The Sun Is Out

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The weather has been amazing in the last few weeks, although it hasn’t been cooperative these past few days.  I’ve been quiet, yes, enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

I haven’t biked in years (about 15 years). As a birthday gift, I received a bike from my husband! Oh, I love it. It’s an Electra Townie in Vanilla.

I agonized (as usual) between a Vitamix or a bike. (My Magic Bullet broke – couldn’t handle the frozen veggies.) Then when I opted for a cheaper blender, it became a toss up between a Townie and a Citizen Barcelona.  The Townie won because (a) I found it at a local bike shop and (b) it turned out to be cheaper than the Citizen as the LBS had the Townie on sale.

My husband has always said he doesn’t know how to ride a bike.  I managed to convince him to get an inexpensive, entry level mountain bike.  It turns out he can ride a bike after all. Geez. At any rate, he’s been loving our nightly bike rides. We now bike to most places, save for work and major shopping.

Our area doesn’t have many hills. There is a slight hill – and when I mean slight, I do mean slight – near our house. I found the Townie is rather heavy. I could barely breathe biking up that faux-hill.

The other thing I’ve been doing, aside from biking and drinking green smoothies, is running. Like outdoors. I used to love running as a kid, but grew to dislike it as I got older due to sheer laziness, fears, increasing aches and pains. But yeah, I’ve been running religiously and it’s been great. I’m losing about 1-2 pounds a week (could also be due to my diet) since I started.

Speaking of the diet, my gluten sensitivity has become worse these last few weeks. I had a panini, croissant and a bowl of ramen (the real kind, not out of a packet) – which are gluten central. Holy hell – itchy rashes, nauseau and a stomach that churned and churned. I couldn’t concentrate from the churning. I was so desperate that I wanted to buy ipecac to vomit whatever was in my stomach. I have decided to watch my food intake even more – no more cheating. Boo gluten. Argh, why are all good things laden with gluten!

Smoothies… Green Smoothies…

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Whenever I used to see people sipping the nastiness that are green smoothies, or listen to them wax on about their green smoothie diet du jour, I’ve often replayed, in my head, a horror movie I watched eons ago.  I can’t recall the title but I do remember the zombies chanting “brains… fresh brains…” whilst chasing non-zombie humans.

zombieYep, that’s what you sounded like to me.

I found myself in the kitchen the other day wondering about what to do with produce odds and ends. I didn’t want to eat them as a salad, so I turned to Google. Green smoothies seemed like the solution for my produce problem (and also addressed my laziness problem).

With Magic Bullet on hand, I threw in a couple of kale leaves, half a cup of baby spinach, some grape tomatoes, 1 vine tomato, 1 blood orange, half a meyer lemon and half a cup of berry juice.  The juice itself, as expected, was the nasty green slime but the flavour was quite outstanding.

I was prepared to drink something unpalatable considering I know what kale tastes like raw. I was pleasantly surprised.

The smoothie kept me full, and dare I say, invigorated me that night.

I think my Magic Bullet will be productive once again now that I’ve joined the green smoothie bandwagon.  One of the things I did find somewhat difficult online was to find resources on green smoothie recipes. I often found the same recipes on different sites. Like cooking, I needed some ideas I can start with from where I can expand my options.

The ebook I found was Green Smoothie Magic 132+ Delicious Green Smoothie Recipes That Trim and Slim by Gabrielle Raiz.

The book is straightforward. I skimmed through the chapters and jumped to the recipes. The recipes are simple – she doesn’t push the superfood that would have been in vogue whenever this was published. She does mention them simply saying that you can include them if you wish.  A lot of the ingredients included in the recipes are grocery staples which, I think, makes it more accessible for a lot of folks.

For those who require more hand holding when it comes to making food in general, her recipes also indicate the amount of ingredients to use. None of “a little bit of this and a touch of that” kinda thing.

Although I don’t plan on drinking smoothies for every meal, I am glad I’ve gotten off my high horse and tried it. It is helping with my workouts as I can’t eat too much before a workout and I can’t eat too late in the evening.

Purl Bee Cap Sleeve Lattice Top

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I’ve been quiet recently, although I have been busy working on cap sleeve lattice top I mentioned in my prior post. Here’s one of my dogs using the WIP top as a blanket.

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Yeah, she certainly needs her spring cut soon. She looks like a miniature Barkley from Sesame Street.

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Here is a closeup of the top sans dog.

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I have enjoyed using my new Denise needles. It’s so light and flexible, unlike my old ones which hurt my hand after extended periods of knitting. The Madeline Tosh sport yarn has been a pleasure to knit with as well.

Knitting this piece has been coming along well. It’s been knitting quite fast considering I had been doing this on and off over the last two weeks. I even attempted to learn continental knitting which I did get the hang of, but for whatever reason, I had to frog my work twice due to loose stitches. I still don’t have the proper tension on the yarn with continental so perhaps a simple scarf project may be in order after this to practice continental.

Have a lovely weekend.

It’s Here!

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My orders finally arrived for my cap sleeve lattice top. The yarn came in – they are beautiful. I’m pleased with my choices.

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And, for my birthday present, I also received a new set of interchangeable needles from Denise (blue kit).

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I started the sweater tonight. I love these new needles. I had another set, although I’m missing some needles from our move.  My original set is the metal kind from Knitter’s Pride.  That was my first set of interchangeables so I didn’t know any better. I didn’t like how you would have to attach the cords. I also found the needles to be heavy. The cords, I found, don’t straighten out easily either. I have found that the needles also fall off from the connectors as I knit. This has been a cause of my knitting to fall off of the needles.

Having said that, I adore my new set. The needles are lighter and joining the connectors are easy. It doesn’t even require a gadget to connect them.  You can also extend the connectors so you’re not stuck without the appropriate length.  So far, my stitches haven’t fallen off my needles.

I’m extra happy that all of my orders came before the long weekend. I have a project to work on whilst travelling. Cheers!

Upcoming Projects

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I was thrilled to finish the blouse this weekend.  Although I didn’t like the Sassy Librarian Blouse from Craftsy, I used the video tutorial to supplement the poor New Look pattern instructions.

So what’s coming up for me? I have three things in mind:

(a) Skirt – Butterick 5285

I have a few linen fabrics which I would like to use with this pattern. I’ve really wanted to make pleated skirts. I don’t normally buy heavily pleated skirts. The pleats are either too big for my frame, or the style itself is not flattering on me.  I’ve seen rave reviews about this pattern online, so I’m looking forward to using it. I’ll most likely view D cut a bit shorter.

The one thing I wasn’t certain about was lining a pleated skirt.  The fabric I have has some sheerness, so I would prefer lining the skirt. Initially, I planned on underlining but a number of forum/blogs suggested that pleating may be more difficult and/or the skirt will turn out too bulky.

I found this tip online which another blogger used successfully. Perhaps I’ll give this one a shot. Has anyone else used this? Do you have another suggestion?

(b) Cap sleeve lattice top from Purlbee

OMG – I have been drooling over this pattern for foreverrrrrr.  This will certainly be started once my yarn order arrives! I went with the suggested yarn brand and type – Madeline Tosh sport yarn.  However, I didn’t go with the white/grey combo. I have more than enough neutral clothes (side note: my mom went in my closet after I had moved to our new house. She commented that my clothes look like school uniforms because they are all neutral and look the same).

Anyway, I had ordered the yarn Calligraphy and Isadora. Yeah, I kept the neutral top but added a splash of colour on the lower half.

c) Slim pants – I see a lot of slim or narrow pants on Burdastyle that have piqued my interest.  I want to do a solid colour pair and a pair with prints, both for spring.  Surfing Patternreview.com this evening I see that Colette Clover pattern is getting rave reviews.

I’ll most likely do the pants last considering I have everything I need for the first two. Enjoy your evening.

Good night!

New Look 6078 Complete

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It’s done, done, done. Geez, I take it back. In one of my earlier entries (I think when I was nearly done the muslin), I said that the pattern was a breeze. Mmm-hmmmm, I take it back – completely. The pattern pieces are okay but the instructions are horrendous. Here’s the pattern review:

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Pattern Description: Blouse with several views. I did view E which was the simple short sleeves with not much detail unlike the other views.

Pattern Sizing: I cut a 14 for mine as I have a 38″ bust. I wanted something a bit more form fitting.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Somewhat – I made a bit of changes as I wasn’t keen on the gathering on the sleeve cuffs.

Were the instructions easy to follow? I found the instructions, for the most part, extremely confusing.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked the patterns but hate the instructions. The instructions called for hemming the bottom first before doing the front bands. For some reason, my hem had to be folded again after I did the front bands.

I also had difficulyt following the instructions on how to attach the collar. I deviated from the pattern instructions at this point, and figured out the rest on my own.

Fabric Used: Cotton

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I didn’t use the sleeve cuff pattern piece as I didn’t want to do the gathers on the sleeve cuffs. I used the cuff pattern as a template to do a simple cuff by extending it the same width as the bottom of the sleeve pattern.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I like this pattern because I like the fit and silhouette of the finished garment. However, I detest the instructions. I would not recommend this to someone who just started. Perhaps a more seasoned individual would have an easier time using this pattern as they would be able to decipher the instructions, or know more on how to sew it properly.

New Look 6078

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I did the darts on the front bodice this evening. I cut the back, sewed the back darts and seamed the front and back together. I was being good – I even pressed the stitching and the seams nicely.

I’ve had an awful migraine for most of the day, courtesy of the ever-changing weather patterns. It’s only 9pm yet I’ve given up for the evening. I was at the step where I had to hem the bodice but couldn’t hack it any longer.

I bought dressmaker’s carbon paper in blue and red a few months back. I’ve never used it before, and boy, it’s a dream. Well, it was a dream using it on the muslin since it’s a light colour, however, it was hell using on my printed fabric. I think I’ll buy different coloured ones as well.

Here she is…

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