May 30

Lucy wore her polka dots, shown here while still in progress. In fact, we arrived home so late that she slept in it and wore it for most of the next morning as well.  That reminds me--my next mission is to make us both some light summery nightgowns.  My funny fleecy pajama pants have ceased to be bearable now that it's so muggy. 

May 29

Seven skirts, complete.  

  We had an amazing assembly line going, with my sister and my niece manning the ironing board while I zipped through four skirts simultaneously.  I am so excited for our next visit.  We already have a project in mind for next time.

Notes: Lucy's are size 2-3.  My niece's are 6-7 cut to 8-9 length. 

May 28

Both our girls wore their stripey skirts today, hot off the sewing machine.  I cut out four more and, thanks to my intrepid ironers, nearly finished them.  In the inimitable words of The Little Engine that Could, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....."

May 27

The first pair of skirts is nearly finished.  I squeaked in some too-wide elastic for a quick pre-bedtime fitting and pinned it together. We'll get the right width tomorrow.  In the meantime, I'm hoping to cut out the next four skirts now that I'm sure they're a good fit.  I'm beginning to despair of finishing all 6 by Saturday, but I'm still going to try my damnedest. 

Yarn Along:

I've gotten back into both Outlander and knitting this week. This bright little hat is almost finished. As I hit the decreases, I started to mull over what should come next. Since I'm traveling, I wanted to be sure to bring enough yarn along. Naturally that meant winding my skein of Empire, which weighs in at a solid 1.7 lbs, a perfectly rational amount of yarn to lug along on a week-long trip.  It'll become a Ramona sweater, if I can monkey with the gauge a tiny bit to achieve an in-between size. Peter and I were crunching the numbers before I left. Math is so much more urgent and fascinating when it's about knitting.  Suddenly I want to know the right way to figure things out and am not content to let him just give me the answer. It feels good to flex those muscles again. 

May 26

Today I cut out the seersucker skirts for the girls. Sebastian and I kept up our end of the bargain, but Lucy wore her newly thrifted summer duds.  I'd better sew like the wind if I want that to change before May is over.  Wish me luck!

May 25

Lots of potential in this little stack of blue and white. The plan is to make some matching skirts for Lucy and my niece.  Stay tuned....

May 24

Finally captured the elusive brown corduroy shorts that have braved so many explosions.  I was going to wear my new black dress, but it was not to be.  It suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune before I even left the house.  Speaking of slings, today I wore one I made when Lucy was a baby.  I've learned so much about babywearing since sewing it, and have since acquired a few other modes which I prefer.  As a result, it gets very little use.  Still, it came in handy today--and Sebastian even fell asleep in it briefly.  A kind friend took some photos of us today which I'll share soon.

May 23

So grateful to our friend who captured this moment.  All four of us in handknit sweaters.  Just the push I need to jump back into knitting garments.  Geronimo!

May 22

We had the most beautiful day, spending hours outside. Lucy got positively filthy. It was absolutely worth it.  All of us wore various sweaters, though they came off and then were snatched back up throughout the day.  It's days like this that make me realize how essential my knitting is to our general happiness. In the winter, we stay inside so much more. But when the wind picked up on this sunshiny day, Lucy ran up to me at the playground bellowing, "I so cold, Mama!!!" I popped on her pickled beets cardigan and a fleece and she didn't complain again, even after getting soaked in the river.  And Sebastian's ears stayed warm with the help of the hat my sister made him.  I haven't been knitting much lately, mainly because I'm so obsessed with sewing and spinning right now, but after a day like this I'm so inspired to pick up my needles in earnest again.  Cheers!

May 21

 "I Doctor Lucy.  I fix you."

The only new item to discuss today--these tube socks--barely stayed on for the photo.  I love the idea of them, but they aren't practical unless there are shoes to keep them on.  Poor kid was slipping all over the place too.  Fashion just isn't worth it, Sebastian.  Don't worry--it was cold enough to warrant wool sweaters all around, so we all still adhered to the rules.  There's a freeze warning for the next couple of days.  Stay tuned!

May 20

Though just yesterday I was lamenting our lack of short sleeves, in typical Jordanville fashion, today is another wool day.  In the morning, I assumed it would eventually warm up, but by noon we could still see our breath, so we piled on a few more layers.

Lucy's bedraggled sweater lived to see another day.

I put off changing out of these polka dotted pajama pants for as long as possible.

When I finally shed them, my handspun sweater and a thrifted woolen Pendleton skirt made the parting easier to bear.  When I found it, this skirt was a size or two too small, but for under $10 I just couldn't pass it up.  I took the waistband off and expanded it by taking out the stitching holding down one or two of the pleats.  They opened up and gave me just enough wiggle room.  Then I hand sewed ribbon over the top to finish it nicely.  I've done this little surgery on several Pendleton skirts.  I wear them nearly every day in the winter.

Speaking of which, Peter's been living in his vest, and Sebastian's leggings and bib were made slightly more interesting by the addition of some adocado, as Lucy would call it.

Yarn Along: possibilities

I'm savoring A Room with a View and planning to delve into this library book my friend recommended as well.

 This pound of wool/mohair fiber is spinning up beautifully.  It's not exactly consistent, but somehow that makes it all the more appealing to me.  I'm trying to come up with a pattern for it.  My heart is set on making a garment for myself, which will mean some sort of vest or colorwork sweater.

I'm considering making the Loro Vest, so that if I run out of handspun, the back could be commercial yarn.  That could either look amazing or ridiculous.  I've also thought about making a good old Léttlopavesti.  The Moto Vest could work too.

If all else fails, I know I could make an amazing garment for one of the kids.

May 19

We all need more short sleeves in this house.  The past few days have been hot, though storms keep blowing in and cooling everything off.  

This morning I dug out this old shirt of mine from the scrap heap and found this tutorial to make Lucy a nightshirt.

She was wearing it by lunchtime.  It can pass as a dress, but I don't plan on making more of them.  I'd rather start from scratch, since running the elastic through the  hems was so fiddly and the result isn't a great fit.  Still, it will get the job done.

Sebastian and I wore our old standbys.  Bib and shorts for him, Alabama skirt for me.  Our turn will come, buddy.

May 18

 Same old duds around here.  In this photo, we are both wearing something upcycled.  My trusty circle spiral skirt and his plaid shorts each started out as men's shirts.

For anyone interested in working with salvaged fabrics, I highly recommend the Alabama Stitch Book.  It includes instructions for cutting apart thrifted shirts to get the maximum amount of useable fabric. I'm planning on breaking down a bunch of my dad's old shirts for another one of these skirts in the near future.  The fabric still has so much life in it.

May 17

Lucy shed her pickled beets cardigan as soon as we got out of church, but I'm still going to count it.

Sebastian started out the day in pants, but we swapped them out for these more practical shorts when the day turned hot.

 And now for the dress that's taken nearly a year to complete.

It's the tank dress from Alabama Studio Style, in black organic jersey, with 3/4 sleeves from a basic shirt pattern tacked on.  The design is Angie's Fall Placement Stencil, which I cut out of quilter's template with a woodburning pen.  I also used my trusty airbrush gun to paint it in black on the front and back middle panels.  That proved to be ridiculously difficult to see, so for a while I only did the backstitch which outlined the design at noon outdoors wearing sunglasses that somehow increased the contrast. After working that way for an embarrassingly long time, I had the brilliant idea to outline the design in a special hot pink erasable crayon to make it more visible. After that, the project flew by.

My main stroke of genius on this project was to only make a double layer of jersey on the stenciled center panels. The extra layer ends at my waist, so I was able to do the reverse appliqué and cut away the top layer in spots without lining the entire dress.  For now, this is a great loophole to avoid using 6 yards on one dress. This little hack meant I only needed 3.  I did wear my fuscia slip beneath, which definitely made it look more substantial and less clingy.  In future I'll think long and hard about making a fully lined version.

Lucy abandoned her soft serve when she spotted this dandelion.

I asked what she wished for, and she told me, "MOAR ICE CREAM!"  How convenient.

I would have wished for a closet full of these dresses.

May 16

We all wore repeats today, but I did finally finish up my black six gore dress.  It turned out even better than I had hoped.  It'll feel so great to wear something different tomorrow!

May 15

We had a little debate about where these tube socks belong.  Lucy seems to think they make better mittens. 

Sebastian and his bib are skeptical. 

May 14

Yesterday, we all broke out our woolies again.  Not only did Lucy wear her pickled beets cardigan and her mended tunic and leggings, but she also had on some hand knit tube socks.

Today she donned another handspun dress for our trip to the Farmer's museum.

Sebastian has worn his Davies Mashup sweater for the past two days.  

My few pairs of handknit socks and my handspun owls cardigan have really come in handy. I need to get a picture of it before it heats up around here again.  

When I first signed on for this, I imagined that my knitted pieces would not get much screen time.  Me Made May is definitely geared towards those who sew.     In fact, Karen Templer recently proposed a Slow Fashion October to showcase knitwear a bit more. I definitely am looking forward to participating in it, in addition to Woolvember.  Suddenly the calendar is filling up!  It's comforting to remember that we never go long here without reaching for a sweater.   

Yarn Along

Just a quick note to say it is all about socks around here.  I'm wearing these, now that it's turned a bit cold here, and knitting these.

And I'm rereading A Room with a View.  I just couldn't resist snatching it up again.

May 12

It was blustery enough today to warrant some hand knits.  My magic cake ruffle shawl kept me warm on our walk to the library.

Another bow, another pair of shorts. 

He wore this pair last night when we went out to dinner.  They might be my favorite yet.  Today's pair was a fine wale brown corduroy that wound up in the laundry basket before I could obtain photographic evidence of their existence.  Next time.  

May 11

More shorts!  This particular pair will be great for really hot days.  The fabric is very fine--similar to the feel of double gauze.  I finished up the others this morning.

I am sorely tempted to make him a dozen more pairs, but in the harsh light of day remembered how fast he grows.  These are 12-18m, so we'll see how long they last this 8 month old.  Also I had a dream about sewing more shorts, so it might be time to take a little breather.

Soon I'll make a few for Lucy.  She needs some handmade summer duds.

Today this rosebud hair clip will have to suffice.

Now I'm racing to finish setting in the sleeves on my new Alabama gore dress, so you have that to look forward to.  In the meantime, I'm wearing that scanty slip and keeping the blinds closed.