And here they are, all done! I ended up hemming more than I should have, had I gone with my gut and trusted my measurements, but it’s all good. Lesson learned! He’s happy with them, says they fit fine, and he doesn’t need to wear a belt with them (that’s good!) Apparently, bright sun and a headache don’t make for a smiling husband, but he was a good sport when I told him I wanted to take a picture for my blog.
I realized after my last post that I forgot to include a picture of the finished fly zipper open.
I don’t know why people think putting in a fly zipper is difficult. Maybe it’s because I researched the technique a bit before doing it, or because Kwik Sew’s instructions are amazingly awesome, but I didn’t really have any trouble with it at all.
I was pretty busy today, but I found some time to put together the fly, so here we go!
First, pin the right sides of the front pant pieces together.
It’s rare (like this once) when my husband asks me to make him something. I think he just asked so that I would have a project to work on (as if I needed more), but he asked for some slacks, which I hadn’t done before, and appreciated the challenge.
I had him pick out the fabric (an olive twill) and I choose a pattern from Kwik Sew (since I was so impressed with their men’s shirt, I figured their trouser pattern would be just as professional looking. It’s been sitting in my project queue for quite sometime, and since I still haven’t made it to my first weight-loss goal, and I’ve been itching to sew (not that knitting hasn’t been fun, but I love sewing), this would be a good project to work on.
Firstly, I had to take his measurements. My husband is pretty tall (6’4″), and thus, he has a difficult time with finding pants that fit. The ones he finds that are the right length tend to be too wide in the waist, and the ones that are the right size in the waist, are often too short. (This is why we sew, right?) The standard pattern measurements were pretty comparable for his size and shape, the only big alteration to the pattern I had to make was adding 2 1/2″ to the length of his pants. This was the first time I ever cut into the actual pattern, and it was a little scary. But I figured I was probably only going to make these pants for him, so I came to terms with cutting up my pattern.
Now that I’ve finished three(!) knitting projects, I needed to make something a little more challenging than a rectangle (even if that rectangle turned into an infinite loop). I’ve spent a LOT of time on Ravelry (and any knitter or crocheter would probably attest to the fact that you can spend a lot of time on there) looking for my next project. I settled on the Spring Garden Tee–it looks like a fairly simple stockinette stitch t-shirt with a cute lace pattern on the cap sleeves.
I’m using CotLin (cotton/linen blend) from KnitPicks in Harbor for my shirt.
I’m finally done with my first knitting project ever, even though I started and finished two more in the same amount of time. Hah!
Takeaways from this project? Buy enough yarn up front and you won’t have to worry about colors not matching when you buy more, or running out in the middle of the project and then having to wait until payday so you can buy more yarn. (By the way, I used the KnitPicks worsted Wool of the Andes in colors suggested by DoctorWhoScarf [see below]).
I had anticipated a 11′ scarf, but after blocking, it was only 10.5′. Pretty close! I’m really happy with how it turned out, and this was definitely the best project for a [nerdy] newbie to have made. I hope to never knit a dishcloth 
Completed Doctor Who scarf
It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Kind of been slacking on my projects.
Personal-honesty-time! So about three years ago, I managed to work really hard (eating a healthy diet and regularly exercising) and lost 15 lbs. I was at my goal weight, and was happy with how I looked. Sometime between then and now, I forgot how to be vigilant with my eating habits and exercise, and ended up slacking off to where I am back at where I started. I’m a bit annoyed with myself, and am experiencing problems fitting into my clothes, so last month I placed a moratorium on myself to not sew anything until today for two reasons: 1) So I could try to lose 10 lbs in six weeks (if I worked really hard, it would have been doable), and 2) to get other projects done for other people.
Obviously, I thought I could still eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, go to the gym maybe twice a week, and somehow two pounds would fall off each week. Right. Okay, no more sob-story. I’m just going to get it done, and to encourage myself, I’m going to reward myself with a couple sewing projects:
Share on FacebookBecause I was being a pansy about how I wanted the Star Wars quilt to be quilted, mom offered to do it for me. On Saturday, we went over to my parents’ house to borrow their truck so we could do some shopping at Ikea and get rid of some furniture out of my crafting room. So when we got there, I dropped off the assembled quilt with her to work on while we were out running errands. She suggested doing an all-over stipple pattern that wouldn’t go over the top of the faces of the characters, and that sounded good to me. When we got home that night, we assembled all the furniture we got at Ikea and I finally had a proper place to sew. (Still need to do some organization in the room, but for the most part, it’s a lot better than my previous set-up.)
This morning, I finished attaching the binding to the quilt, and hope to stick it in the mail tomorrow!
Also, here’s a pic of my new sewing area. So happy and comfortable with it now!
I finished my second knitting project ever! It’s going to be a gift for a friend and it’s probably getting a little too warm to wear it now, but it’s the thought that counts, right? 
Cable scarf
I wanted to give cables a try, so I hunted around for an easy pattern to give a try. Through the magic of Pinterest or something, I found a free pattern for a reversible cable scarf. I also wanted to get started on it right away, because I think I started on it while I was waiting for more yarn for the Doctor Who scarf, so I went to my local yarn shop and wandered around and around until I finally settled on some yarn (Blackstone Tweed from Berroco) that was at the inexpensive spectrum. Unfortunately, it probably wasn’t the best yarn to pick for this pattern. I probably should have gone with something lighter and not tweed. However, this worked out really well for me. Why? Because I made a TON of mistakes with this scarf. It’s okay, they’re hard to see with the yarn I choose, so I’m okay with it. The cabling actually shows up pretty well, but the 2×2 seed stitch in between the cables isn’t as noticeable (which is okay, because I think that’s where most of the mistakes are).
Still need to order more yarn for my Doctor Who scarf, so not sure what I’ll work on next… but here’s a latest picture of the Doctor Who scarf in the meantime.
243 rows of 436 on the Doctor Who scarf
One of my girlfriends from grade school loves Star Wars and is having a son this May, so what’s a better gift than a Star Wars baby quilt?
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