scatterbrained

I'm sure I'm not the only one who loses knitting projects. To be fair, I haven't picked this particular one up in about 3 years. Some might find rows and rows of garter stitch meditative, but it functions more like Ambien for me. Melatonin. A cup of warm milk (which I think is actually pretty gross, unless you add chocolate). Give me cables! Give me colorwork! Give me charted lace designs! My brain and my needles will come alive.

The project I'm looking for is Scalene, which is a perfectly cute and functional neck-wrap-thing. (Not really a scarf, not really a shawl. What should we call that?) The problem is so not with the pattern, which I picked up because I thought it was clever. It's got a slash to pull itself through! That's always been my beef with scarves/shawls is that they are a bit of a pain to wrap in a way that keeps them on your neck. It's exactly the kind of thing I want to wear, but I just wish I knew how to get myself to finish it!

I was, and hope to still be, knitting it in some absolutely delicious Brooklyn Tweed LOFT. It knits up so squishy, and I love the rustic nature of the yarn. I would love to finish it so I could wear it...

So let me know if you see it, K?

Procrastinating

I'm supposed to be writing a blurb on myself for a meeting with my boss at work tomorrow, so of course I'm messing around on the internet. I may as well have something to show for it:

I'm working on a Moneta dress in this wild floral knit fabric from JoAnn. The plan is to finish it by Saturday for a wedding - we'll see what I actually end up wearing. 

I always trace my pattern onto newsprint. 

This is a pretty bold fabric choice for me. 

I'm making version two, with short sleeves, and I lowered the neckline about 2.5 inches. I've got a thing for a scoop-neck. 

sewing wishlist

There is no better tool for sewing project inspiration than Instagram. I follow (too many) sewing bloggers and independant pattern designers, and every time a photo of a new creation shows up, a light bulb goes off in my head. Yesterday that happened with Caroline Hulse's feed - more specifically, a pair of shorts in one of her patterned knits for Art Gallery Fabrics. 

*Bing* 

"I need shorts..." 

Now, I'm not normally a fan of shorts. But these just looked so cute, so breezy, so comfortable, that I knew I had to have something similar in my life. I arrived at The Purl Bee's "city gym shorts for all ages," which look adequately breezy:

The Purl Bee's "gym shorts for all ages"

Until yesterday, I'd never really explored Art Gallery Fabric's selection. Three hours later (clearly I have excellent time management skills), I managed to wittled down probably 25 browser tabs to these two options: 

Robert Kaufman chambray union + AGF cacti field

This combination is sleek and modern, but still cute and whimsical. I'd like to say that describes my personality, but I doubt I'm as modern as I think I am.  

Robert Kaufman chambray union + AGF whispy daybreak aura

Now this combination - THIS combination - really calls to me. It's whimsical, sweet, feminine - but at the same time, the blank space and the color palette make it feel less fussy. I'm pretty sure I would wear this combination every day if I could. I'm really not as edgy as I think I am. 

granny squares

I wonder how many of thesethings I'll need to make a blanket.