baby
Maternity Makes
These past few months have been busy with all kinds of things, but as things slowly start to slow down for me, I wanted to share a few new pieces I sewed recently. As you’d expect from a now 37 weeks pregnant mama, the pieces I will share today were made with pregnancy and postpartum in mind.
The first one is like to share is another (is it my third now?) Heyday dungarees, from Waves and Wild. I made this one out of a very stretchy purple and yellow floral print my mom-in-law graciously sent me from Peru. While I don’t know the exact composition of the fabric, it feels very soft to the touch, it is matte and very very stretchy. I made the dungarees in size medium, and omitted the pockets to give all the space to the beautiful large floral print. I used encased seams with a top stitch for the body pieces, and normal seams for the straps, loops and hems.
Because of the immense amount of stretch the fabric provides, I was actually able to size down to something that will fit me postpartum while still being able to accommodate my growing pregnant belly. And I am so happy with this piece, I cannot even begin to tell you! I will definitely get a lot of wear out of this, pregnant or not!
The second piece I wanted to show you today is this nursing friendly Lily Top from Sew Over It. With the two overlapping front pieces, it makes this top perfect for both pregnancy and postpartum, even when used with a non stretch fabric like I did here. The fabric I used is a vintage fabric from Germany I got from kleindermache through one of her fabric destash. I am not sure what the fabric composition is but it is very light and airy, which is why I thought it was perfectly suited for a sleeveless top. The pattern comes with both a cap sleeve and longer sleeve, but I opted for no sleeves at all and finished the edges with biais tape instead.
I love the colours and print of this fabric and I hope it will fit as well postpartum.
Small things
Holidays are right around the corner ans I’m so excited! My Christmas tree is already up. What about you? Somehow this year I skipped Halloween entirely and went straight to Christmas mood, and honestly I’m all in for it. The past few months have been a blur and I gotta say that very much I’m looking forward to a well deserved break.
I haven’t had much time for crafting but did make a few small things – baby things that is. And I wanted to show them to you today. The set I’m showing you was made out of beautifully coordinated jersey print from Katia Fabric I bought a couple years ago when I was on maternity leave. It took me so long to finally get around to using it (life is busy you know!) but I’m just so glad I did. This fabric designed for kids comes in panels with 2 or 3 coordinated patterns you can use to make shirts, sweaters, dungarees or whatever else your mind can think of.
I opted for a simple sweater – pants combo as I felt that was the best way for me to use up as much of the fabric as possible. The shirt is a basic raglan top (you can head here for the FREE printable pattern from Jamie – Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom) and the pants are the mini modern joggers from Brindille & Twig.
Both of them were made in size 2, and I mostly used encased seams for my sensitive daughter who doesn’t like tags, threads and seam allowances.
Aside from using encased seams instead of regular or overlock seams, I did almost everything as per pattern. The only small mods I made were to omit the neck binding on the raglan top and omit the knee patches and the drawstring at the waist on the pants.
My daughter absolutely loves this set, and I gotta say that I love it just as much. It is so adorable!
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!
Twinning
So… something happened. I made a sweater, and it was just so wonderful and perfect and the colours were so amazing that I decided to make another one. A smaller one. A tiny baby one. And I couldn’t be more happy about the result ❤️
So first let’s get the basics down. This pattern is made (once again) by Beatriz Rubio from Sambaknits and it’s called Vinicunca. It’s a wonderful dropped shoulder cozy oversized sweater with tight sleeves. I made it in Berroco’s Modern Cotton DK in colour Gadwall. The contrasting colours are a bit of a closet clean out, I used a mix of what I had in a similar gauge that would fit the colour scheme I was envisioning. There’s Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in there, Knit Pick’s lindy chain, Katia rustic silk and a couple basic cotton yarns to complete.
I made this sweater in size 2, no swatch, I just eyeballed it. Big mistake. But let’s be real, I just never swatch. I’m not a swatcher, never been, and probably never will be. I don’t care much for gauge, and I like to have variety in my closet so in my hand knit section, I’ve got sweaters of all sizes ranging from dramatically oversized to pretty darn snug, and I kinda like it that way. So back on topic, I didn’t swatch. and I probably should’ve. Because… I’m a tight knitter. And I liked the oversized look of this sweater. So… I ended up blocking the sh*t out of this one until I reached the desired size. NOT RECOMMENDED 😅 but I did. And you know what? It turned out just fine. But I made a slight adjustment for the mini version, and I made a mental note to myself for any other future iterations of this sweater to size up on needle size to 4mm because for this sweater, gauge matters. A lot. Anyways other than needle size I didn’t change much to the pattern. I omitted the sleeve decreases and changed up the number of repeats for the contrasting colours to jazz it up but that’s about it. All the details are on my Ravelry project page as always, including precise yardage, mods, etc.
For the mini version, I did end up making quite a few ajustements, as the pattern isn’t made for kids. It’s not perfect and if I do this again I left plenty of notes on my project page to do a better job next time but overall, I’m still pretty darn happy with the result. And the little lady too, so it’s all good.
So that’s all I got for today folks, I’ll see you again real soon 😉
Crushing hard!
I’ve been back from Japan for about 10 days now, and I gotta tell you, I miss it so bad 
Everything from the sights and the sounds, the food, the feel of the air, the atmosphere, the people; I think I really crushed hard on Japan during those two short weeks and now that I’m back it’s really hitting me in the feels! Nevertheless though, I’ve been pretty busy here, at work and at home, as I slowly readjust to my everyday life.
What I want to share with you all today is a little project that I couldn’t share with you before leaving for Japan, and that would be this little cute Camilla baby Blanket.
You see, one of my Japanese penpals, Eriko, is currently pregnant and since she was kind enough to spend two days showing me around Kyoto and Osaka, I wanted to bring her a little something special for her little-one-to-be. So a couple weeks before my trip, I started this cutie little blanket for her using the three skeins of Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece that I had on hand. Since I don’t know whether the baby is a boy or a girl, I figured a neutral blueish gray would be fine.
Since I’ve already bought the Camilla Pullover pattern in the past, I did not buy the actual Camilla Blanket pattern but instead used the instructions for the fan pattern from the pullover that I first converted to RS/WS instructions, repeated 4 times and added a garter stitch border on the top, bottom and edges.
The finished blanket is about stroller size, measuring about 30″X32″. Since I was using a Worsted weight yarn instead of Aran, I worked the blanket on 5 mm needles instead of the recommended 6.5 mm. I don’t work very often with needles over 4 mm, so I took advantage of this opportunity to try the Kollage square needle that I had received as a sample a couple years back but never got a chance to use. Although I was a bit skeptical at first, I must admit that I was actually quite pleased by the grip and the feel of those square needles, and it felt very natural to use. Actually, I enjoyed working with it so much I think I might seriously consider getting them in other sizes, or maybe even by the interchangeable set.
All the details, save for the actual fan motif, can be found on my project page so feel free to check it over if you’re interested.
Hawaiian adventures
Earlier this summer, one thing led to another and I ended up spending a week of vacation in Hawaii. Yep, one beautiful week in a pacific paradise.
I’m lucky enough to have a lot of vacation time but I didn’t really know what to do or where to go this year. I took a week off on my birthday, so from August 27th do September 2nd and thought I’d figure something out eventually. And finally, one week prior to my vacation, I stumbled on a 600$ plane ticket to Hawaii. Yep. That’s what happened.
I am still amazed at what I saw and experienced there, and to this day I still do not understand why the entire population of the US still hasn’t moved to Hawaii yet… Because I would if I could.
That’s it for now folks, cheers 🙂
Carnage and Destruction
For 3 or 4 weeks now, we’ve been living in complete chaos at the house because I decided to undertake a major project – painting the kitchen. This may seem like a menial task for some of you, but I can assure you that we have experienced anything but. Thing is, our kitchen isn’t very big but it’s packed, the cabinets are painted and the entire room is nothing but corners, trim and moldings (ceiling included!). Add to that the fact that we just bought a giant 80” long kitchen table and that I opted for a 3 color scheme for the walls&ceiling and you’ll quickly understand it was simply impossible to paint everything at once so I’ve had to proceed in sections, moving the furniture and the stuff as I go so it’s been slow but steady progress in the last few weeks. I still have to paint the cabinets but things are working out fine, and I’m really excited to see it come together.
Since I’ve been painting quite a bit at home recently (it’s the third room being painted since this fall) my craft room has been doubling as a storage room for quite some time now, so we could get the furniture out of the way while we were working on the other rooms. Since things are finally starting to clear up a bit, I’ve had a chance to tidy things around in this room for the first time in months, and I took this opportunity to use up some small fabric remnants or finish projects I started a very long time ago.
Among other things, I made a cute baby wrap for a friend who recently gave birth
There’s also a cute little lunch bag with a bee cotton print and a large, reversible tote bag made using the Kwik Sew pattern K3700 and some remnants I had in stash. This tote has a really nice shape and feels nice on the shoulders, and the pattern is actually really cool because it provides instructions to build these bags directly on a serger, both with apparent and hidden seams.
I also made a couple new placemats to fit into the new kitchen and the fabric might give you a hint as to which color I’ve used to paint a portion of the walls. I’ve actually had the fabric cut and prepped for those placemats for so many years now because it was left over from a set I made for my dad and his wife. I made them a set of 6, but there was fabric left over for 2 more placemats, that I never sew together because I didn’t want to offer someone an incomplete set. Since there’s only me and my husband at home right now though, I figured I might as well give it a shot, especially since the leafy green fabric is so pretty!
Well that’s it for now folks, wish you all a fun-filled summer 🙂
Monsters in the closet
My very best friend just recently had a baby so I’ve been on a rampage gathering all sorts of baby-related patterns and things, and let me tell you that it is candy for the eyes! There are so many cute, adorable baby things out there, it’s like a knitter’s paradise!
You may (or may not) remember that I finished a gray baby blanket earlier this spring, and you may (or may not) remember that my honeybee gave me Rebecca Danger’s Big Book of Knitted Monsters for Christmas. Well wonders happened, and I put together a little gift for my friend including those two little beauties here:
This is the very first time I’ve ever knitted a plush toy, and it was so much fun that I can foresee many-a-plushie for me in the future. The yet-to-be-named little monster (or Hugo the couch potato monster, as referred to by the author) was an easy, quick and fun knit, that provided lots of instant gratification and allowed me to combine two (otherwise unusable) small 50g skeins to create a unique, playful and soft toy for someone’s special little person. In this case, I used a little over half a skein of blue Malabrigo Silky Merino yarn and ¾ of a skein of gray Louisa Harding Grace Silk & Wool yarn, leaving some room for (maybe!) another smaller monster in the same color palette. Who knows?
Looking through the book, I fell in love all over again with all those adorable monsters and I can tell you that there might soon be an Angus the Attic Monster, an Irving the Icebox Monster, a Dot the Dress Up Box Monster or a Bea the Basement Monster in the works. Hurray for babies (and plushies)!
Cardigan Duo!
My friends, I am so happy to announce to you today that I have finally finished my Stellata Cardigan! Yes! It looks great and it feels amazing, as I predicted. So… I am definitely going to wear the heck out of this one this summer! The yarn I used is Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in color “peach”. Now that I’m done, I can definitely say that I LOVE this yarn. I will be using it again… Surely! It’s soft, comfortable and airy, and it also knits up like a charm.
If you have not used it yet, I definitely recommend it for any summer garments!
Amongsnt other things, I also completed a very (tiny) project for a little human in the making, who is supposed to be born sometime this summer. I used a cotton/acrylic blend so it’s not too hot and also easy to wash, the yarn is DungarEase from Knit one Crochet Too. I picked the color “Sand”, which I thought was perfect for a baby who’s gender you do not know yet.
So what have you Sweeties been up to lately?
Crafty Effie 