Ashley Paige patterns make me growl and half marathon plans

I finally finished the Blue suede bikini from Ashley Paige's Sexy Little Knits. This is the 3rd project I have made from the book.. I was initially impressed with the patterns in the book.. I made the Little Mermaid and hippie tops and both turned out nicely, but this project has left me wondering whether anyone bothered to proofread at all.. I looked online when I first started the project, because the bikini cups looked kind of large (kind of is an understatement, they were huge) I decided I was going to hack this pattern to do it right...

I found several other blogs with complaints of the same nature. Nimble Fingers and Sexy knits both made the bikini and had to revise the bottom (I'm so glad I read their blogs first!). I patterned my bottom after a cute pair of undies I had, making it more of a "full coverage" type (I have a big butt for a skinny chick). I finally finished the bikini last night.. And I'm NOT happy (yet).

When I tried the bottom on last night, it stretches in some areas (around the ties and the crotch) that look rather unappealing. I have decided (in lieu of frogging it and starting over) to sew some darts in those areas, that will tighten it up a bit. I originally neglected to sex in the elastic around the crochet edge, but I am definitely going to do that now.




The places where I have the pins is where I'm going to make a small dart.. It looks kinda dumb on the item laid out, but makes the bikini bottom fit like a dream on.. so I'm gonna cheat and do it :)

The cups also look a little big still... despite me taking the needle size down to a 4 (two sizes) AND removing some of the rows at the bottom.. I'm not sure if its how the bikini is modeled or due to the size of my breasts.. Lets just say that I now know why they chose such a skinny model with well endowed breasts... If I had modeled it it would have looked stupid! And I'm a normal size. Grumble........ I'm going to grab a bikini from my drawer and see if I can use one as a pattern...I may need to redo the bottom of the cups..

So this item stays in the UFO bin for now until I can revise these three things... I anticipate I'll finish next week, so check back for finished pics of me modeling the bikini ;)

I've been working on another item from the UFO bin as well. It's a pink and black felted skull makeup bag I have conceived for my etsy shop. I am at the final stages and plan to finish it tonight... The hardest part will be overlaying the intarsia pattern of the skull tonight... I'll be sure to post pre and post felting pics.. I always love those!



Here's a shot of a sunglass case I made for a coworker. I may post the pattern on here.. The ceramic button is one that I made.




I haven't mentioned this earlier on here (although my friends have heard about it a lot), but I've been training for a half marathon since March. I plan on running the Richmond Suntrust Half Marathon. Those plans have been sidelined due to an ankle injury a few weeks ago. I think I'll be ok, though.. the race is in November. After a really good run a couple weeks ago I developed sudden debilitating ankle pain. Within a few days it was gone, so I ran again. After one mile it was aching. After four miles, I couldn't run anymore. When I got home I couldn't walk. My ankle was swollen in between my ankle and my heel. I have taken about two weeks off. to rest Last night I ran 2 miles as a test to see if I could. There was no pain afterwards, but I was conscious of how tightly I laced my shoes (maybe the reason for my injury to begin with). I also had a fairly intense yoga workout last night. I haven't done yoga in ages. I'm not naturally flexible, so any lapse in my stretching routine sets me back to square one. It's very frustrating, but its something that I've dealt with my whole life. I've always been able to run forever, but never done a split (or come very close). When I move I plan on joining a yoga class.. my study alone isn't really going anywhere..