Made by Me File: Emerald Isle Knit on St. Patrick's Day. McCall's 6796.

Outfit of the Day portion first followed by the Made by Me Info.

I somehow, and by accident, managed to line up the side seam's pattern exactly right.  I call the "luck of the Irish" on that one.  :-)

Day: Tuesday, March 17, 2015.

Where:  Bowling!  And whatever else happens today.  :-)

Ease of Wear: (4.75 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Like wearing a pretty sweater tunic pajamas.  It fits, it is super soft, it is paired with leggings, and I am wearing ballet flats.  The only thing that bugs me, and only the tiniest bit, is that I have a bit of excessive ease through the shoulders, but that is certainly better than too little ease.

Cool Factor: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  It's St. Patrick's Day.  I am a good Catholic girl in an area with plenty of Irish-Americans.  It's about as cool as it is possible to be for the day.  5 out of 5 for today, 3 out of 5 for the rest of the year.  So combined and then halved, you have a 4 out of 5.

(And yes, I will be wearing this on other days, not giving a rat's behind if tunics aren't really cool.)

Anecdote of the Day:  Two weeks ago I managed to bowl a game that was 50 points above my average.  Because of this I received a patch with the words "Star of the Week" on it at today's bowling.  Yes!  They see my progress.  Now, true, my bowling score that was 50 above is other people's AVERAGE scores, but I call victory.  LOL.

McCall's 6796. This is a pattern for a top/sweater, not a tunic, but I have seen so many other people be successful in converting top patterns into dress/tunic patterns that I decided with my two yards of Emerald Isle Knit from Fabric Mart (purchased last year at $2 a yard--I still have two yards to go!) I would give this pattern a go in a tunic shape.  Initially I hoped for a dress, but I really wanted long sleeves and the full collar with buttons, so something had to give, so I decided on a shorter length, with full sleeves and collar instead.  I know I could have cut an additional yard or half yard from my extra, but I have plans for that for other projects.

The collar on mine, btw, is cut the opposite way it was supposed to be, but I had to in order to properly fit it on the fabric.  Because this knit has both cross grain stretch and vertical stretch, it was fine.

All the pattern reviews for this pattern talk about how easy this pattern is to make up, and I was like, "sure, if you say so."  Well, yeah, they are right, it cuts easily, it has no darts, and if you use a serger, can be a very quick sew.  The only place I didn't serge was the neckline when attaching the collar and the hems of the sleeves and the bottom.  (On those I used my lightning bolt stitch.  Apparently that one stitch is a bit controversial--???--but I love it for all of my knitted hems and necklines--nice and stretchy.)

Sizing wise, I went with a ten through the shoulders, sleeves, waist and then graded to a 12 at high hip and down to a 14 at low hip/hem.  It was the right call.  The only reason there is even the smallest amount of wrinkling there at my back is because I have some extra ease at the waist (I think the 10 has a measurement of 33" and I am closer to 29"). 

I have one small problem with this pattern and it is the instruction to set in the sleeves.  Why are there any patterns that call for setting in sleeves on a knit pattern?  There are SO many of them!  It is baffling.  Sure, a structured blazer or formal top, but a casual sweater?  Hmm...anyhow, I ignored McCall's and set them in flat.

The fabric is a medium-weight sweater knit and if I recall correctly is a kind of poly knit with some lycra.  Will definitely keep me warm, but have zero plans to wear this in any temps above 75 F.  The fabric was super easy to sew on the serger, it only took the briefest amount of fiddling before I found the proper tensions on the dials.

I had these buttons in my stash.  How Celtic do those look?  Perfect!  I had an additional one, so I could have gone for the third button the way the pattern instructs, but I prefer to places buttons on my dress form, and this combo, in this position, looked best. 

Hope all of you are having a lovely day.  Wear your green and celebrate Ireland!  :-)

Ireland: The Outfits!

Today's post will be *so much* shorter than yesterday's monster post of visual imagery of the beautiful countryside, my kids, my friends, and lots of crazy frivolity.  Today is all about the outfits.

I have recently joined pinterest, and I noticed that before I pinned my own outfits, my blog's photos were being pinned here and there, and quite a few of them are outfit of the day photos, which is awesome.  :-)  So I delved a little further and discovered that my polyvore sets were really popular on pinterest, and of all my polyvore sets, the packing sets are the most popular.  Well, okay then, if that's what the people want, I'll provide.  So at the end of the post I will include a polyvore set I've entitled "Ireland Packing Polyvore" for anyone who wants to pin it for any future packing ideas they need.

I will keep the comments brief, letting the outfits speak for themselves, but if I have something to say, I'll definitely mention it...

On my right is the lovely Avril, who wrote up our night out in Belfast here at this blog post.

Even though Belfast was on our second full day in Ireland, I wanted to publish this outfit first since it is a look that I don't normally wear, and I was glad I had challenged myself to try it out.  And because great minds think alike, I love that Avril wore almost the same outfit.  ;-)

This look is from my first full day in Ireland, when we enjoyed all the sights of Dublin.

Wore this ensemble to Giant's Causeway.  I knew there would be a lot of trekking, but also a lot of driving, so I wanted something that would do well in both circumstances.  I *may* have switched to my uber comfy Pure Collection tie-waisted trousers for the ride down to Kilkenney (that is a whole lot of Ireland between the two), but I honestly can't remember.  I have to drive, btw, since I have experience driving on the left hand side of the road and Mr. Dina doesn't.  You would think that by now, and with all the traveling we do together, he would have learned, but nope, he makes me take the wheel in any country who drives opposite us here in the States.  (Since I hate driving, I figure that means I will just have less of it to do in general if that's his plan, lol.)

Worn to trek all over Kilkenny on our third full day in Ireland.

The last photo shows the effect of too much mead on a good woman's soul.  :-)  This was our fourth full day in Ireland, and was from when we were at Bunratty.

There was a fifth full day of traveling, but that was the day that Mr. Dina was very ill, so we didn't do much beyond checking out of Bunratty and driving to Dublin.  Then the kids and I went to dinner, without Mr. Dina.  If I recall, I wore the comfy Boden leggings with the Boden sweater.

Ireland Packing Polyvore by dinagideon featuring wrap boots

I feel like I chose well for this trip.  The boots may seem a big extravagance when airlines limit just how much luggage a family can take, but with all of my undergarments, tights, and socks packed into them, there was plenty of room left over.  I don't regret bringing any of these items, and as you can see from the right hand side, many of the items were worn multiple times.  The items on the left packed well and didn't wrinkle, so I can highly recommend any sort of item like that for any packing you may have like this in the future.  Because it was Ireland in the early spring, I made sure to pack woolen items for warmth and layering, but also packed a lightweight down coat to ensure that it wouldn't weigh me (or my luggage) down, but still keep me warm, AND not wrinkle.  Surprisingly I needed the sunglasses nearly daily, not a drop of rain fell while we were there.  It was pretty stunning how bright Ireland was!

Okay, that's it for now.  Thank you all for your sweet comments over the last few posts.  My darling Angus is really sick with the stomach flu, and just on the mend, so most of my time over the past day has been to tending him, but I definitely have plans to go back and comment to all of your nice thoughts! 

Ireland: The Photos.

Well it has been *almost a year* since we went to Ireland, and because *life* got in my way, I never actually got around to publishing either of my intended Ireland posts, "The Photos," and "The Outfits."  So today I will publish the (ridiculous number of) photos and tomorrow I will publish the outfits (far fewer photos).  What better day to make amends for not publishing photos from Ireland than St. Patty's Day?  ;-)

What a better way to start this Irish journey than with Rex and a leprechaun?

Angus crawled into this window seat in a pub in Dublin.  Mr. Dina insisted I grab a photo even though I was all, "agh, he's going to open that window and fall out!"  He was just a year old here, so my fears were probably unfounded.

 

Some street in Dublin!

When Target announced they would carry Boots products in their stores all those years ago, I rejoiced.  Then I saw what they actually were carrying and realized I would still need to travel to the UK/Ireland to get my Badedas/Nivea fix every few years.  I have no idea why CW is sticking out her tongue.

St. Stephen's Green

Pigeons freaking CW out in St. Stephen's Green.

Wolfe Tone Statue at Entrance to St. Stephen's Green

Family being all crazy...

Of course Dublin would have a showing of something Mr. Dina would just love while we're there.

Even better for him it was literally right next door to our hotel.  This "One Man Star Wars Trilogy" may have been his favorite part of the trip.  Not mine, though, 'cause I don't care about Star Wars.

This drink in Belfast was not my most favorite part of the trip, but it was very very close...

You all might recognize the lovely Avril (she of School Gate Style), and isn't it nice to see her all dressed up enjoying fish and chips?  I did enjoy the fish and chips, too, but I looked far less glamorous, sadly, so I refuse to put up those photos.  LOL.  You will see more of Avril tomorrow, but here is a sneak peek from her blog (she writes her posts in a far more timely manner).

Rex loves this photo!

Enjoying the hills of the Giant's Causeway.

CW always finds a reason to pose...

My best friend from high school, M., declared that we basically were the Royal Tenenbaums after seeing this photo on facebook.

The Giant's Causeway is so insanely beautiful...this was my most favorite part of the trip.

I told Mr. Dina he looked like he was leading the charge like in his other favorite movie series, The Lord of the Ring.  Is anyone surprised that he liked that reference?  I of course loved being compared to Angelica Huston in the Royal Tenenbaums, so I have to be understanding.  ;-)

Yes, it appears that my children enjoy recreating the Houses of the Holy album cover, just a bit too cold to go butt-naked, however.

We liked this photo so much that it became our Christmas Card this year.

So cute!

He was just learning to walk here...

Last one, I promise, from the Giant's Causeway.

Street art in Kilkenny, Ireland.

CW liked the kitty in the sign.  Dude in the back looks confused.

Outside Kilkenny Castle

Almost inside Kilkenny Castle

On the Kilkenny Castle grounds...

Also on the grounds of the castle was a very cool playground.  Why don't they have swings like this in the United States?

And...outside Kilkenny Castle...again.

Bunratty Castle for their nightly festivities...

I can, with 100% certainty, assure you that CW is looking at her dress and plotting ways to get *me* to make her one.

Another family photo, hey! (And what may be my first--of many--glasses of mead.)

I have a stupid amount of photos where this exact set of faces is occurring.

Rex enjoyed being "jailed" far more than he should have...

The Bunratty singers are insanely good at their job, and they helped get us our food, too.  And a staggering amount of mead, which I have to admit I *may* have drunk a bit too much of.  I do recommend it, so take a look here if you are interested in attending yourself.

Evidence that I drank far too much mead.  I barely even noticed these people were staring at the creek, cameras ready.  I figured they were all were out for a night's walk.  Nope...not so much.  Apparently some dolphins made their way into the stream and these people were hoping for a look-see at one of them.  The dolphins should not have been there, so it was a really big deal.

If you squint and look to the right you will see poor Mr. Dina all sick and exhausted.  The day after our stay in Bunratty, he got some sort of stomach flu (not food poisoning as we first thought) and basically slept the next twenty-four hours.  So he missed his last day in Dublin.  In the world of "God is kind," I didn't get the stomach bug until after we had landed home.  So I spent twenty-four hours asleep and miserable after landing.  Better than both of us being out of commission with three small children in a foreign country, I suppose.  :-P

Okay, that's all!  I am sure that was enough for you all, lol.  Have a wonderful St. Patty's Day!