Toddler things
While our family is cozy and warm here in Lima, I thought I would take a few moments to share with you my most recent spring makes.
Shortly after my first daughter was born, a clerk at our local fabric store showed me a pattern magazine from Katia Fabrics. Now I gotta say I had never worked with their patterns before and had no idea they even existed but I decided to get the magazine anyway after skimming through it as I thought the designs were really cute. It was the spring/summer edition called « Essence ».
While I loved their designs, I never quite worked up the courage to sit down and figure out how the patterns/instructions worked as it seemed kind of daunting to me at the time. The magazine sat in my office for a good couple years, but I finally picked it up this spring and decided to give it a go.
To my great surprise, while they do work very differently than other more traditional patterns I’ve worked with before, I actually found their method very intuitive and picked it up right away.
The first design I tried was a jumpsuit, and I gotta say it is probably one of the cutest things I’ve ever made.
It’s the design #19 in the book. I made it exactly as is, I believe in size 98 cm (2-3 y/o?). The only mod I made was to use stretchy jersey fabric instead, in 3 different colours/patterns to make it more fun and lively. The design in cleaver, easy to put together and just so cute! the straps are a bit too long so i had to tie them up but this will fit for a LONG time!
I loved my experience with Katia Fabric’s pattern magazine so much that i ended up going to fabric store to buy another one, the fall/winter edition called “Textures”.
From this magazine, I made a sweatshirt (design #17) in a fun animal printed fleece.
Again, I cannot express how clever, cute and easy to put together this design was. I love everything about it. The pockets, the hood, it is just perfect in every way.
My family and I will be enjoying the warmth and the sun for a little bit longer but soon enough, I’ll be back to share more spring and summer makes with you all.
Cheers 🙂
Maternity Makes
These past few months have been busy with all kinds of things, but as things slowly start to slow down for me, I wanted to share a few new pieces I sewed recently. As you’d expect from a now 37 weeks pregnant mama, the pieces I will share today were made with pregnancy and postpartum in mind.
The first one is like to share is another (is it my third now?) Heyday dungarees, from Waves and Wild. I made this one out of a very stretchy purple and yellow floral print my mom-in-law graciously sent me from Peru. While I don’t know the exact composition of the fabric, it feels very soft to the touch, it is matte and very very stretchy. I made the dungarees in size medium, and omitted the pockets to give all the space to the beautiful large floral print. I used encased seams with a top stitch for the body pieces, and normal seams for the straps, loops and hems.
Because of the immense amount of stretch the fabric provides, I was actually able to size down to something that will fit me postpartum while still being able to accommodate my growing pregnant belly. And I am so happy with this piece, I cannot even begin to tell you! I will definitely get a lot of wear out of this, pregnant or not!
The second piece I wanted to show you today is this nursing friendly Lily Top from Sew Over It. With the two overlapping front pieces, it makes this top perfect for both pregnancy and postpartum, even when used with a non stretch fabric like I did here. The fabric I used is a vintage fabric from Germany I got from kleindermache through one of her fabric destash. I am not sure what the fabric composition is but it is very light and airy, which is why I thought it was perfectly suited for a sleeveless top. The pattern comes with both a cap sleeve and longer sleeve, but I opted for no sleeves at all and finished the edges with biais tape instead.
I love the colours and print of this fabric and I hope it will fit as well postpartum.
Small things
Holidays are right around the corner ans I’m so excited! My Christmas tree is already up. What about you? Somehow this year I skipped Halloween entirely and went straight to Christmas mood, and honestly I’m all in for it. The past few months have been a blur and I gotta say that very much I’m looking forward to a well deserved break.
I haven’t had much time for crafting but did make a few small things – baby things that is. And I wanted to show them to you today. The set I’m showing you was made out of beautifully coordinated jersey print from Katia Fabric I bought a couple years ago when I was on maternity leave. It took me so long to finally get around to using it (life is busy you know!) but I’m just so glad I did. This fabric designed for kids comes in panels with 2 or 3 coordinated patterns you can use to make shirts, sweaters, dungarees or whatever else your mind can think of.
I opted for a simple sweater – pants combo as I felt that was the best way for me to use up as much of the fabric as possible. The shirt is a basic raglan top (you can head here for the FREE printable pattern from Jamie – Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom) and the pants are the mini modern joggers from Brindille & Twig.
Both of them were made in size 2, and I mostly used encased seams for my sensitive daughter who doesn’t like tags, threads and seam allowances.
Aside from using encased seams instead of regular or overlock seams, I did almost everything as per pattern. The only small mods I made were to omit the neck binding on the raglan top and omit the knee patches and the drawstring at the waist on the pants.
My daughter absolutely loves this set, and I gotta say that I love it just as much. It is so adorable!
Mini sweaties
Why is it that sometimes it seems like everything in life is all happening at once, and you just can’t seem to catch up with it all? The past couple months have been a bit like that.
Work brought me to Labrador, Canada in late February, then serious family matters unexpectedly brought us to Peru in March and then it’s just been a blur of private and professional meetings, trips and hotels, important decisions and a whirlwind of emotions. While we are still somewhat in the thick of things, I am trying my best to get back into a slower and more predictable routine to gain a bit of a better ground.
It may not be much, but I think taking the time to sit down and share the last few projects I’ve completed (even though they’ve been finished for months now) is a step in the right direction.
Both sweaters I’m sharing today have been made for my daughter earlier this winter, based on knits I’ve made for myself in the past. They are both large enough that they should fit for a year or two, so hopefully I’ll get a lot of wear out of them both.
The first one is like to share is this adorable midi snowflake sweater based on my own made in 2018. While the yarn used is different, I used the same striping sequence in similar colours. The light coloured yarn is my ever so favourite Berroco Modern cotton DK in colour Piper and the purple yarn was a new discovery for my (though I think it’s now discontinued) Pima Cotton DK from Cloudborn fibers. I ended up knitting the cuff on the last sleeve using leftovers from a different yarn as I miscalculated and ran out of yarn before completing the second sleeve. I did not want to break out a new skein for just the cuff so I hunted down something similar in my remnants and rolled with it. Overall I think it’s barely noticeable and someone who didn’t know who probably never notice. As usual, the snowflake pattern was a pleasure to knit. It’s my thing snowflake now (first child version) and I just find is so elegant. I always mess up the setup somehow though, but I guess that’s a minor inconvenience.
The second sweater I’d like to share is this adorable coral mini Raindrop. I guess saying it’s “based on” my own version would be a bit of a stretch as the colour, yarn, sleeves, edge and cuffs are different but I guess one could argue it’s been inspired by. The yarn I used for this one is a lucky find – earlier this winter I went to my local dollar store and found this coral Truboo yarn from Lion Brand. Let’s just say that at that price it was just a real steal and couldn’t pass this golden opportunity. And let me tell you – this yarn is just so incredible soft! A real dream. Though it does tend to pill fairly easy, but I really can’t complain.
I was lucky enough to put my hands on a few skeins of the same yarn in a cotton candy pink colour as well, and I may be working on a pair of matching summer tees with it. If you’d like to see, make sure to keep an eye out for the next post 🙂
Until then, cheers folks 🙂
Making Peace
It seems like everybody and their mother all have knitted a Bluesand Cardigan before. And with over 2700 projects on Ravelry, it’s one of the most popular cardigan patterns on Ravelry. And anyone who has seen this design before knows why – it’s so cleverly designed with distinctive small touches and details that really make this piece stand out. And now I finally have one, too! Though the journey to get there was not so simple. But first, let’s admire this wonderful thing in all its glory.
Now let me tell you a tale of times long past. Years ago, I had decided to cast-on this cardigan for the first time, hoping to use this design to feature one of my first handspun yarn. I had paired it with one of my favorite yarns at the time, Cascade Heritage Sock in two shades of gray. Guys, it was a thing of beauty. To this day, I still bitterly remember this project (you can in fact still see it over here, as I kept the Ravelry project page with all my pictures). But one of the downsides of such an elegant design with careful attention to details is that its construction is very intricate and require significant focus every small step of the way. And unfortunately for me, I was not prepared for this the first time around. A series of mistakes back to back caused frustration, anger and disappointment, and I ended up frogging the entire thing. Not to worry, although it took a few years, I ended up using the yarn for another wonderful sweater from the same designer (remember my Stormy Seas?), but I was still left with a bitter taste.
Since then, time has smoothed things over and I now felt ready to tackle this pattern again, stronger from past experiences. Tedious work folks, but I made it. and in less than two months, to boot. I worked it exactly as per pattern, except for 3 small details – I did not use a provisional cast-on and picked up stitches for the neckband instead, I picked up the neckband stitches in the main colour instead of CC1 and lastly I changed the decrease rows on the sleeves for a tighter fit. As always, you can find all the details on my project page so please feel free to head over that way. Now, that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about the yarn.
This time around, I decided to stick to the needle size and yarn weight recommendation, and I went for a combination of Berroco Modern Cotton DK in color Piper as the main colour and I opted for a skein of Cloudborn Fibers’ Pima Cotton DK for CC1. And because we can never completely forget our first love, I ended up choosing to feature another handspun this time as CC2. This colour combination gives me beachy vibes with the sandy main colour and the Caribbean blue sea hue of the handspun. The purple adds a touch of warmth to the mix giving it wild sunrise vibes.
While I absolutely adore the colours, I was a little bit anxious at how this was going to wash. You know me, I put almost everything in the washer and dryer because if I don’t, I am likely not going to wear it. And while the two commercial yarns I chose are all cotton, the handspun is a merino-tencel blend. I was expecting a bit of shrinkage in the wash, but I was hoping to avoid a felting mess. And fortunately for me, everything went as expected. The yarn was actually fairly fine, finer than the two cotton yarns I was using it with. And so the fabric was feeling a bit loose and airy. I sent the cardigan in the washer with everything else, and then sent it to the dryer on its own on on air fluff. And while it did shrink, the handpun knitted sections retained some stitch definition albeit a bit tighter and fuller and which showcases the blue tonal shades beautifully.
The finished cardigan is beautiful, soft, warm and so so comfortable, please don’t mind me if I just live in it for a little while.
Cheers 🙂
Holiday jam
It’s been a busy few months folks! This fall has just been a blur and it seems like the next few months are going to be the same, but at least the holiday period gives us an opportunity to slow down and spend a bit more time with friends and family.
This is a bit uncharacteristic of me but I actually haven’t knitted (or sewn) any of my Christmas presents this year, partially due to the lack of time and more than likely also lack of planning / foresight. I feel like just yesterday I was enjoying the warm summer weather, then in the blink of an eye the colder season and the holidays have arrived!
While I don’t have any knitted gifts to share, I still do have a completed project which is this green Laurie sweater from Josée Paquin. The colour and the stitch pattern reminded me of a bamboo forest – what do you guys think?
This is actually the second Laurie I’ve knitted, but the only survivor. I had made this once before in 2015 as a NAKNISWEMO (national knit a sweater in a month) project, but the sweater mistakenly ended up in the wash and shrank/felted to the point of being simply unwearable. This is such a shame, because that sweater/dress was just SO beautiful! This time, to save me from the heartbreak, I made it out of a sugar cane viscose yarn that I am sure will survive an unplanned visit to the washer and dryer.
This yarn, Araucania Caña Ruca, is truly the softest most supple yarn I’ve ever worked with, topping even topping Mary Maxim’s Eucalyptus yarn that I loved so much. It is just a dream to knit with, and to wear. The yarn also has this lovely sheen and bright beautiful colours. I actually bought this yarn in Hawaii about 4 or 5 years ago so it’s great to finally put it to good use.
I used all but 20 grams of the 3 skeins I had, and was able to knit the sweater as per pattern albeit a bit cropped. I actually don’t mind it too much because the yarn does tend to grow quite a bit when worn, and slightly cropped sweaters actually work pretty good for me as a toddler-nursing mama. Mods, yardage and other details can as always be found on my project page so feel free to have a look there if you’re interested.
I am so very happy at how this sweater turned out and I’ve already worn it twice in the past week so I’m sure I’ll get a lot of wear out of it in the future.
In this beautiful season, I would like to extend my best wishes to all of you, a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year 🙂
Cushy cozy things
Summer has slipped me by so fast folks… between birthdays and travels, I feel as though summer just slipped right through my fingers and boom, it’s already fall! It’s such a bittersweet feeling. On one hand I am happy fall is here as it is my favourite season after all, on the other hand time flying so fast makes me want to grab on so tight to each small little fleeting moment!
We have been enjoying the cooler weather, the warm cozy drinks and the fall colours as well as soaking in the last little bits of sun before winter arrives. We went on a wonderful hike on thanksgiving weekend and although I am definitely not as in shape as I used to be (or maybe it’s just what carrying a 20 pounds baby makes it feel like) but it was such a wonderful time!
As you can surely imagine, I haven’t made much progress on crafty things, though I do have an ongoing knitting project that is not yet ready to be shared. But I have made a fun little project for my daughter these past couple weeks. It all started with a bit of a lucky find, in the form of a clearance sale on outdoor patio gear.
I found these big lounge chair pads for cheap and decided to give them another life as cushy walk pads to stick around my daughter’s floor bed. so I found some beautiful percale fabric at my local fabric store and matched it with a printed cotton a had in stash. And the result, my loves, is just the cutest thing!
Baby things
Why hello there. I’ve been meaning to get this post out sooner, but it’s been a very busy few weeks here as I headed back to work from mat leave and been feeling all the feels. And to wallow even further, I am reminded every day how my baby girl is growing so fast and will be turning 1 in just a month now so she will officially be moving into toddlerhood. My baby will be no more!
To keep with the theme, I thought I’d present you a couple baby makes I’ve made earlier this spring. I’m sure you’ve all seen the mini Vinicunca sweater I shared a in April, but I also made a few more projects in the last few months I thought were worth sharing.
First off is this adorable little Lacey Romper from Pippy Eve. I knitted this in Corsica yarn from Berroco, an ultra soft cotton cashmere blend. I made a few small mistakes here and there thanks to my mom brain, but nothing I couldn’t live with. The result is just so cute and soft and dreamy! I installed two buttons on the straps so the length could be adjusted and it could be worn a little longer, but that’s the only (intentional) mod I made on this pattern.
Second is the Marian dress I’ve knitted ages ago, long before I even got pregnant. It was left unfinished as I ran out of yarn, bound it off it in a different colourway, tried to dye it and failed then put it in the pile for a second dye job that took me way too long to get to. Regardless, now it is complete! Ta-da!
While I’m quite happy with the final result and I think the pattern is really cute, I was not very happy about the skirt increases being located in the middle of the reverse stockinette st sections, so if I ever make this again I’ll move the increases to the sides to make them less noticeable. The original yarn used for this project was Cascade Heritage solids in the strawberry cream colourway, which ended up being dyed a deep bluish purple. If you’re wondering what it looked like in pink, here it is – I’m definitely glad I took the time to dye it as I like the deep blue-purple so much more!
Last is this faux cable sweater/dress I made using leftover Modern Cotton DK and s skein of Debbie Bliss Eco Baby Prints cotton yarn in pool blue. There is no pattern, I just kind of winged it on the fly. It’s not perfect but it’s cute!
As always, details and yardage can be found on my Ravelry project pages so feel free to check it out here, here and here.
Thank you to all those who made it this far and hope you all have a great summer!
Plush toy galore
I’ve been hoarding books and toy patterns for years now, and although I find them so cute and cuddly and had all the intentions in the world to make cute adorable plushies for the little ones around me, I have to admit that I only ever knitted a toy once, roughly 5 years ago. So last month, I decided to change that.
I dusted my toy making books, dug through the yarn leftovers and odd skeins I couldn’t find a use for and started making. And low and behold, I ended up making many more than I thought I was going to. Without further ado, let me now present you my humble little plush toy collection.
Those squishy fluffy faces come from a few different sources, so please let me walk you through.
The two siblings were made using Susan Claudino’s Voodoo you love me? , a sweet and simple pattern I’ve really enjoyed making. The instructions are super clear, step-by-step and easy to understand. The big brother was made using an unknown, unmarked yarn ball from my craft room closet. It is most likely an acrylic yarn of some kind in a bulky or super bulky weight. The little brother was made using some Berroco Corsica cotton/cashmere yarn I had leftover from a little baby onesie I made a few weeks ago (more on that in another blog post!).
The bright pink and white bunny is actually a crochet project, which I actually rarely do, so it was a nice change of pace. The pattern is called Framboise, and it comes from a book called Tendre Crochet from Sandrine Deveze. Now I wish I could link you the Ravelry page but it seems that book has not been catalogued right in Ravelry, and some of the patterns contained in the book (like this one, which also happens to be on the front cover) is not listed. But a quick search on Amazon or your preferred book store and I’m sure you’ll be able to find a version of it, it has been translated and distributed in many languages/countries I believe. I made this project using again a couple unmarked, unknown skeins of yarn that look like they’d be a cotton blend in a worsted weight. Now although the patterns provided in the book are all just adorable, I have to admit I wasn’t a huge fan of the construction of this one, as it makes us crochet the body and the head separately and then sew them together. Next time I make this, I’ll start with the legs and body, then switch yarn colour and work the head seamlessly, adding the filling as I go.
The big guy is Hugo, the couch potato monster. It comes from Rebecca Danger’s Big Book of Knitted Monsters. This is a favourite of mine, I’ve cherished this book dearly for years, even though I’ve only ever knitted one before. I made this new one in wonderfully soft Noro Shinryoku. Hugo is a super easy pattern and the final toy is just *SO* squishy!!
The last one I made is the star shaped little guy with a blue hat. This pattern is called Knubbelchen and is a free Ravelry download. I made this one out of leftover Universal Yarn Bamboo Pop and it is just so soft and squishy! The one thing I’m a little sad about is that I didn’t look at the finished measurements of the doll first, had I known how small it was going to be I would’ve kept knitting! But anyways I’ll keep that in mind for next time.
For obvious safety reasons I’ve used safety eyes for all the dolls. yardage info is available for the yarns I could track (i.e. not the unknown/unmarked ones) ok my Ravelry project pages here, here, here and here.
Hope you guys are all fully enjoying the last bits of spring, and I’ll talk to you again real soon. Cheers 🙂
Twinning
So… something happened. I made a sweater, and it was just so wonderful and perfect and the colours were so amazing that I decided to make another one. A smaller one. A tiny baby one. And I couldn’t be more happy about the result ❤️
So first let’s get the basics down. This pattern is made (once again) by Beatriz Rubio from Sambaknits and it’s called Vinicunca. It’s a wonderful dropped shoulder cozy oversized sweater with tight sleeves. I made it in Berroco’s Modern Cotton DK in colour Gadwall. The contrasting colours are a bit of a closet clean out, I used a mix of what I had in a similar gauge that would fit the colour scheme I was envisioning. There’s Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in there, Knit Pick’s lindy chain, Katia rustic silk and a couple basic cotton yarns to complete.
I made this sweater in size 2, no swatch, I just eyeballed it. Big mistake. But let’s be real, I just never swatch. I’m not a swatcher, never been, and probably never will be. I don’t care much for gauge, and I like to have variety in my closet so in my hand knit section, I’ve got sweaters of all sizes ranging from dramatically oversized to pretty darn snug, and I kinda like it that way. So back on topic, I didn’t swatch. and I probably should’ve. Because… I’m a tight knitter. And I liked the oversized look of this sweater. So… I ended up blocking the sh*t out of this one until I reached the desired size. NOT RECOMMENDED 😅 but I did. And you know what? It turned out just fine. But I made a slight adjustment for the mini version, and I made a mental note to myself for any other future iterations of this sweater to size up on needle size to 4mm because for this sweater, gauge matters. A lot. Anyways other than needle size I didn’t change much to the pattern. I omitted the sleeve decreases and changed up the number of repeats for the contrasting colours to jazz it up but that’s about it. All the details are on my Ravelry project page as always, including precise yardage, mods, etc.
For the mini version, I did end up making quite a few ajustements, as the pattern isn’t made for kids. It’s not perfect and if I do this again I left plenty of notes on my project page to do a better job next time but overall, I’m still pretty darn happy with the result. And the little lady too, so it’s all good.
So that’s all I got for today folks, I’ll see you again real soon 😉
Crafty Effie 