Fall is here!

I know I'm about a week late and dollar short, or would it be six dollars since I'm technically six days late. I don't know. But either way, I'm excited because fall is my favorite time of the year. And although it's raining today, it finally feels like fall outside. After, an 80 degree weekend that's quite the relief. Anyway, the lower temperatures today have finally gotten me in the mood to think about some of my fall oriented knitting and sewing goals. Here they are:

Knitting

As of late, I've had the feeling that I've been knitting a lot, but don't have much to show for it in terms of finished projects. So, my major goal for this fall is to finish the things that I've started. Two things I absolutely want to finish this fall are my Christmas Sweater and my Paul McCartney Magical Mystery Tour Sweater Vest. Both of which have given me tons of trouble. And both of which you will see more of as time and knitting go on.

When I'm done with those two projects I really, really want to try my hand at dyeing my own yarn. I've always heard of people dying their own yarn with Kool Aid. And after finding a tutorial from knitty.com and some videos from Chemknits, it seems something that's totally do-able. I even have a bunch of white Knit Picks Wool of the Andes yarn to experiment with.

Sewing

I really want to up my sewing game and transition it from a spring and summer thing to a fall and winter thing as well. I've always wanted to sew a pair of pants and that's one of my main goal for this fall. Being a huge fan of Soul Train, I've been a long admirer of the dancers and their plaid, bell bottom pants. So, when I found the Simplicity 5262 pattern, it was love at first sight. My plan is to also knit myself a matching sweater, after I finish my other projects I just mentioned, of course.

This is truly my favorite time of the year. I love it so much if I were more musically inclined I'd write a love song to it. Maybe I should pledge to work on my guitar skills so I can do that next year.

Anyway, I'm excited to get to work on some of the things I have planned this fall. As always, to be the most up to date with my fall goal progress follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Ravelry.

A Shoe's Eye View

I remember once in my Photojournalism class my professor told us a good way to make a photo interesting was to change your point of view. Often photographers will get themselves in a habit of shooting from only one point of view. Whether it's from a standing position or crouching position. I, for one, know I'm in a habit of only shooting photos from a standing position. So, the other day, I decided to change my point of view and spent most of a shooting day taking pictures with the camera on my shoe. This is what I came up with.

Attack of the Sewing Bug

And just like that, I've caught the sewing bug again. All it took was one giant flea market, two dollars and eight vintage patterns.

Let me back up. This past weekend was the 49th annual Marigold Days. It was my first time going and apparently it entails far more than I even knew when I was there. Over the two days of the event there is an antique & flea market, a baseball tournament, a car show, a quilt show and a flower show and apparently a whole lot more.

© Cheri Engel Chapman

© Cheri Engel Chapman

We (my mom, aunt and sister) went to the flea market on Saturday, where you can find just about anything. From antique furniture, to handmade goods. Modern clothes to what I would call junk, but another person may call treasures. There was even live music and a variety  of food trucks.

Even with all the variety at the flea market I came out empty handed. It was in one of the near by antique shops, Memorabilia Antiques, that I found eight vintage sewing patterns, from the 60s and 70s, all for a total of two dollars.

I haven't checked them for completeness yet, I'll get to that later this week. I know two of them are missing instructions, my favorite ones, of course. But even so, I got quite the deal. I figured out if I had decided to buy each of them off either eBay or Etsy I'd have spent about $60.08.

That's really all it takes for me to catch the sewing bug. With eight new patterns and a stash of fabric to go through, I might just have enough sewing projects to keep me occupied for the rest of the year.

If you don't want to miss what I'll be working on next, be sure to follow my Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr.

5 Vintage patterns this gal has to knit

As of late, I've been swooning over all things vintage knitting. But lets be honest, we know I love vintage things, and we know I love knitting. So, should anyone really be surprised? I've been favoriting so many vintage and vintage inspired patterns on Ravelry I don't think I'll ever have time to knit them all... But you can't blame me if I try, right?

Below are the top 5 vintage/vintage inspired patterns that I need to try as soon as possible.

© Knit Picks

Trolley Dodger I've been dreaming about having a letter sweater in my old high school colors for a long time. I'm not even sure why since I wasn't really known for my school spirit back then, or now for that matter. But the heart wants what the heart wants and I've been searching high and low for a pattern and I've finally found one. My dream of looking like a female, brown version of Wally Cleaver is one step closer to being realized.

© throughtheloops

Que Sera What a beautiful looking pattern. It found me just at the right time, too. When I first locked eyes on it I had just made up my mind that I should probably just rip apart my first sweater since it's way to big, and I don't really like it, and I'll probably never wear it. I think the purple yarn will be perfect for this project. Really the only thing that's stopping me from casting on is the intimidating stitch pattern that I don't feel like tackling at the moment.

© Patons UK

Fair Isle Pullover What can I say? I love a good stranded vest. Honestly, I haven't given this pattern too much thought. The only thing I know is I'm going to knit it in the round with steeks instead of back and forth like the pattern says. And I'll obviously have to do some math to make it my size.

© Felisher

Cable Pullover No. 3298 When I first saw this sweater during Tasha's at By Gum By Golly knit along I knew I had to have one of my own. I'd probably knit this one in the round as well, like Tasha did. But I see mine in either a deep purple or a dark green.

© Bernat

Bernat Style 177-96 I saw a picture of Sandra Dee wearing a sweater similar to this one and immediately fell in love. I'm going to adapt the pattern so it's a pullover instead of a cardigan, so it'll more closely resemble Sandra's. And I plan to knit it with pink and white stripes. There's no link to this pattern since I found it in my Bernat Classics for Women pattern book.

I honestly don't think I'll get to knitting any of these anytime soon seeing as I have a few other more pressing projects to get done before I even think of casting on anything else. But when I do get them they're sure to make their first appearance on my Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr. So, follow me there if you want to see frequent project updates.