Wishing you an Easter filled with happiness and love. Sam xxx
Pattern: Bunny nuggets by Rebecca Danger
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...and random other ramblings
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Happy Easter
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Handspun Snowbird
I'll try to contain my excitement on this one. But I warn you now, it's going to be tough because I think this is my favourite hand knit sweater to date -- the handspun snowbird.
Some years ago I had some malabrigo listed on my destash page. A lovely lady from Aspenlund Farms contacted me to see if I'd be interested in trading for some of her handspun yarn. At this point in time I hadn't had the pleasure of using handspun yarn, but I know 'hand' created anything has consumed a lot of someone's time and energy and was therefore something special. Heck yes I'll trade!
Sure enough the yarn arrived and I fell in love with it - it was a 50/50 mix of Icelandic and Mohair yarn. It was a beautiful neutral - the tag explained that these fibers were harvested from organically kept creatures and processed without the use of harsh chemicals. What I loved most of all was the somewhat rustic and artisanal nature of the yarn. Given it's natural beauty, I wanted to find a simple pattern that would allow the yarn to sing!
I searched through Ravelry and it didn't take long before I came across Heidi Kirrmaeier's Snowbird. It is such an elegant, flattering and simple pattern. Yes, this was 'the one'. A match made in heaven :)
I actually cast on for this some years ago - not long after Naomi was born. My sleep-deprived baby brain had a few issues figuring out the start of this, where you make a provisional cast on for the collar. But I got there, and I started knitting, and it was an enjoyable project to work on. I'm not quite sure why this fell into the WIP pile for soo long. But I think once projects fall in there, it is a bit of a black hole. Any hoo, my dear friend Andi gifted me a fabulous sweater pattern the other day (thank you sooo much), and I decided that I should finish up my WIP sweaters before I cast on something new: Snowbird came out of hibernation!
I was super happy to be back working on this. Especially as I was on the home stretch with just the bottom of the sweater and the pockets to complete. It was finished in no time. I blocked it this last week, and it was dry in time for yesterday's snowfall -- the perfect backdrop to take pictures for snowbird :)
I didn't make any modifications to this beautifully written pattern - just knit as instructed. I see another in my future, and may go up a size on my next one to make it a little less sleek, and a little more snuggly. But yes, super happy with this very wearable FO.
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend,
Sam
xxx
Some years ago I had some malabrigo listed on my destash page. A lovely lady from Aspenlund Farms contacted me to see if I'd be interested in trading for some of her handspun yarn. At this point in time I hadn't had the pleasure of using handspun yarn, but I know 'hand' created anything has consumed a lot of someone's time and energy and was therefore something special. Heck yes I'll trade!
Sure enough the yarn arrived and I fell in love with it - it was a 50/50 mix of Icelandic and Mohair yarn. It was a beautiful neutral - the tag explained that these fibers were harvested from organically kept creatures and processed without the use of harsh chemicals. What I loved most of all was the somewhat rustic and artisanal nature of the yarn. Given it's natural beauty, I wanted to find a simple pattern that would allow the yarn to sing!
I searched through Ravelry and it didn't take long before I came across Heidi Kirrmaeier's Snowbird. It is such an elegant, flattering and simple pattern. Yes, this was 'the one'. A match made in heaven :)
I actually cast on for this some years ago - not long after Naomi was born. My sleep-deprived baby brain had a few issues figuring out the start of this, where you make a provisional cast on for the collar. But I got there, and I started knitting, and it was an enjoyable project to work on. I'm not quite sure why this fell into the WIP pile for soo long. But I think once projects fall in there, it is a bit of a black hole. Any hoo, my dear friend Andi gifted me a fabulous sweater pattern the other day (thank you sooo much), and I decided that I should finish up my WIP sweaters before I cast on something new: Snowbird came out of hibernation!
I was super happy to be back working on this. Especially as I was on the home stretch with just the bottom of the sweater and the pockets to complete. It was finished in no time. I blocked it this last week, and it was dry in time for yesterday's snowfall -- the perfect backdrop to take pictures for snowbird :)
I didn't make any modifications to this beautifully written pattern - just knit as instructed. I see another in my future, and may go up a size on my next one to make it a little less sleek, and a little more snuggly. But yes, super happy with this very wearable FO.
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend,
Sam
xxx
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Quilted Pillows
If you've been reading here for a while you'll know that I'm lucky to have some very dear crafting friends that live locally. We met through a knitting meetup group, and hang out at least once a month. These gals are great and always look out for each other (including throwing the most amazing baby shower for a yet-to-be-born Naomi, and I).
One of our dear friends, Genia, just purchased her first home and is busily trying to decorate, furnish and make it all her own. So the group got together to throw a little housewarming party for her. You should have seen the cool stuff that she got, and needless to say a lot of the attention was on helping outfit her new crafting space :) Very cool!
In addition to hosting the party, Stacey came up with a great idea to make Genia some throw pillows. Genia looooves skully fabric, and Stacey had a suggested pattern and some fun skully fabric for us to use: skulls with knitting needles, and skulls with scissors. We divided the fabric between 3 of us - Stacey, Terrie and I - and set off to each make a throw cushion.
The fun part of this is that we each chose a different design from 'Oh Fransson's Chopped Vegetables' pattern, and also used fabrics from our own stash that complemented the skully fabric. The end result is what I like to think of as siblings - each one totally unique, and yet quite obviously from the same family.
Here are the skully siblings:
L to R: Stacey, Terrie and Sam versions.
Here's a close up of the one that I made. Front:
Back:
Genia was really touched with all the gifts :)
In the spirit of 'same but different', I also worked on a couple of blocks for the Denver Quilt Bee project. The quilt bee works like this: Each participant selects an inspiration quilt/design, provides fabrics for that quilt and packages it all in a box. Each month the box goes to a different particpant, and they make a couple of blocks using the suggested fabric and inspiration guidelines. This launched last month, and my first box was for my good friend Terrie :) It was fun to work on blocks for someone I knew well.
Here are Terrie's fabrics:
Terrie's inspiration quilt is the Bella's Bird pattern from Lotta Jansdotter. Here are the squares that I made for her:
Many of the participants are recommending that you add a little fabric from your stash, to personalize at least one of the blocks. I added some of my own grey scallop fabric to the 3rd square at the bottom of the picture - it felt like it was in the same family of grey, but will make that square a little different. I'm looking forward to seeing how these all turn out. This last week at the Denver Quilt Guild we each did a 'show and tell' for all of the blocks and it was great to see how each person is working with the themes and fabrics provided to them. I was hesitant about joining since I have soo many things on the go right now, but was soo thankful that I did. This is a lot of fun.
Well, it's snowing here and so I'm hoping to spend the majority of the day hibernating and working on my Mum's quilt. But first I need to venture out and take Naomi to 'Nastics' (Naomi's word for gymnastics!) She started last week and was beaming with happiness; she thoroughly enjoyed the class! Aside from having a very happy girl, I also get rewarded with a very tired girl. A very tired girl = longer nap time = more productive craft time! Is that bad? :)))
OK friends, have a lovely weekend,
Sam
xxx
One of our dear friends, Genia, just purchased her first home and is busily trying to decorate, furnish and make it all her own. So the group got together to throw a little housewarming party for her. You should have seen the cool stuff that she got, and needless to say a lot of the attention was on helping outfit her new crafting space :) Very cool!
In addition to hosting the party, Stacey came up with a great idea to make Genia some throw pillows. Genia looooves skully fabric, and Stacey had a suggested pattern and some fun skully fabric for us to use: skulls with knitting needles, and skulls with scissors. We divided the fabric between 3 of us - Stacey, Terrie and I - and set off to each make a throw cushion.
The fun part of this is that we each chose a different design from 'Oh Fransson's Chopped Vegetables' pattern, and also used fabrics from our own stash that complemented the skully fabric. The end result is what I like to think of as siblings - each one totally unique, and yet quite obviously from the same family.
Here are the skully siblings:
L to R: Stacey, Terrie and Sam versions.
Here's a close up of the one that I made. Front:
Back:
Genia was really touched with all the gifts :)
In the spirit of 'same but different', I also worked on a couple of blocks for the Denver Quilt Bee project. The quilt bee works like this: Each participant selects an inspiration quilt/design, provides fabrics for that quilt and packages it all in a box. Each month the box goes to a different particpant, and they make a couple of blocks using the suggested fabric and inspiration guidelines. This launched last month, and my first box was for my good friend Terrie :) It was fun to work on blocks for someone I knew well.
Here are Terrie's fabrics:
Terrie's inspiration quilt is the Bella's Bird pattern from Lotta Jansdotter. Here are the squares that I made for her:
Many of the participants are recommending that you add a little fabric from your stash, to personalize at least one of the blocks. I added some of my own grey scallop fabric to the 3rd square at the bottom of the picture - it felt like it was in the same family of grey, but will make that square a little different. I'm looking forward to seeing how these all turn out. This last week at the Denver Quilt Guild we each did a 'show and tell' for all of the blocks and it was great to see how each person is working with the themes and fabrics provided to them. I was hesitant about joining since I have soo many things on the go right now, but was soo thankful that I did. This is a lot of fun.
Well, it's snowing here and so I'm hoping to spend the majority of the day hibernating and working on my Mum's quilt. But first I need to venture out and take Naomi to 'Nastics' (Naomi's word for gymnastics!) She started last week and was beaming with happiness; she thoroughly enjoyed the class! Aside from having a very happy girl, I also get rewarded with a very tired girl. A very tired girl = longer nap time = more productive craft time! Is that bad? :)))
OK friends, have a lovely weekend,
Sam
xxx
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Counting Blessings
My dear sweet Grandma passed recently. I'd posted earlier that I'd gone back to the UK to spend time with her - she was battling stage 4 breast cancer. I'm thankful that I got to say goodbye. It was hard. But it was a blessing to have that time together.
She was amazing and we were very lucky to have her as our Grandma. You can see in the photo above how much fun we all had together. She cared soo much for her family, to the point that when she was diagnosed, she was more concerned about upsetting 'the kids' (her grown up grandkids :), than her own well-being. I'll miss her dearly. But I like to think that she is now with her loving husband and son, and together they'll be watching over us.
Sam
xxx
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Kusha Kushlette
The Kusha Kusha scarf was finished just in time for my friend's birthday.
It's an interesting scarf from Habu Textiles that is knit with a stainless silk yarn throughout, combined with a lace weight merino. The stainless silk makes this sculptural - you can pull and stretch this to a desired form. You can see below that I added some little scallops along the edge by simply pulling gently on the edge of the scarf about an inch apart.
For the first portion of the scarf you knit with the stainless and merino at the same time. Once finished you gently hand felt this section to make the merino bloom.
Here's where my scarf went a little awry:
When you have finished knitting the scarf it is a good 62" inches long, which seems a bit much, except with any felting you expect shrinkage. I followed the directions and hand felted the scarf, but the merino just didn't seem to bloom as much as I'd hoped. So the following morning (day of gifting) I hand felted again and left it to dry. Hmm still not blooming much; it just wasn't looking the way I'd hoped. So I figured that quick 5 minute spin in the dryer should help remove the last bit of moisture, and felt it a little more. Hmm yeah, felt it did: The kusha kusha scarf shrank down considerably!
Yes, I know better. But the impatient me isn't very smart.
On a positive note, the felted portion looks exactly as I'd hoped.
However it is now a little Kusha Kusha scarflette! :o)))
My dear sweet friend is truly gracious and has even worn this scarf to work. But we did agree that it's big sister would follow at a later date ;o)
Hope you are having a lovely weekend,
Sam xxx
It's an interesting scarf from Habu Textiles that is knit with a stainless silk yarn throughout, combined with a lace weight merino. The stainless silk makes this sculptural - you can pull and stretch this to a desired form. You can see below that I added some little scallops along the edge by simply pulling gently on the edge of the scarf about an inch apart.
For the first portion of the scarf you knit with the stainless and merino at the same time. Once finished you gently hand felt this section to make the merino bloom.
Here's where my scarf went a little awry:
When you have finished knitting the scarf it is a good 62" inches long, which seems a bit much, except with any felting you expect shrinkage. I followed the directions and hand felted the scarf, but the merino just didn't seem to bloom as much as I'd hoped. So the following morning (day of gifting) I hand felted again and left it to dry. Hmm still not blooming much; it just wasn't looking the way I'd hoped. So I figured that quick 5 minute spin in the dryer should help remove the last bit of moisture, and felt it a little more. Hmm yeah, felt it did: The kusha kusha scarf shrank down considerably!
Yes, I know better. But the impatient me isn't very smart.
On a positive note, the felted portion looks exactly as I'd hoped.
However it is now a little Kusha Kusha scarflette! :o)))
My dear sweet friend is truly gracious and has even worn this scarf to work. But we did agree that it's big sister would follow at a later date ;o)
Hope you are having a lovely weekend,
Sam xxx
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
WIP Wednesday: Kusha Kusha Scarf
A dear friend's birthday is quickly approaching and I wanted to make her a little something. She's probably the biggest recipient of my scarves and doesn't seem to tire of them. So guess what... she's going to get another :)
This is the start of the Kusha Kusha scarf. I think this is such a simple, yet sophisticated, pattern. A nice easy knit too. And since the needles are a US 8, it goes reasonably quickly.
Other than that, with the assistance of my trusty helper, I managed to finish up 98 of these salt water hexies!
Now I just need to figure out what to do with them - currently thinking they'd be fun for the bottom half of another birdie sling bag. What do you think?
I was surprised that I enjoyed working on these as much as I did. Of course all I have done is the basting. Next comes the tricky part of stitching them together. And speaking of stitching together, I am also making good progress on Mum's quilt. I'll share some more pictures once I get a little further on...
Other WIP are the Bertie's Blanket squares for hospice. You can check out the latest progress on http://BertiesBlankets.blogspot.com. Thanks for all the support :)
And finally go check out the other lovely WIPs on Tami's blog: http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/
Happy hump day,
Hope you enjoy the rest of your week,
Sam x
This is the start of the Kusha Kusha scarf. I think this is such a simple, yet sophisticated, pattern. A nice easy knit too. And since the needles are a US 8, it goes reasonably quickly.
Other than that, with the assistance of my trusty helper, I managed to finish up 98 of these salt water hexies!
Now I just need to figure out what to do with them - currently thinking they'd be fun for the bottom half of another birdie sling bag. What do you think?
I was surprised that I enjoyed working on these as much as I did. Of course all I have done is the basting. Next comes the tricky part of stitching them together. And speaking of stitching together, I am also making good progress on Mum's quilt. I'll share some more pictures once I get a little further on...
Other WIP are the Bertie's Blanket squares for hospice. You can check out the latest progress on http://BertiesBlankets.blogspot.com. Thanks for all the support :)
And finally go check out the other lovely WIPs on Tami's blog: http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/
Happy hump day,
Hope you enjoy the rest of your week,
Sam x
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Quilting
My number one priority project is to finish the quilt I had started for Mum - it is the Curio Quilt in a selection of glorious Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Mum and I had made pretty good progress when she was here late last year. After she left I continue to plug away and finished all the component squares. All I needed to do was seam it up; the end was in sight. Or so I thought...
Ahem, if only! I stitched the first row of squares together - a row of 3" square 9 patches. I then stitched the next row together which comprised of a mix of the 3" square 9 patches and larger squares. Aww man! :( This 2nd row was noticeably shorter due to a rookie mistake: I had not cut the squares as precisely as I should (thinking that a teeny tiny bit of wiggle room on each square would work in my favour). Except that even the tiniest bit of wiggle room causes the row with more squares to be significantly longer than the row with fewer squares. You can see in this picture how quickly they started to misalign:
It lay like that for a good while: I couldn't bear to look at it, never mind start taking a seam ripper to it. Until it was time to get my big girl pants on, arm myself with a seam ripper, and start dissecting then reassembling those 2 rows. I am pleased to say that this is now done. I'm hoping that's the last time I'll need to make use of the seam ripper in this project.
I have decided to take a different approach to piecing this together - making big blocks out of the component squares (vs long rows). This is allowing me to make sure the pieces are lining up better. I feel much more confident with this approach. More to come on this soon. Like I say, number one priority... I need, and want, to get this all finished up and gifted to Mum.
That doesn't mean to say that I won't get distracted. First distraction is a bunch of addictive Hexies. When I met up with some of my crafty friends recently, Stacey was showing us these lovely Tula Pink Hexie kits. (Stacey is one of mybiggest enablers sources of inspiration, and I love her for it :)
I picked up a box and wanted to just give one a go to see if I could do it. You can't just do one though - these things are addictive! I really enjoy working on them.
And I have had help... yes, this is a typical day at our hone with my little helper, furry friends, and crafts close by. (Yes, I look like a goof... that's typical too :o)))
Finally I joined Denver's modern quilt guild group this week to see what that was all about (Stacey's influence again :o))) What a lovely informal and welcoming meetup group. They just kicked off a quilting bee project that I'll be joining. Essentially each participant provides guidance on the quilt that they want to create, and provides the fabrics to work from. Then this box of goodies visits with a different participant each month who creates one of the squares. Sounds like fun, right?
For my quilt, my guiding design is the Stained glass quilt from Narcoleptic in a Cupboard, and my selection of fabrics primarily Sarah Jane at play with some Crafty Chloe thrown in. I think this quilt allows each participant to build their own unique stained glass window square. And some of the fabrics can be fussy cut to give them an almost cartoon strip feel. I'd also like each participant to add in a little bit of their own fabric, from their scraps bin, to add an additional bit of individuality to each of the squares. I think this is going to be fun, and look forward to providing updates here.
Here are few versions that I love in blogland, that truly inspired me to choose this design:
OK, time to rejoin my family. I've spent a good deal of time fixing this blog, the Bertie's blanket blog, and my ravelry page, after a recent glitch when flickr reset the status of some of my photos to private. Which means they didn't show on these public pages. Even when I reset the privacy to 'public' they still remained hidden and required to be manually updated. 6 months worth of blog posts people. :( Can you hear the sobs from there? Apologies for the 'under construction' appearance of the blog while I worked to make these fixes.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Much love,
Sam xxx
Ahem, if only! I stitched the first row of squares together - a row of 3" square 9 patches. I then stitched the next row together which comprised of a mix of the 3" square 9 patches and larger squares. Aww man! :( This 2nd row was noticeably shorter due to a rookie mistake: I had not cut the squares as precisely as I should (thinking that a teeny tiny bit of wiggle room on each square would work in my favour). Except that even the tiniest bit of wiggle room causes the row with more squares to be significantly longer than the row with fewer squares. You can see in this picture how quickly they started to misalign:
It lay like that for a good while: I couldn't bear to look at it, never mind start taking a seam ripper to it. Until it was time to get my big girl pants on, arm myself with a seam ripper, and start dissecting then reassembling those 2 rows. I am pleased to say that this is now done. I'm hoping that's the last time I'll need to make use of the seam ripper in this project.
I have decided to take a different approach to piecing this together - making big blocks out of the component squares (vs long rows). This is allowing me to make sure the pieces are lining up better. I feel much more confident with this approach. More to come on this soon. Like I say, number one priority... I need, and want, to get this all finished up and gifted to Mum.
That doesn't mean to say that I won't get distracted. First distraction is a bunch of addictive Hexies. When I met up with some of my crafty friends recently, Stacey was showing us these lovely Tula Pink Hexie kits. (Stacey is one of my
I picked up a box and wanted to just give one a go to see if I could do it. You can't just do one though - these things are addictive! I really enjoy working on them.
And I have had help... yes, this is a typical day at our hone with my little helper, furry friends, and crafts close by. (Yes, I look like a goof... that's typical too :o)))
Finally I joined Denver's modern quilt guild group this week to see what that was all about (Stacey's influence again :o))) What a lovely informal and welcoming meetup group. They just kicked off a quilting bee project that I'll be joining. Essentially each participant provides guidance on the quilt that they want to create, and provides the fabrics to work from. Then this box of goodies visits with a different participant each month who creates one of the squares. Sounds like fun, right?
For my quilt, my guiding design is the Stained glass quilt from Narcoleptic in a Cupboard, and my selection of fabrics primarily Sarah Jane at play with some Crafty Chloe thrown in. I think this quilt allows each participant to build their own unique stained glass window square. And some of the fabrics can be fussy cut to give them an almost cartoon strip feel. I'd also like each participant to add in a little bit of their own fabric, from their scraps bin, to add an additional bit of individuality to each of the squares. I think this is going to be fun, and look forward to providing updates here.
Here are few versions that I love in blogland, that truly inspired me to choose this design:
OK, time to rejoin my family. I've spent a good deal of time fixing this blog, the Bertie's blanket blog, and my ravelry page, after a recent glitch when flickr reset the status of some of my photos to private. Which means they didn't show on these public pages. Even when I reset the privacy to 'public' they still remained hidden and required to be manually updated. 6 months worth of blog posts people. :( Can you hear the sobs from there? Apologies for the 'under construction' appearance of the blog while I worked to make these fixes.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Much love,
Sam xxx
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Love is in the air
It is quickly approaching Valentines Day. Hubby and I have a date night... wahhoooo! Date nights are few and far between and therefore highly cherished. Naomi will be celebrating with her friends at school; they are having a Valentines party. At any mention of Valentines, Naomi tells me she is going to be a princess. With a beauuuuutiful dress. Apparently I can be a princess too. And Daddy? Well she tells me he is the Queen. :)
This last weekend we worked on some little party favours for the Valentines party. Pinspiration strikes again: I found this great idea for Valentines bubbles on the Simply Modern Mom blog while searching for children's Valentine gifts. This was perfect because it wasn't a food item (there can be quite a few restrictions about what can/can't be brought into school and what other parents do/don't want their kiddos eating). I get it, and therefore steering clear of food items always seems to be a good way to go.
Plus, the project is super easy. There are complete instructions and free printables on the Simply Modern Mom blog. You just need to pick up some bubbles (I got mine from Target, but I'm told craft stores also have them in the wedding section), some paper, ribbon and glue.
Naomi was super excited about helping me and came armed with her glue stick and a bucket full of enthusiasm. That is until she saw the bubbles and then decided it would be much more fun for us to play with those instead :) So all in all a great project to work on together and then to have fun catching bubbles afterwards. (Dear sweet girl has inherited her mother's under eye bags when she hasnt had enough sleep... and this particular morning she'd had us both up at 4am)
On the theme of Love, I was also able to finish a couple of charity/Project Love hats with the leftover yarn from the Polka dot cardigan. Neither follow a pattern as such - I just made it up as I went along. They were looking a little 'meh' until I added thee crochet rosettes, with the button centers. Hats with flair! :)))
I also like that a little girl has a matching mini hat for her favourite doll or teddy.
Sending you lots of love,
Sam xxx
This last weekend we worked on some little party favours for the Valentines party. Pinspiration strikes again: I found this great idea for Valentines bubbles on the Simply Modern Mom blog while searching for children's Valentine gifts. This was perfect because it wasn't a food item (there can be quite a few restrictions about what can/can't be brought into school and what other parents do/don't want their kiddos eating). I get it, and therefore steering clear of food items always seems to be a good way to go.
Plus, the project is super easy. There are complete instructions and free printables on the Simply Modern Mom blog. You just need to pick up some bubbles (I got mine from Target, but I'm told craft stores also have them in the wedding section), some paper, ribbon and glue.
Naomi was super excited about helping me and came armed with her glue stick and a bucket full of enthusiasm. That is until she saw the bubbles and then decided it would be much more fun for us to play with those instead :) So all in all a great project to work on together and then to have fun catching bubbles afterwards. (Dear sweet girl has inherited her mother's under eye bags when she hasnt had enough sleep... and this particular morning she'd had us both up at 4am)
On the theme of Love, I was also able to finish a couple of charity/Project Love hats with the leftover yarn from the Polka dot cardigan. Neither follow a pattern as such - I just made it up as I went along. They were looking a little 'meh' until I added thee crochet rosettes, with the button centers. Hats with flair! :)))
I also like that a little girl has a matching mini hat for her favourite doll or teddy.
Sending you lots of love,
Sam xxx
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Polka Dot
Last night I had this desire to finish a project... do you ever feel that way? That you want to work on something where you'll have a real sense of accomplishment at the end of it. Most days I'm quite happy to plug away at something that I know is far from being completed. But yesterday I had the need to get something done. So I rummaged through my WIP pile and found this polka dot sweater that I started for Naomi some time ago. It was only 1 and a half sleeves away from completion. It was the perfect project to meet the need. I'd put this aside some time ago because I was unimpressed with it. In my mind's eye it was going to be super cute. But in reality it was turning out a little, erm, shall we say, "odd"? :o)))
I searched out a couple of Rom Coms on TV and plugged away on the cardigan. By the end of the evening it was done. I still wasn't loving the cardigan, but was quite content for having completed it.
In the morning Naomi was excited to see the new cardigan:
"Mommy, you made that?"
"For me?"
"I love it!"
Dear sweet girl :o))) She put it on, and, you know, I think it's growing on me. Yes it is weird, ahem, I mean whimsical. But she looks soo darn cute in it. In a wacky sort of way. I was joking that she looks like she should be a wizard. Joe countered that it needed a top hat to complement the look. Naomi on the other hand believes it is her super hero cardigan! (I guess it does have a cape vibe to it). My little girl is happy, then I'm happy. :)
FYI:
Pattern: Polka Dot by Berroco
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Kudo
Modifications: The pattern is for 4 years and up, so I had to downsize it for my soon-to-be-3 girly. Also the pattern is written for the sleeves to be worked from wrist to shoulder and then sewn in. Instead I picked up the stitches around the shoulder and worked down to the wrist.
Hope you are having a lovely weekend and staying warm.
Hugs,
Sam
xxx
I searched out a couple of Rom Coms on TV and plugged away on the cardigan. By the end of the evening it was done. I still wasn't loving the cardigan, but was quite content for having completed it.
In the morning Naomi was excited to see the new cardigan:
"Mommy, you made that?"
"For me?"
"I love it!"
Dear sweet girl :o))) She put it on, and, you know, I think it's growing on me. Yes it is weird, ahem, I mean whimsical. But she looks soo darn cute in it. In a wacky sort of way. I was joking that she looks like she should be a wizard. Joe countered that it needed a top hat to complement the look. Naomi on the other hand believes it is her super hero cardigan! (I guess it does have a cape vibe to it). My little girl is happy, then I'm happy. :)
FYI:
Pattern: Polka Dot by Berroco
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Kudo
Modifications: The pattern is for 4 years and up, so I had to downsize it for my soon-to-be-3 girly. Also the pattern is written for the sleeves to be worked from wrist to shoulder and then sewn in. Instead I picked up the stitches around the shoulder and worked down to the wrist.
Hope you are having a lovely weekend and staying warm.
Hugs,
Sam
xxx
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Catching up
How are you doing? It feels like I've been away from blogland a little too long, and I miss connecting with you.
Where to begin... I'll start with what's in my heart and on my mind:
Last week I went back to the UK to visit family. It was an unplanned trip at short notice - we recently discovered that my Grandma has stage 4 breast cancer. Yes, this nasty disease is rearing it's ugly head in our family once again. And with the same upsetting prognosis. I am thankful that I got to go back and spend time with my Grandma, and the rest of my family, but it was an extremely hard trip. I adore my Grandma and saying goodbye was soo difficult.
My Gran is an amazing knitter and used to create beautifully intricate and complex garments that were shipped to the US and Japan. It used to tickle her that the company she worked for would deliver the yarn, and pick up the completed sweaters, in an armored vehicle. She smiled at the thought of what the neighbours must think she was up to :)))
I was glad to see that one day she was covered in a handmade blanket at her palliative care nursing home. It was really pretty pastels and added a cosy touch as well as helping keep the chill off. Of course all this spurred me on to make additional squares for Bertie's Blankets. You can see the latest progress over on the Bertie's Blankets blog (try saying that quickly 3 times ;o)
It was a low key visit so there was lots of down time for knitting (which Grandma would like to hear about and then shake her head jokingly asking where I found the time :). Aside from the blanket squares I worked on a novelty purse for my Mum using some t-shirt yarn - Zpaghetti. Man, that was like knitting with exercise bands - I felt like I'd had quite the workout after knitting a few rows on it! (If only it burned the calories like a workout would). But it was nice to have something to work on that was straightforward and a temporary distraction.
Here's the finished object. It's cute and fun for summer. My Mum is into blue at the moment and so I think she liked it well enough. There won't be any repeats though... I was happy to get back to knitting sock yarn on skinny needles!
I'll be catching up on your blogs over the coming days and looking forward to seeing what you've been up to.
Big hugs,
Sam xxx
Where to begin... I'll start with what's in my heart and on my mind:
Last week I went back to the UK to visit family. It was an unplanned trip at short notice - we recently discovered that my Grandma has stage 4 breast cancer. Yes, this nasty disease is rearing it's ugly head in our family once again. And with the same upsetting prognosis. I am thankful that I got to go back and spend time with my Grandma, and the rest of my family, but it was an extremely hard trip. I adore my Grandma and saying goodbye was soo difficult.
I was glad to see that one day she was covered in a handmade blanket at her palliative care nursing home. It was really pretty pastels and added a cosy touch as well as helping keep the chill off. Of course all this spurred me on to make additional squares for Bertie's Blankets. You can see the latest progress over on the Bertie's Blankets blog (try saying that quickly 3 times ;o)
It was a low key visit so there was lots of down time for knitting (which Grandma would like to hear about and then shake her head jokingly asking where I found the time :). Aside from the blanket squares I worked on a novelty purse for my Mum using some t-shirt yarn - Zpaghetti. Man, that was like knitting with exercise bands - I felt like I'd had quite the workout after knitting a few rows on it! (If only it burned the calories like a workout would). But it was nice to have something to work on that was straightforward and a temporary distraction.
Here's the finished object. It's cute and fun for summer. My Mum is into blue at the moment and so I think she liked it well enough. There won't be any repeats though... I was happy to get back to knitting sock yarn on skinny needles!
I'll be catching up on your blogs over the coming days and looking forward to seeing what you've been up to.
Big hugs,
Sam xxx
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Pinspiration: Key Chains
Are you hooked on Pinterest? I have to get a daily fix! So very many cool things out there, and perhaps my 'search engine' of choice when it comes to looking for crafty inspiration. My latest search has been for a thank you gift for folks who are participating in Bertie's Blankets. Just a little something, something that communicates my gratitude for the support. At first I found some little charms that were essentially a combination of a hand, heart and angel. What could be more perfect - handmade items, that are made with love by dear sweet angels! So I ordered a bunch of them thinking I'd figure out something to do with them when they arrived.
They arrived, they are lovely, but I drew a blank! I wracked my brain for something that could be useful for all... I know, a key chain. So I added a charm to a key ring... boring! Added beads to it... meh! Harrumph, it was time to call Pinterest to the rescue! Sure enough, I found a link via Pinterest to a fun project on the blog Craftiness is not an option: Fabric key chains. Excited about this discovery I jumped into my car and headed over to Joann's to pick up supplies. Returned home and started up the production machine, with my trusty creative director (Joe) kindly agreeing to come check out each and every step! (Ha ha, I married a good patient and supportive man :)))
I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. This is a fabulously easy project that makes great use out of small leftover pieces of fabric. I followed the directions step by step, with one exception - I added an extra layer of batting in the middle. Which made the trimming with the pinking shears a little more difficult, but was well worth it for the extra padding.
I need to reach out to a couple of you for addresses so that I can get yours in the mail. I'll be in touch :)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Sam
xxx
They arrived, they are lovely, but I drew a blank! I wracked my brain for something that could be useful for all... I know, a key chain. So I added a charm to a key ring... boring! Added beads to it... meh! Harrumph, it was time to call Pinterest to the rescue! Sure enough, I found a link via Pinterest to a fun project on the blog Craftiness is not an option: Fabric key chains. Excited about this discovery I jumped into my car and headed over to Joann's to pick up supplies. Returned home and started up the production machine, with my trusty creative director (Joe) kindly agreeing to come check out each and every step! (Ha ha, I married a good patient and supportive man :)))
I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. This is a fabulously easy project that makes great use out of small leftover pieces of fabric. I followed the directions step by step, with one exception - I added an extra layer of batting in the middle. Which made the trimming with the pinking shears a little more difficult, but was well worth it for the extra padding.
I need to reach out to a couple of you for addresses so that I can get yours in the mail. I'll be in touch :)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Sam
xxx
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Happy New Year!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year?
Ours was lovely - the first year where Naomi really started to get excited about Santa coming to visit, and enjoying all the attention from visitors. We've been busy here with family visiting and also a couple of little get togethers. But the last set of folks left yesterday and so I'm starting to get caught up here and on all of your blogs. I can't wait to read what you've all been up to.
I thought I'd start the New Year with a re-cap of 2012 projects. In pulling the pictures together, I was a little stunned at how many projects I'd cranked out in 2012. Granted most of these are smaller projects... but still... It was a good crafty year:
There were the gift knits:
As you can see, I worked up a couple more of the Phydeaux Twist Cowls for some of the ladies at daycare. What I left off this piccie are the 8 pairs of plitters (felted clogs) that were requested and completed this year - everything from Santa Slippers, Miami Dolphins slippers and UCF Team Spirit slippers. All good fun and keeping loved ones' toes toasty and warm!
And of course there were the charity knits - a couple of Project Love hats for kids. But closest to my heart is the beginning of Bertie's Blankets. I've already started to receive a couple of squares from you (Thank you soo much), and have added to this 6 sock yarn and 4 aran weight squares of my own. I'll be dedicating a lot of my crafty time in these first few months of the year to completing the 3 Bertie's Blankets that we have started.
In addition to gift and charity knits, I'd also created a few little things for the 3 of us. Not surprisingly Naomi has been the main recipient :)
Then there is the sewing... I really got stuck into sewing, quilting and needlepoint this last year:
I finished a Sherbet Pips quilt for Naomi. My 2nd quilt ever. And started 3 more - Swoon, Farmers wife, and a quilt for Mum. The quilt for Mum is my other area of focus over the next few months. I was hoping to have it completed by now, but hit a little roadbump that caused me to put it aside for a few weeks.
Whew! Lets see what 2013 brings. I'm thinking Berties Blankets, Mum's quilt and then perhaps some sweaters. Certainly those that have been laying around in the WIP pile for far too long.
What crafty plans do you have for 2013?
Wishing you the very best for this New Year,
Big hugs,
Sam
xxx
Ours was lovely - the first year where Naomi really started to get excited about Santa coming to visit, and enjoying all the attention from visitors. We've been busy here with family visiting and also a couple of little get togethers. But the last set of folks left yesterday and so I'm starting to get caught up here and on all of your blogs. I can't wait to read what you've all been up to.
I thought I'd start the New Year with a re-cap of 2012 projects. In pulling the pictures together, I was a little stunned at how many projects I'd cranked out in 2012. Granted most of these are smaller projects... but still... It was a good crafty year:
There were the gift knits:
As you can see, I worked up a couple more of the Phydeaux Twist Cowls for some of the ladies at daycare. What I left off this piccie are the 8 pairs of plitters (felted clogs) that were requested and completed this year - everything from Santa Slippers, Miami Dolphins slippers and UCF Team Spirit slippers. All good fun and keeping loved ones' toes toasty and warm!
And of course there were the charity knits - a couple of Project Love hats for kids. But closest to my heart is the beginning of Bertie's Blankets. I've already started to receive a couple of squares from you (Thank you soo much), and have added to this 6 sock yarn and 4 aran weight squares of my own. I'll be dedicating a lot of my crafty time in these first few months of the year to completing the 3 Bertie's Blankets that we have started.
In addition to gift and charity knits, I'd also created a few little things for the 3 of us. Not surprisingly Naomi has been the main recipient :)
Then there is the sewing... I really got stuck into sewing, quilting and needlepoint this last year:
I finished a Sherbet Pips quilt for Naomi. My 2nd quilt ever. And started 3 more - Swoon, Farmers wife, and a quilt for Mum. The quilt for Mum is my other area of focus over the next few months. I was hoping to have it completed by now, but hit a little roadbump that caused me to put it aside for a few weeks.
Whew! Lets see what 2013 brings. I'm thinking Berties Blankets, Mum's quilt and then perhaps some sweaters. Certainly those that have been laying around in the WIP pile for far too long.
What crafty plans do you have for 2013?
Wishing you the very best for this New Year,
Big hugs,
Sam
xxx
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Merry Christmas!
HI,
It is so very close now... are you excited? I love Christmas, and there's a lot of excitement in this house. Naomi is as giddy as a kipper and yet she's not entirely sure why :) I think it's the first year that Christmas is starting to mean something to her: 'Mommy, Santa's coming to our house', 'Mommy, we've got to be nice to the presents' (for the last one I think something got lost in translation from 'you've got to be nice to receive presents'!)
I'm still cranking out a few last minute gifts. Here's a another cowl that was a nice one-evening-knit. Yes, it's that Malabrigo Rasta again. It really is divine! Essentially it is this handspun scarf pattern from Phydeaux designs. I knit until I ran out of yarn, and it turned out a great length for a cowl.
I was hoping it would be a good shawl... but I think it is just a bit too short on me. Although the recipient is a teeny tiny sweet lady and I think it might work well that way on her.
I did make some little stocking stuffer gifts, using this 'Pinspiration': 'For your mistletoes' by Supreme Courtney. I really like that she picked names of nail polish that featured something about the recipient. For my version I made these little boxes (using a template and cutting machine from stampin' up) and popped a sparkly bottle of nail polish in each. I'm super happy with how these turned out!
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and all good things for the New Year.
Love,
Sam xxx
(Erm, and that is not a blue boobie as one of my friends pointed out... it's a Christmas birdie :))) But now you've read this, if you are like me, you'll see nothing but a blue boobie every time you look at this picture. ha ha. Oh yes, and that is Naomi channeling Jake and the Neverland Pirates 'Yo ho ho'. Not quite Ho ho ho, but I'll take it :o)))
It is so very close now... are you excited? I love Christmas, and there's a lot of excitement in this house. Naomi is as giddy as a kipper and yet she's not entirely sure why :) I think it's the first year that Christmas is starting to mean something to her: 'Mommy, Santa's coming to our house', 'Mommy, we've got to be nice to the presents' (for the last one I think something got lost in translation from 'you've got to be nice to receive presents'!)
I'm still cranking out a few last minute gifts. Here's a another cowl that was a nice one-evening-knit. Yes, it's that Malabrigo Rasta again. It really is divine! Essentially it is this handspun scarf pattern from Phydeaux designs. I knit until I ran out of yarn, and it turned out a great length for a cowl.
I was hoping it would be a good shawl... but I think it is just a bit too short on me. Although the recipient is a teeny tiny sweet lady and I think it might work well that way on her.
I did make some little stocking stuffer gifts, using this 'Pinspiration': 'For your mistletoes' by Supreme Courtney. I really like that she picked names of nail polish that featured something about the recipient. For my version I made these little boxes (using a template and cutting machine from stampin' up) and popped a sparkly bottle of nail polish in each. I'm super happy with how these turned out!
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and all good things for the New Year.
Love,
Sam xxx
(Erm, and that is not a blue boobie as one of my friends pointed out... it's a Christmas birdie :))) But now you've read this, if you are like me, you'll see nothing but a blue boobie every time you look at this picture. ha ha. Oh yes, and that is Naomi channeling Jake and the Neverland Pirates 'Yo ho ho'. Not quite Ho ho ho, but I'll take it :o)))
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