Lavender Leaf Vest Finished

 

 I started this last summer with linen from Homespun Boutique, my favorite yarn shop.  It was lovely to work with, though tended to split as it is about a 5 or 6 ply.    Also produced a lot of lint when I knitted in the car.  I love the color, and the overall pattern was fun and kept me interested.  I created buttonholes when I did the picot edging but decided I preferred a higher single closing, so I created loops.  Even though I swatched it and sized up for ease, the linen knit tight and crisp, so if I did this pattern as a vest again (it was originally a cardi) I might add a back or side vents.  I'm very pleased with it and can't wait for warmer weather.

Here is a detail of the buttons and loops.  Ravely notes here:  //www.ravelry.com/projects/carolyndw/leaf-and-picot-cardigan

Felicity in Charcoal

 

This is probably the warmest hat I've ever made or had.  Charcoal wool alpaca from Rowan and wool Latte yum (Ravelry notes here)

 

I knew I didn't have enough brown for a whole hat and wanted the latte to be the lower border (don't even ask why, I have no idea) so I knit this from the top down, just reversing the m1 and k2tog directions.  Not only did I use up the Rowan, but that pom pom is the absolute last of the Latte too.

Lookie!  It goes with my warm warm cowl. Ready for snow.

Lavender Leaf Vest - WIP

Find all my notes on Ravelry. This is really coming along - a row or two at night while the kids fall asleep and we talk about their days.. an inch or two in the car on the way to a camping weekend. From the Leaf and Picot Cardigan from Interweave Knits - just knit in the round and minus the sleeves. Which should make it take what, half the time? Why didn't I think of this before? Next sweater, I'm only knitting the back.

Yum. Yarn.

The rest of the story.... It started with a trip to Richmond ...

I couldn't resist the Yarn Lounge (I usually can't). I came away with this fabulously soft Rowan Alpaca Cotton - charcoal brown and grey - for a cowl for me. All the kids are wearing them, right?



Update: After completion, this cowl was too big. Even too big to photograph. But since it only took an hour or two I frogged it completely and started over with a contrasting color - and half the stitches.


I love it. Deliciously warm and cosy, and by redoing the cowl I have enough Rowan left for a hat to match. Yum.

Summer Greens

I've finished! I really love this "rosebud" pattern, I guess it really would work better as a larger stole but my stash only yielded up the one skein. It will make me think of spring in the dead of winter.

Spring Greens III

From the Spring Interweave Knits - the Rose Lace Stole - knit up as a scarf since I have only one skein. Smitten with the beautiful pattern. Really pleased how this is coming along, and it is a lovely light weight for summer knitting.

Update: I finished!!!



I suppose I should read up on how to get Amaryllis to bloom at Christmas. These beauties came out last week and make me feel all tropical - just gorgeous. Thanks again Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob!

Spring Coffee Cosy

My, this yarn from my stash is quite wintery. To spring it up, added a sprout. A multi-season cosy.

Seeing Stars

Still celebrating my boy - a star patch for ripped jeans for my star. What's good for the goose..

Spring Greens

Have been working on the Rumplestiltskin challenge - spin gold from the straw you have. Otherwise known as knitting your stash. However, much of my stash came to me from my mom, from yarn I collected from who knows where, from high school or earlier. I must have been in a real wooly phase at that time in my life, and apparently quite taken with earthy colors which now can look somewhat dull to me. Now my tastes run more to the rainbow - check out a new find if you like color - Attic24 flickr

Up in the studio I came across this forrest-y green but only two skeins - probably 200 yds. The ravelry advanced search is awesome in these cases - I knew I wanted a stole/small blanket (this wool is scruffy feeling, there is no other real word for it. Not. Soft. But warm.) And I figured, why not try a lacey pattern on big needles so I wouldn't be scruffy-wool-knitting forever?

In the future, remind me not to take a pattern written for in the round (growing leaves- thank you Meghan) and work it back and forth. Although perhaps the mental exercise of reading backwards and purl-wise is what will keep me interested for one more skein...

Antique Rose Necklace

Made, BY HAND, by my sister. Wow.

Handmade Fleece Neck Warmers

For the ladies at J's school. These were super easy - I always look in the remnant bin for fleece because it can be a real bargain, and it is almost as nice as wool to work with - no hemming. Or hawing. Of course, I have to be ruthless in only selecting colors I would actually wear, since there are so many of those crazy prints. I'm sure there must be people who enjoy the "no sew throw" but I kind of wonder for a sewing store ... really?

Anyway, I had a bunch of fleece and some embroidery floss so here they are. I've tried them and they are toasty warm, you can fold them over for a turtleneck effect or let them floop or scrunch up. As your style dictates. These are 9" tall by 23" long, I pressed open the seam and sewed the two sides down to just keep the whole thing tidy, then blanket stitch around the top. I found I needed 7x the width in order to make it around in one go, for these that meant about 77" of floss.

If you are searching for last minute projects these took about 30 minutes each. If I were making a manly one, I'd probably use black floss on black or grey fleece, and decrease the height to 6" or so. I might even attempt a skull and cross bones or some other manly emblem. With a matching watch cap it could work, depending on the guy. The fleece definitely avoids the homemade = scratchy curse that men complain about.

Pretty Iron + Pretty Ironing Board = More Ironing?

Thanks Mr. Sycamore, for the most awesome iron I've ever owned. Thanks, Sis, for the recommendation. Doesn't really make me iron shirts more often than "after the pile gets too big to use the iron for sewing". New ironing board cover to match the seat cushions.

Needed a Bag

For a project I started from Halima's vintage swap. Too too pretty to carry around in a plastic bag. So I dipped into the stash and made this early this morning - took about 1 hour. Turned out to be exactly the right size for one project, without tempting me to load it up with other things to carry too. It has two inside pockets for scissors and other stuff.

I started the crewel kit last night and so far so good. I LOVE this little embroidery hoop, it is exactly the right size. Now I have cross stitch for the TV room downstairs and crewel for bed time/play room moments upstairs when I can sneak it in. Ah, the lazy embroiderer, too comfortable to be bothered to run downstairs for the cross stitch.

Summer Top

Remember my crush on the schoolhouse tunic in black and white check back in spring top week? Well, here is my attempt. My fabric (from Joann's) is not so drapey - the trapeze-type body isn't working for my mama body, so I plan to do some darts in the back to gather it in a bit. But Mr. Sycamore declared it does not look maternity-esque, so it is a start. Used the Market Shirt pattern (meant for a much lighter voile) from Weekend Sewing - had to lower the neckline considerably and in retrospect I would have made the sleeves shorter and the body longer, but overall I like it!

Final Tops I Like

A: Bird Top (fabric from Ikea) And I like the straight front – no gathers in this post if I can help it. Ruffles, I don’t know.

B: Bright Pink with cute flower.Like the neckline and the non-gathered front.

C: I like the bold black and white and the mitered square neckline looks very interesting.

D: Navy, which I am strangely drawn to (and few others seem to be, in the STW flickr pool.)

E: Oatmeal colored t-shirt redo that looks like I would wear it every day.I used to wear this “color” all the time but it doesn’t really say spring to me, I’ll have to find an actual color if I attempt this one.

F: A disclaimer – this is not my kind of fabric at all! Apparently, it wasn’t Sascha’s either, check out her blog for the hysterical tale of everything that went wrong with the fabric and pattern! But I really love the simplicity of it, and love those sleeves. Since it has been utterly freezing here the last few days – where oh where are the mid-80s of a typical Piedmont spring? – I’m digging the long sleeves and cardigan look right now.

Update on the schoolhouse tunic from mmmcrafts: I now have yardage in black and white gingham washed and ready to iron for cutting into. I rarely – ever? – copy a pattern so exactly but I am absolutely smitten with the whole idea, and for the last several days have been wishing for that top as I got dressed, so I could wear it.

Enough new tops thoughts. I found half a dozen new blogs to follow and some real inspiration in the flickr pool and finalists. Now back to regularly scheduled over-due creating for upcoming birthdays and a rain-check mother’s day project.

A: B:

C:

D:E:

F:

Last Day to Vote on Spring Top Week 60

Another top I already blogged about made the cut today! Go check out MadebyRae if you haven't already, you can vote until 7pm tonight. This may be my first chance to vote for the top that wins, Florence is currently in the lead with her olive colored Ruffle Top (I'm 0 and 4 so far this week) As you can tell from the posts below, my aesthetic is not exactly that of most voters, apparently. My top also did not make the cut to the top 60, which I was secretly hoping, since after seeing the voting I'm not sure I would like being in the mosaic but having NO VOTES AT ALL. Kind of like being back in high school.

But I'm very happy to have finished a sewing project for myself, which did take 28 days after all, and I probably wouldn't have except for the added incentive to enter. So thanks again Rae for organizing it all.

Out of time at the moment, this weekend will blog my extra tops that I like that didn't make it into the final cut.

More Tops I Love

A: Ruffled orange linen by zaaberry - you can vote for this today, as it is in the top 60 right now on MadebyRae!
B: Florence ruffles in olive by Flossie Teacakes (told you I'd pick some more ruffles)!
C: Tunic #3 by Elizabeth
D: Tunic by Elizabeth - I guess I like her style!
E: Tunic by Hanni
F: Tunic O by Sylvie.
G: Yellow flower tunic by Jenny (Do I love tunics?!) (and more orange!)
H: Sew liberated school house tunic by mmmcrafts - black and white and really nice! So simple.

A: B:

C: D:

E:F:
G: H:

Spring Tops!

If you haven't checked out the spring tops at MadebyRae yet (or voted!) go look. There are over 300 tops in all kinds of styles - ok, many many with ruffles - very inspiring for those of us who rarely sew for ourselves. I wore my top last week and just loved it - new clothes! For spring!



Because I can't vote for every top I love, I'm going to do a mini-favorites post right here (also so I can remember which ones I really really wanted to copy, being the most sincere form of flattery, right?) Click on any photo to link to either their flickr post (with details) or blog if they have one.

A: Here is a very cool tunic with awesome patterns/color from Crow-Girl
B: A lovely longer top from Jenny
C: Light blue from Shannon (and can you see my "longer" theme here? Love hip length..)
D: Cute orange flowers top by Rashooray
E: Poetry Top from Claudia. Normally this is really not my style but I love it! Could I pull it off?
F: Another orange top by Noodlehead
AB:
C: D:
E: F:

All right, enough oogling for now. Time to get sewing!

I see I choose only one really ruffly top above - will rectify the next time I browse thru the tops to pull my faves!