Isn’t it frustrating when you’re half way through a project, or in this case two, and then you find that your overlocker just ran out of thread? It’s really damn frustrating to me, because a regular spool of cotton will be gone in no time on an overlocker, so now I’ve got to go to my local craft store and get some of those really large spools, which are irritatingly expensive and the craft store is irritating to get to.

But I was half way through sewing up two little capes, and I can’t just leave them unfinished, so now I’ve got to go and get the cotton and then finish sewing the things up. So irritating! I’m also having issues with the tension on the damn thing, but I’m hoping if I get the fresh new spools – I need two, actually, and have gone through all my white cotton spools in substitution for the proper overlocker ones – and take some time to refine the tension it’ll all be sorted out.

On a completely unrelated note, how irritating is it when you’re fingernails are too long and you’re trying to type? Do you know how many times I’ve hit the wrong key purely because my too long nails have tapped the key above the one I was actually intending on hitting? Lots, that’s how many. Lots! But of course my nail clippers just died, so I’ve got to go pick up more. I hate trimming my nails with scissors, so I’m avoiding that, but in the mean time I feel more and more awkward.

Now for a knitting pattern. There’s something endearing about this Lil Birdie pattern. It’s cute, but not overly so, and it’s kind of a little dumb looking, with their little eyes only just above their beaks. I like that they look dumb.

First off I’ll preface today’s post by saying I feel terrible. My stomach is all upset, I’m sneezing and sniffling, and my shoulder is killing me for no other reason than I can figure out save I must be sleeping on it badly. It’s been like this for days, so I’m just going to have to put up with it until I can figure out what to do. I’m also really tired.

Now that my complain is over, I’ll talk about the actual topic of today’s post… Sewing! I was up late last night working on project bags for the two ladies I’m in the Favourite Things swap and Favourite Colour swaps with. I’m making them both a project bag, and a smaller notions bag. They’re just simple little draw-string bags but I’m making them out of fat quarters I bought so that both the bags for each of the ladies I’m making them for will match. Two little blue ones out of the one fat quarter, and two little black ones out of another fat quarter.

They’ve turned out really nicely, actually, though I’ve got to put the finishing touches on the blue bags. I’m also going to be making them each a Summer weight capelette, but I’ve not gotten to the fabric store to actually get the fabric for the capes but I will next week. Then I’ll ship them off and hopefully they’ll both like what I’ve made for them!

It’s nice that sewing projects move along so quickly, so even though they’re messier and take up more space, you get the final product a long time before you would if you were knitting it! I love both of my crafts for these very differences, sewing is more instant, knitting is more relaxing!

Now for a knitting pattern! This Crow Waltz Shawl pattern is very pretty, and a little unusual, so I thought I’d link it!

Hmm, I think I’m inspired by necessity, in many cases, as with a little side project I’ve decided to make for myself. You see, a little background to the project… Whenever I’m in town, I take my mobile phone so my fiancé, who’s at home, can call me and we can discuss stuff like what I’ll pick up from the supermarket, how long till I’ll be home, how much we love and miss one another, how frustrating that lady who was yelling at her children on the bus was, you know, that sort of thing. Often he’ll call me so we can discuss something, but my phone will be in my backpack, and with all the noise of the shops and people around me, I’ll not hear it. It can be really annoying for him, and occasionally worrying if I’m way later than I intended to be.

So, I thought to myself, I’ll fix this situation, and started carrying my phone in my hand all the time. Yes, that’s a little tricky, though. So, next flash of inspiration! I’ll knit a lanyard! Yep! I’ve got some lovely nylon braid, fairly strong stuff, so I’ll make an icord lanyard out of that! So that’s one way that I get inspired.

Another is when I see a garment that I really like, on the catwalk for instance, and I’ll ponder a heck of a lot about how to make it. Like years ago I saw a lovely skirt on a catwalk, it looked like a lovely wool, much like a beige picnic blanket, that was asymmetrically hemmed, and bias cut. Beautiful! I tried to make it with a woollen blanket, lined it, FAIL! But I was inspired, and I’m still inspired to one day make a skirt like that. So that’s another of my inspirations… I think for me it is often a case of styles that have always appealed, and taking up the chance to make them. I love capelettes, always have, so when I got the chance, I was inspired and I’ve made four now, with fabric to make two more. So what inspires you in your craft?

Okay now for a pattern, ridiculously simple, yet here it is, an icord lanyard pattern.

Wow, eh? Wow! A new decade! My fiancé and I have been having fun making jokes about not having done things this decade. Like, I’ve not had a glass of juice this decade! Or, just after midnight yesterday, I’ve not had a shower this decade! Silly, but fun!

So, how was your Christmas? Ours was very good! My fiancé’s mother decided to give us lots of surprising gifts, including a sound system and huge juicer for my fiancé, and a sewing machine and overlocker for myself! I was so shocked… it was awesome! I’ve been using the new machines, and they sew like a dream! Much easier to use than my old sewing machine, and much, much more that I can do with them! I’ve got more than forward straight-stitch!

I’ve been sewing that faux fur cape, again. Got it to the point where all I have to do is sew together the lining and outer together at the bottom, which is, unfortunately, a really irritating thing. Because the whole bottom of the cape is bias cut, it’s really hard to get a smooth line together, and this leads me to be very irritable with it so it’s sat for three days with nothing happening, even though I’d done nearly all the sewing the day before that and was SO CLOSE to fishing! Bah! Anyway, after that I’ve just got to iron down the seams and then sew on the clasp. So pretty close to being finished! It’s very, very weighty, perfect for a really cold day. I feel like a gigantic diva in it! I just need one of those stupid little turbans!

I’ve also been knitting away and have nearly finished my fiancé’s scarf. I’ve only used three of the four balls I bought for this, otherwise it’d end up a three meter long scarf and that’s just silly. So with the last ball of yarn I’m thinking of making some fingerless gloves to go with it, a ribbed cuff with the herringbone stitch over the hands, I think.

Anyway, now for a pattern and then I’ll pack this post up! Hmmm, I think this Helvellyn hood is very cute!

Okay so yeah, I’ve got many craft projects going at the same time. At the moment they include… As mentioned in my last post, I’m knitting my fiancé a new bookmark. I’m at the stage of having the yarn and fibre fill I need, but not having cast on yet. It shouldn’t take long, though. I’m also working on a knitted neckwarmer, which shall be really pretty, but I have to restart for the third time, so I’m not anywhere with that one at the moment, but it won’t take long once I get back onto it.

Then there’s three sewing projects. I’m still working on my faux fur capelette, because my boy-cat peed on the pattern I was pushed back and couldn’t work on it. I won’t be able to get to my Uni to print up the pattern again until Monday. Then there’s the second – geeky – capelette I’m working on, the Gryffindor one. This one is solely going to be an ‘in the house’ deal. No way would I wear this outside the house, though I might show it to an equally geeky friend from work. The other sewing project is this really cute scarf dress idea from a Burda Style competition. You use shirring and some scarves to make a dress. I bought my shirring elastic today, and I’m rather excited to give it a try. As I’m not in the U.S. I can’t submit it for the competition, but I’m excited to see what I can come up with nonetheless.

Okay now for a knitting pattern. Due to all my HP geekery, I think we need something to go along with that! I like this really simple little owl pattern, more of a Pigwidgeon than a Hedwig, but cute!

A few weeks ago when my local craft store was having their annual 50% off fabric sale, I bought enough faux fur and satin to make and line a pretty little faux fur cape. I had initially wanted to go with a clasp of a natural material, wood, bone, or horn, but couldn’t find anything right anywhere. So I decided I had to go with either fabric or metal, and as fabric would look very odd on the faux fur, I finally settled on a metal clasp. This metal clasp, to be precise, which I ordered yesterday morning.

I am not starting the project until I have all the pieces at my disposal… well, okay I may to the pinning and cutting, but no further than that until I have the clasp. I have everything else here, in a big plastic bag. waiting to be made, and I am pretty darn excited. I started making these about a year ago, and I have made a red one out of gaberdine with black faux fur trim and collar, a colour combination suggested by my fiancé which looks amazing, and a grey one out of wool flannel with white embroidery down the fron and on the lapels and back. If I had the chance to do that one over, I would have picked a different colour for the embroidery, maybe a nice grey silk thread, but I still like this one so very much.

Sewing and Knitting both have their pros and cons. For instance, sewing is more immediate, you get a final product in a much shorter time than you do with knitting. However, you will experience a lot more physical pain, with all the bending for pinning, cutting, and then the actual sewing! But with Knitting, you get to sit somewhere quite comfortably, but I take forever to finish anything.

With all this talk of capes, today’s knitting pattern is also going to be a cape! Novak from Berroco, in this case.

So, I have the faux fur and satin lining all ready to go, but what I need is a cloak clasp to use as a closure. When I asked my fiancé, he suggested that I get something made from a natural product, he suggested a wooden clasp of some sort. I loved the idea, and set about trying to find a nice wooden closure of some sort, but so far I haven’t been able to find a thing!

I have googled and googled, looked on Etsy, on ebay, and I can’t find any! I can’t believe that. I looked for horn and bone too, but still couldn’t find any. So that leaves me with metal ones. After much deliberation, and looking over website after website, I have decided to go with a lovely little pewter fox head. I have always liked this clasp, right from the moment I first saw it some time ago, and I think the colour would go really well with both the grey fur of my cape, and the pewter colour of the satin lining.

Now, just because it has been rather a pain to find these, here are four sites I found many a nice cloak clasp on… First is Crafty Celts, they have some lovely, if pricey stuff. Second is Twin Roses Designs, they just have an assortment of nice clasps that could be good for period pieces or things with modern flare. Third is Patterns of Time, who have a huge range, some of which is really great. Fourth is Cloak and Dagger Creations, who have some unique and pretty clasps.

Today’s knitting pattern is another super simple one, mainly because with this one you would get to pick out buttons, and I bet you that awesome wooden buttons would be heaps easier to find that cloak clasps!

I have been looking into what I would need, and it is somewhat daunting. From what I can gather, I think I would need to investigate leased line providers, and make sure that I am in an area that has business SDSL availability. I think there are quite a few broadband companies around at the moment, so I could shop around for a good deal.

That’s all if I chose to have my own website, but I would be concerned that I wouldn’t get enough traffic to make it worth while. I could just have a shop on Etsy and then I am much more likely to get traffic, but I also have fewer options to make my part of the site stand out. The more I think about doing this, the less inclined I am to do it. I think that I may hold off on this for a while, until I am much happier with what I make, and have a stockpile of really unique items.

As for really unique items, this isn’t a knitted one, but rather a crocheted one, but this is one of those really unique patterns that needs to be looked at. A Beholder, as in D&D Beholder, crocheted amigurumi style. I wouldn’t personally make this, but it is still very unique!

So, my fiancé and I were talking about what we are doing with this year’s tax returns… firstly, we are saving a large portion of it to put away for a house, and to improve our credit ratings as we save, so by the time we are taking out a home loan, we have fantastic credit. We know the banks aren’t as free with loans as they were a year and a half ago, but nor are they as restrained as they were six months ago, so things are looking good there.

We also want to just leave a portion of it in our bank account, to take care of any surprise expenses. We do this every year with a percentage of our tax returns, and has been quite fortuitous on a number of occasions. We’ve also joked about an offshore bank account, but we don’t think that’s really necessary, I doubt we’ll have to go on the lam at any point, and that’s the only good reason I can think to have one at this stage in life.

Now, after all that, there are a few expenses to be paid up, and then, after that, there is some left over, probably around a hundred pounds, and that is all for me to go get fabric and yarn… with that sale, can you imagine how much fabric and yarn that is!? I am so excited! It’s like Christmas for me when this store has this sale, they have some of the loveliest fabrics. Their jersey is some of the nicest I’ve ever seen for sale, and they have some lovely wool flannel. They also have great faux fur, which works really well for this cute little cape pattern.

As for today’s knitting pattern, Rebecca Danger of Bunny Nuggets fame has put up another awesome pattern, this time for Monster Chunks. I must say, I can’t wait to have stacks of these awesome little critters on my desk!