WIP Wednesday.

I know I've talked a lot about my Moderne Log Cabin Blanket, but I haven't actually shown the people out there in BloGlAND my progress. It's already huge! I've used about 10 balls of Elann.com's Sonata and I have 10 more waiting in a bag. Unfortunately, that's not even enough. I'm terrible at math, it was one of my first big projects and I thought that 50 grams of yarn was the same yardage no matter what I used. I was wrong.

It's been a pretty relaxing knit, tho. Row after row of garter stitch on size 6 needles really does keep you from punching everyone you know in the face and locking yourself in your bedroom. It's also convenient when watching movies with subtitles, as you don't have to pay much attention to what you're doing.

Look what the KokkA fabric turned into!!!! yeah, it's a doorstop. I'm still in shock that I actually made this. Of course, it's from my new favorite book ever, Simple Sewing. The book is set up into different levels, this project being a level 3. I approached it kind of nervously, since I haven't sewn in quite awhile. I didn't want to make any mistakes because, I'd only bought enough fabric to make it once with no room to mess anything up. So, I was pretty excited that it came out so nicely. If any of you are planning on doing this one yourself, Lotta Jansdotter buys extremely large magic beans from the extremely large magic bean store and 5 lbs. wasn't nearly enough. I opted to stuff the top with fiberfill, thanks to some good advice from The Absent Knitter's Journal.

<3

knitxcore.

Cafe Apron

I finally got around to putting the pocket on my mum's Cafe Apron. You can still see through it a lil' but it was Mother's Day and I didn't have time or fabric to do it a third time. Mum loved it, anyway. I can't go on enough about how much I love this book! I started the doorstop, I'm about halfway through it. I was soooo careful when cutting that $15 a yard fabric. I lined everything up so I wouldn't waste any of it.
I found another AWESOME fabric/notions/yarn site called SupErBuZZy, it has the coolest fabrics and some Japanese yarn called MakeMake. I can't wait to order some stuff!

I think I told you all about the super cool hibiscus tree I picked up last week. Well, a couple blooms popped open and they are beautiful. The rest of my container/deck garden is doing well. The bulbs I planted are staring to push through, and the parsley is starting to get bushy. My sage hasn't shot up yet, it's been almost two weeks. Hopefully, we'll see something soon.

<3

knitxcore.

How does your garden grow?

My fabric from PurlSoho came in!!!! I've already pre-washed it and I'm ready to start chopping it up. I never realized the importance of pre-washing until I read Simple Sewing and found out how much it could mess up an FO if you skip it.

I actually finished another sewing project and dyed some yarn, but you'll have to visit my Flickr page to see them. They're both for a swap that I'm not ready to send out yet.

The fabric all the way to the right is the Kokka print that I was drooling over last week. The other two are for something in my kitchen, but I'm not sure what :-)

Mr. Stripey is getting bigger. I should start measuring him, eh? Everything else is taking it's time growing. I planted a bunch of bulbs and some basil this week and I bought a hibiscus tree at Loew's. It has a bunch of buds so I'll get a good pic when it blooms.

<3

knitxcore.

We're throwin' down our push brooms, we're hangin' up our apron ties.

I'm probably the last person in blogland to catch this "sewing bug", but I finally ordered Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing". The patterns in it are soooo modern and cool! I was amazed by the doorstop I saw on someone else's blog and that's what initially sold me. But upon further inspection, I pretty much love everything. Aprons and potholders, bags galore, and even some cool organizational things fill the pages of this awesome new book. I'm in love!

I have already finished the apron part of my first project, I still need to make the pocket. I was going to use the yellow fabric from the picture at the top but, it's just a little too thin and I'm afraid it may rip off. Other than my fabric choice for the pocket, I'm pretty excited. The instructions are so clear, they made me feel like a rockstar while cutting and sewing in my craft room. I picked up that cute-sy fruit print at JoAnn's, believe it or not. I know it's the place that cool goes to die, but I wanted to jump in and start as soon as the book came. I have, however, ordered some AMAZING fabric at Purlsoho to start on another apron and a doorstop that I'm giving as a housewarming gift. KoKKa fabric is pretty much the cutest line I have ever seen, even though it can be a bit price-y I think it's worth for the unique, brightly colored prints.