(I found this post in my drafts. I thought I had published it. It’s a bit out of date as I now have six episodes up, but here it is anyway!)
In this episode, I update you on the knitting and crochet progress and a tonne of finished sewing projects.
There’s the swim set.
And the pink shorts.
And the linen top.
And there’s a bunch of chat. Hope you enjoy the video.
Hi all
I’m at the beach right now. I have my favourite beach quilt, my knitting, a puzzle book, water (no snacks because they mess up my braces and I don’t want to be fussing with them) and of course my phone.
I have been planning some solo beach days for weeks. When I handed in my notice at work, I gave them a month, but thanks to various shenanigans I stayed on for two more weeks to help out. So my beach plans were put on hold.
I still have three shifts to work, but today was a day off and I had nothing pressing that I had to do, so I finally indulged myself. It’s 34 degrees Celsius and the best place to be is right by the water so I can have multiple swims. I spent some time sunbathing but it was so hot and I didn’t want to burn so I retreated under the tree.
This WIP is the Nightshade shawl by Lisa Mutch. Found it on Ravelry and it’s a free pattern. I’m using the Jody Long Coastline yarn that I bought recently. It’s a plant fibre blend and is very comfortable to knit with. Because I’m not sure if I have enough yardage for the lower two colours I’m reducing the amount of repeats in the lacy sections. Hope it works out.
The highlight of last week was going to see Grease the Musical. It was a lot of fun. Love the songs. Didn’t realise the movie came out in 1978!! I was 16. Wow, that was a looooooooong time ago!!
Sorry, dear blog, but I’ve been cheating on you. Since I started up my YouTube channel, Stitches and Slapdashery, I’ve not had time for you.
But I’m going to trawl through the pictures on my phone and see if we can update things a bit.
There have been other things but I talked about them on video instead. Do come over and visit! https://youtube.com/@stitchesandslapdashery
By the way, the snap bag in the last pic was made using my own tutorial right here on the blog. https://nicolaknits.com/2022/07/19/bag-sewing-tutorial-the-caroline-bag/
My sewing and cutting tables have had a face-lift. This is peel and stick vinyl wallpaper and I ordered it from Amazon. I’ve seen so many videos where they have a nice background and I decided I needed something like that when I’m photographing my FOs or making videos.
The process of applying it to the tables was more complicated than I realised, but luckily I have capable men around my house to help!
There’s been a lot of good eating around here lately. I bought the book Vegan Comfort Classics by Lauren Toyota. It’s dangerous! So many good recipes but so calorific. I didn’t get a photo of tonight’s dinner, but it was crispy crabless cakes with jalapeño aioli, which we had with oven fries. So good!
This is a baby blanket in progress. The yarn is gorgeous. It’s Järbo Cookie in the Candy colourway. A soft fuzzy acrylic with 600 metres in a 200 gram cake, it’s a joy to work with. Not knowing how big a blanket would be achievable with the one cake, I started a simple centre out granny and I’ll just keep going until it’s gone.
These drawstring bags have taken me a while. I was asked by a friend to sew 25 gift bags, for pay, and I actually cut out 28, so they are getting three bonus bags. They are unlined – I zigzagged the edges before sewing them together (that took ages as well as a whole lotta thread).
The ribbon that I found is a perfect match for the cotton prints. And they are done, and I can now move on to a new project.
As for the new vlog, Stitches and Slapdashery, it’s live and I’m happy that so many people have already viewed it. Hope you enjoy it!
Guys, I am happy to announce my new YouTube channel is going live any moment.
The first vlog has been uploaded to YT but I’m told that your first video can take a while to be publicly visible.
The name is Stitches and Slapdashery and in the first episode I talk about my Sporto sweater, the Any Yarn Will Do Sweater, and some sewn tops.
I expect that most of my energy will go to that in future. Unlike a blog post that can be written and uploaded in 15 minutes, a vlog takes hours, what with the setup, recording, editing, saving and uploading to YouTube.
But I enjoyed making my first one and I know there will be more.
I really hope you go over to YT to check it out. The more views, likes, etc, the better. Thank you!
Edited to add link:
The weather is heating up and yesterday we had rain, and it was so humid it was like being back in the Caribbean. The forecast is for thunderstorms today. Rain good, lightning not good. Forest fire is always a risk here.
Since my last post, there’s been a little activity in the sewing department. Not much in the yarn department. A tiny bit of crochet dishcloth making, and some knitting on the sweater that sadly I think I’m going to have to rip back because I don’t like the look of the stripes. It’s only 10 rounds.
I made this fun T shirt from the same pattern as the vests and tie dye T shirt. I redrafted the neckline to make it more work-appropriate and it’s really comfortable. It is polyester though, so OK for work in the AC but not in the sun.
And then I did a project for display at work out of some fun splashy flower-printed rayon blend. I opted for the grommets rather than the ties at the shoulders, one front pocket and no back pockets. I did sew in the inseam pockets but tealised when I tried the overalls on for hemming that I had lined them up with the wrong notches and they were far too low on the leg.
I spent a long time unpicking those bad boys so to make it less tedious I video-called my mum and sister so that I could chat while wielding the seam ripper…I mean, reverse sewing!
I then just sewed up the side seams and tossed the pocket pieces! I was done with them by then!!
That’s pretty much it for now. I’m off this weekend, I have a hair appointment in an hour, and then it’ll be time to stock up on groceries. Tomorrow we have a potluck to attend, so I need to bake a cake today. And then there’s the commission for 25 drawstring bags to continue sewing.
Talk soon!
What a relaxing weekend it’s been! I’ve been enjoying some sunning on the deck each day, just as the sun comes around about 9am, so it’s not too strong and burning.
Today we went downtown for a tea and a walk, and rather than go for the city park walk in full sun we opted for a leafy lane instead. Still close to the lake, but lots of mature trees.
After lunch, I retreated to the sewing room because I needed a sunhat. I know I made one for myself ages ago. I even found evidence of it on the blog. But can I find it? Nope! I could have done with it today too.
So I found some fun frog and dragonfly fabrics in the stash and made this. The pattern is from Sweet Red Poppy. I don’t find it fun to make, and won’t be making more for kicks!
After some chili and rice, I picked up the sweater and added a few more rounds.
The whole time I’ve been knitting this, I’ve been trying to come up with a fun way to incorporate the berry and mustard contrast colours. I think with this version, I’ll do the kangaroo pocket on the front in the berry, and add some stripes in both colours…somehow. I want to start adding the new colours in soon, because the solid green is getting kind of boring!
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sporto This is the link to the Ravelry pattern page. My first sweater using this pattern came out so well I wanted to do it again. My gauge is different with this yarn, however, so I’ve tweaked the numbers somewhat. And I didn’t add the pocket last time.
Hopefully by my next post I’ll have made a decision on exactly how I’m going to use the contrast colours.
The Any Yarn Will Do Sweater is off the hook! I went with short sleeves as it’s a cotton sweater with a summery vibe. It’s had a nice bath and is currently drying on the table on my deck, where it’s benefiting from the warmth but in the shade.
As am I! I am feeling very relaxed and blessed, with a weekend off and nowhere else I have to be and nothing else I need to be doing. Even though the thermometer says 30 degrees Celsius, it’s very comfortable on the covered deck, with a bit of a breeze.
I had two days off mid-week and the first was all errands and housework, but the second was wall-to-wall sewing, not counting cooking and eating.
These headbands were made from a YT tutorial by Anjurisa. I made the baby size first and then I decided I needed an adult sized one using the gorgeous crab print.
I have short hair and I don’t think this style of headband suits me so it may end up going to the mum of the baby who’s getting the small one!
The baby gift includes this, which I forgot to get a photo of when I finished it.
I’m getting a lot of mileage out of this panel. I bordered two of the squares with extra solid fabric, and put them back to back with batting and a piece of crackly plastic from a muesli box inside. It makes an interesting noise to entertain the baby when it’s chewing on the ribbons.
I then pulled out a couple of remnants and used the same pattern as the tank top I made last week to make another in this yellow daisy stripe.
And then I added some sleeves to this version but the brushed knit was thicker and made the hems too sturdy so I ended up tweaking the side hems and sleeves to look better (after taking this photo).
My next adventures will be tops made with woven fabric, rather than stretch, with another pattern I bought for only $3 because it was discontinued.
…one ball back!
Here’s the Any Yarn Will Do Sweater after I split the yoke for the body and sleeves. A couple of people commented on my last pic of the circular yoke laid flat, wondering how it would end up as a sweater. Well, when it’s folded and you start working on only some of the stitches, it becomes a three dimensional shape.
Unfortunately, after taking that photo, I tried it on (a bonus of top down construction) and realised it was going to be far too big. I frogged all of the blue so that the last increase round was removed, added a few plain rounds, and tonight split the yoke again. It may still be loose on me but hopefully not ginormous. Because my stitch count doesn’t quite match the medium size count, I fudged the numbers by giving the front 6 more stitches than the back. Makes sense when you have boobs, anyway!!
Onward and…er…downward!
It’s been really smoky in the valley for two days now, with forest fire smoke wafting in from other parts of BC and Alberta.
The surrounding mountains weren’t visible and the sun was orange (my phone doesn’t quite manage to catch the orangeness).
Today I felt quite chesty due to the poor air quality. After my grocery errand, I spent the afternoon downstairs, faffing about with bits of vinyl and fabric.
The blue vinyl was a remnant that had a stitched join across it in a wavy line so I cut what I could to make a zipper pouch. And then I messed about with an even smaller bit and made a tiny pouch with an attached clasp.
And here comes the thunder. It just crashed outside and I’m going to go look for lightning.
Pause for relocation to deck to enjoy the storm.
Thunderstorms are a mixed blessing. We usually get hundreds of lightning strikes which can set off new fires in vulnerable areas. And if it gets windy it can fan the flames. But we need the rain to damp things down. Nothing like the smell of petrichor.
This was my other FO today. A pattern I already had. A remnant in the stash. And boom! A new tank top. Super easy and cute.
Take care, people!
I thought it was going to feel hotter this weekend. My weather app was giving me a heat warning. It didn’t actually feel too bad, even though it went up to around 30.
Even sleeping was OK because it cooled off at night. And my sewing room stays cool because it’s on the north side of the house and half of the wall is below ground level. Seems like a good reason to sew!
I made another mug rug because I liked the first one so much and wanted to make a second one that was better (I got the binding right this time).
And I wanted to make a bag to contribute to the Dodgy Bag MAL that Ali of Little Drops of Wonderful is running this month.
I used a remnant of green vinyl and some quilt cotton with a light interfacing. The print dictated the height but to my eye it’s a little disproportionate. Too tall for its width.
I used the same fabric for the lining. I’m rather pleased with the way the print runs along the side of the zipper.
It’ll hold a larger project and yarn, at least.
And last night I spent two hours making another Frankenhoodie out of fleece pieces. I had put these bits of fleece and the pattern pieces aside a long time ago, and finally got around to cutting and sewing it all.
I’m really getting my money’s worth out of this pattern.
It’ll be a pyjama/lounging at home hoodie. Unlike the one I made out of three different buffalo plaids, which I love and have worn lots, this one isn’t going to be worn out in public!
Next time, I’ll do a crochet sweater update. The yoke is done and I’ve started crocheting on just the body stitches. I think it’s going to end up a bit big but I’ll get a better idea after a few more rows.
NICOLA KNITS 