sling

I finally finished the raw silk sling from Growing Up Sew Liberated, by Meg McElwee.  When I attended a really fancy wedding earlier this summer, I felt a bit drab in my simple dark blue jersey nursing dress and Moby Wrap.  I decided I really wanted a more dressy sling for special occasions.  With a dear friend's upcoming wedding right around the corner, I got to work.

The raw silk is from Hobby Lobby--the only 100% silk they had, and it happened to be 40% off.  A great way to spend my birthday money.  I got two sets of bronze sling rings online as well.  Then Muiche sent me beautiful thread that happened to match the fabric perfectly.  I tweaked the pattern slightly by making the sling an inch or so narrower, so I could simply split the silk in half.  If I get the hang of using it, I may dye the remaining silk and make a second sling.  I'm thinking  a rich brown.  

The whole thing took less than a week to make, as I could only work on it during Lucy's naps.  The secret seems to be daydreaming about the project endlessly, assembling all necessary materials in one place, and going over the directions thoroughly so that when her eyes close, I can leap up and get straight to work.

yarn along: Free Range Knitter

The body of Pete's sweater is slowly growing longer.  I don't really mind the endless stockinette--but it's getting too big to drag everywhere.  

Now that I've purchased another skein of dark grey, I can begin the second sleeve for on-the-go knitting.

In addition to listening to Tristan and Isolde on CraftLit, I just finished up the last little bit of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Free Range Knitter, and have just begun All Wound Up.

movie night: The Best Years of Our Lives

Another gem from the MishMash collection.  We made it about 2/3 of the way through and plan to finish it up next week.

yarn along: A Tale of Two Cities

Pete's sweater is coming right along.  We drove to NJ for a family party this weekend, and I somehow convinced him to listen to CraftLit the entire time.  We're well into A Tale of Two Cities as a result.

And as we came upon the last hill on our way home, I ran out of yarn.  (Well, yarn for that project.  I obviously had packed two balls of sock yarn and the relevant needles just in case I found the time on this overnight trip.)  So yesterday I wound the second skein and knit a few rows.  We put CraftLit on while we washed the dishes.  I think it'll last us a long time.

overdyeing

movie night: The Importance of Being Earnest

Misha and Masha brought over this treasure for movie night.  In retrospect, I really ought to have made muffins to go with it.  You can hardly eat muffins in an agitated manner, can you?

The butter would probably get on your cuffs.

knitting along again

In spite of the almost-four-months old babe on my hip, I’ve been getting a surprising amount of knitting, sewing, and reading done.  

I want to catch you up, especially on all of the Alabama Chanin-inspired hand-sewn jersey around here, but today I’ll stick to knitting.

I've revisited the sweater I began planning for Pete almost a year ago.  After measuring one of his heavy winter sweaters thoroughly, I crunched the numbers, using Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting without Tears for guidance.

Thanks to the Olympics and a trip to California, I've had lots of time to knit lately.  One dark grey sleeve is all but finished, and I'm finally past the body's infernal ribbing, which is pictured above.  The trouble is that I've nearly run out of the dark grey, so I see a frantic search in my future, probably at this year's Rhinebeck.

As for books, I've been devouring old episodes of the podcast Craftlit, which consists of a little crafty chatter followed by a classic lifted from Librivox.  Heather Ordover used to be an English teacher, so she has great insights into the literature, which I've really been enjoying.  So far I've listened to the episodes containing Pride and Prejudice and a number of short stories, including The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  I'm just about to begin The Turn of the Screw.

Plus!  (I know, right?) I just got all of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's books out of the library.  I stayed up late to finish up Knitting Rules! last night.  Incidentally, her books are all tiny and light, ideal for one-handed reading whilst nursing.  Which is finally going well!  My sad tale of nursing woe will have to wait for another day, as, you know, I actually have to go do it now.