(I have since re-stitched the eyes...)

My friend was due on Sunday, but I was sure she’d go late since it was her first child! But I was wrong. Apparently she texted me a photo of the baby on Sunday morning but since I have a first-generation iPhone, I’m unable to send or receive picture texts, and so I was totally oblivious of what was going on (!!!!) until I got a voicemail message from her Monday night giving me the good news. She promised to call back today so we could talk in person and just after she called me this morning, her doorbell rang. I thought maybe it was neighbors or friends stopping by to see the baby, but it was the post office delivering my gift! She opened it on the phone and really gushed over and appreciated my handiwork. Aw. I was so, so happy that she was able to open it with me on the phone, and the serendipity of it all reminded me of the time when I moved away from the midwest in 2001 and we hugged right before I got in my car to leave (she’s not a hugger). I was feeling a little verklempt, but I managed to keep it together until I got in my car, turned the key, and James Taylor’s “You’ve got a Friend” came on the radio. And I became a soggy mess. I’ll now always think of her when I hear that song. And now, I have a new little friend too. Welcome to the world, Ada Jane!

She’s super playful and curious and loving, but I’m hoping that Trixie will come out from hiding soon and start showing her some of the ropes. She’s so young that I don’t want her to miss out on any important “life lessons” that mama kitty would have imparted to her.

She seems to be doing well for now, though!

Anyway! I wanted to post a quick update of my “majorly modified Mary Jane” because I was describing all the mods to a friend and she remarked, “Um, it sounds like you’re knitting an entirely different sweater.” And I kind of am. I’m tracking all the changes on my Ravelry project page, but really, I’m SIMPLIFYING everything, so my version is pretty easy.

I omitted the increases at the shoulders because I didn’t want the poofy sleeves, I omitted the decorative stitching on the body, and I’m starting 2×2 ribbing just below the bust. And I LOVE IT!!!

Also, I had a bit of shopping frenzy at JoAnn yesterday. I’m telling myself I can’t buy ANY MORE FABRIC until I use this all up (or, most of it) but at 30% off, some of this stuff was just too good to pass up.

(For those of you who don’t live near a JoAnn megastore, here is a link to the Retro Owls fabric, and here is the super cute turquoise birds & flowers fabric. Swoon.) (I can probably dig up the others if you want those, too.)

Then somewhere along the way I saw this birthday banner that Nova made, then I found this tutorial on hand-made birthday banners. Fast forward to last week when I was volunteered to help with the decorations at a friend’s bridal shower/birthday party. I wanted to make a banner in the bride’s wedding colors, and originally I was going to have one side say the bride and groom’s names, and the other side say “Happy Birthday,” but I wanted it to be versatile and reusable. So I came up with the multi-purpose, reversible Happy Birthday/Congratulations banner. (Well, I’m sure I didn’t invent it, but it sure felt like I did when I thought of the idea!)

It was REALLY fun to work on a project without a road map, but in case you want some pointers (to save you some time), I’ll give you some.

1) Use lots of different fabrics! I struggled with fabric selection for a LONG time during this project. My original fabrics were too atonal, and it just didn’t look FESTIVE! So choose brights and darks and different patterns and really mix it up.

2) Determine how long you want the banner before you do ANY cutting! This is so! important! I just dove in and started cutting out letters and they were GIGANTIC! The resulting banner would have been 15′ long — who has a 15′ wall in their house?! I don’t! So. Determine the length of the banner, then divide this by the number of triangles in the banner. I wanted a 12′ banner, and I had 15 triangles, so each one was only 8″ across. (Also keep in mind that the banner will sag when it’s hanging, so it won’t be EXACTLY that long when you’re finished.)

Luckily I did a prototype first, and then scaled way down:

If you look closely, you can also see that the prototype involved sewing the right sides together, then flipping out to produce a clean, finished edge. I eventually decided this was too much work and just sewed the triangles wrong sides together and pinked the edges. I also think this looks more festive.

3) I didn’t use any interfacing on the triangles. I don’t think they needed it after you attach the letters.

4) I didn’t trace the felt letters, I just cut them out freehand. But if you want, you can print them out using your favorite font, cut them out, and the use those as templates.

5) I sewed the letters on, but you could probably just glue them on if you wanted to. I also didn’t pin them on before sewing. I just went for it!

6) I was suuuuuuper anal and brought all my thread ends to the backs of the triangles (with a sewing needle) and tied the ends in knots. I think it just looks neater and then I didn’t have to worry about anything coming undone in the wash.

7) This next pointer is SO SO SO important if you want to do a reversible banner. Be sure to sew the FIRST letter of the one word to the LAST letter of the other word! I was ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that I was going to mess this up, so  I put them in piles, one in regular order, one in reverse order, as I was sewing them up.

I also kept track of which letter pairing I was on as I went along. (I was paranoid!)

Also! If you want to have one side say “Happy Birthday!” and the other side say “Congratulations,” be sure to remember a “!” triangle for “Happy Birthday!” otherwise your triangles won’t match up and you will be PISSED. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

8.) If you have a bunch of binder clips available, they work really well to hold the bias tape to the triangles as you’re sewing them up. (I blatantly stole this tip from Caro’s awesome hand-sewn quilt binding tutorial… go check it out!)

9) I sewed up a little storage bag for the banner because the felt attracts so much lint/dust. I lined the pieces with heavy interfacing and then attached a little button with my sewing machine (love that feature!).

10) Finally! When you’re all done, step back and admire your work!!!

I hope you enjoyed this quasi-tutorial! Please let me know if you have any questions! (And keep in mind that I’m a SUPER beginning sewer, but this is a very fun and forgiving project!)

When I finish I’m hoping to crank out some progress on my Modified Mary Jane….
T is camping dredging this weekend and while I miss him terribly, I’m kind of loving all this time I can unabashedly devote to my dorky crafting. (Not that I don’t have all day everyday to do it, but I just feel less guilty about it indulging in it on the weekends.)

It’s that time of year again… In the summer I always keep a big jar of cold brewed coffee in the fridge for my 2pm iced americanos. The recipe couldn’t be easier, and the results couldn’t be tastier.

She eventually got stuck on the other side of the back fence and couldn’t figure out how to get back in! She tried digging under, and climbing over, and nothing worked!

Check out how high she got before falling off, though. Go, Trixie, go!

About halfway up we had an incredible view of the Strait of Juan DeFuca. Gorgeous. I really love this area, and we had such beautiful weather today.

The views were amazing, and the weather was lovely, but I think the best part was when I was high-tailing it down the mountain and I almost stepped on this snake!
Eeek!

Problem is — I knew what I wanted to knit, but I just couldn’t find the right pattern. I wanted something like this Blue Sky Alpacas Scoop Neck Vest, but with sleeves, and I did not want to have to do any math! Luckily I just found Mary Jane from Twist Collective and it is PERFECT. (OK, it’s not perfect… I’m not going to do the stitch detailing, and I might do less puffy sleeves, and much more of the ribbing, but at least the general shape is perfect. And it has sleeves!)

I already knew what yarn I wanted to use… but tracking it down (especially in the colorway I wanted) was rather tricky. Yesterday it was finally delivered to my greedy little hands and I cast on last night!

Filatura di Crosa Zara - 1746

Now I just have to figure out what kind of shoulder increases I want to use. It’s been a while since I knit a sweater – I’d forgotten how to knit paired increases! But I’m loving having something on the needles again! I’m planning to work on this for most of the day today, so hopefully I’ll make some good progress!

I think it’s funny that I haven’t talked about my hair AT ALL on this little blog because I’m actually kind of fanatical about it in real life. I have naturally curly hair (type 3B) but it didn’t get curly until I was about 13 or 14 (puberty, anyone?) and so I love talking to other curlygirls about their hair, because I still feel like I’m trying to figure out what works best for my hair, and I love sharing what I’ve learned with others.

I recently stumbled on something that is so easy and produces AMAZING results. And it’s nearly free! I’m talking about plopping. But first, I’ll just give you a quick run-down of my hair routine, in case you’re interested.

First – I only use conditioner. I stopped using shampoo over a year ago and I haven’t looked back! I will use shampoo every month or so, or if my hair feels particularly grimy (like after a couple days of sitting around a campfire) but other than that, it’s just conditioner. And I usually stick with Dove, Herbal Essences (the blue one), or some kind of tea tree oil conditioner. My hair responds really well to that, but it’s expensive, and I don’t want it to become immune to the product.
Also! I wash my hair EVERY MORNING. I probably could get away with every other day, but I just don’t feel awake if I don’t shower. I could also probably wrap my hair in a flour sack if I didn’t want to re-wash it, but I never think of that until the conditioner is already in. It’s just habit to wash it everyday.

Next – I comb through it wet with a big comb, ring it out, then run some Herbal Essences curly mousse and gel through it. (Aveda’s curly products also work REALLY well for me, but again, they’re spendy, so I might just keep them on hand to use for nice occasions.)

Then – I plop my hair like this using a BIG flour sack. I then finish getting ready, and after about 10-15 minutes I remove the flour sack, give it a light shake, and I’m done! I then don’t touch my hair for the rest of the day.

I think plopping (or plunking) has really helped make my hair be more consistently curly, and it’s right up there as one of the single greatest advancements in my hair regimen.