Sunnyside Cardi - officially done

Happy Australia Day!

The Sunnyside Cardi is officially done. It's blocked with buttons and no stray ends hanging off. It's so soft and I love how this yarn carries off the stitch definition. The lace panels have come up nicely and I am very proud of the picot edges. They were fiddly but worth all the time spent.

I really hope that this fits a 6 month old... and can't wait for the cooler weather to come.

I am counting this as DONE!

Yeah! I did it! Almost... Just have to sew the buttons on but I am counting it as DONE!

Sunnyside cardi has been washed and currently being blocked. Tails have been weaved in but I left them until it is completely dry.

I am happy with how it has turned out. Thinking I might make a matching beanie since there are still months to winter time....

Happy....

Sunnyside cardi - still going....

I am still going at the Sunnyside cardi... I got so close to finishing it last week but I just didn't like what I did and ended up ripping out 1/3 of it.

Nothing wrong with the pattern, it's all me. Instead of knitting straight down after dividing the sleeves, I continued to incorporate the increases in the lace pattern repeats. It flared out too much and weird too (no surprise there... DAH!!!) so I ripped back. My hands and my left arm were cramping pretty badly by then too so I took a break and picked up again a day later.

After I ripped back, instead of picking up to knit the body straight away, I gave myself a break and picked up one of the sleeves. I decided to make short sleeves as I want this cardigan to be a layering piece.

So I have started doing some subtle decreases in the body and whilst it is not straight down, I don't mind the A line look so much.

I have another 10 rows to go before starting the edging for the body so hopefully not too much longer to go!

New books!

ooh... look what the postman brought me this week! I told hubby that these were his Christmas presents to me :) genius!

Since my recent trip to New Zealand, I have developed a keen interest in the different types of sheep and fantasised at having a go at yarn dyeing. Like an obsession you can't shake off, I have been googling hand dyeing techniques and found this book called Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece.

Love the spiral binding!

I am fearful alright... possibly another addiction!

I also signed up for the Know Your Wool Craftsy mini class and got really fascinated by the fiber from various sources. I love the mini class so much that I purchased The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook, cowrote by the class instructor Deborah Robson. This is a free class but I would have purchased it if it was a proper length class - I kinda wished it was when I finished watching the last lesson. 

There are over 1400 sheep breeds, 100 goat breeds and other cool animals we sourced fiber from! I have been pawing all over this book and had to be quite disciplined not to tag all the pages! I can see this book being a permanent resident on our coffee table...

How cute are these sheep!!

Meet Miss Misty

I am proud to introduce Miss Misty who is Milly's cousin. I have really enjoyed making Misty and I think I am getting better at hand stitching too. I used the same pattern and instructions from the Felt Friends From Japan book.

Miss Misty is a little shy yet quite chatty once she gets to know you. I have entrusted Misty with a dear friend who works overseas who I know will take very good care of her. She loves to sit on my desk watching me work and always seem to know when the right moment is to comment or help. Misty hasn't had any experience with little children but I am sure she will like them too.

Besides Misty, I have just been knitting like a possessed woman on the Sunnyside cardi... more on that next week!

Hello 2013!

Hello 2013! May this year fill us with happiness and good health and fun crafty adventures!

I love this time of the year, especially when we hadn't made any concrete plans. With the public holidays and the extra couple of days I had off work between Christmas and New Year, I got into some fun crafty stuff... although of course I could have been tidying up the craft room/ office or tackle the 3 months worth of filing etc... but what's the fun in that!?


The Sunnyside baby cardigan is making good progress! I really don't know how big a 6-12 months baby girl is so I am just winging it - nothing like a surprise :)  

Just to mix things up a bit, I decided to have a go at making a couple of new origamis. The Santa is a design by Jacky Chan via this video and the Swallowtail butterfly is a design by Evi Binzinger and demonstrated by Leyla Torres.

I started sketching for a new bag pattern... I got the first draft of the pattern pieces cut out so hopefully I get to start on some sewing soon!

Lastly, I have actually made this little softie last week but not wanting to blog about the finished project just yet. It is a gift for a friend I am catching up with soon so just in case she happens to read the blog before we meet up... so more about this later!

It's going to be great year - I can feel it!!