trying something new ...

I went a little nuts this week reading blogs, being inspired and planning projects.  That wouldn't be unusual, except that I wasn't reading knitting blogs.  I read sewing blogs.  Since Little A's Halloween costume was a success, I started thinking I should start sewing a little bit.

One of my favorite knitting/sewing blogs is Green Apples.  I found her through Ravelry about a year ago, but most of her current creations are sewn garments.  She is crazy talented!  Last week, she shared projects that she'd like to make this fall and winter, and this one caught my eye:

This is McCalls 6048.  I love the belted versions of this cardigan!  They look pretty simple, and I found myself saying, "I should do that!"  So I started clicking like a mad woman and found others who had already made it.  This led me to discover lots of other great blogs and other garments I might want to make.  I also added McCalls 5974 to my queue:

Apparently, this was voted the best pattern of 2010.  Scads of bloggers have said how flattering and easy this pattern is.  I have a serious lack of winter work dresses, so I'm going to give this one a try after the cardigan.

I checked out our local Joann's, the only fabric store for hours, and I was surprised how expensive patterns are!  The fabric selection was so-so, but nothing that I was really excited about.  So I got busy clicking again, and found everything I need online.  I found the patterns for $5 each on ebay, and I bought fabric from fabric.com.

I'm super excited about these patterns!  I grew up sewing, but I haven't really done very much since I was a little kid.  I really had no idea that there were so many people out there sewing fashionable clothes.  I'm excited about the possibilities of making clothes tailored exactly to my tastes, less expensively than buying them.

But I'm also a little apprehensive.  I'm a pretty good knitter, but it took years and years to gather all that information and skill.  I am a pretty inexperienced sewer.  I have all the basic skills, but when it comes to altering a pattern to fit me--sort of the point of sewing--I'm pretty clueless.  I'm of two minds: I'm excited to learn something new, but I'm also not looking forward to not feeling completely competent.  That's good though!  I need to push myself to try new things.

I figured that I could get a little more sewing practice before all my internet booty arrives, so I started on a jumper for Little A.  This is Simplicity 2574.  It has a bunch of different options and adornments, but I went for something pretty simple.

I cut it last night and worked on it for about two hours total today.  Tomorrow, I'll install the zipper and hem it!  It's really dark, so the pictures aren't that great, but I think it's turning out pretty cute!

Meanwhile, I'm still knitting!  No matter how inspired I get with other things, knitting's still my first love!  I'm still slogging through my FLS.  This thing might be the death of me.  I've finished both sleeves, so I just need to knit until it's long enough and call it quits.

I've done the first pattern repeat of my Thundercloud Cowl, and I'm enjoying it.  But I've found two amazing bulky cowl patterns lately that I would love to be wearing right now, since it's finally getting cold.  I cast on for a Super Cupcake in Berroco Ultra Alpaca, but I'm not sure it's the right yarn for the job.  I didn't do a swatch and now I'm kicking myself.  I need to wash a swatch and see how it stretches and blooms.  So I might cut my yarn and swatch, and if the yarn doesn't puff up quite a bit in washing, then I'll frog it and get some Malabrigo worsted, which is what I wanted to use in the first place. 

Here's my goal: finish the FLS before my fabric and patterns arrive in the mail!