Spring Break?

Perhaps in our case it should be called "getting-closer-to-the-end-of-winter break" because spring seems a looonnnggg way off yet.... After my last post about tempting Murphy with my rubber boots, he indeed gave me the bird and demanded that it snow..... it wasn't a blizzard, exactly, but it snowed (slushed is more like) for 5 days straight... bastard!

In order to prove that he couldn't scare me... I knit a dress..... and it turned out wonderfully....

It's called "Suspension Dress" from the book that I posted about last time. I made some minor modifications when I knit the dress. The designer had made a note on the pattern page of Ravelry, that there seemed to be an error in the length of the bodice portion. Her intention was that the bodice extend 1-2 inches below the bust (approximately  6"). The Pattern stated 10-ish inches...... I went with the designer and knit the bodice 6 inches, sort of.... I apparently still can't measure (there's a good joke about women and measurements equalling 6 inches, but I'm trying to keep this clean.... ish), so I actually knit 5 inches and didn't notice until I was too far into the skirt to bother going back.... I went with the 5 inches and the bodice grew to 6" when I washed the dress so it was all good. The only other modification (other than yarn substitution) was to add a crochet eyelet row at the top of the dress (I did a **dc, ch1, skip next sc** around the top). The sleeve section was not fitting me very well and I thought that if I was able to thread some ribbon through the top it would solve the problem.... and it really did... I think it added a special touch.

And Eli took the photos... he's getting pretty good at it!

Today, as another tick on my battle board against Murphy, the kids and I made some tie dye shirts..... They turned out great! I am particularly thrilled with Chey's. She saw some iron on transfers when we were shopping for the dye at Michael's and decided she wanted a hummingbird on her shirt. I found a great picture and printed it on iron-on transfer paper...... cute eh? I've never done tie-dye before and am a little worried about how permanent the dye will be as I chose not to allow it to stand for the 6 hours the box recommended (I wanted it slightly faded)..... I'm also unhappy with the waste.... I sort of wish I had purchased all of the dyes and bottles separately so that I could mix strengths and colours to my taste... instead the kit came with pre-filled bottles of dye (just add water) and 90% of it went down the drain..... I think that although it would have been more expensive, initially, I would have saved money in the long run..... assuming I decide to do this again (how many tie dye shirts does a person need?)....

After the pain of some posed pictures.... they got silly-er.....

Optimism and Rubber Boots.

In order to celebrate the arrival of Spring (or at least spring-like weather, Spring doesn't officially arrive until Sunday), I purchased myself a new pair of rubber boots..... This should ensure that Calgary will be hit by a blizzard, the likes of which has not been seen in a hundred years....... Perhaps I should cast on for some uber-warm mittens to even out Murphy and his law???


I also finished a new cardigan. The yarn is from the lot that I purchased last summer on my "Tour of BC" (remember this picture?) from the Victoria studio of Gaia's Colours Fibre Arts (which I noticed, when I added the link... is closing down... darn!). The yarn is called Pales Sock and the colour is Anaxerate. It is an awesome sage-y green with a lot of grey.... I will probably never take it off..... The pattern is Emelie by Elin Berglund, the longest length with no purposeful mods (I did a couple of unintentional mods... picked up too many stitches for the sleeves and adjusted the stitch count by doing extra sleeve decreases.... picked up too few stitches for the button bands and adjusted by doing the 13" length instructions for button holes). I do need larger buttons and to make an additional button hole at the top, but all in all.... LOVE.

In order to push my luck with spring, I have also cast on for my next project.... a dress.... from this book and I do have to say.... this is the best book I've seen for a while... MOST of the patterns in it are on my list to knit.... Since the advent of Ravelry and the fact that I can purchase many patterns on the site individually, I rarely even buy books anymore..... They have to be REALLY good and this one is.