I’m in a silly mood today.
(This is not an effective method of knitting.)
All posts by Peneloping
More pretties
Technically I’m not supposed to be buying anymore yarn but rules are meant to be broken so I went and bought two gorgeous skeins today.
First there’s this little guy.
I was halfway through Edge Chart #1 of Laminaria when I both screwed up royally (and still cannot figure out for the life of me where I mess up) and decided that the yarn I was using was too thick to compliment the lace pattern. I haven’t frogged it yet but I did buy a gorgeous skein of Malabrigo Lace in Emerald to make myself feel better.
I also came home with this gorgeous skein of Cascade fingering. It’s almost like a dark periwinkle. *petpet* I’ve already cast on my second Rae for the KAL!
And lastly, I finally bought a button for my Morning Walk Headband! I haven’t sewn it on yet but I knew I wanted a non-boring wooden button and this one totally fits the bill.
Yes, I do still have three papers due this week. Yes, I did procrastinate all day. In my defense, once I stopped procrastinating I totally finished one of three papers. I think I deserve a new skein for each paper I finish. #dangerousterritory
Tutorial: Zippered Pouch
I really wish I’d thought to buy more than one zipper because I have enough fabric to make at least three and it’d be so cute to have matching ones in different sizes.
These are really easy to make, too!
You can make these in pretty much any size, as long as your zipper is long enough. If it’s too long, that’s ok, you can just trim it and the side seam will act as the zipper end. I measured my fabric to 6″ x 9″ and out of sheer laziness, I pinned all four layers together and cut them all at once.
This might be difficult to see in the photo, but next I took one of each type of fabric and put them together, wrong sides facing out, and then put the zipper between them, pinned it, and sewed them together. The front side of the zipper should be facing the right side of the outer fabric so the zipper won’t be stuck inside the bag once you’ve turned everything right side out.
If you don’t have a zipper foot or can’t be bothered to learn how one works (*guilty*) it helps to unzip the zipper about halfway, sew that half, and then re-zip it to sew the bottom half.
Once that’s done, you should be able to flip the wrong sides over so the right sides are visible and it should look like this.
Now with these sides flipped down like this, do the same thing to the other side of the zipper. Make sure you have the fabrics facing the right sides (lining fabrics should be facing right sides together and ditto outer fabrics).
When you’ve sewn that seam, you should be able to flip those over as well and it should look like this.
Next, flip the pieces so the lining is all on one side and the outer fabric is all on one side. Make sure you unzip it at this point.
Pin around the entire thing and sew 1/4″ from the edge around it, leaving about a 2″ gap at the bottom of the lining part. The zippy bits of the zipper should be facing the lining side so they’ll tuck properly when you turn it right side out.
Turn the entire thing inside out.
Pin and sew the bottom edge to close the gap.
Tuck the lining into the outer fabric.
And voila!
Today is a day for pajimjams
It’s cloudy and freezing outside and I’m endlessly thankful that it’s Sunday so I can spend the entire day in my pajamas.
This morning I went to the cute fabric store across from the cute yarn store (have I mentioned how much I love my neighborhood?) and picked up some fabric for a little zip pouch I wanted to make. I had been browsing Etsy for cute bags for knitting supplies when I came across this listing and almost bought one until I remembered that I know how to sew.
These are the fabrics I chose. How adorable is the butterfly one??
I’m so in love. Hee.
Garter stitch and Estonian lace
I’ve mentioned my stupid mental blocks before. Things like reading a knitting pattern, knitting cables, and cooking with fresh garbanzo beans (still haven’t grown the balls to try that one, no idea why). For some reason even though I’ve been drooling over Laminaria for about as long as I’ve had a Ravelry account, I’ve always been stuck on the idea of Estonian lace and there was something about 1-3 and 3-3 stars that just sounds so inherently complicated. It was in my queue for ages and I even deleted it, thinking I was never going to get around to figuring it out.
Last night I was visited by a burst of inspiration and am now halfway through the first section.
I think this may have something to do with the near-600 rows of garter stitch I also finished last night for the Rae KAL in the Jane Richmond Ravelry group.
(Seriously though, Jane’s current garter kick is contagious. This scarf is SO squish. It’s super warm without being too bulky and the ends tuck in easily to coats or even to the scarf itself to look like a cowl. Go knit one. Now. Do it.)