In an overly ambitious move I decided I was going to make my daughter an Easter dress. Bloomerie had the perfect pattern and it was 50 % off.

So I got my pattern and set out to make the dress. I started out pretty good but I had to put it down for a week because the directions for the bodice confused me a great deal. Then there was a zipper to insert and I’m no good at zippers. By the time I was getting towards the finish line I was sooooo done sewing this dress.

This is my finished dress. It’s not perfect but it came out a lot better than I thought it would when I was making it. When I put it on my daughter she whispered “I love it”. That made me feel great. I could only see my screw ups but she saw perfection. That moment made it worth it. She has refused to take it off. I think she will be wearing it a lot before Easter. It’s a very nice pattern its just I’m a novice at sewing period so easy things are hard for me.

This is a side view. There is a zipper up the bodice in the back. I got to use my rolled hem foot for the first time. That was kind of neat. The rolled hem foot did not like rolling parts where there were seams so that was a little annoying, but overall the foot cut the hemming steps in half.  The pattern also includes instructions for the clutch. I had enough fabric to make it I just didn’t want to. I have a feeling I won’t be sewing anymore clothing for a long while. Now I can move on to what I love, making a quilt!

Back in 2007 I had never knit a sock and I was mostly crocheting. This is hard to believe but its true. A friend and I ventured to a yarn shop (another first for me) and I bought my first sock yarn. Even then I had impeccable taste (ha) and I purchased some Austermann Step. Armed with my copy of Knitting Rules and the sock pattern contained inside I tried to knit a pair of socks on dpn’s! I completed one sock, but the very same day I wore it for about 5 mins and bam a hole in the heel was created. I was inexperienced and didn’t knit them very well. It was not the fault of the yarn or the pattern. I kept the sock and the rest of the yarn.  That single sock held sentimental value for me. Months ago I frogged the sock and decided to keep the yarn for future knitting. Fast forward to this year.  I was browsing a destash on Ravelry and it had a lot of Austermann Step in it.  I was thinking wow I like this yarn and then I remembered I had some and a week later I had recreated my first ever socks.

They aren’t identical twins but thats ok. I tried a new to me heel on these socks. It’s called the strong heel. You just increase the stitches on the heel and then you turn the heel with short rows. I like it because there are no picking up of stitches and no interruption of stripes. I like the way it feels on my foot. My foot is pretty accommodating to different types of heels so what matters most to me is how annoying I find that particular heel to knit. Here is a picture of the heel.

So I did end up buying some Step from that destash. I was afraid I had accidentally bought the same color as the socks pictured above, but thankfully its different.

I paid 15 and Step usually goes for 20 as far as I know so I was happy with that. I really want to cast on another plain set of socks with this yarn but I have some gift knitting that I really need to finish. Bah!  I also ordered some yarn from Springtree Road. Its Muscadine Sock in the color Late Dusk. 

I just love the plain and simple deep blueness of it.  Its 75% merino 25% nylon and its a generous 460 yards.

In other news I’m thinking of looking into heirloom lace knitting. Have I lost my mind? Only time will tell.

Due to my complaints about the lack of winter in my last post we have gone from lows in the 50’s at night to it being 32 degrees at night again. This Texas weather is crazy!  Hopefully this unexpected freeze will take the insect population down a bit this summer.  Happy Knitting!

After a very disappointing winter (not very cold) there are some great flowers blooming at the homestead.

This our new meyer lemon tree that is blooming. Its in a giant pot in the back of the yard. We have a ponderosa lemon tree that would have been one year old in March. It may have succumbed to the very little freezing we had this year. Only time will tell.

I’m not a big fan of lettuce really. Its ok in salads I guess but who knew growing it could be so neat. I love the pop of color it gives to the planter. This is Iceburg lettuce.

These purple and pink flowers are some bulbs that we planted before winter started. I know we planted tulips and something else. I just cant remember what that something else is. I know these aren’t tulips though.

These little red flowers are new. We got them from Lowe’s last weekend. They are Dianthus which is a different type of Carnation. Im glad we got these because we’ve had such great luck growing Carnations.

The Johnny Jump-ups did really well over the winter and provided color all year. They share a planter with the carnations that we grew from seed. 

The Carnations overflow from this pot. They are the ones we grew from seed and they wintered well producing different color flowers all year long. I highly recommend them.

A closeup of the carnations. At any given time there will be red, white, multi-colored and yellow carnations all blooming from this plant at the same time. They also do nicely as cut flowers in the house.
I had really bad luck with growing hydrangeas before. They just couldn’t take our Texas heat. These flowers bewitch me, and I’m trying again. This time I’ve placed them on our back patio where there is only morning sun and I will do my best to protect them from the heat. They are just so pretty.

I don’t know if you recall, but I had about 7 different knitting projects on the needles at the start of new year. Now I’m down to three. I’m very excited about this. I hope to be down to one shawl and then I will allow myself to cast on for something new. The latest finished object is Gamut (pictured below). The pattern is Show off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell.

This is the yarn I used. I got this yarn from a Ravelry De-Stash. I was thinking this yarn is nothing but trouble but I had to have it. Here is how it looked in the skein.

It turned into these socks that I love. The colorway is Gamut and its Strong Sock by Another Crafty Girl.

I love these socks. The pattern went well with the colors. No bizarre pooling just multi colored loveliness. I don’t know much about dying yarn but to me this colorway is genius. This is what I’m looking for in variegation. The only problem I had with my knitting was laddering. I knit this pattern on two circular needles and every other row you have to start with a yarn-over which you pull over two stitches. Starting with that yarn-over caused the laddering that is very evident in the sock on the left in the above picture. That hasn’t diminished my love of these socks. I thought about giving them away but I just couldn’t bear the thought.

In other crafty news I’m finishing up another quilt so I hope to post about that soon. I know spring weather isnt showing up everywhere so to all you people in other parts of the world enduring dismal weather I hope things brighten up for you soon! Keep warm in your knits.

I’ve started and frogged many scarves. The dedication was just to much for me to handle. I guess thats also why I haven’t knit that many sweaters. I never thought I would ever finish a scarf and I wisely stopped starting them. I guess it takes a special kind of love to make me knit a scarf, and I have that love for my mother. She takes the bus to work and on cold mornings I want her to be warm. So I had the drive and determination and it saw me through ha ha ha. I present to you my Mead Scarf.

It took a little over two months for me to make. I used pretty much a whole skein of sock yarn. The yarn is Emeline Sock by SpringTree Road. Its 50% merino and 50% silk. The skein had 434 yards. To say I love this yarn would be an understatement. It was a pleasure to knit with and the color is perfect for my mom. I love the slight variations in the red. The color is appropriately called Red Delicious.

This pattern was easy to memorize once you got going. I only had to frog a few rows once due to lack of attention. I took it with me to my daughters ballet classes, and to dentists appointments. It was the perfect on the go knitting. I’m not sure how long this scarf turned out to be after blocking. I should be more detail oriented if I’m going to blog perhaps. I did five stitches in garter at the beginning and end of each row and it still rolls in a little bit. Maybe I didn’t block aggressively enough. I also did a garter border on the ends of it. I gave it a wash in some Pantene and it did bleed a little but I expected that. Blocking a scarf is no fun. Running the blocking wires through the garter stitch border was a little time consuming but well worth it. I hope my mom likes it!  Happy Knitting Y’all