a little more to sell besides just a handful of baby hats. I've been trying my hand at knitting booties too but these blankets come together so quickly that I'd rather just make a bunch of these to fill out my contribution to the sale.

I bought 4 different types of fabric and made two different designs from them. The store didn't have much in the way of fabric with modern prints so I'll be looking around town for something more interesting. I plan to make several more before next weekend.

Anyway here are some of the designs that I made: