UFO Mondays: Cauchy

We’re moving across the country at the end of July. For real this time.

Sometimes it feels like a long time away, and sometimes I panic at how soon it seems like we’ll be packing up and leaving everything and everyone we know.

The only way I know how to cope at this point is to do what I can when I can. Now that my semester is over and grades are in, I’ve turned my attention towards cleaning and decluttering our apartment. We’ve lived here for about five years and gotten just a little too comfortable, so there’s plenty to do. That’ll mainly be my job–Sweetie is working a whole lot of hours this summer to finance our move, and I’m working when I can and taking charge of the move when I’m home.

Of course, part of the decluttering for me is getting rid of UFOs. As I said when we were planning to make this move last summer, I’m happy to move finished projects, and I’m fine with moving yarn. I’m not okay with moving a ton of half-finished projects. My summer class samples are nearly finished (one more baby bootie to go!), so it’s time to get serious about finishing some projects.

It feels like I haven’t worked on socks in a while, so I’ve decided to kick off this round of UFOs with Cauchy. The color in the photo above is totally inaccurate–it’s not nearly so bright.

Last seen: October 2011

Reason for abandonment: from what I can tell, I got distracted by other projects including class samples

Assessment: I think the leg might be complete on the second sock (I’ll have to take a look at my notes to be sure), so it shouldn’t be long before this pair is complete. I have to admit that I’m happy the picot cuff is finished–I love how they look but don’t love how fiddly they are to knit.

Covet Wednesdays: A Woman Obsessed

A little while back, my very favorite style blog, What Would a Nerd Wear, shut its doors. In addition to loving her style, I felt a certain connection to Tania because she is also a Ph.D. student in English. I looked forward to her posts every day, and now I’ll be trolling the archives when I need my fashion fix.

But let me back up for a moment. I’ve kept quiet about my second round of applications to graduate school in front of everyone except for close family and friends because I was so disappointed to have been rejected last year…and then have to tell everyone that I wasn’t going. Last October, after a lot of soul-searching and talking with Sweetie and other friends, I decided to give applications to Ph.D. programs another go. This time, I was accepted! I am excited to say that Sweetie and I will be packing our bags and moving to Pennsylvania for real this summer! He will be beginning an M.F.A. program in sculpture, and I will begin a Ph.D. program in English. The only downside is that we’ll be living apart for the next two years: we were accepted to universities that are about 2.5-3 hours apart, so we’ll see each other every 2-3 weeks. Despite this little downside, I’m thrilled to be moving to Pittsburgh and beginning my doctoral studies–it will be a really exciting change!

We’re now in the midst of looking for two places to live. We were originally hoping to take a trip out to Pennsylvania to apartment hunt in person, but it’s expensive, and with all of our jobs it’s really difficult to get away from work. When we were still planning on taking a trip out there, I thought about what I would pack that would be appropriate for meeting landlords and visiting campus. I quickly remembered the suitcase that Tania put together for her campus trip and desperately wanted to emulate it.

The title of this post is no lie: I am a woman obsessed! I realized after looking at the items in this capsule wardrobe that I would love it even more if I created the pieces myself so that they would be high-quality and a perfect fit. I may not have a specific trip to pack for anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t work away at making this capsule wardrobe: it just means that I’ll have more time to work on it, and I’ll be prepared for fall classes and any other trips that come my way.

Here are the items that I see in this wardrobe:

• Print dress: I have a few patterns that I’m considering for this. I think it will ultimately come down to fabric selection.
• Mustard cardigan: Last night I swatched and cast on for Basic Black in Silky Wool. I’m already enjoying this project!

• Navy blazer: this is the only item that I might leave out of the capsule wardrobe, at least for now. While I don’t have a navy blazer, I do have several in other colors and don’t feel a dire need for one at the moment. I reserve the right to change my mind if the sudden urge to sew a blazer overcomes me, but I’ll try to resist until I finish my Lady Grey coat.
• Long-sleeved tees, white and striped: I ordered the Renfrew top pattern from Sewaholic as a birthday gift to myself, and I’m hoping to find some nice, soft knit fabric in the Twin Cities.
• Plaid button-up: I haven’t found a pattern or fabric that I’m happy with for this yet. I also think I should sew up Sweetie’s shirt before I make one in a similar style for myself
• Green A-Line skirt: I picked up some teal fabric to make the Beignet skirt from Colette. I’ll cut it out just as soon as Ginger is finished.

• Dark wash skinny jeans: I don’t have any of these, and I’ve been meaning to get some for a while. Perhaps I’ll look for some sales at the Mall of America this weekend. I’ve made jeans before, but I have zero desire to fit and sew skinny jeans, especially when I wear them out so quickly. I’ll stick with ready-to-wear for these
• Scarves, solid and print: I may buy these, or I may make them using this tutorial and some cotton fabric.
• Other accessories: gray tights, navy flats, brown boots, brown belt, watch: some of these I already own, and some of them I’ll be keeping my eye out for.

Overall, I’m really liking this idea of sewing with a plan. Oftentimes when I make garments for myself, they seem to be standalone pieces that I love but that don’t fit in terribly well with the rest of my wardrobe. All of the pieces in this capsule are very versatile and will, I think, serve me well as a graduate student in the fall. It will be nice to have these pieces and Tania’s combinations to fall back on on those mornings when I don’t have quite enough time to get ready.

Lest you think I’ve forgotten, I remember all of the unfinished projects that I’d like to complete before the move. That’s for another post…

Ginger Update

Now that the semester is drawing to a close and it’s warming up (at least for the most part), I’ve picked up a UFO from last year, my springy/summery Ginger skirt.

I spent some time last weekend putting in another line of piping and attaching the waistband before getting a little stuck. The corners at the top of the zipper are already bulky, and the piping only adds to the problem. Much as I try to reduce the bulk in those corners, I still can’t get the finished edge that I’m looking for.

Once I’ve solved this problem, it shouldn’t be long before I can wear this skirt! I’ve noticed that my wardrobe has swayed towards mostly neutrals, so it will be nice to have a skirt in a fun-colored print.

 

Pretty Little Things

A couple of weeks ago, when my anxiety was really getting to me, I decided to take a break from working on the Ranger Cardigan (which is finished now but hasn’t been properly photographed) and make these little booties for my coworker’s first granddaughter. This coworker has an office right next to mine, and she has been incredibly welcoming this year. She came back from spring break simply glowing with joy over the birth of her granddaughter and proudly shares pictures with us.

I estimate that these took about three hours to make: one hour to knit each of the booties and one hour for the finishing work. Not too bad for a gift this cute!

Pattern: Saartje’s Booties, smaller size
Yarn: ~53 yds Malabrigo Sock “Violeta Africana”–leftovers in my stash
Needles: US 1 dpns
Made for: Audrey
Timeline: March 15-27, 2012
Modifications: none that I can remember.
Worst Part: making the little loops for the buttons. Next time I’ll look on ravelry to see if anyone has found a better way.
Best Part: they’re adorable, and they were a hit!

I rarely go on etsy to avoid temptation, but I couldn’t resist this charm bracelet. It combines several crafts, so it’s perfectly suited to me. I was very happy with this shop–check her out here.

I’ve also acquired some very cute stitch markers recently.

The little sheep was a gift from our shop’s crochet instructor, but she quickly assured me that she did not make it herself! The roses are handmade in the area, and I couldn’t resist them when they came into our shop. The tag says “for Crochet,” but I’ll use them however I please!

Finally, I totally scored at the Fiber Rummage Sale last weekend. I went with a friend to see if we could find anything good. We weren’t too interested in the yarn that was there, so we started to rifle through the books. As I was flipping through, I saw the cover of Alice Starmore’s Tudor Roses and paused for a second in disbelief before snatching it up and holding on to it tight. I knew that it was out of print and selling for a lot of money on eBay–when I looked it up later, I saw that copies are selling for around $200. Can you guess how much I paid?

$1.50

The other book that I bought, which is still in print, cost me twice as much. The big question now is whether to sell it or keep it. What would you do?

UPO Mondays: Whisper

If a project isn’t finished until it’s photographed, I have even more UFOs than I thought! Now that the weather is getting nicer, I’m hoping to get Sweetie to take some photos for me. We snuck up the shore yesterday and snapped a few shots of my Whisper cardigan in winds that felt nothing like a whisper.

I just love this cardigan, and now that I’ve taken photos I think I’ll get a lot of wear out of it. It’s a great little coverup for this transitional weather.

Pattern: Hannah Fettig’s Whisper Cardigan in the Spring 2009 Interweave Knits
Yarn: 1.6 balls of Misti Alpaca Lace in Sea Mist (#7120)
Needles: US 0, 2, and 3 Addi Turbos
Made for: me
Timeline: 10 July 2009 – 10 September 2011
Modifications: not really a mod, but I had to go way down in needle size to achieve gauge
Worst Part: working the body–the fun stuff was over, and it felt like it went on for a long time
Best Part: a cute and comfortable cardigan for my wardrobe

A few non-knitting notes:

• My camera was out of batteries so we took these using my iPad (Sweetie loved the big screen to frame the shots) and I put them together using the free app Picture Frames HD.
• My hair is getting pretty long, so I’m trying to learn how to do things with it. This style is the product of a Youtube tutorial–if you have any easy favorites, let me know!

Conferencing

I spent part of last week at a conference for graduate students and instructors of college English and writing. I had been looking forward to this event all year, and it didn’t disappoint. It was even better because Sweetie was able to join me–he chauffeured me around, visited lots of important people and places, and joined me for dinners and exploring Minneapolis.

I’m finished teaching at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays this semester, so we were able to travel during daylight. This allowed me to work on my Aestlight shawl, which I’ll be using as a sample for a class I’m teaching next month. I’ve made more progress on it this week, and I started working the edging this morning.

Once we checked into our hotel, we decided to explore the area around the U of M campus. We spent some time in a beautiful used book store and had dinner at the Loring Pasta Bar. I’ve been meaning to go there for years, and I still want to go back for an evening of salsa dancing.

The conference began the next morning, and I came prepared with conference-appropriate knitting. This year’s project was Skacel’s “What’s Your Point” scarf in Plymouth Yarn’s Sausalito. My mom has been working on the same scarf to go with her entry for Make It With Wool Contest (and she’s doing an amazing job!), and we wanted to make sure that her center graft from a pattern modification would work well. I figured that making my own version of the scarf would be the best way to ensure that hers went well, and I was able to finish nearly half of it during the conference.

The first day of the conference was full of panels, an excellent keynote, and KB’s first conference presentation. After my day was done, Sweetie and I dropped some art off at the university and then had dinner with friends at Galactic Pizza followed by my first beer with my little sister, who turned 21 in February, at the Town Hall. That was more than a little odd, first because she’s my younger sister, and second because she still looks like she’s about 12 years old.

The final day of the conference went by very quickly. I presented as part of a panel about teaching careers with graduate degrees in English, and we had a nice turnout of current and recent graduate students. This panel was the kind of thing that I would have loved to attend when I was in graduate school, so I was really happy to be a part of it. I also attended an excellent panel on teaching developmental writers–I wish it had gone on for another hour or two! The day wrapped up with a planning committee meeting and a lively dinner. Oh, and a dip in my parents’ hot tub

I cast on for the Owlie Cowl on the drive home, but I didn’t get much accomplished in the dark with a malfunctioning book light. I’ve made more progress since then.

I’m making this cowl for a friend in return for a photo shoot of Sweetie and I that she did. We’re so happy with the photos that she took, and I hope that this cowl turns  out nice.

All in all, an excellent trip and a nice break from the daily teaching & grading grind. I came back invigorated, refreshed, and ready for the last month of the semester.

UFO Mondays: Which Dress?

I need some help. I’m attending the wedding reception of two dear friends at the end of April, and I really don’t know what to wear. It’s a more casual wedding at an outdoor resort, but I know that a lot of the bride’s friends that will be in attendance like to get dolled up, so I think a cocktail dress will be the way to go.

I just so happen to have two dresses that are partially completed and could work, but I’m not sure which one of them I should finish by the late-April deadline.

My first option is Vogue 1161 in a floral-ish print.

Last seen on the blog in summer 2010
Reason for abandonment: our friend passed away shortly before the wedding for which I was making it, and we left town early to be with friends and family
Assessment: the bodice is done, and it looks like I’ve started the skirt.

My other option is Vogue 1174 in a deep wine. I adjusted the skirt to be a typical a-line so that I can add tiered ruffles

Last seen on my sewing table last fall–I never blogged about it because it was super-secret
Reason for abandonment: ran out of time before the gallery opening for which it was intended
Assessment: bodice is mostly done but still needs boning, skirt needs to be figured out and assembled

So help me out: