12/17/20
I finished one sleeve of the B2085, and now I need to seam it together and start the other one. I only knit it to the point where I last increased, so it’s missing some stitches, but I think that’s the right thing to do since I will join it at the round. I couldn’t really wrap my head around it fully tonight, but I’ll start the other sleeve and think about it along the way.
Update 12/19: I think I know what I need to do. I’m going to hold 20 stitches on both the body and the sleeve, then knit around the top like I did for Dude Deux sweater. I have started the second sleeve and should be able to be finished with that by the weekend, then I can really get busy on finishing this baby up. We’ll see wha I haven’t thought about then!
Wool wrap skirt copy
New skills: bound button holes & pick stitching
I started a copy of my favorite wool wrap skirt. I have extended it 5/8″ on the back panels to give another 1.25″ to accommodate my winter body, with buttons to accommodate my potential and hopeful spring body. There are some features on this skirt I really like, for instance the way the waist band dips to a reinforcement point at the feeding loop.
12/18/21
The pattern was very simple: just three primary pieces. I decided to add some different pockets than the original because I felt like it was more suited to the fabric. I was able to get the skirt pieces all cut and pressed last night, so today I was able to just assemble. One thing I did a little differently than the original is added a little reinforcement section at the main loop (pictured above) because there’s a lot of stress on this seam.
For the waistband, I’m hoping to use bound buttonholes, first because I think it would look nicest, but also because I’m not very good at them, and I really want to be better. What better opportunity to learn than on this muslin?
It took me three good tries to get the bound button holes right. The best-looking one is in the middle of the above left photo, but the actual best one is the bottom one (and center photo). The brown-on-brown hides all the stitches, but they’re not as even as the brown on white. I’m truly excited because I have been forever intimated by bound buttonholes, and now I think I’ve overcome the fear of them.
I’ll use these pale peach vintage buttons as fasteners. I had some other much cooler buttons to use, but because this is a wearable muslin (and not fully finished), I am saving those for a future project. I will let the skirt hang tonight to adjust for the gores that are on the bias and I will hand-hem it either tomorrow or Monday night.
Cherry Pit Pillow
I have been saving the cherry pits from my summer snacks for the last several (maybe five?) years to fill a pillow. Well, today was the day to put my cherry pit pillow dreams to reality. I used a scrap leftover from the wool skirt copy project and used a pink zipper (since that’s what I had in the right size.
Cherry pits are unique in that they retain heat, so they make good heat bags for sore muscles or cold feet. We put some essential oil on cotton balls, and they’ve already stained the pillow, but it’s okay. I can unzip and wash it later, and maybe it will come out.
I plan to sandwich it between my hot water bottles to see how long it retains heat.
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