Summer knitted cardigan

My sewing machine is (more or less)out of reach; because we are redoing my daughters bedroom and had to move her stuff to other places in our house. Also as part of redoing the floor in her room ... we thought that we might as well change the parquet in the hallway and Slava's room. We have been staring at the ugly parquet ever since we bought our house 15 years and this is one of the "still not changed things that we absolutely need to change as is it sooo ugly". Also the parquet is not real, it is some cheap synthetic something. So no sewing for a few weeks. I managed to finish the quilt for my niece just before moving (a lot) of furniture, books, games, ... temporarily in to "la chambre peche" or the peach coloured room. When we bought our house I painted each room in a different colour, giving a name to each room at the same time. The curtains have disappeared and the room is waiting to change colour ... one day .....

I still had access to my bond knitting machine. Have not used my bond a lot the lately, yarn in abundance of course. Before going on holidays I knitted a cardigan for Alesya. The yarn (Markoma 4 points mysterieux) I had bought last year in a little shop on sale, the owner was retiring and having a huge sale. So I ended up buying yarn and fabric, thinking that whatever she would sell to me, she would make more money than selling all to a someone who would buy the whole lot for one price. So now the challenge is to use all that I bought. I have no idea where this yarn is produced, a search on google did not produce any results, other than shops selling this same yarn or Nordic sock wool.

The yarn is not intended to be used on a knitting machine, however with some coaching and sweet talking I managed to knit the 5 parts (back two fronts and two sleeves) prior to going on holidays. The assembly I could do while away. The edges were finished with a matching spring green cotton yarn crochet border from my stash, as were the the buttons. My daughter loves the cardigan and will wear it happily this autumn all through spring.

Legwarmers for my daughter

Alesya wanted socks, just not ordinary socks, no she wanted hand-made socks by me. And although I was happy to make her socks, the thought that they might be too small in a short time and therefore only used a few months seemed to be a pity. Legwarmers were the perfect answer. I used WYS yarn, Pink Flamingo cocktail sock yarn.

They became my on-the-go project, while stuck in traffic jams, or at the GP. Before Christmas one was done and during the holidays made the second one. Every time I had some 10 minutes, I took out the second legwarmer. I used dpn's 3mm for the rib part and a small circular needle 2.75mm for the knit part. I set up 54 stitches and knitted a total of 35 cm. The second one was done in no-time. Holidays are great for finishing projects.

Linking up with FAL 2018, project 7 of my list, 6 out of 10 done.

Alesya's scarf

Alesya wanted to learn how to knit, she asked a few times for some needles and yarn. So we went to the store and bought her some Katia paint self grading yarn. I started the shawl, 40 stitches would be good and off she went, she would do one row and I would do 2 rows, knitting only, no purling. And then I realized that the scarf would take her too long to finish. So we unraveled and I made her the scarf on the Bond. I had not used my Bond for at least a year. But she worked and loved the yarn. In no-time the scarf was done.

I had set up 80 stitches, knitted until the end of the yarn cake, transferred the scarf to needles and bind off by hand. The shawl was folded lengthwise in two, sewn together and closed off at both ends. The end result is a nice thick warm scarf that will keep her warm this winter. She will still need to learn how to knit, a smaller project though. Maybe a hat, either by hand or on the Bond.

Project 16 African batik pants for my daughter

My daughter is growing, all summer pants from last year (and the year before) were too small. Lucky for me she loves the vibrant batiks I have, she choose the one she wanted pants from. To keep it simple, I used the pattern for shorts of last year, lengthened the legs and finished the pants in maybe an hour or two. I made them baggy, so she can wear them over summer when it is warm, and grow in them. Most likely next year they will be ankle length.

Today she is wearing them with a pink t-shirt. Maybe Thursday she can wear them with an orange t-shirt, or green, or red .......

Project 47 Halloween capes

Halloween is here and the kids want to dress up. First at the "summer camp" they had to come dressed up. Slava wanted a Star Wars cape and Alexei a Vampire cape.
One of the best investments was my lock-machine. It makes finishing costumes really easy. Don't they look cute with their masks and capes.

Project 46 Sweater for Alexei

Last year I started knitting a sweater for Alexei. And then winter made way for spring and the sweater was not done. It became one of these lying-around projects. So as part of my 52 projects challenge, I had to include finishing these WIPs. All it took was a few weeks of vigorous knitting, puzzling on how to attach the sleeves to the body of the sweater and then knit the yolk. The first attempt at the yolk was horrible, so frogged it all and started all over. Second time around it worked. The sweater is now finished and Alexei is happy and warm.

21 October 2017

Project 25 Pink short for the miss

After finishing the green short in no time, realizing she could not wear it to school as some colour had faded, decided to make another. One she could wear to school. She choose pink African fabric and one hour later .... voila a pink short. She has plenty of t-shirts to with this.

11 June

Project 24 A green short for my daughter

Alesya wants to wear shorts, because "all" the girls wear shorts to school. True with the heatwave some of the girls were wearing shorts soooo short ..... and of she wanted to wear her red short. No was the answer, the red short is for going to the beach or during the holidays .... and not for school.

Drama ......

So I said I would make her a short, a bright green one with some left over fabric. Easy model and she is soo happy with it. Unfortunately this one was a non-school short either as the fabric discoloured a little.

Maybe I am too strict? I don't know .... I do think it is important my kids go well dressed to school. And yes I do repair the knees in jeans with patches and send them to school in the jeans. Some mums don't .... do their kids never ruin their jeans, or do they simply buy new ones each two months?

11 June

Project 9 Alesya's dress

It all started out with Sue bringing me some fab fabrics from Tanzania. And there was more than enough to make two dresses. So instead of cutting the fabric in half and share, I suggested I make the two dresses. It turned out there was enough to make a baby dress as well. Alesya's dress is a bit different in style, afterall she is 9 now, turning in to a little lady. I asked her if she wanted pockets and she said yes.

Project 7 and 8 Emma's and her little baby sister's dress

Last year November my dear friend Sue, supplier of lovely fabrics, brought me some more fabrics. So in return I said I would make a dress for her niece Emma as well. In the end I ended up making three cute dresses; one for Alesya, one for Emma and one for her baby sister due in June. As the prints are rather large I bought some mint green solid colour fabric to play around. Emma's dress was not too complicated to make. I had forgotten the work that making a baby dress entails; the tiny details, the little surfaces and fine work that is needed ......

They are finished, packed in an envelope and ready to be mailed tomorrow morning. May they enjoy wearing them.