A sewing post - and a craft by Kev!

I swear,  Kev made something!!  But first, I wanted to show off the little bingo caddy that I made.  It actually turned out to be not so little.  I've sewn this project before, and I found it ran a little small, especially on the base.  This time I wanted it a little larger, so I just kind of made it up as I went along, using the pattern more as a recipe.  The pattern can be found here by the way.   I used some more of the fabric that I got from the 99 cent dress from Old Navy.  I love it, and I still have enough for another bingo caddy, maybe two, if I don't make it so friggin huge. Its hard to tell from the photos, but trust me...huge.  And here is a close up of the cute little needle felted beads that I put on the ends of the ties. 


This past week, I had to give a little talk about spinning to my Trefoil Guild members.  I brought my wheel in to show the ladies, and I also brought along my spindle.  I showed off  my handspun yarns and all my fibers.  And.....I had Kev make them each a spindle for them to take home and try themselves.  Here he is holding them all.  I am so proud of his work.  Each spindle is well balanced, and seems to spin great.  The girls seemed to enjoy the talk and demonstrations.  I'm not sure that I convinced any of them to take spinning up as a hobby, but I really tried. 

Still loving the Crochet

I finished the little dress, which turned out to be adorable.  I donated to the Girl Guides fundraiser silent auction.  I know the lady that bought it, so I will be secretly watching her child this summer to see if she wears it.  This was such a cute design, and the designer couldn't be sweeter.  She contacted me on Ravelry to let me know that she liked my rendition of her design.  I did use a heavier gauged yarn than recommended and consequently ended up with a size to fit a 2 year old even though I crocheted the smallest size.


And here is my progress on the rhubard scarf.  What a great pairing of stitch pattern and yarn!  I'm loving the result, though I'm getting a little tired of scarves.  I just finished knitting Summit from the most recent issue of Knitty.   I modified mine to make a more narrow version because I didn't have enough of the yarn to make a full sized version.  I used Knitpick's Stroll kettle dyed in the auburn colourway.  Overall, I'm happy with this as it resulted in a nice spring scarf.  Blocking was tricky though!

What I've been up to.

Its been a while since I've blogged.  So much for my resolution to blog more, but in my defence, I was ill.  Strep throat to be precise.  And at the worse possible time.  I went to visit Amy last week.  I had all of these plans to go yarn shopping.  I even had Kev convinced to go wheel shopping with me.  He even knew that I was talking about a spinning wheel, not actual tires or a vehicle.   All that I managed to do (in the fibre realm) was to buy some books and magazines.  I did get to take in some amazing performances by the students of Bishop's University.  Other than that, I slept.  And took medication. 

Prior to our trip, I got on a crochet jag.  Brought about by National Crochet month and our little CAL on Ravelry.  So here is a look at some crochet projects that I've been working on.

This is the Bella Dress from the most recent issue of Interweave Crochet.  I finally broke down and bought a subscription.  This was my first issue and I was not dissappointed.  This little dress features a fabric skirt sewn in after.  I just love the coordinating fabric.  It came from a tent dress that I bought from Old Navy on sale for 99cents!!  I guess I'm still in denial that Heather is having another boy.  I really wanted this dress to be for her new baby.  Maybe she'll still let me put it on him.





This is the Noro Catherine Wheel Scarf.  I'm making mine out of a ball of Zauberbal Crazy and one ball of Knit Pick Palette.  I love how its working up.  This was my go to project on our little trip.  Normally, I knit or crochet like a bandit while travelling.  Sadly, I hardly worked on it at all.  That just goes to show you, how sick I really felt.

Scrumming

 Or Freeform crochet.  March was crochet month.  Over on ravelry I participated in this crochet along.  Each day in March a different set of instructions were given by different 'designers'.  I was March 27th designer.   I had everyone crochet grannysquares in remembrance or honour of their grannies/nans.  My finished ....erm....thing is this.  Here it is in all its glory.  Lots of new and interesting techniques and stitches here.  I know, its kind of odd, but some people make great things out of freeform crochet.  Check out Prudence Mapstone.  She is the queen of freeform crochet.  I think I may hang this in my imaginary studio.  My plan is to hang one of these each year that I participate in the freeform along.  I suspect it will look interesting when I have several of them done.  Oh, and someday, I'll have that studio too.

I think I may be in love

With this combination of yarn and mitten pattern.  I'm not usually a person to use the recommended yarn.  I almost always will try to substitute based on what I have in my stash.  I certainly never knit with the exact same colourway.  Except this time.  I purchased the exact same yarn brand - Malabrigo, in the exact same colours - Emerald blue and Carrot as the pattern is recommending.  And oh my, how I love it.  These mittens are so fun, they are practically knitting themselves. 

In other news, I joined a yarn club of sorts.  Its Leethal Quick knits Club, by Lee Meridith.  I love her patterns and her work.  She is genius.  She uses mostly recycled/reclaimed yarn and materials, which I love, love, love.  Her patterns are quick, quirky and fun.  I really wanted to support her work and join this club.  So far, I've received March's mail out which had a photography theme.  When I grow up, I want to be a photographer.  Some day I'll own a good camera, but for now, I love my little Canon Power shot.  The package included two mini skeins of yarn, two fun little patterns and some extras - one of which was this neat little mesh thingy that you hold over your camera lens to produce a nice twinkly effect with lights.  Here is a photo taken in my kitchen.  I suspect there would have been more twinkling if all lights in the fixture were working and if it were indeed dark enough to require lights.  And yes, that is a big pile o snow outside my window.  Late March does not equal spring in Labrador (even though we have had the mildest winter on record)


I'm not sure what is going on with Blogger.  I used to be able to somewhat format my photos, now they are just going in here all helter skelter like.  Oh well, I'm sure it makes sense to someone. 

I think I may start a tradition

I was getting kind of bored with my knitting.  Not that the stuff that I'm currently knitting isn't challenging, because it is.  But, its just not ....... fun.  I seem to need a fun project on the go all the time to keep my knitting fresh.  Otherwise knitting sometimes looses its appeal.  Now that statement is  probably a little too strong.  It will never loose its appeal.  Knitting will always be my boyfriend. But I like knitting things that I see progress quickly.  I love self striping yarns.  They always keep me entertained.  You should see my stash.  It is crazy.  And the amount of self striping yarn is ridiculous.  I actually got a Jimmy Beans order today.  The whole point of the order was that Jess and I wanted some Malabrigo worsted to make the Love Bytes mittens.   Since we had to pay about 14$ shipping, I decided to throw in some Noro Kuryeon.  I also wanted to try Mini Mochi.   No pattern in mind - just because.

Sorry, I've kind of gone off on a tangent there.  The title of my post is about traditions.  My daughter's best friend since forever is Lucy.  Lucy loves interesting hats.  In fact, I've made Lucy a mohawk hat, a princess Leiah hat, a Tepes Hat and now this year for her birthday she will be receiving the Dead Fish hat.  I think she'll like it.  Morgan does.  He looks pretty cute with it on too.  Well, he looks pretty cute with it off too, but I'm biased.  Pattern is Dead Fish Hat from Knitty and the yarn is Nashua Handknits Wooly Stripes.  I needle felted on the eyes.  So much easier than sewing.  Great pattern.  I highly recommend it. 

A Short Winter

A mild winter thats for sure. We haven't had those long periods of weeks on end where its been 40 below (Celcius). In fact, I recall only 1 real week of it sometime in January. And we haven't had a lot of snow. Spring will arrive shortly in Labrador. It makes sense then, that I'm knitting these heavey boot socks for Kevin.

He will wear these hunting and cutting wood I expect. Though, likely not until October with the way things are going. I don't mean that I won't finish them until October. (though, with me that remains a distinct possibility). I just mean that its been so mild that these aren't altogether necessary anymore.

The pattern and the yarn are both by Briggs and Little - an east coast favorite. Great pattern, neat little heel. I'll likely make these again.