Scout's Honor

I was once told that wearing this scarf made me look like a Girl Scout. So for today's outfit, I figured in for a dime, in for a dollar and paired it with a brown skirt and some knee highs.

Scarf: Vintage Vera, purchased at Ferdinand

Cardigan: Old Navy

Flower Pin: Made by Me

Skirt: Ann Taylor Loft

Socks: Made by Me

Shoes: Bass Outlet

I don't have any experience with the Girl Scouts myself, but I was a Boy Scout sister for many many years (My father and brother and two cousins are all Eagle Scouts and my father and uncle both served as Scoutmasters).

As such I am displaying the Boy Scout salute in these photos. Maybe they're the same, I don't know.

And since I brought up Scouting, I have to admit that I'm very torn about the BSA and whether I'd let my imaginary future children join.

Scouting is such a huge part of my family and I think it teaches fantastic life skills, but I have a huge problem with the BSA's discriminatory membership policies regarding gender, sexual orientation, and religious affiliation (or lack thereof). My hope is that by the time I have children old enough for scouting, it may no longer be an issue. (It should be noted that the Girl Scouts of America does not mirror the BSA's policies, nor does the non-gendered Canadian Scouts).

Politics aside, this is my last weekday of Lent (Day 44) and I'm thinking come Monday, wearing pants in going to feel kinda weird! (Though I won't miss the tights)

I did not cobble the shoes

Two posts in a week? This hasn't happened in quite some time! But I had some new FOs that I couldn't wait to share. The outfit shown above is Leah-made from head to toe, (well - I didn't cobble the shoes).

The sweater is a Forecast that I finished last fall when I first moved back to Maine. I never took finished photos of it because it was too small and I wanted to reblock, which I did about 2 weeks ago. The sweater didn't get any better fitting (it's a bit short and a bit tight - becuase honestly, I made it a size too small on accident), but I wear it all the time anyway and it worked with the outfit.

The skirt is a 1/2 circle skirt made in vintage (and admittedly ever so slightly moth-eaten) wool I purchased at the same time I got the fabric for this skirt (which I guess I never blogged about).  The pattern is Simplicity 2758 and was a simple and quick pattern. You can't see it on the photo, but there's also some nice button/tab detailing at the waist. Though I have to say that I keep making these skirts with waistband detailing, but I almost never wear skirts in a way where the waistband is visible. Ah well.

The final part of the outfit and the one I'm most excited about is my first pair of hand-knit knees highs. It's another Knitty pattern, Clessidra, and it has a lot of great details and a good fit (though you have to size down your needles on the heels).

One of my knitting buddies comments on how she likes my use of props/styling in my knit photos and wanted to know what was the plan for these socks. I was trying to go for autumnal Library/Den feel. And in case anyone is wondering the books are Alice In Wonderland, Jane Eyre (which I'm currently reading)/Wuthering Heights, something called Wild Wild World I picked up at a vintage book sale because I thought it was pretty and the Letters of Lewis Carroll vols. I and II.

And if I don't catch you tomorrow  - Happy Halloween!

Sweater #3 - Learning Patience

So I have a backlog of stuff to blog about, and now that MacB has closed, it seems more likely that it will appear on theses pages soon.

I finished this sweater about two weeks ago - the pattern is Dahlia from Knitty. The pattern was designed by a freshman in high school. This puts me to shame, so I decided to design my next sweater myself to show those uppity high schoolers. 

I partly chose this sweater because I though on size 8 needles, it would be a quick knit. Famous last words.

While I did finish the sweater in under 6 weeks, I had to restart this thing 5 times.

Why, you may ask - well first the raglan was an ill-explained Right Lifted Increase/Left Lifted increase. Which when I finally figured out with the help of my knitting circle (hint: when doing the left lifting increase - don't grab the stitch you just made) makes a very very pretty raglan increase line - so it was worth the trouble - but this was an exercise in patience. 

I also ignored the cries of "the thing's too big!" on Ravelry and cast on in my designated size, which by the time I hit the chest portion I realized was huge even though my gauge matched perfectly, so it got unwound for the 5th and final time.I also decided to move up the neckline an inch or so - because it was a tad low for me. After that point, though, the thing was a breeze and I enjoyed teaching myself to do the cables without a needle.

I totally have no patience when it comes to wearing stuff I make, so these photos are all of the unblocked (gasp!) sweater. And perhaps in punishment for my impatience - the blocked version looks about 20% better than it does in the above pictures. Another lesson learned. 

I'd like to say it's too warm to wear it now, it being after Memorial Day and all, but alas it is currently 49°F in Chicago. Le sigh...

The Slippery Stash Slope

For the first 2½ years of my knitting life, I managed to avoid accumulating a stash, even prided myself on it.

I only had yarn for my current project and you'd be hard-pressed to get me to select a yarn without a specific project mind (though it did occasionally happen - leading, for instance to the Honeymoon Mini-Cardi, but in full disclosure I probably made my brand-new husband nuts in my indecision to purchase that yarn while on our honeymoon). I even was obsessive about using up the leftovers of the yarn I had.

And then it happened.

I went into my local yarn shop to pick up some sock yarn and "lo-and-behold!" all the yarn in the bins on the floor was only a dollar. Even I couldn't resist that bargain and so I grabbed these five balls of silk.

What am I going to make with it? Who knows! Though Ravelry has provided some intriguing options, namely this and this.

Not too long after I purchased the silk, I went back to the same store to buy some stitch markers for a sweater I'm knitting up and came out with these:

Granted, this is for a specific project, but one I likely won't start for some time.

And then that same old yarn shop, in honor of Mother's Day and Government Rebate checks decided to have a 25% off of everything sale. So I got this sock yarn that I was ogling when I bought the last sock yarn.

Now, I'm sure some hard-cord yarn collectors will scoff at my measly 9 skeins, but it's a slippery slope I say! A very slippery slope.

At least I'm using some of my yarn...

But I'm fairly certain I'm going to have a ball leftover.

I think I'll make it into a hippo. 

Yellow + Blue = Green

With spring's arrival, I start yearning for new springier colors - namely bright yellows, blues and greens. This yearning is particularly pronounced on grey days like today, when I need pick-me-up. And so some colors that have been brightening my days recently.

My "Andi" bracelet from Luxcharm on etsy. I have a thing for bracelets right now. I never used to wear them (though until about a year ago when it broke I always wore a watch), but now I think they're great. This is the first in what may prove to become a bracelet collection.

My green ipod. Yep, we finally gave into the ipod revolution. They lowered the price, so Mr. Cleaver and I could no longer resist. Of course I have about 10 cds on my laptop, so the music isn't too varied right now, but it does make the 45 minutes on the train go a little faster.

My blue sewing scissors. When I bought my sewing machine last summer I also bought a sewing starter kit with scissors, needles, measuring tape, chalk paper, etc and all the appropriate accessories were blue. And so is the shirt I'm currently sewing, though it is more of sky than primary blue. The needle and thread were for slipstiching the inside collar. I hate slipstitching. Actually I have a terribly small amount of patience with any finishing really. Once all the major seams are in place I start wearing the thing. Seriously, I have two dresses that I've been wearing for months that need some finishing done. Ah well...

I did, however, completely finish my Pomatomus socks, which hey - are yellow, blue and green! And considering the number of rows I had to rip back on these socks due to inattention, it's pretty amazing that I finished them as quickly as I did. Then again, knitting also makes that 45-minute commute home much faster.