First Skirt Almost Done

I finally bound off the last stitch on my Indigo Ripples skirt tonight. I finished the knitting on Saturday morning (the ruffle was almost 500 stitches around by that point), but I had to do a fussy bind off in order to get the ruffled effect. This part took until today (mostly because it hurt my hands to do it). Now, its done! The skirt seems to fit well, although the waist is really big, but that's because I haven't made the i-cord tie yet to cinch it up.



I had an alternative thought, though. What about putting a coordinating ribbon around the waist instead of i-cord. Any thoughts?

I also got started on another project this weekend. I made major progress on it on Saturday and I finished the back today. It's the Fitted Tank from Blue Sky Alpacas, which I made last year. This time around, though, I'm trying some modifications so it will hopefully fit better. It looks lopsided in this photo because I took it from the side - its not really like that. Anyway, it seems to move really quickly. I'm knitting it in order to match the skirt I'm going to sew out of the fabric I showed last week. It looks like I'll be sewing that skirt sometime this weekend, so when I'm finished, I'll post a photo. I'm also going to block Indigo Ripples this week and hopefully have an FO photo soon.

So, I Can Knit Something Black

I have a surprising amount of black yarn in my stash. Before I knit my first project in black yarn, I thought this seemed like a good idea. After all, I wear a lot of black. As many of you know, though, its VERY boring to knit with and, in bad light, it can be hard to see. However, everybody's knitted skirts lately, here and here especially, have inspired me knit my own. Unlike other knitted skirt patterns I've seen, these don't seem to be inherently unflattering. So, last Thursday, I cast on for my very own Indigo Ripples from the Spring 2007 IK:



I wanted to use stash yarn, so I reworked the pattern for Licorice Cotton-Ease from my stash. I figure doing it in black yarn will hide any bulges. I'm almost done, but its starting to hurt my hands (and the rows are long now), so I can only do about 12 rows per day. I've done 34 out of 50 rows of the lace section, then I need to do a ruffle, and then I'm done!

Yesterday, I decided to stop by the *best* used bookstore in San Diego, Adams Avenue Books on the corner of 35th and Adams in Normal Heights. Its the perfect used bookstore, right out of a movie, in my opinion, complete with hardwood floors, classical music playing in the background, 3 shop cats and TONS of great used books. I went looking for some mystery novels, and I found a bunch of them, including one I was stalking at Borders. I also found this:



Yes, I'm getting back into sewing. The resurgence is a result of me getting a good job so I can actually buy my own sewing machine! Thanks to Marisa, I'm getting a really good deal on a previously "loved" model. Anyway, getting back to the book, its a little like having my sewing friend/teacher/guru Cora living in my house (I asked her, but she won't move in with me to be my full time sewing teacher). Its a really simple, basic book about reading patterns, sewing tools, making alterations, etc. As a bonus, it was only $8.50! Here's a sample of an inside page:



Sometime in the very near future, I'm going to be sewing a skirt out of this fabric:



Isn't it gorgeous? I can't wait!