party dress ahoy

My christmas prez from B. Orange is tickets to see Boston Ballet's Nutrcracker this saturday. On sunday, D and I are throwing our "2nd Annual Very Swish New Year's Eve Party". I love having an excuse to dress up, drink fancy-pants cocktails, and have friends over. Well, two dressy ocassions, and i've got nothing nice to wear! So i decided to sew my own dress. (yeah, yeah. because i am a wee bit nutz and don't have enough deadlines. shush.) Did i mention the wedding i am attending next weekend? 3 occasions in two weeks has to justify it, right?

This crazy idea is not /entirely/ my fault. I do have an accomplice. I was merely toying with the idea of sewing a dress this week, browsing patterns in the lab. Ms G got involved and decided to make one herself as well. she's an instigator, i tell you! (She met her beau at this very party last year. that's her excuse to need a pretty dress!)

One of the nice things about being grad students is that we can ditch the lab on a friday afternoon to hit the fabric stores! We both picked "new retro" dresses: butterick 4919 and butterick 4790. I picked a faux-silk shimmery number that is woven so that its silver in one light, lavender in another. (i'm hoping to also wear this dress to 3 winter/early spring weddings i've got coming up.) I found a picture of the original pattern over at the wonderful blog "A Dress A Day". Ms G picked a blue/brown silk dupioni combo that is just to-die-for.

I cut the fabric and started the major seams before we left for christmas and have worked on the rest of it most of the day today. Oh yeah, that's another nice thing about being a grad student: I can take this week off to hang out in my PJs and sew (and clean the house and get ready for the soiree) all day. If the boss asks, I officially call it "resting and relaxing before the hellish semester on the horizon".

My co-conspirator is just about finished with her dress! Its awesome. Mine is also just about finished. (picture taken while bodice and skirt were still pinned together.) Tomorrow i will finish hemming the full circle skirt (ugh!) and take a nicer picture of my dress.

purple & pirates

nothing soothes the "overwhelmies" in me like slaying a 2 year old UFO.
ok, its not entirely slain. But i spent FOUR HOURS of tv-time last night sewing in the #$*%&%$@ ends and doing up seams. Now I have one more seam and the neck still to knit. How is it that sewing in ends takes longer than the actual knitting? well, almost.

The original intended recipient of this sweater is now 3 years old. The second intended recipient is 2. Both of them have far outgrown this sweater. I'm really going to finish it now, and give it to Ms Zeebi's upcoming arrival. (i already told her, so i don't have to keep it a secret. *whew*)

In other news, i'm back in a "Purple Phase" again. I wear purple eyeglasses every day, but at the moment i've also got purple on the needles:

on the ears:

on the tree:

on the bobbin:

bring more aspirin

obviously, i haven't been knitting lately. have been dyeing, spinning, and preparing a "metric truckton" of yarn for Bazaar Bizarre last weekend. here's a picture of some of it:

(there was much more stashed under the table!)
BB was awesome. amazing. super duper. big "hi" to everyone who visited the show.

After 8 hours of standing, talking, spinning, interacting... i had to go home and crash immediately. I was in bed by 9 pm and slept 13 hours! i'm pretty sure i woke up with a "yarn hangover". ha!

the good news is that the "yarn factory" inhabiting my living room for the past few months has retreated. the bad news is that i just realized how behind i am on finishing christmas presents. wait, i'm stressed out because i'm overextended and behind on deadlines? this should surprise no one.

pictures of current projects coming soon.

no nice needles for me!

dangit! I went to NYC last weekend, tossed the sock-bag in my purse for knitting on the train... and later pulled out TWO broken brittany birch needles. :( I've already used their 'free replacement' offer once, so now i'm just stuck with two broken needles. I really like these needles, but apparently i don't treat them well. I guess i'll stick to my bent plastic Pony needles.



I wore my finished Falling Leaves socks yesterday. ok ok, actually i wore them for about 23 hours in a row (i slept in them). i love them to death. I think i want to wear handknit socks every day this winter. mmmmmmm, warm. right, but i only have 4 pairs because i usually give them away. must knit more socks. in my copious free time.

Merry Christmas, from the Baarmy Sheep! Locals: Don't forget to come to Boston Bazaar Bizarre this weekend to finish off your holiday shopping with tons of awesome handmade stuff.

sock action

Here are my finished Falling Leaves socks! Well, very very nearly finished. Because no matter how many times i do it, i have to look up the instructions for stretchy bind-off every single time. I just have a mental block against memorizing this, my preferred bind off for toe-up socks (aka EZs sewn bind-off).
Yarn: STR "Covelite", purchased over the summer at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas in Bainbridge Island, WA. (very cute shop. pricey, but nice.)
pattern: Falling Leaves from Knitty. heavily modified. started in Sept, languished in the sock bag until thanksgiving.


current purse-socks: another pair of jaywalkers. I was going to work on my blue Starsky sweater over thanksgiving after finishing the felling leaves socks. I really was planning on it. Instead, we went to the LYS, bought new yarn, and started these socks. They were supposed to be a present for my mom, but i am so enamored with this yarn i might keep them. the colors are really gorgeous. Meilenweit something-or-other. I've already lost the ball band.