January so Far

(Calendar from Modern Printed Matter)

The first Sunday is for Sewing didn’t go all that well. Do you ever have that sense that all your precious free time is running through your fingers like sand and there is nothing to show for it? That’s how last Sunday felt. First the large roll of trace paper went AWOL and after trashing most of the apartment it turned out to be in the location I first checked. Argh! Next, thinking to save time I browsed through all my Burda Style magazines looking for a pre-made pencil skirt pattern. Only after tracing off all the pieces to the pattern did I notice the instructions said “for stretch fabric only.” Oh lack of reading, why do you repeatedly bite me in the ass? Hmmmm don’t answer that. So knowing trying to make a stretch pattern in woven fabric wasn’t going to end well, I put it away and retreated back to my knitting.


It turns out that retreating to knitting that day was the right decision. On Tuesday a little trip to the book store produced this month’s Burda Style. Inside were not one but two pencil skirt patterns, both worked in a woven fabric and shaped with princess seams. Basically the stars aligned and gave me exactly what I was looking for. I’d show you the modeled shot but the girl’s jacket completely obscures any skirt details.

Thank god for technical drawings which show you the cute little button detail on the waistband. Next step sewing up a muslin to check for fit because Burda Style’s 42 inch hip size doesn’t always cover a 42 inch hip.

Over on the less stressful knitting side, pieces of the CPH are getting finished at a semi-decent rate. I was a bit worried that the fronts were looking too narrow so they were blocked early this week. Fortunately the blocked dimensions did end up matching the pattern with a little light stretching. This totally reinforces my impression that wool is the best fiber to knit or sew with. It forgives me when I use flexible math.

A couple of delightful things found me this week. Things that are not new, just new to me.
First was the Creative Mom podcast – Check out her latest podcast episode titled Awakening. It’s extremely moving and inspirational in some way that I can not put my finger on.
Second is the Iloveobento shop gallery. Scroll down to see some fantastic and funny bento box food. My personal favorite is sliced tomato that looks like a lobster. If you like that you might enjoy a site that is an old favorite Vegan lunchbox. Little Smoo often gets school lunches that make me giggle and then want to eat.