Tag Archives: cozy

Archer + Virginia sittin’ in a tree

Plaid Archer Plaid Archer Plaid Archer Plaid Archer Plaid Archer shirt: self-made, pattern here // leggings: self-made, pattern here // glasses: Bonlook // knee socks: J.Crew // boots: Boutique9 

Sometimes projects just don’t work out the way you planned. You have this perfect image in your head, you painstakingly gather all the supplies, read all the tutorials, and do all the math, and something just doesn’t work out.

This was kind of the opposite. :]

I had absolutely zero faith that this would work out. I’ve always had a soft spot for a cute plaid shirt, but even after seeing a bunch of gorgey Archer on the interwebs, I had sort of decided that that was beyond my skill set or patience level to even attempt. But then I decided that I needed a crazy skill-developing project (to even out the endless hours of mindless ruffling) so I figured this would be a good idea. But I was pretty sure this was going to fail.

I started looking for a cute cotton flannel plaid print that wasn’t too preppy/matronly/sleepingshirty/manly/boring and when I saw this one I knew it was a winner. I immediately set out to read about a million tutorials on how to match plaids.

These two posts were particularly helpful:

http://reallyhandmade.com/cutting-out-plaid/
http://reallyhandmade.com/sewing-plaids/

I’m not joking when I say that it took me two weeks to cut out all the fabric. I had to read and reread tutorials a bajillion times, and then I’d get myself all geared up to cut into the fabric and give up at the last minute. Two weeks. Maybe I should’ve picked a shittier fabric to start with because falling in love with this one made things even more stressful. The fact that the cotton flannel didn’t like to keep its shape is great for shirt comfy-ness but not so great for cutting.

I totally have the hang of it now though!I stalked everyone else’s Archers to see what pieces were supposed to be cut on the bias (I ended up doing the pockets, the right button band, the sleeve cuffs, and the outside piece of the back yoke) because I realized I had no idea which ones were supposed to be. I even made the pockets and sleeve cuffs (which I forgot to roll down and photograph) identical to each other! I tried to match everything else as best as I could and it was totally worth the extra effort, although I now have an annoying habit of scrutinizing (ok, and judging) everyone’s plaids to see if they match.

And yeah, I’ve worn this every single day since I finished it on Wednesday evening. I should probably make a few more.

PS Yes, those are a pair of Virginia leggings I snuck in there! These were made out of moisture-wicking fabric that I ordered off eBay. I’ve worked out in them but I haven’t actually gone for a run in them so I can’t really speak to the effectiveness of the moisture-wicking abilities. They’re definitely super toasty though.

PPS I feel like Archer + Virginia is a match made in heaven.

PPPS You guys, I’m so in love with this shirt it’s not even funny.

Link heavy

I was so good this weekend, I kind of feel like I deserve a medal. Or a shopping spree at mryarn.com (I’m only half kidding).

First of all, I finished Beatnik! Finally! It’s currently pinned to my carpet drying at the rate of a snail’s crawl. I haven’t attached the sleeves yet because they came out a bit too tight so I stretched them out like crazy and I’m hoping it’ll loosen them up a bit so I won’t have to re-knit them.

Then I also finished my Waffle socks! They’re so cozy looking I want to just curl up in bed with a mug of hot cocoa and pet them. Except then I would probably fall asleep and spill hot cocoa all over them and me and that’s just not pleasant.

I also started two projects over the weekend that are making me squee with glee. One is a Hermione Stripey McRainbowpants v2.0. I made one a few months ago but as I mentioned previously, it was before I understood the concept of gauge and therefore it came out far too small. Plus the gray was too dark and I also hadn’t mastered the concept of mixing fibers and therefore I was using cotton for two of the stripes and it just turned out too shiny compared to all of the wool.

Second is what is turning out to be my favoritest project ever, except the “tbl”‘s. Those are driving me insane and if I get arthritis one day I’m placing all of the blame on this project. I reaaally wanted to knit Kim Hargreaves’ Demi after seeing the gorgeous one Mags made, but I couldn’t justify spending $30 on a pattern book when there was only one pattern I liked in it (ok, I might probably knit Aimee too).

Anyway, I had a Jo-ann coupon that was about to expire and I happened to be wandering through Jo-ann (*innocentstare*) and a skein of Lion Brand Fisherman wool happened to fall into my hands and somehow went home with me.

PS I love this yarn.

The only thing is that I’m about 25 rows into the pattern (holysmallcharts) and I can’t decide if I should frog it and make the XS instead of the S. I have kind of an annoying figure for knitting projects (long torso/arms, tiny waist, D-cup breasticles). I don’t want to look like a hobo in this sweater but I also want to avoid pornographic chest cabling.

Andd on that note, back to work. I miss the weekend already.