A little bit of raglan...

Finally finished something! Everything is taking longer than expected, as usual. I made this from a baby raglan sweater pattern and just expanded it to fit my almost 3 year old. The wool is Suri Merino, which is an alpaca merino mixture. I'm pleased with the way it turned out, but not so pleased that my daughter doesn't really want to wear it. She's going through a no sweater/jacket phase, exactly when the weather is turning colder of course. Something like the way she insists on wearing socks to bed in the summer. Hopefully it will get cold enough to convince her to wear it!

More sewing!

This is my second try with this pattern and this one came out much better, so I think there's been some progress with my sewing! My friend and I are making these together, using a pattern based on one of my daughter's bibs. I used a floral cotton for the front, a blue flannel for the back, and cotton batting to give it thickness. The curves make it difficult for an inexperienced seamstress like myself, but I'm starting to get more control over the speed and placement of the seaming, and I read somewhere that pinking the seam allowance makes for better curves, so I tried that. For a fastener I used an iron-on velcro, which seems to be sticking even after my daughter roughly tugged on it few times--but only time will tell. We got through many bibs around here, so I plan to make lots of these!

On my needles

I've been planning to do this Kimono Shawl for more than a year. I'm using the exquisite Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, which is heavenly to work with. So far all I've done is the garter border, but I'm excited about getting back into lace work.

I can sew!

I'm really excited about this...I have always been intimidated by my sewing machine, but somehow with a little guts and a lot of help from Purl's Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, I have created a pincushion that I adore in spite (or because?) of its imperfections.





Now if this doesn't inspire me to take on my sewing machine, then nothing will.

Some projects I'm dreaming about doing: garden apron from Simple Sewing with a French Twist (gorgeous book!), a quilt for Elsa, and those beautiful bird ornaments also from the Purl book.

Hiding beneath the pincushion is the "anemone" crochet block I've been working on (with the eventual intention of creating the Water Lily quilt from Crochet Blocks):

Playing

Inspired by Jane Brocket's wonderful book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity, and Mason Dixon Knitting, I've been playing with color. I do think I naturally veer towards a muted palette, as in life I tend to be an understated person. But Brocket's book reminds me that playing is art and color is fun, especially unexpected color combinations.







It's taken me a while to come back to knitting, but now there's kind of a creative explosion going on around here. I've been doing some sewing too, and while the results are extremely amateurish I will post about it shortly.

I noticed today that my daughter has also been playing with color. That's one of the many great things about my kid: she reminds me that it's fun to wear pink pants blue shoes yellow beads and mismatched socks. She's got a real sense of style for such a young one.



And some more color play:

Back in business

I guess I really do need the weather to inspire projects. After a long summer hiatus, here's my first project of the season: a hat for my daughter made with Blue Sky alpaca-silk in a natural white. The pattern is my own. I definitely felt a new confidence coming back to knitting after a break. I'm less worried about making mistakes, more free and inventive. More intuitive about gauge.




I've also started a new raglan sweater for my daughter based on a pattern that I used last year. The sizing only goes up to 12 months, so I've had to improvise. Pictures coming soon.

Fiori

Still no knitting....but plenty of flowers.