Knitting
Finished Frosted Rose cardigan!! (& NaKniSweMo fail)
Ok, it seems weird to make my first NaKniSweMo blog post on november 25th… But I promise, there’s a story that explains it all (or so I think). One of my friends was participating in the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and to encourage him on his journey, I decided to follow him with my stitches by participating in the NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater in a Month). Now, let me remind you I decided to participate kind of late and had already a couple project on the needles, and the only one that seemed to fit the bill was a test-knit I started on November 3rd for a modified version of the Woodsmoke sweater in a worsted weight yarn. Since I started it on time and had to finish the test-knit by december 1st, I thought it would be the perfect project for the NaKniSweMo… I just omitted a couple important things. Now, I have never used worsted weight yarn to make a sweater before, and seeing where I’m at right now, I realize I probably overestimated the number of stitches (Ahem.) and underestimated the yarn quantity required (double”Ahem”). I’m sure you know where I’m going with this, but I now have the body of a sweater, complete at 25 274 stitches, and no yarn left to knit the sleeves – 6 days before the end of the challenge. Interesting isn’t? 🙂
About a week ago, I had a feeling I was going to run out of yarn, so I (fortunately!) ordered a couple more balls. They should be here by Wednesday, and if I knit fast enough, I should be able to finish the sleeves by the end of the month. But the second question remains, though : Will I or will I not reach the required 50000 stitches? Since I have a complete body at roughly 25000 stitches, I somehow have a feeling I’ll fall short of a few thousand stitches, even with full length sleeves. We’ll see! Anyways, even if I fail the challenge, I’ll still be happy to have completed such a cute cardigan in such a short time, and I’ll definitely wear the hell out of it 🙂 I ordered 2 different sets of buttons, not sure which ones I’ll use yet. What do you guys think?
On another note, I have also finished my Frosted Rose cardigan, and I simply love it. I decided to opt for 3/4 sleeves instead of full sleeves, since I always wear my cardigans with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows – so why not simply knit a 3/4 sleeve? And there you have it! So, isn’t simply amazing? =)
The spinning situation (and Sea Breeze Test-Knit!)
I realized this week that I have not touched my spinning wheel since the end of the Tour de Fleece in July, even though a had such a large quantity of really nice rovings just laying around in my living room. I did the math, I have 62.5 ounces of fiber just there, waiting for me in a box. 62.5 ounces!!!!! And I haven’t touched it in months. So a few days ago, I decided to take a breather from my Cosmo Shawl and my Frosted Rose cardigan to work a little spin, using a really nice fractal roving I bought a couple months ago at the Twist Festival. It’s a 100% corriedale roving in color Periwinkle.
I thought I would be rusty from not spinning for such a long time, and I was sincerely expecting a little struggle as I started the project. But surprisingly enough, it seems my hands and feet remember the motions very well, my singles were very fine and constant, and the finished product exceeded all my expectations. Yay! It is so fine in fact that I was able to make over 400 yards of light fingering weight yarn with a 4 oz package of fiber, which is about 50% more that the longest yardage I have been able to make so far. I’m so exited! I feel like it really took forever, but it was just so worth it! I have also started the hip increases on my Frosted Rose cardigan, so things have been going pretty smoothly. 🙂
On another note, I’m very excited to announce that I finally finished writing the pattern for my Sea Breeze Sweater, yay!! I’ll have it test-knitted throughout the next few weeks, so if you feel like joining in (because, let’s face it : a couple more testers would definitely be more than welcome!) just send me an email at craftyeffie@outlook.com, and I’ll fill you in on the details 🙂
October blues
Well, it’s this time of the year. The time when days become shorter, temperature keeps getting colder and colder and the rain and clouds replace the sun in the sky. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a real bummer for me, and although we (at least) had a sunny and warm Thanksgiving weekend last week, I’m still not completely at ease with the idea that summer’s over.
To lift my spirits a little, I have been using my brand new ball winder and swift that were generously gifted to me on my birthday. So nice!
I have also been keeping myself very busy working on a couple different knitting projects, namely my Cosmo Shawl and a new pink cardigan I just started, my Frosted Rose.
The shawl has been progressing pretty quickly, I am now about halfway through. The pattern is called “Bamboo Wedding Shawl“, from Purl Soho. I have made this pattern once before for my mom, and I decided to do it again since it was such a nice, easy lace project to do. It’s a 12 row geometrical lace pattern that can be memorized very quickly. It’s an easy, relaxing knit, and I think the blue yarn really makes it pop – I’m very happy with the result!
The cardigan, on the other side, was a real love story. I fell in love with it at first sight, about a week after it was published on Ravelry. The pattern is called Tau, and it is designed by Melanie Berg from Mairlynd. I fell in love with the pattern, and I just happened to have the perfect yarn for it just laying around in my bins so I cast on right away.
The yarn I used is call Chroma Silk, it’s a wonderful 100% silk yarn in a light fingering weight, the color I’m using is “Frosted Rose”. This yarn is hand dyed by an artisan here in Montreal, and it is an exclusive product from Artfil Yarn Shop & Craft Café. I simply LOVE working with it, it’s nice, soft, strong, luscious, and very decently priced for a 100% silk yarn. I’m in love!
Finally published!!
I am so very excited… My first design is finally up for sale! Yay! It took me a while, but I’m finally done editing, and I am proud to present you the Sunny Summer Stripe pattern! *Screams of joy*
From WIPs to FOs
In the last few weeks, I have been putting in a lot of work on the multiple WIPs I discovered in my sewing boxes; just like I said I would. It’s been very hard to resist starting a new project but I am very proud to tell you guys that all that hard work was worth it; since I was able to finish 2 more sets of placemats, a craft bag and a big blue tote bag. Aren’t they just lovely?
I also finished my Busy Bee Sweater earlier this week, and I am SO excited to show it to you today. It is my sweater for Very Shannon’s SSKAL14, and I (fortunately) was able to meet the September 24th deadline – although it has been extended now to October 8th. I was so sure I wasn’t going to make it, but somehow I managed to put the last stitches, weave in the ends and wash it on the 24th.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Crafty-Effie/busy-beeUnfortunately for me though, even though my WIPs have been nicely transforming into FOs, I seem to have fallen victim to a streak of bad luck recently, and it’s been making my life miserable. It’s not like it’s really bad, it’s just stupid things that keep happening. I lost the pearl on my left earing while taking a bath. I knocked my head on the truck trying to pull something out. I made cheese bread, and it deflated in the oven. I dropped the couch on my feet and bruised my toes. Pulled a muscle in my neck. Had to absorb a 400$ unexpected expense. And so forth, continuously for the last couple weeks. Really, just stupid bad luck. I really hope it’s over, because I can’t take it anymore!
So talking about unexpected expenses… Have you noticed something new on the photos? Let’s have a closer look.
Yes, I’m wearing glasses. I have never had glasses in my life (and to be perfectly honest I never suspected I would need them either), but someone recently made me aware of the fact that I might have an eye problem, as he was able to read streets signs WAYYY before me in the car… without his glasses. So I got an eye exam on Monday, and (surprise!) the optometrist diagnosed a slight myopia. Since it wasn’t all that bad, I could still choose to get it corrected or not, it was not required, but I thought it’d be a lot better to see things more clearly… So I got glasses. What do you think ? Does it look good or bad? Anyways, I guess I’ll just have to get used to them…
In the meantime, since I have been such a good girl finishing off all my sewing WIPs (and also because I had just finished my Busy Bee sweater), I decided to reward myself by starting a new knitting project, it’s a shawl called “Bamboo Wedding shawl” by Purl Soho. I have made one like that before for my mom, it was my very first knitted lace project. It’s a very nice, simple design that has a geometrical lace pattern that is easy to remember. I started it with Cascade Heritage yarn in Cosmo Blue, and I find it to be the perfect color for this shawl. I’m very excited about this project since it’s a nice change from all the sweaters I have been working on recently.
On that note folks, I’ll go back to my sewing machine (or my knitting needles?) and wish you all a happy craft time 🙂
Wrapping up WIPs
This month, I decided to tackle a considerable task; which is to gather and sort all my sewing supplies and to organize them in a single, sewing-dedicated room in my apartment. You see, I have been sewing for over 11 years now, and throughout the years I accumulated an impressive amount of fabric, patterns, notions and projects that are now scattered all over my apartment. I’m sure you can appreciate how daunting of a task this can be, but if you can’t really picture it, here’s a few images of the different places I have fabric and supplies stored in.
Before you judge me, I have to explain to you why my sewing things are so disorganized. It is not because I’m messy, carefree or negligent; it is simply because in a short period of 7 years between 2004 and 2010, I lived in 7 different apartments in 4 different cities, moving approximately every 10 to 18 months. During that period, most of my possessions were boxed and unpacked, to then be re-boxed, moved, and so forth a hopping number of 7 times, until I finally settled down a little over 2 years ago, coming back to my hometown. In this packing craziness, a lot of my things have been mixed, switched over, separated, reunited, used as packing supplies, etc., some of those things even stayed in boxes for YEARS, because I had no immediate need for them at the moment and I knew that I was going to move again soon anyway. So when I finally moved to my current apartment, you can imagine how much of a nightmare it was to unpack everything. I somewhat managed to concentrate most of my sewing stuff in 2 different rooms, but there is no organization system whatsoever since everything has been in such a hot mess for such a long time (heck I’m not even sure what I have anymore!).
What actually triggered the adventure is that earlier this week I had to put my hands on fusible interfacing to fix the waistband of a pair of pants. Not much of a problem in most cases, but knowing how chaotic my notions are, it definitely was a problem for me. I heaved a long, desperate sigh, and started frantically looking through the countless chaotic fabric & notions containers that I have to find what I needed. I knew I had some, I just couldn’t figure out where; but somehow, no matter how hard I looked for it, I just couldn’t find it. As I finally reached the point of desperation where I was considering just going to the store to buy some more (AGAIN), I stopped myself, looked around and decided it was just time to finally do something about this horrible mess. The very same day, I started going through my bins, boxes and baskets to evaluate the damage, and in the midst of it all I discovered an impressive amount of unfinished projects; including 4 sets of placemats (yes, 4!!), a baby bag, 2 pairs of pants, a cape, a laptop bag, 2 quilts, 2 tote bags, as well as a certain number of miscellaneous clothes that needed to be repaired or altered to my size. And I’m telling you my friends, this is only the tip of the iceberg – because there’s a lot of things in there I’m not even sure anymore what it was supposed to be.
Because I have limited space in my apartment and because I like things to be neatly organized and easily accessible at all times, I decided that my “Organize-the-Sewing-Room” project just had to start by completing as many of those WIPs I possibly could; that way I’ll free a lot of space to be able to set up a better, more functional system to efficiently sort and store all my supplies. So far, I completed one set of 7 placemats (the beige/orange one on the bottom right corner), fixed 2 pairs of pants that needed to be sized down, bought assorted biais tape for the remaining 3 placemat sets and started looking for missing patterns for the bags (because yes, somehow, some of the patterns got separated from the project – don’t ask me how!). This sewing room adventure is probably going to be a very long and strenuous one, but I’m hoping to finish most of my WIPs by November, to be able to start sorting and organizing fabric and notions in December. I’ll keep you updated on my progress, but let’s hope I can have a functional sewing room by Christmas..!
On a different note, I have also been making progress on my #SSKAL, the body of my Busy Bee sweater is almost done! Yay! 🙂 I cannot wait for it to be done and washed, so I can finally wear it!
So that’s it for today folks, wish you all a fun-filled, craft-filled weekend 🙂
Confession Tuesday : My kingdom for a ball winder!
Fellow crafters, today I have a confession to make : I do not own a ball winder. Yea, shame on me. I really wish I did own one, things would be so much easier, but I just never bought one. For me, starting every project requires hours of preparation; winding every ball by hand, untangling knots and fighting off playful cats, and sometimes it also comes the occasional tears of rage when things are not going my way. Yea.
I really didn’t mind it so much at first, because I thought : “Not every yarn that is sold out there needs to be winded, so why should I make a fuss about having to wind a few balls by hand here and there?” But as time passed, I slowly started to realize that most of my favorite yarns did not come in center pull balls, and that my handspun yarn needs to be rolled in a skein or a ball after coming off the wheel. So why do I not have a ball winder and a swift, really?
The reason I’m talking to you guys about this is because I just recently came to a halt in my Hollywell Cardigan as I finished the first pink skein, and I had to wind the second skein into a ball before I could resume knitting. As I was patiently winding it, I looked over at my project and realized that in a very short while, I would also have to start the stripes – so I would have to put down the needles again, and wind 2 other skeins by hand. I’m usually not much of a complainer, but I must say that at that point, realizing this made me a little upset. But since today is another day, let’s just try to focus on something fun (!) instead, and let me show you the progress I’ve made on my cardigan so far :
The pockets are attached, and I’m almost done with the waist decreases, so things are really moving along at a good pace! I should already be done with the waist decreases, but I decided to give this cardigan a little bit more waist shaping than it originally had, since I’m (somewhat of) a curvy kind of Gal. I’m about a medium size overall, but I have rather large hips and a (somewhat) thin waist, so every sweater generally requires slight modifications to fit my unusual silhouette. I started it off with 248 stitches at the bottom, which was in-between size M and L, and I plan on decreasing until I reach 204 stitches, which is a little over size S. Then, I plan on increase stitches at the same rate, and finish the pattern following size M instructions. Even though I made so much progress on it, I still feel the fabric is very loose and uneven, so I really hope it’ll turn out OK after a good wash. It should, since the swatch turned out just fine after a run in the washer & dryer, but I’m still worried. Just have to wait it out, I guess.
On another note, I was blessed with very good news last week, as I got a message from krumel, the (amazingly!) nice Raveler who gave some of her time earlier this summer to test-knit my very first sweater pattern, the Summer Sea Stripes Sweater. She told me she just finished it and showed me a few pictures, and I must say I am simply AMAZED that someone could make something so beautiful with a pattern I wrote! Even her photos are a lot more professional than mine, I feel so ashamed of myself! -_-‘
The one on the left is my prototype, and the one on the right is the one krumel made following the pattern I wrote :
Since it is my first pattern, I have a lot of adjustments to make before I can really publish it, but things are definitely moving forward! Following krumel’s comments and suggestions, I’ll fix my pattern in the next few weeks, then get version 2 tested sometime in September and (if everything goes according to plan), I should be able to release it on Ravelry around the end of September or mid-October. Yay! 🙂
I’m not sure if it’s normal to be so thrilled about something so trivial; I have never published a pattern of my own so I don’t really know how but I feel so very excited! Any experienced pattern designers out there? How did it feel to publish your first design?
So that’s all for today folks, my rant’s over!
Hope you all enjoy your craft time, and the rest of your summer 🙂
Organization is key!
Since I came back from vacation, I have been contemplating the fact that my stash’s storage method and organization system wasn’t living up to my expectations, and I felt like it really needed to be updated. I must admit to you guys that up until a few days ago, my “storage” mostly consisted of a few cardboard boxes, divided and taped together in an eclectic arrangement of size, shape and color. And to make things even worse, the skeins on the bottom were always full of hair because my cats kept rubbing themselves on it. Yea. So after quite some thought, I decided to clean out the basement, and see if I could find something in there that could be used as a compact yarn storage for my living room. Surprisingly enough, I did find something, and something I was not expecting! My epic search in the depths of the basement allowed me to discover two forgotten plastic storage units, with 3 drawers each, that would be able to contain most of my yarn and keep it clean and hair free. Awesome!!!
So that same evening, I cleaned and dried the two storage units, lint rolled my yarn and neatly put each skein away by color in my new yarn storage area. And guess what ? I LOVE IT!!
On a different note, I observed recently that – maybe because of the weather? – craft projects seem to progress a lot slower for me in the summer. So to give myself a little boost of motivation I decided to take part in another KAL, which is great since I had such a good time on my first KAL earlier this summer with Nice And Knit. The one I just signed up for this time is Very Shannon’s Summer Sweater KAL; the CO was on July 30th and FO will be on September 24th. Basically any kind of sweater or top is accepted for this KAL, so I decided to challenge myself into making something I have never done before : a cardigan. I chose the Hollywell Cardigan, from Megan Goodacre, and I’ll knit it in Cascade Heritage yarn in a mix of grays and pink.
It’s really exciting because it’s like a triple challenge for me: it’ll be my first cardigan, my first project with pockets, and my first sweater with a hood – weehee!! Since it’s summer and all I don’t have much progress to show as of now, but I have at least completed the pocket linings, and started the main body. I’ll try to make it longer that the pattern calls for because I like longer tops, so the ribbed bottom edge is going to be 4″ wide instead of the 2″ required in the pattern.
I’m really excited about this project even though I have had some doubts about it at the beginning – I couldn’t figure out which color I wanted where, and I was worried 3.75mm neddles might be a little too big, but after examining my swatch and pondering over it for some time, I think it’ll be just fine the way I originally planned it, so I’ll stick with the plan and see how it goes! I settled for a pink bottom, light gray stripes and charcoal shoulders and hood, and I simply cannot wait to see how it’ll turn out! But since the ribbing is taking forever, I guess it’ll take a while 😉
So since I have so little progress to show and so much more to do, I’m going to go back to my needles now and get cracking on my project so I can have something to show you (for real!) next time.
Enjoy your craft time guys! 🙂
Busy like a bee!
The Tour de Fleece is almost over, and although I could not entirely reach all my goals, I’m pretty satisfied by the overall progress I made during the Tour. I spun about 20 ounces of fiber, making total of 6 skeins of yarn ( – ok, 5 if we don’t count the one I made the day before the Tour started – yea, you can call me a cheater 😉 ). It was a very pink Tour for me, but I’m happy with it since I didn’t have a lot of pink, salmon or coral yarn in my stash, so I feel it’ll be a good addition.
My original goals were to :
1) Spin finer and more consistent singles
I can say for sure that I totally achieved that first goal, since I am now able to spin yarn about fingering size. Yay! My singles are getting finer and finer, and more and more consistent, and I like it! I think I’m still over-spinning sometimes, but I’m half doing it on purpose, since I like knitting with a yarn that has a good consistent twist.
2) Learn Navajo plying
I made a few attempts at navajo plying – they were not all successful. But even if the results are not perfect, I think I’m slowly beginning to learn how to do it. My arms are starting to remember the motions, and I’m slowly making progress. I spun very little yarn using the navajo ply – less than 100 yards of it – because I still have to go at it really really slow to not mess it up. But so far, I’ve noticed that – contrarily to a 2 ply yarn – it works a lot better with very low twist singles. I guess that makes it a partially achieved goad, so it’s not so bad!
3) Learn how to spin cotton
Spinning cotton is HARD!!! I tried… I really did. But the staple is so short, and it requires so much spin that it’s all really hard to control. I think I’ll have to get a lot more practice before I can actually make yarn out of cotton, for sure. I’ll just keep practicing, and maybe it’ll become a goal again for next year. Wish me luck!
Next on the list for me : I’ll use one of those scrumptious handspun skeins I worked so hard to make! Ok, I admit – I still have 2 ounces of blue and 2 ounces of yellow to spin, but I plan on using those with my No, I’m not Swedish handspun yarn to make this really nice chevrons cowl by Star Athena. I think the colors are just perfect for it, and I am so excited to cast it on!
After that (or not – because sometimes, I get very excited and end up starting too many projects at once :P), I also have another fun sweater idea that I’ll try to put on paper. What I have in mind is a lacy-back, short sleeve sweater in a lace weight yarn, featuring the basic english mesh lace I used on this scarf. I’m thinking of using my yellow Toil and Trouble Merino Silk Lace and mix it with the gray alpaca lace yarn I have in stash. What do you think of this combination?
On the menu for the next few months, I think I’ll also order some more of the green variegated Ashland Bay Merino/Silk fiber I used to spin my Delmar yarn. I really loved spinning this fiber, and it is just so soft it makes me want to wrap myself in it. So my plan is to order 8 or 12 more ounces of it to make about 800 to 1000 yards of scrumptious, sweater-worthy yarn. I’m so excited!
As you can see, I’m keeping myself pretty busy Crafties, and I hope you are too! Show me some of your current projects, I’d be really glad to see what other creative crafters are up to.
Until then, enjoy your craft time 🙂
Because everything is nicer on vacation.
While spending the last 13 hours in a car Saturday, I’ve had a chance on the way to pick up my needles and finish my sweater for the Nice&Knit summer sweater knit along (#NKKAL). I’m definitely very happy about how it turned out!!
http://ravel.me/saphirsteph/sbThe TDF has been going pretty good so far, I have been able to spin a brand new skein of yarn last week, full of colors. I used a combination of yellow and blue corriedale fiber, and although it didn’t turn out as soft as I would have expected, I’m definitely happy about the color scheme. And the best of it all is that with this skein, I was able to achieve one of my TDF goals, which was to spin a finer yarn! This one is about fingering size and is mostly constant, it’ll definitely be a charm to knit!
http://ravel.me/saphirsteph/ninsThe only down side about this yarn is that I think I put too much spin in it when I plied, and the finished skein turned out much more twisted than I would’ve wanted it to be when I got it off the wheel -_-‘ Even the cat was making fun of me!! I had to let it soak for a long time to let the twist set, and stretched it out real good as it was drying. Oh well.
I still have 2 ounces of blue and 2 ounces of yellow that I’ll spin as solid colors, and I’ll combine the 3 skeins to knit the Comptown Races Cowl with it. Isn’t going to look amazing?? I cannot wait to start it! So since my fiber stash has been shinking considerably, last Thursday I decided to stash up again on fiber, and I went for the first time to a little shop located in Nicolet, Québec called the Julie Factrie. I really liked the place, and thought it was cute and quaint (and full of my favorites!). The shop owner, Julie, is a real fiber artist, and it was a pleasure to chat with her for a little while. I left with mostly solid colors this time, and I’m really looking forward to spinning those into wonderful and colorful skeins.
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Crafty Effie 