Knitting and Handicrafts: Tangy

I have made some progress on my Stripey Tang sweater, even though I haven't updated my Ravelry percentages.  They're always a guesstimation anyway... I mean, it *feels* like the body of the sweater should be about 50%, each sleeve roughly about 20%, and the collar 10%, but who knows?  I always feel a vague unease when marking the percentage completed on Ravelry, as though I'm pulling numbers out of my ass and bluffing my way through... something.  Like a business presentation.  Weird.

I'm still contemplating whether I'm going to steek it and put a zipper up the front.  As a pullover sweater, the stripes make it a little clownish, but add a zipper and call it a jacket and it suddenly doesn't seem so terrible.  If only Wil Wheaton had known during his Star Trek costume fitting sessions, his name wouldn't be paired with terrible sweaters for all eternity.  Take care of that the next time the Enterprise goes back in time, will you?

I am perversely feeling like I don't knit fast enough to get everything I want done, yet strangely unwilling to actually sit down and knit.  I think the relatively instant gratification of sewing has spoiled knitting for me.  Not forever, but every time I sit down I'm thinking "My god this takes forEVER".

Speaking of sewing, I have decided to make my costume this year.  Simplicity was having a sale on patterns, so I stocked up.  Of the ones I got, I think this year I'm going with a pirate wench outfit... nothing cleavage-y.  It's a puffy shirt, nice corset-vest with epaulettes, and some breeches.  We're talking muslin, velvet, and fake suede.  Nice and tastefully elegant... assuming I don't mess it up.  It's been a while since I've used a set of eyelet-setting pliers, and the velvet is fricking expensive at $16 a yard.  I wanted to get some bits for making a striking fake gem and fake pearl necklace to go with it, but of course then we're getting into a hundred dollar costume... and no.  That is NOT in the budget.  It's funny how even fake versions of semi-precious gems can still cost the earth.

I also picked up a pattern for a long duster coat, much like Neo in the Matrix.  Instead of making it for my husband, however, I have a billion yards of some fake suede bought on sale in a dusky brownish-rose color.  This may be a solution for a winter coat, assuming I line it properly.  I also found some square magnetic snaps/clasps on sale, intended for handbags, but I think would do much better for closures than the squares of velcro the pattern calls for.

I'm terribly excited about the sewing projects to come, so I guess this is my long-winded way of saying my knitting might be taking a back seat for a while.