Stick it in a box marked 'done'

I'm back from a week in the UK and I have a pile of finished things to blog about.

Mainly I was in the UK for hospital appointments (alas, I'm still a medical mystery. My specialist was like "I know it's emotionally and psychologically difficult not to have a diagnosis after all this time and to be told you probably have something very rare" and I was all HAHA OH GOD, DO YOU THINK? DDDD:) but also, more happily, to see where I'll be living (mid-renovation, still doesn't have a kitchen, but otherwise looking A+. Room ear-marked as sewing/spare room has a HUGE window and is light all day). I am moving towards the end of the month but for some reason my belongings are taking several days to get to me, so it'll probably be the first week in August before I am set up to sew in my new place.

In the meantime, though:

Jitterbug socks in Colinette 400 sock yarn

While I was away I finished a pair of socks that I started way back in something like the first week of April. The only reason it took so long to make them really is that I started on bamboo needles and promptly snapped one in half while shoving it in my handbag halfway through the first sock, and then it took FOREVER (well, a month) for my replacement metal needles to arrive in the post. (To be fair, I accidentally ordered them from Bulgaria so it's no wonder it took a while.) At any rate, I had managed to finish the first sock before I left, so I cast on the second sock in Dublin airport on Monday morning and finished all bar the toe grafting by the time I got off the plane back in Dublin Saturday lunchtime. Overall, they're definitely an improvement on my first Socks of Terribleness, although still highly flawed in places. The yarn was lovely: Colinette Jitterbug 400, which is 100% merino wool, in the "Cinnamon" colourway (I don't know why cinnamon, since it's more purple than anything). I made the super simple sock pattern that comes with the yarn and used about 85g of a ~160g ball of yarn, so I should be able to get another pair of short socks out of it if I am careful. (This is good, because it was STUPIDLY expensive for a single pair of socks otherwise!).

"Paintbrush" jersey print and the Ottobre 02-2013-02 tee that I made from it

Since I got home, I've been busy with a couple of other little projects. I took advantage of the cheaper postage in the UK and ordered a couple of pieces of fabric I wanted for my mini-wardrobe thing and while I was at it, I saw this viscose/cotton jersey print in an eBay shop and HAD TO HAVE IT. It was one of those things where the impulse to own it bypassed my brain and went straight to my finger on the button on my mouse to click "buy it now". I bought 1m (£5m + £3 p&p) to make a t-shirt, inevitably using Ottobre 02-2013-02 (yes, that's version number 8 but who's counting them at this point). I don't know that I would have been 100% as excited if I had seen the fabric in person before I bought it, although I love the colours and print just as much in person. I'm less happy that the finish of the fabric is that almost fluffy soft texture that you get on some viscose/cotton blends that will probably pill horribly after a half dozen washes. Still, I do love the t-shirt I made and it goes AMAZINGLY well with my new turquoise shorts.

I also made new cushion covers for the massive 65cm square cushions that live on my bed. I have already bought a purple blind for my new house and a purple striped duvet cover. I was contemplating my current (green) cushion covers and then remembered I had this geometric patterned purple fabric in my bag stash. It's another "eBay seller describes what they are selling very badly" buy, this time from early 2013, and I got like 2.5m for £0.99 plus p&p (£5 in total). The reverse is just some plain white cotton drill bought for £1/m from Standfast. The most expensive thing on this cushion cover are the zips, which I stupidly bought 80cm long (expensive) instead of 65cm long (cheaper) because I wrote it down wrong on my notepad at some point and never corrected it. >:(

Other than all of that, I am READY for the mini-wardrobe thing. I have everything all lined up and waiting to start on Tuesday.  I have a confirmed date for my actual move from Dublin and I worked back from that to when I need to stop sewing and start packing. I concluded I need to make my entire mini-wardrobe by the 14th of July, although worst case scenario I can sew on the 15th/16th a bit if I need to. Just as well everything I picked out is so (relatively) easy and quick to make! I think what I'm going to do is to burn through all the easy stuff first so that I can spend more time on the Carme blouse at the end.