Belated (Again) Caturday, Dress

First, the cats!


Here's a Pippin closeup.


George on the sofa, looking sleepy.


And Eve in her new favorite chair.

This is the finished dress. The belt is hanging around the neck rather than wrapped around the waist, because I couldn't be bothered with styling this morning. All of the pieces are put together, the buttonholes are done, and the buttons are in place.

Why am I not over the moon? Because I am an idiot. When I was choosing the size to make I was looking at the finished garment dimensions rather than the sizing guide, so despite the button band I added, it is a bit too tight. It buttons but it isn't quite the glorious thing I was envisioning. I'm slowly working on cutting out the next dress, and I think that one will fit better. But the green dress falls a little more under "learning experience" than "garment," and that makes me somewhat grumpy.

Sleeves!

Look, I made sleeves!

They even have a pleat and gathers. Of course, having bought a new seam ripper, I got them in perfectly on the first try. Set-in sleeves! That I made! And they fit! Oddly, I think I'm more proud of the sleeves than I am of the whole rest of the bodice, even though they were dead simple in comparison.

Next up, the skirt and the belt. Then, a button band of my own design, because even though I measured myself accurately and chose the corresponding pattern size, the bodice is too tight to button comfortably. And after that--DRESS! (Notice how I just skipped right over Buttonholes. Those will involve some serious practice beforehand, but I am confident that I can conquer them.)

Oh, Caturday!

I have a feeling that for the next few months there will be a lot of Caturday posts on Sundays; it looks like my Saturdays will be mostly devoted to Pride planning. Sorry about that!

In today's post, my lovely assistants will help me show off my current projects.

Here, George shows off my two-at-a-time Magic Loop socks. There's not much to see, detail-wise; they're just plain stockinette with a 2x2 ribbing cuff. But they look strangely like a little pair of kitty shorts in this picture.

Here we see Pippin getting ready to run away from my Sock Roulette Hedera. My progress has been hampered by my recent inability to work on anything for more than an hour or so.

And here is Eve, below the bodice of my dress. There will be sleeves later. And the collar is far less uneven than it looks in this picture; it's hanging funny here. (Notice I said "less uneven." It is, in fact, somewhat uneven. It's a learning experience.) Also, I plan to buy a new seam ripper today. It is a vital tool, especially for someone like me, who's been out of the sewing game for so long! But I'm pretty happy with my dress so far.

Have a happy Sunday, all!

Sewing

Where the hell is my seam ripper?

Behold the Bounty!

Here's what came in the mail yesterday:

I opened the bag, and look what I found!

The sock is covered with little hand-written tags pointing out things to watch for--they're marvelous. Here's the non-tagged side of the sock, so you can see it better. I'm itching to cast on its mate--perhaps at lunch today!

I showed my new sock to Anne, and she said it was beautiful. Then she asked, "When does the next one go out?"

What do you say, Julie? Are you up for organizing another round?

It's Here!

My Sock Roulette sock arrived today! It's a beautiful goldenrod Hedera from Ailsa. Thank you so much, Ailsa!

She also sent me a tea flower and two skeins of Cleckheaton Kaleidoscope in a lovely brown/rust-ish/cream colorway, and the whole shebang arrived in a grey drawstring bag. It was a wonderful thing to find when I left a department meeting today. I'm so excited to cast on. I'll take some pictures this evening, but I doubt they'll rival the lovely photos Ailsa posted on her blog. Hooray for Sock Roulette!

Non-Crafty

I want to share a story from this weekend that made me feel good about people in general. If you know me, you know that I don't have a lot of faith in People, so I always like stories that warm the cockles of my cynical little heart.

Anne came over on Saturday after work. When she was leaving, she couldn't find her phone, so I called it. We couldn't hear it ringing, so we figured it was in her car. Two minutes later, my phone rang, and the caller ID said it was Anne. I answered, and a man said, "Hi, I found this phone on [My] Street, and I've been trying to figure out who it belongs to so I can return it." "Oh, wonderful!" I said. "Are you on [My] Street now?" "No, I'm over in [inaudible], but I'll be back there tomorrow around noon, if you want to give me a call." I arranged with Anne to take her phone to her at work on Sunday, she left, and I went to bed.

Yesterday I called the nice gentleman back. I had already dug $5 out of my wallet as a token reward--I'm pretty poor so it wasn't much (obviously), but he didn't have to return Anne's phone, and he deserved something nice. When he answered my call, he told me that he was going to grab something to eat and then he'd be right over. This nice man, who was returning Anne's phone instead of selling it or just leaving it on the ground where he found it, was in the neighborhood because he was going to the soup kitchen down the street. When he knocked on my door he had a big smile for me, accepted my thanks graciously, and was just genuinely nice. He was surprised when I gave him the money, and I wish it could have been more. The whole thing made me feel all warm and fuzzy whenever I thought about it, and continues to do so today.

Hooray for the nice man on the street!

Caturday!

Pippin was shy today; he didn't want to pose.

I caught George looking very dorky. The good news is that the fabric in front of her is a pretty good color match to life. That's what color my dress will be.

And here's Eve's butt. The really funny thing about this is that her head is just barely peeking out on the other side--I think she thinks she's hiding.

Serious Catch-Up

I'm sorry for the long silence--late last week, life threw a serious curve ball that interrupted normal activities. So here are some overdue cat pictures.

I like this picture of Pippin--he looks very somber.

I interrupted George's bath.


And Eve has claimed yet another plastic bag.

In knitting news, I made a hat for Anne.


I really like the way it turned out.

And finally, in sewing news, I am a dumbass.

Remember that dress I'm making, the one where I womanfully admitted publicly to having tried to squeeze a dress out of too little fabric? It turns out I was wrong. I had plenty of fabric. What was my problem? I forgot that I was making the shorter of the two skirt options. D'oh! All better now.

Tonight I cut out my interfacing (after a quick trip to Hancock, because I really didn't have enough interfacing), transferred all the necessary marks to the fabric, and read the directions. Tomorrow I may actually sew--after I do a little research and learn what instructions like "easestitch" and "catchstitch" mean.

Oh, and I nearly forgot! My Sock Roulette sock (the one I knitted) has been received. Go here to see it! I'm really looking forward to getting my package (with the sock I didn't knit). I know it's on its way, and I'm really excited.