A Bakers Half a Dozen

Gosh.  Where has the year gone?  Here we are, almost in May already.

Due to some recent life changing events, things have changed somewhat around Spotty Dog Towers, and as a result it is pretty clear that I have waaaaay more stash (fabric, yarn, beads etc) than I will ever use in this lifetime.

And so I have been busy.  Lots of clothes to blog about, but also socks.  Aww, c'mon, I love knitting socks, and these are the ones that I have recently made (mostly to gift), some to keep.  Let me introduce you quickly to the first half dozen:

Purple Fabel Billy's

This is great hardwearing yarn and the socks knit to fit men and their somewhat HUGE feet.

Caribic Billy's

Another pair of men's socks.  These will likely be for my father.

Felici Picnic Billy's

Definitely a pair for one of my ladies at work.  I love Knit Picks Felici yarn - so soft and scrummy.  It is a shame it felts - although after quite a few washes, but certainly worth it.  I was going to link to the yarn but currently KP only has it in worsted weight.  Oh well, plenty more in MY stash!!

Turquoise Jacquard Billy's

Another really great hardwearing yarn.  The yardage on this always scares me as it is really low - although the yarn is more of a sport weight.  I have learned to trust a 60st cast on (as opposed to my usual 64st) and just 50 rows for the leg (in comparison to the 60rows).  Not sure if I'll keep these, otherwise more ladies socks!


World Circus Billy's

Yep, more hardwearing yarn.  Are you seeing a pattern here?  Self patterning yarn, hardwearing, fabulous colours!  I picked this up a year or five ago when I went on a knitting retreat to Tofino, Vancouver Island, BC.  Will be great for a funky, male recipient!


Spring Billy's

A cheery pair of spring socks, sized for female tootsies!


More Pairfection

I have already made and gifted these to Mr. SDSC and they are already in rotation!  I love this yarn (hardwearing, patterned etc) and this is the only patterned yarn that I make an effort to actually match up.  I like the haphazard look of mismatched socks, so these made a nice change.

All links are to the relevant Ravelry pages and the pattern (my own) that I use.

So, there we have it.  That's my sock knitting up to date.  Next up are clothes!

Christmas Sewing

By the time this post is let loose on the world, the Christmas sewing that I have completed will have been gifted, and I will be settling down after Christmas dinner with my husband and father, a G&T in my hand and some new sewing books to pore over (please Santa!)  A small but enjoyable gathering and I trust that your day will have been just as enjoyable.

Time to share some projects!

When we were in Canmore in October we passed a small shop that had some lovely flannel nightshirts on display.  Mr. SDSC said at the time that he would like a nightshirt and so I was on a mission.  I used Simplicity 2317, which features regular PJ's, a jersey vest and shorts, as well as a nightshirt.  My local fabric chain was selling some lovely Canadiana flannel at a great price - so I was good to go!  I used the XL size which will be on the large side - but I suspect that this will also be worn as a dressing gown.  I made a couple of changes to the pattern/construction:

• lengthened it by about 5", Mr. SDSC is 6ft tall
• no piping.  Just because.
• serged the collar to the neckline.  I like to top and edge stitch the seams, rather like a faux flat felted seam (I actually have seen it called a welt seam)
• plastic 'poppers' instead of buttons
• pockets added to the side seams - who wouldn't want pockets in the side seams?
• hand-stitched the facings down.  I know that this will not be ironed, and there is nothing worse than 'flappy facings', so it took an hour or so to sew the facings down and I am pleased that I did that.

It is hard to make it look good on my dress-form - but you get the idea!

 

I know that the closures don't look perfectly spaced at the top - I just wanted there to be a couple of options of how high the neckline could be.

I know it is a little bit vain, but I do enjoy adding a label.  I have found that the folks that I do make things for tend to look for the labels and appear to be a little disappointed if I have failed to include one :)

Next up was a pair of socks for Mr. SDSC.  Nothing special about them other than the yarn is rather fabulous.  It is self-striping from Regia and this is the second pair that I have made using this yarn.  It is fab!

Oh no, what is that I can see in the grey stripe?  Yep, a dropped stitch.  Dangnabbit.  Oh well, It is all tidied up now!

My father is quite hard to make/shop for, but when I was at a quilting fair this year I saw a remembrance quilt by a Canadian designer called Corinne Hewitt which I thought he would appreciate, so I bought a kit called 'Lest We Forget'.   Again I made a couple of changes - left out the lettering (I think that it is rather poignant without the lettering), changed the headwear of the soldier to look more British (my father is a retired British Army Officer).  I used the profile of a WW1 memorial in Wales for reference (scroll down the link until you get to the profile photo at the bottom), and am rather pleased with how it came out:

The three poppies in the field (bottom right) are small, red buttons.  The four poppies in the corners are made up of two layers of poppy petals and a black button in the middle.  I kept the Canadian flag as my father is very proud of now being a Canadian citizen and this is a lovely marriage of the two Countries.  I have added a sleeve to the back so that he can hand it if he likes - it is 25" x 36".  Oh, and this photo was taken two or three days ago - as you can see, a nice dry deck.  Would you like to see what my garden looks like now?

Winter has arrived!  I'm not too sure how excited the dogs are, but I am looking forward to a white Christmas!

Each Winter I plan to make some table runners and never seem to get round to it - but this year, I did.  Both are free patterns:

Pole Twist Runner

Ah yes, just look at that lovely, fresh snow.  The light at this time of year can be pretty dull and it therefore hard to get good photos, but this works!  This is a really quick and easy project and I used up some of my Mum's quilting fabric which I enjoyed doing,  I kept the borders very plain - I rather like the modern esthetic of a skinny binding, and that is it.

Trees Table Topper:

There are a few different ways to finish off this topper - I chose to use pinwheels and to go 'scrappy' using red and green fabric although not necessarily Christmas fabrics.  I love this!

The white flecks on the photos are falling snow - it was snowing when I took the photos!

Unfortunately I didn't get chance to sew any Christmas clothing - but I am still off work for another 9 days so I am sure that that will change!  Do you have any Christmas sewing that you'd like to share?

Wishing you all a Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

More Socks, Easy Greyhounds and Some Charity Makes

I love knitting socks - not sure if you are aware, but there you go!  I've almost finished my third pair of the year - which is pretty good considering how much sewing I do, so here is the second pair.

The pattern is my own 'go to' pattern, Billy Basic (free here on Ravelry).  Nice plain socks, 64st cast on, I can knit these in my sleep.  The pattern is not the story here though, it is the yarn, Regia Pairfect.

As far as texture is concerned, this is not the softest yarn I have knitted with, but that usually doesn't really mean much when it comes to comfort.  I have used Regia yarn before and it is lovely to wear and very hardwearing.  But look at those stripes!  I love knitting with self patterning/striping yarn, nice plain socks and let the yarn do all the talking.  I don't care whether the pattern matches up . . . . but I do with this.  The yarn is a 100gm ball with a yard or two of yellow yarn then the blue starts.  About halfway through the ball is more yellow yarn and then the blue again.  So the idea is that you cast on just after the yellow starts, rib the blue yarn, then start stocking stitch with the stripes.  As soon as the stripes run out you start the heel and finish off.  And voila - two matching socks with NO effort at all!

I love them.  It's not going to stop me knitting my usual mismatched socks - but I'll be buying more of this yarn, for sure!  More details here in my Ravelry project page.

I also fancied making something different, so I knit a lovely scarf/shawl out of some yarn that was dyed for me by Sockbunny as part of a swap a couple of years ago.  I said that as I live in land-locked Alberta I missed the sea (I was born on the coast) and I had two greyhounds, so the gorgeous colours that you see below were incorporated together to make this beautiful skein.

The pattern is called Easy and knits up very quickly.  It took me less than a week - evening knitting only, and what looks like a fold in the scarf above is actually part of the pattern and looks like you are knitting in a different direction!  It is actually crescent shaped so drapes beautifully around your shoulders.  More details here in my Ravelry project page.

Just to finish off I wanted to share some goodies that I made for Galgos Del Sol.  They work to rescue and re-home galgo dogs - Spanish racing dogs.  If you are interested, take a look at our Facebook page!

Phew, glad I'm getting all caught up!  That's the second bus just come along.  One more I think!