done.

Wham!  Take that, to-do list!   A few buttons and some seams, and I finally finished this sweet little Coolbreeze baby cardigan for "the plaid baby."  Kaelin requested this pattern from me before she even conceived!  And it is my duty and privilege to provide cozy, woollen, authentically Canadian winter wear for her Louisiana babe ;) That baby might be sweaty, but she'll be cute!

I love the chevron gradient of blues in here, it knocks me out.  Have already started the adult version for me!

Finished this up dockside on a mini-escape to the cottage yesterday :)  Was such a great drive out, taking in all the fall colours!

 And I may just have another finish to show you soon :)

More sweater details on my Ravelry page here.

A quilt and sweater for Baby Kiera

Seeing as Last But Not Least snapped up the vajayjay quilt, I had to whip up a new one on the double for Baby Kiera!


Like the other, this quilt used the grey, yellow and pink colour scheme, to match Kiera's nursery. I love how the two quilts look so entirely different! I have to say this is one of my favourites. I loved every minute of making it, I completely improvised as I went, adding bits here and there. I started with the wonky log cabins, and as Kiera's mom likes strip quilts, I added a couple other different block styles in strips. My kids especially loved the strip of "ruler" fabric along the top, saying that would be perfect to help Kiera's mom measure her as she grows!



I quilted it with an all over loopy pattern, my first time trying this, and I honestly kinda sucked at it. But overall I still think it looks fine, and I love the crinkly effect. I used some Aurafil variegated yellow/white thread, another first, and liked the product. But I am just as happy with the performance of my Connecting Threads thread, which is much less expensive!


On the back I used a large piece of my new absolute favourite fabric by Heather Ross, the pin people, that my friend Angela was kind enough to pick up and send to me when it went on sale at Hancock's (I think??). I absolutely love the light grey colour with the pink and orange and lime accents, it is the perfect backing for this quilt, and I think I need to plan an entire other quilt around this fabric. Lovity love it!


On the back I included a label that I made using printer friendly fabric, and made it in the wonky log cabin style that I had on the front.


This quilt was a bit big for a baby quilt, about 40 by 50 inches. It will be good for Kiera to snuggle up with for some time, I hope!


Along with the quilt, I knit up a sweet little coat using the Baby Tiered Coat pattern by Lisa Chemery on Ravelry (see details on my Ravelry page here). Such a cute pattern! I made it in a nice neutral grey, using a Wool Ease worsted weight yarn held double for thickness, and added some cute yellow buttons as an accent.



Inside I added a label by Izzy and Ivy Designs that we got in our grab bags at Sewing Summit last fall. They are a great product with some really cute styles! I may just order some more of these.


The two were gifted at a nice casual baby shower the other day at my home, and seem to be well loved.

Welcome to the world, Kiera!

Shared at Sew Modern Monday.

The Sweater worthy of a parade

I can't even tell you how giddy I am about finally finishing this sweater. The fact that it FITS and, no modesty here, looks AWESOME, is just the icing on the 10 Layer Cake of Incredible.

My journey/whining about this sweater is well documented: started it back in November, had to restart it 3 times for reasons I won't bitch about (again) now, so it has been a learning process for sure. Basically I could have easily whipped off 4 quilts in the hours it took me to knit this thing. Then there is the little matter of cost....knitting is in no way a cheap hobby, and the yarn, buttons and shipping/border duty charges for the supplies for this were....brace yourself...about $180. Would I ever BUY myself a sweater for $180? Hellz NO! If I were to add up the hours spent in manual labour and add that to the cost, this would be a FIVE THOUSAND dollar sweater.

Good thing it looks like a million bucks :)



What do I love about this? Oh, so many things! First off, the pattern. It is called the Golden Wheat Cardigan, by Veera Valimaki. It was so well written (all the previous mess ups were entirely my bad). Sizing was perfect. Then there are all the little details. I love the asymmetrical shape, and the collar....



......the cute little "side seams" that are not seams at all, but stitched in along the body and sleeves......



.....and, this baby's got back!



While the pattern only calls for a few buttons at the top so it is always worn open, I opted to do buttonholes all the way down. I like that I can wear it closed on chilly days.



And I love the COLOR! The yarn was Madelinetosh Chunky in the candlewick colorway. So vibrant and warm. And so soft! Worth every penny.



The buttons. Dang, I love buttons, but these are perfect. I found them after a quick etsy search, at a shop called shop4craft based in Thailand. Great service!



I can basically go on and on about all the things I love about the final sweater. And I am so RELIEVED that after all that time and effort, I have something that I love to show for it. I didn't even block it because I had to put it on immediately. I plan to wear it every day until it is stinky and smelly, probably even longer. Then I will peel it off for a quick wash and wear it some more. Just call me the Lady in Yellow.



If you want to learn more, there are even more details and ramblings on my Ravelry page.

Perfect fall sweater (for a perfect little girl)

I think about 2.3 seconds elapsed between when I cast off The Middle Child's sweater and when Last But Not Least started whining, "But where is miiiiiiine???" And as I worked on it over the past couple months, the kid was like a slave driver. "Aren't you done yet, Mommy?" "Knit faster!"



Anyways, I am so happy that I was able to crank it out in time for her to wear this fall....and to capture the gorgeous color of the yarn amongst the gorgeous colors of nature!



Knit it a couple sizes big....you can bet if I am going to knit it, I am going to make it big enough to last awhile!



Tested and approved for running and frolicking purposes.....



Had fun walking through the park and snapping photos. The Middle Child was the "director" of the photo shoot and would swoop in after each shot to rearrange hair and offer suggestions to her sister about hand placement, etc. Suggestions were usually taken graciously. Ah, sisters!





More details on my Ravelry page here, for those who would like to know :)



Linking up at Rachel's Celebrate Color contest :)

A sweet baby cardi

Well, finishing up The Middle Child's sweater was just the motivation I needed to pull this one from the to-do pile and finish 'er up!

I had started this as my "first sweater" but lost interest as it has no recipient in mind as of yet...the person I was certain would have a girl found out she is preggers with a boy! Regardless, I am happy to hold on to this until the right wee girl comes along.

I used the Little Coffee Bean Cardigan free pattern on Ravelry by Elizabeth Smith in size 3 months. I love the sweet stripes and the short sleeves will look hip over a long sleeved onesie ;) I made one modification to the raglan increases, using a kfb instead of a yo to avoid the eyelets. I used Cascade 220 Superwash yarns.

The buttons are from my local quilt shop, and I opted to secure them with a splash of lemon yellow thread.

My youngest declared that she wants one in her size, so she could match her two precious "kitties." :)