Yes, Jennifer K., you are a goddess among women.

I made an awesome laptop sleeve.


Ok, it probably doesn't look any different from the other things I've been making recently with this Heather Ross Mendocino fabric, but it is, my friends.


For one thing, I made it with super-heavyweight interfacing, so I had to figure out how to cut my fabric 3/8" larger and do all the seams with the zipper foot so I could sew right up next to the edge of the interfacing.


For another thing, I cut the zipper to be exactly the right length to fit my laptop, and no bigger. Actually, I wish I had made it just a touch bigger, because it's a pretty tight squeeze!


But the thing is exactly, exactly the right size. Not a fraction of an inch too big! Just look at that zipper closing. Uh, but don't look too close, because you'll notice that things aren't totally aligned there.


Yes, Jennifer K., you are becoming the mistress of your sewing machine.


(oh, also, I had a good idea about how to fix the problem of the not-quite-square zipper corners. More on that when I have a chance to try it out.)

Sock Yarn Stranded

The sock yarn baby sweater is finished! I'm quite pleased with it.


The stranded yoke looks just darling.


The wrong side is the neatest of any fair isle work I've done -- I think knitting in the round is the key here (the first time I've done this with a stranded sweater!).


The steek threads are all snipped down and hidden underneath button band ribbons. I had to put the ribbon kind of halfway into the button band, but in fact, I think that it looks fine, and it makes it much easier with the buttoholes. Other sweaters with ribbon-faced button bands I've made, I've used my sewing machine to make buttonholes on the ribbon to match the eyelet holes on the button band, and they are a pain to do, plus the shapes of machine-made holes and eyelet holes are not the same and it's just an awkward business.


Here's the other side. I have to say, I may be a pretty neat knitter and finisher, but I am a total moron at sewing on buttons! My knots are never neat, you don't know how many times I threaded the needle through the wrong side of the button or the wrong side of the band and had to cut the thread, and then I had to rip out and reposition almost all the buttons at least once in order to get the bands to lie flat. Ugh!


But all in all, a totally fun knit and a great finished product! I've written up pretty detailed instructions and will post them soon.