The Unmentionables

I had another busy week. I'm starting to think that it's just how my life is going to be now, and I should just stop carrying on about it. So, for the last time, this week went by really really fast! 

As for my weekly picture, I was going by 7 day weeks, starting on the first, but most of the time I have no idea what day it is. I'm going to need to just make fridays my deadline from now on. To make up for the 3rd week of January: 

It's not the best quality picture (Instagram) but it's certainly the coolest subject of the week. Also, I'm pretty sure it's the only picture I took, so It will have to do. 

Today, being the 4th friday of the month:

This is another scarf that I'm almost done with. Yes, another in a week. Don't judge me, it's cold over here. 

I also found out last night that I won second place for Still Life in the MWR All Army Digital Photo Contest. I was the only civilian from our area to place in the worldwide level. So, I'm extremely proud of myself! 

Here's the winning picture: My Machine 

OK! Now, as promised, A tutorial!  

Why "Don't Mention It?" Because I made this specifically to hold my ... um... lady's unmentionables. They previously floated around in my make-up bag, and after reaching for lip gloss and spilling tampons all over the place, I decided they needed a home of their own.  

Make sure to cut the pattern so that it is right side up when the curved side is facing down. 

You will need:

Pattern

sew on snaps

An exterior fabric

lining fabric

and fusible interfacing 

Each slightly smaller than an 8.5x11 sheet of paper

(1/4 yard of each will be more than enough)

and a third (optional) coordinating fabric for tabs. 

1 scrap approx. 3.5x3.5" 

and 

1 scrap approx. 6x2"

TABS:

Take your rectangular piece, and fold it about 1/4" down along the long side and press.  

Take both rectangular and square pieces and fold them in half, Press and unfold. 

Fold the outer edges in to meet at the center crease, press. 

Then fold in half so that the raw edges are hidden on the inside. 

In a coordinating thread, stitch around the edges of each tab, close to the edge (1/8") then again at 1/4" from the edge. 

Affix fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the exterior fabric. Fold the bottom (straight) edge as if you were folding the envelope in thirds. (you can fold it to any height you would like, depending on how long you would like the flap to be. If you want a shorter flap, bring the bottom edge up higher) 

Fold the rectangular tab in half, and sandwich it between the two layers of the exterior fabric. The raw edges should be along the open edge of the envelope. 

Center the square tab on the flap, cut to desired length, and attach it to the exterior piece by stitching close to the edge. 

Stitch the sides with 1/4" allowance. 

Repeat with lining fabric. 

Fold the bottom corners in 3/4" on each side. Pin, and Stitch across the bottom at 1/8" 

Repeat with lining fabric. 

Turn the exterior piece right side out, and put it inside of the lining piece. Fabrics should be right sides together. 

Line up the side seams first and pin. Then pin around the rest of the envelope. 

Stitch around the edges with 1/4" allowance. 

Start on the straight pocket edge, stitch for a couple inches, backstitch, stitch for a couple more inches, backstitch again, then continue around the rest of the envelope. This will give you a place to open the seam to turn the piece right side out.(pictured further down) 

Notch the curved edges of the flap. 

And the right angles where the flap meets the pocket. Be VERY careful to not clip the stitches. 

Here is where I backstitched to make my opening. 

Rip the stitches between the backstitched areas. 

Then turn the envelope through this opening. 

Press, and pin the lining in place. Hand stitch the opening you used to turn. Then topstitch around the edges. 

I used sew on snaps to keep it closed. (not pictured) But you just sew one side of your snap to the flap above the tab, then close the flap to measure where you should place the second side of the snap. (measure with the envelope full, so you leave enough room for the snap to close.) 

This envelope came out sightly smaller than my first, because it went from doodled pattern... 

My original pattern that had gotten 

abused a few times before I scanned

 it and turned it into PDF form. 

...To computer pattern, BUT I made necessary changes to the pattern to make it the correct size before I uploaded it :) . 

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What A Week!

Here I go, already, almost messing up two of my goals for the year. One good photo for the week (eh, "good" is arguable) and writing a blog post once a week (how did Friday come so quickly?!)

Week 2 Photo of the week. Oh yes, i busted out the selective color.

Well, it started with maternity pictures for friends. We got some miraculous snow, and the pictures came out super cute. It's so easily said now, but my OCD/ADD lethal combination makes photo editing a drawn out process. I just finished this morning. 

Seriously though...So cute :) 

Just a few minutes after this shoot, I whipped up a double batch of hummus to bring to game night. Everyone agreed it was the best hummus ever. So I had every intention to post this recipe the following Monday. (didn't happen)  

Original recipe was clipped from a magazine, 

so if I had to guess I'd say credit goes to Family Circle. 

Sunday we sledded. 

Monday: Edited 

Tuesday: Coffee with friends/grocery shopping/ more editing

Wednesday: Editing/Afternoon of snow globe making/ bowling 

Oh, and I finished this scarf... 

Thursday: We had our first successful gathering of Sew Happy Together. The craft group we started months ago have just now gotten back into.

Thursday afternoon... I edited. 

That brings us to today. I finished editing yay! During the upload process (not enough bandwidth to upload and facebook at the same time, so I was completely un-distracted... is that a word?) 

I made this. Started from scratch, drew up my own pattern, put this together for the first time without swearing and ripping it apart.

I'm pretty sure it worked out that way because I wasn't stopping every 3 minutes to photograph and tutorial-ize this. I DO plan on making a second for that purpose though. Next week. I swear. 

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My First Knitting Pattern*

Last year I learned to knit. It was something that I always thought was way too intricate for me to ever really do, let alone excel at. I stepped my game up this year, mostly because I have more than enough garter stitch scarves, and I want some diversity in my overflowing closet of scarves scarf collection. After dozens of...cast on, knit a few rows, stare perplexedly at the pattern, stretch it out, wrinkle my nose, and unravels... I came up with this pattern*

*as a novice knitter, and a horrible follower of directions (ask my husband about that one) I will try my hardest to put this in "normal" knitting pattern lingo. If you're like me and "co 56, k4, p1 blah blah blah doesn't paint a good enough picture for you, I will also write it in a way that makes sense to me. 

Sorry about the grainy pics! It's winter time, thus, very dark in the mornings still. 

I used one (120m) skein of Bravo Big, which is a bulky yarn. (Similar to Lion Brand Hometown USA, but a much bigger skein. You could substitute 2 skeins of Hometown for this.) Sorry I don't have more information, I threw out the label a while ago/most of it was in German anyway. 

Knit using size 15 circular needles 

cast on 56 stitches and join the ends together, making sure the stitches aren't twisted.  

Knit four stitches (counting the join as the first knit stitch) then purl one stitch. keep doing this until you are almost out of yarn, then cast off loosely & weave in ends.

in Knitter lingo I think that would be:

CO 56, join ends *K4, P1* until you are almost out of yarn, cast off loosely & weave in ends.

  

It is reversible, and looks cool both ways.  

I prefer the Purl side though. 

On a side note, my big accomplishment of the week: Re-covering my ironing board. It got some much needed new padding (by way of a sacrificed old towel) and a cover that hurts my eyes much less than the pink swan number it was sporting previously. I'm proud of this because I love ironing. L O V E it. I'm not kidding. 

Special thanks to Liz Miller for the yarn! :) 

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9 Things I Will Do in 2013

[Sneaks in through the window] Um, yes, I know... it's been a while. I'm pretty sure I blinked and three months vanished before my eyes. Well, it's a new year, and here's to a new beginning for my little corner of the Internet as well.

Aside from holidays and work demanding my attention for the last quarter, we have done some traveling. Most recently, London.

We brought in 2013 standing on a bridge with a couple thousand people, all very eager to trample anyone nearer to the railing than them. It was togetherness at it's finest! 

London does know how to put off a heck of a fireworks display, so it made all of the squishyness tolerable in the end :)

Now, officially back to the real world. Vacations are over, none planned until May... My life shall (hopefully) resume it's scheduled boringness. Translation:I will be crafting my happy little butt off. *cut to me slow-mo frolicking through a field of yarn balls, gleefully tossing thread scraps into the air*

Ah, yes. There are a few other things I plan on doing this year. not so much resolutions (what a dirty word) as goals, and aspirations. Here goes.


1. Make fitness a real priority. I HATE exercising h a t e it, BUT I am 26 with the arthritic knees of a 60 year old, and I don't imagine that improving unless drastic measures are taken. Goal: weigh what I did when I got to Germany (10 lbs to lose)

2. Make a quilt, for real this time.

3. Learn to Cable stitch.

4. Help other people learn how to sew (already in progress!)

5. Blog at least once a week.

6. Move on from people in my life/Facebook feed that do nothing except irritate me. (This may seem like a dumb thing, but I have this overwhelming fear of being thought of as mean, so I end up doing a lot of stuff that I hate. I'm over it, I'm not doing it anymore)

7. Give. I have a bad habit of hoarding the stuff I make. While I'm giving up the bad (goal 6) I'm going to nurture the good. I would ideally like to randomly give to one person per month this year.

8. Produce 1 cool photo a week. Just one. Since it's the 7th already, I'm going to call the fireworks photo number one.

9. Really really really stop biting my nails.

Why only 9? I couldn't think of anything else right now. OK! goals are now set in stone blog. Cheers!

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