I Heart Knitting

That’s how much I’ve got done on my wedding shawl. And, if I do say so myself, it looks gorgeous.

So after reading Sew, Mama, Sew for quite some time now, I’ve become quite familiar with Elizabeth over at Oh, Fransson!.  Each month, she has a feature where she whips up something fantastic and shares how to do it.  Its called Elizabeth’s Fabric Focus, and its one of my favorite things at Sew, Mama, Sew.  Anyway, back in March, Elizabeth hosted a quilt-along, with one of her very own patterns.  I, sadly, couldn’t participate during the month of March, as I was feeling pretty darn yucky – gallstones… had to have the gallblader removed!  But I decided that I was going to follow the amazing instructions at some point.  I just had to pick out the fabric.

Enter Heather Bailey.  I have been drooling over her stuff for some time now, and she had a bit of a sale going on, so I purchased a few fabrics.  Once they arrived, I realized that I had to find the perfect accompaniments, so I made a trip to Amish Country.  There, I found six coordinating solids to accent the awesome sampler quilt that Elizabeth had put together.

And so I started.  I prewashed my fabric – the first time I’ve ever done that – and pressed before I started.  I CAREFULLY cut the main fabrics into strips and squares and rectangles.  And I started sewing.  So far, I have all but 8 squares (out of 36) complete!  I am thrilled beyond belief and can’t wait to actually work on it some more!  This weekend coming up is crazy hectic (I’m attending TNNA), but should be able to do more next week.  For now, here’s are a few of my favorites.

A few weeks ago, Sew Mama Sew hosted a giveaway, where they gathered the links to SO MANY BLOGS that were having a giveaway over the weekend.  I decided that this would be a great way to a) possibly score some free swag and b) discover more sewing blogs, as I’ve really had a desire to sew.  Well, I was lucky enough to accomplish both!  First, the swag:

This fabric came from the giveaway over at Terri’s Notebook.  And what a great prize it is!  There are three fat quarters (the pieces on the left) and three half yard pieces (over there on the right).  I’m so thrilled with it, as it really is going to make something great.  I’m thinking of getting my stitch on and making a patchwork bag.  Or… I might try my had at something Denyse Schmidt-y since this fabric is from her Katie Jump Rope collection.  It really is great!

Aside from the fantastic swag, I was able to discover a few (or more) blogs.   I fully intend to go back to the giveaway posts (more here) and checking out things again.  There really were so many blogs on there (even some knitting ones!).

Chris wins the crafty fiance of the year award – once again. For my birthday, he got me a Nancy’s Knit Knacks Heavy Duty Ballwinder and a Schact Cricket Loom. That’s not the reason I’m marrying him, but its definitely a perk!  Hopefully I can get pictures up later!

I love New York!

Did anyone else see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s post yesterday?  If not, it was all about how she had a slight affair with another craft – weaving.  I’ve been semi-interested in this weaving phenomenon since Lolly took it up a few years ago, but the cost and the time and the space needed for weaving seemed too much.  However, the tiny little loom the Yarn Harlot was using and the gorgeous scarf she created has really just about sealed the deal for me on the weaving thing.  I told Chris last night that he could get me the Cricket Loom for my birthday if he wanted.  It isn’t something I’d be likely to buy myself, though who am I kidding?  If the bug bites, I gotta scratch!  I have so much sock yarn that I’m nearly bursting from it all, and I think the loom might be a good solution to working down the stash.  In a knitty article, the author said that a 100 g ball of sock yarn would make a whole scarf.  This could be a fantastic gift idea!  I almost got the ladies at My Sister’s Yarn Shop ready to weave with me this morning when I was retelling my love for the Yarn Harlot’s scarf!  We’ll see if it shows up in June, or if I’ll just have to purchase the loom myself.  Either way, be on the lookout for some woven scarves. Also, take a look at this gorgeousness and see if you don’t want to weave, too…

So here it is… the wedding shawl. I’ve finally decided on the pattern and the yarn. And here is the first three repeats.

My adventures in dress shopping were interesting on Saturday.  We picked a local bridal shop based on the fact that they carried a brand who made very nice looking plus-size dresses, based on my perusings on the Interwebs.    I had six dresses I wanted to see.  None were in stock.  Not only that, but the ladies at the shop really weren’t that helpful.  They pretty much told me to tag what I wanted and they’d put them in the dressing room, and then let me go on my merry way.  Didn’t ask me much about what I was interested in, or really even talk to me all that much.  Also, because it was 80 degrees this weekend, it was HOT in the shop.  I tried on one dress, and wasn’t super in love with it.  We left the shop disappointed.  The next shop we went to was slightly more helpful, but they didn’t have a whole lot of dresses with straps.  I wasn’t interested in a strapless dress.  So we headed over to the last place I thought I’d go dress shopping, David’s Bridal.  Let me tell you, my experience there was fantastic!  They only had a few dresses in my size, and I didn’t find a whole lot with straps, but my mom convinced me to try a few things on.  Wouldn’t you know the dress that I wasn’t all that interested in turned out to be THE DRESS!  It was strapless, but David’s Bridal has an option with their dresses that you can add straps, so I did.  But I really didn’t need to.  The dress was great without the straps!  And it was VERY flattering.  If anyone out there (Manda, I’m looking at you) has any reservations about dress shopping, take a look at David’s Bridal – and if you’re interested in which dress I got, let me know.  It has received tons of great reviews on the David’s Bridal site.  I’m so excited to wear the dress on our wedding day.  I can’t wait for Chris to see me in it!

According to the Cylon Detector App, which is awesome by the way, my dog is a Cylon. Here’s the proof…