Welcome to Sixburgh!!!!

Photo Credits: Jo Ellen - Superbowl Party MVP!

Way to go Steelers!!!!!!!

Pittsburgh's goin' to the Super Bowl! Here we go!

4 posts in one week! A blog record for jsins.

I think this is the first time since I started the blog that I have actually posted 4 times in one week. Hopefully, this is a habit that I will continue through 2009.

I finally have a place to sit and knit in my new apartment. My new couch was delivered yesterday and is super comfortable. I can foresee many hours spent knitting away on it.

And what will I be knitting away on? I've cast on a pair of cuff-down socks with some Noro Kureyon Sock yarn from my stash. I've never knit with Noro and I'm finding the color changes to be very exciting. I'm never quite sure how it's all going to come together until the next color pops up. The yarn is a bit crunchy but not in a bad way. The knitted fabric feels much softer than the yarn itself does as you knit with it.

Happy Friday! Go Steelers!!!!

Keeping my Buddy Warm

Meet Buddy. He does not like to be cold. The blanket he is covered in was on the back of the couch but he pulled it onto himself. He always likes to be under the covers unless it is extremely hot outside. It is very difficult to get him to go out when it is cold outside. Being the crafty aunt that I am, I decided it was time for my Budman to have a nice cozy jacket.

Trekking to Joann Fabric, I found McCall 4684 and purchased some nice warm fleece that was on sale for $2 a yard, extra wide binding tape and some velcro to whip up a dog jacket in an afternoon.

After about 3 hours of cutting, ironing and sewing, Buddy was the proud owner of a new jacket. We weren't sure if he would like it as he as been generally averse to any kind of doggie clothing but, given its blanket-like nature, he was quite pleased with the result and did not like having it taken off for modifications.

I will warn anyone thinking about making this pattern that you will have to heavily modify it to fit your dog. Although I measured Buddy and determined him to be a medium, it was extremely large in certain areas (too long, the straps hung below his waste) and too small in others (everytime he moves, the neck velcro comes undone.) If you are going to make this jacket, either do it in cheap fleece to try it or do a muslin before investing in more expensive fabric. I also would recommend skipping the binding and sewing the lining and outer garment together wrong sides together and turning it right side out to finish. Two layers of polar fleece combined with the binding tape were extremely difficult to sew and the binding did not add much to the garment.

Sew Much Fun

If you are interested in sewing, I highly recommend that you check out Film in the Fridge. In addition to making beautiful and inspiring quilts, she offers a great tutorial on how to made reversible rick-rack napkins. I sewed these two sets for Christmas presents. They are a quick, fun project. I have the fabric picked out for three more gift sets and then will need to get cranking some of these babies out for myself. I really enjoyed picking out the coordinating fabrics and sewing these napkins. As someone who is fairly new to sewing, I learned alot about turning corners and could see my skills improve with each napkin.

Reversible Rick-Rack Napkins

Pattern: Film in the Fridge's Reversible Rick Rack Napkin Tutorial

Fabric: 100% cotton 1 yard each print from the quilting fabric section purchased at Joann Fabric

Notions: Medium Rick Rack (4 packages are needed to make 6 napkins) purchased at Joann Fabric

Notes: One yard of each coordinating print is enough to make 6 napkins measuring 13.5" x 13.5"

Here we go Steelers! Here we go! Pittsburgh's goin' to the...

One game left before I can publish the rest of that thought without fear of retribution by the football gods. C'mon Stillers!!!!

I've been awol for a while but alot has been going on in jsinsland. I've moved into a new apartment that I love. I will post pics as soon as things start to come together in a photo-friendly way. I have lots of household-oriented sewing projects planned. There are lots of curtains to be made to say the least. I have a new couch coming this week so I will have some prime knitting space and the guest bedroom will serve a dual purpose as my sewing room!!! I am so excited to be in my own place. The roomates that I've had over the last few years are great friends and I enjoyed living with them but it is time to branch out on my own! I also have plenty of storage space (5 closets to be exact) in which to keep the stash from cluttering up the entire space.

I have been knitting and sewing over the past several months. I've been catching up on taking pictures of everthing and will break the updates into several posts throughout the week. Today's post will highlight my Steelers-related FOs.

The first are my new tried and tested Steelers socks. I debuted these puppies during the final regular season game against the Cleveland Browns to ensure that they were winners before wearing them for the playoffs. They are now 2-0 and, therefore, a very successful knit.

Here We Go Stillers Socks!

Yarn: Claudia Handpaints Steelers Colorway 2 skeins

Pattern: Judy's Magic Cast-On and Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern

Needles: Size 2 32" Knitpicks fixed circular for sock, Size 10 1/2 Knitpicks Option for binding off

Notes: These socks were knit one at a time using Magic Loop. The knit up quickly when I focused on them. I jumped to a 10 1/2 needle for the bind-off having not gone large enough on my Gryffindor socks, which are manageable but a bit difficult to get on and off.

The second project is a pair of ballband dishcloths that I made for my new apartment called The Steelers are doing my dishes! and The Steelers are doing my dishes Part Deux!

The Steelers are Doing My Dishes!

Yarn: Peaches and Creme Solids 1 skein Yellow and 1 skein Black.

Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth by Peaches and Creme as featured in Mason-Dixon Knitting

Needles: Size 7 straight needles, plastic from my great grandmother's stash

Notes: These knitted up quickly. I was able to get two coordinating ballband dishcloths out of the 2 skeins of Peaches and Creme with a little bit left over. I am using the leftovers to make a striped garter stitch dishcloth. My Steelers earrings are the embellishments in the dishcloth pics, one is a Steelers home helmet and the other is Troy Polamalu.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and wish you a great 2009!

jsins