Slice of life
Cushy cozy things
Summer has slipped me by so fast folks… between birthdays and travels, I feel as though summer just slipped right through my fingers and boom, it’s already fall! It’s such a bittersweet feeling. On one hand I am happy fall is here as it is my favourite season after all, on the other hand time flying so fast makes me want to grab on so tight to each small little fleeting moment!
We have been enjoying the cooler weather, the warm cozy drinks and the fall colours as well as soaking in the last little bits of sun before winter arrives. We went on a wonderful hike on thanksgiving weekend and although I am definitely not as in shape as I used to be (or maybe it’s just what carrying a 20 pounds baby makes it feel like) but it was such a wonderful time!
As you can surely imagine, I haven’t made much progress on crafty things, though I do have an ongoing knitting project that is not yet ready to be shared. But I have made a fun little project for my daughter these past couple weeks. It all started with a bit of a lucky find, in the form of a clearance sale on outdoor patio gear.
I found these big lounge chair pads for cheap and decided to give them another life as cushy walk pads to stick around my daughter’s floor bed. so I found some beautiful percale fabric at my local fabric store and matched it with a printed cotton a had in stash. And the result, my loves, is just the cutest thing!
Baby things
Why hello there. I’ve been meaning to get this post out sooner, but it’s been a very busy few weeks here as I headed back to work from mat leave and been feeling all the feels. And to wallow even further, I am reminded every day how my baby girl is growing so fast and will be turning 1 in just a month now so she will officially be moving into toddlerhood. My baby will be no more!
To keep with the theme, I thought I’d present you a couple baby makes I’ve made earlier this spring. I’m sure you’ve all seen the mini Vinicunca sweater I shared a in April, but I also made a few more projects in the last few months I thought were worth sharing.
First off is this adorable little Lacey Romper from Pippy Eve. I knitted this in Corsica yarn from Berroco, an ultra soft cotton cashmere blend. I made a few small mistakes here and there thanks to my mom brain, but nothing I couldn’t live with. The result is just so cute and soft and dreamy! I installed two buttons on the straps so the length could be adjusted and it could be worn a little longer, but that’s the only (intentional) mod I made on this pattern.
Second is the Marian dress I’ve knitted ages ago, long before I even got pregnant. It was left unfinished as I ran out of yarn, bound it off it in a different colourway, tried to dye it and failed then put it in the pile for a second dye job that took me way too long to get to. Regardless, now it is complete! Ta-da!
While I’m quite happy with the final result and I think the pattern is really cute, I was not very happy about the skirt increases being located in the middle of the reverse stockinette st sections, so if I ever make this again I’ll move the increases to the sides to make them less noticeable. The original yarn used for this project was Cascade Heritage solids in the strawberry cream colourway, which ended up being dyed a deep bluish purple. If you’re wondering what it looked like in pink, here it is – I’m definitely glad I took the time to dye it as I like the deep blue-purple so much more!
Last is this faux cable sweater/dress I made using leftover Modern Cotton DK and s skein of Debbie Bliss Eco Baby Prints cotton yarn in pool blue. There is no pattern, I just kind of winged it on the fly. It’s not perfect but it’s cute!
As always, details and yardage can be found on my Ravelry project pages so feel free to check it out here, here and here.
Thank you to all those who made it this far and hope you all have a great summer!
Spirit of “gifting”
Why hello guys! Fancy seeing you here! Happy 2021, although I can’t reasonably say Happy “New” Year in May. How can it be May already?!? Anyways, I just finished last weekend this wonderfully delicate (and festive!) sweater called Mariposa, from Beatriz Rubio (SambaKnits). Now that I think about it… wasn’t my last post a few months ago ALSO about one of her designs? I gotta say… I just love her work!).
Anyways, I started this little baby up back in September, but you know… Work, life and stuff, so I just put the final stitches on it just a few days ago and wow, I’m so happy I finished it in time to wear it at least a couple times before the weather warms up because it is BEAU-TI-FUL!!
The yarn I used is Juniper Moon Farm’s Findley DK, I used all but a couple yards of 8 skeins. It’s a buttery soft 50% silk / 50% Merino yarn and, I mean, guys… Can we talk about the colour? The pictures really don’t do it justice, but this colourway is just stunning. It’s a deep, intense fuchsia that just makes my heart sing.
The pattern is knitted from the bottom up and is meant to be an oversized sweater with dropped shoulders. As dropped shoulders usually don’t suit me all that well (and also because I was lazy and wanted to skip on all the shoulder increases and short rows) I just worked the body as previously established after separating the front & back, bound off the middle stitches for the neck opening and joined the front and back shoulders with a 3 needle bind-off. As for the oversized portion… It definitely WOULD have been oversized, if I had not been 7 months pregnant when I finished it.
No worries though, it will no doubt go back to being oversized once I’ve given birth to my little potato 🙂
As pregnancy has been a bit difficult on me with extreme exhaustion and nausea, knitting (and blogging!) understandably took a bit of a back seat the past few months, but now that I feel better and more energetic it’s been easier to find a few hours here and there to complete the project, and although I originally meant to finish this sweater by Christmas (don’t you think the texture on it looks like little bows on a carefully wrapped present?), I’m still very happy I’ll still get a few weeks of wear out of it before summer arrives.
It is my gift from me to me, before our new little one arrives into this world.
Cheers 🙂
Stars align
Today, beautiful warm summer weather is taking a break, as gray clouds and rain roll over my little town. It is not unlike my mood in the recent weeks, as I’ve been feeling a little bit stressed and under the weather. But that is nonetheless why it makes me happy to share with you this beautiful shawl I completed last week, another test for the lovely Beatriz from SambaKnits. This beauty is called the Jupiter shawl, and although the pattern is not out yet, I just simply couldn’t wait to share it with you all.
The pattern calls for roughly 650 yards of fingering weight yarn in two colours, about 400 yards in one and 250 yards of the other. It alternates plain lace sections with striped garter stitch sections in a beautiful asymmetrical crescent shape. The pattern provides both written and charted instructions, and it is a very simple and straightforward pattern to follow. This one was fun and such a quick knit!
As Beatriz was flexible with yarn weight substitutions, I opted for a skein of handspun I completed last summer and matched it up with 3 skeins of Fiber Co.’s Acadia yarn I had in stash. The combination was perfect, as both yarn contained this lovely, soft creamy blueish green. I had enough yarn to add a few rows to this shawl, making it a tad bit larger than the pattern called for. As always, all the information on yardage and length added can be found on my project page so feel free to take a look at it there if you’re interested.
Overall I’m super happy about this shawl as it is soft, squishy and buttery, and I really can’t wait for the weather to cool down enough for me to sport this one out!
In other news, I tried paddleboarding last week and it was so, so much fun!
Also there may be something on the loom at the moment, so I might have some exciting weaving experience to share in the next future.
Cheers!
Blue flower
Ahhhhhh July. The warm weather, the sun, the luscious green leaves, the flowers, the… forest fire warnings? The mosquitos? Ok, let’s move on. Amidst the quarantine and the COVID-19 pandemic, the weather here this summer has been exceptionally warm and beautiful so far, which made me want to create this little flowery piece of summer here.
This dress was made using the Vogue pattern 8667, a very simple straight forward dress that was just perfect for this light and airy flowery piece of cream and blue fabric I’ve had in stash for the longest time.
I chose view C, with the A-line pleated skirt, the short sleeves and no collar. I did end up having to make a few modifications to the pattern though, so let me run you through these very quickly.
First of all, I had bought this pattern ages ago, and noticed that the sizes included in the pattern were 16-24. Now that I’ve lost a lot of weight, I more would’ve needed something around size 14 or a little bit below, so I had to adjust the pattern accordingly. I did my best and I think it turned ou pretty good, but I did have to pinch up around the collar as I thought the neck opening was still a bit too large after a sewing it up. I think it actually adds some charm to the dress though, so I guess it’s kind of a happy mistake!
The other major modification that I made was on the skirt. I didn’t have quite enough fabric for the two-piece pleated skirt but still wanted an A-line instead of a straight skirt, so I used the lining piece to cut the front fabric instead of the pieces that were provided in the pattern for the pleats. I wish I would’ve had enough fabric to make the pleated version, but I still really love this dress and I think the basic A-line skirt also works very well.
The entire thing was lined to perfection with a dusty blue cotton, and I added a simple little sash in the same solid blue fabric to break up the business of the pattern. I have so much love for this dress you guys, I know for sure I will be wearing the hell out of it!
What have you guys been up to so far this summer?
Pinky swear
As the pandemic quarantine continues, I’ve been knitting a lot more recently, actually more than I’ve ever done in the past few years. Which is great, because I feel like I’ve been neglecting my hobbies recently, and by doing so also neglecting myself a little bit.
So far in 2020 (and we’re only 4 months in!), I’ve already knitted 4598 yards in 6 projects, which is more than what I did the entire 2019 year (3473 yards in 6 projects) and already very close to 2018, where I knit 4715 yards in 9 projects. Given that we’re only at the beginning of May and that there’s still no sign of the end of the work from home situation yet, I will more than likely surpass my 2017 stats (which came up to 5481 yards in 7 projects) and may potentially even reach my 2016 numbers by the end of the year, which came up to a wonderfully impressive 10 928 yards in 17 projects. 2015 and 2014 are also very close behind, with 9314 yards in 16 projects and 10 292 yards in 15 projects respectively.
Now numbers don’t tell the whole story though, as I’ve been picking up more hobbies in the past 4 years (namely here spinning, pottery and I’ve also been much more phyisically active and cooking at home more) so it’s totally normal that my knitting numbers now are lower than the ones I had 4 or 5 years ago (and for very good and healthy reasons). But I think it’s also safe to say that I may potentially have not been putting aside as much time for myself as I should have, leading me to experience more stress, anxiety and affecting my overall mental health. I think this time “on pause” as led me to realize this, and hopefully, I will learn from this moving forward. I will try very hard in the future not to neglect myself and my mental health, pinky swear!!!
So without further ado, I would like to show you today a couple of the projects I’ve completed recently, namely here this cute pair of mesh market bags. I used the Ilene Bag pattern from Hannah Mason and knitted them out of 4 skeins of Fibra Natura’s Sea Song cotton yarn in pink and a few grams of plain white unnamed cotton yarn I had in stash.
I worked the bottom of the bag and the mesh section in the pink, then switched a contrasting color for the ribbing and the handle. Each bag used about 1.9 skein of sea song (just about 207 yards) and 100 yards of white for the ribbing and handle, for a grand total of about 307 yards per bag.
I did make a few small changes to the pattern, namely here adding some plain rows before the mesh pattern and some ribbing rows at the end; all the details are on my project page as usual so feel free to check it out there.
So how’s your quarantine going guys? How are you taking care of your mental health? Any tips to share?
The things we love most
After spending so much time home recently, I came to realize that it’s very easy to establish our own little routines, and get comfort from the small things. One of the things I noticed the past few weeks is that I truly love the handmade pottery pieces I have, and that I keep using them all the time. I even see it on my instagram feed, as most food pictures I post on there also happen to feature some hand made items.
Seeing that, I thought I could present you guys the last pieces I finished in 2019, talk a little bit more about the process and show you the full collections I’ve been using constantly since then.
First off, I think the last time we talked pottery, I told you my favorite part of it was actually applying the glaze, because it was always kind of a surprise how things were really going to turn out. Here’s a very good example of what I mean by that. Left picture is just after applying the glaze, right is the same pieces once out of the kiln.
You can tell it’s the same pieces, but man do they look different! Sometimes you can try to imagine as much as you want, but it’ll turn into something you never expected, especially if it’s a glaze you’ve never used before. Now since I’ve been using the same colour combos for a while now I sort of know what to expect, but I still do get surprises every now and then nonetheless.
The two main “collections” if you will, that I’ve been working on are this classic black and white (my Moody set) and the wavy white and teal (my Ocean set).
This black set basically starts with an even black base, then the pieces are dipped in white glaze on one side as an overlay. Except for the onces with the interesting texture, they’re pretty much all the same. The two small plates have specks on them, something I tried here (but didn’t quite like in this palette) but exploited a lot more in the second set I made, that I affectionately call my Ocean set.
Half of those pieces (mostly the bowls) have a gradient-ish exterior and a plain white interior. The other ones (mostly the plates) have a basic white glaze with a bold teal brush stroke and a few specks here and there, reminiscent (to me) of the waves of the ocean.
I love those two sets so much I’ve just been using and washing and reusing them non stop since the holidays, and I really don’t think I will ever stop. They are very close to my heart, and although I do (and will probably continue to) experiment with other colours, just like the yellow ones in the first picture, I think I will definitely keep making pieces to add to these two collections as I go.
Talking about experiments, I tried something fun and different with these 3 pieces right there, as they were meant as a gift. There is some texture to them as I added some stripes on the side, then used a dark blue and green scheme with a lot of splashes of colour.
Overall I’m pretty happy with the result, and I hope the intended recipient will be too!
That’s it for today folks, new post knitting post coming soon 🙂
Cheers!
Pandemic knitting (& life update)
Happy lovely spring to all you guys, from my couch as I self-isolate through this COVID-19 pandemic! I know a lot of us are feeling stressed, lonely, worried about health, job, financial situation, and all of that both for ourselves and our loved ones. But let’s just keep being positive, following Public Health guidelines and work our way through this one stitch at a time!
As a quick personal update, I’m sorry for being so notably absent again from the blog as I have been quite busy the past few months. The holidays passed in a breeze, and come January I started a new job that has been proving to be a bit challenging to adapt to. You may remember I had been working for many years as a city planner for a small town in central Quebec, well the new job isn’t only at a different government level but also in a different province and in a different language than my own. The learning curve has been incredibly steep, and it has taken me a lot of time and energy to acclimate to the new job and the new work environment so I have been doing not much aside from working, driving and trying to catch up on sleep. It is an incredibly interesting and challenging job and I am so glad I made the jump, although it was a little bit of a leap of faith, I’m telling you.
All that to say, the work from home situation I’ve been placed in since a couple weeks ago has actually been beneficial to my mental and physical health as the work has slightly slowed down and I’ve had more time to focus on myself, my needs and my wellbeing. I’ve been cooking more healthy meals for myself, exercising more regularly, sleeping better and also picked back up my long neglected hobbies. Although it is a bit lonely at times with the social distancing measures put in place, I really have nothing to complain about – I still have a job, still getting paid, still have everything I need and (more than anything) I am healthy.
Amidst all of this craziness, one thing I can say for sure though is that my time at home has been spent in good company with very cuddly kitties, many cups of warm delicious tea and cozy knitting breaks on the couch, which has resulted in me knitting up a brand new sweater in barely over a week. This new addition to my wardrobe is the Raindrops pattern from tincanknits, a pattern I’ve been wanting to knit for the longest time but just simply never got around to it. I knit this in size M using size 3.5mm needle instead of the recommended 3.25mm (as I’m kind of a tight knitter) and also changed up the cuff and bottom edge, to go for a split front/back with seed stitch border that would better suit my silhouette.
The yarn I used is Fiore from Nako, a yarn company I had never heard of before. It’s a 40% bamboo, 35% cotton and 15% linen yarn that is soft, supple and offers great stitch definition. It does tend to split a bit so you gotta be a little careful when knitting, but I gotta say it’s been a charm to work with, and as I tend to feel more comfortable wearing natural cotton and linen fibres per wool, it’s just perfect for me.
Overall, I’m super happy about how this turned out, and altough I’ve worn it a couple times inside the house, I really can’t wait for this quarantine thing to be over so I can show it off to the outside world.
I hope this short post has provided you a little bit of entertainment, and if any one of you is in need of anything (even if just someone to talk to) please feel free to reach out. Through these trying times, it is all the more important to care about one another and be an active (though distant) part of our close-knit communities.
Cheers!
Knitting, painting and other summer things
Except for a couple rainy days here and there, the weather here this summer has been just wonderful; warm and sunny during the day and usually pretty cool at night. I have been taking advantage of the great weather to go for walks and enjoy the outdoors, but it hasn’t prevented me from making quite a bit of progress on other more “indoorsy” projects that I have been working on recently.
First off, I want to show you guys the Lissome cowl I just finished using a handspun I made just about 5 years ago during the tour de fleece. It’s a 100% merino salmon pink-ish barber pole yarn in a sports-ish weight. At first I really wasn’t sure how this was going to knit up, but I think it turned out beautiful on this gorgeously well structured cowl.
Susan Pandorf is a genius for having designed such a wonderful pattern! It is simple, yet impressively well thought and well written. The first 4 rows were a bit counter-intuitive for me so I had to pay more attention working those, but once I got used to it, this cowl just knits up like a breeze! The texture is absolutely amazing and the finished cowl is delicate enough yet not too lacy – a great balance!
I used all but two yards of the two skeins I had, and was able to work up 14 repeats of the main body. The finished cowl was blocked at about 10” high and 25” long folded, so 50” circumference in total. As usual, all the details can be found on my project page so you can go check it out there.
While this cowl was under construction, I was also lucky enough to have a little photo session with the lovely Emily from Cyclopes photographie. See, I needed a professional portrait done and she does stock photography, so we agreed on an exchange – she would do my portrait for free if I agreed to be used as a model for some stock images. Now I have a lot of hobbies so I had a fun time trying to decide which one I wanted to feature for the stock pictures, but I opted for spinning, knitting and yoga.
As you can see, the pictures turned out simply amazing, I just have no words.
And in other news, I also spent some time last weekend painting an accent wall in my dining room. It took a little bit longer than I expected, but as you can see it was well worth every minute!
That’s all for now folks, wish you all a great week 🙂
2018 Wrap-up
Oh, 2018… What a year! You’ve been full of new challenges and experiences, full of hopes and dreams, and so very, very fulfilling! Although it doesn’t show so much here on the blog (or on my Ravelry page… Yikes!) 2018 has been a very good year to me, both personally and professionally, and it felt good to reflect on it while cozily drinking some hot cocoa by the fire at my in-laws. I lost a lot of weight, made some lifestyle changes, advanced my career and I’ve been working a lot on myself to become a more positive and grounded person. I was also blessed with the chance to go on two amazing (life changing!) trips to Asia and was fortunate enough to meet many kind and generous people I’m lucky to call friends.
On the blogging & crafting front, I did very little knitting in the first half of 2018 but worked on many sewing projects whereas I’ve been knitting more and sewing less in second half of the year.
All in all, Ravelry told me that I’ve completed 9 projects in 2018, totaling 4715 yards of yarn. That’s 2 more projects than what I did in 2017, although it represents 766 yards less. To that though, I think we can also add the second Solace sock I had to reknit from the previous year to complete the pair, as well as a couple WIPs I’ve been making serious progress on, but simply couldn’t finish before the year end. There’s first a bulky weight chevron lap blanket that’s about 75% done, and a beautiful lace shawl that I’ve been working as a test-knit for the lovely Beatriz Rubio (Sambaknits).
Doesn’t it look just lovely? I’m about 70% done now, so this project may be the very first you’ll get to see completed on the blog this year – please look forward to it!
For 2019, I wish to simply continue working on the same goals, namely here get fit and eat healthy, be positive and grounded and be kinder to myself and others. There might be some big changes coming my way in 2019, so there might be a lot to share in the upcoming months.
Until then folks, I wish you all the best for 2019. Cheers!
Crafty Effie 