Finished Dress and On The Needles!

The Knitting Pattern-A-Day Week 27 (???) review will have to wait. The patterns are downstairs on the kitchen table and I'm way too lazy to go get them. Plus, there is no A/C up here, and when I go downstairs it will be to get some cold Diet Dr. Pepper out of the fridge (or a beer; I haven't decided yet), and go back into the air conditioned bedroom to knit. I'm sorry, NittinNeedles -- I know that is what you wait for.

But I have pictures today!!!!


Here's my latest creation -- a green cotton pique summer dress!

I got the fabric a couple of years ago at a local fabric shop for about $1.99/yard (I bought about 5 yards!). I used a McCall's pattern M4829 (view D) that I won on eBay some time ago.

This was my first time successfully making spaghetti straps! I bought a Dritz "Loop Turner" at JoAnn Fabrics, and even though it took a couple of tries (and shredded the easily-shredible fabric), I was able to make them. This was also my first time making pleats.

I also made bust gathers for the first time! They look cool, but can be a bit of a PITA. Please ignore how wonky the hem looks. My hems always suck.

I wore the dress on a nice summer day to go shopping in Portsmouth, NH, and managed to get ice cream on the front of the dress (it came out). This may end up my favorite dress of the summer, unless I can make a better one. (Of course, the room that the sewing machine is in is also very hot, and is the "guest bedroom" this summer when BIL, his girlfriend, and her daughter are here in a few weeks from Turkey. Maybe they'll bring yarn.)

And yes, I am holding hands with the Creature from the Black Lagoon. We match!!!

On the Needles:

I'm currently knitting the Lace Camisole, the cover project from Sarah Dallas' Vintage Knits in the yarn I got at the yard sale last week. Lest you forgot, the yarn in question is Rowan 4-ply cotton in discontinued color 104 "Bonny". I got seven skeins for $4. It's a nice, dark lavender. I needed a contrasting color for the trim at the top of the camisole, so I got one skein of the same yarn in color 139 "Provence" (a paler lavender), which I think will contrast nicely. Winsor Button has the yarn for $6.50 per 186-yard skein, so I really did get quite a bargain.

I starting knitting this Wednesday night (July 5) and did the ribbing on a 16-inch size 2 Addi that I got at the Yarn Market in Portsmouth, NH. After the ribbing, I switched to a pair of aluminum size 3s that I got from my stepdaughter KBH (she gave me a large bag of needles, mostly aluminum). The pattern is very easy to remember, and I've gotten about 3 inches into it.

I would show you a picture, but Blogger won't let me upload the pic. Assholes!!!

No yarn at the yard sales today, but I got two really cute vintage cotton shirts for $2 each (possibly 50s-60s; they are a size 16 but fit me very well so I am thinking early 60s at the latest, due to my knowledge of vintage sizes). I also got some old brown sharkskin looking fabric ($1), two vintage kids t-shirts that I hope to recon ($0.25 each) and a little measuring device for hemming skirts ($0.50, ZMrK bought that for me). We went into Woolcott & Co. in Harvard Square and fondled yarn but didn't buy anything.

We did see the Strangers with Candy movie, which has an exclusive engagement this week at the Harvard Square Loews Cinema. It was great; as twisted as the television show always was (and maybe slightly more). I think Amy Sedaris is hilarious; she makes me think I should take some Improv classes and do some small-time acting.

I am very happy to say that pre-movie we saw only previews and no commercials! I hate commercials at the movies. . .

I'm going back to the A/C and Diet Dr. Pepper now. Either later tonight or tomorrow I'll do the pattern-a-day review. Is anyone getting bored with that yet? I kind of am, but I figure I only have half the year to go . . .

xoxo,
Zanti