lace
2015 in numbers
2015 came to an end, which means it’s time for me to look back on what I accomplished and set new goals for the year to come.
In 2015, I used 9372 yards of yarn in a total of 17 projects. Out of those 17 projects, 16 were knitted, 1 was crocheted and 0 were woven.
These numbers are telling me that I used 8.9% less yardage than last year, but I’m still satisfied by my performance since I made more project (17 compared to 16) and that most of them were knitted (16 compared to 11); and as most of you know, knitted items generally tend to use less yarn and more time than crocheted ones.
Now let’s review the resolutions I posted here last year and assess whether or not I was able to achieve my goals in 2015. Drumroll….
- I want to learn how to relax more.
This one is a work in progress, and although I think I was able to make some time for myself this year, I think I still need to make a few more changes in my everyday life to make it more zen. - I want to start less and finish more.
Ok, maybe I didn’t ACE this one, but I think I did a pretty good job. I still have 3 WIPs on the needles and a couple projects hibernating in my closet, but at least I was able to go through my WIPs, frog the ones I knew wouldn’t go anywhere and concentrated my efforts in projects I was actually interested in and finished them. In my book, that’s a good thing, so I call this one a success. - I want to knit from stash.
Last year I promised myself I would try to knit from stash as much as possible, and buy yarn only for specific projects I didn’t already have suitable yarn for. Hm. Let’s look at the numbers and see. This year, 51 skeins (12 209 yards) were added to my stash. Thrown out just like that, it’s 8 skeins (2837 yards) more than what I actually used in the entire year, but let’s break it down and see what the REAL damage is. Out of those 51 skeins added to my stash, 7 of them (1736 yards) were gifted to me. Let’s be real, although I didn’t want to buy yarn, I certainly won’t turn it down if it’s offered to me for free – so those shouldn’t be counted. To that number, we also have to subtract 35 skeins (7018 yards) that I bought for specific projects that were started or even completed in 2015, which I was allowing myself to do so that’s also all good. Considering all that, the damage really isn’t that bad. Turns out I bought only 9 skeins (3455 yards) of yarn “just because”, which is a definite improvement compared to the 64 skeins (15076 yards) of yarn I bought in 2014 that are still collecting dust in my stash. Although it doesn’t look that way at first, I think I think I did a pretty good job on this resolution this year, and I definitely want to keep it going in 2016. I also want to add an additional challenge, and try to USE more yarn than I actually BUY/GET. Wish me luck! - I want to weave more.
Ok, this one I miserably failed. I did buy some more weaving yarn, but I failed to use my loom even once this year. Why? I think I simply had to much to think about considering I wrote 2 new designs, made most of my Christmas presents and renovated 2 rooms in the house. A failure is not the end of the world though, and I will give this resolution a second chance in 2016. - I want to keep this blog going.
Well, this one I sure did. I’m still here! And let’s hope it will continue in 2016, because I really enjoy sharing my little stories with you guys! - I want to publish more designs.
In 2015, I DID publish my Sea Breeze Sweater pattern, and I have another sweater pattern currently being tested and a basic headband pattern all written out, ready to be tested. Yes!
Looking back, I guess I didn’t have a “perfect” craft year since I couldn’t achieve all the goals I set myself in the beginning of the year, but I feel very satisfied and accomplished, and I think that’s what matters the most. So cheers to the new year! 🙂
Oh, and I can also now safely post the last few projects I made in 2015 that were meant to be gifted on Christmas. Exciting!
There’s my mom’s Casu Cowl
My brother’s girlfriend’s Anise Hat
And Emily’s infinity scarf, no pattern used – but maybe another design coming? Who knows!
And you guys, what’s your 2015 recap? Any resolutions for the new year?
Testers wanted!
Hey guys!
I just recently opened a test-knit for my feather & fan sweater pattern, if you are interested head over to this thread in the Ravelry Forums, there’s still a few spots open ! Here’s a short description of the requirements.
This sweater in worked top down and in the round using a DK weight bamboo yarn. It has a lace pattern on both sleeves and the front, and a progressive rib from the waist down. Please note that since bamboo tends to grow a lot when worn, I wrote the pattern with 2” negative allowance. If you plan on using a yarn that’s a little less forgiving, you might want to size up a little.
This test is scheduled to start on January 1st, 2016.
Deadline: February 15, 2016, for a release on March 1st.
SIZES:
S (30”) for 32” bust, M (34”) for 36” bust, L (38”) for 40” bust.
GAUGE:
20 sts & 8 rows for a 4” square on size 6 (4 mm) needle in stockinette st
TECHNIQUES USED:
This pattern is pretty easy, you need to know how to Knit, purl, SSK, K2tog, YO, M1L & M1R. The instructions are written, no charts are provided.
NaKniSweMo 2015
Hey guys! Are you feeling this winter-y vibe? This familiar sensation that comes with colder days, closeness of the Holidays and this strong desire to cuddle around the fire with a woolen sweater? Well I most certainly do. And although I know the few weeks left before the Holidays will be insanely busy, I just feel this urge to knit myself a cozy, warm sweater.
In all fairness, I must say that NaKniSweMo has the BEST and the WORST timing at the same time – I most certainly DO want to participate and indulge myself in a new, fun, warm and cozy sweater, but I know I definitely SHOULDN’T. Which is why I have been debating whether or not I should participate this year. And… well… This happened:
I decided to try it, although I will give priority to the Christmas presents and getting the house ready for the holidays. The sweater I’ll be making is Laurie by Josée Paquin, and I’m using Classic Elite Yarns’s Soft Linen in the color Smokey Rose. I am absolutely, positively thrilled about this project, and although I know chances are slim that I’ll be able to complete it before the end of the month, I’m hoping I can at least finish it before the Holidays. Please cross your fingers with me!
In the meantime, I also just finished the Casu Cowl, using some Berroco Element yarn I had in stash. It looks fantastic, and I’m absolutely delighted by the pattern/yarn combination. This pattern written by Galia Lael is elegantly simple, exquisite in the small details. I especially like the raised edge between the moss stitch and lace sections and the elegant slip stitch borders. And the yarn just brings out the texture beautifully, so I couldn’t be more satisfied with this project.
What do you guys think? Are you participating in the NaKniSweMo this year? What are you working on? Leave me a comment and let me know what you are up to 🙂
New Release
Hey guys!
Just popping here to let you know that my Fluttering Feet pattern has now been released, yay! 🙂 You can fin it here (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fluttering-feet) and use the promo code “BIRDSOFAFEATHER” for a 50% off until the end of the month. Thank you all! 🙂
Oh, Lacy Sweetness
Last week I finished a sweet little lace shawl that I have been dying to show you all, and I decided that today is the day. You might remember a progress shot I shared with you a couple months ago of this shawl in the making, as it was my “airplane knit” that I started while going to Nevada and Arizona for a short vacation earlier this year, in April.
What do you guys think? Isn’t this shawl pure lacy love? This pattern is called Estuary, from tincanknits, and it was knit using Confetti Superwash yarn by DGB. The pattern is entirely charted, very easy to understand and very easy to follow, the only change I made was to work the edge stitches in stockinette st instead of garter st. I simply LOVE the finished project!
The yarn was something I found on sale at a local yarn store about a year ago, it was a yarn I had never heard of or worked with it before but I sort of liked the color, and since it was cheap I decided to try it. Although I didn’t hate this yarn, far from it actually, I don’t think I will use it again once I have used the remaining skein I have. Don’t get me wrong, this yarn was nice to work with, it has a nice soft feel and it definitely blocks very well, but it simply wasn’t a love story between it and me. I guess what it comes down to is that it’s a good yarn, but just not a “wow” yarn to me. Know what I mean?
Anyways, I also got a pretty nice surprise a few weeks ago that I want to share with you – a new yarn store has just recently opened in my area, and I LOVE it! Yay for more yarn! This little store is cute and quaint, it’s friendly and cozy and it’s called Pompon Laine Café – if you’re in the Trois-Rivières area, you should definitely go check it out, it’s located at the intersection of Bonaventure and Saint-Denis. I went to the store opening a few weeks ago and got a membership card, and -oh, suprise!- I won a basket full of goodies including stitch markers, natural hand cream and (plenty) of yarn. Look at all these beautifuls! Am I not the most lucky knitter ever?
April novelties!
In the last couple weeks, I got to finish two projects that have been on the needles for a while. The first one is the manly socks, and the second one is the Seesaw Tee I test knitted for Nell Knits.
The socks were made without a pattern using some Patons Kroy Socks FX and I quite like the result, although I realized afterwards the two skein were not exactly the same color. Oopsy!
The Seesaw Tee was a pleasure to knit, really. The pattern was beautifully written, simple and very easy to understand. The sweater is worked in the round from the bottom up, with only a couple little seams to close up the armpits. It was an unexpectedly fast knit as I was expecting to complete this project towards the end of April and ended up finishing it in only a couple weeks. The yarn I used is Knit-Picks Diadem yarn in color Garnet; which has been discontinued I believe. It’s a 50/50 alpaca/silk yarn, soft as a cloud, it has a really nice drape and halo and it blocks like a charm, making it perfect for any lace projects. It is marked as a fingering weight yarn, but I would say it’s much more of a sport or DK weight, as I used 3.5mm needles and got a blocked gauge of 5 sts to an inch. I used only 2 skeins for a size medium sweater, how great is that? Two down sides though :
1) it’s a loosely spun single, so you have to expect this yarn to be (significantly) splitty
2) it tends to shed, and I experienced a little bleeding on the first wash – nothing major though!
Other than that, I am very satisfied by both, the pattern and the yarn, and I happily wore my new sweater all day 🙂
FO Friday – Obsidian Shawl
I’m very happy today to show you the Obsidian Shawl I just finished last week-end! It’s a cute, simple lace scarf using FibraNatura Flax yarn in black, the pattern is called Lace Scarves – Challenging by OzYarn.
I cannot express to you how excited I am that this shawl turned out the way it did, because I had been trying to find something to do with this yarn for such a long time that I was starting to get pretty desperate. There is quite a story to this yarn, and if you’ll allow me, I’d like to share my little experience with you.
I bought this yarn about 2 years ago and I was very excited to work with linen for the very first time in my life. Little did I know though that linen is very rough on the hands and tends to break and split a lot – I probably should have done some research before I made the purchase, but oh well! Either way, after ponding over it for some time, I decided to use it to knit the Jackson Square shawl since I had just bought the pattern and thought it was such a lovely design. It took me quite some time to get used to the pattern and the yarn, but I was able to pull it through in a couple months – and that’s where things went wrong. As I was weaving in the ends and tugging on the project gently to even out the stitches, I involuntarily got the yarn stuck on a piece of jewelry I was wearing and ripped up a big gaping hole through the top border, on the back of the neck – which turns out to be the very start of the project. I was completely horrified and did not know what to do with it or how to fix it so for the longest time, the damaged project just sat there, at the bottom of a bag in my living room.
A few months later, I finally picked it back up and resigned myself to frog the project, as I really couldn’t figure out how I could ever repair such a big gaping hole with so many broken threads. I said my goodbyes to the beautiful, delicate shawl design and decided to use the yarn to make a basic racer back tank top instead… That never saw the light of day either. Somehow, although I was very determined to get something done with this yarn, I just couldn’t find a tank top pattern that fit what I had in mind and when I tried to make one up myself it just didn’t turn out the way I hoped it would. So after much thought, I decided to frog again. A second time.
Well, as they say though, third time’s the charm and on my third try I decided to go for a pattern I have tried before (see my English Mesh Lace Scarf) and liked very, very much – and it turned out great. No ripping the yarn, no weird fitting issues and no pattern issues. Such a relief!
Have you guys ever had such experiences with a yarn frogged one too many times or a project that doesn’t turn out the way you hoped? What was your solution? Let me know in the comments down below.
WIP tour 2015 departing, all aboard!
I have been pretty busy craft-wise in the last few weeks going from knitting and crocheting to sewing and weaving, and that translates as quite a few WIPs in the works right now. Since I haven’t blogged about any of my current projects so far, I thought it would be interesting to share with you what I’ve been up to lately.
The first WIP I want to share with you is a cute pair of lace socks I’m making using some Cascade Heritage yarn I had on hand. I improvised this design using a basic feather and fan pattern for the cuff and a simple eyelet pattern for the foot. It’s a very simple and fun pattern to knit, so when I’m done with the second sock I think I’ll publish the pattern on Ravelry for others to enjoy too 🙂 Let’s share the love! 
Last month I also started a test-knit for Paula Ladd, a very nice button up cardigan with a mock cable pattern called “Evelyn“. It is a bottom up cardigan, which I don’t knit very often because experience has taught me that I generally run out of steam before reaching the the yoke. I pulled this one through though, and I finished the body today. Now I can move onto the sleeves, Yay! Although it has been slow progress, I’m still pretty pumped about it and cannot wait to see it come to life in the next few weeks!
I also took some time in the last month to make a few sets of placemats for friends and family using some fabric I had in stash. It turned out pretty good, and something is telling me I might make some more this month! 
Last but not least, I have 3 friends of mine who are pregnant or recently gave birth, so I have been a little baby-crazy in the last few weeks. Lots of things to share in the picture below! The gray rectangle on the bottom is a baby blanket in the making, using some Bernat Baby Coordinates yarn I had in stash. This pattern looks so cute! On the right is the fabric I’ll be using for a special home/dec project for a little girl’s nursery. On the top left is a few 2/8 cotton bobbins for a couple baby wraps I’ll be weaving in the next few weeks and on the top right corner is the cutest book I found for crochet toys… I think I’ll try my hand at it in a couple weeks time. hehehe 🙂
That’s it for me, what have you guys been up to lately?
FO Friday!
Heyho crafties!
Just a short post to share with you guys my latest FO, a cutesy easy shawl started on September 27th, 2014 and finished on January 14th, 2015. It is my second FO of the year, W00T!! The pattern is called “Bamboo wedding shawl“, from Purl Soho, and the yarn I used is Cascade Heritage in the color Como Blue. I used a size 4mm needle instead of the 3.25mm needle the pattern called for because I have knitted with Cascade Heritage on 3.25mm needles before, and I just knew I wanted this shawl to be more airy and supple than that.
It is the second time I have knitted this pattern, the first time was a little over a year ago as a Christmas present for my mom. It was before I started blogging so there is no photo of it anywhere here, but here’s one just for the heck of it 🙂
As you can see it’s very thick, very wide, full of mistakes and not very long to boot. It was also my very first lace project, and I must say I made a lot of progress since then. The pattern that seemed so complicated to me at first now feels so easy and relaxing to knit now, and the result looks so much better too. Ah, the miracles of time!
2014 wrap up
2014 is coming to an end, and as it is I am reflecting on my 2014 projects and I feel very satisfied by the progress I made and the things I learnt. I am just sitting here, on the couch, relaxing while sipping on some tea, and I reflect on my 2014 crafting year. It’s a thing I really like to do, mostly because every day life just goes by so fast that it’s nice to take some time at the end of the year to slow down, relax and look over what you have accomplished in the past 12 months. It’s especially nice this year because I just recently discovered on Ravelry that you can search through your projects using tags (like for example “2013” or “2014”) to know exactly how many projects you made or how much yarn you used during a certain year. Here’s the break down of my 2014 progress compared to the year before:
2013 : 4 385 yards in 7 projects (mostly shawls and scarves)
2014 : 10 250 yards in 16 projects (sweaters, scarves, shawls, socks, hats and a bag)
In total, I used over twice the yardage and finished twice as many projects in 2014 than I did in 2013, and it feels good. To those 16 knitting/crochet/weaving projects, I also have to add 2 464 yards of handspun yarn, 4 sets of placemats, and my first handmade quilt.
Oh, you haven’t seen it? True… It was one of my secret Christmas projects. Well, talking about my secret Christmas projects… Here’s a couple of them. First is the quilt I made for my dad. It is my very first quilt, so it’s very wrinkly, uneven and full of mistakes, but I’m still very proud nonetheless. I worked on it for 2 years, and finally finished it a couple weeks ago, just in time for Christmas.
The second thing I want to share is a pair of socks I made for Emily. These Lemon & Lime socks were made using the Studioloo Bootsie-loo sock yarn I bought at the Twist Festival this fall, in the color “Linden Tree”. The pattern I used is called Seed Stitch socks, from Vogue.
Well, that’s my 2014 wrap up… I hope you guys all had a good time over Christmas, and I wish you all the best for the upcoming year. Take time to enjoy the simple things in life, and to focus more on the things and people you love, and what really matters. Life is short and precious, take advantage of every moment 🙂
Happy new year all!
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Crafty Effie 