Barcelona Skirt

Barcelona skirts are done!

And just in time for the grand opening of the local yarn/fabric shop where we bought the pattern and the fabric! The identical skirts were intentional, but the matching shoes, tights and tops were not. One observant woman told us we took the twin thing too far.

Photo was cropped to protect Hilary's anonymity (though of the handful of people that actually read this blog, I suspect most of you already know her or will meet her at graduation. Still, one can never be too careful.)

Close-up of my skirt:


Details:
Pattern: Barcelona Layered Skirt by Amy Butler in size XL
Exterior Fabric: Amy Butler Belle in sea green/coriander
Lining: Off-white muslin
Comments: This is a really wonderful pattern, and the instructions are excellent. I followed them nearly to the letter and ended up with a very wearable, professional looking skirt. I did modify the edges of the layers - the pattern called for them to be left unfinished with the intention that they would fray with washing. I thought the frayed edges would be too casual, and I wanted to wear the skirt to work, so I zig-zagged across the unfinished edges with a coordinating thread. Hilary opted to do a french seam for her layered edges - they both turned out very well but created entirely different looks. I also had to bring the waist in - the XL fit through the hips, but gaped in the waist. Hilary helped my put in 1.25" darts on either side of the zipper, and the fit improved dramatically. Also, the pattern calls for an invisible zipper. Installing an invisible zipper requires an invisible zipper foot; I found this tutorial very helpful in installing the zipper foot.

Now, more gratuitous skirt shots:

Close-up of zipper and lining:


Sorry for the booty shot, but don't these darts look awesome? So smooth and unpuckered.


I am very happy with the finished product. While at the fabric store grand opening yesterday, I bought more fabric to make an un-layered, a-line version of this skirt. I highly recommend both Amy Butler patterns and fabrics. They are a little more expensive than what you could find at a place like Joann's, but they are so worth it!

Serendipity

January's Rockin Sock Club socks are finished!


Please excuse the pasty, white legs. We are in the middle of an unending winter.


Star toe - up close and personal.



Details:
Pattern: Serendipity by Adrienne Fong in size medium
Yarn: Dragon Dance by Socks that Rock (January Rockin Sock Club installment)
Comments: I really love these socks. The yarn is gorgeous, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colorway. Initially, I had some problems with the pattern...On the first sock, when I switched from the ribbing to the lace pattern for the cuff, the yarn started to pool. I tried going up (and then down) needle sizes to no avail. Then I left the project unattended on the couch for a few minutes, and the cat chewed through the strand of yarn connecting the sock on the needles and the ball. I started over and voila! no pooling. Thanks Greta! I also did not really love the pattern at the start - stripes over lace are weird to me, and I thought the pattern would go better with a solid color yarn. However, I love the finished product, and I think the pattern and the color really complement each other. I did an extra half pattern repeat for a longer cuff, and on the next pair, I would make the cuff even a little longer. The heel is a short row heel (thank goodness for all the previous practice!) and it's my new favorite heel. The toe is a star toe (as you can see above), very comfy and pretty. I wore these socks to the hospital on Monday, and I was happy every time I looked down at my feet. In the past, I really have not kept too many of my handmade items for myself. These days, everything I make seems to be for me. And it's awesome!

Exciting preview - Barcelona skirts are finished! Love it! Pictures tomorrow!

7 weeks to go!

Eyeballs and (not in) gutters

Done with 2 weeks of ophtho, and it was a rather painful experience though I did see lots of cool stuff like an enucleation surgery and some really excellent ocular prostheses (fake eyes) where you almost couldn't tell the real eye from the artificial one. And the fake eyes aren't round balls like you'd think they would be - when the eye is removed, the surgeons attach the eye muscles to a space occupying conformer, and the fake eye is actually a flat piece of very elaborately painted porcelain that sits behind the eyelid. I also saw some children born without eyes, and some of the reconstructive surgeries that can be done to enable the kids to wear prostheses are amazing. I was on a plastics team, and in addition to the reconstructive surgeries, I also saw some lid lifts and other exciting stuff. People really freak out about their eyes - I have seen patients practically faint as the physician was trying to touch their eye. Since pre-school, I have been wearing some sort of corrective lenses, and I think now, you could pretty much touch my eye with a rock, and I might comment on the discomfort, but I could sit calmly in a chair while you did it. I suppose others aren't so lucky and feel the need to kick their legs up in the air and weep during procedures (long story).

Onto more exciting news, Raul and I cleaned the rain gutters today. We have had massive amounts of snow this year, and today the temperature was above 50 degrees, and it all melted. Cleaning the gutters is Raul's favorite job, just ask him. He has some 'shoulder problems' (wink, wink) that prevent him from actually cleaning the gutters, so that's my job. I wear gloves, climb up a ladder and stick my hand in the gutters, and today I pulled out clumps of ice and rotting leaves and mud. It's Raul's job to hold the ladder to make sure I don't fall. I think he got the short end of this deal - it's no fun to be standing and holding a ladder while mud, ice and rotting leaves are raining down. He's started wearing a raincoat on gutter-cleaning days. He is smart.

I will have some finished objects to show you soon! Hilary and I have plans for another 2 person sew along in the works. We are going to make Amy Butler's Barcelona Skirts in the fabric shown in the picture. I also am going to make a Nappy Bag and I am finishing up the toe on sock #2 of my Rockin Sock Club socks.

Onto the most exciting news: 8 weeks to go until I am done with med school rotations!

Yours truly,
Dr. (for reals in 10 weeks) Knit

Flipperectomy

Mr. Hanukkah Penguin, I am happy to report that your amputation site is clean and appears to be healing well. You may now resume your hazardous occupation as a dog toy.


Side View

So, I don't know about you guys, but I used to find amputated limbs and the stumps that remained to be slightly disconcerting. No longer! During my ortho rotation - I scrubbed into a partial hand amputation. That was definitely a memorable experience. And I also saw several patients in clinic who had undergone below the knee amputations for non-healing diabetic foot ulcers. And let me tell you, few things are more heartening than a well-healed, happy looking stump on a patient plagued by neuropathy and poor circulation (both contribute to some serious foot ulcers and infection.)

The weather here is still terrible. More snow in the forecast for today. A couple weeks ago, I was leaving the hospital in the car, and I hit a patch of ice when I applied the brakes as I was coming down a small hill, I realized that I was not going to stop. I was only going about 20mph, and I ran into the back of a van that was in front of me. The driver got out, and I thought she was going to yell at me for not being more cautious in such crappy weather. She was so nice. She said she just wanted to make sure that I was ok, and she was not interested in jotting down my insurance information, just in case she developed a neck injury later and wanted to sue me. Raul said the other day, that if you took every Southern Californian, and put them in a car out here right now, they would all be in the ditch (or worse) within minutes. And they would be totally mean about it, too. These Midwesterners....the weather surely does not make life easy, but it really seems like people look out for each other here. It's nice.

I Made a Bag!

And here she is (!):

Hello. I am a beautiful bag.

Last weekend, my friend, Hilary, and I went to a new local yarn/fabric shop. I bought a skein of luscious Malabrigo yarn, and she bought the Amy Butler Weekender Travel Bag pattern. The next day, I accompanied her to another local fabric store to buy interfacing and cording and such. (Side note - how exciting is it that I have so much free time! 4th year of med school is awesome!) And while we were in the store, I suggested we could do a two-person-sew-along, so I could make a bag too. She is a kind soul, and she agreed. I had fabric for both the body of the bag and the lining in my stash (purchased years ago for curtains), and I picked up the other bag ingredients with Hilary's help. I came down with a cold on Friday that prevented me from going into the hospital, but Hilary did not mind my germs, so my sick day turned into a 10 hour long sewing day. We had a serious workshop going - with two sewing machines! Another 6 hours on Saturday and a couple of hours this morning yielded a completed bag!

Here is a close-up of one of the big side projects:


A close-up of one of the end pockets:


Inside of bag with lining:


Happy Me with bag and dog:


Deets:
Pattern: Amy Butler Weekender Travel Bag
Fabric: Cream/black toile for exterior of bag. Black duck cloth for piping and bottom panels, and cream colored muslin or twill for interior lining.
Comments: I have many.

First, let me say, Hilary is a sport - not only did she agree to help me out with my first major sewing project, but she also put hers on hold to get mind going (and eventually finished.) So, now that my bag is done and I am out of her house, she can finish her own bag in peace.

Second - I think the key to me completing this bag was a Hilary. This process involves many firsts for me - I'd never made piping before. I had never sewed anything from a pattern before. I had never used an antique sewing machine before. Etc. There were many points where the going got tough, and had I been on my own, I would have given up. Hilary was a huge help, and it was really fun to make a project like this with a friend - you can keep each other going when it would be easier to quit than forge ahead.

Thirdly (and let me preface this one by saying, this is mainly for me, so I remember mods I want to make should I get brave and try this bag a second time), I would cut the bias strips for the piping a little wider. I had a hard time getting the edges sewed around the cord in spots - especially at the joins. I might also make the interior bottom panel a tad bit smaller for a better fit. And make sure the Timtex panels fit in the bottom as desired before sewing bottom. And pin lining to zipper before hand-sewing it in (I was lazy and neglected to do this and got wonky areas around the beginning and end of zipper.)

All in all, this was such a fun project. Amy Butler's patterns are great, and the instructions were very clear and easy to follow (even for a novice seamstress). However, this project was definitely a challenging one. I am still becoming comfortable with sewing machines, and each day required that I engage in battle with the machine. Fortunately, I almost always won (though I will only briefly mention the hours I lost fighting with the sewing machine.) Also, Hilary pieced all the exterior bag pieces together, and her comments and my observations suggest that this is really comparable to a wrestling match - not for the faint of heart!

I highly recommend both this pattern and two-person-sew-alongs!