Plum Stitches

Hydrangea Pants

What am I up to today?  I've was busy sewing this morning as Chloe took a nap.  She's been on and off with the morning nap, but today went down for about an hour.  Boy it sure is nice to have that quiet time in the morning, although I'm certain these days are numbered.

These are the pants I finished.  The fabric was purchased on recent buying excursion to Purl Patchwork.  I liked the hydrangea's (reminded me of summer), although I'm not sure you can really seem them in this picture.  Also, I sewed rickrac on the hem that I bought at M&J Trimming a few months ago.

On to my knitting WIP...Last night I finished the hood on the Debbie Bliss Hooded Jacket (woohoo!).  Now it needs to be blocked.  I'd like to make a little pin for it as
well, but we'll see how that goes...

Have a great weekend!

Bloomin' Garden

Blooms, blooms everywhere!

These past two years have been a crash course in urban gardening for me, despite always having houseplants and herbs growing in my various apartments.

The first year we were here we pulled out many plants.  Mostly shrubs (Wiegela, Lilac bush, Burning Bush, etc.) that had become so overgrown there was no going back.  The previous owners had planted so many beautiful plants, but many had matured and were a little out of control. 

We also battled with some bamboo that had been planted, but not contained.  Bamboo is great. It's lush and green most of the year, but if not contained when planted in a bed, it becomes terribly invasive.

Onto my Debbie Bliss Hood Jacket...  My yarn arrived the other day and now I'm about halfway through the hood.  It's looking a little odd at the moment, but shaping up.  I decided to the sew seams before I moved onto the hood, which made it much more manageable.

2 Years in JC

Finally, I made it to my knitting group last night at The Beechwood.  I brought the Swift & Ball Winder and I'm happy to say, we had success in winding several balls!  I suppose it just takes practice.  Also, yesterday was Kim's birthday from Last One Skeining, so we toasted to her with a few bottles of wine. 

Our two year anniversary of living in Jersey City is at the end of May.  Although our brownstone still needs some TLC, it's shaping up.  Our front remains unfinished.  The contractor for the work is MIA.  He sends a guy over every few weeks for a few hours and then disappears.  They were supposed to be here this week to fix the remaining issues with our staircase and bricks, but it's Wednesday and no one has shown up.  Plus it's supposed to rain the rest of the week.  I'm really at the end of my rope with all of this, but am not sure what to do!!  Argh...

On an up note, we received approval to replace our front door and have contracted with a talented door maker to build the door.  He has been a true pleasure to work with.  The door will be four panels in mahogany, with a natural finish.  I can't wait!

This article ran in USA Today earlier in April about Jersey City.  It's amazing the development going on around here.  You wonder where all of these people are coming from that are buying condos.

I've been dreaming of ordering some plants from White Flower Farm in Connecticut.   These are some of the plants I have my eye on:       

• Clematis Etoile Violette
• Echinacea Tiki Torch
• Moody Blues Hostas
• Lavandula x intermedia Provence

With all of the rain and warm weather our backyard is starting to spring to life.  I planted several Clematis plants, along the fence last year, hoping they would climb.  They didn't do so well, but this year they've really sprouted.  I'm hoping the border of our backyard will be covered with them this year.

Hammock Scarf

Just finished this little Hammock Scarf over the weekend.  It still needs to be blocked.  It's perfect for spring - the color and the width!

Pattern:  Hammock Scarf, I think this came in an e-mail late last summer from Purl and it was free. 
Yarn:  Lobster Pot Yarns Cashmere 1 ball
Needles:  Bamboo, size 13

Over the weekend worked to get our backyard in order.  We have a contractor coming to paint the back of our building and put in a stone patio.  Right now, there's a mix of grass (trying to grow) and these nubby cement pavers (yuck).  I'm looking forward to having a surface that you can walk on barefoot and that Chloe can run around on.

Hopefully, the contractor will start at the beginning of May and be done in a few weeks so we can really enjoy our backyard for the summer!  My fingers are crossed for this one...

Phildar Swing Jacket

After a serious hiatus from working on my Phildar Swing Jacket, I'm back on track, I think.  These are the first pictures I've taken where I really feel like the color is accurate, guess I'm getting better at using my camera!

Our kitchen finally dried out from flooding and it looks like we avoided any serious damage.  Our car is another story - still at the dealership "drying" out, but we should get it back tonight. 

I was able to find the right color to finish the Debbie Bliss Hooded Jacket from Webs.  Hoping it will be here by the weekend, so I can finish the jacket.  Have a great day!

Rain, Knitting & Fabric, What Could be better?

Very soggy here.  Not only did our kitchen flood last night with all the rain, but our car flooded as well.  The car's at the dealership today, but we still have standing water in the kitchen.  Hoping everything dries out soon.

On to happier thoughts...I completed the body of the Hooded Jacket.  Now I need to start the hunt for either another ball or two of the same color, or a contrasting color to finish the hood.

I braved the rain yesterday and headed to SOHO, solo (no baby, no husband).  First for a manicure and then a quick stop at Purl Patchwork.  I'm taking a baby clothing class there and needed to pick up some fabric.  I bought a yard of each of these.

Then, I spied these great "books" of scraps that I couldn't resist.  I'm sure I'll find plenty of ways to put them to good use.  I love this sweet little YoYo pin of sorts on Elliphantom Knits.  I'm inspired to make one out of these scraps and my vast button collection (courtesy of my Mother) for the Hooded Jacket.

I finally picked up my Phildar Swing Jacket again last night.  Working on the second sleeve.  I seem to be easily distracted from this project.  Looks like this will be part of my 'fall wardrobe.'  Unless of course we have an exceptionally cool summer...

Before I forget, check out my friend Charlie's photos on Flickr.  He's been living in Spain for quite awhile now and just finished his Masters in Photojournalism. They're great!

Stitch Witchery

It's taken me awhile to get this picture up, but I finally did.  I made a little, well not so little anymore, pair of pants for Chloe and put a little applique fish on a onsie from Old Navy to go with it. 

I know there are many ways to do applique, but for this one I cut a two square of fabric, placed some Stitch Witchery between the two pieces, ironed, cut the shape with pinking shears and then sewed it onto the onsie.  The stitch witchery warped a bit after I washed it, which you can see in the picture.  Next time I may try a different method to avoid the warping.  Fabric is from Amy Butler from the Charm Collection from last year (I think).

I've been working away on the Hooded Jacket from Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby.  I picked up some Cashmerino Aran last summer on eBay that I'm using.  Although, it looks like I'm going to run out of the color for the hood, so I thought I might do the hood in a different color, we'll see.

I've finished, two front pieces, the back and one sleeve.  I'm happy to report that this knits up quickly :-)

Easter

Although Chloe didn't really understand the Easter egg hunt yesterday at my in-laws, she loved moving the eggs from one basket to another.  The sun came out briefly, for the hunt, and then disappeared into the clouds only to be replaced by snow!

Blocking Advice?

Anyone have advice on blocking?  With smaller items (sweaters, hats, etc.) it seemed to be pretty easy.  I didn't really follow any specific steps other than washing and gently rolling
the piece in a towel to squeeze out the excess water.  Now that I've 'graduated' to bigger pieces, I feel like I need to follow more steps to accurately block.

Would love to hear from all of you about how you go about blocking!  I just washed and rolled out this Rolledge Sweater (not the best picture), but I'm wondering if I need to pin it, etc.?

Back in the Swing of Things

Two days back and I don't feel like we even went on vacation!

I made quite a bit of progress while we were gone on this little Debbie Bliss Matinee Jacket.  I had modified the calculations to fit a 18-24 month child. The calculations were fine, but boy is the gauge waaaaaaaay off. So it looks like I'll be frogging this one :-(

During my emergency run to Target this afternoon for diapers, this little bag just jumped off the rack into my hands and before you knew it I had purchased it. It’s a limited run of handbags from Rafe. I don’t know much about Rafe, but I have been to their shop in New York.

 

What else? Oh, while I was in Scottsdale I spotted an Anthropologie store and tried on the Beanstalk Skirt.  Big dissappointment, wasn't so flattering on me.  Still haven’t photographed the pants I made and the appliqué onsie. On my list for tomorrow...