Built By Grace Dress

BuiltByGraceDress1
Originally uploaded by wzrdreams

Here is my latest instant gratification project! It seems to be the only kind of project I cam able to actually finish these days. Even now I have a stack of garments that are all 99% done and lack only buttons or a bit of embroidery. Silly me. I am such a sucker for the quick and colorful, but who can blame me?

This is the Simplicity 2865, Built by You, Jersey dress.
I found the fabric on 39th street at my favorite LFS and it cost $4 a yard for 60 wide cotton jersey. I fell in love with the fabric immediately and that is always a good sign. Sure enough, 48 hours after purchase, this sweet and simple shift was complete. My only pattern mod was to lengthen the torso 1". I also used the serger to apply the bindings in one pass. There are more pics on my flikr page for interested eyes.

After McQueen

Happy New Year! (Vogue 2984)

AK Jacket Front
Originally uploaded by wzrdreams

Picking up some OJ on the way to New Years Brunch.

Vogue 2984 - Klein Jacket pattern. Self lined, shawl collar wrap jacket with slit pockets and back/side peplum.

The pattern ran small, but I read up on it on patternreview.com before hand so I was prepared and cut a jacket 2 sizes larger than I would have otherwise. I also make the armhole slightly bigger at the suggestion of a previous pattern reviewer and my pattern maker (I work for ladies suit company as a tech designer and using the cutting tables is my favorite job perk), who happened to walk by while I was cutting this out. He suggested that I trim the armhole 1/4" and then sew the armhole seam at 3/8" instead of the prescribed 5/8". I took his advice and am quite satisfied with the fit of the armhole.

It’s completely self lined, which makes it very warm, but one thing I would do differently is change the sleeve lining to a thinner material, the double layer of wool gets bulky in there. This was also the project that I learned you should preshrink even your woolen fabrics. Steam press!

Ms. Green (blue)

Mr. Green (blue)
Originally uploaded by wzrdreams

Well here's a recent FO that sat in my UFO pile for too long; elastic in the waistband, only needing a moment at my sewing machine and 4 waistband stitches left to close. Sometimes, my laziness is maddening. ANYway. I went to Miami and wanted to have these cozies to lounge around my parent's apartment in. Aside from the bulk of the seams, they are extremely cozy. Cotton ease is very squishy. I think if I were to knit another pair of lounge shorts (and I doubt that I will) I would probably go for a pattern without much in the way of crotch seams. Actually, if I found the right yarn at the right price, I could be tempted to knit the Unmentionables from Knitty, but it hasn't happened yet.

Miami/ AquaArt & Art Basel

Soooo... I went to Miami on Thursday to visit my parents and go to Art Basel and the satellite shows. Thursday night was the opening for Aqua Art in the Wynnwood neighborhood of downtown Miami. My friend Laura had a booth with the Taylor & Mackenzie Gallery so I was pleased to show my support and hang out with her and my dear friend Melanie at the Vangaurd Gen Art Party. The party was super fun; tons of people from God knows everywhere, dressed to play, dance, mingle, drink, and look at art. I gotta say, I was very impressed with the show. This wasn't no art school mandatory. Even though I was wearing some beautiful/painful 4 inche heels, I made it my mission to see everything in the space (which was considerable) and I am happy to say I succeeded my mission.

Krause Gallery had 3 of my favorites from the entire show: Jordan Eagles who was making bloody art before vampires where sexy again, Rob Tarbell who paints with smoke, and Stephan Zirwes who hangs out of a helicopters to take pictures that make one feel very small.

Also, notable for those who like Francis Bacon and can spot his inspiration: Oscar Bernal (Volakis Gallery). Do check it out.

Friday I spent sleeping in very late, playing with Marmalade (squishy kitty) and I went to a complete oratorio performance of George Frideric Handel's Messiah, featuring the Boca Raton Symphony with my parents at the Miami Cathedral. It was quite impressive, and quite long.

So...... Art Basel. Yes. I went on Saturday... and I succeeded in seeing everything there as well. It was oh-my-aching-feet large. Huge. I saw all my favorite blue chips (Francesco Clemente, Lucien Freud, Joan Miro, Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat, David La Chapelle, Alexander Calder, Ghada Amer, yada yada yada...) and that was only about a 10th of the entire show. By the end, my mind was mush and my dogs were dead. So I bought a few discounted art magazine and met up with Mel and Laura again at their friend Leo's house for the rest of the night. Good times.

I was really lucky that my mother was generous with her car and didn't hassle me about whether or not I remember how to drive (duh... it's like riding a bike) and that Miami is so easy to get around, and the roads are in such great condition! I love that town. I definitely want to go again next year.

Danny Roberts' work is quite inspiring to me. His character sketch book specifically has been a big motivator to me to draw more often. Thank you Danny for sharing your creative spirit.

My Bloody Vampire

Did you not see the knitty suprises yet? Well, in case you don't live in my universe, the geek knitters are fah-reaking out over My Vampire Boyfriend (rav link) socks by Kate Atherley.

The socks are bloody gorgeous. They have hearts (!) and cunning little bite mark cables (!) and the cable patterns are all charted out and incredibly visual, thus easy to follow! As if these socks weren't pretty awesome by themselves, they are also inspired by the Vampire hottie craze. You know what I'm talking about. Bill and Eric from the Southern Vampire Series & True Blood, **coughEdwardCullencoughTwilightcough**, and the Salvatore bros from Vampire Diaries etc. are some recent additions to a catalogue of sexy, but tortured (and sometimes evil) undead lovers... Angel & Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, David & Michael in the Lost Boys, David Bowie as John in The Hunger, Gary Oldman as Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the list goes on. Just thinking about all the vampire boyfriends out there is some fun, which only makes this pattern more tempting.

My vampire boyfriend comes at an excellent moment, not only for knitting & pop culture, but for me. I am currently season 6 deep in my first ever viewing of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. I have no idea why I didn't watch when it originally aired. I must have thought it looked corny and I didn't even give it a try. Why, oh why? And now, it's over 10 years later and I am hooked. Not only am I watching Buffy, but I am watching the Angel spin-off congruently. Disc for disc. Yup, I'm a geek. Luckily for me, I have not 1 but 2 friends who own the entire box set of both shows and who are generously loaning them to me as I work my way through the series. Consequently, I'm getting lot's of knitting and sewing done while watching, but not so much blogging. But I digress. At the season 6 point in BTVS, **WARNING, 9 YEAR OLD SPOILER** Buffy is having a clandestine affair with Spike, whom I've been smitten with ever since he summed up her relationship with Angel way back in season 3 in that awesome monologue which ends; "I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."

So... Spike, aka William the Bloody, is MY vampire boyfriend.

Prog shot:

Amazing how motivation works, huh? After a quick bit of thought, I decided I could make this happen on the CHEAP. I don't normally stash red yarn fingering, but I did have several skeins of Lion Brand Sock-Ease in my sock stash. After nixing the Cotton Candy I decided to give the Rock Candy a go with my stash of Tropical Punch & Cherry Koolaid & red food coloring, and voila!

Before & After:

Bright red like an open gash in some places, and dark like a scab in others with varying shades of coagulation in between. Here's a few pics from the quick and easy dye session:

First, I soaked the skeins over night in my crock pot with a 1/2c vinegar and a enough water to cover them. The next morning (10/31) I refreshed the water and added a splash of fresh vinegar and turned the crock up to high. As the water heated up, I mixed up my Koolaid/coloring in about a cup of boiling water. I also made myself a french press.... caffeine and kool-aid dyeing... an excellent start to a saturday the morning.

Doesn't the dye look like fresh blood? I love it. 

At this point I was having a pretty good time (caffeine was kicking in).

Once the dyes is poured carefully over the yarn, and stirred gently to make sure to strikes through the entire dye bath, I put in the lid and walked away for an hour. After a while the water was pretty clear so I turned off the heat and let it sit for a bit with the lid off before I took it out to rinse.

I noticed that the bottom skein still had some grey areas were the dye didn't strike, so I threw it back in the crock pot with the rest of my red food coloring. I think I need to get a big enamel pot one of these days for dyeing yarn. The mini crock pot just ain't cutting it.

Up next (I hope)... playing catch up.