Where Does the Time Go?

I look at the last time I posted and I wonder where all the time in between went. I'm staying plenty busy, which would seem to give me more to write about. Perhaps I forget my friendly internet soapbox, where I can stand proudly and show off all I have done. Or maybe I am always in such a hurry to get started on a new project that I forget to post pictures of the last project that was finished (and gifted as the last few have been). Silly really, I live 2,500 miles from my nearest relatives, and I bet they think I am horrible about calling. Mostly because I am horrible about calling. I always think I'll do it this weekend when the time difference won't matter, and then I find myself at 7:30 local time Sunday evening without a phone call made.

Even though I've managed to sit in front of the computer long enough to get something written, pictures will have to wait. I'm at school, which means no camera. And it is likely that there aren't photos in it anyway of the projects I have been working on. But I will fill you all in a little bit.

The wedding dress is one step further in production: I finally bought the fabric that it will be made out of. Turns out Doug was HUGE help in the fabric store. I was worried he would be slightly annoyed at spending part of our time on the mainland at JoAnn's, but he didn't seem to mind it all that much. I had inspiration walking past some lace on a bolt while looking for white linen. I imagined building the dress with a lace overlay to give the dress some texture, and also more of a wedding feel for those who have a hard time with the idea of a wedding dress built out of natural fibers. I stayed on my search for the right white fabric, but kept the lace at the back of my mind. After finding the right white (which turned out to be high quality cotton muslin) I went back to the lace isle and showed Doug what I had in mind by laying the lace over the white. He agreed: it did look nice. But he didn't think it looked quite right. Thus began our search through the lace isle, pulling out every white lace to lay over the bolt of white. I wasn't looking all that seriously, thinking I would buy the one I had found first, but Doug kept looking until he found the perfect lace to use as an overlay. And he was right, the one he eventually picked was the best one.

*Side note: Doug doesn't like the way the real story sounds. He thinks it makes him sound like a sissy. So, in his version, he beat up 3 ninjas that were out to get little old ladies shopping for quilt fabric, saved an infant from the back of the store where a 4th ninja had started a fire for distraction, and the right lace appeared when he randomly grabbed a bolt of fabric to tie up the 4 ninjas, thus saving the day. The end*

So now I have the muslin and the lace. Both are in the bag I brought them home in, needing to be washed before I do anything else. We've only been back just over a week though, and I still need to buy thread and a zipper. Then experimentation will begin. So far I have a pattern for the skirt part of the dress, but I am struggling with the bust part. I know what I want, but the patterns I have are for something else. Time to put my skills to the test and make a pattern. All new territory for me. Should be fun.

I've also been going strong on the knitting. Working on hats that I can't go into much detail on yet, a pair of socks that are over half way done, and my favorite project right now is a cabled sweater that I am making with my friend Red's homespun. Hopefully I have enough yarn for that, but just in case I have already been thinking about putting on a collar instead of a hood, and possibly making short sleeves. I'll just have to wait and see how much yarn remains when I finish the body. And in the event that I have leftovers when the pattern is complete: pockets!

Think this will be a good place to stop. Don't want to make the post too long. And I'll have to dig around for the camera so I can put up some new pics.