A Waste of Time Knitting

So I found this beautiful, yellow, fluffy, super soft yarn that has now been recalled:
http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2015/Spinrite-Recalls-Bernat-Tizzy-Yarn/

Before it was recalled though, I made a warm cover for Darth Monkey.

It wasn't even made long enough for more than a few pictures before the recall.  I've been trying to figure out how to salvage it because if any child is going to hurt herself with it, it will be my monkey.  I may quilt it onto a piece of knit with the quilting tight enough to capture all the yarn, but I'm not even sure it is possible to be salvaged.  Such a shame.

I basically made a rectangle twice the width of Darth Monkey's shoulders (top) and the length a little longer than her waist (side).  Then I zigzagged with the sewing machine on the top with the piece folded in half from the sides inwards, leaving enough room for her head.

I'll be making another one, but probably not until it cools again considering that we are already in the 80s everyday here now.

Cell Phone Arm Band

I finally upgraded from a dumb phone to a smart phone.  Those that know me know how long I resisted doing this.  I've had it less than a week and decided that I really needed to utilize the mobile music aspect of it.  So without any research as to what was available I decided to make myself an armband for running around with.

I have this pretty swimsuit material and decided to use it because my other sports types of fabric are in the garage and it is really cold outside today.

I measured my lower arm (a) and the height of my cell phone (b) and cut a rectangle a x 2.5b (so two and a half times the height of my phone by the width of my arm).  Next time I will make this slightly smaller.  I didn't this time because there is 2 1/2 inch difference between my upper arm and lower arm and I was afraid of cutting off the circulation of my arm.  I won't cut off much, maybe 1/2 inch because it looks like it is going to work as is pretty well.  I serged down the height of the fabric.

Then I used the coverstitch machine to hem both sides.  If you don't have a coverstitch machine, zigzag the hem up.

Next, I folded it over so that the inner front came up to the top of the cell phone and let the upper front fall where it landed.

Then I drew a line in white where the cell phone would fit.

I sewed in the ditch of the seam and again at that line.

I punched a hole in the top big enough for the ear piece to go in.  I did it at the half way point.  For the next one, I will place it over the actual hole which is nowhere near the middle.

When I was done, I decided to look up how much these things cost and they are inexpensive.  I'm going to try this one out and if it works well, I'll make some more, but I might buy one for comparison, but this one seems to be super comfortable.

Peacock Jacket

The nerdlet has always been a big fan of birds and anything else that flies.  Her current focus is on peacocks.

This isn't a project of mine, but of my mother-in-laws.  I noticed the cute little faux suede jackets at Costco and that the back panel was perfect for an embroidery and passed this information to my MIL.  She went out and bought some for the nerdlet and the drama princess.  This is the jacket that she made for the nerdlet.

I looked through my blog of the peacock dress that she is wearing, but I guess I didn't post about it when I made it.  She had gone through my fabric and found a stack of fabrics that were going to be a peacock quilt and decided that she needed a dress made from them.

It is McCall's 4817.  I plan on making more of this pattern, but it will change the pattern to cover the back up to the neck. The nerdlet refuses to wear this without a shirt underneath because she doesn't want anyone to see her naked back.

So now the nerdlet has a peacock dress, a peacock backpack, and a peacock jacket.  She is wanting me to make her a peacock fanny pack, but there is no telling how long it will take for me to get around to it.