Stuff I already have:

• jingly coin belt.
• Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Stuff to make:

• Tunic dress
• Lightweight harem pants / pantaloons (I have a pair made with a crepey cotton, but they are quite warm…)
• Tassel belt to layer under the coin belt
• Coin bra top
• Flowered headband

Stuff to buy:

• Chinese flats for dancing on not-smooth surfaces

Here’s my color palette:

Materials I’m using:

• Dark purple swirly batik cotton for belt, bra top and headband
• Dark purple cotton shirting for pantaloons
• Bright teal rayon jersey for tunic dress
• Bright magenta, dark purple yarn plus spicy-gold accents for tassels
• Spicy-gold flowers with a touch of deep magenta
• Random beads and bits of trim to add that tribal look

Should be fun!  I’m going to work on stuff over the long weekend, so I’ll have some pictures to share next week, hopefully!

The combination of dropping temperatures and rapidly receding daylight make Fall and Winter pretty rough for me.  I get up, it’s dark.  I admit I do like to watch the sunrise as I ride to work.  I leave work, and the sun is setting again.  And if I’m not careful, I go home and fall asleep right after dinner.

So, what does a normally cheerful and enthusiastic person do to keep warm, stay healthy, and keep her spirits up in the crushing bleakness of Atlanta’s (comparatively) Arctic Winter?

• Layering is not just putting on more t-shirts!  Here’s what I wear to work on a given Winter day:
  1. Cotton blend tights (wool would be better, but it’s pretty expensive) or thermal leggings
  2. Knee socks and/or legwarmers
  3. Dress pants
  4. Long sleeved layering t-shirt
  5. Animal-fiber sweater (wool, cashmere, silk, blends thereof)
  6. Cardigan – I take this off when I take off the coat
  7. Wool-cashmere blend lined coat from the menswear dept (good prices at Marshalls!)
  8. Knitted scarf (sometimes I wear the one my mother made me AND the one my boyfriend made me AT THE SAME TIME)
  9. Knitted hat
  10. Gloves (my friend gave me some gorgeous stretchy ones with beads!)

  Once I’m all suited up, I just have to remind myself that even if my face feels like it’s going to fall OFF, the rest of me is warm, really.

• Winter makes everything really dry, which is another unfamiliar condition. I’ve been experimenting with:
  1. Humidifiers – we got a second one this year, and it’s been helping a LOT.  The only problem is keeping them filled!
  2. Lip balm in my coat pocket, always.
  3. Skin Oil – hot showers are dehydrating, but if I apply a nice massage oil in the shower, scrub with a pouf and body wash, and then apply moisturizer as soon as I dry off, good things happen!  I’ll probably just use the oil once or twice a week to save time.

  The only thing I haven’t perfected yet is the damage my frequent hand-washing is doing to my nails and cuticles. But I kind of don’t want to get H1N1 more.

• Projects broken into babysteps are keeping my brain from going into hibernation.  Each night I have a plan for dinner (or ask B to plan for dinner), and 3-4 goals to achieve for different projects.  I’ve been getting a lot done!

So that’s it.  I’ve been keeping myself busy with these experiments and dreaming of what I’ll do when Spring comes.  What do YOU do to cope with the cold?

God I love that kimono fabric.  I couldn’t find my underbust corset to wear with it, so to balance out the expanse of black from the overbust corset, I made a little obi with a black grosgrain ribbon to break it up a little.  Yes!  I wore an obi OVER a corset OVER a kimono.  I’m still trying to get some better pictures of the ensemble – I know more pictures were taken!

You can see B’s amazing light and sound reactive jacket with el wire running down the lapels and sleeves, too.  He couldn’t get it to do everything he wanted, but it was a fantastic prototype.  He’s going to start a blog to record his work with el wire, since it’s sort of a new and strange technology.

In September I decided to make a dirndl to wear to Oktoberfest, which turned out pretty cute:

B helped me with some fitting issues I had with the pattern (from Burdastyle.com) and we actually removed about 5 inches of excess from the top of the center back of the bodice…  I don’t know what that says about my posture, but we got it to fit like a glove in the shoulder and bust area.  I wish I’d been able to nip the waist in a little more, but I wanted to leave room for BIER!

Right now I’m working on 2 more kimonos, these ones from a commercial pattern.  It’s kind of funny to work with Westernized pattern pieces after sewing my own drafted rectangles for the punk rock kimono.  They’re coming along nicely and I’m glad to be working in cotton again.  Those long seams would be a bit nasty with slippery fabric.  I’m already pinning the edges to death!

Upcoming projects include some travel pieces for our springtime trip to Belgium (eee!  Art Nouveau everywhere!), a red tweed sweater for myself, some solstice gifts that I mustn’t talk about here, and I have an idea to knit some large gauge cowls for a craft fair in Dec. with 3 or 4 strands of yarn held together to make it super bulky and get a tweedy color effect.

I’m saving my pennies to get another camera.  I’ve been really upset with myself for losing it.  I miss all the good pictures!

(Spoiler Alert!  Friend for whom I am making the Butterfly Bloomers with Bows!  There will be pictures further down!)

So, the Velveteen Vest.  Velveteen is a bit of a pain to work with, but having fought epic battles with velvet before, it wasn’t quite as bad.  Sure, it squirms its way out of the places you want it to stay, but much less so than its silk/rayon fully napped cousin.  And I can iron it quite safely on the wrong side at high heat, and I use a damp little towel as a pressing cloth for the right side, and so far no ill effects.

It’s looking pretty good!  I still haven’t figured out why the side front piece has that odd join at the underarm.  Don’t know if it was a cutting error on my part, could be a dart miscalculation on the pattern drafter’s part, but I’m not overly worried about it.

It’s a BurdaStyle pattern, and with their new site design, there doesn’t seem to be a way to comment on the patterns anymore.  I’ve had some big problems with them and their new site, but maybe that’s because I know a little more about the behind-the-scenes web design and development work than their average user.  There were some really dumb mistakes, which I gently pointed out to them, and which after weeks they still haven’t corrected.  It’s sad, really.  I had a lot of respect for the old site and community.

Anyway, I also finished up the Butterfly Bloomers with Bows!  I drafted the pattern to my friend’s measurements using this tutorial, which is very straightforward and easy to follow. She picked out this fabulously soft and cute (although wrinkly, I had JUST ironed them and folded them when I decided I should take a couple of pictures) white-on-white butterfly print.

My friend and I both have a similar sensitivity to having elastic around the backs of our knees, so she had the idea to leave a small gap in the elastic at the back, and tie it shut with a bow.  Here’s a detail where you can see, if you look verrrrrry closely, how the 3″ gap is tied shut with the ribbon:

Love that Venetian lace!  It was surprisingly easy to work with.

We watched most of the episodes of Legend of the Seeker while I worked, and it’s not the Best Show Evar (B says they’ve departed wildly from the books), but it’s got great characters, beautiful scenery, lighting, and cinematography, and of course, delicious costumes!

I particularly love Kahlan’s Confessor dress (she can really get that thing flying in the fight sequences), Zedd’s Wizard’s robes, and of COURSE the Mord Sith’s highly impractical yet somehow utilitarian leather getups.

Jane Holland is the costume designer for the show, and if it’s got a familiar feel, well, she did Xena and Hurcules back in the day.  But more recently, she did the costumes for Underworld, and I see a new level of sophistication and detailing in her work on this show that I didn’t notice before.  I think part of it is thematic – Xena and Hercules were both often tongue-in-cheek, but B has been forcing me to watch Xena (yay Neflix watch-it-now!) and I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would.  And I did catch myself lusting after a kimono-style dressing gown she wore in a dream sequence.

Good Stuff I Did:

• Got the Punk Rock Kimono to a fitting place.  It doesn’t fit the way I’d hoped and I am really, really disappointed.
• Got a pattern drafted and supplies for a friend’s costume and had a good time doing it.
• Cleaned up my new work area and assembled all existing pieces
• Went to the best fabric store this side of NYC, according to Yelpers, and got a few items (stretchy black knit, velvety patterned knit, and black Russian millinery veiling).

Bad Stuff I Did:

• Poked around on the internet, looking for more ideas
• Slept
• Added more projects to my list
• Didn’t take any pictures

The current list is:

• Punk Rock Kimono (which I may break up with for a few weeks while I figure out how to save it)
• Punk Steampunk (whose elements change weekly)
• Steampunk Bellydance (probably the closest to finished, mostly need to adorn the coin bra and make the brass dangle chains, and get the scrappy skirt going.)
• Daytime psychobilly comfortable ensemble (hence the knits and veiling purchases)

I may strike Punk Steampunk and reprise last year’s Polonaise ensemble.  I really like the idea of exploring the punker side of steampunk, but I’m just not finding the fabric I want for the pants, and I think boldly patterned pants need time and consideration to do well.

I’m hoping I can find the joy in this again soon.  I think I’m just stuck in the midpart between the fun planning and supply buying stage, and the point-of-no-return you-just-cut-your-fabric-to-pieces stage.

It is exhilarating.

You can’t tell me I’m doing it wrong!  There are no directions!

So, I began with the binding, because I have a particular way I want it to sit off the shoulder.

Working with the muslin is really informative.  I can see through multiple layers to add seam allowances.

It’s also really soft and fun to rip along the grainline!

I draped/drafted the front panel first:

Looking at it again, I think I need to nudge it up a little and carve out the armscye a bit, instead of the traditional straight lines.  This is Punk Rock!  I don’t have to be traditional unless I want to.

It’s a little hard to tell in the pictures, but this is also a knee-length garment.

Next I drafted some sleeves.  Very blocky sleeves.  I’m not really sure how modern Western sleeves work, I’ve just cut them out and fitted them into bodices.  They can be tricksy.  In this project, I’ve decided to be OK with the idea that the underarms may not connect with the sides.  This is not entirely untraditional, and definitely is Punk Rock, and might be nice if I get a little warm!

I also discovered a great place to put pins.  Can you see where in the pictures above?  No?

In my dressform’s neck!

Next time, I will show you how the back works, and I’ll work on a distinctly non-traditional obi.  It’s a hybrid between a corset and an obi, and is designed to enhance rather than hide curves.

1. Goooood Yarn…, 2. Footless Sock, 3. Doing the Happy Tilli Thomas Yarn Dance, 4. Stitches Loot

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

Mom and I got a little high on yarn fumes.

The Stitches Yarn Market took up most of the top floor of the Cobb Galleria Convention Center in Atlanta.   This was probably the same size as all the Dragon*con vendor rooms put together.  Gi-gantic.

Unable to pass up a costuming opportunity, I dressed as Second Sock Syndrome.  (Viva la Single Sock Liberation Movement!)  Still haven’t finished casting on the second footless sock, but I wore my single sock proudly.  Only one person, the genius behind Creatively Dyed, commented.  She was awesome.  The lack of comments I chalk up to 1. visual overstimulus, and 2. polite knitters.

I particularly love that Mom and I apparently wore our favorite colors and then proceeded to buy things that matched what we were wearing, inadvertently.  Creatively Dyed’s SeaWool roving is spectacular.  Zoom in on my photo to really get into the goodness.  The photos on her website are very good, too.  I started spinning it up last night and it’s sooooo soft.  A little slipperyer (yes, that’s a word now) than the coarse Swalesdale I practiced on, so I’m having to get used to it, but the yarn has a gorgeous sheen.

The Loot:

• 8oz Creatively Dyed Seawool roving in the SR3 colorway
• 2 hanks Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple in Jade
• 1 ball Yarn Place Graceful in Violetta
• Pattern for a twisty artsy beret from MissBabs
• Ebony spiral shawl pin
• Magenta felted flower zipper pouch, made by artisans in Nepal

So now I’m obsessing over what to make with my goodies.  I have a few shawl ideas for the Graceful.  There’s 900+ yards in one ball, so there’s lots of it to play with.  I’m thinking Spring Things or Aeolian.

The Tilli Thomas came with a pattern for a fishnetty stole made on big needles.  I started casting on and got annoyed, but it was very hot, and I may give it another try.  The drape on that yarn!  It’s so smooth and soft.  And I LOOOOVE the color.

Earlier in the day I had seen a few booths with a sister yarn to the Pure and Simple, except with beads and sequins, in the same colorway, but I decided I’d rather put the beads into the knitting myself.  So when I found the little kit of Pure and Simple tucked behind a display in another booth, I pounced on it!  And then I wondered if someone else had hidden it there and wanted to come back for it.  The shop ladies teased me that indeed someone had, and that I’d probably have to fight her if she came back and found me buying her yarn.  I’ll have to try to remember where I bought that from, all the ladies there were very funny!

I had no idea how much fun it would be to spend the entire day in the market.  So many ideas, so many sample knits to feel and analyze, so many pretty colors!  I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

I did manage to finish my handspun beret around dinnertime though.  I think the Guinness 250 helped.  Yum.

So, conclusion?  It’s definitely worth $6 to get into the Yarn Market at Stitches South.  This was my first fiber convention, and I think one of the bigger ones would be a really fun weekend trip.  Might be even more fun if there are people to chat with at lunchtime, but who wouldn’t mind if we broke off into smaller groups to browse.  It would be way too difficult to wrangle more than 2 or 3 in a group with all the shiny around.

I’m not sure what it is.  Maybe having a beverage means it’s time to relax and enjoy the scenery for a few minutes.

I’ve started a few other projects lately.  One of them is a super secret birthday gift!  The other two are a slouchy beret I’m making from some handspun my Mom gave me, which is about the same color as the turquoise in the footless sock above.  You may notice that there’s really just one at the moment.  And that Stitches South is this week.  Well.  That’s what happens when you decide to suddenly start knitting with size 00 needles.  Stuff takes longer.  Did I get the memo?  No, I did not.  That’s ok though!  With legwarmers footless socks this crazy, you can wear them however you want.

The other is an experiment with no real expectation for the outcome, other than playing with yarn scraps.

Spiral knitting!  It’s all done with carefully orchestrated short rows, and I dig it.  I think I may be able to work it into all sorts of things.   The pattern is called Ten Stitch Twist and it’s on Ravelry as a free download.

Look at all this yarn!  I made it!

I even learned to Navajo ply* for the roving I dyed.   It’s fun and I like the three-ply yarn it makes.  It’s tricky to manage how twisty it gets, though, but I’m learning.

I used the Lazy Kate to double-ply the gray, and that was really easy.   So much easier than when I would do odd things to shoeboxes to ply with my spindle.

I haven’t set the twist on any of this yet, and I still haven’t finished spinning  all the dyed roving yet.  After I ply this bobbin, I’ll probably get another 1/2-3/4 bobbin full.  It’s interesting that the colors’ saturation vary quite a bit, but I really like that.

One of my challenges has been getting the whorl speed ratio thingie through my head.  Finally, after much reiteration and B’s help, I can tentatively say that smaller whorls make the wheel twist more without my having to treadle like crazy.  Very helpful for the tiny yarn I keep spinning.  I can’t seem to make a larger yarn evenly, but that’s ok.  I like little yarns, and it keeps me out of trouble.

*I kind of learned.  I watched some videos on YouTube, was mystified, went through the steps very closely, and figured out how to do it in a way that made sense to me.  The idea is that you start with a loop of your yarn tied to itself, then pass the yarn through the loop, making a subsequent loop.  Over and over.  FAST.  And if you want to preserve your color changes, you can slow down the wheel and make the loop end where the color changes.  It’s very cool!

And here’s a photo collage of the unpacking and assembling process:

1. Opening the Box!, 2. The Ladybug Emerges, 3. Little Box of Accessories, 4. Detailed Assembly Instructions, 5. Accessories Unwrapped, 6. Double Treadle All Sunggled in its Blanket, 7. Double Treadle Yin and Yang. Kinda., 8. Getting the Wheel Out of the Box, 9. Getting Ready for Feet, 10. Unwrapping the Mother of All, 11. Am I Missing Pieces?, 12. Attaching the Treadles to the, um, Thingies. Footmen., 13. Attaching the Bobbin and Flyer.

I had so much fun taking each piece out and trying to figure out what it was.  The instructions are very detailed and have fantastic pictures to help you figure out what they’re talking about.  The lingo reminds me of sailor jargon.  “Stow the jib in the fo’c’sle, Matey!”

I was a little worried that I was missing some parts, as I matched up what I had with the list, but it turned out that they had already assembled one of the pieces of hardware, which was a relief.

Then I got to spinnin’!

I can’t believe how much faster this is.  I mean, sure, intellectually I understand the idea of gear ratios, etc.  But the wool, nay the YARN flies through my fingers.  It’s so fast I can hardly see it happening.  And I’ve worked on the long-draw drafting method a bit.  It definitely takes a leap of faith from inchworming.

I do want to get a Woolee Winder eventually.  The hooks are kinda annoying, but only because I get hypnotized by the spinning and get a giant lump in one place before I remember to switch hooks.

I’ve since plied the two bobbins of natural gray Swalesdale.  I’ll post pictures next time.  Next up – the dyed roving!  The Swalesdale wool is fairly coarse, so I haven’t decided what I’ll do with it yet.  It may make a pretty and sturdy knitting bag…