Hummingbird Pantsuit

Here is my recent sewing. It is the Hummingbird Pantsuit from Rabbit Rabbit Creations. Initially the BigMiss was not interested. I asked her to pick material anyway and she picked satin. SATIN! Shiny, slippery, fraying, satin.  

It was a relatively easy sew given that I was using such a tricky fabric. The only MAJOR problem was tiredness. I somehow managed to sew the bodice on lining side out. Plenty of ripping later and a quick restitch and it was done.

She loves it. Has worn it four afternoons in a row. (after sewing and after school) I would wash it but the machine has just broken and won't be fixed for a few days. Who knows maybe I can make more clothes so we can all wear new things rather than having to wash.

I doubt it.

And even though it is incomplete I will show a quick flash of the Pantsuit for the LittleMiss. Not to be outdone by her sister she has also chosen a non-cotton fabric. Although it does not slip as much, it does have some lovely pink glittery puff paint(?) on it. Scratchy. I will finish it one day.

Pattern is available here if you are interested.

KCW plans

Plans for the Kids clothing week Jan 27 - Feb 2.

Girl Sewing
1. Finish a pair of school pants for the Big Miss. She has grown so much over the past weeks her current ones are now too small. I just know if I do not get any done for her the weather will turn and she'll need them.
For these I am planning to use the Jalie 3022 Yoga pants pattern and an active stretch fabric from Spotlight. I'm not sure what it is called although it is 100% polyester. I am hoping that the Big Miss likes to wear this fabric - she picked it in the store but she is very fussy and last year refused most polyester fabrics.

2. Trial some bather bottoms. Can I make them? The kids all currently wear a rashie and bottoms for swimming lessons. But it is hard to source separate bottoms for girls and I find it wasteful to buy a two piece when I know the top will not get used. I am still thinking of how to approach this.

3. Peekaboo V neck Cardigan There is a sewalong for this pattern during KCW week so this may inspire me to make one. Not sure of the fabric yet.

Boy Sewing

1. Oliver +S sailboat pants and top I am thinking of navy cotton with green pin stripes that the little man received in his Christmas pack from a good friend. (All my children received a parcel of fabric in addition to other items for Christmas from a good friend of ours.)

Unfortunately the pattern cover for this pattern does not show the boy version with the pants. Check out the link if you are interested.

2. Oliver +S Naturewalk pants The Little Man has no long pants for the coming winter. I am hoping to get a few pairs made before cold weather sets in. He loves pull on pants and these have a interesting waistband detail. I only have the pattern in the larger sizes so I may need to adjust length for him. His preference for baggier fit may allow these pants to be worn earlier than the pattern designer intended.

3. Peekaboo Hangout Hoodie would love to get one of these done for him. Lack of green stretch may be an issue. Will see if I can get him to agree to blue.

Other People's Kids clothing

1. I have to get a school dress in size 2 made for a child at the girl's primary school by Tuesday. This is the only guaranteed make on this plan.

So how much will I get done? Combining all these plans with a public holiday on Monday, working in the school uniform shop all Tuesday and the Big Miss' return to school on Wednesday.

Stay tuned to see....

Explorer Shorts

An often voiced complaint is that the number of female patterns and projects made easily outnumbers the number of male patterns.

Most of my recent blog posts have been projects for the girls. I struggle to find something that is different enough to warrant purchasing a new pattern for the little man. How many ways can you make pants? Shorts? Tops?

I am now actively trying to rectify this terrible imbalance. These pictures show his current favourite outfit - at 3 and a half he has decided the shirt and shorts go together. I wonder whether he matched them because he was given them at the same time or because they are both green.

The shorts were based on explorer shorts by hey there threads. The pattern is fantastic and he loves the pocket detailing. I have top stitched every seam I possibly could to make them more interesting.

The main fabric is a drill purchased from a 2nd hand shop and luckily (as he loves it so much) there is plenty more. The pocket fabric came from my mum's patchwork stash. 

The week 27th Jan - 2nd Feb is kids clothes week. I will be spending my time making clothes for the little man - rectifying the balance a little further :)

Mara and Rainbow Shorts

Here is an outfit I made for my Little Miss for Christmas. She decided just before Christmas (and luckily before I had started sewing for her) that her favorite colour was, once again, yellow. In the past twelve months it has been orange, red, yellow and pink. I had already earmarked the fabric I used for the shorts for her as rainbow would surely cover all bases.

For the top of this outfit I have made the Mara Blouse by compagnie m. I love the insert on this top it looks like it would be tricky and yet it was so easy!

I have used a yellow cotton lawn from Spotlight for the main part of the top and the insert is a white broderie anglais fabric I was lucky enough to find on the remnants table in Lincraft. This top was so cheap to make and yet so unique. With fabric purchased on sale the cost of the shirt matches or is less than the cheap imported t-shirts from department stores. The comparative cost does not factor in my time as sewing is my entertainment and relaxation. 

 I have included this photo as it was the clearest view of the sleeve option I used - it is called a butterfly sleeve. How cute is it?

The shorts I made using a pattern from an old Topkids magazine. (issue 51). Unfortunately this magazine and others like it are only available second hand (ebay anyone?).

I changed the orientation of the stripes to contrast the pockets. I also removed the pockets on the front and placed one on the back. And look! I almost matched one stripe :P

The Little Miss enjoys wearing these shorts as they are loose and she can move freely in them. 

This outfit is one of my favorites and I am not sure why. Maybe the colours or perhaps because I had such fun making everything. 

And here is one last look at the whole outfit...

Tween Seasons Coat

For Christmas I tried to sew the girls different patterns. 

The tween seasons coat and the Audrey were the only patterns I made twice. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, sewing two things the same can be dull (I realise this could just be me but why set myself up for failure?)  and second if I created two of everything you can guarantee that at least one item would be completely disliked by one child who would refuse to wear it. 

As it is, a few items I made for the Big Miss have had to be reassigned to the Little Miss one pending a remake in a larger size - in exactly the same fabric thank you! The other was an unloved piece blogged her which was always going to be risky as the Big Miss really prefers skinny fit stretchy tops to anything else. While she will wear woven for dresses, tops are unpredictable. This one was a fail. 

This is the tween seasons coat in size 8. Perfect fit for the Big Miss (Blue) but a bit big on the Little Miss (Green fairies).

Both girls thought they may wear them with leggings in winter (trench-coat dress perhaps?) but I just really enjoyed making these. They took me outside my comfort zone but supported me with great instructions.

This pattern made me;

- add a collar,

- sew buttonholes (I could have used snaps as I usually do but I was challenging myself here),

- cover my own buttons (they looked great but the button under the Big Miss' belt had the cover bit fall off hence the artistic belt placement),

- add patch pockets with flaps

and line the entire thing!

 

Can you see the little button on the Little Miss' sleeve? I even used buttons on the inside to provide my buttons with extra strength.

Although I am really not sure these will get worn I did learn a lot doing them and I did get to see them on once.

Sweet Allie dress

This is the Sweet Allie Dress by Lily Bird Studio. How could I resist? The sleeve detail and the cute collar look much harder than they were I think. The pieces went together without a hitch and it looks exactly as the pattern picture does. This is always a plus.

I bought the pattern first then took Big Miss shopping for fabric. Her instructions were to find two coordinating prints for a dress. I should have been more specific. She kept picking out cotton drill. After a few choices I showed her the areas she could pick from. This resulted in these two fabrics. They are exactly her colours at the moment. For a while she was all pink all the time but thankfully she has moved beyond that right now. 

This pattern has the back sewn in two pieces to include what is referred to as a hanging loop. I have no idea how that would work so i just called it a back tab. But can you see how I matched up that print? I am so proud of that. 

I did not do as well matching the fronts. There is a button placket down the center that does break up the pattern but I think I could have made that nicer if I had thought about it. 

 The side panels and the sleeve cuffs are both in the coordinating print.

The only issue with this dress...the size. I made a 7 and as you can see in the pictures it does fit but it is a little tighter than the Big Miss would like and a little shorter than the Big Man likes. Luckily there was a big Spotlight sale on after Christmas so I went back and bought more. Unfortunately there was not much of the side panel fabric left so I am not sure if I will have enough to make another bigger, longer one. So I am avoiding starting it because I am not ready to find out for sure.

But this pattern is a definite recommend! I will keep my eye out for other lilybirdstudio patterns for the kids.

Peek-a-Boo Audrey

Hi there and welcome to the new year blog.

Way back in November I mentioned how I was sewing for Christmas. Shortly thereafter I dropped off the blogosphere because as it was tricky finding time to sew when the kids weren't paying attention getting modelled or even decent photos was impossible and really every good post needs pictures. Right?

And so I return now that gifts have been received and I have taken some pictures.

I will start with the audrey cross over party dress from Peek-a-Boo patterns. (There are a few of these patterns used for Christmas gifts and even more patterns I did not get made in time - thank you black friday sales!)

This pattern is sized from 3months to 12 and also includes a pattern for an 18" doll. Perfect for a parent of two girls who may happen to have the appropriate sized doll as well.

The first version I made for the Little Miss in size 6 out of 1m of fabric!

Prior to purchasing the pattern I took the girls shopping and asked them to pick out something they liked. I bought 1 metre thinking of a skirt or a straight a line dress. After buying the fabric Little Miss selected I knew I had to use it. In order to fit this pattern onto my 1m I had to be a little creative and cut the skirt part off grain. I don't think it matters for this dress too much.

I made the binding for this dress using a fat quarter of a pink blender fabric. I have lined the bodice with a light pink cotton lawn - I mention this so you know the bodice is lined. I have not got internal pics. The Little Miss loves it!

The Big Miss had no chance of her fabric being used for this pattern. I made her a size 8 which the pattern says requires 1.5yards which is around 140cm. I found 1.5m of this purple fabric in the stash. I cut the bodice out and then used the remaining length of the fabric cut in half for the skirt. This may have resulted in a slightly longer than the pattern dress, but for the Big Miss extra length is needed.

                     

The binding for this dress was another fat quarter from the stash and I must admit that the Big Man of the house did not like the combo when initially shown. I ignored him. sometimes this works out well and this was one of those times as the Big Miss loves this dress. She has worn it at least 3 times since Christmas. 

If you look really closely in the photo of the back you can see that I have used a snap for the closure rather than the suggested button. This was because the Little Miss' dress had a slight mishap with the binding which resulted in the need for a loop button hole to be created for the closure. This may or may not have been completed yet...

But as you can see these dresses are perfect for the little girl who wants to party or for the girls who want to search for raspberries in the garden.

Be back soon with more!

The Norah Tunic

Recently Hayley the blogger responsible for Welcome to the Mouse House released her very first pattern, the Norah dress and Tunic pattern I loved the shape and the cute collar. How could I go wrong? Look at the photo montage! Collar, no collar, colour blocked, sleeves, no sleeves - endless possibilities I thought. 

So I caved. I bought it. And there began my tale of woe...

The day I bought this pattern was unlike others as Dear Partner was home. The Little Man seemed sick and all hands on deck to get others where they needed to be. I thought, I need something to look forward to. I will buy those patterns I was looking at..

Click, click. Bought 2. (other pattern to be discussed later - you may be able to guess why as you read on) 

Damn. Printer is not working. 

Aha! I know I will print them out at Officeworks when I pick up the Little Miss - No drama.

tick tock - The Little Man decides he is actually quite well and perks up after some food (finally!) and a restorative watching of the Wizard of OZ. 

Dear Partner decides to help by picking up the Little Miss himself. I asked him to print for me. No worries says he.

Upon his return I was presented with my patterns. Greedily I snatched them up, collected the cutting blade, ruler and tape required for PDF pattern assembly sat down at the table to start...

and realised....

HE HAD PRINTED THEM DOUBLE SIDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG. Now anyone familiar with the Jigsaw PDF pattern model realises that this is certainly not ideal. However on close evaluation I decided that this pattern, The Norah was useable. Just so you know, it is possible to put the pieces of the tunic/dress pattern together while only missing one page that happens to fall on the mid-line of the pattern. Success! 

Let's not go into the collar pieces now though shall we? 

And so I present my Norah tunic in size 8. Sleeveless, Collarless, Embellishment-less - for now. [I have plans for at least a bow and a flower which I will attach to the top with snaps. Interchangeable and hopefully easier care - remove for washing.]

And then the back. Look at my button loop! Can you see the top stitching?

Wait, this is clearer. 

Of the three photos the last is the most accurate colour on my monitor. I am a terrible photographer and having to take pictures when children are not around as discussed here results in night time or at best dusk photos. Neither of which is ideal. 

But I think you get the idea.

This is a great pattern. I already have the next one cut out, a dress with collar maybe? I can barely wait for Christmas now. A huge photo shoot so I can get modelled shots of everything in daylight. So much to show..

See you next time

Top Secret Stitching in a house with three kids..

So I have found difficulty with keeping up with the blog again. Not the sewing part because I am sewing up a storm! But because of the nature of the sewing I have been working on. The Top Secret kind. You know for the big gift giving event in December. ssshhh!


It is very challenging to try and create gift items when potential recipients are around all the time...snooping...prying...looking...asking.

The real issue is that they know I like to make them new clothes/toys/accessories/whatever for Christmas. This year I foolishly told them it would be a "Handmade Christmas" - what was I thinking? The older two are aware that it is getting closer to the date.

Big Miss should be easy as she goes to school. So I can create things without her knowledge while she is there. Except that Little Miss reports on what she has seen. Little Miss also decides things she likes are for her. (An issue as they both wear basically the same size. Big Miss just needs length added to everything.) So everything I make is known and already claimed.

Little Miss goes to Kinder 3 times a week so there is some time without her. However upon her return she searches to see what I have done.

"What's this Mummy?" 

"Who is this for Mummy?" 

"Can I have a dress made out of that new material that is not well hidden Mummy?" 

Aaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!!!!!!!!

The Little Man is perfect. OBLIVIOUS to everything. Can sew things for him with him on the other side of the table and he will not even think about what I am doing....UNTIL....Dear Partner when asked what he thinks of a particularly tricky bit which looks a bit dodgy decides to call the Little Man over for a fitting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How do I do it better?

Last year I participated in a large number of swaps around this time, so I could say (and not always fibbing) that I was making things for a swap. That worked well. Not sure two years in a row would work. Also they are more aware now of parcel deliveries.

"Where are our swap parcels Mummy?"

Surely other people make things for their kids? How do they do it?

So sewing is an achievement. Pictures are an epic monumental feat!

Though I am participating in a Sew-a-long for a dress for me in November. Perhaps more pics? I cannot make any promises.

Holiday Fun!

What to do on a cold windy (and rainy in the afternoon) day in the September school holidays with three little people who just want to do something?

Grab the sewing machine, some fabric and a pre-purchased kit of ooshka babushka and two additional face panels, (one for ooshka and one for super ooshka ) and get sewing!

First up they all picked fabrics. I had to step back and just let them go after giving them the choice of two main colours and the appropriate fabric drawers to choose from.

I did all the cutting due to recent hairdressing and paper confetti experiences. Why is it they will cut up paper into miniscule pieces right until you want them to? Ask them to cut up paper for the compost (broken shredder again!) and they will do it for 30 seconds... I digress.

The Little man was up first. He was great helping sewing all the straight seams but the bobbing head while trying to applique on the face panel was nearly my undoing.

Big Miss went next and after a quick re-cut of the middle front panel (we had attached the applique fairy so she would be upside down. Note to self: focus on one at a time..) she sewed all straight seams independently. She decided that I should do the applique and sewing around the body though.

Little Miss had very definite ideas of her Ooshka and was keen to do as much sewing by herself as possible. Unfortunately height was an issue so I was able to control the foot pedal. :)

After sewing it became obvious we had a problem....

Can you guess?

Not enough stuffing! So this is how they finished up today. Will organise more stuffing tomorrow.

What to get for next holidays?

Maybe roxy longsocks? Any other suggestions of things kids could make with lots of straight line sewing? Oh and a cute face panel helps....

Go To Patterns Signature Dress

I am a little late in this post as I went to social sewing on Saturday and did not get pictures taken..

And let's not discuss Sunday or Monday. The school holidays have started here and so has Spring (what? It must have just started cause we have just organised our garden.)

And so here finally is the next post.

Here are 2 of last week's creations. I recently purchased the Go To Patterns Signature Dress in a combo with a few other patterns and I have finally had a chance to make it.

First up I made a tunic length dress using both the flutter and short sleeves combination. I opted to copy another bloggers idea (sorry I cannot find you again now. Feel free to identify yourself if it was you) and use one big pleat fold in the center front and back rather than 3 smaller pleats or a random gather. I like it better this way.

I made a size 7 for Miss Little who is 5 years old and as you can see it fits her great. So glad this pattern is available to size 12 otherwise would not get much use out of it.

After the tunic top I decided to have a go at the maxi version with longer sleeves and the flutter sleeve - am not sure I will ever be able to do it without the flutter sleeves now the girls have discovered them.

What to say about this? Hmmm... Well, it is longer....
I have used a fabric which I know to be great when new but quickly deteriorates to a grey horrible version of itself upon wash and wear. (cheap fabric - you get what you buy, that is the risk) I knew this would not last long. But when I finished it, the Little Man claimed it as a princess dress up and ran around the backyard. It did not make it to hemming, it did not make it to its intended recipient.

I need to make another one for the Big Miss. And perhaps sort out something for the Little Man to stop him running off with the next one. And so....

Another Signature dress. A size 7 made out of an old satin sheet (I wonder if the person who gave it to me will recognise it?) with flutter sleeves, elastic around the neck and long enough to be princessy but short enough to not drag on the ground. Fingers crossed he will leave the next creations for the girls alone.

New patterns!

This week has resulted in no finished items.

Stuck at home, sick but not sick enough to be completely incapacitated what could I do?

I did what anyone would do, I shopped online.

I bought some Simplicity patterns and discovered that it is worth checking pattern company's sites from different countries. A pattern that was $10 on Simplicity US was only $6 on Simplicity UK. (Let's not discuss the price of the patterns on my home country site) What is with that? The postage was just over a dollar to get it from the UK site. When they arrived (very promptly)  I discovered that this was because they came all the way from a Sydney warehouse. I cannot understand it. No advantage to buy from my home country site at all. Why bother having multiple sites (all were English speaking countries too) surely other people would check this too?

I digress. So here are the two Simplicity patterns I got. I am not certain either of them will suit me as I do not wear dresses much. I am ambitiously thinking it is because I have not found the right one yet. Maybe one of these will be it!

I bought 1537 because I love the look of a scoopy neck and a swishy skirt. (yes, I am sure those are the technical terms.) One thing I already dislike about the pattern is the zip right down the back. Oh well, you want fitted in a non-stretch fabric you need to make some concessions.  

I bought 1800 not because of the cover picture or even the drawings. To put it simply, I bought it because Laura made the most fantastic version with piping and what great fabric. I am not sure of the etiquette for using a picture from someone else's blog so you will just have to follow the link to see what I mean. In order to get my dress to look like this there are a few obstacles I will need to overcome. Including but not limited to, finding awesome fabric, learning how to put in piping and adding zips.

And then because the other pattern I want for me is not in stock yet, I got a pattern for the girls. 

I bought the Geranium dress pattern. I was going to only get the larger sizes but it was only a little more to get both...Can you guess what I did? Yes, I got both. You never know when you will need to whip up a little girl dress after all. This pattern comes as a PDF so I was able to print, tape and trace out the pieces while at home. Now all I need is to get to Mum's and raid the stash!

Cannot wait for next week. I think that all the kids will be able to get to their daily events which will give me some time to sew!

Bliss.

Multi-sized Joy

Well hello there!
You did not believe I would be back did you?
Well I prooved you wrong didn't I?

This week has been a busy week sewing wise. At the beginning of the week I sewed up a pair of pants for each of the girls using my new favourite patterns for pants. I then finished off a top for the Big Miss and whipped up some shorts for them both. Suddenly with the season change we had some warmer weather and the Little Miss discovered a lack of shorts for her to wear. (I did not raise the number of skirts/dresses she could have chosen to wear because clearly it was a shorts day.)

So let's begin with the top.

The pattern is Bevknits 3001 which is a family t-shirt pattern ranging from size 2-12 in Children, 8-20 for women and then 32-46 for men. Really I do not think I would ever need to buy another tshirt pattern now that I have found this gem in the pattern stash, but this does not mean I won't want to buy one. This pattern is perfect for Miss Big who prefers a slim fit top.

Fabric for this top was purchased from the $2 table at darn cheap fabrics a little while ago. I bought a bit of it hoping that Miss Big would like it. I also thought we could try overdyeing it and see what happens. Luckily she did like it and decided that this top should stay as it is - unfinished. She likes the roll effect at the bottom of the top and sleeves. Less work for me. Who am I to complain?

And now we move onto the pants.

For Miss Big I have made a pair of pants using Jalie 3022. This is not the first time I have made this pattern. I will do a post of all the pants I have made using this pattern in the future I think because I have made it A LOT. In the 5 months I have owned it I have made it at least a dozen times. I am currently working out which size I need for me. Did I mention it is another multi-sized pattern? Sizes range from toddler through to adult.

Miss Big loves these pants (see above how many I have made for her) and it is now the go-to for school pants. The back is made up of two pieces So they fit really well.

This is the best picture I could get of the back. Ignore the VPL, Miss Big would not stay still any longer.

If you want to buy this pattern (or other Jalie patterns) I will suggest sew squirrel as they are such a great price! This particular pattern is not listed, but I think you could ask and you may be able to get it in for you anyway. I bought it from somewhere else and seriously paid more than $10 more for it. What the? Wish I had known about Sew Squirrel then.

And the pants for Miss Little...

These are another Jalie multi-sized pattern, Tights and Mini-skirt JA2920. These have also been made multiple times, and if you look closely....no hem on the bottom of these either! They don't need one as the girls both tuck them under their socks.

What else to say about this pattern then? 2 pieces, 3 seams (because I do not do a hem) and I do a turnover casing for the elastic. The hardest most time consuming part? lining up the stripes to match. Even though I do not worry about hemming them, I cannot handle the stripes not matching up at the seams. Especially at the butt.

Now apart from this sewing (and the shorts which are as yet not pictured) I have also been shopping up a storm in patterns. More on that later as this seems a mammoth post!

See ya!

Back again...

Well it's been awhile...

And in that time I have really knit up a storm. So much knitting that I now have a recurring inflammation issue in my arms which makes knitting for long periods very painful.

This has meant randomly searching the internet for other interesting things to do. And I have discovered lots of bloggers who sew in my city! I never knew and now I feel I should try and put up some of my sewing so that if I ever get to a meet up I can say "oh yes, I have a blog" :D

Now the way I sew is kind of sporadic. Over a period of time I usually cut out a few items and then on a day when the planets align (and the kids behave, which happens more often?) I can sew up a storm. So my blog may be like that too.

Sorry if you are really hoping for more regular updates but if you have followed me for a bit you know I am a hopeless blogger. I aim to change that but I do every time. Sometimes RL just sucks all the life from me and I cannot communicate with people.

Fingers crossed I can continue to update this...

I have a post coming up soon of what I have completed this week however the camera batteries require charging for uploading. Who knows when I will find it. UGH

School Holidays

We have been on our third term holidays recently and I thought I might get lots of knitting done. Maybe a sleep in or two. How wrong could I be?
In reality we have had some beautiful weather and even better - children who are cooperative and can play together.
So what have we done?
We visited friends, did some shopping, and played and played and played...

Yes, my playing was with the camera. But there also been plenty of puzzles, running, chalk drawing, painting and hiding by me as well.

Spring dress

Ok so I have not done so great at posting regularly.
But I have a good reason, really, I do...
I have been knitting like a mad thing to finish a dress for BigMiss-100m tall....

 Why did I decide to make her a dress? Because she loves her other one I knit for her. She wears it all the time.

People have suggested how fantastic it must be because I can knit for the BigMiss and  the LittleMiss will get to wear them too.This is because lots of wear = a knitters dream I think. Yet BigMiss does not give up her knits.The cardigan which only just fit her last year and is really stretched on her now is still not able to be given to the LittleMiss (who it would fit perfectly). And given that she wears her existing dress on any day deemed to cold for a summer dress by Mum, it is unlikely to ever be handed down.

So really having two girls close together does not help because it really means you need to knit twice the amount at almost the same size. LittleMiss has requested a dress like this one now. I have enough yarn left and obviously the pattern but I lack the will right now.

So I will just bask in the joy BigMiss feels wearing it.

Don't you just want to jump and twirl too?


 Oriental Lily by Tikki designs available for purchase on Ravelry here

A knit for me

I am trying again. A knit for me. Not socks, a hat or scarf - a sweater. Sleeveless because we are heading into summer. (and because it is quicker, but we won't dwell too much on that...)
So I scoured the patterns on ravelry found a couple and shortilisted them in my queue then got MrToffle to pick which one to attempt.
I measured and found I could fit into a smaller size than my head told me. And anyone know what this means? Less yardage required! Fewer skeins, same budget...
You see where I am going?
So I ordered some beautiful yarn from the loopy ewe and yes, I even got MrToffle to help with colour selection because it can be kind of overwhelming with so many shades of  the same colour available.
It came in skeins so I have been busily winding it into balls using my makeshift swift and nostepinne.

Doesn't it look great? 

And I have already started swatching, something I never do. EVER.

But this time, I want it right. So I have started with a flat swatch and I love it. The yarn is so soft! I noticed when I was winding it into the ball but knitted it is devine. The only issue is, not quite the right gauge. For someone who never swatches this is the interesting bit...I need to do another with different needles. How many times will this happen? What do I do with all these little squares when I am done? Will all this work mean I will finish the top? I think I want to know more than anyone else.

Just in case any of you are wondering, I have started another sweater for me. It has some beautiful cables on it. It has stalled at the top of the front side. (knit bottom up in the round) I am tossing up whether to ever do the sleeves or adapt it to sleeveless. Because who am I kidding? I started in January 2011 and stopped working on it...oh, around the time the friend I was knitting along with finished hers. Maybe July of 2011. It sits in a box in my loungeroom glaring and laughing at me. I would provide a photo but that just gives it more power...

Anyway onto new and hopefully completable things!