All posts tagged: spring

february makes: from sweaters to crème brûlée (mishaps included!)

Here’s a quick update on what I’ve been up to lately! As some of you saw on my Instagram feed, I finished making the sweater I started last February. I was modifying the Malaury pattern, replacing the texture created by knit and purl stitches with mock cables for my version. The result was a happy surprise. (I’m feeling pretty confident trusting my math when adapting patterns now–it fits!) I also learned a new technique for attaching a collar that I might start using more often. The pattern called for a back-stitched collar, which was new to me. I normally pick up stitches around the neckline, but the pattern said to knit the collar separately, leaving one of the edges on scrap yarn. I was having a difficult time wrapping my head around the process, and even after finding this helpful tutorial, the whole thing looked way too complicated. Then, I remembered watching a video showing a similar technique that looked much simpler. The difference: no stitches that could potentially unravel! You simply take the finished …

week 23 recap: my rosaline skirt, mark bittman’s rhubarb crisp, and the movie I want to see

I made a skirt! If you follow my Instagram, you may know that I started a new project a few weekends ago – I decided to make the Rosaline skirt, which is a free pattern from Peppermint Magazine. I love that you can download and print digital patterns at home by just clicking a few buttons, and start sewing (almost) right away.  If you download and print the PDF pattern as I did, make sure you have enough ink in your printer and paper in the house. You should also have some glue. I used one of the many glue sticks I still have at home from when the kids were little. (I’m amazed they haven’t all dried out by now!). You’ll also need enough room to lay all the sheets of paper down after they’re glued, before you can start cutting the actual pattern pieces. (I opted for the floor.) It took me about one and a half hours to print, cut, and glue all the sheets, and then cut out each piece of …