Yarn Swap

My best friend O from college called me a while ago with a great idea: let's send each other some yarn from our stash, knit up something with the other person's yarn, then send the finished item back to the yarn donor. So I sent her some striped Regia sock yarn a little while ago and I just got her yarn in the mail this week. It's a lovely mauve sock yarn and I can wait to knit with it!

The label's long gone but O remembers it to be Koigu sock yarn. She even started a Pomatomus sock with it, but feels that I might have a better idea on what it will ultimately become. So what should I knit for my friend O that she can use/wear in California? I don't have any brilliant ideas, so I would love to hear any suggestions!

Darts

I've had no attention span for crafting this week, which has led me to simultaneously work on two knitting projects and a sewing project and not get much of any of them done. Perhaps my crafting ADD is because I keep getting distracted by bike rides in the nice weather or rereading The Hunger Games in anticipation of the movie's premier or trying to make big school/work/life plans for the next year. Either way, it doesn't lead to anything very exciting to show off on the blog. The result is that you get darts:

These darts on my latest sewing project are maybe the one big thing I did get done this week. I happily remembered my mother's lessons from many years ago on easily going from pattern markings to pinning the darts into place, so it was definitely a crafting win. Unfortunately, I'm worried that the darts may make the dress's waist too small (I'm making the largest size in the pattern, which is fine for all of my measurements except my waist), so I might be redoing the darts this week. It's probably better to get it right now than have a dress that doesn't fit later.

Happiness Abounds

For how busy I was with midterms last week, this week is turning out to be relaxing and wonderful. I think it's due to a combination of the beautiful weather, the fact that I haven't been doing homework all the time, and a new Ysolda project on the needles. Because life is always better with a Ysolda project on the needles.

Another reason I am happy is that the nice weather means that I can finally wear my new handsewn dress! I'm also super excited about wearing a different new handsewn dress (below), though this is one that I bought at a local shop, ZipDang. It was a splurge, but this jersey dress is so comfortable and, if the skirt I have from this designer is any indication, it's bound to become a favorite.

And speaking of new things, I'm rocking a new pair of glasses this week. It's taking me a while to get used to the prescription and the style, but I'm kind of in love with them. Husband says they make me look like a hipster, but I think they fit in well with the librarian-style I'm surrounded by in class. In fact, I was comparing frames with a classmate on Monday because our glasses are so similar.

So yes, life has been good to me this week. I hope your week is going just as well!