4 Days til Oktoberfest

It wouldn't be much of an Oktoberfest countdown unless I posted some progress photos now would it.

First up Joe's hiking socks.


I am soooooo cheating on these. I'm using two strands of WoolEase with #8 needles.

I used the Riverbed Architecture from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways. book for the foot and a very simple 4 stitch mock cable that runs along the outside of the leg. The rest of the leg is k2p2 ribbing. I am kinda liking the way the calf increases are looking. Totally cheated on the increases too, nothing fancy there, just worked the new stitch into one strand instead of both of them. I'm thinking these will be done tonight if there's a good movie on tv.

I guess I should have put something in the pic to indicate the size of these things but you can imagine, 12 inch foot, 22 inches from ankle to knee, and I'll prob'ly add 4 inches of ribbing on top of that. Egads!

The Alpine jacket is turning out quiet nicely, IMHO.

It began as this:




And now looks like this:



I still have the trim to sew on, and the closures. Loving the trim. Got it at JoAnn Fabric for $1.07 a yard.....score! The original garment was a of course a Thrift Store find from eons ago. It's an extremely heavy boiled wool with get this...a flannel lining!! WTF No wonder it was thrifted, it was nearly impossible to get on or off with all that fabric friction going on, so I threw in a normal lining.

And now the lederhosen...............

They too began their life as a Thrift Store find. It's not everyday that one finds a pair of Michael Jordan black leather pants for $5.00. :-) Joe and I picked these up a couple years ago. Oh the possibilities a pair of black leather pants possess as far as costumes go, so into the costume closet they went.....doesn't everyone have a costume closet??? Apparently not. Talking to my Bro the other night telling him about this Oktoberfest project he asked his wife if they had a costume closet? Trunk? Box? Nope. Well, we've got a whole closet, and a box or two.....guess my Bro and I don't travel in the same crowd. :-) One of these days I'll dig up photos from past costume parties, they are sooooo funny. Anywho, whatever possible costume these might have morphed into, a pair of lederhosen was never on my radar. lol

So here's a crummy pic of what the they looked before reconstruction, all full length and shiny black leather.




Now they look like this. Short, turned suede side out, zipper removed and waist band reattached.



Next step in the process is to make the front flap thing. I have to cut along the line that are indicated in the photo below by the pieces of yarn, and add some more leather to make the flap wider. You can see what I mean in the second pic, it is one I snagged from a website that sells the real thing.







Things are moving along swimmingly. Although I have to confess, that the real reason I'm blogging and not working on these things is pure unadulterated fear. The same mind numbing, paralyzing terror you feel when your ready to cut your first steek.

I'll get over it. Prob'ly by the time any of you read this it will have been done, just talking about it makes it better. Plus the fact that I've already scoped out the stash and know that I have enough brown suede to make a whole other pair from scratch if need be. :-)

As for my costume......I've been working on that too. Not a lot to show you though. I've made 2 prototypes of my vest and have tweaked the pattern enough to like the fit, and I've made my blouse. But I'll address my costume in another post.......Maybe later today, if I'm still avoiding the lederhosen. :-P