Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Greetings from the dress factory

Remember the swirly dress I made for the babe? Well, I decided that big sis needs one too, so I made her one. And since she's not a very girly girl, I didn't want to make her one with roses and such. So I chose a plain blue for the inside, and stripes for the outside. (note the cool sunglasses in the following picture)
Very happy with how this one turned out too, altho the zipper in the back still gives me trouble. Just have to keep practicing, I guess. :)
For the next dress I've modified the bodice a bit, and made the skirt a bit less full. We'll see how it turns out, I've already cut up the fabric, with any luck I'll have time to start working on it today.Pattern: Ottobre 3/2007
Size: 116cm

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Wehee, finally finished the raglan!

It took me precisely one month to knit this raglan, ridiculous. I guess I've been working on too many things at the same time. Anyway, now it's finally finished, yellow spider and all. :) And apparently the boy likes it, as he hasn't taken it off after I asked him to try it on. The sleeves ended up a bit to short, but I think I can easily stretch them out after washing. Other than that, it fits him perfectly.
I liked working with the yarn, it was nice and soft, we'll see how well it wears. It was Schoeller+Stahl Pantino, a cotton-acrylic blend. I prefer knitting cotton-blends, as they are usually softer than pure cotton. (of course, this does not apply in all cases, but I still prefer the blends. :) )

The boy wanted (after much discussion at the LYS) a grey and white-striped sweater, with a yellow spider. And that's exactly what he got.
I also wanted to do a little something different from just a plain top-down raglan, so I added an opening to the collar, and sewed on some bright buttons. Just for fun. :)
Pattern: Top Down Raglan Sweater generator by Knitting Fool
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Pantino
Size: fits my tall, skinny 7yo perfectly

Saturday, July 25, 2009

The babe still won't cooperate with me

I give up. My lil one wins. It's useless trying to get her to keep still long enough to take a decent pic. Oh well.. This is the best one I got of her in her new tunic
The rest looked like this:

Like I said, the lil one wins. Anyway, I'm happy I finished this tunic, and I'm not going to sew any kind of knit fabric for a long time. Nope, not going to happen. I strongly disliked sewing this, I think you need to have a serger (or nerves of steel) to be able to get a tidy finish on this kind of fabric. I'm definitely making another tunic, but using a different kind of fabric. The tunic itself is quite cute, my fabric-choice was bad. Oh, and the buttons are horribly ugly, but I didn't want to waste pretty buttons on this. :)

Pattern: Muru-tunika, Ottobre 1/2009
Size: 80cm

Friday, July 24, 2009

Tales from the road

As most of you already know, we've been on a mini-vacation with the family. We left early on Tuesday morning and just came back home about an hour ago. In these past four days we've driven over 1100 kilometers. Which, you know, is quite a lot. Altho I must admit that things have gone surprisingly smoothly, no huge tantrums due to having to sit still for hours on end. This, of course, is much thanks to the kids watching movies most of the time.

Anyway, the hoodie I've worked on has gotten this far:
The front and back are done, as is most of the first sleeve. But I'm a bit worried that I might run out of yarn, before the hoodie is finished. That's why I'm making the sleeves stripey. Who knows what the hood will end up looking like.. I'll worry about that when I get that far. :)

I also started a cardi for the almost-five-year-old, but haven't gotten very far on that one. Just a couple of centimeters.
I'm very happy with getting so much knitting done! :)

I've also done some shopping. Just a lil tiny bit. I bought some yarn. Just one skein. And then I went back the next day and bought two more, because the one skein was feeling a bit lonely. Here they are, all together. What a happy bunch:
The yarn is Katia Bombay, in very cheerful colors. :) And then I kinda bought more yarn.. Now, I'm not a big fan of Novita (a Finnish yarn-company), but when I found a place where they sold four skeins for 10€, I just couldn't leave the yarn at the store. So I bought eight skeins of Novita Mambo, in a pretty red color.
This will probably become a jacket for DD#1. This one, to be exact.

I also bought some fabric. What a huge surprise! Dots, stipes and flowers. :)
And, can you believe this, the following fabric I got for free! From hubby's uncle's wife! All she asked was that I make something for the girls from the fabric. Now I just have to figure out what to make..
Amazing, huh? There's loads of the dotted fabric, and it's kinda thick, so I thought I could use it for some kind of jackets. Still have to think some more about that.

These days have also included climbing..

..swinging..
..and being very, very tired.
All in all, not a bad trip, eventho mom and dads nerves were on the verge of snapping on more than one occasion. But I'm still very happy to be home! :)

Oh, today has also involved new shoes! For me! Wheeeeee! Lookee how cute they are!
ps. So sorry about the very poor quality of the photos, it's really dark and my camera just wouldn't cooperate with me..

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

What to do when faced with several tedious hours of sitting in a car?

Hah, not a problem for a knitter! A knitter embraces the possibility of several hours of uninterrupted knitting. All you (well, I) have to do, is find a simple pattern, so that you (me) don't need to follow the pattern all te time, but just knit on, without really thinking about it that much. And I found that pattern! A simple garter stitch kids hoodie, can't get much easier than that. And this is how far I've gotten in two days:
The back is done, and most of one front part. I would have gotten further, but the husband packed my magazine with the pattern in the trunk of the car, so I didn't know when to bind off for the hood. And as I didn't want to knit too far, I decided to switch to knitting something else. And since I had managed to leave my notes for a cardi at home, I started knitting on the Eunice socks. I've managed to knit the first chart once on the first sock! Whee! Yeah, right..

Anyway, this is my progress so far:
Loving it thus far. :) Tomorrow I have just a couple hours of knitting time, and a few hours more on Friday when we drive home. Maybe I'll be able to finish the other front piece.

Monday, July 20, 2009

A Lovely Surprise!

Imagine my surprise when I found out that Michele from By Your Side had given me an award! How wonderful!
I'm still very new to this whole blogging thing, so I think it's wonderful to know that people read my blog, and actually like what they read! Yay!

Anyway, this award comes with a set of rules which are as follows:
The rules of the award:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Copy the image above, the rules and the questionnaire in this post.
3. Post this in one or all of your blogs.
4. Answer the four questions following these Rules.
5. Recruit at least seven (7) friends on your Blog Roll by sharing this with them.
6. Come back to BLoGGiSTa iNFo CoRNeR (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS LINK) at http://bloggistame.blogspot.com and leave the URL of your Post in order for you/your Blog to be added to the Master List.
7. Have Fun!
Questions & Your Answers:
1. The person who tagged you: Michele
2. His/her site's title and url: By Your Side
3. Date when you were tagged: July 20th, 2009
4. Persons you tagged:

My seven are the following:

Michele from By Your Side - I love reading her posts and Fabulous Friday always makes my day!

Alexandra from Wool & Cotton - Love, love, love her photos of Greece! And I love reading (umm, looking at..) her text in Greek, altho I can't understand any of it. :)

Tea from teakkk - the tales of a Finnish woman living in Italy, what's not to love? :)

Melissa from The Speckled Pear - Melissa is the sweetest thing ever, I'm very glad I've gotten to know her.

Janette from Mad Dog Knits - my partner in many crimes. ;) Love ya!

Dorothy from Mommy + Knitter - wonderful person, I miss you very much!

Theresa from Egret Effects - love reading everything she has to say!

Wow, is that seven already? I read so many wonderful blogs, from all over that it's hard to choose just seven. I love you all, you're unique in your own ways!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Blogging from my front porch

We're in the middle of a heat-wave, and I've been knitting warm woolly things. After I saw Tea's version of the Baktus-scarf I knew I had to knit one myself. I wanted to make it small enough to fit my almost-five-year-old. I chose the yarn and started knitting. I started it on the 10th and today I finally cast off. Normally it wouldn't have taken that long to knit, but I've been busy doing other things (like, you know, sewing obsessively..) It was fun to knit, and I loved to see how the colors started pooling and even flashing in places. The yarn is my own hand-dyed, so that made it even more fun for me, as I haven't knit with my own yarn that much. Anyway, here's the finished scarf:
And a pic of the girl wearing it:
The funniest thing about that pic? The girl is wearing her bikini, while modelling a woolly scarf. :D

Pattern: Baktus by Strikkelise
Yarn: my own hand dyed

And now that I've finished this scarf, I'll continue working on the raglan for my boy. Only one sleeve to go!

Friday, July 17, 2009

I'm aware of the fact that I am biased..

But I still have to say that I have the cutest baby ever. And I have proof. See:
Can't argue with me can you? And it just so happens that the cutest baby ever is wearing the cutest dress ever. I'm still totally in love with this dress. I want one for myself. Too bad I don't have the body for it. Oh well.. Oh, by the way, the dres isn't way too big on the babe, like I feared, it is, in fact, just perfect. But she should be able to wear it for a while, as it's a quite loose shape.
Getting a decent photo of the dress wasn't the easiest task, as she kept walking towards me when I put her down to take her photo. So, again, I ended up with a bunch of photos like this one
And some like this
But where would be the fun in having children, if they just stood still and did what they were told? :D

Pattern: Ottobre 3/2007
Size: 80cm
Fabric: Ta Dots by Michael Miller, from Spice Berry Cottage
Darla Collection by Tanya Whelan for Free Spirit Fabrics, from Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Polka dot dress

This dress isn't finished yet, but I just have to show it off, because I'm so in love with it. It is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever sewn.
It probably is too big for the babe, but she'll grow into it. :) Let's just hope I don't mess the whole thing up when I sew in the zipper.. Stay tuned. :)

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Chapter 29 - The Obsession Continues

I bought this fabric. This right here:
Because, well, I have a thing for skulls. My almost-five-year-old saw it and immediately announded that she wants it. Now, I didn't feel like making a whole shirt from the fabric, so we compromised, I made her a shirt where the sleeves are made with our lovely calaveras-fabric and the body is a solid red. And this is what I got:
I think it turned out pretty cute. :) I did have some problems with the neckline ending up way too loose, but I solved that by putting an elastic band in there to make it tighter. And now it's just right. This is one of those tops that the girl will be able to wear for a long time, as it has a very wide shape. I could have made it a bit longer tho, to make it more like a tunic.. Maybe I'll do that for the next one. ;)

This is how happy the girl was with her new shirt:
Baby sis came to help with the photo-taking too. :)
Pattern: peasant blouse from Ottobre 4/2008
Fabric: mini-calaveras by Alexander Henry, from Yardstick's Etsy shop
Size: ~116cm

Monday, July 13, 2009

I got an idea..

And a few hours later this bag was born.
I went to a "sit&knit" yesterday, and as I ran around the house looking for something to put my knitting in, I started thinking that I could make some kind of small tote bag myself. The idea ripened overnight, and this morning I drew up a "pattern" (really, it's more or less a square on a piece of paper.) Then I decided which fabric I wanted to use and cut up the fabric. And then I got to the fun part - the sewing! A little while later I had myself a lil tote, whee! :)

I originally wanted the bag to be fully reversible, but didn't have time to figure out how to do it. :D It is kinda reversible, as the inside is made of the flowery fabric, but I kinda screwed up the upper part, so the inside looks a bit ugly. Here's a pic of the inside:
One more pic of the bag "in action", ie. stuffed with a few skeins of yarn. :)
The flowery fabric is leftovers from the skirt I made for the 4yo, it's Moda Clementine Pretty Petals, that I got from Spice Berry Cottage. The blue is (again) something I found ages ago in the sales bin at Eurokangas. The "pattern" is my own. :)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Baktus

I loved Tea's Baktus so much that I just had to start knitting one myself. I happened to have this multi-colored sock yarn lying about, that I decided to use. I thought it would be interesting to see how the yarn behaves, with the increases and decreases. Right now I'm getting some funky pooling. I'm going to give this to the 4yo, if she'll agree to use it. I think I might have mentioned before that she's a bit picky about her clothing..

Anyway, this is how far I've gotten on the Baktus so far:

Friday, July 10, 2009

Umm, hi, did I already mention I've been obsessed with sewing lately?

I did? Huh. Well, to further prove my point, I made a quickie bag, just to try the pattern out. I think this will be the babe's "daycare-bag" when she starts daycare in a couple months. She has to have lots of extra clothes with her, and you can fit a whole bunch of stuff in this bag. Plus the fabric is really funny. :)

Pattern: the Charlie-bag from BurdaStyle
Fabric: funny monkeys :)

I'll definitely be making more of these, I need at least one for myself too. Too bad I only had just enough monkey-fabric to make this one bag.

I've been a bit obsessed lately

With sewing. I've been doing an uncharacteristically lot of sewing. I'm so happy my sewing machine and I got over our past disagreements and are getting along just fine nowadays. I made this dress in one evening, started cutting the fabric somewhere after 5 p.m. and was finished by 9.30 p.m. Not bad for an evenings work, is it? ;)

I did make a few mods, I left out the bias tape that you were supposed to sew on to the neckline and armholes, and I notice now that my version is a mirror image of the original, oh well, it doesn't matter. (and apparently the pocket is sewn on a bit crooked..)

Anyhow, the girl loves it, crooked pocket and all. :D Altho when I went to take a pic of her, this is what I got:
See how excited a child can get about having her picture taken! Amazing! Well, in her defence, I did interrupt her right in the middle of the program she was watching, so who wouldn't be annoyed? I did manage to get a slightly better pic too, where you can actually see the dress:
Now that I look at it more, the pocket is really starting to annoy me. I might have to do something about that.

Pattern: Liivimekko Ottobre 1/2009
Size: ~116cm
Fabric: something I found in Eurokangas ages ago :)

I also finally finished the hoodie. And that's about all I have to say about that. I just doesn't fit me at all, makes me look even, ahem, chubbier than I am. But I'm sure I'll wear it anyway, beacuse it's really warm. I think I might have said the same thing about something else before. In this pic you can see really well the difference between the dye lots, it's really obvious.
Pattern: Under the Hoodie, by Kristin Spurkland (ravel it)
Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic
Size: XL

{{note to self: I really have to start taking better pictures, I'm getting annoyed with these less-than-good-ones}}

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

You should always put elastic bands in childrens clothing

Case in point: the skirt I made for my almost-five-year-old. This one here:
First I made it too tight. Then I made it too loose. And, obviously, then I made it too tight again. And then when I sewed the waist band on, and thought I had finally gotten it right, surprise, surprise, it fell off the girl when she tried it on. Pah, I thought, I'll just sew a button on so that you can make it tighter and then looser when she grows. That didn't work. So I took it in on both sides, and now it stays up. I did it by hand, so that I can easily take out the stitches and the skirt can "grow with her". It'll probably still fit her ten years from now. So, like I said, you should always put elastic bands in kiddie clothes. Especially when you've got skinny kids, like I do.

And here's a pic just to prove that I really did get her to wear it. :)
Pattern: Ottobre 1/2008 (again)
Fabric: Various from Spice Berry Cottage
Size: to fit my 4yo

And in other news, I've been making a raglan for my 7yo. We had a long discussion at the LYS of what yarn I would use for it. He (we) finally decided on gray and white stripes with a yellow spider. I've gotten quite far, only a sleeve and a half to go. And I still have to decide where to place spider.
I've also started on the second pair of Cookie socks, Eunice. Which is barely worth mentioning, because I haven't gotten past the ribbing. But here's a "progress" pic anyway. :)
And no, I still haven't gotten the sleeved seamed on to the hoodie.. Maybe I'll get round to that one of these days.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Flowery top for the babe

I admit that this is not the best possible pic of the top, but it's the only one I've got. I took it in the park in front of the church in Turku yesterday. I would have zoomed closer, but we only had the kids' camera with us, and the zoom on that one isn't very good. So this pic will have to do. :)

It's a bit big, but I made the 80cm size again, so I expected it to be too big for her. At least it didn't turn out big enough to fit my almost-five-year-old this time. But it's so big that I think it'll still fit her next Summer, if she doesn't have some kind of freakishly huge growth spurt over Winter. :) And the good thing about tops like this, is that you can always layer them, so she can use it even when the weather gets colder, I'll just put another shirt underneath.

Here's a pic of the back too. This one was taken by my 7yo on the train. :)

I have this thing about sewing buttonholes, so I sewed on snap-ons instead, the buttons are only for show. :) (dude, I'm using a whole lot of smileys today, wonder why that is?)

Pattern: Kukkopilli by Ottobre 1/2009
Fabric: Japanese cotton from Karaku's Etsy-shop
Size: 80cm