Mar 23
2016
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Maisie has asked for a pair of blue socks. I let her pick out a skein and we wound it up together. I traced around her food and took some measurements. All that’s needed is a bit of math and I can cast on.
In a Peanut Shell
In a Peanut Shell
In a Peanut Shell
In a Peanut Shell
Mar 23
2016
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Maisie has asked for a pair of blue socks. I let her pick out a skein and we wound it up together. I traced around her food and took some measurements. All that’s needed is a bit of math and I can cast on.
Mar 20
2016
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Here’s my Linden. It’s been a favourite in my wardrobe ever since I finished it a couple of weeks ago. I’m really glad I decided to go with the size 8. My shirt is super comfortable but also looks tidy enough that I can wear it to work or out for lunch without feeling all “Saturday morning”. The main fabric is a brown organic cotton fleece. It’s the same fabric I’ve used for lots of pants for Maisie so I knew it would wear well and feel nice. Aside: For some reason sweatshirt fleece, with very few exceptions, comes in either organic cotton or polyester. It makes for limited colour choices, if you don’t care to wear synthetics, and Maisie and I can put together some rather matchy-matchy outfits. I recently discovered Simplifi Fabrics and was really excited to find somewhere in Canada to buy fleece in a bunch of fancy new-to-me colours (still organic cotton). Back to my linden: Since my fabric was about as plain as it could get I decided to dress it up a bit. I love a bit of lace so I rummaged through my lace bin. I was hoping to find something really wide but no luck. These pieces matched reasonably well, colour-wise, and I pulled them together into a panel with a scrap of liberty lawn leftover from a sundress of a few years back. I love the way it came out. I sewed through all three layers (lace, print, shirt front) with a narrow zigzag in thread to match the lace. The lawn is so lightweight that it doesn’t add any stiffness to the front of my shirt.
Like all knit shirts this one came together really quickly. The raglan makes it even faster than a set in sleeve. I think I could have cut my neckband a little longer. I had to pull it almost as tight as it would go to get it to match up with the neck edge. I might add a half inch or so next time if I’m using a similarly stable fabric. It still looks pretty nice though. The cuffs and hip band went on really easily. I decided to topstitch around all my bands to keep the seam allowances in place. I didn’t want top stitching over my lace panel so I pushed back the scallops a little bit at the beginning and end of both the neckline and hemline topstitching to make it look like the stitching went right underneath. I added a few hand stitches on the inside to hold the seam allowance down behind the panel.
I’m looking forward to making up this pattern again. Maybe in a jersey for a lightweight, comfy top or maybe lengthened into a cozy tunic or dress. A good basic is so inspiring.
Mar 12
2016
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Last week was full of preparations and celebrations. Maisie is three! I can hardly believe it. At the same time it seems impossible she could have been any different than she is now. I remember a friend telling me that she thought three was just awesome and I completely agree. Maisie’s imagination is constantly working in the most amazing ways. She picks things up so quickly and is ready for the next thing before I’ve even realized that she’s mastered the first. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday and she said “blue with strawberries inside.” I was very happy to comply and made one of my favourite recipes for strawberry pound cake and covered the whole thing with blue buttercream icing. I wanted to make swirls all over but ran out of icing and Rob suggested I just smooth out what I had left on the top and leave the swirls on the sides. Brilliant. It looks great to me. I found the little dancer in her blue dress while I was hunting for my icing tips so I popped her on there along with three candles for the birthday girl to blow out. The number shirt this year is from Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee pattern. I made the size 3T and it fits Maisie perfectly with just enough length in the sleeves for growing. My only modification was to shave about ⅛” of the neckline and use a narrower band; Maisie often complains when shirts are too close to her neck. We had three little friends over for a part and made no-bake cheesecakes from this recipe. Cooking with Dog is a favourite show of Maisie’s and she’s watched this particular video many, many times. I didn’t even really have to give directions for the different steps of making the filling. She knew what to do and was happy to help her friends figure it out. We had berries and mini chocolate chips for the kids to put on top of their cheesecakes. So much fun (with leftover cake for breakfast and tea during the week).