The One About Inori

Woohoo! I’m done with this!

Please pardon the horrible photo! I took it with my mobile phone camera and I do not have a wall that does not have hideous furniture against it!

Close up of the berries which Nad said looked like nipples.

Nights of (k1, p1, k1 and p3tog) are over. My hands are tired!

I lined it with a cute flowery printed fabric.

It has a yellow pocket inside. Which I sewed on crooked. Which you won’t be able to tell from this picture. Which is good.

I modified the handles so that it’s like…….. umn…….. when you hold the bag up, the bag stays closed until you pull it open. I keep thinking ‘drawstring’ but that’s not it. I don’t know the term for this kinda handle. If you know it, please leave a comment!

I also wore it on my head. I’m a blue haired high court judge.

Name of project: Knitting Needle Knitting Bag

Yarn: Panda Zoomy Shade 53 (Blue)

Needles: Birch Plastic 7mm

Cast on date: 19 Nov ’07

Cast off date: 27 Nov ’07

Learned: Nothing new

Mistakes: Hmm.. none either. Although if I were to make it again, I would probably use a thinner yarn. Oh, and I keep cutting too small a fabric for the lining!

Modifications: Did not use my precious bamboo needles to hold the last stitches. Handles were knitted in Moss stitch pattern (double seed stitch). Handles hold the bag close.

By the way, I’m on Ravelry now!!!!!(Finally.) This is way cooler than Friendster and Facebook! I can organise my yarn and projects and find similar items with a snap of my fingers! I also joined groups to chat with people that live near me and they also have meet-ups, Stitch ‘N’ Bitch etc. This is all very exciting!

One more thing, I tend to update few posts at a time now because of my crazy schedule of working motherhood. Kinda like bursts of blog updates if you will. Feel free to comment on any post even if it’s not the latest one. I get notified every time I sign in.

After pondering for 2 days on whether to wait for my mom’s instructions or to just go ahead and try to make a simple pinafore dress for Sunshine, I decided to go ahead with it.

Tonnes of rough sketches and brain juice later, I came up with this:

I sewed two pieces of fabric together as the blue floral cloth is really thin. I also left the top part of the side seams open to save us from struggling to get her arms into the armhole.


Please pardon her sleepy face. She was really sleepy.


It really is a very very simple dress. I’m thinking about whether to add embellishments or not but decided against it lest I spoil the whole project.

Here’s a close up on the buttons. (My first time ever sewing buttonholes and Thank God it was a success.)

This is also the first dress Sunshine has ever owned. I will design and sew more for her.
Criticism and comments most welcome!

Q: What does your Brother do?

A: It’s not a Singer.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *ahem*.

My dearest husband bought me a Brother LS2125 sewing machine 2 days ago. Spotlight was having a sale and we went down to snap one up ($148! Cheap!) together with some fabric to sew for Sunshine.

I come from a family where most of the women sew.

Both my grannies sew. My mom sews. All of them have been commissioned and sold their hand-made garments before.

However, I never thought I would follow in their footsteps.

The last time I sewed something was a raincoat for my dogs, but I abandoned the project midway as I…..err… you guessed it…. was too lazy. That was 3 or 4 years ago.

The last project i actually finished was when I was 13 years old – I had no choice, it was a Home Ec assignment. That pair of culottes had stitches running in every direction except straight. My mom still wears that pair. At home, of course. She isn’t mad enough to wear such an ugly thing into public.

When I unpacked my machine, a wave of nostalgia swept through me as I thought of all the home made PJs my granny (dad’s mom) made for me. She also sewed a pillow and a bolster. I’ll let you in on a secret…. I STILL use that pillow and bolster. They are smelly but they are mine and I will bring them to my grave.

I also remembered the dresses, blouses and skirts that my mom made for me. When I was much younger, I wore them happily but as I grew, she had to force me to wear skirts as I preferred shorts/ pants. It’s Nad’s turn now to force me to wear skirts. Hahahaha.

I remembered the many nights where I would fall asleep to my mom’s sewing machine’s sounds. That dull hum from the next room, the sound of scissors snipping. The “Shit!”s when she made mistakes (seldom).

I also remember taking her curved ruler and pretend it was a machine gun. Hahaha.

I also remember my dad and I picking my mom up when she was attending sewing classes. One evening we came home with a pair of ducklings. Because while waiting for her, I saw them in a petshop and wanted to keep them. – My mom had to bathe them and take them for walks instead of me. My parents gave them away to a farm in the end. -

My granny’s machine was the old Singer type where you had to pedal. I loved playing on it. She would remove the needle before I pedaled away the afternoon, pretending to sew.

Still, I never thought I would pick up sewing, ever. It must be the mother hormones that Sunshine gave to me. Now I just want to sit at home and sew and knit all day.

I’m going back for a short holiday next month and I will absorb as much sewing tips from my mom as I can. I’m really excited about what I can learn from her.

I hope they would be proud of me.

 PS: For those who don’t get the joke, Brother and Singer are famous brands of sewing machines. Hahahaha. I’m lame, I know.Â

There, I’ve done it.

Finished.

Finally.

Bored out of my wits with it.

It doesn’t look bad in the picture but it really is very messy and ugly. You may think that I’m just saying this to get you to say “Ohhh.. it’s nice, it’s not too bad” etc. I’m NOT. I will show it to you in real life if I could. Then you will realise how messy it actually is.

Name of project: Garter Stitch Cardigan

Mistakes: NOT DOING A GAUGE SWATCH SO THIS CARDIGAN IS WAY TOO SMALL. Increasing for the sleeves every 3 rows instead of 4 rows because I thought you have to include the 1st row in every increase. Carrying up the colors up the side too tightly, so it actually puckers if not for the edging.

Basically, I do not like this cardigan. Sigh. It was meant for my friend’s baby. But I will just keep it so that I can remind myself never to make such mistakes ever again. I will never make anything that calls for a garter stitch all through either. SOOOOOOOO BORING that I wasn’t motivated to knit it. I had to drag my feet through this project- that’s why I took so long to finish it. Knit knit knit knit knit.. I need more Yarnovers and SSk and PSSO and KFNB and etc etc etc………..

Here is a pic of Sunshine wearing it before I sewed on the buttons.

I will never make a jacket/ jumper/ cardigan without making a gauge swatch again. (OR, I will just make one size bigger if it’s meant for kids. Since they will have to grow bigger anyway. HAHAHAHAHA. I’M SOOOO LAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Apologies… I’ve been busy with work and knitting. So here is a few-words-more-photos post of Sunshine!

These are taken within the week. Some just taken this morning! Enjoy!

This is how she sleeps sometimes hahaha.

She looks shocked. Hahaha.

That’s all folks!

P.S: She’s only cute because of me. Because I’m cute, remember? She inherited cuteness from me.