Blog entries - January 2011

Planning January's Dress

Shelley — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:00:00 +0100

Since I just posted about my December dress it should come as no surprise that January's dress is still more idea than finished garment. I'm not really too worried about my "deadlines" though - they're more like guidelines really and the fabric for February's dress will not be here until at least the 16th anyway. I thought it would be fun to share my ideas for January's dress because I've been building it in my head for a while.

Just a quick post while we're home for lunch. This is what I saw when I walked around the side of my office building on my way to met Rob. We've been seeing lots of sundogs the last little while but to see the full circle is rare. Can you see the little white flecks near the top of the picture - those are ice crystals. The air is sparkly today.

10 Dresses: December

Shelley — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:37:50 +0100

Oh ... I like this one. This pattern is from the same book as my last two dresses. The sample in the book is in black and I just loved the lines in the dress. I knew I could make it in another colour but it looked so fantastic in black that I didn't really want to try. I asked Rob for his opinion. He said he thought a black dress would be a handy thing for me to have. It looks smart all...

I just licked a lot of stamps

Shelley — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:03:15 +0100

So now I'm making tea and printing off a bunch of letters.

The cards I'd ordered for New Year's this year (I never even try to get out cards in time for Christmas) finally arrived at the end of last week. I don't know what took them so long but I'm glad they're here. Rob and I polished off our what-we-did-in-2010 letter and I went to the post office for stamps. I was going to get the plain old regular ones but the...

I didn't say banana

Shelley — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:44:38 +0100

I started some new socks today. I know. I know. I've got three other pairs on the needles (in fact all of my 2.00 mm needles are in use right now) but I'd been waiting to start this pair for almost a month and when my yarn arrived I wasn't going to put them off any longer.

Here is "Orange You Glad" in Socks that Rock Lightweight; my colour choice for the Solstice Slip (Ravel...

Christmas Hats

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:49:33 +0100

It's a bit late into January to be sharing Christmas stuff but I only just got my last picture at lunch today. My Christmas knitting this year was all hats. I can't remember what put the idea into my head but it seemed very achievable so I went with it. It was a lot of fun to pick out a pattern and yarn for each person; I tried out three new yarns and two new patterns. Here's the run down:

For Mum:

...

Knitting in the Sunset

Shelley — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:43:29 +0100

It was too cold to walk to the coffee shop Friday afternoon so I spent my break knitting in the sunset at an empty desk instead. A cup of hot chocolate completed the coziness. I'm working on my Swing Set socks and I'm already finished the first cuff and half way through the second. I figured I'd knit them both since they have to be finished and blocked bef...

Almost There

Shelley — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:07:40 +0100

Rob's bug socks, half way through the second toe. Clearly I wasn't knitting fast enough.

As I see it, these are my options:

1) Finish the sock with another colour (I might have a green around somewhere). Certainly the speediest, easiest option but not the most aesthetically pleasing.

2) Break open my skein of emergency sock ya...

10 Dresses: November

Shelley — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:25:26 +0100

There was much procrastination involved in this dress, especially when it came to the last bits of finishing, but it is finally done and photographed and I'm very happy with it.

The fabric is a Nani Iro print from my stash. I don't remember what it was originally intended for but I've never been able to bring myself to cut into it before. The pattern is from the same Japanese ...

Random Image #17

Shelley — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:03:39 +0100

I spent part of this evening looking for some pictures of my garden last summer and found this one of a bunch of fabric. I just like it so much. The fabrics are part of a kit I got a few years ago. It was completely Liette's fault.

We'd finally found Earthly Goods quilt shop in Edmonton and were having a great time browsing around. I'd picked out a few fat quarters and a couple ...

I Learned Something Today

Shelley — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:53:41 +0100

The left side of my zipper foot is for invisible zippers.

I've sewn several invisible zips with this foot and never, ever realized this. You wouldn't believe how much easier everything is when you're using your machine properly.

Hello 2011

Shelley — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 12:42:45 +0100

Is it 2011 already? Somehow the last few days of 2010 disappeared much faster than I was expecting. It's a good feeling to be looking ahead at the new year today. I wonder what it will bring, what we will see and where we might go. We don't have any big plans so far, so it really is a mystery right now.

Abby and I went for our last walk of 2010 yesterday afternoon and I thoug...