Confusion reigns.

Talk about confusing.  I had the bright (?) idea of knitting up some yarn to give me some knit yardage to play with for the SWAP, but of course the colours are all DRAB.  Olive green, some beige, lots of grey - OK grey I can use - some navy but not enough for a top.  Bright pink cotton, & maybe enough white for a simple top.  I've twisted different colours together to see what they look like & they still look bleh to me.  I'm going to have to experiment with tuck & slip stitches to see how they look.  The problem stems from having a little stash left over from when I knit my Dad jumpers, he looked good in drab colours, & the stuff that came with the freecycled knitting machines I collected.  Obviously colours that no one else wants either!  Oh & I can't wear acrylic which is what the remainder of the yarn is.  Better go & set up a machine I suppose & see if it will work.  That'll be the next problem.

Thoughts on SWAP

I've got my pants base pattern sorted.  I will need to rehash it for jeans & make some changes for dog walking pants but the base is good.  I was inspired by David Page Coffins "Making Trousers" book that  my DD gave me for Xmas.  I haven't put it down - well apart from when I was drafting & amending muslins that is.  It re-enforced the need to get the fit right before I began on the details of construction that this book is all about. 
Now what to do about the plans?  I've been given a LBD by my daughter that I really need to shift the last 7lbs to look better than OK in, but will it fit in with the SWAP plans?  My lifestyle doesn't really involve getting dressed up but as we all know a LBD can look good in the right place / occasion as long as black is a good colour on you.  It is on me fortunately.  And should I ever need to go someplace all dressed up then it fits the bill perfectly.  So do I include it?  Or not?  Or do I start a second SWAP?  Or even another for all the other possibilities that keep entering my head? 
The current loose plans are based around the Smarties jacket which is a black, but looks dk grey, denim with pink & purple buttons.
The 4 bottoms will be :
black(ish) jeans
dog walking pants - probably lined for the cold weather as I have a lighter weight pair (though as they are currently being used with thermals under they may need replacing sooner rather than later)  Not sure on colour though something that goes with my pink or red fleece jackets might be a good idea.  I don't fancy black though.  Grey perhaps?
Smarter pants - probably black pinstripe Marlene style for going out & teaching (if I get the required student numbers next term), & all my black pants are too large & don't appear to be that straight forward to take in.  When they fit I wore them a lot.  The only hiccup is that I'll need to buy fabric as all I have suitable in the stash is navy wool & that don't fit with the rest of the plans!
Do I go with a skirt for the 4th piece?  I've stuck with pants as I've not had a suitable pair of shoes/boots for skirts the last few years but my DD gave me some Ugg lookalike boots for Xmas & I could get away with a longish skirt now.  Black seems likely but that means I have a lot of black,  then again I wear black as a base colour a lot if I'm  not in denim jeans.  Hmmmm, maybe a denim skirt?  Not sure on this one.
6 Tops:
Possibly a number of variations on basic long sleeve tees.
A couple of shirts - I fancy a couple of stripe ones, & maybe a warm western style check one to go with the dog walking pants. 
I do have a bought long sleeve tee that I could substitute in place of a sewn one if I get stuck, in purple, tha would go with the jacket that is my own choice garment.
But of course I could base my SWAP around the navy wool pants I plan on making now (as I already have it) to test the pants draft properly, then I'd need to rethink a few things.  I know I don't need to make it all matchy matchy but if I have random colours then I run into the snag of pairing up what with what?  And it won't look like it all came out of the same woman's wardrobe (closet).  Of course whatever I decide will involve buying more fabric as I have little if anything suitable in the meagre stash & money is in short supply right now.  May even mean I have to pull out of SWAP altogether but I do need clothes that fit me now.  Oh bugger. Decisions will have to be made somehow.  Maybe I'll just have to go with whatever I can find in the cheap shop & make it work.
Now I've hit a snag - these constitute two separate clothing needs I think & may not fit into the SWAP rules so I'll have to await confirmation of possible solutions to this.  I don't need a full SWAP for either casual (dog walking) or smart casual (ie teaching) so I'm stuck.  Better just get on with the navy pants I guess.

Help or hindrance?

I have been given several bags of clothing to pass on to the charity shops from my friend, who acquired them from someone else! So I now have a denim jacket. & a couple of tops, including a jade one. So do I rethink some of my colours for this SWAP or do I just consider these as extras? I love the colour of the jade one, & I remember seeing a cardigan the same shade in our local Asda (Walmart). Well it would fit in with the black of the SWAP would'nt it?!!!!! I was hoping to find something I cut deconstruct & create something new but just about everything was on the small side. However there were a number of boys jumpers that will do for Joe in a couple of years. A useful haul.

On a different subject - food.
I made some roasted tomato soup yesterday with the last of the tomatoes from our little greenhouse. It's all gone already. Good job there's some in the freezer for the winter. Tea last night was chicken stir fry, I found a pack of chicken on offer so that was good. Tonight was braised pork chops with apple & onion, jacket potatoes, roasted carrot & parsnip & broccoli. Oh & boiled carrots for Joe as he doesn't like them roasted & hates parsnips! I came across some forgotton dried beans in the cupboard earlier & I think a slow cooked stew of some sort is in the horizon. Not to mention the thought of buying a ham shank during the week to provide stock & meat to add to green lentils for a feel good supper with a French stick! Well it is a French recipe after all & one we all love.

First draft.

My first thoughts on my SWAP. Always with the option to change at every whim!
After a morning straining my eyes at the computer screen I'm off to walk the dogs in the cool fresh air of the countryside with a friend. time to wrap up warm it's wet & windy out there!

SWAP 2009

Bummer. I just caught some key or other on the keyboard & wiped the reams I've just typed. Note to self: Use "save" more often.

So from the top again. This years SWAP has been posted on Stitchers Guild. The catch this time? The clothes have to fit our current weight & lifestyle! Ha, I'm in the middle of a weight loss kick so I plan to concentrate on tops this side of Xmas & bottoms after. I should be around my target weight by then & I intend to stay there this time.
I took a serious look through my wardrobe. Good job I cleared some of it out last week! Anyhow, I now have some idea of what I'm going to need to replace a) what I've thrown out & b) what I'm going to slim out of.
Tops: 1 each navy, raspberry & cream long sleeve tees. And these are baggy on me now.
Jackets: I have no less than 3 although 1 is more summer than winter. And they're all black! Oh I do possess a brown tweedy one as well! Actually I just realised I have a black duster coat too!
Trousers: 1 black, 1 tiny black/cream check that I can wear now, 1 bottle green & 1 tiny brown/black check that I will shrink into. 2 pairs of denim jeans. I'm ignoring the baggy cargo pants & sweat pants.
Blouses: Lots of white & white/black variations & about 3 black. A lilac 3/4 sleeve that isn't the greatest fit but looks good on me anyway. All the blouses I tend to wear with the black & black/white check trousers. A heavier weight raspberry shirt that I tend to wear as a lightweight jacket.
Dresses: A black linen mix sleeveless sheath, a tiny brown/black check sleeveless sheath & a wool blend navy sleeveless sheath! Thes only get worn on occasions!
Skirts: 1 red trimmed with black lace at the hem & no tops to wear with it as I threw them last week! A black suit skirt from my daughter that goes with the jacket she gave me. It's a tad too small right now but will be OK soon! I don't really do skirts as I can't find any comfy shoes that suit skirts as well as my feet. If I do find any I'll be making skirts again.

So that's what I've got & this is the lifestyle:
Get up & pull on jeans & tee, fleece jacket / waterproof, cycle or walk & occasionally car to work via school drop off. Once a week smarter look to go to French class after work.
Teach one evening a week so smarter look. When not teaching, go to pub with the Anorak & meet friends, smarter casual look.
I've already decided not to make outerwear as up here requires good waterproofs & I haven't got the time to make a decent job of that type of garment.

So what do I need?
Long sleeve tees for starters. Trousers & jeans for after the weight loss stabilises, including black. Another jacket but not in black! Tweed maybe with flecks of red, purple & green?? So this leads into colours too. Obviously black plays a large 'ish' part in the existing wardrobe & as I can't afford to replace everything it will have to remain so I need to plan around the existing jackets as well. I'm ruling out a fleece jacket at the moment although another would be useful but I couldn't necessarily make it work with the smarter trousers, although I do have a Vogue pattern that would be nice. I'm in danger of digressing here & rebuilding the entire wardrobe!

The stash has some raspberry & navy cotton jersey, also a black with purple fleck wool knit. Long sleeve tees come to mind, maybe a wrap top as well. A white self striped cotton for a blouse. Some pieces of the tiny black/white check that made trousers may be enough for a jeans style jacket, but then it wouldn't go that well with the brown/black check trousers. I'm thinking maybe a black denim for jeans rather than blue as well.

First thoughts are black trousers & black jeans, then the existing blouses will work with them. Also as I'm not going to make them until January I have time to find a fabric & colour that will work with whatever the jacket ends up in. I think a jeans style jacket might be useful, or maybe the Vogue Divine Details jacket pattern I've got. Would it work in tweed? I don't know. I quite fancy a raspberry red jacket too. Decisions decisions. Actually it's really going to evolve around whatever I can get in the finish!

The navy cotton jersey in the stash isn't going to get used for this SWAP as it isn't going to fit in but I will make it up anyway before the start to refine the self drafted pattern I will use. Neither is the black knit as I don't see it going with a red jacket but it will go with a tweedy look so again I may use it! The raspberry jersey will make it into the SWAP if I have enough as I love the colour & it works with several other colours as well.

So off the top of my head.

Jacket in a raspberry or maybe a bottle green colour or grey (?) tweed with flecks of colour in it.

Tops in raspberry, poss purple flecked black knit, cream, something with bottle green in it, maybe a pattern of some sort.

Blouses, 1 in white self stripe ( a girl can never have enough white shirts -right?) & maybe another in a print with raspberry & or bottle green in it.

Trousers - black, black denim, maybe a grey pinstripe & maybe a tweed so the potential tweed jacket forms a suit? See? I'm deviating from the main part of my casual lifestyle into smarter casual!! Perhaps I should make a second pair of jeans in a slightly different style or a pair of fine needlecord. I do need clothes to cycle to work in.

There what a lot of decisions to make & thoughts to dwell on. One thing I have decided however. Two in fact. I am going to be asking for accessories, i.e. gloves, pashminas, costume jewellery in the accent colours of raspberry & bottle green as presents from my loved ones this Christmas. Secondly I am going to do a mood board first with pictures from fashion magazines as I have loads of them that I used in my first lessons as inspiration for my students. I'm hopefully going to inspire myself!