Dishcloths and destruction

Last week I started another dishcloth so I would have something to knit while figuring out my next knitting project (which turned out to be the Baby Shrug, on which I have made no progress as haven't had time this week to sit and knit without distractions). I knitted this dishcloth on smaller needles than last time and did an uneven number of knit, purl, knit, purl, knit within the border so that unlike last time it looks all beautiful and matching at either end. I knitted some more last night while watching Project Runway but I better get a move on and finish it because I need these circular needles for the shrug (although I'm not sure if they're long enough).

Miss Millie has knitted a really awesome dishcloth, apparently inspired by the one I was knitting when I met her at Monday night Knitting Circle a few weeks ago. Hers is much more complicated and cooler than my plain old basketweave and ribbed ones but I still feel slightly influential. Maybe I could write a bestseller - 'How to Win Friends and Influence Knitters'.

Anita has finished one of her tiny baby booties and it is SO CUTE. She hasn't sewn it up yet but when she has I will take a photo. They are just so tiny and in such cute wool with flecks of pale purple and yellow. I am so knitting a pair when I finish the shrug. She said they were super quick to make and they have a band across the top so they look like little Mary Janes.

Guy's show is going really well, I hadn't seen it in its entirety until opening night and I LOVED it. It is very clever and funny (and I'm really not that biased, I can be a very critical critic). If you are in Wellington and have nothing planned either tonight, Friday, or Saturday night at 8.30pm then come along to the Fringe Bar, it got a great review so I'm not the only one who thinks it's worth watching.

And finally, to end the saga (see here and here for prior installments):

Because I know the demolition of buildings is riveting.

A Wellington morning.

The Baby Knitters Club

Last night was the first meeting of the Baby Knitters Club, which just so happened to coincide with Monday night Knitting Circle and my friend Anita's first attendance there.

Quite a while ago now I told Anita we should start the Baby Knitters Club (if you've never read any of the Baby Sitters Club books then you have really missed out - baby sitting, running your own club, the dilemmas of growing up, solving mysteries, stereotype personalities - the books have all you could want if you're aged about 8 - 11 and a spin-off series). So far the membership of the club extends to her and me which is very handy because we now live on the same street (which is so Baby Sitters Club) and as such I think our meetings will be on a 'when we are both at home with nothing to do' basis.

So last night could have been just any old Monday night Knitting Circle but because Anita came and because we both started our 'tiny baby creations' (I'm thinking this should be the Baby Knitters Club manifesto), it was actually a double-whammy event (unbeknown to anyone but us of course).

This is my potentially very tiny baby creation (sourced from Ravelry). I have no idea what size this is going to turn out because the pattern calls for Aran (which according to Ravelry is 10ply) weight wool but when I went to Knit World I was told that, helpfully, New Zealand doesn't make Aran weight wool so there's not very much of it around and what is around is imported so it's rather expensive (and I wasn't buying 2 $15 each balls of wool to potentially repeatedly rip up as the pattern is full of knitting gobbledygook that I need to try to interpret/have the internet work its magical powers of explanation on for me).

So on Knit World girl's advice I bought 8ply wool and am using the size needles the wool calls for - so instead of the 5mm and 4.5mm needes the pattern calls for, I am using a 4mm and a 3.75mm (because again, as I know from my hat and as Knit World girl told me, 3.5mm is not a popular needle size in New Zealand and Knit World doesn't have them. I am becoming suspicious of Knit World. Are these things really 'hard to get in New Zealand' or just 'hard to get at Knit World'?).

I tried to combat the very tiny possibility created by the thinner wool and smaller needles by knitting the next size up (as Knit World girl also suggested) but then when it came to casting on more stitches a few rows after the original cast on amount (which was the same for all sizes), I forgot my plan and followed the size the pattern is written in instead of the size in the brackets. So that plan was quickly aborted (I realise this isn't an ideal word choice in the context of baby garments but neither is terminated and I can't think of any others) because by the time I realised what I'd done I couldn't be bothered ripping it up and starting again (it took me approximately two and half hours to do what you see in that photo there, but in fairness to me please note that it's all curled up).

SO. I don't understand how what I've done correlates to the picture on the pattern but I did learn a different way of casting on thanks to Ellen at Knitting Circle - the one thumb cast on, which I now realise my Nana tried to show me last year when I showed her the cast on method I'd learned from Stitch n Bitch and she said, 'That looks complicated, I do it like this' but (recurring 'Cherie Knits' theme) I didn't get it, so stuck with the way I'd learned. I also remain entirely hopeful.

Not that I know any babies to knit for.

Going to the chapel/amazing cliff top location

(NB This is not a vertical shot I have flipped horizontally, this is actually the helicopter diving down to disappear over the edge of the cliff...I am definitely not jealous Guy got to arrive by helicopter even though the bus ride along steep, narrow, gravel roads majorly freaked me out)

Boyband members on the fringe of weddings

And that's what you get when you try to combine a number of subjects in one heading.

Tonight I am having a bit of a Fringe time - this is the first Fringe Festival I haven't been involved in in three years so it's weird to be all free and easy at this time of the year - not having to worry about opening night looming, whether anyone will show up etc. Although I haven't escaped completely...

The person in this show may or may not be my boyfriend.

Okay it is, and he's written some pretty awesome songs and created some pretty hilarious characters. I haven't had a lot to do with the show except for providing some helpful suggestions (TJ's pose? My idea. Just saying.) and a lot of moral support as he's been pretty stressed about it lately (I believe a sentence I have used in the last couple of weeks a few times is: 'You are banned from ever creating another solo show'). His opening night is looming large and creating and performing 40 minutes worth of show all on your own is a big task. But I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product of all his hard work, laughing at the songs, and enjoying other people's reactions.

But that's a whole 5 nights away. Tonight I'm going to Nag to have a look-see, then I'm #1 on the waiting list for Thricely Precisely, a dance show directed by my very talented friend Brigid, and then I'm hoping there will be tickets left for The Comediettes if Thricely Precisely finishes in time. Or if I don't get in to Thricely Precisely then I'm early enough to get a ticket for The Commediettes. It's all a bit uncertain...

Tomorrow it's wedding time! Guy went to the rehearsal today and said the venue, Boomrock Lodge, is beautiful. It looks pretty amazing (and expensive) on the website. Unable to afford towels at $79.95 each from the Kirkcaldie's Gift Register (you can't get a couple just one towel now can you?) we were rebels and didn't even get anything off the gift register. Instead we got them a copy of the book '101 Must Do Weekends' for New Zealand. I'd like to get given it so I hope they do too.

I started trying to make their card last night, the one my Valentine's Card was a practice run for. It did not go well. It was a case of 'I want this to look really good and perfect so I am just going to try so hard to do it well I muck it up'. I drew numerous hearts that I deemed too fat, lopsided, or low, then when I finally drew one I was happy with I stuck the needle through from the back OUTSIDE the black line after having sewed along the heart a bit. And then I did it AGAIN when I started the next one. So instead of wasting more card I gave up and cast on a dishcloth. I will try again tomorrow and maybe even have a go on the sewing machine. I hope these people appreciate the lengths I have gone to, the amount of card I have wasted...

I do like weddings, so even though I am going to be a bit of a no-mates because Guy is a groomsman and I won't know many people, hopefully it will be beautiful weather, nice food, and a feel-good time all round.

Collect call

Well, I still can't decide what to knit next and it's making me grumpy - that and lack of sleep I think just because it has been so muggy at night lately and I never go to bed early enough. But things like this post over at Just Call Me Ruby, remind me that I really have very, very little to complain about and am pretty lucky all told.

Tonight we were supposed to have our first workshop for Tea for Toot but Alex is sick so it has been postponed until Sunday. We'll be working on finding the personalities/characters of the sisters first and I found this material today (always a mistake going into Arthur Toye but it's so close to my work I just find myself walking in there sometimes...) which seemed a perfect visual representation of how in my mind they are the same but different - one brighter, one more plain - and the pattern seems in keeping with the era I have in my mind.

(for $6 a metre I couldn't resist half a metre of each)

We have decided to bring a bit of a collection each to our first workshop as a starting point. Here are some pages from my collection so far - it's looking a bit white and bare at the moment but it's a start.

It's a random assortment of images that help to try and articulate the ideas for and feel of the show I have in my head. The middle page has a concept drawing for and images from the actual set of the HBO TV movie, Grey Gardens which I'd love to see as I found the documentary fascinatingly disturbing and it looks like Drew Barrymore does an amazing job of portraying Little Eadie.

It's Mum's birthday today and when I rang her to wish her a happy birthday she had just opened her present. She's not one to gush about how much she loves a present, which is always a bit of an anti-climax for me because I always want people to gush about how much they love what I have chosen for them! But she did say that when she unwrapped the dishcloths she wondered where I had bought them from and then realised I must have made them. She said Guy's label was very clever and as she was at a Dairy Women's Network Conference (yup, you read correctly) she was going to take the cloths down to breakfast and show the other women. So that was nice.

I think tonight I might start another dishcloth just to tide me over while I watch Project Runway and hopefully it will lower my grump-o-metre...

The Knitting Crossroads

Well, I have reached a knitting crossroads. In the six months since I started knitting, I have learned to cast on, pearl, add in a new ball of yarn, cast off, weave in ends, knit in the round on circular needles and on double pointed needles, knit stripes, increase, decrease, to follow a (very, very easy) pattern, and last night I cabled for the first time.

I have knit a scarf, a hat, and two dishcloths. And I have been pretty pleased with myself.

Last night it was Monday night knitting circle at the Southern Cross (some cute ladies from England asked if they could take our picture to take back and show their Women's Institute group, of course we said yes). And I had nothing on the needles to take along. I decided to go along, cast on, and give cabling a go as Penny is nearly finished her first knitted item after months of hard work - a beautiful bright golden yellow scarf with cabling. She's shown me how she makes the cables before and it seemed pretty easy. Here is my attempt, it looks ugly but Penny assured me I did it correctly and if I kept going I would start to see the awesome pattern she has on her scarf emerge:

(I did it on a pair of my circular needles because I wanted to try knitting the cotton yarn on smaller needles than my straight bamboo ones of which I only have one size)

Do I digress? Kind of. Anyway, the point is now I have to decide what to knit next. I bought some beautiful purple, plum, and pink variegated wool a while ago at the Knit World sale with a scarf for my sister in mind (she has a jersey in similar colours which is why I thought of her when I saw the wool). So I could knit another scarf. But that seems a bit boring and like it will take ages (I may have learned many things but knitting with speed is not one of them). So I thought maybe I could cast it on and knit it when I just feel like some simple plain and pearl.

I could knit some more dishcloths as I have quite a bit of each ball of cotton yarn left. I could see what happens when I knit plain and pearl squares in variegated yarn, I could try one of the Ravelry dishcloth patterns. But again, I feel like I've been there, done that with dishcloths for the moment. However, I'll definitely knit one or two again soon when I feel like a quick hit of the feeling of achievement you get when you finish a project.

I could knit another hat - for Valentine's Day I gave Guy a voucher entitling him to choose a pattern off Ravelry and the colour yarn he wants the pattern knit in and I will make him something (I didn't specify that it can't be a jersey, but it can't. It would take me a year at the rate I knit at the moment). I think he wants a hat and is pretty excited about me knitting something for him - he said, 'It'll be so cool to watch you knitting and know that it's for me'. What a cutie. So yes, I'll probably be knitting a hat again in the near future.

OR, I could continue my theme of 'onwards and upwards' and try something new. Socks? A baby vest? Booties? All with a very low difficulty rating of course - it stressed me out enough increasing and starting a new ball of wool as it was with the hat. Or maybe a hat with cabling...

I think it's pretty clear which direction I'll be taking at the crossroads. And it's not going back down the scarf or dishcloth road right at this moment. I love learning (it sounds cheesy but it's true) and that's what's kept me hooked on knitting (is that a pun? I feel like it is but there aren't really any hooks used in knitting so I guess it's not) so far. I actually can't believe it's been six months since I started, it's scary!

The hard thing is that I start rehearsals this week for Tea for Toot which means back to a lifestyle I haven't lead since August last year. Rehearsals 6pm - 9pm Tuesday and Thursday nights and on Sunday afternoons 2pm - 4pm/3pm - 6pm. It doesn't sound much but it gets pretty tiring when you're working full-time as well and when it gets to production week and the season it's absolutely draining. As Guy is finding right now because his solo show for the Fringe Festival opens in just over a week's time. So I'm thinking knitting might start taking a backseat to everything else and a simple, repetitive project like a scarf or some quick dishcloths might be all I need.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Maybe it's not so clear.

Good night nurse...

The progress of a building demolition I can see out my upstairs window continues.


Yesterday I wished my camera had a more powerful zoom because a window just past where the demolition had finished for the weekend was half-open and had a white curtain billowing out in the breeze. It looked quite bizarre but also reminded me of pictures I have seen of buildings that have been bombed; pictures in which a wall has been blown out and the every day objects and fixtures inside the rooms are revealed.

Today in The Dominion Post I was really pleased to see this little article about the demolition because I love knowing the history of buildings. I had assumed that this building was once a type of hostel for hospital staff but it was nice to know for sure and to see this picture of the building when it was originally constructed. Here's another picture of it from 1960 I found through some quick research on the hospital website.

It's sad when old buildings are torn down for carparks, but this one had definitely fallen into a bad state of disrepair and I guess it wasn't the most beautiful piece of architecture. I bet it's the source of a lot of memories for the nurses who lived there though. Its younger sister is still there behind it with no mention in the newspaper article of it being demolished in the future, but it seems likely that it will be at some point because it's not really in any better condition.

With love

I love how this turned out!

I know I'm not the first person to sew thread onto a card so I'm not claiming originality here but it's the first time I've done it and I'm really pleased with the result. I think it will become a new card making favourite of mine.

In fact, Guy is currently on his way home from a 'stag party' in Martinborough (it was a comparatively dignified affair - they played paintball, stayed in nice accommodation, and had a BBQ and played drinking games as opposed to going to a casino and a strip bar for example) for a friend he is going to be a groomsman for next weekend. I'm going to the wedding too so I think I will make their wedding card the same as above but minus the 'XTX' (the 'T' is my version of a hug for Guy, it's a big wide-armed hug). I might have a go doing it on the sewing machine but I also like the uneven handmade-ness of the hand stitching.

This morning Guy rang and told me to look under my bed...

He's a pretty good card maker himself.

Deadline schmedline...

Yes, that's correct. The dish cloths did not make it to the post office on Friday, nor today because the mail isn't cleared on a Saturday so there's no point in sending a parcel until Monday. Except I'll be couriering it, probably for an exorbitant cost. BUT...it'll be worth it. I am so proud of my finished products, not least because they have a LABEL. A last minute idea that contributed to missing my Friday postal deadline which was already extended from Thursday.

Voila!

I LOVE the labels. Guy designed my little blog header for me in January (using a photo I had taken of my scarf with some artfully arranged cherries for the purposes of a header) and on Friday I had the sudden and brilliant idea to get some printed on slightly thicker paper, punch a hole in them, and tie them to the cloths to really impress my Mum. As she doesn't know I have a blog (the only person who does is Guy so, hi to all the people out there not reading) she won't have seen the image before and I secretly think she'll be so impressed she won't believe it's all my (and Guy's) doing.

For a bit of a full-frontal:

I need to learn to cast-off more loosely, my stitches are so tight they make one end smaller than the other.

I have to say I am now convinced about variegated yarn. I think it looks cool. I'm glad I persevered because a few rows after my last post I could see how it was going to work out and I liked it a lot more. This dishcloth has taught me some valuable knitting lessons:

• Even when knit with exactly the same type of yarn on exactly the same size needles as another piece, knitting something in ribbing makes it a lot stretchier.

• Even when knitting more stitches (40 instead of the 34 on the green cloth) and more rows (again, 40 instead of 34 on the green cloth) ribbing something makes it a lot smaller.

• I should have gone 'border, rib, plain, rib, plain, rib [etc], rib, border' or 'border, plain, rib, plain, rib, plain [etc], plain, border' because the way I did it 'border, plain, rib, plain, rib, plain, rib [etc], rib, border' means either end doesn't match because there is a flat bit next to the border and then a raised bit (the bit I'm calling rib) next to the other end's border. If you catch my drift?

The last two are my only disappointments with this cloth, it's a lot smaller than the green one so I wish I had made it longer rather than a square like I did the green one. I didn't compare them until I had cast this one off so I didn't know it was any smaller at all. And I would rather either end matched.

I also made my Mum a card. I used to make cards all the time but I've never been good at drawing so they were always cards that avoided drawing and instead involved sticking squares of cool wrapping paper on the front and the like. However, the price of cards is ridiculous so I bought some WHITE card (I usually always use black) and decided to make her a card. I tried the good-old wrapping paper trick but it looked ugly so I took the plunge and had a go at drawing something.

I like it! I really like the simplicity of it (who knows whether they look more like leaves [they're supposed to be leaves] or stingrays but also, who cares?): the black on white, and the card has a 'linen' texture which also adds a little something something to it.

Earlier in the week I gave this card and treat to a colleague who is very nice and cool who was going in for surgery yesterday. Making this card helped me warm up to the idea of just me, some white card, and a black pigment liner:

She loved it.

I have also just had an idea for a homemade (I often make Guy cards, he's the one person I'd kept the tradition going for in recent years) Valentines card. Not that we're big into Valentines Day but we do celebrate it (last year when he was in Paris at L'Ecole Phillipe Gaulier for a month during February, he told me I had to be at Simply Paris cafe at a certain time on Valentine's day and organised for his barbershop quartet to come and sing to me which was awesome!). If my Valentines Card idea turns out well there will no doubt be pictures. I usually always write 'Made for you by The Ugly Card Company' on the back of my cards as a safeguard - then no one can complain that they're ugly because I can say they're meant to be. But I always aim for them not to be, so fingers crossed.

*I really hate not putting accents on French words that need them (e.g. cafe) but I don't know how to do it, especially on Guy's MacBook, hence why they are missing.

Yet to be convinced

I cast on and started my second dishcloth last night. So far, I'm not convinced by this whole variegated yarn thing. It looks like two chunks of different colours that I wouldn't say are that complimentary. I guess it's because my piece isn't very wide.

But I shall perservere because I am determined to get it finished. I have decided I can push my deadline out to Friday afternoon. I'm taking a day in lieu on Friday for the event I worked at all day on Sunday so I plan to knit as much as I can tonight and then finish it off on Friday and post the parcel Friday afternoon. Tomorrow night if the weather is fine (it's not looking so promising at the moment, it's gotten colder and there was a bit of rain around midday) I'm going to an outdoor movie (otherwise known as Film by Starlight) at the Dell in the Botanic Gardens. It's Dirty Dancing!

I finished the first dishcloth on Monday night at Monday night knitting. It was a big night in terms of numbers. There were heaps of people there, lots of new people and some people I haven't seen there for a while. It was great, hopefully it continues!

I bought my Mum's other present today that my sister and I are going halves in. She loves Pohutakawa trees but can't plant one down South because it's too cold down there for it to survive in Winter. So I got her two of the smaller Pohutakawa blossom shaped aluminium wall hangings from Abstract Designs on Cuba St (the smaller ones aren't on this page but they are just a smaller $32 version of the bigger $110 ones). I hope she likes them. I like a lot of the other shapes they have in the store as well, maybe I'll put one on my list for my birthday in June.

I hope I can, I hope I can...

One dishcloth down, one to go...can I do it? I hope I can!

Dance of the Dish Cloth

My apartment smells of cask wine and is littered with air beds. Thank you the Sevens.

Not being a big rugby or alcohol fan, I spent some time under the shade of a tree out in the beautiful weather today making some progress on the first of Mum's two birthday dishcloths. Pretty much the same pattern as my scarf but with a border.

I'd better do some more tonight or I'm only going to finish one before my Thursday deadline. I have this yarn to make another with.

I'm thinking thin rib with a border, just because it needs to be something quick and easy. I have no idea how it will make the variegated-ness look.

Tomorrow I have to work at an event called Te Ra O Te Raukura in the Hutt to do with my job, so hopefully the weather stays lovely. It's going to be an early morning and busy day but hopefully an enjoyable one, I'm told the fried scones and melon with ice cream are must-have treats - not really in line with our heart health message but one won't hurt...

Lastly, today was Waitangi Day. Maybe the weather was a toast to the future of New Zealand. I hope so.

Call me knitter. Hat knitter.

I did it! The hat is finito!

I went into Knit World on Thursday at lunchtime and said to one of the ladies there, 'I need help.' To which she replied, 'Don't we all love?' (in a nice and amusing way). Then I pulled my hat out, explained my need to switch to DPNs and my other need to learn how to use DPNs and she sat me down at the table, put the stitches on the DPNs and showed me how to knit using them. It was so easy! Although I definitely prefer circulars because I got annoyed by the sticky-out-ness of the DPNs, although maybe that was because mine were very long for the small amount of stitches I had (they didn't have any shorter needles). I could have finished my hat there and then at Knit World (the lovely lady who helped me said I should because then I wouldn't have to buy the needles) but I had to get back to work.

So last night after a very filling dinner of curry from Little India with my flatmate and some of her friends she is going to the rubgy Sevens with this weekend, I rushed home in time to watch the season premiere of Season Six of Project Runway, and finished the hat while watching. I got into Project Runway last year about halfway through the season so it was interesting to watch the very first episode of a new season. I felt it went a bit fast (although I only had my eye half on the show until the runway showing of the garments because I was concentrating on my hat) because after the showing when the judges were critiquing the garments I found it hard to remember who made what. Am looking forward to following the show for the next few months though.

I decided to go with the tassle on the hat as per the pattern even though I thought it might look a bit dorky. It was fun to make as well, very clever. And it made me feel like I'd fully completed the hat. I tried it on and it fit! Then when I got home after work today I hand washed it with the B_E_E delicate fabric wash (and panicked for a moment because even though I had used such lukewarm water it was pretty much cold, I thought I'd dyed the white wool blue because the blue fluff from the blue wool was making the white wool seem like it had a blue-ish tinge, having removed it though and rolled it up in a towel, I can safely say this is not the case). This is the hat being model by an upside down bowl sitting on top of a cup (a highly technical contraption created because I had nothing else head-shaped):

This hat model has since been fired though because I felt it might be stretching it too much, so the hat is now sitting in the hot water cupboard with a scrunched up tea towel inside it because I didn't like the thought of it drying flat. Yup, I'm VERY protective of my hat. I have just this minute decided to call her Nellie.

And here is a view of her from the top:

There will no doubt be photos of me wearing it when it's dry.

In other news, a building I can see out the window of my apartment that I believe is part of the hospital (which has had a big new flash part built) is being demolished before my very eyes.

This morning before I left for work:

This evening when I got home from work:

And thus the scenery changes incrementally day by day.

Inside Out and DPN Drama

So it turns out, I am knitting my hat inside out. Someone at knitting last night confirmed that usually when you knit a hat the outside is on the outside of the needles and the inside on the inside. But it doesn't matter because I can just turn it in the right way when it's finished (which is what I thought everyone must do with hats). I have no idea how I managed to do this.

I was SO close to finishing my hat last night and I was at Monday night knitting circle so had experts on hand to help me, except that I got to the last decrease and the pattern says "You can switch to double pointed needles for this round, although I managed to awkwardly knit this round with the 16" circular." Of course, I thought: if she could do it, so can I. But I can't. It's stretching the stitches too much and I'm only a quarter of the way round. I must knit tighter than she does. So it's off to Knit World in my next free lunchbreak to buy some double pointed needles and hopefully get one of the Knit World ladies to help me move the stitches onto them and show me how to knit with them.

The end is so neeeear! I just want to get there.

In the meantime, I shall begin my next project which has a strict time limit on it. It's my Mum's birthday on the 18th of February and as she thinks it's quite amusing that I have started knitting, I am going to knit her two dishcloths (all going to plan). Because really, knitted dishcloths? Why do these exist?!

I can't remember how I heard about knitted dishcloths but it was on some knitting site or blog somewhere in the last few months (I had definitely not heard of them before). I had no idea what they would be made out of because obviously, it wouldn't be wool. So I googled to find out what they are made of...turns out you can get 100% cotton yarn. Of course. I have so much to learn... Anyway, then I googled 100% cotton yarn and limited the search to NZ and found Yarnz who sell the Peaches and Creme range. So I contacted Nanette who turns out to be lovely and who attends the knitting group at JOY of Yarn's Scarlet Oak Cottage in the Wairarapa. I know this because she works very near me so to save me paying postage she kindly brought the yarn into her work and I went and collected it yesterday at lunchtime.

Mum is going to be just delighted...

I'm excited to try knitting with self-striping (I think it's called variegated?) yarn. As a side note, I can't believe I am calling it 'yarn' because it has always seemed like such an American word to me but now that I know you can't just call all yarn 'wool' because it's not all wool, I've had to adopt it.

So the count down is on! 2 knitted dishcloths in less than two weeks (the postal system seems to be very slow from Wellington to Hurunui so I'd better post them the weekend before the 18th to be safe). Obviously, there will be regular progress updates.

Oh! And I showed my Practice Skirt to Ms. Pattern Drafter at work yesterday and she said I did a really good job for my first zip! I was meant to sew the interfacing pieces together before sewing them to the waistband but oh well, now I know for next time. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I wasn't so happy with the fit but I have it in my head now that I can just take one of the simple bought skirts I already have, trace the outline, add a seam allowance and make a pattern myself...it sounds so easy. Surely.