Me Made May 2014

Well look at me.  I'm posting my commitment to Me Made May 2014 just in time.  It's been on my list of things to do, but yaknow, stuff/life got in the way.

I, Letitia of ellelittleblog, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear 2 me made items per week for the duration of May 2014.

Yes, two items per week is kind of a cop out.  I don't have that many me made garments yet.  I'm slowly working on it.  I guess this means I'll be wearing a lot of dresses this month.  I need to get working on more separates.  I traced off the Colette Jasmine to work on.  I still want to make the Clovers.  Dresses are so much fun to make though.  Dresses are effortless to get dressed in the morning.

That said, my knitting group started a cold sheep challenge last Friday.  I don't have a yarn buying problem, though I wanted to participate too.  I made my own challenge rules:  No yarn purchases, no fabric purchases, and I will limit myself to 3 new sewing patterns and 1 new knitting pattern.  The idea is to dig deep in the stash and fall in love with what you have again.  We are going cold sheep until September 25th--5 months.  Good thing I just acquired this awesome rainbow yarn.  It has clouds even!

I'm really excited the local high school is putting on "Happy Days the Musical" this weekend and I'm going to watch it with some crafty people.  Melissa of SnarkyLlama's son is playing Potsy.  Melissa invited a bunch of internet people to a knit-in at her house this weekend, so I'll be making some new friends and building new relationships.  And I suddenly remember I need to bring something for the potluck and start a mindless project I can knit while I'm at the knit-in.  SO MUCH TO DO AND NOT ENOUGH TIME EVER!!! 

I helped Melissa make some stitch markers a couple weeks ago and it was SO MUCH FUN.  She thinks anyone who wants to play around and make stitch markers is crazy.  The difference is I'm not doing it for profit.  It took so long to decide which images to use on a sheet that might have 50.  We stared at these circles for a long long time.  I was putting this set together and I commented to Melissa they looked like little ninjas.  And so Ninja Buns had to be the title of the listing.

Time to plan my "outfit" for tomorrow.  I intend to post pictures of me in my me made outfits.  Probably once a week.  We'll see how that goes.

Have a fabulous night!
~elle

Sneak Peak! The Colette Guide to Sewing Knits

Avert your eyes if you don't want spoilers!
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My preordered copy of Colette & Alyson Clair's new book about sewing knits came in the mail today!  Along with the two patterns just for knits!  You have no idea how thrilled I am to have this book.  I bought a serger last year and I use it only for serging seams.  That's it.  I know it can do more than that, but I haven't been able to teach myself how.  This book has a chapter all about the serger (and it's the Brother 1034D--the same one I have and how to set it's tension and know if the tension is wonky, etc, etc.  This is seriously going to become my knits bible.  I wish I had more time to really delve into the book tonight.  Perhaps tomorrow.

 

The book draws comparisons between pattern pieces made for woven and knit fabrics.

 

The book goes into all things coverstitch.

 

There's my serger!  It shows how to thread the serger in detail.

 

Here's one of the patterns:  the Moneta.

 

And the other pattern designed for knits is Mabel.  (Sideways photo I will fix later)

 

The pattern looks exactly like what you would expect from Colette.

 

What's up with the sideways photos?  Ugh.  I wish I didn't have to go to bed in 5 minutes.

 

Do you see what I see?  A POCKET!  Just what my lady skaters have been missing!

 

I'm glad I spent my entire hobbies budget for the month on this packet.  I'm excited to have something new to work on after tax deadline day.  I'm exhausted from working so much.  :(

 

Another sideways photo!  I ordered a twin stretch needle too.  You guys!  It's like Christmas and my birthday all in one day!

 

Here's the fabric from my latest project.  I'm making another Colette Chantilly.  Oh.  And running half marathon number 5 in the morning.  Hence the 9pm bedtime.

Did you order Colette's new book and patterns?  What do you think about the book so far?