Is There Room?

If you look back over the history of this blog you will notice that it started out as a general crafts type of blog - that is there are all different sorts of crafts documented there. Sewing, painting, stencilling - you name it. 

As the years progressed I've kind of fine tuned my crafting as I've been drawn to the fibre arts. I no longer consider myself a beginning spinner. I'm quite good at it, even. (That's really hard for me to say for some reason). My knitting is quite good as well. There isn't a technique out there that I'd be hesitant to try. (... There was a time when I thought cables were hard ... I know ... crazy!). Actually with respect to knitting there aren't too many techniques that I haven't tried. I've mastered most of them too. My brioche stitches have some tension issues but I know that's something that could be worked out with practice. I still crochet. I still weave. I've even tried processing fleece and dying yarn. I've done needle felting and wet felting. 

I adore the fibre arts and I've felt my crafting heart was full. That I didn't have room for another love. But then, something started happening. My grandsons love to draw.  And they love to colour. And they love the fact that Nanny can draw pictures of them on skidoo and pictures of them on a dragon and pictures of the dragon pooping and breathing fire and pictures of the dragon with magnetic feet that only works on trash and ... Well ... You get the idea. 

Spending time with these kiddos and sketching with them and talking to the older ones about light and perspective and colour theory - well, it's kind of ignited this little desire to draw and paint again. I used to paint a lot (acrylics) back when my daughter was a baby. 

My daughter isn't a baby anymore and through some separate process - (perhaps Pinterest or maybe even the gorgeous adult colouring books that are everywhere) she has been finding herself equally interested in exploring watercolours and sketching. 

So we are doing this together!!  We are taking craftsy courses and looking at YouTube videos and we are excited! Every couple of days we text each other photos of things we've tried. Painting with watercolours is so much fun!!!  

It feels like the old days where she would find a tutorial for something new and fun and cool online and we would get excited and try it out and it would be awesome and in the end we were not only closer as mother and daughter but we'd have a pair of pants made out of a t-shirt! 

Except this time she is in Ottawa and I'm in Labrador. But this time we have more experience (and money lol). And it's still bringing us closer together as mother and daughter. And this time - she's better at it than I am. But I am a little biased. 

 

I've Been Sewing

I know I've mentioned Craftsy on this blog before. It is such a great place to learn new things. I love their format and the fact that you can access your classes forever!! 

They have a lot of sewing classes on Craftsy. The first sewing class that I took was a freebie!! It's called "Bag Making Basics" by Kristin Link. The class walks you through making a drawstring bag and a bucket bag. 

I made this cute little drawstring project bag using the techniques learned in this class. I am first and foremost a knitter and a knitter can never have too many project bags. 

The "W.I.P." is embroidered and stands for Work IN Progress. Most knitters would recognize this terminology and would not need to have this explained. 

There are a lot of other little abbreviations that knitters use on a regular basis such as LYS and FO ... But this is a topic for another future blog post.  I wonder is this type of thing found in other hobbies? 

I encourage you all to check out the classes on Craftsy. You are sure to find something that interests you. They have classes on drawing and cake decorating. Photography, calligraphy and bread making! And of course there are loads of knitting, crocheting and quilting classes. They even have classes on spinning! As someone who discovered the magic of spinning entirely online and as such am entirely self taught - the spinning classes in particular make me so happy. 

Living this far north and in a town that is very isolated, I don't have many opportunities to take classes like this. But  Craftsy makes everything so accessible.  I love it. 

I'm so happy with this little bag that it is already housing a new WIP. Any guesses?

If you guessed self striping socks - you are correct!! That seems to be all I want to knit lately - which is really a blessing given the size of my self striping sock yarn stash. 

It really is a little shameful. But, isn't this yarn beautiful?? It's called "Purple Haze" by White Birch Fibre Arts.  This dyer is on etsy and is definitely worth checking out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some bags to sew. 

Top Down Icelandic Cardigan Part 2

Here we are in September already. The weather here in this part of the world has taken a definite turn. Fall comes quickly when you are this far north. The leaves of the birches are turning yellow already. The dogberry trees are almost void of leaves altogether, though I suspect a beetle or disease if doing that, not really due to fall. 

I've been making slow but steady progress on my topdown Icelandic cardigan. I'm determined that this will be a sweater that I wear. I'm determined to knit it perfectly. I'm determined that the fit will be amazing and that I'll be so happy with my cardigan that I'll never want to take it off. 

I've knit many sweaters for myself. Sadly, I don't wear too many of them. There are many reasons for this. Fit is a big one. I've knit one that's too small, another that's too large, another that for the life of me will not stay on my shoulders. (I think this is a design issue - others on Ravelry have complained of the same). There is one sweater that fits fine but looks ridiculous. It has a long peplum and elbow length sleeves. My daughter says it resembles a bathrobe when I wear it. Not a good look for me. 

Then there is this asymmetric sweater that I modified to make it fit symmetric. I really didn't think this one through. The original pattern had a button closure at the neck.  The left front was thin while  the right front was wider. In the original form it was really quite a pretty pattern. I'm not sure what possessed me to try to modify the pattern so that the opening of the cardigan was in the center. I ended up knitting to thin fronts instead of two wider fronts. The result is a cardigan that resembles a cape with sleeves. Not a very fetching look for me.

The final issue that I've had with handknit sweaters is one of sensibility.  I've knit three short sleeved 100% wool sweaters. Let me tell from living in Labrador I've learned that if it's cold enough to be wearing a wool sweater it's cold enough to require sleeves.  It took three sweaters to realize this. That is a sad reflection upon my powers of observation.

So for this sweater I think I finally got it. It's going to be that perfect combination of fit and style and sensibility. That is unless I run out of yarn.