My Sewing and Knitting Backstory

I have been reading the histories of many fantastic seamstresses in blogland. So many started when the were very young. My sewing and knitting history is long and short at the same time.

I grew up in a fabric store. No, not really but I was there with my mother very often. None of the fabric stores are still in the same place and most are not around anymore but I can clearly picture them in my head due to frequent visitations. My mother sewed beautifully all my life (she started in junior high). She saved the first baby dress she ever made me. She made many, many special dresses for me as I grew up. She would ask me periodically if I wanted to learn to sew but it was never an interest to me when I was young. I was way too busy doing other things. I did take home ec in junior high but had a horrible teacher. My mother couldn't believe the ways she would tell me to construct this one garment I tried to make. This experience really turned me off from taking the time to learn to sew.

Then comes Christmas of 2000. My mother got a new fancy dancy embroidery machine for Christmas. Since she had no need for her old machine she GAVE IT TO ME! I was now very excited to learn. I was 26 and my first child, a daughter, was only 4 months old. I really wanted to learn how to make my daughter cute things. My mom started me out guiding me through my very first garment, a really cute pair of overalls. I was hooked. My mom was a great teacher but I decided that I wanted to have focused time to learn. With my mom learning would be hit and miss whenever we would be able to get the time together. I decided to find a sewing class. I found a wonderful teacher and for a year went every week for 2 hours to learn how to sew. She taught me so much. I really appreciated how she taught me to think outside the box and gave me confidence to not have to follow the pattern guide sheet. She let me make whatever I wanted and guided me through giving me many tips along the way. The garment I will never forget was a pair of real overalls made with purple twill complete with lots of topstitching. By the time I finished them I hated them so much I think I only had my daughter wear them once.

During the summer of 2001 I think sweaters with everything must have been in. I was seeing cute sweaters everywhere and I decided I wanted to learn to make them myself. I contacted a knitting teacher and my mom and I sat a couple of Saturdays on this lady's couch while she taught us to cast on, knit, pearl, increase, and decrease. This was my only knitting instruction. Most of knitting I have taught myself (well, actually, I go to my knitting guru friend all the time with questions).

After the year of sewing classes my husband said that I had learned enough and said I couldn't go back to the classes. They were too expensive. He has no idea how much there is to learn with sewing. Since then I have been learning on my own and stretching myself to get better and do more complicated things. Twice I have gone with my mom to the Sewing and Stitchery Expo (2006 and 2007) and learned a ton of fantastic tips and tricks. The second year I picked up smocking. We are going to go again this year and I am so excited to learn some more. I only really discovered sewing blogs and pattern review (I actually signed up for PR in 2003 but forgot about it and never went to the site) about a year and a half ago. Wow! What a wealth of inspiration and motivation. I have loved this resource and has helped me grow tremendously as a seamstress and a knitter.

So as you can see sewing has always been a part of my life but I only have been doing it myself for the past 8 years. Boy, have I come a long way! I can't wait to see what the next 8 years will hold.

Thanks for stopping by and reading a bit of my history. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Spartan Pullover Turned Vest Finally Finished

It has been a few weeks since my last post but I have been very busy. I have quite a few things to post about but haven't had the time to do the actual posting.

I finished this project for my hubby little bit ago. He has actually worn it a couple of times already AND liked it. The pattern had sleeves but as you may remember (from a post quite a while ago) that I ran out of yarn and couldn't finish the sleeves. I had the entire sweater finished-shoulders seamed neck edge completed--when I tried it on my hubby. It was awful! The dropped shoulders just would not work to finish for a vest. So, I had to unseam (Is that a word?) the shoulders and then rip the whole thing out to the armholes. Then, I proceeded to bind off 20 stitches for each armhole and reknit the front and back following the pattern. To Finish I just did garter stitch edge for the neck and armholes.

The final product:And on my hubby:

Back to School U-Neck Vest

Well, I finished and I think that it looks great. I am very pleased with how this turned out. It actually fits. This pattern comes from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. This was a fun project. It was very easy except for figuring out the basket weave pattern. The pattern is easy up to the armhole split. After the split and some shaping you lose stitches and I had a hard time figuring which to pearl and knit to make the weave. There was a lot of ripping out while trying to get the hang of it. The nice thing is that you really can't see the mistakes so I didn't feel that I had to go back and correct EVERYTHING.

Yarn: Lana D'Oro Paints by Cascade Yarns

Color: Blue/Green/Purple--I was hesitant about using a variegated yarn at first because I usually do not like them. I was assured that this variegated yarn was very subtle. I LOVE it. The color variation is beautiful.

Fiber content: 50% alpaca 50% wool

Gauge: 5 stitches per inch on size 7 needles

This picture of the back shows a bit of the rib and basket weave texture.


Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day.

Until next time...

My First Cable

I finally attempted a cable swatch. It was a lot of fun. My goal is to make a Dickinson Pullover that was featured in Interweave Knits Fall 2007.
























I would like to make it with Cascade 220. I was unsure of the gauge and didn't want to make a big purchase with out knowing if it would work. The gauge in the pattern is give in the cable pattern. At my LYS it was suggested to me to try this yarn out if I already had some. Well, lucky me I do have some at home. My husbands sweater is out of Cascade 220. So I sat down one evening and tried my hand at cables. It was tons of fun. Following the chart was easier than I thought it would be. I am very encouraged. I think that I will be able to make this once I can afford the yarn. :)

Here is a picture of my cable swatch.



I am thinking of making this sweater in a soft lavender.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Until next time...

Spartan Pullover Update #2

A while ago (a long while ago) I updated you on the progress of this sweater that is for my husband. Well, I am still plugging along. Last night I seamed the shoulders together and finished the neckline. Boy, does it need to be blocked.

I think it looks nice but I have one problem that I mentioned before. I am almost positive I do not have enough yarn for the sleeves. Here are my sleeves so far and the amount of yarn I have left.







I am going to check back with my LYS to see if by some miracle she might have some of the yarn left. I am not too optimistic. If she doesn't have any more I am still going to see how far I can go with this yarn. If I must, I can always make it a vest. It will not look as nice but it will be better than nothing. So, wish me luck at the yarn store. This should be finished soon one way or another.

Have a great day. Until next time...

Spartan Pullover Update

I have actually been working on this sweater. I thought for sure that I would get to the end of the fair isle pattern and then go find something else. But, I have surprised myself and continued. It has gone much quicker than I thought it would. About 13 inches are complete. Woohoo! Only about 3 more inches until I split the front and back. I think I might be able to get to this point tomorrow evening. I am a little (okay, no, a lot) concerned that I will not have enough yarn. I guess I will have to wait and see. If worst comes to worst I can always make it a vest. Unfortunately I cannot go back for more yarn. I do not think that my LYS would have the same dye lot after a year. That's what I get for taking so long to complete a project. Knit on!

Spartan Pullover

I started a sweater for my husband a last winter. Spring happened and I quickly lost interest. Well, now winter is coming soon and I have new motivation for working on this. Here is the picture from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits.

Now, for my progress:


Yarn: Cascade Yarns
Type: The Heathers
100% Peruvian Highland Merino Wool

I am using size 10 needles. I am making a larger size to compensate for gauge being a bit off. I will have my husband try this on this evening to see if it fits enough to continue on. So wish me luck!

Until next time...

Ravelry Here I Come!!!

I received my Ravelry invite this morning. I was shocked when I saw the email. I was expecting it to take longer than it did. I am so excited!!! Although it is one more thing to do on the computer that will further distract me from the actual act of crafting. Oh well! It will take me some time to get it all set up but what fun that will be! My username is knitsewmuch if you want to check me out sometime. Guess I know what I will be doing this afternoon :).

A Sweater Finally Finished !!! (Well Almost)

I sat down late last night to post this blog but alas the internet was not working. I should have realized that this would be the case since my husband had to go in to work last night to fix an internet outage. I couldn't find my camera anyway so it was better that I just post this morning.

I finally finished my son's sweater. It took so much longer than I thought it would when I last posted. It is amazing how long it takes to do a couple more rows on the sleeves and sew up all the seams. My seams are horrible it think but it is done and together. My son is only 5 so he won't notice that the craftsmanship is not up to Mom's usual standards. I just wanted it DONE! Now it finally is except for the buttons which I might have him help me pick them out. He would really enjoy that. He wasn't just lovin' getting his picture taken this morning but I finally got a good one of him.

American Knitting: The Hard Way

Last weekend I spend the day selling my Discovery Toys at a booth. I brought along my socks to knit when I wasn't busy. A woman walked by and saw me knitting. Our conversation went like this:
Me: Hello, how are you?
Her: Good thank you. Are you doing American or European.
Me: American.
Her: Oh, the hard way!
Me: I know it is the hard way. I have been wanting to learn how to do it the other way but just haven't been able to.
Her: Do you want me to show you?
Me: I would love that!
So she came over and showed me a few stitches. Now I am determined to learn this method. I think it will be so much faster than my throwing method. I think my knitting is pretty slow and I would love to try anything that will make me faster. I love this video that I found. I think that I just might be able to learn with this to help.

My First Pair of Socks!

My daughter's socks are finished. Count them 1,2. Yeah!! A pair of socks. I am so excited to complete my first pair of socks. Once finished I cast on for another pair of socks. These will be for me. I am again using Cascade Fixation but my pair are blue, teal, purple, and lavender. They will be fun to wear.

Sock is Finished

Well, it's done. The top is too floppy for my daughter but the foot fits. She really likes it. I ended up liking the striping on the foot but the top is to splotchy. Even though I do not really like the finished product I am proud of myself for finishing it. This is my first finished sock. The others I have tried have all been ripped. This one will be too but I will remake it and fix what I do not like. It was really fast to make. My daughter wants to just keep this sock but I just cannot be happy with one sock being right and the other being a disaster. Soon, I will show you two finished socks (if I do not get sidetracked first lol).

Cascade Fixation Woes!

I have been knitting some. Not on the sweater I should be knitting for my 5 year old. Oh no. That has becoming boring and I want something new. So what if I am so close to finishing it.

I bought some Cascade Fixation when I was in Soldotna last weekend. I bought a sock pattern and was very excited to start this project. The ball of yarn was beautiful. The colors were perfect for my daughter-salmon, lime and taupe. I was so excited. I casted on with anticipation. At the point of this picture I was really liking the look.


Then everything came crashing down. The striping started to look horrendous with big, odd splotches of taupe surrounded by funny stripes of color. I did not check my gauge (I know, I am cowering right now.) for this not-so-easy-to-work-with-yarn and so of course the rib is too loose and flabby. I am going to keep going for practice. I have some more of this yarn in another color way for socks for me. I want to learn from this yarn so that my socks will be right. Currently, I have turned the heel and am on my way to the toe. I will post a picture of the sock when I am finished. Everything is a learning experience right?