I try every year to start knitting my gifts early. By early I mean like....August. It never happens, and I always end up with sore hands on Christmas Eve.
Luckily, I finished the day before Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve Eve as we used to call it!) this year. I made hats for both of my sisters, one for my brother-in-law, and one for my fiance, John. John's was a little special to put together as I had never done any "color work" before with knitting beyond stripes.
I think it turned out well! It's also super warm because there is a double layer of yarn around the logo. He wanted an old-school knit hat with a pom pom because it reminded him of the ones he wore as a kid, knitted by his Grandmother, of course.
I made this hat for my brother-in-law, Jack, from a free pattern. It was super quick, easy, and interesting to knit. It did come out a touch small, so I blocked it over one of my fiance's 19th century hats that has a large dome.
I treated myself to a staycation this week. I work for a local county government, so I already was given Christmas Eve and Day off, so I only needed to use three vacation days to get the rest of my week. I wouldn't say that I've been totally productive this week, but that's what staycations are all about, right? My plan was to sit on the couch and do a whole lot of nothing - I did a pretty solid job at that.
The good news is that work was done on my wedding dress. I took a morning (with my cats locked in the spare bedroom) to cut out my lace bodice. This was a pain in my ass. The lining material for the bodice is this net material, with which I have never worked. Pins do not stay in lace OR netting. Also, lace does not take marking chalk, or marks from transfer paper very well at all. It took FOREVER. I hate cutting out! It's my least favorite part about sewing; I just want to get started, already!!
I'm not so good at the basic skills needed to machine stitch, and I'm not an expert at using my machine. For example, I can hand baste a lining to the fashion fabric like a champ, but I know from watching many many youtube videos on the subject that there is a way to machine baste.
I gave it a shot. I machine basted, no one died. I had to play with my settings a few times to keep the lace from bunching up.
There were like 6 darts in this bodice. Of course I made the mistake of stitching first and fitting second. *Smacks self in forehead* I know better, I promise I do. Of course, the pattern was too big. Like, way too big. I don't understand why, either. I even put my strapless bra on my dress form, Gertrude, and put a little extra "umph" in her cups to fill her out a little. Still too big! It took about a day of adjusting, but I think I've taken in the darts enough to where it'll fit me smoothly.
I also cut out the sleeves. Not the sleeves I wanted, mind you. I was planning on having the awesome lace long sleeve that the pattern shows, but it's nowhere to be found in the package. I would email McCall's and complain, but the pattern is from 1964 and was owned before. Whatever, wasn't mean't to be, right? I'll just have short sleeves.
Today I think I'm going to *gasp* put on my sleeves. I SUCK at attaching sleeves. I mess this up without fail, every. single. time. I'm feeling that my best bet is to reverse jinx myself. It worked on my college football team last night in their bowl game! Go Hokies!
Victoria
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