project: r+j opening nite dress

Back in April, I blogged about a dress that I was working on for a Windy City Soul Club event. I called the dress, "WCSC dress" and well, the fit was a mess and I wasn't in an alteration kind of mood, so it was left hanging (literally).

Revisiting this dress 5 months later, I now am calling this dress my R+J opening nite dress! Any excuse to get it done, right? The dress I patterned myself, and the polka dot is a metallic silk that I backed with muslin for extra stability. The bottom is a rich ivory bridal satin, including pockets! Yes, pockets.

I started the alterations on Monday, was refit on Tuesday, only to take the entire dress apart for more alterations to get done by the opening nite party Wednesday nite. It wasn't the best sewing job ever, but man, did I look good.


This is the only picture that was taken of the full dress, my only bummer is that the shoes didn't make it into the picture as well (imagine: gold BCBG strappy stilettos. yes). The picture is being taken with Juliet herself = stunning!

The party was fabulous and the champagne kicked my ass, but that was to be expected. I'll try to nab some more pictures of the dress when I wear it to a wedding next month. By the way, where the hell did this month go?

And here is how the night ended.

I'm a little bit behind on my playlists, so please be patient.

project: tiffany's vancouver hat

A few weeks ago, my wonderful friend Tiffany sent me a care package. Inside the package was beautiful hand made bamboo stationary, a 7 year pen, and yarn. Damn, does this girl know the way to my heart or what?

The yarn just so happened to be purchased on the trip her and I took to Vancouver about a year ago for an accordion fest (have I mentioned how much I love this girl?). While we were breaking from all of the fantastic accordion parties, we stumbled upon a yarn store. Of course, I had to go in. I purchased some great yarn for myself, and Tiffany purchased some yarn in hopes to make something for herself as well. Tiffany knew a few stitches, but I promised I would help her.

Then I moved away.

So she sent me the yarn saying that I would make better use of it than she was. There was only one thing I could do with it: make a nice knit cap for her!

(picture without the flash on)

I think I sent the tag with the hat to her, so I believe the yarn is a Berroco yarn named Jasper. I also used some of my leftover black yarn from Mike's Dashing mitts for some additional texture (and to be completely honest, I wasn't sure if there was enough yarn in the skein for an entire hat).


It turned out beautiful! The yarn is super soft and just the right colors for fall. I can't wait to get some pictures of Tiff wearing it (nudge nudge)!


The picture to the right does have the flash on...I'm a big fan of this one.



playlist: tiffany's vancouver hat

"bulletproof" - la roux (nacey remix)
"cameras" - matt & kim
"fireworks" - animal collective
"some kinda love" - velvet underground
"sprawl II (mountains beyond mountains)" - arcade fire
"the rat" - the walkmen
"dog days are over" - florence and the machine
"slow motion" - panda bear

project: mike's a little more dashing

SPOILER ALERT!!! MIKE'S BIRTHDAY ISN'T UNTIL OCTOBER 24TH!!

But I'm thinking he could use these now for biking to work, so he might just have an early birthday gift coming his way.

A few years back, Mike requested that I knit him some arm warmers for his birthday. Mike is a very tall guy, and sometimes has a hard time with sleeve lengths. The idea was that these wrist warmers would help with the length of his winter coat.

Well, as usual, I got busy and didn't get around to knitting them until now. I've had the pattern, yarn, everything. Just never got around to it. But they have turned out lovely and I think they will fit him wonderfully!




I purchased Cascade 220 wool yarn from Weaving Works, and one skein made both warmers. The pattern was a Knitty pattern from back in 2007 called Dashing. It is the men's version of the warmer, and I must say, I'm glad that Mike is a big guy because these warmers turn out very, very long. I do wish there were more cables in them as well. Now that I have made the pattern, I will definitely make my notes to tailor them a bit better for future recipients.




The yarn was a breeze to use and knit up fairly quickly. If I had more hours in the day, everyone would get a pair of these for holiday!

These songs are part of my Summer 2010 playlist. Since Labor Day has ended, I think it is time to commit to these songs and start sending them out to my friends for a good listen.

playlist: mike's a little more dashing

"glitter" - no age
"mouthful of diamonds" - phantogram
"round and round" - ariel pink's haunted graffiti
"to the east" - electrelane
"marathon" - tennis
"jesus" - dom
"heart to tell" - the love language
"sleepy tigers" - her space holiday
"from the mouth of gabriel" - sufjan stevens