Friday, May 31, 2013

Queue Enhancement Friday: Keyword: Rain!






 


(I usually try to not double up on designers...But these are both such perfect summer knits!)

Have you added anything to your queue recently?

Katie =^..^=

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Legitimate Progress on Dallas's Cardigan!

WiP: Dallas's Cardigan

Pictures from Tuesday, May 28, 2013. 

Finished the back and fronts...Now just for the sleeves and collar~!

Katie =^..^=

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Wedding Wednesday: 1/15 Colours of Cranes

That's right! We have finished one colour of cranes, which means that we're about 67 cranes closer to 1,000 (plus whatever other ones we make for decoration).

Wish us luck!




Katie =^..^=

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

We Were On an Adventure!

WiP: Dallas's cardigan
FOs: None

That's right! We drove out to Marble Canyon in Kootenay National Park, and then went down and explored Banff's Cave & Basin, the birthplace to the Canadian National Park System!





We also visited Jacques Cartier Clothiers, which is the shop that carries Quiviut. I have 1 skein at home, and I needed a pattern, so I found it's destiny in a Wavy Lace Scarf. I'll keep you updated as I go on that.

Otherwise...Dallas's cardigan went into  a time out yesterday, although it rode along with us. I messed up the shaping for the fronts, since I followed the directions to a T...And had to pick out all the shaping from the arm hole up on both fronts (I'm knitting them two-at-a-time so that they match). So I lost all of my work from Saturday morning. I was soooo peeved.

But, I got it more or less back to the same spot on Saturday (at least I used up the same amount of yarn, so that's a good sign), and now I'm ready to finish the fronts and move onto the sleeves. I hope.

Other than that, a quiet weekend. I think we're going to go Star Trek tonight, which I'm super excited for.

And I'll actually have a crane update tomorrow!

So, the knitting agenda as it stands now:

Dallas's cardigan
Cast-on shawl
Cast on Hanna Fettig's Calligraphy Cardigan
Cast on SSP
Cast on a pair of mittens to felt
Put cuffs on other mittens to felt
Make more felted bags for Etsy update in August.

...

There's a lot of work to do, and very little time, so I will leave you here!



Have a lovely evening, my dears!

Katie =^..^=

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Catch-Up Thursday

WiP: Dallas's Cardigan
FOs: None

So, the past weekend was the long weekend. We were super busy, being out in Cochrane all four days of the weekend.

However, we got to drive out to Canmore for Knit & Caboodle, and then went to the second-hand bookstore as well, where I picked up Marion Zimmer Bradley's Forest House, a prequel to The Mists of Avalon.


I got the back finished on Dallas's cardigan; now it's the fronts, sleeves, and collar. I have less than a month to finish it now! But I think it'll all be good.

Also, it's less than fourteen months to the wedding! Couple more months and I can start pinning down the detailed parts of everything.

And once I've finished Dallas's cardigan, on to the shawl! And some more SSPs (super-secret projects).

Tuesday night we went to see "Iron Man 3", which was amazing! I loved it. I'm really glad that they didn't ignore "The Avengers," which was completely possible. I'm also super stoked to see "Thor: The Dark World" this fall!!

Next on the list, which I think will be good as well is "Star Trek: Into Darkness." And then I think the next after that will be "The Lone Ranger" with Johnny Depp.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this weekend that the weather will be good for the Lilac Festival on Sunday, and maybe for a hike on Saturday.

Either sun, or absolutely pouring rain so that I don't feel bad staying inside and knitting or sewing.

What're your plans for the weekend?

Katie =^..^=

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing, Sewing, Sewing...

WiP: Basic Cardigan: Two Ways; Cascade 220 Heathers, "Forest"
FOs: Sewn Box Bags x 2, Triangular bag. 

Box Bag, NekozukiYarns, sewing, lined bag, zipperBox Bag, NekozukiYarns, sewing, lined bag, zipper
That's right, folks! I'll have a new and exciting addition to my shop starting in August! Box bags!!
They will be fully lined, 100% cotton bags, although the handle here is made with a sateen ribbon.

I'm super excited about these, because the fabric gives me a super easy way to customize these compared to knitting. 

Box Bag, NekozukiYarns, sewing, lined bag, zipper
I even put zippers in; this was only the third one, and I must say I think it came out quite well.

I'm super excited to continue with these and to be able to start providing a new and varied product in August!
Box Bag, NekozukiYarns, sewing, lined bag, zipper, decorated handle

Box Bag, NekozukiYarns, sewing, lined bag, zipper, fabric detail
The other super exciting part of all of this is all of these pictures are taken on our new camera!! We've been talking about getting one for about the past year, and I finally bit the bullet, did my research, and purchased a Canon Powershot.

I must say, for the little that I've experimented with it, I'm very satisfied with it. I can't wait to take it out hiking and such to take pictures and really test it out. :)

What did you folks do this weekend?

Katie =^..^=

Friday, May 10, 2013

So I Don't Chatter Dallas's Ears Off...A Post!

WiP: Dallas's Cardigan
FO: Marion (Yes, still counting it! hah)

 

So, this is the cardigan that I'm planning to make Dallas.  I have done my swatch, and I cast on last night. Little did I think about the back panel...Which I don't like. It's two strips of reverse stockinette stitch in the back surrounded by stockinette stitch.

Now, not only does this make for a bit of challenging time for me, since I have switch my stitch every so many stitches to create this "striping" as it were...It won't look good on Dallas. And I don't want to knit it! I kind of wish there had been a picture of the back in the ebook; I also could have looked at the Ravelry projects before I completely committed to this project, but that's my fault. haha I like the collar on this project, and the zipper, so I'll stick with that. 

But I think there are going to be multiple alterations. I already am sizing for a 46" chest, which is an inbetween size for the multiple measurements and gauges (I love that they are all listed, no doubt)! 

However, I'm also going to add a hem at the bottom to match the sleeves, and to avoid rolling because of the other changes I'm going to make. I'm going to shift the reverse stockinette to either side so that it lines up across the shoulders on both back and front. It will define the sleeve (I hope). I am then also going to do the reverse stockinette for the zipper and leave the rest alone. 

Now that I've said all this, I have a sneaking suspicion it won't work...But I'll get it worked out. I really don't want those lines down the back of the cardigan.

By the way, this is what we did the past weekend: 

relaxation, Marion Cardigan, Pinup Girl Clothing,
It was my brother's wedding out in the West Kootenays. And that's my Marion cardigan in action! Sooooo comfy. I will provide better quality pictures soon. :D

(Dress is from: PinUpGirlClothing.com.)

Then it was Dallas's birthday, and we did a beautiful drive and took the inland ferries. Most excellent weekend. I had a few days off of work, so this has only been a two day week, which I'm certainly not complaining about.

This weekend, I plan to cast on my wedding shawl and a few other things that I have to get finished here soon so that I can then shift my focus back to prepping stock for August for the restart of the Etsy shop, and for the fall/winter craft shows.

This means I'll actually be able to sit outside and enjoy the warm weather, hopefully!

What're you up to this weekend?

Katie =^..^=