A new crafty addiction?

Before Camp Wanna Knit Knit I was wracking my brain for what to contribute to the goody bags. I took a trip to Fancy Tiger because they have some really unique gifty type things there. Browsing around I came upon some gorgeous Japanese sheep fabric. That was it, I was going to make zippered pouches for everyone. I picked up a bolt of fabric and lots of matching zippers and headed home with my loot.


When I arrived home I pulled out my Mother-in-law's sewing machine, threw the fabric in the washing machine and set to planning out my next steps. Joe came in and asked what I was doing - well, I'm going to be sewing of course! I'm going to make some zippered pouches for everyone at camp. Looking a little surprised he mentioned that he didn't realise that I knew how to sew. Ah yes, it's been a while. In fact I can only recall making one thing on a sewing machine at high school and that was an elasticated skirt. To which he then wandered off shaking his head mumbling that he saw a disaster afoot! Giving his comment some thought; realizing that there were only 4 days 'til camp; testing his Mom's machine and understanding that it was less than fully functional I decided he might be onto something. It was time for Plan B! (which you can see in the post below).

But still, after seeing all those lovely fabrics, and knowing I now owned enough bits and pieces to mass produce zippered pouches I was eager to learn.


Stacey gave me the nudge -- Fancy Tiger have a zipper skirt class. We signed up for it.

But first I figured I'd take their 101 class. It was awesome. The lovely lady leading the 101 class showed us how to use the machine, load bobbins and thread yarn, try a multitude of stitches, and we even walked away with our first project - a cute eye glass case:


I was now ready for the skirt class the following day. Brimming with my newfound knowledge and a couple of yards of super cute fabric I headed to the store with Stacey. Another great class - the teacher was super helpful, friendly and fun.




I could hardly believe that a newbee sewer could walk away with a completely wearable, well-fitting skirt after just a 3-hour class.


I see many more sewing projects in my future... perhaps those zippered pouches next. But first a trip to the service shop with my MIL's sewing machine...

Camp WannaKnitKnit... belated post

I've been meaning to write a quick note about this year's Camp WannaKnitKnit -- I had such a fun time with my knitty girls.

Each year a few friends head up to the mountains and spend the weekend knitting, hanging out, laughing, eating good food, watching movies, playing games... It is bliss.



Unfortunately we didn't get a group shot this year which is a shame as we had fab new Camp WannaKnitKnit clothing to model! In addition it's become a tradition to come away with a goodie bag, and this year everyone chipped in to create something. Thanks all for the super gifts everyone - I love everything :)


I wrangled my sis into helping create my piece for the goodie bag. She made some super cute Shaun the Sheep resin badges. You can check out the details on her blog. I found some little tin pails and modge podged them with cute paper, and created a little matching notepad and added in some jelly beans - knitters need snacks!


I spent my time there working on Featherweight. It's a pretty pattern, and I love the malabrigo lace. But man, after a whole weekend of non stop knitting on this I was ready to tuck away for another day. There's a lot of teeny stitches to work on.


So tempest has come out of hiding again. I'll need to get a move on if I'm going to finish it up for August's NaKniSweMoDo.

Scrappy Cotton Ripples

Hi, sorry... been on a blogcation I guess. Maybe it's the summer weather but there's not been much knitting going on. And not much blog posting, or browsing for that matter.

I have been dabbling in some crochet occasionally. Inspired by all the lovely crochet goodness I've seen out in blogland this last year or so. I had a bowl full of scrap cotton yarn and figured it would be fun to try my hand at a ripple pattern blanket. Mixing the different cotton yarns and colours, and adding a white in between to help tie it all together. I used one of the patterns in Erika Knight's Simple Crochet book to get me started.


Truth be told, I didn't have high hopes for this project - it was just relaxing to work on, and made me happy to know that random scrappy bits of yarn were being put to good use. But I'm quite pleased with the end result. Not quite gift quality though, which is a shame as a few friends are having babies this year. But I'm sure I'll find a use for it...


Hope you are having a good summer,
Sam