What I'm knitting

This is what I'm working on.
This is a baby sweater for a gift, and I've already finished the back.  If you're really curious how it looks, you can check it out on Ravelry (I'm a new member! - JennyAnne) - that is, if I figure out how to post photos there.

The other baby sweater I mentioned a few posts ago is all sewn up with a collar, but I've misplaced the separating zipper I bought for it, so I can't show a picture yet.

New top!

Well, here is my new top!  I made this pretty much during the weekend.  I wore it yesterday (Monday).  I think I cut it out on Thursday or Friday.  The pattern is a mish-mash of a few patterns in my stash.  I won't call it my own, but it was my vision.  I really like the crossed front style.  I think it's really flattering, that is if the bottom section is form-fitting and not maternity-style.
Here's a close-up of the front bands.  I machine-sewed them to the front, and then hand finished the reverse side.  I put some light weight interfacing in the curved band on the top to stabilize it.  I didn't interface the middle band since I didn't have any knit interfacing on hand.  
Here you can see the bottom edge on the body and sleeves isn't sewn on.  It's just the border of the fabric.
I got this beautiful knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.  I think this knit is sold out, but they have so many other great ones!

Gotta knit this!

Have you seen the new Knitty?  I MUST knit this hat!  Unfortunately, I've promised myself I won't start any new projects until I finish some that are laying around... that goes for both knitting and sewing.  

In the knitting arena, I pulled out an old 90% finished baby sweater and sewed all the finished pieces together today.  Just have to knit on the collar and sew on a zipper.  That will hopefully be complete tomorrow.  I think it'll be too small for my little man this winter, so this will be a gift for some little boy in my life.  

On the sewing front, I have that knit top almost finished, and I am soooo happy with it.  I see much more knit-sewing in my future.  It would be finished already if I didn't have to sew and rip out a very long zig-zag seam twice before getting it right.  That, and I'm doing a lot of the finishing by hand.  It's the only way I'm really happy with the edges.  That's my life with no overcast machine.  Just have to finish off the bottom and sleeve hems tomorrow, and I'll have pictures to post.  I feel so productive!

Coat Progress

Here's my progress on the coat.  The shell is moving along quite nicely.  I still have to do the bound buttonholes on the sleeves.  I waited to do that until after I set the sleeves to make sure the length is good.  I'll have to put in the shoulder pads, too, before I finish the sleeves.  I also have to finish the front facing behind the bound buttonholes on the front, so that you can actually button through them!  The first picture of me modeling the coat is pretty washed out, unfortunately, but you get an idea of the look.  The collar needs a bit more TLC, also.  It's pretty unruly at the moment.  I want it to lay more symmetrically without having to constantly adjust.Here's a better picture showing some top stitching and the front buttonholes.  I'm really happy with this so far.  I also think the sleeves went in nicely.
Ok, here's my big problem.  I seem to have scorched my fabric.  Where, you ask?  Why, center front of course!  It's looking a bit yellow-ish right under the buttonhole below.  I think it's pretty noticeable.  Is there anything I can do about this, or is there no fixing it now?  

To end on a good note, here's a picture of my lining (not yet pressed - I'm scared of the iron now).  I guess some of the fun butterfly print is lost since there's so many pieces, but oh well, I like it anyway.  I put most of the lining together while I procrastinate dealing with the collar.
I also started (and almost finished) a cute knit top.  That should be done this weekend.  I needed a quick fix.  

Progress on my Coat

So I decided to just go for it and started constructing my coat shell last weekend, before the instructions on the coat sew-along blog were posted.  Here it is so far.  It looks a lot like my muslin since it's a creamy white color wool flannel.  You may notice it's a bit shorter than my muslin was.  This is totally a result of material constraints.  I bought the fabric before I had a pattern in mind, and it's a miracle I got all the pieces cut out.  I should have bought more fabric.  Anyway, I think I'll be just as happy with a shorter length coat (as opposed to knee length).  It means less white wool to get dirty.

After I took the above picture,  I made my bound button holes.  This is only the second garment where I have used this button hole technique, so I'm pretty happy with the results.  In the picture, the lengths look a bit uneven.  I'll have to check that out tomorrow.  I'm spent for this evening.

Next, I think I'll put on the facings for the front, and then the collar (connects to the funny curved shoulder piece, not the fronts), and finally the sleeves.  I'm still a bit undecided about the horizontal pockets and flaps.  I left space for the inseam pockets, but I accidentally (wasn't thinking) sewed the horizontal pockets closed.  I'll have to check those out and decide if I should just take out that stitching or do some kind of welt.  I'm not sure, and of course, being a Marfy pattern, there are no instructions.  I must admit, I'm finding that pretty liberating.  I just do what I think should be done next.  So far, it seems to be working out ok...