wip: Silky Laurel - So Close!

Back to camp tomorrow, and I'm so close to finishing this dress!  Just the neckline and hem, but I've run out of time.

I fly out the day after I get back from camp.  Guess I know what I'm doing the afternoon I get home!

Mysteriously Already-Cut-Out Dress

12 days until the wedding, 4 days before I leave for camp, and I have nothing to wear to the ceremony!  AAAHHHH!

I'd planned to make up another dress, but I don't want it.  I've gone shopping, but Whitehorse has nothing to offer me.

And then I caught a flash of colour under my sewing table.

What's this?!

Looks promising....

OH OH OH!!! 

How convinient!  According to my notes in the pattern book, I cut this out back in May 2013, but didn't finish it for some reason.  I think this will make a great dress for a wedding!

Have you ever found a mystery project you'd prepped and never finished?  If so, do you remember doing it?  I'm sort of thinking that elves came and did this at some point, because I don't remember cutting this out...

Crochet Startitis - I NEED HELP!

Holy cow, has crocheting ever gotten it's hook in me (haha pun intended).

Deco Daisies is coming along beautifully, and I'm really enjoying the project.  Especially now that I've memorized the pattern.  I think it won't take much longer to finish 'er up.  It's going to be a short cowl, not the long version in the original pattern. 
 

Seriously loving the texture and colours in this one!

And then there's the Amber I told you about when I got my (1st) recent yarn order.  I'd planned to start this in the fall when all that wedding bag sewing was finished.  But nooOOOOooo, I had to start it now Now NOW!!  And I'm nearly to the neckline on the front.  Seriously guys, crocheting in worsted weight is so damn quick!  Now I remember why I picked it over knitting when my Grandma taught me, 25-odd years ago.

Also loving the texture in this!  The problem is that I only have 7 balls of this yarn, and I just polished off the second one right before taking the picture above.  Uh...I'm thinking about 2.5-3 balls on each front and back, which leaves me a little bit more than 1 ball left for the sleeves.  That's not going to work.  So I went to the Knit Picks site to order more, and saw this:

Uh oh.  Uh, I don't want to wait until the end of November!  I couldn't even wait 1 month!  Luckily, it seems like a lady on Ravelry has a couple of balls she's willing to sell me.  *whew*  Definitely a lesson in ordering enough yarn to begin with.

Speaking of not buying enough, I impulse bought some yarn from my LYS yesterday to start this gorgeous crocheted top, In the Shade by Elena Fedotova.  Except I mistakingly bought lace weight instead of the required fingering because I was too impatient to check the yarn requirements.  Luckily I can just double up the lace weight to make fingering, but uh, that means I'll be short one skein. 

Well damn, I guess that just means I'll have to go back.  Poor me.

So yeah, STARTITIS ANYONE?  I think I need help.  Or just a bit more time.  Because these are all parts of the mini travel wardrobe plan I'm coming up for our beachy holiday this winter, and I want to make them all NOW!  lol  Maybe I'll make up a little plan to try to keep me on track.

Am I the only one with a case of startitis right now? 

wip: Wedding Favour Bags

So one of my cousin's is getting married...in 17 days, and way back in April I told her I'd make up her wedding favour bags.  She's having this cute little candy table, and wanted hand-made bags for her guests to fill up.  Except they were just planning on making them out of whatever fabric they could find at a thrift store.

Pfft, I can do better than that!  They're having a country-chic wedding, so country-chic bags they would get!

But boy am I running out of time!!!

Anyways, I got another 20 basic bags sewn up today.  Still have to add the ties and hand-stitch they flowers on, but this should bring my total up to 65.  Not quite the 200 I'd planned on, but it turns out that not that many people will be going.  If I can get 120 finished, I'll be be tickled, and I think I'll try to find little paper bags and stamp them with the cute stamps I got, in case they run out.

Oh these stamps?  I ordered them from StudioMo on etsy!  I picked up this personalized heart for less than $8 CAD, and got her to add my cousin and her fiance's initials.  They came super quick, and good quality, and I'm so pleased with the personal touch they add to the simple cotton bags I'm making!

I think she threw in the "love" stamp, because it wasn't shown with either of the stamps I ordered (I also got this adorable little yarny stamp).  Not that this is a rec blog, but I'd rec the heck out of this little etsy shop for all of your stampy needs and wants!

As much as I'm loving making these, it's getting a little old.  I think I'm going to take a break from them after this set to work on the dress I plan to sew for the wedding.  YAY GARMENT SEWING!!!

wip: Deco Daisies

I joined a KAL/CAL over at Holla Knits based on two of their special collections.  I adore Holla Knits patterns - in fact, I knit their Eastwood Cardigan this past spring.  This time, I'm crocheting up their Deco Daisies in a gorgeous skein of Manos Del Uruguay Alegria.

I was a little surprised to see the yellow in the skein - it was hidden behind a twist in the skein.  I was a little worried that this bright vibrant colour was going to overshadow all of the gorgeous jewel-toned shades, but it's actually a stunning combo when crocheted up.

This is the first pattern repeat.  The pattern itself seems a little intimidating at first, but gets so much easier once you get going. 

I've made a few alterations to the pattern.  First off, I have about half the amount of required yarn, so this will be a much smaller cowl.  I reduced the width by 20 stitches, and instead of knitting two identical pieces and seaming them together with ruching along the seam, I'm just going to crochet until it's either the length I want or I run out of yarn.  I'll probably still ruch the one seam though.

Seriously, I think this is THE perfect marriage between yarn and pattern.  The daisies look stunning in this gorgeous varigated yarn!  I mean, daisies come in all colours under the rainbow, so how perfect is this?!

*~~*~~*~~*~~*

If you're curious about the picture at the top of the post, it was taken in camp last week looking up at the ridge above camp. 

I'm pretty damn proud to say that I finally climbed to the top of it this rotation!  I've been itching to do that since the moment I landed in camp for the first time, Dec 2012.  And boy do I have the bug bites to proove it!  Damn blackflies.

MOAR YAAARRRRRRN!

So that order I accidentially made came in.

Sweet sweet yarn!

This is my new Cotlin, a cotton/linen blend in DK weight in pomegranate, is destined to be a summer cardigan.  ...I think...I'm good at changing my mind on patterns...

Sea Glass Cardi, by Ela Torrente
I'm not sure yet if it'll be a good look on me, since having a line across the top of my bust is never a good look on me (lumps my boobs in with my tummy and that's not the best when you have a larger bust and tummy), but I think I can make it work.  It's stolen my heart, so at this point, how it looks doesn't really matter! 

I picked the Comfy in whisker as a beachy coverup, since we have a holiday somewhere warm planned for this winter (!!!!!!!).  This is a cotton/acrylic blende that should be cool enough for a warm place because of the cotton, but tough enough and dry quickly because of the acrylic content.  I originally planned to make this pattern, but then I found this:

152-17 Amber, by Drops
AHHH okay, so how perfect is this?!  Lightweight and airy, longer sleeves for more sun coverage, and much more flattering than my other choice!  Plus it's a great summer top overall.  Just make a fluffy skirt and it'll make a great holiday outfit. 

So yeah, lots of knitting/crocheting plans in the coming months.

And that doesn't even include the second Knit Picks order I made a week after this one.  Whoops.