Meredith is definitely opinionated about the clothes she wears. She has begun to eschew anything that is even remotely restricting and has recently renounced denim pants (even those with elastic waists).

I wanted to make something for her, something to continue sharpening my sewing “skills” (still in quotes, that word), that would meet our criteria of cute (me) and comfy (her). My inspiration was a dress from the Tea Collection:

I started with this downloadable .pdf pattern, which I modified to add the waistband and skirt portion. Even though this is a small pattern (kid sizes only), it involved a lot of paper cutting and taping. But when you live far away from any fabric store and the urge to sew comes over you at 8 PM on a Friday, downloadable patterns are the path to instant gratification! For this dress, I cut out a size 5.

Serious picture

I wish I could wholeheartedly recommend the pattern, but it seems to have a slight drafting error. I deviated from the instructions to sew the side seam and sleeve seams first and then set the sleeve in the round. In doing so, I noted that the side seams are not the same length (in a size 5, they were off by about 1 cm). Is it a big deal? No. But I spent kind of a long time scratching my head, wondering if I had assembled the pages incorrectly or made a mistake while tracing. Anyway, after trimming off the errant edge, the sleeve set in perfectly, so who knows.

I used a sewing machine, coverstitch machine, and serger to put this together. I added swimsuit elastic to the shoulders (I think the pattern recommended twill tape). I followed Sarah Veblen’s video tutorial on making a neckband. I added casings and inserted elastic in the sleeve edges, similar to some of her favorite RTW (Hanna Andersson) dresses. The skirt was gather-basted before pinning it to the waistband, and I deliberately serged off the basting when attaching the skirt because it would restrict the stretch.

Can I make goofy faces now?

Fabric is a stretch velour (probably polyester?) from the stash. This stuff is a slippery b*tch to sew. I ended up using a washaway glue stick for nearly every seam, it was the only reliable way to hold the pieces together.

Meredith’s red leggings are also Mama-made. I traced her favorite Hanna Andersson leggings (size 100) and improvised the cut-on waistband casing (inserting 1-inch elastic). To make the pattern, I folded the pants in half and pin-traced around the top half onto a sheet of butcher paper on top of corkboard, then flipped it over to trace the back half. (My method is very similar to this technique.) Not much to say about the pattern, other than I’m amazed that I didn’t somehow stretch the pants out while tracing them. Fabric is a cotton interlock from the stash. To make the outfit a little more matchy-matchy, I used the same fabric for the leggings as I did the contrast bands of the dress.

The coverstitch machine that I have (Janome Coverpro 1000cp) is still managing to defeat me every so often. I continue to work on finding the right machine settings to avoid the dreaded dropped stitch (like knitting, an improperly executed coverstitch will also unravel in the blink of an eye). The first 3 times this outfit was washed, it came back with an opened hem somewhere, but I’m getting there, the seams look better and fall apart less often.

–

ETA – I forgot to add the comments from the designer when I asked her about the apparently mismatched side seams. This is her reply:

The armscye is designed a little deeper on one side to fit the body a bit better than if they were equal. Because it is deeper, it makes the side seams appear to be different, but I believe that you will find that they match up just fine when you sew the pattern together.

Sometimes, especially when sewing with really stretchy knits, the side might stretch and end up a little longer. Since the fabric is stretchier (like a waffle knit) than usual, it usually won’t matter much and I just cut the extra bit off.

I note that I made a second dress (not shown), following her assembly instructions (ie, attach shoulders, attach open sleeve, then make 1 long side seam that closes the sleeve and the side), and I still couldn’t get the sides to match up. So I don’t know if the problem is me, the fabric, or the pattern. Re Penny’s comment below, I certainly could have sewn it front-side down, which would have “shortened” that piece even more relative to the back, so it’s all kind of a mystery now. Good thing no one is looking at Meredith’s armpits to see if the 4 corners meet up!

I’m lifting the survey from Linda.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Shepherded the family through “3 under 3″ while working >1.0 FTE for a quarter of the year and having our house on the market and show-ready. I thought I’d die of busy, but I made it through.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?


I’m not for new year’s resolutions, I set goals all the time! Probably the biggest goal semi-achieved was my quest to reclaim an adult life. We invited people over for dinner (first time in 2 yr), I got a high-maintenance hair cut (first time in 2 yr), I shed the baby weight (never even tried after Meredith was born), and I resumed abandoned hobbies (including the blog!).

Next year, I’d really like to be a more patient person. I also want to feel more comfortable in my parenting decisions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?


Yes, my cousin and his wife had identical twin sons.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Sadly, yes. This has been an awful year for our families, our worst since Matt and I have been together. We lost Matt’s grandmother in March, my uncle in August, Matt’s aunt in November, and a long-time Oshiro family friend in December. Our 13-yr-old cat James also died very suddenly in July.

5. What countries did you visit?

We stayed in the good old US of A.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

I would like to buy a house in Rochester. Sometimes, I feel like we have put starting a new life on hold. But I’m working harder to embrace each day, wherever I am.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Sad: Matt’s grandmother’s funeral – so much love and sadness over her passing.

Sad: James Cat’s death – he was fine one day, was breathing hard the next day, and was buried by that night.

Awesome: my family reunion in August – it was the first time I’d seen my California relatives in 5 years. Five babies had been born in 2010-2011, and we lined them all up on a sofa and took pictures.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?


See item #1.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Parenting continues to serve up scarily new challenges. I struggle with losing my temper, and my biggest failure was actually fairly recently, when I sat in the car after a Christmas party and screamed at my 3-year-old for being irrational.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had a handful of colds throughout the year, which I attribute to stress and living with 3 girls who go to daycare. I had a creepy week of conjunctivitis last month, it entailed waking up every morning with bloodshot eyes crusted shut.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

A Fitbit. And the corollary, a standing desk from Ikea, a used True 500 treadmill (love you, Craigslist), and a free-swinging monitor arm to set up a walking workstation at home.

12. Where did most of your money go?

1) Mortgage. 2) Daycare. 3) Cocaine. Ha, just kidding.

13. What did you get really excited about?

The children. I swear I can see neurons connecting in their brains. I loved watching Jordan and Casey learn to walk, hearing them utter their first words, seeing them run up to me for hugs and kisses. Meredith is able to comprehend abstract ideas (things that happened before she was born or will happen in the future, hypothetical scenarios), and we are seeing real signs of empathy. Watching these changes in my children is like watching a flower blossom.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Uhm… I guess I don’t really listen to music anymore.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:


– happier or sadder? Happier? But I’m not sure, I’m just so tired all the time.
– thinner or fatter? Thinner, hooray! (Fitbit ALL THE WAY)
– richer or poorer? About the same (except for my 403[b], which apparently yielded 4.6% of negative growth this year)

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?


More hobbies, more blogging, more cooking.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?


Less cleaning (and less whining about cleaning), less being frustrated about parenting issues, less freaking out about completely meaningless events (eg, getting lost, talking to strangers).

18. How did you spend Christmas?

At home with Matt and the girls.

19. What was your favorite TV program?

I haven’t watched TV since Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?

Hmm… Perhaps You are Here and Intuitive Eating.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?


See #14.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?

I haven’t watched a movie in the theater in >2 years. I feel like I have enough going on in my life that I don’t need to shoulder a fictional person’s drama on top of it. Also, if I had 2-3 hours to spare, I’d probably spend most of it cleaning the house. And whining about it.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I think I just went to work. I turned 37 this year. I’m now old enough that I have to mentally do the math to figure out my age. I like to tell people I’m almost 40.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I wish I could relax a little more. I tend to overload my To-Do list, and I always want to have those items taken care of before I do anything fun, but because of the overloaded list, the fun gets constantly pushed down the priority chain. I end up throwing a pity-party every quarter or so, when I get completely overwhelmed. Even though I always resolve to change things up, I inevitably creep back to the same scenario.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

I hate shopping for clothes, so I started using the personal shopper service at Nordstroms. Nordstroms isn’t cheap by any measure, but the service has saved me a buttload of time and frustration, which is worth a lot. I tell my stylist in e-mail what I want (eg, dress pants for work), and when I show up, she has 6 or more items waiting for me to try on, as well as a dozen other complementary pieces (eg, blouses and blazers to go with the dress pants – not necessarily to purchase, but to see how it will look as an ensemble). She runs through the floors to get different colors, styles, and sizes, as I try clothes on and dissect what is right or wrong.

I respect the lady I work with, she has definitely helped me find stylish clothing to fit my postpartum body. Now that we’ve worked together a few times, she knows brand X has too much ease in the hips for me, brand Y is too expensive for my budget, etc. We don’t have any amazing girlfriend relationship or anything like that, but I trust her and have been satisfied with my experience and purchases.

Wow, that just turned into a review, didn’t it?

26. What kept you sane?

Talking over my major decisions (mostly regarding work and parenting) with Matt. I have times where I could throttle him, but more often (much more often!), I’m so grateful to have him around.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.


Forgive. It’s just money. Try again. Check your CO monitors; install them if you don’t have any.

–

Best wishes to all of you in 2012. Thank you for coming to read my blog and to share your thoughts. You are appreciated!

“I am increasingly distressed at the hyper attention young ladies focus on themselves today. I’m telling you, you’re beautiful. Maybe you don’t see it because beauty has practically become ubiquitous. Beautiful skin, lovely teeth, shiny full hair…maybe only older people notice it. I think young people today are prettier than we ever were.”

–Kathleen Fasanella

I made sleep sacs for walking babes. Actually, I’ve sewn this pattern before, but now I’m modifying it to add little leg openings, similar to this.

Mis en place

We have a bunch of commercial sleep sacs (without legs) that we use and love, but Casey and Jordan walk “up” the sac, if that makes any sense. In essence, as they walk, they put their feet down on the inside of the sac and step on it repeatedly, which shortens the front until they are hunched over and shuffling (or tip over, which is endlessly amusing). Actually, they can both modify their walking to not fall over as much as they used to, but I have a mountain of fleece to use up, and this was as good a use for it as any.

I originally planned to make 4 sacs, but after 2 were complete, I told myself I was not a sweatshop employee and gave myself permission to stop. We do have about 6 commercial sacs that could be modified to add legs… Maybe I will just add legs to a few of them and declare the project done.

Casey and Jordan

Closeup of the ankle cuff

Jordan

What life in my house often sounds looks like

The now-silent Anny Purls site is home to Duck Soup, a darling little top-down hoodie cardigan for kids. As a large-gauge, near-seamless sweater, it was the perfect knit-whilst-reading project.

I used an “up-cycled” yarn, purchased in sweater form from a Savers thrift store. No picture of the original sweater, but it was a crew-neck, stockinette pullover, pretty unremarkable. Judging from the tags, I’m guessing it was a made-for-outlet garment.

The pleasant color, good condition of the sweater (completely unsoiled, zero pilling or wear), and the price made it a no-brainer purchase. The yarn itself is 12 2-plies that are barely plied together. The actual ripping, skeining, and washing were uneventful, but lo, when it came out of the wash, the dormant twist energy sprang to life and gnarled the hanks into a Gordian mess.

I had used only 4 ties to loosely hold each hank, and I paid a price for my hank-tying laziness via hours spent untangling, cursing my thrift. I also had to cut the yarn numerous times to remove knotted clumps.

Lesson: BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Use more ties than you think you need.

The knitting was straightforward. I used size US9 (5.5 mm) needles on this bulky yarn, and in hindsight, probably going up to US10 (6.0 mm) would have yielded a slightly better fabric.

Minor construction changes: I omitted the knot detail on the hood tip because I hate feeling a knotted waist sash digging into my back when I’m driving. I used a 3-needle bind off to connect the 2 halves of the hood.

A few words on the frog closures:

The town that I live in is having a special election today to vote on a school funding referendum. I walked to my polling place during lunch to cast my vote. I had a lousy experience there.

The poll workers had set up a table for voters to line up by last name. I spoke to the lady holding the binder “L-P” and gave her my name. “Oshiro,” I said, “Oh, ess, aych” spelling it out. She looked confused, hand on the closed binder not moving. I said it again. She tried to repeat my name but could not. I said my name a third time and spelled it out again.

Aside – this is how I always give out my name when I’m speaking to someone who doesn’t know me, whether I’m picking up photos at Target or checking in for a doctor appointment. Actually, what I say is “Last name is Oshiro, O-S-H-I-R-O, first name is June, like the month.” This results in a 99% comprehension rate.

Aside #2 – I grew up in Illinois. I have a flat, Midwestern sound to my speech. I sound as American as apple pie. Nothing about me seems foreign, except LOOK! I’m Asian! I’m a NINJA and I know KARATE!

She opens the binder of registered voters and starts turning pages. I can see that 2 pages are stuck together inadvertently, and of course my entry is on the page she doesn’t see. She looks at me suspiciously and slowly says in this weird, unnecessarily loud voice, “Is that your last name?” like she’s talking to a moron. (You know you’ve seen this. It’s how some people talk to foreigners, like they’re stupid instead of non-English speakers.)

My first impulse is to give a sarcastic “Yeeessssss” in the same tone (ie, contemptuously), but I was raised better than that, so I simply say that it is. She unsticks the page, sees my entry, I sign the book, and then she asks me to confirm my address. But first, she places her thumb over my printed address, so I can’t read it back to her and cheat, I suppose. While we were doing this, a (white) man stepped up to the line next to me to sign off on his registered voter entry. I watched the other poll worker as she asked him to confirm his address. There was no thumb covering.

I know there are potential explanations that are reasonable. She was older, perhaps she couldn’t hear well. Maybe all poll workers are supposed to shield the entry when confirming addresses, and the other lady simply did not. But leaving there, I felt like I had received a subtle signal that I was not part of the community. And that made me mad and sad.

For years, I’d meant to grow my hair out and donate it, but I always was impatient and never achieved the minimum required length before getting a cut. My hair is super thick and impossible to tie up in entirety after a certain length. Working in a lab as I did for all of my 20s, I couldn’t have loose hair around the burners, chemicals, centrifuges, etc, so it never grew much past my shoulders.

But I finally did it this time, took me 2 years without a serious trim. The hair is going to some partnership between Pantene and the American Cancer Society that makes wigs for women who lose their hair during cancer treatment. I thought this was my last chance to put the locks to good use because the requirements about having minimal (<5%) grey hair in donor hair are pretty strict (with the birth of my last 2, my hair is swiftly changing color).

Isn’t that funny? Looks kind of like a rat when it’s all bound up.

But you know and I know that hair alone is not a very meaningful donation. So I put my money where my mouth is and ponied up some cash, too.

And lastly, I rounded out the month by donating a pint. I had a friend in college who liked to joke that he always donated blood because he was getting rid of his old tired blood and being reinvigorated by fresh new blood. I don’t know how true that is (actually, I don’t think that’s true at all), but ever since, he always comes to mind as I sit in the chair. I still donate regularly, or I attempt to, anyway (sometimes, I don’t qualify because of mild anemia). I’ve donated at the same place since moving to MN 6 years ago, and they keep track of donor history. They told me at my last visit that I’d bled 1.5 gallons to date.

So here’s the backstory – a Mayo videographer and someone from the Public Affairs group showed up in our department one afternoon this past summer and briefly shot some footage. (I was there that day but didn’t see them – they never went down the hall where my office is located.)

No one quite understood why they were there, but according to my boss, “[They] wanted some footage of Scientific Publications… the video would be used to attract future residents to the Graduate School of Medicine. [The woman from Public Affairs] had interviewed Mayo staff, and their comments led her to our area.”

Now we know that the video is to help promote the Mayo Graduate School of Medical Education. My work group is mentioned at 1:42, and the video includes shots of my co-workers at their desks, working away!

My boss also joked, “The physicians who provided testimonials about Sci Pubs received no script, compensation, or bribes. They are Dr. Alison Bruce (consultant) and Dr. Ali Alikhan (resident)—both in the Department of Dermatology.”

I know it seems kind of silly to be excited about it, but if you consider that Mayo is an organization of 55,000+ employees, and a recruiting video features our tiny group of <25 people as a unique and valuable resource, it’s pretty cool! I was tickled to see our group highlighted in such a positive way.

A long time ago, I knitted a jacket for Meredith. (The pattern is here, very cute.) The garment ended up way too big for her at the time (somewhat by intention), so I was not motivated to work on the finishing details right away.

Now that it’s fall again and she’s the right size to wear it, I’ve been hunkering down to make the miles of I-cord (car knitting, sigh) needed for the frog closures. Many times did I rue the fact that I got rid of my hand-crank cord maker.

But I think I now have enough (6.5 feet, unstretched), so I’m getting excited about finishing and seeing whether Meredith will like it.

I bought a little mound of blue and yellow roving at MDSW 2006. Golly, what was that, a lifetime ago?

In its native form (plus the rest of my haul from that year – hey, I still have the cap!)

The fiber is primarily indigo-dyed Corriedale with a good percentage of silk dyed with osage orange. The silk gave the singles such a warm, golden shimmer. The spinning was very smooth, no problems that I recall. The singles languished for years, but this spring, I found all the storage bobbins and plied that sucker up. In its final form, it was a round 3-ply, probably heavy worsted or aran weight. I didn’t weigh it after washing all the carding oils out, so I’m not sure how much was there. (Four ounces? Maybe a little more?)

I sent it away as a gift, so I hope someday to see it in a more functional form! Here are a few close-ups of the final yarn.