Fall knitting line up

 

There were a couple of months here full of flu, colds, infections and consequent sleep disruptions.  It exhausted me and derailed all non-essential activities and I’m only just starting to get it together again, but it did give me the chance to finalize my fall knitting plans. While sewing contributes significantly to my emotional well being, I needed to rest and recuperate and hunching over the sewing machine or ironing board doesn’t qualify. Sewing is physical labor. After a few hours at the machine, you can start to feel how backbreaking sweatshop labor must be. By the time I had some energy again, we needed to take care of all those mundane things that had built up, like cleaning, groceries, laundry, bills. Sewing simply had to take a back seat and quite a few projects may not get done. Such is life with three little ones - germy!

However, recuperating is a knitting-friendly thing, as knitting can be done lying on the sofa watching endless Law and Order reruns.  I finished the spring sweater for myself that I had planned to have finished by March. I might just get to wear it once or twice before it's too hot. I blocked it today and when it's dry, I'll share it. Or I’ll rip back the edging and add another inch.

Having finished my spring knitting, it's time to line up some pleasant projects for the fall. It may seem early, but lots of trial and even more error has taught me that knitting can't be done too far in advance.  I have two small cardigans lined up for her and I also plan to do hats for the boys. I wisely will not attempt sweaters for myself or the boys and am fighting the strong but ill-advised desire to buy beautiful yarn now for the little lace sweater I think I want to do her for next spring.

A few weeks ago, I ordered some Baby Cashmerino for a little gray cardigan with a fun striped yolk. I’ll also use scraps of the pink left from the February Baby sweater. I first tried a pattern by this designer over the winter to make a teeny little baby shrug. I was quite impressed with how nicely and easily the pattern came together and the reviews of her work on Ravelry are very good, so I have no doubts that this one will go smoothly. 

I’ve also decided to try the little leaf yoked cardigan again. I settled on red, since leaves do indeed turn red in the fall and because red is good for winter too. I find I tire of fall colors by Christmas, but red is a good summer, fall and winter. I had some time to myself over Mother’s Day weekend  and stopped by my LYS. I found this yarn, whose soft texture belied its price and acrylic content. Normally, I shudder at the thought of using acrylic, but the staff promised they get rave reviews about this yarn. Also, I’ve been shopping at this store since they opened and I know the owner simply wouldn’t carry anything that wasn’t quality, so I’ll try it.

Though most knitters look forward to fall and winter weather, I like the spring. There's something about the good weather, the gentle sun, the pollen-heavy air that makes me feel lazy. Knitting, unlike hunching over a sewing machine, is suited to laziness. It’s also quite portable. We get so few months of nice weather in our extreme climate that when spring comes, we’re under pressure to enjoy every last lovely moment and so we head out. Since I can hardly lug my sewing machine to the playground, knitting is what I do in the spring.  My favorite spring afternoons are spent sitting on a blanket in the sun with a baby who can’t yet crawl, knitting. If only the non-mobile stage wasn't so fleeting!

Strawberry Fields

Strawberries are one of my very favorite things. My mother used to take me picking every year when I was a girl and now I take my children to that same farm. It’s the same place my grandmother took my mother and her siblings. We are lucky to live in a city surrounded by fertile farmland. Fresh produce and dairy goods are just around the corner all summer long and picking your own has become a huge family circus. Most families in the city visit one or the other of two very popular places and on peak weekends they’re as busy as a suburban mall at Christmas – and sometimes as mercantile. Sometimes it is nice to have the comradery of a busy event. But for a day in the actual country and the very best strawberries anywhere, we head almost all the way down the shore for Conte Farms. (The sandy soil near the New Jersey shore produces the sweetest and most satisfyingly strawberry tasting berries.) Conte may well be exactly the same as when I was a girl and when my mother was a girl. It’s peaceful all the way down there, even when it’s busy with pickers. The fresh sea air, the quiet countryside and the simple surroundings are a revitalizing break from our hectic city lives. We look forward to it every year, so you can see why I needed a very special strawberry picking outfit for baby girl’s first time.

What could be more perfect than the strawberry print from Lecien’s Minny Muu collection, one of the first things I stashed when I started buying girl fabric last year.

Usually, it’s pretty warm by the time strawberries are out, so I looked to my favorite summer sundress pattern, the Oliver + S Popover Sundress. I sized it down to roughly 18months and made the ties ¼ inch as in the doll pattern for better proportions.  The tiny straps perfectly show off the scrumptious baby arms.

The straps and piping are from a shot cotton left in my stash. I find shot cottons especially good for bias strips and even linings because they’re much softer and drapier than quilting cottons. The colors blend well with prints because they’re not too solid.

For mobility, I shorted the dress to a top and paired it with the Puppet Show shorts in Robert Kaufman chambray I had left from this winter's Playdate Dress. 

I realize I’m not nearly the first to say this, but I just love those Puppet Show shorts! The little round pockets and the little gathers at the cuff are downright precious. They suit older girls too, looking cute but not babyish.

Spending the day in a sunny field requires protection. I started with McCall's 4478, but replaced the decorative lace edge with a deep brim for functionality. Flat piping and straps to match the top complete the outfit.

The Popover Dress finishes beautifully. There are French seams at the sides, the bodice encloses the skirt edge and the bias straps finish the armsyces, so there isn't a single raw edge to fret over. This is one pattern for which I actually prefer to use quilting cottons. For one thing, fabric with a little body helps give the dress some structure. Also, the scale of the dress works very nicely with the bold prints that might overpower a small child in other patterns. Of course, as you see here, small scale or even solids work well with this too, especially if you balanced it with small, colorful details. There is plenty of scope to embellish this with lace, rickrack, piping or applique.

We had a beautiful day picking strawberries. Kitty tasted her very first strawberry. Though she’s probably too young, it didn’t seem fair to let her sit and watch the rest of us enjoy them so much. She tasted one gently and then she couldn’t get enough, as if nothing since mommy’s milk had tasted so delicious. It was hard to stop her after just one.

With many thanks to the team at George Aubrey Photography, for helping me showcase my work with these masterly shots!

getting back into the swing of things...

 After some illnesses here, it's taken me quite a while to start getting back into the swing of things, but yesterday I received a wonderfully inspiring package all the way from France:

Since I had to buckle all three into the car to drive to the post office to retrieve the package, I decided to enjoy opening it once the kids were napping and made myself a tasty snack too. (Have you tried Justin's chocolate almond butter yet? don't, you won't stop eating it.) Please ignore all the dirty dishes in the background - you would too if you had been waiting an entire month for this delicious little envelope!

I discovered these patterns a while back through a random mention in someone's flickr comments. I wish I remembered who, so I could thank her. There wasn't a great deal of information on the website, and many of the line drawings only offered the front view, so I didn't entirely know what I was getting, but I figured that the charming illustrations must be an indicator of quality. Have you ever seen anything quite as precious as these? They were irresistible!

The patterns came in A4 sized sleeves, with all the instructions printed on the inside of a folded outer sheet. The instructions are verbage heavy, but there are enough diagrams that I get the idea. I've also learned quite a lot of new French vocab in the process!

The pattern pieces themselves are - get this - hand drawn! So lovely. So very European - in the good way.

When I was last in England, I noticed that they also shared our love of handmade things, but that they do it just a little differently. I don't mean to speak for all Americans, of course, but I feel like our goal in hand making things is a professional looking finished product. I certainly aspire to the idea of handmade, not homemade. It's not that I want my things to look exactly like shop things, I just want them to look skilled. However, in England - even in shops - I noticed that the DIY style emphasized a distinctly handmade aesthetic. I have the new Cath Kidston sewing book, for example, in which many instructions are given for hand sewing that I think most Americans would just do at the machine.

I think I must be feeling a touch of Wanderlust lately, because It's been very nice for me to receive a taste of something different.  What I liked about living in Europe - back in my previous life, that is - was the chance to come to really understand another culture's way of thinking. It's not something you can get by Eurorailing around, but after a year or so somewhere, you could start to understand. I never lived in France, but just maybe doing this one thing the French way will build some new understanding, however small. Maybe I'll do method sewing and use metric, too. lol.

So this is a preview of what's to come. I have fabric on the way for the little puff sleeved dress and am still debating how to handle that simple tunic. I'm currently finishing some rather boring summer sewing for myself. (Turns out I shouldn't have thrown away my fat clothes after baby #2. Sigh.) After that's done, I will start on the Princess Royal's fall wardrobe. Meanwhile, I will have some really wonderful baby things to share very soon, I promise!