Exciting New: Now Live!

Guys, I just bought a lot of yarn.  Like...a lot.  As in, an entire store's worth of yarn.

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS!  I'm now the proud owner of the Itsy-Bitsy Yarn Store in Whitehorse, Yukon!

That is totally the face of a serious and experienced shop owner, right there.  

I officially took over the business this morning, and opened the doors to chaos and confusion as the former owner ran out the door to catch her flight about 3 seconds after we signed all the final documents, and I was left with a float all over the coffee table, paperwork all over the couch, yarn strewn everywhere, a crowd of tourists pushing to get in, and no debit/credit machine to be found.  It was a glorious!

Luckily I've been actually working in the store all week so I wasn't completely in the dark, and everyone were so patient and understanding.  I even charmed a slightly grumpy lady from Chicago, who left the shop smiling despite the hassle of not being able to accept credit cards.  GO ME!

How did this happen, you ask?  Well, back in February, I was facing my government job running out in June and trying to decide if I should apply for more jobs I'm capable and very competent for but not necessarily qualified for or retraining.  (As it turns out, there's just not a demand for less-experienced geos who aren't willing to relocate.)  Then an email from the LYS owners landed in my email.  And there might've been some hyperventilating after reading that they were looking for a buyer, because YES OMG YES.  A VERY immediate response, a whole whack of meetings, and months and months of business plan writing and some last minute panicking yielded this!

Guys, it's been SO HARD to keep this under wraps, and it's entirely the reason behind all of the 'ZOMG SO BUSY' comments here and there.  Holding down a full-time and very mentally exhausting job while also trying to plan for purchasing a business is HARD holy cow.  I've nearly spilled the beans so many times, but it's been a bit tenuous and uncertain and I didn't want to jinx it!

Don't worry, this won't become a store blog.  I'll be posting just as irregularly as usual about all the stuff I make (and I've really got to get some rock posts up here - the title is starting to become false-advertising), they just might host better lit pictures within the shop, and possibly some comments about being a store owner.  

I will be starting up a separate store blog though (still hammering out what I want it to be), but I'll let you know when that goes live in case you want to follow along. 

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I'm so excited about this adventure.  I've wanted something like this since I was a kid, but never thought it could become a reality! It's only starting to sink in that it's real, and while the panic I sort of expected is present, I feel so much at home at the store and like it's exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Granted, that doesn't mean I'm not feeling a little crazy right now!

Look what Sophie, the former owner left me!  (She's the one for whom I made the little going-away gift.) She said she got it when they first opened up in their original 138 sq foot location (can't really get more itsy-bitsy than that) as a blessing for the shop, and she decided to pass it on to me to keep up the blessing. That little banner is hanging up on the tiny storage closet behind a screen, and it's going to stay there for as long as I'm in that space! Isn't it lovely?

Anyways, I'm not sure how to end this. My heart is so full right now, and I feel so thankful to have this opportunity. I'm looking forward to the hard work it's going to take to keep this adorable little shop going, and I can't wait to give back to the community like Sophie and her husband did before me.

Wish me luck, folks! I'm going to need it.

That Personalized Touch

I love the fact that I can sew, that I've developed the kind of skills where I can put a personalized touch on a gift relatively quickly if needed.

A good friend of mine is leaving the territory on Monday, and I put together a little gift basket for her.  But it was feeling pretty impersonal, despite finding a few of her favourite treats and adding a thermos that I knew she'd probably use (and probably lose, but that's alright).

So last night I whipped up a little knitting project bag out of a fabric I know she'll love...in about 20 minutes.  And it only took that long because I had to thread the drawstring and couldn't find the one safety pin I've managed to keep from the pack of 50 I bought a while back (like hair clips, apparently I only get to keep one of those no matter how many I buy, and that one becomes Precious and desperately coveted).

Now the little gift is absolutely perfect, and I'm happy to send her off with a little something made from my own hands, even if I'm not happy to see her go.

I'm so thankful for the skills I've learned over the years, precisely for moments like this.  Do you ever add a little personalized touch to your gifts?

Pending: Exciting News...

I haven't been around here much lately - either blogging nor commenting, but there's a pretty exciting reason for that.  Which I'm not going to tell you yet because I'm a cruel woman, and also not a little bit afraid of jinxing myself.

It's a big change in my life though, and I'm equal parts excited and terrified.  Some of you may know (and if you do, please ssshhh!  :D), but I promise to tell you about it on Monday when it's official!

Oh man, this is a cruel post.  I probably shouldn't post it, but it's my blog and I can tease if I want to!

In other news, I'm really looking forward to having some time to focus on projects again (both knitting and sewing - especially in my newly reorganized sewing room!).  Things can't calm down soon enough.  <3

I hope the rest of your week is calmer than mine!

Adventuring in Haines (and a good old garage sale find)

I adore Haines, Alaska - it's quickly becoming one of my favourite places.  Between the gorgeous drive (you can see part of the scenery and some of the town in this post; ETA: way to forget the link, Heather), the adorable town, and the friendly people, I'd probably happily move there!  If I could find a job.  And if it weren't another country.  Though a large chunk of the Yukon agree that Haines and Skagway and other nearby towns might as well be part of the Yukon - we're basically the same people, so we might have to plot stealing those areas back or something. 

Don't worry folks, we'll let you keep your flag - you're obviously fond of it if the presence of one on every single house is anything to go by.  We'll just stick a leaf on it or something!  ;)

(I am just kidding - please don't take this as a serious plot to invade or anything!  Though if you're not using those towns, we'll happy trade you them for some poutine and a Zamboni or something.)

Anyways, as you can probably guess, I had a good time in Haines this past weekend.  We went down for the Haines Beerfest (my first time going!) and had a blast.  The weather was extremely warm and I killed my ankles and feet by walking all over town in flip flops, but the beer was good and I made lots of friends by sharing my ginormous bag of popcorn with everyone.

BTW, three separate people stated "you must be Canadian" after I offered them popcorn.  Weird.

What does this have to do with "Things I Make"?  Well, not a lot.  Unless you count this fantastic find I stumbled across at a garage sale there.

It's a Singer 99K in pretty good condition!  The shellac is starting to peel, but she appears to run well and the lightbulb works.  I haven't actually tried sewing with her yet, since I need to find some time somewhere to give her a good cleaning and probably not a small amount of oil.  Not bad for $20 USD (probably about $26 or so CAD)!

I'm pretty stoked though.  Poor...everyone in Haines.  I crowed about my find to absolutely everyone who made the mistake of making eye contact with me! 

 

 

It came with some goodies under the machine.  I'm pretty sure all of those weird feet are rufflers.  Who ever used to own her must've been a serious ruffle-addict!

There was also some buttonhole templates, but sadly no buttonholer.  I'm going to see if I can't find one for this machine - though my Kenmore does buttonholes just fine.  Maybe I'll track down some other feet for it too.

Pretty sweet find, eh?  I need to figure out a name for her soon.  Any suggestions?

fo: Daelyn Pullover (aka Accidental Sweater)

Please allow me to introduce one of my new favourite garments, my Daelyn Pullover aka the Accidental Sweater.  I've been teasing you about this one for a while - I finished it on May 1, it was dry by May 3, took pictures the following weekend and worn it a bunch of times, and am only now getting around to blogging about it.  There's a ton of photos here because I'm in love and I couldn't weed them out.  No regrets.

Pattern: Daelyn Pullover, by Isabell Kraemer
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca
Needles: 4 mm and 4.5 mm
Size: 38.5" at neckline, grading to 41" at the bust with a bit of extra stitches here and there
My Ravelry Project Page

I'm so excited to have finally knit one of Isabell Kraemer's patterns.  That woman creates some of the most gorgeous sweaters, and I need to make more.  The pattern itself was relatively easy (other than the short rows at the neck, which nearly defeated me), and it was just so lovely to knit.

I'm particularly pleased about the fit of this sweater.  Raglan sleeves can be difficult with a larger bust - since pattern designers just have you keep doing raglan increases until you get the bust width you need, but often the armpits wind up closer to you waistline than your armpit.  Annoying.  There's a mod I usually use to help alleviate this, but it sort of worked/sort of failed this time.  More on that later.

Anyways, this pattern seems to avoid some of the pitfalls of a larger size raglan sweater, though I'm not sure if I can put my finger on the why just yet.  It might have something to do with the

I only did two mods on this sweater, and the first worked out really well.  This is supposed to be a boxy sweater, but boxy doesn't always work so well on me.  Especially with a snugger waistband.  I have a prominent butt, which tends to cause fabric to pool at the small of my back.  To eliminate that, I added two darts to the back of the sweater about 1/3 of the way from each side.  See how it shapes the back nicely?

It's so hard to see the darts with the garter stitch though.  I marked the location on the left side, and tried to point it out on the right with an arrow.  Can you see them?

Yeah, I barely can.  It sure does make a nice smooth and shaped back though.  The front is still boxy (maybe too boxy) but the back is just lovely.

The second mod was to add some width at the bust without having to continue the raglan increases, and I did that by casting on more stitches at the sleeve divide.  I've done this before, and it usually works out.  In this case, it didn't so much.  Oh, it gave me the width I needed for the bust, but it also gave me way too much fabric in the whole area.  See how the fabric gets pushed away from the underarm area when my arms are down?  Classic example of too much fabric at the bottom of the arm scyth (?? I'm too lazy to look up the spelling here).

See what it does to the front?  I get these big folds of excess fabric in front of the armpit.  Oops.  Ah well, I don't actually care.  Live and learn.

One of the little details I love in this pattern is how it has you do the finishing.  All ribbing ends with a row of knit stitches, then bound off knit-wise.  That leaves this pretty straight line of stitches at the end of the ribbing, like on the sleeves above.  It's a pretty little detail that I'm in love with.

The pattern also has you do some short rows at the back of the sweater before starting the ribbing (you can see how the ridges are truncated by the ribbing along the right side).  This is to give a bit more length at the back, since garter stitch tends to be shorter than stockinette.

Man, I just love the simplicity of this sweater.  Really makes the contrasting texture of the garter stitch (ridgey bit) and stockinette stitch (flat bit), and the lovely heathered yarn, sing.

I think the only thing that I'm not pleased with this sweater (other than all that extra fabric above the bust, but that's not the patterns fault at all) is how high the neckline is.  I'm not used to necklines this high, so I find it a bit...constricting? against my throat.  But it's not too bad, and I'll just keep that in mind for the next sweater.  I think this pattern would look really good with a v-neck though, and I might have to consider knitting this pattern again in the future with that mod!

And I'm hauling it along with us to Haines Alaska this weekend.  Which we're leaving for in...1 hour and I still have to pack and shower and figure out what knitting I'm bringing.  We have tickets to beer fest there (YAY!!), and you never know if you'll need a cozy warm woolen sweater while adventuring/sampling all the beer!

#MMMay16: Days 16-20

Yeah, you saw that right, I've skipped Days 7-15 (with one exception below) because I didn't take any photos at all and I'm sort of forgetting what I wore.  I SPECIFICALLY DIDN'T COMMIT TO DOCUMENTING EVERYDAY, so there.  :P  Haha oops, sorry folks.

I did wear me-made garments every day...except last weekend.  And I'm giving myself a break this weekend too.  Guys, I don't have the me-made garments that can handle camping, and we're out of town and camping in the woods for 3 of the 4 May weekends.  I'm giving myself a break on those days.

Though I did bring me-made socks and some undies, so I'm trying my best with what I have.

Alright, moving on to THIS WEEK.

Day 16:

This was fun!  I made this Pavlova Top by Cake Patterns in March 2013 (posted about it on my old sewing blog), and only wore it a hand full of times before it made its way into a storage bin.  I was trying to hunt down a rouge sweater when I found it and promptly put it on.  LOVE IT!  It's a little short since it's meant to be worn with a high-wasted skirt or pants, but I made it work with a tank top and my favourite jeans.  And it had good range of motion which was good because I went and helped a friend do inventory at her store this evening and boy do you have to move a lot doing that.  I was cooking by the time we were finished though, so this top can be quite warm.  Still, I really enjoyed wearing it, so it's going back into the wardrobe rotation.

Thanks for that, MMMay!

Day 17

Oh hey look, it's the purple Linden.  Again.  And the green scarf.  So creative, Heather.  But I guess it shows that it's one of my go-to tops, and I should probably sew up more of those.  I love the green scarf with it, btw.  It makes my little Donatello-loving heart so happy!  :D

And as you can see, I wore my Cuba Socks.  If I look very precarious in the photo, it's because I am and yes, I did fall down almost as soon as the shutter clicked.  Oops.  I was good though, no worries, and it produced what will probably be a contender for the Best Photo of my MMMay16 adventure!

Day 18:

AND here's probably one of the worst pictures, but whatever.  I was about to go for a run and snapped a quick photo before changing (btw, totally need to sew some running gear).

See that grey vest/top thing?  Another rediscovered sewn garment, though much older than my Pavlova.  It was actually one of my very first (successful) sewn garments and one of the few to last this long.  It even pre-dates my Sewing on Pins blog and was made somewhere between late 2009 and early 2010.  It was actually traced from a knitted vest I'd found at a thrift shop, but was too thick and warm to wear as often as I would've liked.  I googled how to duplicate garments, traced out a pattern onto newpaper or something, and then cut it out in this grey knit fabric.  The neckline has a nicely done band, but the sleeves are unfinished.  Oops.

It's lasted this long in my wardrobe because it's actually a wonderful layering piece in the summer, and despite not getting worn that often, always sneaks through on wardrobe purges.  I see why though, because it's so easy to wear and goes with everything.  Definitely going to put it into rotation more often, though I might need to do a quick turn-over hem for the sleeves.  It bothers me now...

Day 19:

Well hello there, Avana shrug!  I love this little garment, because it's easy to toss over a t-shirt and jeans and go.  Feels like clothes in this outfit, but I admit, it feels way too dressed up when I pair this shrug with a dress. 

The only other thing I have to say about this outfit is that I wore my Cuba socks again this day.  What can I say, the greens in it matches well with the scarf!

Day 20:

Erm, I don't have a picture of today's outfit, mostly because I'm still in pjs - and not even self-stitched pjs either.  See, Darryl left last night to make sure we get a camping spot for the weekend, and I'm staying behind because I have some Very Important Work to get done.  And since that work involves writing in my living room (this post is a break *coughprocrastinationcough*), I am not putting on real pants. I am wearing some me-made undies though, and I'm cozy in these hand knit socks, so I'm following the letter of the challenge if not the spirit.

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

Now, the only outfit picture I took last week was on Day 11.  I'm really glad I did, because I've learned something important.

Heather, do not wear those brown tights with that dress (Tiramisu by Cake Patterns) ever again.  Or that sweater (Common Ground).  I don't care how comfy the outfit is, just don't do it.

Running Running Running (from Zombies!)

I just finished week 2 of my 5k training program, and man do I feel good!  Well, my legs are wobbly and my face still looks like a tomato a half hour later, but SO PROUD.

Okay I know this isn't crafty related, but whatever, it's my blog and I'll post about running if I want to!

I think I mentioned it before, but I started the Zombie Run! 5k Training program.  Guys, this is so much fun!  It's like you're dropped into a RPG, and I'm so excited to go for a run every day.  I have to force myself to only go every other day so I don't hurt myself, but I'm literally stoked every time I get to go out to run!  I just want to know what happens this time and this time and this time.  :)

It's sort of important that I get trained up because I uh...signed up for the Klondike Road Relay this year, where we run from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon.  No, I'm not running the whole 175 kms myself, just Leg 1.  Sound easy?  Here, look at Leg 1:

Why yes, that does indeed say 442 m/1450 ft elevation mostly in the last 10 kms.  Oh hell.  I'm committed to run the first 4.2 km, and will likely walk/crawl/drag my ass up the rest.  Could be worse though; I could be running Leg 2: