The Sweatshop

Here in San Francisco it's a pretty remarkable day if you can leave your house without bringing along a jacket. Even on days when it's pretty warm (for us, that's about 70 degrees) the fog almost always creeps up and scares people back into their houses to bundle up. Not so in the past few days! It's been HOT and beautiful here lately...maybe even too hot. For this reason, I think that this post is befitting of it's title. My apartment is not only unbelievabley stuffy, but it is also the scene of some crazy productive knitting and crafting.
I'm still working on my Clapotis, but of course I've run out of Kidsilk Haze as I'm just about to finish it so I'm waiting until I work tomorrow so that I can stock up on one last ball. I'm also pretty close to running out of the main yarn, so there's a good chance that I'll have to nix the final steps of the pattern that make the end come to a point and simply drop the stitches and bind off. That would be very sad considering I'd hate to compromise the look of the whole project, but if it's necessary I'm certainly not going to rip that thing out and make it again! No no no, never again Clapotis! It is beatiful but oh so boring...
Sooo, since I had to put the Clapotis down for a couple of days I decided to begin my Christmas knitting projects so that I can actually follow through with making more than one this year. It only took me a day to finish my first gift, which makes it all the more realistic to plan on a whole slew of knitted gifts over the next few months. You're going to have to wait until Christmas to see all of my handiwork though! So for now I've got a little taste: 100% Mongolian Cashmere, hand-dyed. This yarn is so luxurious and nice, I hope that the lucky recipient enjoys it.



What should I make next? I'm thinking that it's time to dig into the stash and start using what I've got. Oh how I love summer vacation!

Back in SF

Our trip to Hawaii was fun and relaxing but I'm happy to be home. I successfully made the Nappy Bag for my friend Kimi and it turned out so well that I think I want to try my hand at another sewing project before I jet off for my next trip. My pictures of the project aren't the best, but here they are anyways.

It's a little big on Indiana...

But it fits her mom Kimi pretty well!

The bag is pretty oversized, but I think that once Kimi fills all of the handy inside pockets with diapers and bottles and other baby paraphernalia it will be the perfect size. It also has a cell phone pocket on the strap, which she was quite excited about.
I think that for my next project I might try to come up with a knitting tote bag, but then again I might just make something for me to use as a school bag next semester. We'll see what happens.

Perpetual Vacation

I know that I shouldn't be complaining, being that I've been in Hawaii for two weeks now, but I'm beginning to miss home a little bit! It's been a busy couple of weeks with a wedding and my 10 year high school reunion. It was a little surreal at the reunion, I kind of felt like I shut down a little bit once I was surrounded by so many familiar faces. I just didn't know where or how to begin catching up with everyone, not to mention the fact that I'm terrible about remembering names. But, the school graciously provided our class with several kegs of beer and bottles of wine so that made it a little easier to loosen up! I'll post some pictures once I get home.
Now that everything has died down I'm trying to work on the crafty projects that I brought with me. I limited my knitting to the Clapotis project that's been stashed away for several months and I've been able to make a lot of progress on it. I'm using a hand-dyed cotton with Kidsilk haze and I'm afraid that I'll run out of the haze when I'm on the plane or something and I won't be able to finish. That would suck, but I've got to press on and get that thing over with. Clapotis is a great project and it's totally something that I'll use forever...but it is so absolutely boring that it's all I can do to work on it.
I'm also trying to put together an Amy Butler diaper bag for my friend Kimi before she pops out #2 baby. I've cut out all of the pieces and ironed on the interfacing but I'm so afraid that I'm going to screw up the sewing that I haven't gotten out the machine yet! This is the first project I've ever made from a pattern, so I think that my fear is understandable.
Anyways, maybe I'll procrastinate my sewing for a couple more hours and lay out by the pool.
Oh, poor me....