Weekend Doings and Lent Day #12

I had an amazing productive weekend - maybe it's all the sunshine and hints of spring.

On Saturday, while Mr. Cleaver watched March Madness, I went into my studio and whipped out a muslin for a Beignet skirt. I need to take in the two front seams (it's kinda pinned in the photo), but other than that I found the pattern to fit really well. I have a sky blue twill in my stash I hope to make it from - I have less fabric than the pattern envelop calls for, so fingers crossed that all the pieces fit!

Then, this morning we stopped by the open house at Skillins Greenhouse and picked up some seed starting supplies. I had already ordered my seeds a few weeks back from Johnny's Selected Seeds and put them directly into my new seed flats. I won't be able to put anything outside until mid April at the earliest, but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead.

Now, onto the Lent.

If you're thinking I missed a day there, you're right - I never got a photo of Day #11. But if you guessed I wore the same denim skirt all last weekend, you'd be even more right.

On Day #12 I went to my closet and I just couldn't bear the thought of wearing tights today, despite the cold. (Remember when I said the warm weather wouldn't last? I woke up the next morning and it was snowing - how's that for not lasting?) So instead of tights I threw on my hand-knit knee-highs and braved chilly knees (and mostly stayed indoors).

Tiger scarf: Gift

Green Tee: Target

Skirt: Ann Taylor Loft, gift

Bracelet: Gift

Socks: Made by me.

Boots: Naturalizers, Macys.

Lent 2011 - Day #10

Ahoy there! Contrary to yesterday's post, it's actually been freakishly warm (over 50°F) here the past few days. I took advantage of the warmer day to put on a slightly less bundled-up outfit for today. Of course, I've lived in Maine long enough to know this warm weather won't last, but it hasn't stopped me of dreaming of the barbecues and gardening that are sure to be in my future.

Sailor Striped Shirt: L.L. Bean

Necklace: Fallen Horseman Coin. Coin purchased on ebay, hole made by me. A nod to that classical studies minor I got in college.

Navy Tank: Gap Outlet

Dark Denim Skirt: New York & Co.

Shoes: Bass outlet

Bracelet: Puka shell necklace, worn as bracelet

I hope it's sunny where you are today!

Lent 2011 - Day #9

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

Tonight Mr. Cleaver and I will celebrate in our usual fashion - Corned Beef and Cabbage.  In honor of the holiday, I'm wearing my brightest greens today, which includes a silk scarf that is hands down one of my favorite things in my wardrobe.

Velvet Blazer: Rafaella, ebay

Green Long Sleeve Shirt: Old Navy

Silk Scarf: Birthday gift

Dark Denim Skirt: New York & Co.

Pinstripe Tights: Target (currently on clearance)

Shoes: Bass Outlet

There are signs of spring peeking out in our yard...

But it's still pretty cold!!

Lent Days #7 & #8

For days seven and eight, I mixed it up with some dresses. Thanks to "Springing Forward" it's not as light in the mornings right now, which has made getting photos a little more difficult (or at least blurrier), but I boldly strive on in the name of Lent.

Yesterday I wore a dress that arrived in the mail on Monday. I had pre-ordered it a while back, and while initially hesitant to purchase a red dress, I'm glad I did. It's a bit hard to tell in the photo, but there are scalloped tiers going down the length of the dress - which makes for a fun dress. The black and red might be a little harsh, but I think I'll have fun trying different ways of styling this dress, particularly as it warms up some.

Necklace: Sears

Dress: Red Fox by Shabby Apple

Cardigan: Joy by Kim Hargreaves, made by me

Shoes: Clarks Outlet

This morning I was feeling a little crummy when I woke up, so I went with the dress equivalent of comfort food. I bought this wool-poly knit dress a few years ago and it's easy to throw on and go.

Also comfort food? Tea and toast with marmalade.

Dress: Brief Originals, Vintage (from the store above Strange Maine in Portland, ME)

Wool Tights: WarmLegWear.com

Boots: Naturalizers, Macy's

Lent 2011 - Days #4-6

So I took a bunch of photos of my outfit on Saturday (Day #4) (122 to be exact), but as I was wearing a sweater design I'm planning to submit for publication, I can't show any of them to you. But if it helps at all, I wore the same denim skirt all weekend. No Pants Tip #1: If you're not going to wear pants, you're going to need more than one weekend casual skirt-wear.

Day #5 (it was late - so I didn't feel like taking a real photo): Denim Skirt Black Wool Tights: WarmLegWear.com Slippers: French Press Slippers, made by me. Sweater: Vivian, made by me.

Early last week I finally felted the slippers I knit in October. They are super cozy and I've been wearing them non-stop when at home. It was worth all the spit-splicing I had to do to finish them!

No Pants Tip #2: Superman had it right after all. Do your tights have a tendency to migrate downward during the day? An extra pair of underwear on top of the tights helps keep them in place. (Yeah, I just wrote about underwear on the internet - that deserves a superhero pose)

Sweater:FLOGS jacket, made by me

Skirt: Anne Taylor Loft (gift from Grandparents)

Wool Tights: WarmLegWear.com

Boots: Naturalizers, Macy's

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Unrelated to pants, I've been watching the news coverage on Japan, and have been really struck by the devastation, perhaps moreso than usual because I have friends in Japan. If you'd like to donate to something other than the usual Red Cross/Doctors without Borders, may I suggest joining my friend Carlo (and myself) in his donation to Shelterbox?

Lent 2011 - Day #3

Blazer: J. Crew Outlet (one of those fortunate shopping events, where there was one on the clearance rack in your size)

Scarf: Deila*s (with that same gift card)

Denim Skirt: I've had it for about 10 years

Tights: No idea, probably Target

Shoes: Bass Outlet

It's Friday! Have a great weekend everyone!

Lent 2011 - Day #2

I can't promise I'll be able to get an outfit post of everyday of Lent, but I'll do my best! Here's Day #2. I wore regular tights and a cotton skirt, so it was a cold walk from my parking spot to the building at work (I have the space furthest from the building).

Sweater: J. Crew Outlet

Skirt: Wallpaper Skirt #2, made by me

Striped Tights: Delia*s (with a gift card I got recently for a return I made pre-2001!!)

Shoes: Clarks Outlet

Jewelry: Cameo Necklace (gift) and puka shell necklace from my mom worn as a bracelet.

Lent 2011

In 2008  I gave up jeans, in 2009 I gave up non-cash forms of payment, and in 2010 I gave up TV. This year for Lent, I'm giving up.....

Pants!!

(Meaning I spent all day yesterday referring to Fat Tuesday as Pant-y Gras - tee hee!).

I'll include my annual caveat that I do my annual Lent give-up less for religious regions than for the personal challenge.

I considered giving up pants/trousers in 2008, but decided to just do jeans instead. This year I'm going whole hog. The reasoning behind no pants is that the vast majority of clothing I sew is skirts and dresses, but I spend probably 80%-90% of my days wearing pants (particularly, and for perhaps obvious reasons, it's closer to 100% in the winter). So I'm giving up pants in an attempt to get the home-sewn portion of my more use.

It's also an exercise in personal style. I'm drawn to dresses and skirts, and I love the look of them. My inspiration files are full of non-pants outfits, but again, I go to my safe zone of pants day after day. I'm not sure why I avoid wearing skirts/dresses, but for the next 47 days I have no excuses!!

In addition to the challenge of wearing no pants (and staying warm in a Maine that is still in winter!), I'm going to try and complete two Lent-challenge related sewing projects. 1 - at least one skirt and 2 - my first pair of pants to be worn on Easter.  I'll be posting outfits and sewing progress over the coming weeks.

If you're giving up something for Lent, or are in for a no-pants challenge of your own let me know in comments!!

Day One!!

Dress: Vogue V8315 view B. Made for my rehearsal dinner in 2007,

Belt: Originally my mother's - it shows the Eureka, CA Harbor. I love it!

Boots: Naturlizers, from Macy's. Bought when I lived in Chicago.

Wool Tights: From WarmLegWear.com

PS - I've also updated the About page for anyone interested.

Everybody's Weavin' on the Weekend

Thanks to loaned warping board (Thanks Mags!), I got the loom all set up and and started weaving on Saturday!!

The loom came with a bunch of yarn cones, and I chose this neutral-toned mid-weight one (20 wraps-per-inch or wpis) as my first warp and chose an eggplant-colored thick-and-thin yarn for the weft.

Lacking a sley hook for getting the yarn through the reed, I improvised with an old club card, which worked really well.

I wanted to step it up a bit from my first woven scarf, so I chose one of the example draw-downs from Deborah Chandler's Learning to Weave. The hardest part was figuring out how to read the draw-down chart, after that the necessary threading and treadling is no more difficult than for a plain weave.

I'm working on getting a rhythm for treadling and beating, which is probably the most difficult part of the process for me at this point, but thus far, I've got about one foot of weaving done. I do think I may have made the sett (or spacing between the warp threads) too wide, but we'll see once I take it off the loom (and wash it).

Finished Object Roundup

I finished a couple of knitting projects last week, just in time to show them off this weekend. The first one, which which I wore to the NETA SPA- knit & spin retreat on Saturday was the FLOGS jacket I've been showing progress on over the past few weeks.

I love the finished sweater. It's super cozy (though it weighs a ton!). It's knit in Quince & Co. Puffin in Nasturtium, which is the smoothest bulky yarn I've ever worked with. I think the shape is great and rather flattering. If I made one change, it would be to knit the collar a needle size down, as it lost some of it's stand-up-ness during blocking.

These socks I started knitting in the fall last year as my travel project. I worked on them on my trips to Rhinebeck, Chicago, and Southern California that seemed to happen in ridiculously rapid succession and then didn't pick them up until about a week ago. The pattern is the Paul Atwell Socks, which I really enjoyed knitting (when I got around to it). The stitch pattern is easy to memorize, but it has a great effect for so little effort. The story behind the pattern (and the Family Trunk Project in general) is worth a read.

I've already got a new spring-weight sweater on the needles and yesterday I cast on a new pair of socks. Can't have those needles empty, can I?