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The time has come to build a terrarium. We collected some moss today but that is as far as we got before children became tired and hungry. My ultimate specimen to place under glass? The elusive Dendrophylax lindenii (ghost orchid).
Images from top to bottom: Pottery Barn, The Optimistic Muse, Rock 'n Roll Bride and Country Home.
So, I cut the cardi. Using Elinor's tutorial to hold my hand, I machine stitched down the centre of the columns of stitches on either side of the centre column where the cut is to be made. Ok, not so hard, like Elinor says, it OUGHT to be harder. Surprisingly, the floats did not get stuck in the feed dog, causing a hot mess of yarn to entangle beneath the working plate of my Pfaff; I managed not to accidentally stitch the front to the back; everything was actually working! Feeling some kind of thrill begin to rise up, I took my dainty stork scissors and proceeded to cut up to the top (the point at the top in the photo above is the beginning of the hood).
The edges rolled inwards; it was now officially a cardigan!
I picked up and knit one row of the stitches on either side of the charted pattern and then worked an i-cord bind off which produced a nice clean edge that I hope will lend itself well to a zipper closure (haven't sewn that in yet).
What the folded-over facing looks like - a bit scrappy but I'll finish the raw edge with a blanket stitch. At least I don't have to worry about those hundreds of yarn bits unravelling though, the machine stitches are short and doing their job wonderfully. So, weaving in ends, grafting underarms and zipper installation to go - whoopee!!
A February weekend walk. Even superheroes need to pause for a rest!
Made a minute dent in my fabric stash this past week making some throw pillows for the crib without a rail which now happily resembles a day bed!
Knit fabrics for little boys' tees (and this adorable undies pattern, found via elsiemarley), each with a solid rib, stripe and pattern - fun! All fabrics are from fabric.com except the stars (Sewzanne's).
I so want to do one wall of printed paper in the boys' room. Some of my favourite examples of layering pattern, print and texture in a child's room:
Bolig Magazine via Pinterest
via Ikea Family Live
Silver penguins from Isak via petite pimprenelle.
via Dos Family. I love the mix of toys against this floral.
As for narrowing it down, I keep coming back to these two:
"Major Tom" by Princes & Crows
"Fin and Tentacle" by Trustworth Studios.
Spent a gorgeously sunny afternoon throwing stones into the (springtime) estuary ponds along the Vedder River in Chilliwack. Hope you had a great weekend too!
I've completed the first row of decreases at the yoke. It's all downhill from here, right? (Except for the steeking part; I really hope I can just take my scissors and do it!)
I kinda flubbed up the sleeves by using bamboo dpn's the same size (3.25mm) as the nickel circular needle I used for the body. The resulting sleeve tension is looser than the body so, hmm, can you see those puckers up by the yoke? I REALLY hope blocking will help it lay flat. If I do stranded sleeves again, I am going the route of Hiya Hiya's 9" circulars, like I used on my Featherweight. So...just the yoke and hood to go for knitting and then steek and insert zipper!
