The story of the Calligraphy cardigan, Part 2

Ok where was I, oh yes the Calligraphy cardigan.

Once I had the body and sleeves done, I had just enough yarn for the border. I started to pick up nicely along each side.

Everything went well and had enough yarn for a nice 4 inch border. 

I made all the buttonholes as indicated but at the end they are a bit big for my buttons. I have a hard time keeping the cardigan stay button up and close!!

Once every part done, it was time to weave all the ends and cut the yarn.

I did quiet a bit of blocking since I wanted a perfect finish, especially around the ribbing.

Overall the cardigan fits perfectly and was perfect for my trip to Europe. But the yarn did not travel well with me and it pilled a lot. oh well, it is wool after all.

I will definitely knit another pattern from Hannah Fettig, I really enjoyed it and had no problem with its writting.
Quince yarn was a good choice. It was inexpensive even with 12 balls.
I like that worsted feeling, warm enough for me and fast to knit.

I wear my Calligraphy cardigan all the time now.

The story of the Calligraphy cardigan, Part 1

The adventure started when I wanted a new sweater I could wear on my trip to France. It looked like the winter didn't want to end in Europe and here it was already summer.

Then I had to pick the yarn. I meant to try a new yarn I wasn't familiar with. While looking at yarn choices on Ravelry I ran into Quince Lark. Lucky me someone was selling its stash on Ravelry in a very light grey color that couldn't be more perfect for my project.

And just like that I started my Calligraphy cardigan.

The cardigan was progressing well through my 12 balls of Quince Lark. The junction was great with that yarn, almost invisible. The finish of the yarn is perfect even before blocking.

The pattern is easy to read and fit perfectly. I just had to increase a few rows at armhole because I didn't want the cardigan to be as tight as the picture.

It knitted very fast and soon I was separating body and sleeves. I focused on the body first, leaving sleeves on spare yarn.

I was happy to use my little cutie stitch markers bought at Stitch West from Sweet fibers.

Once the body done, I was quickly down on my 12 skeins and had to reduce the ribbing length by about an inch so I could have enough yarn for long sleeves.

Sleeves were waiting for me nicely while knitting the body. It was time to take care of them!!
Since I had knitted a few more rows at armhole I had a lot more stitches that the pattern counted for.

I had to add more decreases so my sleeves wouldn't look too big on me.
I had to recalcule the whole arm decrease.

I stopped after a couple of inches of the ribbing of the 1st sleeve to make sure I would have enough yarn for the other one.

My favorite part the picking up sts for the underarm. I was able to pick up right at the edge and the finishing is like and invisible seam. I couldn't happier.

That is it for now, more in a few days...STAY TUNE

A day of natural dyeing . . . in France

It is not a secret I love dyeing yarn and I am always curious to know how other people are doing it. I have been reading a few blogs from dyers in French and found out a few weeks before my visit to France about the new dyeing class from Mademoiselle C.

Her designs are a delight and I have always admired her yarn on Etsy.

So when she opened her Atelier with dyeing classes I couldn't wait to schedule one.

It was 4 hours of great pleasures. 

I learnt new techniques very different than the ones from my other classes.

In the US, I have learnt that the yarn must be mordanted first and then the color is applied 

but here we did the opposite.

The mixing of the dye and the water was also done differently with very little water.

Also we only used all our samples in one bath, just one after another until the bath was almost clear (here 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th bath, from darker to lighter color).

We also got to experiment with other mordant such as copper and iron, which I had never done before.

This experience was a lot easier for me because we used metric system instead of the US measurement system. I understood also that mixing color before pouring into the water might not be the solution to get the color you want but multiple baths might be a better option. 

I can't wait to use again what I have learnt on all the yarn I have collected over the winter.

For this class we used the following natural dyes 

1. Madder
2. Dyer's broom yellow
3. Chlorophyl green

and the following mordant

1. Copper
2. Iron

Trip to France, Part 3: Paris will always be Paris

I had just a couple of days to cover Paris, so I did it through shopping from one district to another one

Fron top left

Montmartre 

Sacre coeur

Montparnasse mural

Empty subway car

Place Edgar Quinet

A few store display

Knit shop in Montmartre

Chocolat shop in left bank

Atelier Rrose Selavy, learn to knit with Mlle Sophie

L'Oisivethé, great selection of tea and yarn

1. Alice from Juno from L'Oisivethé, pure softness in baby alpaca/silk/cashmere

2. Bias from La Droguerie, my little guilty pleasure

3. Buttons from Tissu reine, 4 floors of fabrics, buttons, ribbons...

4. Bensimon snickers, with liberty laces, a must for all Parisian fashionista this summer!!

1. Voile cotton and batiste from La Droguerie

2. Small pieces of  fabric for 1 euro at a local farmer market

3. Vinyl fabric for bathroom pouch from Cultura

4. the ultimate shopping bag from Bonton, a must!!

5. More little pieces of fabric from farmer market

6. Liberty voile cotton from Entrée des fournisseurs

7. New fabric collection from Frou-frou found at Mercerie Moline

8. Fat quarters of floral prints from Frou-frou found at Mercerie Moline

Some great books and patterns

Motifs et compagnie found at Lil Weasel

Toute la couture found at Japanese bookstore

Aime comme Marie pant pattern found at Lil Weasel too

I couldn't resist for this new collection of "couture facile" from Frou-frou at the Moline mercerie.

This shop is a zoo but if you find the nice lady to help you it is a very nice experience.

Trip to France, Part 2: A little city called . . . Bordeaux

A charming little city, greatly improved over the last 20 years,

a really fun place to visit

Girondins de Bordeaux, 

first day we went to a soccer game with local team against last year French champion, Montpellier 

but beat them anyway 4 - 2

City with remarkable architecture 

from top left

Symbol of the city of Bordeaux

Place de la bourse, river front where you can walk, bike for miles.

Grand theatre, Bordeaux's opera

Porte de Bourgogne 

Great place for shopping too

Apple store

Cathédrale Pey Berland

Bonton store just opened

La Droguerie for all craft lovers

Trip to France, Part 1

Finally back in France for a few days after almost 2 years. 

I had a great time as usual with great friends, family, food (of course) and shopping (who doubt that!!)

It will take several posts to detail everything so...

...First a little sample of my favorite food

From top left,

Pomme dauphine

Grilled Toulouse sausages

Cèpes

Patisserie from Valantin (Bordeaux)

Everything was delicious, I enjoyed every bites

From top left

Tartare de saumon

Flank steak with French fries and caramelized onions

Magret de canard with mash potatoes and rosemary sauce

Little funny jars of salt, pepper, mustards

Fancy restaurant we went to celebrate my visit. That was just lunch, dinner was even better

Yummy treats from Paris

from top left

Waffle with passion fruit and banana ice cream at Amorino 

(a must in Paris, best ice cream in the world)

French breakfast, with rillette sandwich (1 foot long 3 euros in real Parisian bakery), pain au lait, grapefruit juice

Mega sandwich from "la grande épicerie", spinach bread, cream cheese, magret, roquette, tomatoes, 

so interesting the way French make sandwiches.

Strawberry short cake from "Le pain quotidien", very fancy and expensive but free wifi!!

One of my favorite but so rare in the US

Local typical desert called "Croustade aux pommes"

= layers of phyllo dough covering melting apples flambé with rhum

next a few pictures of the cities I visited

STAY TUNE!!

A little fabric store in Paris

I have dreamt of these fabrics while surfing on the web. Just a few days before my trip to Paris I learnt that France Duval Stalla has opened a store in Paris. 

I am in luck...my timing couldn't be more perfect, couldn't it!!

So as soon as I got of the train, that was my first stop.

Cute little front store, 4 Rue du Regard (6th).

Lots of the fabulous fabric with great colors

My favorite the bias with little stars ☺

my little reward

1. Some light pink batiste with butterflies

2. Some grey batiste with little pink stars

3. Some neon pink linen

4. Some light pink batiste with cherries

5. Some prune crepe fabric

and of course some bias with little prune stars for my little star booties...

A little story of . . . Liberty of London

I am venturing into sewing,   little by little,   because it overwhelms me every time I pull my sewing machine

Liberty of London fabric, June meadow navy from Drygoods Designs

Finally a nice store for my favorite fabric...

I wanted to make a scarf so I bought 2 pieces of 1/2 yard each

I washed the fabric, let it dry

Then iron it a little, with a mix of tap water and my perfume

Then I folded the fabric, right side face to face and sew about 1/2 cm seam.

Return the fabric on right side and iron again

Repeat for the 2nd scarf!!

Unravelling stories (part 2)

2nd Banana Republic sweater unravelling

100% cashmere sweater 

This one was a little different,

the front and back was 2 ply where the sleeves and borders were 1 ply

The sweater was a bit dirty so I plan to put the yarn into skeins and
dye the yarn with kool-air or Jacquard dye

What color should I go for?
Maybe a light vintage pink for baby sweater
or a dark teal for a baby overall...

more to come. . . for a little tutorial this time

Making sweater vests for Marko

Spring is approaching and my little sister was looking for new sweater vests for Marko.

She couldn't find anything she likes in the store, so I came up with my own pattern, 

inspired by Marko Argyle Vest I made for him a few year ago.

I started by the back first, easy to start with and pretty straight forward.

I liked the stripe repeat a lot. It gives it a little style for my little man.

Then the front.

Here it is more difficult and requires more calculation.

Lucky for me math was never an issue :-)

As I was making the pattern as I was knitting, I decided that I wouldn't be knitting in the round 

so I had to sew the pieces together, something I like less and less.

I managed to master the finishing technique (after so many years) and it is almost invisible!!

Pattern: My own, available soon

Size : 4 to 5 year old

Yarn: Katia Mississippi 3, 

Fingering / 4 ply

60% Cotton, 40% Acrylic

Pattern turned out pretty easy and quick, yarn is light, 

perfect for spring, summer and fall 

as long as little Marko doesn't grow out of it too fast!!