Friday, May 25, 2007

Graduate! :-D

Well, I'd hoped to have more to post about (some FO or something), but I didn't want to wait too long to post, and I am having no luck with the wips right now!

I graduated from La Tech Uni with a bachelor's in Biology on May 19, yay!



I'll have to post a picture of me in the dress later, but they are all on a disk and I'm too lazy to put them on the computer right now!

I haven't picked up a knitting needle in about 2 weeks. I have been TRYING to sew, but I seriously suck. I don't know if I just haven't done it enough or what, but even going as slowly as I can, I still can't get seams anywhere NEAR straight, which is a very bad thing when you're trying to make this skirt. Then also, the thread I used didn't have enough contrast, and the only other threads I had that would have worked colorwise aren't heavy enough, so now I have to buy a new thread. So I put it aside. And I just don't know how it's going to look on me when it's done (assuming it GETS done). ARGH!

Then I started on a muslin for this top, and that was a hellish experience. Even after asking at PR about working with chiffon, it was ridiculously difficult to cut and my pieces didn't end up the right sizes or anything. I'm very scared of cutting my good fabric now... it wasn't terribly expensive but it's so pretty and I don't want to ruin it!

Then I learned that my zig-zag foot (I think... the all purpose foot is how I think of it) is GONE. What a disaster!! I'd planned on making a few knit tops and a knit dress, which I cannot do without a zig-zag foot! So now that is delayed until I can get to the sewing machine repair shop to purchase the part.

I do have some linen to use for a skirt, but after the way things have been going, I just don't know. Sometimes I don't think I'll ever get the hang of sewing and have a finished garment that I like well enough to wear IN the house, much less out of it!

I did find a GORGEOUS red knit at Walmart for $1 yd. It's going to be my "muslin" fabric, but dare I hope it comes out wearable? As inexpensive as it was, I'll be a little disappointed if it all goes to waste. And I found some other fabric, white, on the dollar table, but I'm not sure what it was... perhaps someone can give me some suggestions? I think it was peachskin because there was some black which was not on the dollar table that seemed pretty similar, marked as peachskin. Anyway, one side of it feels kinda sueded (I have a scrap of sueded rayon and it feels similar to that, except the rayon feels a little nicer and the other stuff isn't stretchy). It's really soft, and the other side of it feels and looks like the wrong side of a satin fabric. It has no stretch, too. I don't know if it is poly... the bolt was just marked unknown content. But it is really nice, although I have no idea what it's good for. I just got some of it because I liked it so much! I also got some embroidered cotton voile from Gorgeous Things (and boy is that a perfect name!). I don't know what to use it for. There are a couple of tops I was considering from BWOF, such as this one, but I might have just enough for a dress, or a skirt, what do you think I should do with it?

But really, sewing is going so poorly for me. I don't know how much more time and money I can afford to waste making things that never turn out, but it's not much. With knitting, at least you can reuse the yarn if it doesn't work, but with sewing, what's done is done. I don't want to give up, especially since I've wanted to sew my whole life, but it is expensive and especially so when nothing works.

In knitting news, I signed up to be a test knitter for Ysolda's Snow White pattern, but I don't think I was selected (I haven't gotten an email or anything). I figured I wouldn't, because she'd sent the email out that morning and I didn't check till the evening, and there seem to be a lot of knitters who knit my size (34"), so I figured that spot would be gone. Oh well. I really love the design, though. It's so elegant!

Also, I got a Ravelry account. If you aren't on the waiting list yet, sign up! I had to wait at least a couple of weeks for my invite, but it was SO WORTH IT. This site has everything a knitter could need! And it's only in Beta. I can only imagine how powerful a tool it will be when it's released to the public. I'm organizing my projects and my stash, finding new patterns and knitters with similar knitting interests as mine, there are discussion forums, links to awesome new knit sites (at least ones I haven't run across yet), and the list goes on. I really love it, and I'd read some skeptics who said that sites like this never last because people quit using them, but I have to disagree! Look at Pattern Review! I can easily see Ravelry becoming the knitting equivalent of PR. I just hope it stays free!

Anyway, I am going to get back to Rapunzel and the Butterfly dress and everything else soon. I just NEED to get some sewing done, I need to complete something that doesn't suck and look homemade in that really, really bad way, both for practical purposes (I need summer clothes!), for self-esteem purposes (you CAN do this, Crystal!), and so I'll know I haven't wasted a lot of time and money on fabric and patterns. :-)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!!!!

sulu-design said...

What an adorable picture! Congratulations again. Now if we could just locate the earrings that were supposed to match that dress...

Anonymous said...

Congrats!

Karin said...

Congrats on graduating!

Isn't Ravelry fun? I only wish I had the desire to knit more lately...

Anonymous said...

Congrats on Graduating! So have you decided on which dress the fabric is going to turn into?

Gorgeous Things said...

Congradulations!!!!!!!!!

anky said...

Congrats on graduating! Don't rush off to bet a real job though, enjoy the freedom whilst you can!