It's been quite awhile.

I decided, at the end of 2013, that one of my resolutions was to make more - to schedule time to sew and knit and to learn to weave. I bought a new work dress on one of the last days of the year, but my next new dress will be one I make.

My options, based on patterns I already own, are as follows:

A Kay Unger pattern for another work dress.

A Rachel Comey pattern for a non-work dress.

A Lisette pattern for a non-work dress (view B).

Another of my resolutions was to train for another marathon, so I may find myself in the same spot at the beginning of January 2015 that I find myself in today...

Clearly, BA's photo of this soup is better in all objective ways than my own, but I've made the egg drop soup recipe in the current issue twice this weekend and enjoyed it both times and something needs to be said for that. So, I recommend taking something resembling the Bon Appetit recipe to the local grocer. Low stakes. High return.

My sister is allergic to grapes, so oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies were out. But, I dig dried fruit, so I substituted apricots for raisins, added chocolate chips to the mix, and there you go, Joy of Cooking cookies, 2.0.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix:

1 3/4 c flour;
3/4 tsp baking soda;
3/4 tsp baking powder;
1/2 tsp salt;
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Beat in a large bowl:

1 c softened butter;
1/4 c granulated sugar;
1 1/2 c packed brown sugar;
2 eggs;
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Stir in flour mixture, then add:

1 c dried fruit (raisins, apricots, cranberries);
3 1/2 c rolled oats;
3/4 c chocolate chips

Shape dough into balls and place 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets. Flatten balls to 1/2 inch thick. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let stand for two minutes, then cook on rack.

To be shared with friends and neighbours.

Knitting is slow-going these days, but I finished the Brooklyn Tweed Irving toque this past weekend. It's a belated Christmas gift for my dad.

{I asked Greg to wear it for the photo. He gave two thumbs up for the Kathmandu tweed I found at Romni Wools to use as a substitute for BT Shelter.}

A year ago my sister gave me some fabrics and asked me to make her pillows. The fabric didn't all match, so it took some time to find pieces for the backs. A year on, I've managed to sew a single pillow and two pair (the sumo print pillow has a match, too).

I have no idea where the print fabrics came from, but when I went to find a match for it (chocolate linen), the ladies at the fabric store went crazy for the sumo wrestlers.

I used Kwiksew 3844 (a pattern meant for knits), and the Grainline tutorial for flat bias necklines, to make, not one, but three tank tops.

The fabrics I used were a left-over purple silk, a funny stretch satin print, and an orange chiffon.

tie-dye and batik cottons

(I happened across the end of summer sale at a local fabric store.)

Unwearable Muslin

I sewed a pair of shorts:

I seem to have cut the pattern for Simplicity 1887 View C,too small, as I cannot get them over my butt. Disappointing, but I suppose my sewing strategy is to make wearable muslins. As such, I shall take this to be the risk that comes with sewing that we mitigate by making a muslin first (which I generally think is wasteful, which is why I make wearable muslins). Thankfully I tested this pattern with inexpensive fabric first, as opposed to the $19/m fabric I'd wanted to buy.

I suspect they would fit someone with 34 inch hips, which mine decidedly aren't, and I am shipping them to someone they may fit.

I Made a Skirt

I sewed a skirt this past weekend:

The shape is based on Badgley Mischka pattern from Vogue, V1127, but I added an extra inch at the waist, and a waistband.

And I wore it to the Smut Soiree:

{Because I love Hollywood gossip.}

A Functional Muslin

I sewed myself a dress this weekend:

It is incredibly disappointing to spend several (20) hours sewing something, only to find it doesn't fit or it fits strangely. And if you have used $30/metre fabric? Oh la; that disappointment is then also compounded by frustration. I don't like to make muslins, though, and when I do, I like to at least chance making something I can wear in public. I use the pattern-ease measurements as a guide and I test it out with some $5/metre fabric as a muslin-making compromise. As I did here.

(B5316: an out-of-print Butterick pattern).

Stone Necklace

My talented friend gave me this necklace, which she made for me after the much gushing I did seeing the similar necklaces she'd made for the shop she works at:

This was not the first time I've been so lucky, either.

Kinda Like A Trade

We went out for dinner the other night, a few girlfriends of mine and I, and in the midst of all the food and girl-loveliness, Claire and I exchanged Christmas gifts. A homemade trade. I gave her cloth napkins and she gave me three jars of condiment goodness:

This Thing I Have I for Purple

I have a thing for purple, as evidenced by fabrics I chose for the Rachel Comey shirt, the Cynthia Rowley dress, and this current Vena Cava dress I made myself.

The pattern was very simple, with an invisible zipper that, to be honest, never needs to be used, french seams, and two pleats.

Were I to offer any useful suggestion to would-be sewers of V1228, it would be to choose your fabric carefully, because as much as I dig this print, the fabric itself has a serious static problem and I almost have to walk around with a spray can of static guard to have any hope of winning the battle against a dress that rides up.

Finger Painting

Cloth napkins are due for a comeback.

I made a set as a Christmas gift for my friend Claire. She told me her colour preferences. When it came time to buy fabric, pink was the only colour on her list that I could remember. I know when people say they like pink, they're particular about the shade, but this finger paint print was too interesting to pass up.

Easy Little Dress

Right after graduating, with time on my hands and no idea what was in store for me, I had this crazy idea that I would make myself some clothes for work. I had some wool left over from a bowtie project I undertook two years ago, which turned out to be enough for a little shift. The local pattern/fabric store had a sale on Vogue patterns, and I bought several work dress patterns. This was the first of those that I made, last June, in between studying for an exam and moving.

The neckline and torso were a little fussy:

V1156, an Anne Klein New York pattern (So many darts. So much pressing. So much topstitching.).

It gets worn at least every other week, so, for as much frustration as it caused me in the making, I would make it again.

On the Top

My life is a lot about work these days. It's easily what I spend 85% of my waking hours doing and thinking about. And I try to keep that other 15% saved for interesting things. I haven't been sewing much lately, and when I had some spare time Saturday, Greg and I went for a walk to a coffee shop a few blocks from here and then to find a 2012 day planner. But, before we left, I had him take some photos of a shirt I made a couple of months ago, back when I was better at work-life balance:

A Rachel Comey for Vogue pattern.

And, I am truly digging espresso these days. Easily, when it happens, the best part of my morning.

A Gift of Sweets

I was inspired to make something to give as Christmas gifts, and as I ran out of time to make apple butter, I decided instead to make marshmallows, candied pecans, and these: old fashioned caramels.

The marshmallows took three attempts, the candied pecans truly took two, and the caramels? One. And the recipe made an incredible number of caramels such that I was able to give a bowl full to both Greg's gran and to my own. And, really, who needs homemade marshmallows when Jet-Puffed is about as good as it gets?

Jyri

I found some time this past spring to knit myself a scarf. I have not picked up the needles since. I lost any will I had to knit after finishing Norah Gaughan's Jyri. Which is a shame, because I like how it turned out.

Jane, for gran

I knit a toque, changing up the length and decreasing it properly to make a cap instead of a slouchy knit. A gift for my gran. Not in the mail yet, but soon. I tried it out this weekend (is that even allowed), while back at the Farmhouse.

It was cold. I was warm.

Habitat

I couldn't help myself. I knit Greg another toque. I love the Habitat pattern. I had a skein of grey Lopi and I had exam studying that needed to be put off. And so, I knit.

After the first of my four finals, my friends convinced me that the best place to study over the weekend was at a farmhouse on the Bay of Fundy. I did study, and when the studying was done, I finished the toque. I rushed to finish it, actually, because we planned a study break walk alongside the Bay of Fundy and it was frigid out (and maybe by "rush," I mean that I took a study break to knit).

[Greg wears the toque below]