Please Be Advised This Post Contains Many, Many Pictures!

Alright. I promised pictures, so here they are!
Several things happened today. First of all, I woke up and went to sewing class with Señora Florencia. There, I learned how to measure and make the pattern for a bit of lining for the waist of the skirt, I traced and cut out the pattern, and learned to sew a zipper. Zippers are complicated, and need to be sewn first before the rest of the garment is assembled. Well, the skirt I chose to make requires one of those "invisible" zippers, the ones that once you zip you don't even know exist? Well, Señora Florencia didn't have any on hand, so I learned how to sew an ordinary zipper (which is just as useful, because eventually I'm going to need to sew regular zippers as well). Here is my teacher's version:
Notice how you don't even see the zipper itself? All you see is a little flap of fabric and the thread that holds it in place.
This, my friends, is what happens when you attempt to duplicate a master's work at home: 8 seams ripped later, I have that mess. Wrinkled? Yup. Zipper Visible? You Bet. Crooked seam? Yessiree. That is an hour after battling with my sewing machine. I figured out how to change the "head" to one that allows zippers, but then with the pins, the sewing... it made matters very difficult. I tried, I measured, but I still wound up with that.I may try tomorrow if the world sees fit to let me wake up around 7 in the morning.

After I left class, I went driving around Brownsville to see if I could find an invisible zipper. I forgot about the errand when I got to Super Wal-Mart and began looking at yarn. I wanted to make my sister a better Harry Potter scarf, so I was looking for some softer yarn than this:. For those two skeins of yarn I made several trips around town: First to the Super Wal-Mart where I found some Caron's Simply Soft in a really nice shade of red that woulr have worked very well in the scarf. Since that Wal-Mart has incredibly bad yarn selection, I drove over to the other Wal-Mart to see if they had some Simply Soft in the gold color I needed. Nope. I tried Michael's. Nothing either. So I'm at Michael's and I figure that I'm just going to have to make it Red Heart again. So I buy the burgundy. But at Michael's there's no gold. So I return to the regular Wal-Mart to exchange the Simply Soft for some Red Heart, but the exchange line is 20 people long! No way I'm going to wait in that line! So I drive back across town to the Super Wal-Mart, exchange the Simply Soft for the gold and make it home two hours after class. And no invisible zipper. And now that I'm comparing the scarf I made before with the yarn I bought today, I notice that the burgundy is much darker and deeper than the one I used before. I don't know if I want to go to Michael's, return the yarn, go to Wal-Mart and buy it in a shade lighter. Not this week I don't. Why the run-around for some cheap-o acrylic yarn? First of all, there's no LYS in a radius of 120 miles of my hometown. Second, remember the "Mitch Scarf" I made way back when? I decided to make another because I feel guilty that a) it's quite a bit (2 feet) smaller than my sister's, and b) that it doesn't look as nice.

My mom comes back from Spain tomorrow night! Yay! I missed my Mommy. However, Mommy isn't going to be very pleased with Annemarie. Because instead of making home videos into DVD's, I made these:. Four lovely tote bags made from the pattern provided in Stitch and Bitch. Here are close ups on the individual ones from left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4.
If you look closely at the left edge of number 1, you'll see that part of the fabric popped free from the seam. I need to fix that soon. And yes, tote nubmer 3 is one I featured before, because I made it during Thanksgiving. However, I did make four bags total. I made a scaled-down version of number 1 for my sister. And now some tidbits about each bag.
1 was made from an old tablecloth
2 was made out of a few scraps that were once intended for a doll dress... 8 years ago. Now that my dolls are in storage, a tote is much more useful
3 is by far my favorite simply because of the Toile de Jouy design
4 was madeout of more scraps, so if you look closely, you can see that the apples on the tote are horizontal whereas the apples on the pocket are right-side up. With scraps, one can't be choosy.

Oh. Look what I picked up to possibly make myself another tote and perhaps a knitting notions bag. Or maybe my own rendition of an Organized Knitter Knitting Needle Case:
I also picked up this BEAUTIFUL Toile de Jouy fabric at Wal-Mart. Synthetic as all get-out, but it has got to be my favorite sort of fabric design ever. It's so pretty!

When I got home from my escapades, I noticed a Christmas package had arrived from my grandma: In it were presents for me and my bro and sis. I didn't have a chance to snap pics of what they got, but I got Irish-themed gifts in remembrance of my trip to Ireland with my grandma and older sister this past summer. Counter-clockwise, starting at left:
Exhibit A:Irish Aran sweater, walking stick and hat ornament. Cute, Cute, Cute!

Exhibit B: Sheepsie magnet. If only the sheepsies had black faces, then it would be true to life. The cute little sheep with black faces and white bodies are so adorable! And they're EVERYWHERE in Ireland.

Exhibit C:A little plate with a map of Ireland on it. Cute little pictures correspond with Counties and major cities. It's precious!

Exhibit D:Silver "Trinity Knot" pendant to match earrings I bought this summer. Very very lovely!

Exhibit E (Centre): A lovely calendar of Irish scenes. Maybe I'll scan a few (when I get a better scanner) of the places we visited. It's a gorgeous country!

Now on to Knitting topics, for this is, after all, Chartreuse Knits:

1. I got into the Hello Kitty Knit Along! Yay!

2. I never posted a picture of the Gaby Scarf. It was the drop-stitch scarf in the pastel colourway.

3. I began this scarf a week ago, but I had to frog it a few times when I didn't like how certain numbers of stitches looked. Here it is at its beginning:. It's made out of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Super Chunky. It's super quick and soft! Here's the scarf which I finished today:Warm, pretty, and sherbet-y. I like.

Finally, I got inspired today by a few of my favorite things:
The latest issue of MS Living and the new Pottery Barn catalog. Theme of both? Organization. They're sending their message to me loud and clear, and I'm hearing it.

Wow, there went an hour of my life. Tomorrow I think I'm going to explore the old graveyard downtown and take a few pictures, and I'm also going to take pictures of these cute little houses I like and if I eventually move back to Brownsville, I'd like to remodel them. More tomorrow.
Goodnight