finished & published! -burdastyle book-

a couple days ago I received an exciting package in the mail.

it was from Burdastyle.

there enclosed my coat & the newly published book.

so happy and excited to see the finished product!!!

 here are a few of my favorites from the book that other book contributors made.

 blouse alternation by Novita.

 dress variations from Jen and Natasha.

 kids size from Oliver + S.

bag alternation by Layla.

 and,,, here is my coat!

 I was also a bit sad that for the most of the members' creations,

there was no detailed photos or write-ups...

I'm sure they(we) spent a lot of time and did a great hard work.

so, seeing only a tiny photo in the book was a bit, errrr, disappointing.
(well, "unfortunate" might be more of an appropriate word! actually) 

at the same time, I know if they were to talk about every single person's work, 

the book would have been five times thicker, if not more.

 so, that is understandable... 

anyhow, here are a couple more photos of my coat!

sadly enough, it is not going to fit me this winter

after having had to wait for a year and a half to get my coat back...

my huge belly is peeking out and saying hello to the world out there :I

hehe

it will be awesome if other members also post more photos of their own version,

and how-to on making the variation!

light quilted jacket

I have been knitting intensively for the past while.

but, decided to make my daughter this jacket while I had some cuts on my fingers,

which made me a bit painful to knit. 

 all the materials are from my stash bins.

I sorted through them the other weekend,

which reduced four bins into two! 

I had LOTS of little scraps that I am probably never going to use,

and some odds/ends from former projects, also random fabric that people had given me.

it made me feel nice to organize some stuff and let go of things I don't need.

clatter is no good.

 the pattern is from Sweet Girl Clothes (ほんのりSweet女の子の服) that I grabbed when I was in Japan.

I have tried a couple different patterns from this book

and it has lots of well designed/constructed cute clothes for girls.

highly recommended!

this quilted fabric is thin and light.

good for fall/spring, and also winter if she wears a nice warm sweater underneath.
the lining is so hard to see, but this naniIRO fabric (in white).

I made it in size 100, but should have made in 110 so that she could wear it next winter/spring...

I was also amazed how quickly I finished it, compared to knitting something like that.
(still) took me a few days, because I could only work on it a short chunk of time when she was in bed,
but it's pretty cool to pull something wearable so quickly!

happy halloween!

finished my almost-three-yr-old's costume a few days ago.

she wanted to be a cat,

specifically one of our cats who has Himalayan like long fur.

 this year, I didn't want to make something super "costumy",

and decided to make little parts to make a whole outfit. 

I knitted the sweater + mittens,

and used this pullover pattern and this classic mitten pattern.

and made the hat and tutu based on the patterns from Oliver + S book.(pics above)

this way, she can wear each item separately(or together) on different occasions!

and that is much more rewording for me to make something for her :)

Happy Halloween!! 

  

pullover-madness

for some reason, I don't seem not to be able to fill my head with knitting and knitted items...

my pinterest board is filling up rather quickly with the warm cozy things...

maybe because of the fall air.

yes, fall is here. definitely.

crisp, clear, fall air.

I can't stop thinking about owning a perfect piece of comfortable, warm pullover(or cardigan).

I am not a big fan of a puffy big sweaters, usually, so I don't even own a single pullover.

but I am really digging the ones below. 

(pic 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5)

if I could afford paying $$$ for a sweater(am sure it's worth the money),

I would love to own a few.

I am also daydreaming about knitting myself one,

and have been searching a perfect pattern on Ravelry,

but I haven't found a single one there.

I am sure it's not too hard to design your own if you know how to knit different kinds of cables and how to knit a basic sweater,

but I am not quite comfortable with designing my own just yet....

well... there is also another thing,,,

 I am not going to fit in it for the next while anyway as my belly is already HUGE but only keeps getting bigger...

ha.

what it turned out to be, instead...

so, I decided to take my very first cardigan for my daughter, which I knitted last march, apart

and make it into something else. 

although it was an emotionally hard decision(sort of) to make, 

the cardigan was very baggy around her neck, 

and I really wanted her to have something I knitted for this fall. 

  I purchased this pattern from Ravelry, my first purchase.

and for some reason, it was $1.20 off, which made myself justify buying the pattern 

with a promise of making more than one of them- maybe for gifts.

so, here it is!

I think I made the right choice! 

it was a super quick project, a piece o' cake.

this vest cardigan is a much better fit on her. I love the color on her, too :)

although I have been in the knitting binge lately and have a bunch of projects lined up,

 it started to drive me crazy as of yesterday...

I was excited to open my yarn order, but one of the yarn colors looked different from what I expected

(I'm sure it happens often when you're online shopping),

and I didn't read one of the patterns well enough that I am actually short on the yarn,

AND the yarn I picked for specific projects didn't seem "right" to me any more....

UGH!

maybe too much of one thing isn't good.

time for a little break?

perhaps...

knitting for babies

 a few weeks ago, I knitted the vintage pixie hat and mary jane booties for my newest niece, Sophia.

she was born in July, and I had been wanting to send her something, but didn't decide what up until now...

  

 finally sent them out last weeks and I haven't heard from my sis-in-law that they have received the package yet, 

but I think they will be perfect little cozy things to keep little Sophia warm in Winnipeg fall.

hope she sends me some pictures of her wearing these!

and because I still had the leftover yarn from the projects above, decided to knit my little baby something.

little baby booties!  

it was probably an appropriate sock project for me as I have never knitted socks before 

and to  see if I even like knitting socks. 

the first one took me a little while to get going, 

but the second half went by quickly. 

although I kida liked knitting socks, I don’t think I am ready to knit socks for “big” people…

spilling the beans -long over due

okay, it's way over due to announce this here,

but I am pregnant!

I am not sure how the time went by so quickly this time, but I am almost 21weeks!!

geez!

 this is my second pregnancy and it often gets forgotten/ignored when you already have a little one to chase after.

finally, I made a point of taking some photos(first time!) of this pregnancy today.

I need to start documenting it more often since most likely this is going to be my last one.

my almost-three-yr-old girl is very excited to be a big sister, 

and she tells me she can't wait to hold the baby when he/she comes out. very cute :)

although we're not going to find out the sex of the baby until the baby comes out, and my little girl thinks it's a BOY,

I couldn't resist this baby sailor dress when I saw it at a local thrift store...

well, it costs only a few bucks!

also I found these awesome kids wooden clogs at the same store!

not sure who makes them. can't find a tag. perhaps handmade?

they are still too big for the little one. she has a few more years to grow into!

while you're waiting...

sorry for my long absence from the blog...

will be back soon.

while you're waiting, please enjoy this Beirut number covered by Florence and the Machine :)

just beautiful.

perfume adventure

I am definitely not a type who enjoys wearing perfume all the time.

but when I went to a local market the other day, and had a slice of watermelon samples,

I totally fell in love with the smell of the flesh watermelon.

also as the summer is approaching, 

the sent of watermelon(perhaps combined with cucumber) would be perfect, I thought.

so I went on etsy, my usual place to browse and shop, and searched.

 I ordered a sampler from Etiquette.

  (they came in the cute little box, too!)

although I loved all the scents in the sampler, they weren't quite the smell I am looking for.

so, my perfume adventure continues...

if anyone has a recommendation on watermelon/cucumber perfume,

let me know!

I am looking for something crisp and light, but less floral and sweet...

leather work

I had been wanting to learn how to work with leather for a little while,

and finally got a chance to!

(well, this class will be done after two more classes)

so far, we made a belt, like below, and a handbag -work-in-progress. 

 learned cleaning, treating, dyeing and handstitching the leather, as well as the machine sewing of the leather.

my singer has no trouble sewing oil cloth, so I was pretty confident it will take leather with no hustle.

w.r.o.n.g.

she really didn't like sewing the leather.

I had a really thin soft pig swede, which may have something to do with it,

also none of the roller foot the teacher had didn't fit on my machine.

ugh.

I am going to find a roller foot that's made for her, so I can work more with leather in the future! 

meanwhile,

I finally got around to what I had been meaning to do for a quite sometime!

finally soled these slippers I knitted/felted last october.

I know I am a procrastinator, but I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing since I had no experience working with leather before.

 now, I know how-to, it was a piece-o-cake!

pleased with how it turned out, and it's great having a extra cushion/durability to these!