Reblurging Stacies Cake Dress!

Okay, you all have to check this out. You might have seen this, or you might have seen me go on about how much I love everything that Stacie from Stacie Thinks She Can (and oh can she ever) has ever made.  She is one of my favourite sewing bloggers and I basically want to copy nearly everything she makes.  But this time?  SHE TOTALLY TAKES THE CAKE!

OMG!!!

LOOK AT THIS DRESS!  Okay, you can only see part of it because you have to go check it out yourself but OMG it looks gorgeous in even this tiny little preview!!  SHE LOOKS AMAZING AND THE DRESS TURNED OUT SOOO GOOD!

GO LOOK FOR YOURSELF!  I THINK SHE'S INCLUDED CONSTRUCTION DETAILS, I'M NOT SURE, I GOT SO EXCITED I HAD TO GO REBLOG.  SORRY FOR THE OBNOXIOUSLY EXCITED CAPLOCKS.

I want to make this dress now. I didn't think it'd work for someone with curves, but Stacie has proven me wrong. She's good at doing that, actually.

Uh...Hello There, New Hobby

So uh, guess who's teaching herself to knit?  THAT WOULD BE ME.  Or I suppose it's re-teaching, because I techically learned when I was a kid.  My grandma introduced me to sewing, crocheting, and knitting.  But knitting and sewing is hard and time consuming, and crocheting is less of both, so you can guess which one I stuck with.    I've been resisting knitting for years, but I knew almost as soon as I moved to Whitehorse that I'd be picking it up.  Sure enough...

Anywho, this is my first try!  Not too bad, eh?  Well, unless you look closely.  See that bottom part?  With the different texture?  That was me failing at doing the knit part of knit and purl.  Here, I'll show you what I did:

Normal Knit Stitch:

Insert point of right needle into the stitch from front to back and under left needle*...

...so that the needle and yarn looks like this.  Then complete the stitch.

Heather's Wonky Knit Stitch:

Insert point of right needle into the stitch at the back and under left needle...

...so that the needle and yarn looks like this.  Then complete the stitch.

See the difference?  It does this to the pattern:

Which...I actually really like.  It has a neat texture to it.  I wonder if this is an actual stitch.  If not, I propose we call it the Wonky Heather Stitch!

Yay a completed swatch! So far I've learned to cast on, knit stitch (for a combined Garter Stitch), purl stitch (for a combined knit/purl pattern that makes up the Stockinette Stitch), and binding off.

I'll be donating all my practice swatches to the yarn bombing of the DC-3 weathervane at the Whitehorse Transportation museum.  I stopped in to see the progress of the blankets today, and the woman mentioned that they could use more small pieces for wonky areas.  I'm excited to get involved with this project!  Going to be a fun way to meet other people who are into the same things as me!

So are any of you learning to knit?  Are you guys going to abandon me if I start adding a lot of yarn work posts on a sewing blog?  Oh please love me despite my flaws!  (I'm lying, my yarny friends, it's not a flaw at all!)

*Instructions from First Steps in Knitting, by Mary Thomas and the American School of Needlework.

The Divine Toque, or 'Heather Gives up and Starts Crocheting'

Uh so, there still hasn't been much...or any sewing going on in my life.  I'm completely living vicariously through you all, and also very much enjoying life in the Yukon.  Was at the Dawson City Music Festival this weekend, and let's just say there's a very good reason why I look so tired in the photo below.

Geez, do I ever look tired. Please excuse my face.

Even though I'm not sewing right now, I have started to pick up yarn projects.  I crocheted this hat recently, and plan to make a bunch more for [SPOILER] Christmas presents this year.  I really loved this pattern, the Divine Hat by Sarah Arnold.  It's the most popular crochet hat pattern over on Ravelry, and for good reason; it's super easy, quick to make, and looks great!  And being a free pattern doesn't hurt, either.

I love how it swirls!

I actually whipped off the first version of this hat the day I started it, but my tension was too tight and it was just too small.  I pulled the ENTIRE thing back and re-crocheted it.  Annoying, but worth the effort.  Keep your stitches loose if you plan to try this one out!  I've included more details on my Ravelry post, if you're a member (go friend me!).  I used the ever popular Cascade 220 wool, and boy am I in love!  Best of all, I found a great shop here in Whitehorse that sells it and a bunch of other lovely natural fibre yarn!  WOOT!!

I should probably apologize up front, since there's probably going to be a lot more yarn works in the coming months.  Between hats for Christmas, a class on knitting socks this fall, helping out make an airplane cozy this month, and a general lack of sewing space, sewing posts may be few and far between.  Sorry guys.  But stay tuned, because I do have a rather ambitious winter sewing plan in the works!

Happy sewing (and knitting, and crocheting, and whatever else charges up your creative juices)!

Hellooo from the Yukon!

Hey there guys, long time no see! Erm, sorry about that. Between getting my apartment cleared out, a 3200 km cross-country road trip, and settling into my new home, I've been a little bit busy. I'm slowly catching up on blog reading, but I'm sure I've missed out on so much this past month or so.

As you can see, I made it to Whitehorse, Yukon! Yes, that's still in Canada. Look on a full sized picture of the country, and look at the NW corner of it. No, not Alaska, that's part of the States; the triangle bit of land beside it to the east. That's where I live now!

Here I am, about to leave on my epic road trip. Aw dear Tommy (my hot little car). Poor guy was loaded to the roof.

Oh hey, is that a thread rack in the back window?

The trip was a blast.  I managed to do the whole drive in about 3.5 days, which was about 3 days shorter than I'd originally planned it, but once I was on the road, I didn't really want to make all the stops I'd originally planned to do.  And I certainly don't mind driving for 12+ hours a day!

So I went from the prairies...

...to the mountains...


...and I can't think of a better way to fall in love with your new home than to drive to it.  The change in landscape was amazing to see, especially for a prairie girl unaccustomed to things like 'topography'.

And I haven't done a stitch of sewing since arriving.  In fact, my sewing machine is still wedged between the front and back seats in Tommy.  There's just so much to do outdoors here (never mind all the hassle of switching over my car insurance, licence, bills, and you know, finding a job and all), and there's not much summer to enjoy doing it in.  This means that sewing and crafting projects will probably be a bit on the light side from me until the weather turns.

Which, admittedly, probably won't be that long.

Anyways, I have managed to get my patterns and fabric unpacked and put away.  And look, my fabric is put away NEATLY and FOLDED!  Poor fabric are probably in shock, this is the first time ever that they've been put away tidily!

Wovens and a bin of tools (with interfacing and some plastic on top).

All sorts of wovens, with my small collection of knits at the back on the left. Wow, prooves how much I don't work with knits.

Pile of vintage sheets, to be made into a blanket for my bed at some unknown distance future. Maybe.

Hey, I said they were folded and neat, I didn't say organized.  Yep, there's silk mixed in with polyester and cotton and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't identify.  Not even the denim is bunched together. WHATEVER IT'S TIDY.


Patterns, pretty much how they were at my apartment, except facing the other direction. I reused my sorting tags by folding them over, and I love this so much more!  You can actually see what section is which, and how many patterns are in that section.  Boy do I ever have a lot of dress patterns for a girl who doesn't make them that often.

And a shelf for my sewing books (plus an iron and oversized patterns).

The biggest problem I'm going to face when I do start sewing again is that I don't really have any room.  This is all in my bedroom, and it's not a big space.  I have no where to lay out and cut patterns and fabric, and no space for an ironing board.  I'm going to have to get extremely creative to come up with solutions.  Suggestions more than welcome!

 Oh, I did check out the local thrift story, a Salvation Army.  Uh, it's less than stellar, but...it had 6 DRAWERS dedicated to sewing patterns!  I only allowed myself two patterns, a sweater pattern that I'm sort of in love with (hey I'm in the Yukon now, I need warm clothes!), and blouse pattern that I've been on the watch for ever since Forrest from Presser Foot Propaganda made up her version of it!  YAY!

Thanks for your patience, and I hope you'll forgive me for my (former and probably ongoing) absense.  I'll be back sewing in no time!  In the mean time, don't be surprised if you get a comment or two on some old posts.  I'm catching up!