Lorelai Shawl and Make2along

I finished my Lorelai shawl!!  Took me about 7 months but it's down and it's huge and I love it!!

Pattern: Lorelai Shawl by Shannon Cook 

Yarn: lots of different types (see my project page here)

 This project started with an OOAK (one of a kind) skein of DK merino/cashmere yarn that I had gotten from Tanis Fiber Artss. (The top and bottom blue)  I had the yarn for awhile and couldn't decide what to do with it. When this pattern was published I wanted to knit it but talked myself out of it.  A couple months later I was  looking at my TFA yarn again and all of a sudden I knew what to do with it.  I went to the basement and dug around in my yarn stash and came up with enough other yarns to make a Lorelei.

I wear it like this for warmth and to keep it out of my way on the front.  Handy when teaching kindergarten.

This is how I wear it most.

It is so cozy and warm.  I love it.  Here's a couple of ways that I can wear it.  I know I've heard some podcasters talk about how they aren't sure how to wear bigger shawls.  This is what works for me.

I wear it like this around my house to be cozy.

Jeni, of Tiny Paper Foxes is hosting a Make2along that ends at the end of January.  This idea is to make to items that go together to make a portion of a outfit.  For the second part of my outfit I made a Granville button up shirt.  I used a white quilting cotton to make mine.  The fit is perfect and I've got a button-up shirt that goes with almost anything!

I love the phrase make2along.  I'm at the point in my sewing and knitting where I'm really trying to make sure what I'm making fits with other things in my handmade wardrobe.

What do you like to make?  Are you interested in making outfits?

#tck12sweaters2015 - 12 sweaters in 2015

Near the end of 2014 Tin Can Knits announced a year long knit-along to try to knit 12 sweaters in 2015.  In 2014 I ended up knitting 10 sweaters without planning it in advance so I decided to join in.  And I managed to do it!  I knit 12 sweaters in 2015.  Here they are.

(If you want more details here  are my projects on Ravelry.  They are tagged tck12sewaters2015)

# 1  Rainbow Sweater

# 2  Tristan's green sweater

# 3 Chuck Pullover

# 4 Curling Sweetheart Pullover

# 5  Not a Shrug

# 6  Flax for Tristan

# 7 Bubble Sweater


# 8 Flax for Claire

# 9 Brown Owligan

# 10 Coppertone Vianne

#11. Schoolboy Vest

#12 R R Hoodie - a.k.a The Elsa sweater for Claire

Here's to a great 2016 and lots more knitting and sewing time!!  Happy New Year!

November already!

I keep writing all sorts of blog posts in my head . .. . but never get them onto the computer.  So instead of several individual posts that are never going to happen here is a summary of some of my knitting and sewing since August.

1. Margrathea Shawl by Martina Behm - yarn merino/silk by YarnInk

2. Flax for T, by Tincan Knits - yarn James C. Brett Marble Chunky

3. Flax for C, by Tincan Knits, and Owligan by Kate Davies - yarn James C. Brett Marble Chunky

And it is too short.  I've ordered another ball of yarn to add 3 inches of length!

4.Sewing for me!  The Indiesew Fall pattern collection - Laurelhurst cardigan, Cabin Tunic and Sloan Leggings (Faux leather panels!)

I love the pockets in the tunic.  The cardigan is cozy but feels so dressy when I wear it and the whole outfit feels as comfortable as pyjamas!


5. Finally finished my quilt! (3 years)  I begged my 93 year old grandmother to quilt it for me!  She finally agreed.  She said she wouldn't finish till after Christmas and she had it done in 2 weeks!  Thank you, Nana. I sewed on the binding and now I'm set for a cozy winter!

6. Halloween Costumes - Anna dress and cape for my daughter and her cousin wore an Elsa costume made by my sister-in-law

And my son wore the owl costume I made last year.

I finished a few other things but didn't manage to get any decent pictures yet.  Maybe in the next update. 

Favourite Baby Knits

I was looking back through some of my photos and found some pictures of some of the sweaters I've made for my kids and other kids.  I like worsted weight or chunky weight yarn. No fingering weight baby sweaters for me. 

Baby Bootah -  okay so this sweater is a Sport weight yarn.  And I love the sweater but after knitting this I resolved to knit baby sweaters out of heavier yarn.  The pattern is really cute.  It is fairly easy to put on a baby and stays on really well with the 2 sets of ties.  I bought a kit from Fleece Artist that had the yarn and the pattern.

Sweater pattern invented on the fly by me! I had this rainbow yarn with a homespun look (but a soft, acrylic feel) that someone gave me years ago.  I loved it and held onto it for years until was pregnant with my daughter.  I knew there wasn't enough on it's own to make a sweater so I did stripes on the body and the cuffs, adding in an acrylic white yarn to compensate for the yardage. 

 Baby Sophisticate Sweater - Free   this is a really cute pattern.  I'm looking at this wondering why I haven't knit this one more often.  My cousin and his wife are expecting their first child in November and I think I just figured out what pattern I will be using.

I have no idea what this pattern is.  There probably isn't one.  My knitting mentor made it for my son when he was born.  It was the perfect size and fit him from  6 months to 15 months.  She made it out of a cotton/wool blend, something I have yet to knit with.

Latte Baby Coat -Another great pattern.  Top down raglan.  There is a really wide button band which can be fun for playing with a textured stitch.   The pattern calls for a basket weave stitch.  I did seed stitch on this version for my son.

Sunshine and clouds outfit

The yellow skirt fabric just looked so summery and fun to me in May that I just had to get it.  I quickly self-drafted a pattern using a RTW Maxi skirt I bought when I was pregnant.  I used the pockets from the Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt pattern to add pockets.

 I started making the grey top the same weekend and I just finished it this past weekend in August.  Oops.  It just wasn't doing anything for me when I finished it. The pattern is a free pattern from Spitups and Stilettos, the Harper Blouse.  It's supposed to be tunic length and it's not.  It just didn't look flattering.

So I left in a my UFO basket for awhile.  I couldn't get out of my head this grey sleevelss blouse with this skirt. So I dug it back out.  Ripped out the side seams.  Did an SBA (small-bust adjustment) to the pattern and modified the side shaping on the pattern to be more similiar to the Sewaholic Granville pattern.  (Do you see a trend here?  I like Sewaholic patterns . .. the only one that I struggled with was the Thurlow trousers, I have an un-blogged pair) I re-sewed the darts and side seams and followed the directions for the armhole edging from the Made-by-Rae Josephine Top pattern. For a free pattern the Harper blouse is good.  I like the half collar look.  It took some fitting and pattern changing but now I've got a nice sleeveless top pattern that looks quite great!

Patterns:

• Skirt - self-drafted with pocket assistance from Hollyburn skirt pattern
• Top - Harper Blouse by Spitups and Stilettos (free pattern), with assistance from the  Granville pattern.

Now I have a great outfit for when school starts again in two weeks!! AHHH  Bring on the Kindergarten kids!

OAL2015 - Vianne and Cambie Dress

Last year I watched the Outfit Along, hosted by Andi of Untangling Threads and Lladybird but I didn't participate because I didn't see myself wearing the dress they had picked.  Then I discovered the Sewalolic dress patterns that have pockets in them.  So this year when the Outfit Along came up I knew I wanted to make the Cambie dress.  I had just enough of this purple fabric in my stash to make the dress.  The purple fabric is a polyester, thin fabric and it is lined with a gray cotton/rayon blend.

The fit on the dress is amazing!!  I think I will only ever make this dress in different fabrics.  It has pockets, the neckline is very modest for me and doesn't gape when I lean forward!  I had to adjust the bust darts slightly but that was easy to do when I sewed the lining.

The official knitting pattern was the Vianne cardigan, designed by Andi.  I thought it would look good with the dress so I decided to knit it in a yarn I had from Tanis Fiber Arts, the DK weight. 

The lace panel at the front is is simple and pretty.

The mesh panel at the back is neat but I felt it was too much on the whole thing.  I just stopped knitting it when I joined at the armhole.

Very nice pattern.  Andi has s different style of writing patterns but I do like the end results.  This is the third sweater I've knit from her patterns.

 The whole outfit!!  Most of the time I will wear this with flats.  It will be the perfect transitional outfit for the fall!  And now in the heat of the summer the dress is wonderful on it's own.

Jenny Dress # 2

Pattern:  Jenny Dress by Sisboom
Fabric: cotton

This is the second version of this dress I made.  The first one I made to wear to my cousin's wedding last year, with a fancier fabric.

This one I made out of a cotton for wearing to work and on hot days in the summer.

I also added pockets to this by using the pattern pieces of have for the Hollyburn skirt.  Adding pockets took this dress from good to fantastic!

Since I made this at the end of May and it was an unusually cool spring in Southern Ontario I made a navy Julia Cardigann. (This is #5 of the Natalie pattern I've made).