A Rowhouse Hat

::Knitting::

A Rowhouse Hat, it's my first stranded project and I love it.  I deviated from the pattern a bit so that I could use the yarn I had available.  A great knit and I'll be making many for gifts.

I've since cast on a Mama Vertebrae for myself, and even though I really need to spend time on mending and sewing things for my family.


::Reading::

I'm not reading anything wonderful at the moment, I'm finishing up a book that's just ok.  It's good for  now, since this book isn't interesting enough to keep me up late reading!

Last night I read over the new (free!) sewing pattern by Deer & Doe for the Plantain T-Shirt.  I'm pretty excited about this one, it looks like a pattern I can manage it and it's just the kind of shirt I would go for in a store.  And look you can even make it into a dress!

Joining Ginny for a Yarn Along

New Things

Here's a quick little custom order from this week, it was nice to work with all these bright fabrics.

After getting through a lot of my fabric stash it was nice to add a few new fabrics to the selection, (without feeling guilty about it!) I would like to add a few more,  but at the same time it's easier to manage a smaller selection of fabrics in my little sewing space.

You can see  more fabrics by looking at my Facebook page

As I write this I'm also loading some new listings to the shop 

                                     

Yarn Along ~ Daisy Chain

knitting~

I'm working on a hat for myself, but I'm not sure about the pattern-yarn-me match so I've been going slowly with it.  I'm just starting a little cardigan for Rowan using some yarn we dyed before Christmas.  I've dyed yarn many times, but this time I used the tutorial at Kathryn Ivy and found it worked really well, even on the super wash yarn I used.  The colour is bright and held with little to no dye coming off at the end.  Rowan was able to tell me the proper rainbow colour order from a song from the Cat in the Hat show.


reading~
I'm re-reading The Handmade Marketplace right now, hoping it will give me some more ideas for my business.  I'll be taking something else from the book shelf very soon though.

joining in with Ginny for this weeks Yarn Along.

Back to Normal

We're finally settling into our 'normal' routine after the holidays.  My Color Affection shawl kept me sane(ish) over the holidays.  I've had the pattern for a long time but it worried me for some reason.  I gathered up the courage after getting some yarn on sale from Knitpicks, and really it was simple.  One step at a time, follow the pattern (plus read through lots of notes on Ravelry!).  It came off the needles in Sunday night while I watched Dowton Abbey and here it's being blocked where my 10 year old son said 'that's pretty' and my partner asked, 'how did you do that?'  Of course he didn't really  want to know but it's nice that I can trip his logical mind up a bit!

 Getting back to normal means some pad sewing too, I'll be stocking these tomorrow.  I've avoided buying fabric for a couple months and I'm happy that I've been able to really get a lot of fabric used up.   Now it really is time for some new prints though, I'll be going out on Thursday to see what I can find.

I'll be working on wet bags next week.  I'm going to really focus on in stock this month, and trying to have lots of sizes and absorbency available including getting pads with PUL into the shop for those of you who need it.

Yarn Along ~~ finishing up

joining Ginny for a Yarn Along

knitting:

~finishing up a Little Red as a gift for my daughter, she'll love this.
~finishing up another Pilot Cap to add to the shop, I wish I had the knitting skills to make these for my own babies.  I do enjoy adding them to my shop when I get the chance and some suitable yarn.

Both of these projects are close to being finished and I'm thinking about what's next, I need some simple straightforward knits to keep me occupied over the kids winter break…

~a colour affection shawl
~another wool vest for my daughter.  I'd love some pattern suggestions (in a 4 year size range), she has two in the cap sleeve pattern (these are so practical but something else would be a nice change).  I like these wool vests for school days so she has a nice wool layer over her core, but she's not sweltering in a long sleeve sweater.  I also put them on her on cold nights as an extra layer over flannel pjs, that girl has a hard time keeping blankets on her!
~I'll be trying this hat out over the holidays too

reading:

~Dissolution  my mind is often drifting when reading this book, I hear the ending is worth it though.
~Circular Knitting Workshop, this book is a gift but I'm taking a little look through it to make sure it's suitable,  it looks like a wonderful resource.  I hope to add it to my book shelf too.  I thought since I can knit in the round on DPN's and use the magic loop I was all good, but I have a lot to learn too!

A Little Preview

I'll be working on these pads this week, the cores are sewn in and now I'll move along to the fleece cutting.  I'm just waiting on a snap order to arrive.  I'll be changing the ribbon indicating absorbency to a fun little snap that will indicate the absorbency.  

I hope the snaps arrive soon so I can include this batch.  If not though I'll go ahead and use the ribbons on these pads too, I want to get them listed by Friday.  Several of these prints (the trees, and leaves and candy cane stripes) are end of the line prints. 

I have four new fabrics to add to my facebook gallery too!

Yarn Along ~ Portside

I cast on Portside earlier this week, it's just what I need right now.  Round and round knitting with increases every other row.  The cast on was a little different than I expected being an adult sweater (rather than a child's, which I'm more accustomed to knitting).   It will make for a nicer fit and more efficient yarn usage.  I'll get a lot of use from a this tunic.  It would be very easy to adapt the pattern for a cardigan stye too.  Since things need to be easy I'm reading Letters from WIngfield Farm, it's light and entertaining.  The author, Dan Needles used to write a column for Harrowsmith magazine, which has sadly ceased publication.

Joining Ginny for a Yarn Along