my first doily!

making breakfast

The Sweater Challenge Update

Well . . . I tried.  Here is how far I got:

This one is probably going to be finished in the next couple of days.  I have a small amount of sewing left to do, and cuffs still to knit.

This one is also very nearly finished.  I just need to find some ribbon to weave into the picot edge and I need someone to help me adjust the straps.  Given the temperature at this time of year, I have not been too keen on standing around in a camisole while someone fiddles about with the adjustments and thus . . . not finished in time.

I'm pretty sure all the knitting on this sweater is done, I just can't find the instructions, so I'm not entirely sure how it should be constructed (the sleeves seem reasonable enough, but looking at that collar baffles me).

Another one I cannot find the pattern for.  This one is particularly sad because my lovely merino wool is now covered in tiny moth holes, so in addition to finding the pattern and sewing the collar and neck zipper, I now have to mend about 10 holes.

I do have the instructions for this one, but stupid me ran out of yarn and will now have to try to order something similar (you can clearly see where I had to switch yarns previously).  

The Sweater Challenge

Hello there reader, once again I have decided it is time to set myself a little creative challenge (and I must say that having a blog, no matter how neglected, is a wonderful way of keeping on track).  This time I have taken it upon myself to complete 5 sweaters by the end of the year.  Upon first hearing, this may sound a little too ambitious, I assure you reader it is not.  Having recently uncovered the mother-load of unfinished knitting projects whilst unpacking some of my many boxes (sadly, just because everything is out of storage and in my house doesn't necessarily mean that it's out and contributing to the general quality of my life) I think this should be a challenging, yet doable task.

My new dress

I found the idea for this dress over at Outsapop (probably my favorite blog on refashioned and upcycled clothing). It will probably not surprise you to learn that I have a rather large stash of old crappy band T-shirts rescued from the trash bin at work, and given that there is only one seam involved in making this dress, whipping this up was really a no brainer.

hood up

hood down

Happy Halloween!

Well here you go - this year's Halloween costume. Because of my large amount of vintage clothing, it has become something of a standby for me to dress in a specific decade's costume, rather than as a definable character (incidentally, none of what I'm wearing here is vintage). Two years ago I was 60's (leaning towards mod) and the year before that late 20's/early 30's. This is certainly a godsend for a lazy person such as myself, the problem is that I usually end up in something I would wear on a normal night out (barring the star on the eye, this is the case here). This year I was shooting for 70's glam rocker, but I think I ended up looking more like a Kiss fan.

Well here we are, two days before Halloween (and when it comes down to it, all the good parties are going to be tomorrow on Saturday night) and I still haven't decided on a costume. Since last year's was understated to say the least, and since this year's will probably be in the same vein, I thought I would share with you what was probably the most striking costume I've ever donned. I made the hat out of too many styrofoam cups and wore it to a club in Belfast where for the first few hours I was the belle of the ball. After that, as everyone became increasingly inebriated, I just got harassed by drunks who wanted to rip pieces of my costume off me (my gentleman friend almost got into several fights defending the hat's honour). I ended up tossing the damned thing into the centre of the dance floor and watching everyone cheer and smash it to pieces. I went home that night feeling very tiny.