little things

A little bit of sewing almost forgotten. My mom sometimes brings tea with her when she comes to visit, so I made her a tea wallet with a few herbal options (this might explain why she brings tea - we don't have the real thing around these parts). It always surprises me what a tiny bit of cotton batting and some favourite fabric can create.

translations

It takes having a quiet evening on a cottage vacation to finally get a photo of this cardigan (photos are my biggest hurdle lately - especially when I have to be the model. It's much easier when I'm making clothes for the kids, but I've been an especially selfish maker for a while). This is my third in a series of cardigans, and the pattern is finally perfect (here is the first and second attempt). I have a fourth waiting to be blocked and photographed and then I will post the pattern here. It's a simple design that really suits my favourite yarn - Debbie Bliss Luxury Donegal Tweed. I haven't translated it into other sizes, but it's such a basic top-down recipe that I think most knitters could easily size up.

On the reading front, The Douglas Notebooks: A Fable is my first Canadian novel for this year's challenge. Written by Christine Eddie, and translated into English by Sheila Fischman, it is a lyrical, contemplative tale of love, family and nature. Translating must be such a fascinating art. This is actually the third novel I've read that's been translated by Fischman and it gives me the feeling that there is something inherently lyrical about French prose. Trees are central to this story and even this small passage illustrates the rhythm the translation captures: "When they opened the door in the morning, they would take a few steps in the clearing, examining the vegetable garden, and enter a theatre devoted to beauty, inhabited by a crowd of giants that opened up towards the light." Needless to say I was thoroughly charmed by the novel, making me love the Canadian Book Challenge all over again.

For more musings on reading and knitting, visit Small Things for this week's Yarnalong.

the stuff of vacations

When packing for vacation, it's my knitting/reading bag that gets the most thought. How many books is considered enough? What new knitting project can I start? What will I do if - catastrophe of all catastrophes - I finish up everything in the bag?

Turns out that I already underestimated how many books I could read (thankfully there's a bookstore in town, so that error has been rectified). A Scattered Life by Karen McQuestion was brought half-read, so I finished that up first. Let me say though, it wasn't the ideal way to start a vacation. The ending is dreadfully sad and I didn't see it coming so I was rather affected by it. Which may explain why I quickly dove into The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. My mood was instantly restored. Don, the main character, was wonderful. His voice was fresh and humourous and the entire book was utterly delightful. I laughed out loud a number of times and really had the feeling that I was reading something genuinely new. But I consumed it over the course of a day, so the experience was swift. Which maybe means I need to be knitting more?

As for knitting, I finished up a little baby gift for a friend at work who is due soon. Hopefully this Koigu Kersti palette is gender neutral enough. I used it for a pair of socks for Sadie but much prefer how the fabric works up when knit flat (instead of in the round). The darker browns are more balanced and it makes a very sweet hat. The pattern is based on one from Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits for Beginners but I've lost the book and had to wing it. I used 4mm needles (3.5mm for the rolled brim) and cast on 70 sts. Hopefully it's the right size for a newborn. It's hard to believe that babies are really that small, especially when you have a 4 year old acting as a blanket on his lanky 8 year old sister right in front of you.

For more knitting and reading stories, be sure to visit today's Yarnalong.

wiksten-a-thon

Whoops, there goes 3 weeks. I'm going to gloss over the fairly comical story of finishing a 10 month renovation and then experiencing a freak rainfall that not only drops an unheard of amount of rain in your city but also knocks out your power for 3 hours. Which means your brand new sump pump can't work and your brand new basement floods. Yep, that happened. But before that happened, there was a whole bunch of sewing. Of the same garment, over and over again.

In total I made 4 new Wiksten Tank dresses. It started with a black and white striped version which I randomly threw jeans under when it got cold one night. Suddenly I realized how awesome the pattern is - a dress when hot, a tunic when cold. Amazing. So then I made a gingham version. Both of these gaped a little at the back neck, so after a quick search I came across Rae's suggested modification. It worked like a charm and the next one - made from mushroom linen - fit perfectly. Thank you, thank you Rae!

After the modification success I basically ran to the Workroom to get more fabric to make another. I settled on a blue chambray from the new Union collection from Robert Kaufman. I finished it that night (these take 90 minutes to sew, max!) but by the next night, my sewing marathon came to a quick close. A water logged studio will do that to any sewing marathon.

So now I'll get back to knitting while we re-enter the basement renovation phase. Spending time with wool is never a bad thing.

canada day eve

Fireworks are exploding in the background, so it seems fitting to write about my 13th and final book in this year's Canadian Book Challenge. The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson was exactly what I expected - quirky, experimental, creative. But it was also exactly what I didn't expect - heavy, meaningful and heartbreaking. I devoured this small novel and every page was wonderful. I've been sticking to fairly linear storytelling this year so this was a nice break from that, reminding me of some of my favourite writers - Jeanette Winterson, Daphne Marlatt, George Elliot Clarke. The two main characters are so rich and loveable and it was very hard to say good-bye to them. CS Richardson is a book designer turned novelist so I was especially fond of his designer's sense. Structuring the novel around the alphabet, using the scale of a small notebook, the wonderful single opening page in robin's egg blue and the perfect description of font choice - these details added immensely to my whole experience of reading his words. What a perfect ending to this year's challenge.

I can't wait to start this all over again tomorrow! And if anyone out there is looking for the motivation to read a little more Canada, come join the challenge. 

Happy Canada Day!

baby knitting bliss

Oh yes, this is one cute baby hat pattern. I suppose you can't go wrong with the simple combination of cables, bear ears and bows. If you have a baby gift in your knitting future, I highly recommend The Cabled Teddy Hat pattern. This version, knit with Rowan's Pure Wool, is going to a friend's new baby girl. I followed the 6-12 month size and made absolutely no mods. It was easy to follow, quick to knit and deeply satisfying in the adorable category.

The Canadian Book Challenge is almost over (how is it almost July?) and I just finished my 12th of 13 books. I read Joan Clark's An Audience of Chairs a few years ago and thoroughly loved it. Road to Bliss is her latest novel and although it wasn't as captivating it was still an okay read. The notion that a 15 year old boy would leave home and not be tracked down by his loving parents was a stretch for me, but there were some interesting characters and description of place. Though some characters may have been a little one-dimensional, or the characterization of the community they belonged to a little obvious. Or maybe I'm just loving my 13th book so much that I can't remember how this novel affected me.

For more knitting and reading stories be sure to visit today's Yarnalong.

animal party

Not long ago I made a fox pillow for a friend. I was a little smitten with it myself and couldn't stop thinking about the face construction, so obviously I had to try another. The changes are subtle - I made the ears orange instead of white and then the cheeks are all white with a really tall nose. But it actually changes the whole expression.  This fox is quite sly by comparison. He's a great addition to a lonely black chair of ours.

In what is clearly an animal phase, I've been making a number of mini owls. It's birthday party season around here and they've been great additions to gifts for both 4 and 9 year olds. I tend to give them away as soon as they're done, but today I finally remembered to take a photo of a rather colourful version. The free pattern is super easy and it's a great way to use up scrap wool. Sadie and I estimated that with my scrap wool I'd likely be able to make about 1000 of them.

It's probably not even an exaggeration.

wiksten tova, take two

I've been wearing my first Wiksten Tova. All. The. Time. So making another just made heaps of sense.

This pattern is simple and so easy to tweak and modify. I added the sleeves this time but slimmed them, added two inches in length and made a deeper cuff. The shoulders were a bit broad for me, so I took 1/2 inch off either side which actually made the sleeve cap fit better. And the inset pieces overlapped too much in my first one so I cut the edge of each inset piece back a bit - and on an angle - and I really like how it sits now, with just a slight v opening. I excluded the collar again and finished the neck edge with bias trim. Next time I'll round out the inset corners and probably turn it into a dress.

Of course, a pattern only gets better with the right fabric. I can't say enough about this Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn-Dyed cotton/linen - it's soft, has an awesome heathery texture and sews like a dream. I ordered 6 yards to make a shower curtain with and managed to have just enough left over for this shirt (the kids like the idea that I can stand in front of the shower curtain and become a floating head. These are the things we think about around here). The black band at the bottom is the Brussels Washer rayon/cotton - not as soft, but helped give the shirt some definition and now the hem has a better drape.

My Tova love means I'm totally crossing my fingers that Jenny Gordy publishes more sewing patterns. Me and hundreds of other sewers out there, right?

a little more canada

The new studio space still isn't fully organized, but thankfully that doesn't affect my knitting or reading. The pinky-red cardigan is coming along (meaning I'll finish it just in time for the hot weather to arrive). I've been fine-tuning this cardigan pattern so once this one is done I'll finally be able to share the pattern, although it will just be the one size. I'm not mathematically inclined so I don't know the magic of how to figure out sizing up without actually knitting it physically. Perhaps that will be my knitting goal for the next year: learn official pattern-making skills.

As for reading, I've added more to my Canadian list. First, See the Child by David Bergen. I enjoyed this one more than A Year of Lesser, but I'm not about to go grab more of his novels. I do love Bergen's sense of place; I felt like a neighbour in town every time I opened the book. The characters were real, full of flaws and driven by emotions even when they knew better. Loss, longing and the complicated relationships of family were constant themes that kept me engaged. I'll just take a break for now.

I have had quite an affair with Elizabeth Hay this past year, but The Only Snow in Havana is the first non-fiction work I've read of hers. I was not disappointed. There's just something in the way she writes that I really connect with. In this format, I found her prose lyrical, thoughtful and often surprising. Also, it didn't hurt that it was essentially a musing on being Canadian and how as Canadians, we are tied to the fur trade or, at least, a collective need to keep warm. It sounds simple, but it's oh so true. I figure it's my very Canadian-ness that actually makes me a knitter - I'm fated to care about bundling up. Overall it was a pleasant detour from my fiction streak, and another happy Hay read.

For more knitting and reading, catch up with today's Yarnalong.

a wiksten spring

Seeing all the Wiksten tops in the Spring Top Sewalong pool inspired me to run out, buy both patterns and whip up one of each in a matter of days. To my family it may seem a tad impulsive, but I'd like to think that's exactly what a sewalong is for - to feed a collective sewing obsession.   

So the Tova pattern is great. I used Robert Kaufman's linen/cotton which is a bit heavy so although I had added the sleeves, they were too stiff and I took them off. But I quite liked wearing it with a shirt underneath and having playful bias tape around the inside edges is just plain fun. I've never been crazy about the collar when I've seen other Tovas so I left it out and used bias tape there too. I just think it makes a nice shape. Overall a great pattern and well suited to my, er, flattish chest.

Next up, the Wiksten tank. Again, super easy pattern and this time no adjustments at all other than how I attached the bias edges (I pressed the strips in half, stitched them to the wrong side with raw edges lined up and then pressed to the front and topstitched down). Since the inside seams are clean - which I love even though I have a serger and could have simply serged them - the whole garment just feels so "finished". The fabric is some cotton shirting and I love seeing the diagonal version of the checks, which is why pressing the bias trim to the front seemed necessary, even at the hem. It might not be a very flattering neckline for me but this will be very wearable with a cardigan.

So Wiksten officially tried and loved. More in the future for sure.