My very first Sweater.

Here it is....my very first sweater.

I had such high hopes for me and my sweater. We were going to spin around on the hilltops of Austria singing. It was going to be such a grand adventure, but all hope was lost when I made a huge mistake.I eyeballed miscalulated how much yarn it would take to finish. My mom had given me some of her yarn overflow and I thought there would be plenty. You can see where  I switched to a funky coloured blue and then to grey to finish, which I almost ran out of too.

What I was going for was a 1940's farm girl feel, to the sweater, so I actually shortened it slightly from the pattern. Which by the way came from the Craftsy class on " My first Sweater". It was a great class and I learned a lot.
So I'm pretty sure if I wore this to do some farm work, the cows wouldn't mind the few oops I made.              
                                                                                     :)

Optimizing 2 of the 3 R's

As most of you know ( and if you haven't guessed by now) I'm a big reuse, recycle, compost kind of a girl. Its my goal this year to reduce my carbon footprint, even if its by a tiny bit. And I believe I'm off to a good start, doing just that. I've already reduced my garbage output, and my gardens are going to thank me for all the lovely compost I've dumped on them this winter. I've not bought one stitch of new clothing, only made myself new things with stuff I've already had or if i did buy new, it was a renewable resource like wool to make sweaters.  Oooorrrrrr I've boughten from the thrift store!!!

One of these lovely printed vintage sheets is going to be my Easter Skirt!

So far I've made jama pants, and kids spring/summer/fall hats. Aprons and a skirt is up next. There are a couple of things to remember when buying them. Top sheets are the way to go for sewing, but don't discount the bottoms, even if they are slightly worn. Tear them up and crochet yourself a rug! You could put these lovelies on your bed as well. Some are like brand new, and were probably saved for special guests, and who wouldn't want to crawl in between these pretty little things. :)

New found Love.

Since it's been way too cold to work on furniture in my garage this winter, knitting has become my new found love, but not without it's ups and downs, as it is in life.

This is my second knitted sweater. I found the pattern for free on the internet.

My first sweater and I are not on speaking terms right now. Why you ask?.....because it decided that it had, had enough of being blue and wanted to change colours. A.K.A I ran out of yarn. So these are my newbie mistakes and how you can avoid them.

These are all 50 gram balls, but their yardage is different on each one.

So check the pattern for yardage first! Most new patterns will tell you, some old ones don't but a great place to find all kinds of helpful things is Ravelry. They've got patterns to buy, freebies, and people will put notes with the pattern itself. Which is a great thing for someone like me starting out! And youtube will also help you along.

See this

That's your gauge. Also very important to do. You don't do it and you can end up with something way too big or way to small. Who wants to go through all the work of knitting something that won't fit.

Now what I learned knitting this little sweater.

Buttonholes! Real honest to goodness buttonholes. I'm not a fan of the yarn over type. So I took the time and learned how to make a buttonhole.

Seamless sleeves! Working from the shoulder down, in the round using two circular needles. I tried magic loop as well. It worked till the end of the sleeve when things got a little small, then I changed back to the two needle version to finish.

I also realized that I like wooden needles over metal ones, but thats just my preference.

      I can't believe I waited this long to learn how to knit, but better late then never. :)

Ahh Winter!

I love winter, but this is getting ridiculous. Its icy coldness just doesn't seem to want to end.
On my up side I've been tangled in yarn. On my down side, my skin is taking a beating. Now I'm not one to use lots of lotions and potions, I'm more of a quick face wash, and get on with the day. But this winter I've needed to combat the drying and windburn my face has been taking while out walking my dogs.
I'm also not going to put just anything on my face, so for the past 2 months, I've been trying a homemade concoction and if I could love an object, I would love this. But since thats not possible I just really, really, really like this stuff, plus its a recipe that turned into a real lotion.

 Follow this recipe exactly ( I can's emphasis this enough) and I promise you won't be disappointed. My face is thanking me for it. And if your looking where to find some of things you'll need, check out Well. They are an online pharmacy that I've been using for a few years now. Living in a small town, far from things I can only find in the city, it has been wonderful using this Canadian Company.
                                        So I'd say testing over and this one's a keeper. :)

More Hats!

When I was in Grade 5, our school introduced electives for the upper grades.  I chose knitting being taught from our lovely Liberian Mrs. Furtney. She taught us to knit a scarf. I finished it, fringed it and wore it for many winters. My mother can also knit, so I didn't see a need to knit much since she did it for me.
 When I was in my 20's, crocheting was my new past time and knitting was put way on the back burner. I always tell people I crochet, not knit.
Since the January post telling you how I plan on only making my wardrobe from now on, I felt that knitting had to be pulled out of a very loooonnnng retirement. Finding nice sweater patterns to crochet are really hard to find and I also read, that knitting is easier on your hands. (side note - my hand is actually getting better thanks to my chiropractor. He found some things out of place)

So here it is... my first knitting project in a super duper long time.

This was this morning.

And this afternoon!!!!!!

All I can say is I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT :)

Third time not a Charm.

About a year and half a go I bought a pattern from etsy and try as I might I could not get my hat to look like the picture of my boughten pattern. Every time I crocheted it, it looked like a Gilligan hat. I was going for a cloche. So I set it aside in frustration and ignored it, and thought "that'el teach it."
Last week for the third (or maybe fourth) time I thought I'd try again. I double and triple checked my yarn, my hook and the pattern and guess WHAT!!.... another stinkin' Gilligan hat. No cute little brim, that is supposed to just come to the top of my eyes just a a hat with an absurd brim waiting to jump ship.

So, what's a girl to do? Try and make her own pattern, thats what.

I took some things that I liked from the boughten pattern, checked youtube for other suggestions, checked the internet for more suggestions and came up with this.

( by the way, not a fan of selfies, can you tell)

Its not perfect and still needs tweaking, but I finally feel closer to what I was looking for. So here's what I'm hoping to do, get it to where I really, really like it, and then share the pattern with you!

So you also may be wondering why not just find another pattern? It's because I can't seem to find one like this. 

I'm kind of picky and sometimes picky can be a good thing or bad thing. I haven't decided which one this is yet. :)

Hello January!

I'm finding it hard to believe that Christmas was just a couple of weeks ago, and how when January comes along, everything feels new and fresh to me. Regardless how people say "its just a change of a calender, and nothing has really changed"in my mind it has and I'll go with that.
With that in mind, at the end of last year, I made the decision to only make my clothes from now on, and my fabric can only be sourced from what I already have, thrift stores, or a responsible manufacturer. This isn't by any means a resolution, it is something I want to change in my life.

Last year I began my search for old patterns to sew a new wardrobe, and boy am I liking this. Not only and I finding some very cool patterns, but I found myself being drawn to certain eras.

I'm a big fan of the 50's, but 40's and 30's are sneaking in there too. I thought I'd like the 60's, and although its ok....it's just not enough pizazz... I think?

 Take this dress, its a 1960's pattern.

I just wasn't feeling the love after I made it, but I'd like to try making it again in another fabric and see how I feel then.

I am however lovin' my hat, and the pretty little ice crystals stuck to the tree.

The hat is a secondhand find as is the necklace and the shoes.:)