That's just jim Dandy

It was one of those moments where I lost control in the excitement of meeting yarn designer and textiles artist extraordinaire Kaffe Fassett. Splendid chap! I wasn't really planning on buying that night, but oh well. I'm weak.

Four skeins and a pattern book later, I whipped up another little something....you know, for warmth.

Here's Dandy, a Sarah Hatton design, using Kaffe Fassett's Rowan Colourscape yarn in Chunky, 100% lambswool, colourway Misty. Modelled by Andrea W.



It has a very loose fit with no shaping, and not a sweater design I would normally be drawn to. But it was fun! The 6.5 mm needles really got the job done in a hurry.

After consulting with Anina (who made the same sweater in two days, ahem), I decided to make the body a little smaller by reducing the number of front edging sts to 11 from 13. Also, when I pieced the fronts to the back, I used a 2 st seam allowance on the back instead of the usual 1, when mattress stitching.

I blocked the pieces before starting to piece them together. It makes the seaming experience SO much more enjoyable. Here they are, all dry and ready to be joined.



After knitting the edgings, the pattern says to sew them to the front piece, without specific instruction. I began using the working yarn in a mattress stitch style, but I didn't like the seam. I thought it was a bit thick. I was not convinced a good blocking would remove that pucker created at the starting point.



So after a bit of thought, I chose to use three strands of embroidery floss in a neutral colour, with small invisible stitches on the wrong side.



Here's the right side, edging attached. This works for me, it's so flat! And I love the colour contrasts.



Pretty stained wood buttons are from Button Button.

Like mother

Months before her birthday this past summer, miss M had an IDEA. She wanted to create and make a small stuffed critter for each of her birthday guests, personalising each one a bit for each friend. She drew out a rough plan:

















She wanted me to help her with the supplies and sewing. I encouraged her to use as much as possible from what I had already in my crafty stash, staying with my philosophy of using what we have on hand before acquiring (too much) more.

She did the planning of materials, pattern making, cutting, gluing, embroidery, and stuffing. I was only needed to work the machine when called upon.

We started them in about March (the party was in June), allowing ourselves to enjoy watching them being born one at a time! Careful thought was given to fabric choice (as much as possible within the supply) and expressions for each birthday friend, slowing giving personality to the stuffie. She named each one, wrote bios for each with their dates of birth, likes and dislikes. For example, Melba the bunny liked having blackberry tea and munching a scone in her garden. We took a group picture (minus Pip the sheep, unborn at photo time) before they were distributed during the party, to be discovered through scavenger hunt clues! So fun!


















During the summer miss M renewed her interest in beading. My sister started her off with a birthday beading day just with her cousin, and she made these two gorgeous bracelets!























Pleased with her new bling, this spurred her on to make beaded gifts for her friends' birthdays, using beads from my old jewellry cast-offs, and a couple of stores here and there. The first picture below also features a blue sheep miss M needle felted. He is eyeing the blue and green beaded necklace with the initial T.

















































Creating beauty. It's a wonderful thing!

Wishful Thinking

New Project Bag!

I love packages in the mail! Who doesn't, really. This one wasn't in brown paper, or tied up with string, but oh so delightful.

My latest acquisition, all ready to be fed some alpaca/merino.



(it's from here!)