Major crisis narrowly averted

I sat down at my sewing machine this morning to finally use it for the first time since I moved.  Almost all boxes are now unpacked.  I quickly discovered a problem:  no pedal.  Couldn't find it.  Not in the sewing machine case where I should have put it away before the movers came.  Not in the boxes yet to be unpacked around the sewing area.  I dug through every box in the house before finding the pedal amongst some of my husband's books.  Um, ok.  Anyway, all is well now, and as soon as it is naptime for a certain little boy, look out!

iJenny

I am now a Mac user.  I just got my first MacBook.  I don't know much about Mac users other than they have some type of strange hippie/nonconformist stereotype.  My hubby thought this would be a great laptop for me.  I said "Sure, whatever."  It's very flashy and white...  So far, we seem to be getting along just fine.  I just use it for emailing and Internet browsing really.  It does have some differences from what I'm used to (my Gateway laptop is just getting on in years), and I think it will take a week or two to make a real determination on whether I like this better.  Like it or not, though, it's here to stay.

I think I'll be able to cut out my Market Bag Cover tomorrow.  I have the plan all mapped out in my head.  Now, I just have to actually sit down and do it!

I just cast on a few days ago for Elizabeth Zimmerman's Hybrid Sweater from Knitting Without Tears. I was inspired to make it for my hubby after seeing Brooklyn Tweed's version quite a while ago. He knit it two years ago now. I'm hoping (crossed fingers) that I'll finish it for Christmas. I don't have a ball band around to tell you the yarn I'm using, but it's some type of merino, I remember, a nice, casual khaki color.

Here's mine so far. I'm quite proud of the hemmed edge - my first one.

Here you can see the wrong wide of the hemmed edge, where I did that row of knit 2 togethers. It wasn't especially fun, but I do like the result.

Domestic Diva

So I went into blogger to change my profile profession from "Military" to "Domestic Diva", "Domestic Engineer", or something similar. Heck even HausFrau would have been acceptable. Nothing of the sort in the list, though. I'll just have to keep people guessing with a "Not Specified" industry. I suppose I could just type it in the Occupation block, but where's the fun there?

Yippee, I'm back!!

Anybody miss me...anyone?? Helloooooooo??

Anyway, I'm back in Germany, and in a new town, Nussloch. I'm loving our new place and my new job as a stay-at-home mom. I'm not bored yet! I do find I'm twice as tired in the evening as I was when I worked... sitting at a desk all day. Now, I'm running around all day. Did I mention I love it, though? I'm feeling so blessed to be able to do this.

So, I still have tons of stuff in boxes all over the place (notice the procrastination as I sit here during the little man's naptime instead of unpacking), and I have some boxes on the way from the States where I just spent 6 weeks, so I have nothing new to show knitting or sewing-wise, exactly. I do have a new idea, though...

I just picked up one of these puppies today, a Reisenthel "Carrybag." Now that I'm out and about more, walking to the store and such, I've seen a few German ladies "in the know" carrying these (I assume they're "in the know" - I think the bag looks handy). I think all the prints are really cute, but I chose this one:

Do they have these in the States now?

Now my mind is ablaze wondering if I could make a cover for it to change up the mood. I have this Amy Butler fabric.

I bought one yard of this as a sort of swatch to see if I wanted the fabric to make a new bedcover for our bedroom. Unfortunately, it's not the colors I hoped, but it is beautiful none the less. I made a dress a while back out of Amy Butler fabric, but I don't know how well this particular print would translate into, say, a skirt. I think it would make an uber-cute basket cover, though. ...and I think I have just enough fabric. Now all I have to do is find my sewing machine in this mess of boxes!

Oh, and check out what is right next to my house. Cable cars of sorts, transporting some sort of cement materials. All I know is they belong to a cement company. They look like they'd be a pain to live by, but I think it's kind of fun and unique, and they're very quiet and stop at night.

My coat muslin is finished!

Yay! I finished my coat muslin and am about to rip it all apart to use as a pattern for my coat. I'm very happy with the final fit, and I only had to make a few alterations.

Again, the pattern I'm using is Marfy 1414.

The pattern was cut perfectly for me except for the sleeves, which I will explain below.


Here are my first pictures, before sleeves, collar, and details. I tried it on over a heavy sweater, the heaviest I would wear with this coat. The only thing I want to change is to close the slits in back to the bottom of my derriere. I think they look a bit high as is. I was happy with the overall fit, so I finished the muslin.




I like the collar and pocket placement. The collar will have more body and stand up in the coating fabric with interfacing. I already added three inches onto the sleeve pattern for my freakishly long arms, but I will add another for the final pattern to be safe. The back belt looks a bit high for me. I will put it an inch or two lower on the final garment.

Finally, the sleeves... I put in my right sleeve first and it was so tight I couldn't get my arm through with the sweater on. I also did a crummy job of setting in the sleeve cap. I put too much ease too far down. For the left sleeve, I left the sleeve cap seam allowance out another inch and put the ease in the top of the shoulder. I also left out the two long sleeve seams to 5/8 inch instead of the original 1 inch. This made the sleeve fit me and the coat much better. What do you think? My left sleeve is the fixed version and the right sleeve is the poorly-fitting one.

Finally, I didn't hem the coat or the sleeves on the muslin.

As you can probably tell, I'm very happy with my coat muslin. If you see glaring problems, though, please let me know. This is my first muslin and my first coat, and I am open to constructive critiques. Thank you!

Glorious Vacation!

I have been enjoying my vacation soooooo much! No photos to show because I'm lazy, and since I'm on vacation, that's allowed.

My coat muslin is about halfway sewn together, and I have quite a bit of knitting to show and tell in August. Until then, I doubt I'll be doing much blogging. Just having way too much fun being lazy.