See Jenn Craft

I know!  I’m surprised, too!  But wait - it gets even more unbelievable….  I not only have something to post about, I have a SUCCESSFUL something to post about!  Hallelujah!  (I should note that it in no way involved that pink yarn.  Maybe that’s the key to success.  I feel a yarn swap coming on.)

On to the (SUCCESSFUL!) crafting!

I said on my other blog that the post was going to start with this -

Who needs hangers when you have such an eager little helper?

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But really, if we’re going to do this chronologically, I need to start here -

That’s Madam’s computer chair my fabric is resting on. What?  You didn’t have your very own hot pink office chair as a kid?

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- and here.  The first is a picture of a sheet I got at the thrift store who-knows-how long ago.  I picked it up because I thought the print was sweet, it’s a king size - so tons of fabric, and it’s sooooooo freaking soft.  I was thinking it would end up as the back of a quilt maybe.  Or maybe I’d make a simple duvet-cover type thingy out of it to cover up one of the uglier warm blankets.  Something.  Something on the bed.  It’s so soft and I like the colors.  I wanted to do something with it that would leave me snuggled up against it.  Enter the link - a blog post about making your own pj bottoms.  Duh.  So simple.  Why had this never occurred to me?  For the love - she says “trace a pair of pj’s you already have” and I smack myself in the forehead for never thinking of this.  So here you go -

Do you see how that first photo ended up being part of this project?

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I love them.  They hit me right at the knee, have wide legs and elastic all around the waist (the bow is just for show.)  I made them a bit lower-rise than I like, but they’re jammies.  Who cares!  They’re not so low that I’m flashing people, and considering I don’t (generally) (only in emergencies) (like if Jonas throws Violet’s Barbie off the balcony and I have to run down 3 stories to go get it before it gets run over by the lawn guys) (It’s been an eventful day) leave the house in them, I don’t think it’ll be an issue.

I’m also making Madam a nightgown out of this same sheet.  She seems to think it’ll have puffy sleeves, I’m just making a basic “pillowcase dress” style nightie.  She insists I make myself a top, too.  If we are going to have matching jammies, I need to have bottoms AND a top.  “Shorts are not jammies!  They are just shorts!  You need THE WHOLE OUTFIT!”  We’ll see.

So anyway, back to the photo of the very large skirt.  I’m chugging along on the pj’s, when I decide I need a different fabric for the trim.  I go hunting and find…. nothing.  But wait!  Didn’t I buy a ginormous skirt once on clearance?  With some not-real-thought-out-plan of altering it to fit me?  And if I did that, wouldn’t I then have some leftover fabric?  In a lovely brown?  That would go nicely with this floral print?  Hmmmmm….

Pardon the pajama top.  And the mess behind me.  I barely get dressed and clean up when Joe *is* here, you think I do it when he’s gone?

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I remember seeing these skirts all marked waaaaaaaaaaay down (I think I got it for three bucks), but they were all big sizes.  After searching the racks 38 times for my size, I switched to trying to find the biggest one they had.  If I was going to be cutting some off, I wanted to get as much fabric out of it as possible.  (See that?  Thinking ahead.)  It was really easy to do - I just put it on, pinned it where it fit, and sewed it from the pin to the hem.  Then I turned it inside-out and sewed it again.  (Is “sewed” a word?  Spellcheck isn’t dinging me, but it doesn’t seem right.  Stitched?  It’s not hemmed.  That’s what you do to… well, the *hem*.  Whatever.  I made it smaller.  With my sewing machine.  Then I cut off the extra and used it on the jammies.  The end.)  I think I need a serger.  That would keep me from having to do all these french seams (SEAMED!  There’s the verb I was looking for!)  I guess I could just get some pinking shears and save myself the $300, but honestly - doesn’t everyone need a serger? Or at least, don’t *I* need one?

So - grand total for the day = one pair of new jammie shorts, one skirt that actually fits now (as opposed to being just another thing I bought to fix up “some day”.)  Not a bad day.  (Also - one halfway finished nightie for the Twink.  With any luck, action shots will be up tomorrow. )

Good day.

How not to knit Mary Janes - a step by step process.

1. Go here and admire the cuteness that are these slippers. Write the pattern down on the back of a shopping list. Fail to write down the yarn suggested, the needle size, or the gauge.
2. On the way out the door, grab your favorite needles (you’re *almost positive* they are the size called for), your hot-pink yarn (this is worsted… isn’t it?), and your “pattern”.
3. Knit knit knit. Ignore your four-year-old when she says “Mommy? That doesn’t look like a slipper. That looks like a bag.” Knit while your husband drives through the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Knit while you watch your kids play at the park. Knit while you watch Sweeney Todd on the laptop (when that woman said “Don’t I know you?” I GASPED so suddenly and so hard that I started coughing and dropped four stitches before I got it under control.)
4. Ignore how…. large it seems to be coming out. Think to yourself “When I’m done with all the decreases, it’ll look like a slipper. It looks big now, but I still have 3 more rounds of decreases… I’m sure it’ll be fine….”
5. Bind off. Hand it to previously-mentioned four year old. It makes a charming hat.

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Yeah, yeah. Swatches. I get it.

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Surely she’s not ROLLING HER EYES at me? There must have just been something interesting up there. Hmph.

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The really frustrating part is that I actually knit both bottoms before picking up the stitches for the top of this one. So not only do I have one HUGE slipper, I also have half of another one. I guess the only decision left to make is do I rip back (Again. This yarn may be cursed. ), or do I go ahead and knit the second one. Then Jonas can have a pink hat, too, and I won’t have to listen to them fight over my latest knitting disaster. (Yeah - the same kids who wouldn’t wear the fabulous hats I made them this winter are both DESPERATE to wear the giant slipper. Terrorists.)

I’m filing this one under “Whoops!”