Sharing a Workspace

Sometimes it can be difficult for me to get work done around my children.  It's much easier when we're both working.

Outfit Five: June

Yay June!  Or more accurately, brrrr June!  I am a creature of winter.  I love layering up in warm woolly knits and June was meant to have a warm woolly cabley jumper, but upon revision, that project has been shuffled back to July to make room for comfy, toasty, slouchy sweats.

The pieces in this outfit have been getting an awful lot of wear already as they fill a couple of gaps in my wardrobe.  My Red Riding Hoodie was made much earlier in the year and has been waiting for its outfit to join it.  I finished the track pants a few weeks ago and they have become a fast wardrobe staple.

The hoodie is the first project in the Sewing With Knits Craftsy course I got for my birthday.  I modified the pattern to be less flares at the hemline and added bands at the hem and cuffs.  The red fleece fabric I used was an op shop score and is such a great bright colour, I love it.  Of course, as it is a red riding hoodie I made a little sleeping wolf appliqué from a sweet free embroidery pattern from Wild Olive.

Quite possibly my favourite part of this outfit is my hat.  A cabled bonnet with long cords, tassels and a giant pom pom.  It's very warm, and a little bit silly which makes me happy.  

The pattern is great freebie, Neon Ski Bonnet by Lacey Volk.  The pattern has four sizes from small child to large adult.  I knitted the large adult and it fits exactly how I wanted it.  The yarn I used for this one is aran weight undyed cormo and is like butter, it used less than I was expecting so I still have a skein and a half of this lovely smooshy stuff to play with.

I'm amazed that I haven't made any jersey infinity scarves before this one.  They would have to be one of the quickest projects to whip up, they look great and are so versatile!  This fabric was intended for a kids tee but it really wanted to be mine so I kept it for myself.  A half metre of fabric sewn into a long tube,  given a little twist and joined at the ends.  Instant warm!

We live in a hilly little town that gets super frosty in winter.  Warm hands are essential for the icy morning school run.  10ply alpaca mitts are perfect.  Another free pattern, Staghorn Mitts, these knit up very quickly.  I used smaller needles for the ribbing and added another repeat of the cable to extend them over my fingers.  The ribbing folds back for more finger freedom when required.

Underneath all those top layers is a basic long sleeved tee.  Another from the Sewing With Knits class. This one is in a cream ribbed knit fabric.  But that top's not cream, I hear you say.  After my tie dying tights experiment, I feel the need to dye everything!  I tie dyed the top, untied it and dropped it back in the dye bath for a bit of an over-dye.  The result came out a bit like storm clouds in the soft grey.

On the bottom are my trusty new track pants.  I used the same pattern as for my pyjama pants, only this time with pockets and zipped ribbing cuffs.

Every part of these pants was thrifted.  The fabric, elastic and zippers all cam from my local op shop.  I had enough of the black fleece to make a hoody dress as well and I still have heaps left over! I tried to incorporate all the details I like in RTW trackies into my pants.  The pockets are deep enough for my phone to not fall out, the side seams are top stitched and they're exactly the right length.

This outfit was so stress free, it seemed to grow organically from the pre-sewn hoodie and my surprising lack of track pants.  The knits are also numbers 11 and 12 of my 13 knits from stash in 2013. I'm still knitting away on my Beatnik for July and the time had come to decide on a pattern for my July jeans!

Me Made May '13 - A Somewhat Late Wrap Up

A little bit late, but here are the last few outfits of my short Me Made May '13.  

Day eight: saucy black tee, tartan skirt and Damson shawl, all me made.  

Day nine was February's outfit, plus my red shetland triangle shawl which didn't stay on for too long because the weather was gorgeous.

And last photo for the month was day ten, a refashioned top from a mens shirt and jeans I refashioned from too big straight legs into slightly better fitting skinnies.  My Onerva shawl, my Beatnik in progress and a sad face complete this look.  I joke about it now, but this was a hard day for me to even get dressed at all.

For the rest of the month I was still in a good amount of me mades, my pyjamas are me made, as are all my snuggly jumpers and cardigans and a few of my basic tees.  Like Darron said to me before Me Made May '13 started, it would be difficult for me to dress without wearing at least a couple of things that I've made.

So that's it for looking back.  Now, moving forward I've nearly finished June's outfit and have got stuck back into my Beatnik for July's outfit.  Today I'm making little skirts for little girls and hopefully repairing some jeans and finishing June's top!

Climbing

I have dealt with depression for the majority of my adult life.  I am familiar with the illness and aware of the early signs when it sinks its teeth into my mind, I know the steps to take in those early stages to get the help I need to stay well.  After several years of being well I became complacent.  I didn't take action at the early signs and landed in a deep dark hole.  I am fortunate that my family understands this illness and that my community has a working mental health service, so that when I reached crisis point I had access to the help I needed when I couldn't do it myself.

I'm lucky to be surrounded by people (and animals) who look out for me.

So now I am climbing.  I can see the way out of this dark place, and I am working my way out.  While all this has been happening, I haven't felt up to tacking the complicated projects I had planned so I have gone back to basics.  By far the best basics are tiny things for tiny people.  Little hats, cardigans and vest have been my recovery projects, so expectant friends and family members, prepare for incoming baby knits!

Being unwell has also brought to my attention a gap in my wardrobe.  I have no track pants!  This, along with the abovementioned hiatus from complicated projects has resulted in a reshuffle of my 12 outfits to remedy this glaring omission.  So now instead of jeans and a big cably jumper, June is the month of comfy, warm trackies.