Apr6

The bag lady strikes again!

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The bag lady strikes again!

This week, a friend celebrated her birthday, so our gift to her was a sewing day at my house where we all made the same kind of bag and helped each other to finish them.

There were five of us with varying skill levels. I have made a crapton of bags but obviously some of my zipper skills are rusty. We had a lot of fun, despite the frequent cursing when someone was struggling with a technique, or ripping out a seam, or forgetting to open the darned zipper before sewing around the bag and turning it out <ahem>.

I started out with two of the make-up bags. We used a video tutorial by sewingtimes on YouTube. The chick one is small and the daffodil one larger.

Then, as I had time, I made a simpler pouch from a piece of fabric that I’d built from scraps ages ago. And then a keyfob/wristlet thingy which has a gorgeous rainbowy metal attachment. One of my friends had a whole bag of these plus the special pliers for attaching them. These wristlets only take about 5 minutes to make!

In between all the sewing and chat, we had lunch for which I’d cooked a vegan “seefood” chowder (with shiitake and oyster mushrooms, roasted potatoes, corn etc from Lauren Toyota’s book Vegan Comfort Classics) and a chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream icing and fresh raspberries.

Rather than put all my stuff back in my sewing room, I decided to leave it in the dining room overnight to encourage me to do more sewing. It’s so cold in the basement when the weather starts to warm up. The furnace doesn’t fire as often.

So I used another scrappy piece of fabric to make another zipper pouch and lined it with this candy corn print as there is a small piece of it on the outside of the bag.

And this evening I finished a project that’s been hibernating for a really long time. My oldest son bought canvas and thread to make himself a tool roll for wrenches. He started planning it out but put it aside and it sat around my sewing room for at least a year.

As it’s his birthday tomorrow, I decided I was going to finish the thing and when I pulled it out I found that half the sewing was actually already done.

I can’t remember whether I did it or he did it. But I carried on adding pockets for the tools and hemming the top edge and adding webbing and now it’s finished and he can actually use it.

It even has a little square of vinyl with his initials on it.

So many people are looking forward to time off this weekend but unfortunately that isn’t me! I’m working Friday, Saturday and Monday. The only reason I have Sunday off is that the store is closed. Working sure cuts into my crafting time!!

Mar31

I’m baaaack!

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Well, since my last post, I haven’t been making a whole lot. I went on vacation, on my own, for nine days to visit my family.

Thanks to the lengthy traveling time (three flights in a row, each way) I had only six days to see as much of my mum and sister as possible.

Mum turned 90 and we had a party for her at her house (her first time she’s been home since last September thanks to a health crisis that had her in hospital for 10 weeks and then in a care home). She is hoping to be strong enough to return home, with daily visits from care aides, possibly in April.

The holiday was wonderful.

Beautiful weather, most days.

Beach yoga.

Beach walks.

Incredible birthday cake.

While there, my holiday crochet entailed making three dishcloths of which I didn’t get pictures. I left them at mum’s house to be used.

This morning I finally got back to the sewing room and made a tote bag for hanging up at work. Love this fabric so much.

I have a late shift today but a weekend off to look forward to. The weather is warming up nicely and I’m eagerly anticipating the new leaves and green shoots of spring.

Mar9

Neutral and neon cardi

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The machine-knitted long cardigan is officially finished, right down to the wash and dry to soften it up and even things out.

Evening photos, so not particularly good lighting.

What would I do differently if I were to make it again? Modified drop sleeves to minimize the lumpiness at the seam, a bit less neon on the sleeves, and add stripes to the front for a more cohesive look.

However it was a good result in that it’s warm and wearable, and it fits.

Mar4

More making…

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More making…

Last time, I showed you a simple quilt of squares that was made for display at work. This week I made another quilt with a panel, not surprisingly called Red Truck and Sunflowers. I kept it simple and just free-motion quilted around the sunflowers.

I learned a valuable lesson with this. After I sewed on the binding I decided to trim the seam allowance so that the binding would wrap more neatly around the edge. I made a rookie error – I trimmed all the way to the corners which meant my mitered corners were wrecked. I had to do some wrangling to get them to look okay, bearing in mind it was going to be hung up at work.

Fast forward to my next two-day break from work and I spent some happy hours in my sewing room again.

Easter fabrics are highlighted in the store’s flyer this month so I picked some cute ones and a green flowery contrast and constructed a large bag/basket. The squares are 4 inches finished and the green strips are an inch wide so you can tell how large it is.

I used a lofty polyester batting inside but didn’t do any quilting on it. The lining is more of the green.

I was fortunate to receive some yarn from a co-worker who is decluttering to get ready for moving house. There were a few different yarns but the ones I’m most excited about are the Berroco Modern Cotton in six colours. Some were handwound into balls so I wound them into cakes with my yarn winder so they could relax.

And lastly for today, here’s what I did to my grey Sporto sweater from a few months back. The ribbing at the end of the sleeves was only an inch and I was finding the sleeves too short. As it’s a top-down sweater, it was easy to unpick the bind-off and rip out the ribbing and replace it with a longer cuff with thumb hole.

I haven’t made much progress on the three garments but hopefully next time I’ll have something worth showing on at least one of them.

Feb24

Knittin’ the knits

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Knittin’ the knits

I present to you my WIPs or, if you prefer, PIPs or MIPs (works/projects/makes in progress).

The green Sporto sweater hasn’t changed much this week because I’ve been focusing on the grey/neon cardigan.

Said cardigan is machine-knitted on my somewhat old Bond. I used keyplate 3 to give me a nice gauge with the Craft Smart acrylic from Michaels.

Making a gauge swatch is awesome on this machine because it literally takes 5 minutes. Once that was done, I drew up a schematic so that I could figure out stitches and rows. The back, fronts and pockets were easiest as there was no shaping. The sleeves were a little slower as I had to decrease every 4 rows to the cuff and on the second sleeve I forgot to change colour halfway down and so there was much cursing as I took the work off the machine, frogged some, and rehung it at row 50 to start the neon.

It only took 4 hours over a couple of days to make all the pieces. It probably took the same again to add the handknitted ribbing, bindoffs, and seams.

It’s at the point now where I can try it on. I would have preferred it to be a bit bigger widthways but I’m not redoing it. Next, I’ll add the handknitted ribbed bands around the front and weave in the ends. And sew on the pockets, which I don’t even want to attempt while there is still so much curl in those front sections. The dropped shoulders look a little bulgy when wearing, but I’m hoping that a trip through the washer and dryer will smooth and relax things.

As for the crocheted Elevation cardigan, I have now received the two extra skeins of I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby in Burnt Pumpkin.

Tonight I’m frogging the sleeves so that I can remake them with the new yarn because I just wasn’t loving the look with the lighter orange for the sleeves. I’ll get an up to date photo of that another time.

One last thing…a camping themed quilt for display at work. Quick and simple, just to show off the fabric. It’s small, 24 x 36 inches. The first of many I’d like to make.

Have a good weekend!

Feb19

Long weekends are made for crafting

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Long weekends are made for crafting

It’s a long weekend here in BC, with Family Day on Monday, and I have the rare treat of having all three days off.

I’m enjoying knitting more on my Sporto sweater. Here’s a better pic which shows a more true version of the Spirulina Bites colourway (yarn is Scheepjes Truly Scrumptious).

After I’ve finished the yoke, I’ll be doing the sleeves so I can incorporate some colour-blocking with my two contrast colours. Then I’ll do the body.

Yesterday I had a play in my sewing room. It needed tidying after Thursday (I just dumped everything back in there after our sewing day, having carried it all upstairs for the event). I made a giant pompom which came out ok so I ran up a quick fleece hat to attach it to. There’s a snap on the pompom so it can be removed for the hat to be washed.

The pompom is heavy but the toque fits snugly enough on me for it not to slip off. And of course it matches my crazy buffalo plaid mishmash hoodie.

Today we have a potluck with friends so I need to get my arse off the couch and start prepping food. I’ll need a walk tonight to burn off some of the excess calories!

Feb16

Feb is fab

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Feb is fab

Ah, February. The third month of winter. I have this quirk where I consider winter to be December, January and February. Spring is of course March, April, May. Summer, June, July, August. And fall/autumn is September, October and November.

The actual weather doesn’t always cooperate with my ideas, as often we will have snow in November or March and then the seasons get blurred.

But generally things follow a predictable path. And predictably, many of the people I interact with at work are moaning about the weather and itching for spring. They see a bit of sun and get impatient.

There’s an incontrovertible fact about weather. We can’t control it. So my view is that you might as well accept it and make the best of it.

One of the podcasters I watch is Ali from Little Drops of Wonderful (and also the vlog This Little Wonderful Life). She has a type of seasonal affective disorder that’s opposite to most. Rather than getting down in the winter, she feels low in the summer. She can’t stand the heat (which thankfully is not usually too extreme when you’re in England).

I can relate a little. Summer is nice for a lot of reasons but being hot and sweaty and unable to sleep comfortably makes it less fun. Spring and fall are comfortable, temperature-wise, and seeing nature’s changes is wonderful.

But there’s something about winter that’s so comforting. Obviously it relies on the beauty of a well-heated home. But as nights draw in, days grow shorter, and I get to add more blankets to my couch and bed, I feel very content!

Yarn crafts in winter are ideal. Especially if they keep your lap warm at the same time. This sweater isn’t quite large enough for that yet but I did just reach the point where the stitches fit nicely around the cable. This is another Sporto sweater (from knitty.com), this time with the Scheepjes Truly Scrumptious yarn that I bought last year.

It’s a little grayed out in this light, but the colourway is Spirulina Bites and is a pleasing shade of green. It coordinates well with the Caspian interchangeable needles!

The yarn is an aran weight and I’m knitting it on 6mm needles. I am hoping that as the sweater progresses, I’ll have an Aha! moment and figure out the best way to incorporate the two contrast colours.

Over the winter our “hygge” group has been meeting quite regularly and there is usually some craft content like knitting or crochet.

Today we had a special get-together, where a few people came to my house and we set up our sewing machines at my dining room table. We had an ironing station and a cutting table.

We had a teacosy theme, though one friend sewed on a different project. My first finish was a tall sleeve for my French press. I opted to cover the whole thing but left the top open for the plunger which sticks up while the coffee brews. The fun kitchen appliance fabric was a gift in December.

The second finish was a basic cosy for my large teapots. One friend had brought a template and I enlarged it a bit. Maybe too much. But it’s pretty.

The third was tougher.

I have a smaller teapot and chose a style that has a circle for a base and two rectangles for the sides. The cosy can stay on while pouring the tea. Sewing the sides to the base was a challenge and even though I added bias binding to the exposed seam allowances it was somewhat messy. I sewed a drawstring from the dachshund fabric and decided to add grommets to cinch up the top.

It’s not perfect but it’s cute.

I think I’ve waffled on long enough for today. Enjoy your February!

Feb5

Taming the yarn

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The DK acrylic stash was tipped out onto my sewing table yesterday so that I could wind it up into magic balls. I excluded the fairly intact cakes of Lion Brand Mandala and two balls of Bamboo Pop, and the cottons.

It took me hours. Maybe six? A couple of hours in the morning, followed by a walk and a coffee at a local coffee shop, then another couple of hours, then dinner, then another couple of hours. I even recaked the ones I had wound previously so I could retie the magic knots and detangle.

The very satisfying result! 30 cakes of varying size weighing a total of 2440 grams. This equates to approximately 7173 metres of yarn!

Today, I swatch for a new project.

Feb1

Two more days off = two more projects

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Two more days off = two more projects

The bird bag I showed you last time was very gratefully received by my coworker. And the buffalo plaid hoodie is comfortable and cosy and I was wearing it constantly the last couple of days.

I have now added another garment to my wardrobe….

This is a mashup of a sleeveless summer top that I invented a couple of years ago and the dolman sleeved top with the ruching from last year. I literally taped the two homemade pattern pieces together and ran this up.

The flared hem drapes nicely at the sides. I narrowed the waist area slightly and made the sleeves three-quarter length.

I accidentally started cutting the front neck without a seam allowance so the neckline is a bit deeper too.

Note the new haircut – shortest sides ever – a proper undercut! And professional colour!

My other finish was a backpack made from fluffy pink chenille. Not your average bag! I had a remnant of it, and paired it with a fleece remnant for the lining. Pulled a couple of coordinating zippers out of the stash, and some curtain grommets. The only thing I needed to buy was a couple of large silver D rings.

It took me a while to figure out the best number of grommets and I was concerned that the two thick layers might be a problem, but it all came together well. There are two very large inside pockets so that everything doesn’t just get mixed up in there.

My last conundrum was a strap and in the end I decided to use some acrylic DK yarn, made into icord with my little machine, and crocheted into a chain with my biggest hook.

Ta dah!

Jan26

Success!

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Following my knits blitz on the weekend, I successfully achieved one of my goals. I frankensteined a hoodie from three different types of buffalo plaid.

It was so freeing just picking pieces that were big enough to lay a pattern piece on and cut something out without worrying about it being perfect.

Another finish today was this bag. I bought the fabric this week for this project as it’s for a coworker and the bird print will be perfect for her. I just happened to have a piece of vinyl that was the right size- all I had to do was square it up.

It’s lined and has a pocket with an attached D ring, which is handy for a knitter’s project bag to hold stitch markers.

The crochet cardigan is on hold for now. Did the front bands and half of both sleeves and tried it on and decided I wouldn’t wear it with the light orange and yellow. So I’m going to frog back to the shoulders and hopefully get more of the burnt pumpkin colour. It’s Hobby Lobby yarn and they don’t ship to Canada but I’ll work it out somehow.

Working the next three days and hoping I feel better. Haven’t felt right since Sunday and work was an effort. Tummy still over-sensitive. Wish I could just carry on making stuff!!