fun
Peach Fuzz trio
Life is busy folks! But even though I haven’t been posting here, I promise I’ve been crafting on. And I was so proud of my last few makes that I wanted to pop in here to show you what it is 🙂
A few months ago, I ordered Melanie Berg’s most recent book “Sweaters”, and I love just about every design in there (as expected! She’s such a brilliant pattern designer).
I decided to break the ice with the simple but oh so colourful Peach Fuzz sweater, paired with some wonderfully soft Sami 100% organic Pima cotton yarn I brought back from our last trip to Peru. The purple yarn used for the yoke is also Pima cotton, it’s the Pima Cotton DK from Cloudborn Fibers. I’ve had this in stash for such a long time and absolutely LOVE IT (some of you might recognize it as I’ve used it for a snowflake sweater before) and although it’s not as light and airy as Sami, I thought it paired well for the more structured rib parts of the sweater.
And because I loved this piece so much, I couldn’t make just one… so I made three – one for me and one for each of my girls. Can I just squeeeee over how cute this little trio is?!
For my own, I followed direction for the smallest size and used 68 sts sleeves. I made no other modifications to this wonderful design.
For the girls, I obviously had to whip up something a bit different since the book doesn’t provide child sizes. All the details for each sweater are provided on my Ravelry project page (here for the 2T version and here for the 4-5T) but basically I changed the neckline to add buttons and changed the striping sequence on the sleeves to accommodate smaller little arms.
That’s all folks! I’ll have another matching kit to show you again in a few months I’m sure, so until then, take care 🙂
Toddler things
While our family is cozy and warm here in Lima, I thought I would take a few moments to share with you my most recent spring makes.
Shortly after my first daughter was born, a clerk at our local fabric store showed me a pattern magazine from Katia Fabrics. Now I gotta say I had never worked with their patterns before and had no idea they even existed but I decided to get the magazine anyway after skimming through it as I thought the designs were really cute. It was the spring/summer edition called « Essence ».
While I loved their designs, I never quite worked up the courage to sit down and figure out how the patterns/instructions worked as it seemed kind of daunting to me at the time. The magazine sat in my office for a good couple years, but I finally picked it up this spring and decided to give it a go.
To my great surprise, while they do work very differently than other more traditional patterns I’ve worked with before, I actually found their method very intuitive and picked it up right away.
The first design I tried was a jumpsuit, and I gotta say it is probably one of the cutest things I’ve ever made.
It’s the design #19 in the book. I made it exactly as is, I believe in size 98 cm (2-3 y/o?). The only mod I made was to use stretchy jersey fabric instead, in 3 different colours/patterns to make it more fun and lively. The design in cleaver, easy to put together and just so cute! the straps are a bit too long so i had to tie them up but this will fit for a LONG time!
I loved my experience with Katia Fabric’s pattern magazine so much that i ended up going to fabric store to buy another one, the fall/winter edition called “Textures”.
From this magazine, I made a sweatshirt (design #17) in a fun animal printed fleece.
Again, I cannot express how clever, cute and easy to put together this design was. I love everything about it. The pockets, the hood, it is just perfect in every way.
My family and I will be enjoying the warmth and the sun for a little bit longer but soon enough, I’ll be back to share more spring and summer makes with you all.
Cheers 🙂
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!
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 😉
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!
Heyday Stripes
So something really fun happened this summer. I’ve been following the lovely Juliana from http://kleidermache.blogspot.com/ for quite a while, and when she posted a fabric destash on Instagram, I couldn’t resist getting a few pieces for myself. It’s not every day you get a chance to lay your hands on vintage fabric from Germany you know (especially in a travel-restricting pandemic..!!) and a few of those gorgeous fabrics were literally calling my name.
The first one that drew my eyes in was the floral on the left side, then decided to add a stiffer cotton stripe canvas to the package. At first I really thought I would use the stripes to make a pair of loose, wide legged beach pants. I was pretty sold on the idea, and while waiting for the package I started browsing patterns, trying to find something that would fit the image I had in my head.
But then, I completely changed my mind when I received the package. First, let me just say that when I got this in the mail, it felt even more exciting than Christmas! So much joy and excitement and happiness! Also, knowing how much I love pattern and stripes, Juliana added a few more in the mix, and a lovely note. I have no words to express how grateful I am! This package was everything I could have ever wanted and some more!
So once I could hold the stripes fabric in my hands, and after turning it over a few times and giving it a good wash, somehow, it just screamed “Dungarees” to me. I don’t know why… I don’t have any dungarees in my wardrobe. That’s not something I usually really wear. And I didn’t even have a dungarees pattern in my collection. I’ve been very well resisting the dungarees trend so far! But this fabric… Somehow… Was really calling for it. And in the same time period, a friend of mine also post a super cute picture of herself in blue dungarees. So that was it… I was sold. It had to be dungarees!
I had seen before the Heyday Dungarees pattern from MBJM, and I thought this might be a good start for what I wanted to do. I thought the loop and straps closure on the front was the cutest thing ever, and the pattern seemed simple enough. I did make a couple changes though, especially on the pockets. I’m not a huge fan of patch pockets on the front, so I dropped the chest pocket altogether and slightly altered the pattern to create side pockets instead. I also cropped the leg as I was working on a limited amount of fabric and didn’t have enough for a full legged one. With all that being said, here it is folks, in all it’s glory! My vintage stripes dungarees!
Cotton cable comfort
Weather recently has been yo-yoing between fresh spring and scorching hot summer with very little transition, and so it’s been a little difficult lately to just know what to expect or how to dress from day to day. As such, I’m actually very happy to present to you today a new very versatile addition to my wardrobe, this lovely cozy little cardigan that I’ve made as a test-knit for Beatriz Rubio from sambaknits, that should be published in Miss Babs fall 2020 collection.
The pattern calls for DK weight yarn, and I used Zooey Aran , a 60% cotton and 40% linen yarn from Juniper Moon Farm. Although technically a different yarn weight, it actually feels more like a light worsted yarn to me, and it actually knitted up to gauge almost perfectly so it worked out well. I knit the smallest size, and used almost all of the 5 skeins I had, a whopping total of 972 yards. I made no mods whatsoever, except for knitting 12 rows of collar instead of the 8 rows the pattern called for. I also think that if I had had any more yarn to spare, I would have made the collar even puffier as this design I feel would look simply amazing with a large folded collar.
It was a fairly easy knit, straightforward and well explained with a chart. The pattern is simply knitted and blocked as a big rectangle, then folded and seamed before adding the collar.
The finished cardigan is comfy, warm but still breathable and extremely soft! I know for sure that I will be wearing this a lot this summer on windy days or chill nights.
As you can imagine, the pattern is not out yet but I will make sure to link my project to the pattern page once it is.
Hope you guys are all safe and well!
Cobra Socks
Guys, I finally released this week a new sock pattern, may I present to you my Cobra Socks!
They’re cute and funky, fit like a glove and more important than anything they’re one of those fun summer projects you can carry with you just about anywhere!
The pattern is written for toe-up two-at-a-time, and features a german short-row heel as weel as simple mock cables running along the top of the foot and wrapping around the leg.
The pattern is written in 4 different sizes from 7.5″ to 9″ foot circumference and it is worked with sock weight yarn on size 2.5 mm needle. I first came up with this pattern in April using a couple skeins of Manos del Uruguay’s Serena yarn, and I loved them so much I made a second pair in May using Malabrigo Sock yarn to add to my rotation, because I seriously had those socks on my feet all the time! I thought other people might also like this design as much as I did so I decided to write up the pattern, get it tested and then… Voila! It is now out there for all those interested 🙂
The Unfinishables
We all have some of those, right? Well, staying home a lot more recently has given me an opportunity to revisit those, and to put the final stitches on a couple projects I (really) should’ve finished long ago.
First off is this luscious green cardigan I’ve started in October 2017 as a test-knit for the lovely Anne, for her French Kiss cardigan pattern. Now I feel particularly terrible about this one because I’m the type who will not sign up for a test knit unless I know for sure I can finish before the deadline. As luck would have it though, many unexpected things happened during that time frame that prevented me from completing the test. I felt horrible and apologized profusely, but after the pattern was published I didn’t feel as much pressure to finish the project so I just left it there and forgot about it. I’m so happy (and relieved) it is finally done, and right on time too – the colour and the yarn are perfect for spring / summer.
I used about 6 and a half skeins of Nettle Grove yarn from Plymouth Yarn in the colour “Mermaid”. This yarn is an interesting cotton, linen, silk and nettle mix, and although I’m not a huge fan, I gotta say that the final washed fabric is actually pretty soft and has very good stitch definition. I pretty much followed pattern instructions exactly, all the details are on my Ravelry project page.
Second project I want to show you guys is my second iteration of the Dessine-Moi Un Mouton sweater by La Maison Rililie that I had started in December 2018. It’s no secret that I love this design, I’ve used it before to make my Spilled Wine sweater (and made quite a fuss about it), and I seem to always gravitate towards this design to showcase something special. First time was a gradient yarn set from Wonderland Yarns, and now this time it’s one of my very first handspun yarn, that I had attempted to use for a BlueSand Cardigan before but ended up frogging (the unsuccessful attempt is still documented here).
Just like the first time I made this sweater, I’m using a staple yarn for me, Cascade’s Heritage Solids yarn, but this time I went for charcoal grey. I also again worked on a modified gauge (since I’m using fingering weight yarn), though this time I made this sweater one size smaller, since I’ve lost a lot of weight since I made the first iteration of this sweater.
Overall, I am just SO happy at how this one turned out, and I really cannot wait to wear it!! It’s fun, it’s playful, it’s comfy and more than anything, it’s not on a needle anymore. As usual the details on yardage and mods are available on my project page so feel free to check it out 🙂
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!
Crafty Effie 