KCW Days 1 - 3

I've been able to get in a total of 5 hours so far this week- I worried about finding time on Tuesday and Wednesday, but one late night and an unexpected change in my work schedule gave me the time I would have missed. 

I have 1 little dress and a pair of sleeves to share with you today:

I've made 4 of these little tunic tops now and the fact that they've been so easy is what has gotten me to sew so much more lately. My last few sewing adventures had been a big bust and I had a hard time getting motivated to get back to my machine. But after these and some pajama pants for my boys, I'm back to sewing with a bit of confidence.

These are the beginnings of Simplicity 5695, view A. I'm making these in the 2T size, so they may be a little big on Ellie this fall, but should fit her a few months from now in late winter/early spring. I'm planning to also make view C in a coordinating fabric to this one depending on how it turns out.

I finished another little tunic dress like the one above last night, but haven't had time for photos yet. I'll add that in 

Yarn Along

{Yarn Along with Ginny. Will You join us?}

After an overflowing week, it's been hard to remember when exactly I knit. But I know I did- I have the inches on my Exploding Socks to prove it. I'm done with the foot of #1 and a few rows into the patterning on sock #2. And I know for sure that I did the toe of sock #2 incorrectly and had to rip it back and do it again so those hours have to be somewhere...

Most of my creative time has been going into sewing this week for KCW. I've finished 2 little dresses and started the sleeves on another, but now I need to get pictures of Ellie in them, which is proving quite tricky these days as she is faster and knows what the camera is for. 

In my reading, I finished Wuthering Heights and moved on to Emma by Jane Austen, reading on the kindle. I'm not reading a ton these days unfortunately- by the time I get to bed these days I'm going right to sleep. Allergies have been doing such a number on me this season. Much of my reading lately is with the boys- we picked up a recording of The Jungle Book at the library (read by Jim Weiss!) and as soon as we finish the last CD of Farmer Boy we'll be moving on to Jungle Book.

Ready Go!

Are you participating? 

I made my list last week and spent some time over the weekend getting ready for all the sewing in the next 7 days. Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be a bit of a challenge to find the time to sew around kids and work, but hopefully I'll find a solution. I'm hoping for 4-6 finished items by this time next week, and then a bit of a hiatus from sewing so that I can really dig into fall knitting (which is begun, but not making very quick progress).

I fear a polka dot problem has sprung up. I didn't realize that I was buying so many polka dots until they were all stacked together, and I know the three pictured here don't seem to constitute a problem, but there are at least three more polka dot prints not pictured here. The fabric on the left is for another long sleeve dress, the grey with white polka dots for a skirt, and the lighter prints are for short sleeve dresses that we can layer and carry into spring. 

I have some unpictured cartoon prints for boy pajama pants and some linen for some pants with a flat front for the boys. They have enough jeans now after a quick weekend shopping trip, but still lacking on the "nice" but comfortable pants front.

Planning for KCW

Kids Clothes Week is coming up on Monday and I'm planning to sew along. I originally thought I'd come here to write and tell you about needing to buy fabric since my fabric stash is significantly smaller than my yarn stash, but then I actually went into my fabric stash and saw the madness.

I haven't sewn more than a small repair here and there over the last 2 years until this recent run at the machine. And yet, there's all that fabric. I could hardly believe it when I laid it all out on the guest bed to sort. And now I need to store it in some way better than the stack of weird plastic totes that still line the wall since we moved in almost 2 years ago.


And best of all, I found a few projects I cut out at least 2 years ago that no longer fit my tall boys. I swear they have each grown at least a foot in the past two years. I think I can rescue both pair- the one that would have been Ezra's will go on to be Ellie's and I'm going to get creative with a second fabric so that Ender can still wear his since I cut them so long over 2 years ago. I'm not sure why I originally cut them to be so long, but I did and now I'm truly grateful for the cutting oversight.

All that to say that I'm working on a plan for KCW that is slightly different than I originally thought it would be, but still good. I'm over-planning by a long ways, but I'd rather have more to do than less and not run out when there is good sewing time ahead of me.


The priorities:

1. Nice-looking but comfortable pants for the boys. I have two pieces of linen from who knows when that look like they are big enough to get at least 1 pair of pants for each of them.

2. 1 more pair of pajama pants for each of the boys. Since I let them pick pajama fabric we will have a pair of Toy Story pants and also some cartoon dog pajamas.

3. Finish the last 2 long sleeve dresses for Ellie.



Extra:

1. I cut pieces to make an Olivia top before we left on our trip, so I'm planning to make that one as well if I can figure out the button hole thing. I did button holes on my machine once or twice a few years ago and my memory is foggy. I'll try to mess around with that this weekend before the KCW challenge begins.

2. I have 2 more pair of leggings cut for Ellie that just need sewn up.



Now to figure out what to do with other fabrics in the stash. I've given up on trying to figure out how it all got there.

Little Beginnings

{Won't you join in the Yarn Along with Ginny this week?}

It's been a casting on sort of week since we got home on Sunday. It was warm enough here when we left on our vacation, but now that we're home again it is definitely on its way to truly being autumn. I haven't had to turn on the heat just yet, but the cooler evenings and mornings definitely inspired the casting on of a few fall/winter knits.


The rainbow-y colored ribbing is going to become thumbless mittens for Ellie and also a pair of mittens for Ezra. He picked out this yarn when we visited the Nerd Girl Yarns booth at Maker's Faire back in June and specifically asked them to be made into mittens. The colorway is Fantastical Fastener on a fingering weight- which means I'm knitting mittens on US 2 DPNs.


The white is the beginnings of my first hat for Halos of Hope. The Knitmore Girls are taking part in a friendly competition between podcasters to bring as many hats as possible to Stitches West to benefit Halos of Hope. And as if the contest itself weren't enough, they are offering prizes to people who participate, including some of Jasmin's own handspun. I'm starting now, and aiming to knit as many hats as I can between now and the middle of February.



I'm still reading Wuthering Heights, but failing to see the attraction. I think I would have loved it if I had read it at 16, but now as a married mother of three who rather enjoys a drama-less existence, I'm not such a fan of the drama for silly reasons. The language does make me want to read Austen next though- maybe Emma or Mansfield Park? I have a few things waiting at the library too when I get a chance to pick them up.