Completed: Fair isle sweater

Finally picked up my laptop n get to blogging.... And now introducing my lovely n cosy fair isle sweater.

 

Simple and nice design and moreover the knitting pattern is free! Who doesn't love free stuff?

 

Knitting pattern used: Afmæli - 20-year anniversary sweater by Védís Jónsdóttir

Yarns used: Lion brand wool ease grey heather 5 skeins, frosty white 1 skein and dark grey 1 skein. I got all of them on sale at 2.99usd each at joann so in total, this sweater costs me 21usd. Whee!

Needles used: 4mm and 5mm needles.

I am falling in love with lion brand wool ease yarns, it doesn't empties my pocket, is warm n cozy and fast to knit up. Maybe cos I haven got the courage to spur on those expensive merino yarns yet so I don't really know the quality diff of the yarns. And further more, a year and 3 months later, we will be moving back to the hot n humid tropical Singapore, so all the coldwear knits will be stored away then. Sad. Yes very sad. I really enjoy the cold weather here and love knitting the cold wears.

 

 

 

Ok back to the pattern, I was shocked initially when I downloaded the pdf only to find less than 1 page of instructions and 1 page of chart. I was like: huh? it's a sweater? n the instructions are so little? shouldn't it be long n winy?  

But after starting this project, I realized just how easy it is to knit. The fair isle portions are the most exciting and satisfying part. For the sleeves I used magic loop method as I came to dislike dpn now. Magic loop method is so much faster. My stranding skills have improved a lot and is neat n tidy now.

 

C? A huge diff from my previous projects. LOL!

 

 

I learnt a new seaming technique called the Kitchener stitch for the armholes. Sounds confusing but after watching the tutorial on youtube, its really easy as long as you follow the 'rhythm' . And the end result is seamless finishing look at the armholes. Awesome! Whoever invented that is a genius.

 

 

I love my new sweater, I had it on when I went for the black Friday moonlight outlet shopping at 3am and it kept me warm n cosy throughout the shopping trip. Brought lots of stuff that night for myself n the boys. How about you?

 

Thanks for stopping by:

XOXO

Ashley 

Completed: Skinny Jeans for Aidan

Remember my maroon bull denim jeans? I had almost 1 yard of remnant left after that and I turned it into a mini skinny jeans for my big boy Aidan.

 

Pattern used: Skinny Jeans from Peekaboo Patterns

Materials: Bull denim in maroon, remnant quilting cotton for the pocket lining, 1 button for closure.

Time taken: As usual, I find that sewing mini clothes for the kids are tougher than adults cos everything is so mini especially the hemming portion.

I brought the pdf version n printed them but, somehow my printer missed out on the pattern edges, (must be the wrong settings), so I have to roughly gauge and add the missing width myself. I choose the easiest method (elastic waistband) and faux fly for finishing. The fit is a bit too tight for my boy though, especially the waist portion. I really have to pull hard to pull it over my boy bum. HAHAH. But overall, the jeans looks really cool.

In future, I will reprint the patterns again and try out the many other finishing options.

 

 

The patch pockets and the belt loops. The pattern actually asks for stretch denim, which I did not. The bull denim doesn't really stretch, so it might not be as comfy for my boy.

 

 

I also sew up some long tees for the boys using the remnants gray interlock fabric. They are actually meant for the kids clothes week posts, but we went on our SF roadtrip then so I missed the 'series' and they became 'backlogs' till now.

 

 

Didi in his plain long sleeve tee.

 

Pattern used: Charlie Tee from Fish sticks design

 

 

Ok, got to go... Good bye! Closes Door...

 

Thanks for stopping by.

XOXO Ashley

Completed: Moose Isle Hat

I was looking through raverly hat patterns and this cute moose hat grabbed my attention. I had to knit one of that straight away. So I popped by Joann store and brought lion brand wool ease yarns in the colors needed.

Its's my first time trying fair isle knitting. And I fall in love with it straight away... That explains my latest finished fair isle sweater for myself n a ongoing dino fair isle sweater for my boy.

PS: I am having problems with uploading pics into my flickr and on my blog... So pardon the shitty FB pics.

Materials used:
1 skein of LION brand wool ease in choco
1 skein of Lion Brand wool ease in Fisherman
Some remnants of Everyday yarn in red (that I used for my honey comb cowl)

I used 3.5mm n 4.5mm circular knitting needles and used magic loop method for working in the round.

For the pom pom I used the Clover pom pom maker which I brought years back in sg.

While working with the colors for the moose portion, I viewed some youtube technique videos for stranded colorwork. I tried to learn the technique of knitting with one color in each hand, but my left hand is still quite clumsy especially the tension part.

 

Pardon me for the super messy and ugly wrong side. I only noticed the correct yarn changing method while knitting my fair isle sweater thus this hat is really a first time anyhow try at strande colorwork. And because of the anyhowness, the different color yarns keep twisting n tangling. And the tension is very different thus some floats are a bit too tight. I also made a terrigible mistake of weaving the float at the same stitch for many rows causing bandings to occur. So many mistakes in it, but that how u learn right?

 

Anyway the right side of the hat still looks ok. And I love my new hat. I even used the remnant choco yarn to knit a simple pair of fingerless mittens so I can match with the hat:)

 

 

I haven blocked the mitts yet and the other side is still missing somewhere in the wardrobe. LOL.

 

 

The red trimmings really pops. Ohya, I am wearing the fair isle sweater for the pics. Will blog about it in the next post:)

 

Thanks for stopping by:

XOXO Ashley

Dipping into coupons and savings world...

Last week, I watched my first episode of extreme couponing on TLC channel by chance. And I got so drawn into the couponing world and started to try out on couponing for groceries as well.

I had been using ebates to earn cash backs on my online fabric purchases and Joann coupons for in store purchases. And now I am trying out Ibotta for groceries cash backs and coupons as well.

Just 2 wks upon downloading Ibotta smart phone app and I had already earned more than 10 bucks. I highly recommend it if u r staying in US.

You just need to download the app to your mobile device and choose the offers you want to take advantage of. After you purchase the item, choose the store you went to, take a picture of your receipt, pick the item from the list and scan the barcode.

Then all you do is watch your Ibotta savings add up. You can withdraw your Ibotta savings as soon as you hit $5 or more and it will be deposited directly to your paypal account!!

Try out with Ibotta today!!

PS: Other than knitting non stop, my other past time now is cutting coupons... HAHAHA.

Completed: Dinosaurs Set for the boys

Ok, they are actually meant for Halloween, and I am so sorry that I took so long to blog about them:P

Aidan (my bigger boy) is currently living in the Jurassic world. He keeps asking to play his dinosaurs dvd collections and of course, his dinosaurs toys are also growing in numbers. So I decided to sew up dinosaurs hoodies and pants for the Halloween party which are also suitable for everyday wear as well.

 

See how happy he is? LOL.

 

 

For the hoodie: I used the Charlie Tee and Hoodie Pattern from Fish stick designs.

In order to Insert in the dinosaurs spikes, I did a little pattern hack by splitting the hoodie pattern into 2 and adding seam allowances to it.

Materials used: Green interlock knit from Joann.com

I started to fall in love with their interlock knits. Although their retail prices are quite exp like $9.90 per yard, but when u got a 50% or 60% coupon, you can make full use of it and had them at a cheap price. So every trip, I usually buy more than 3 yards of it, to make the coupon worth while and have lots of spare to make into other tees for them or myself.

 

The spikes are made from darker green felt from joann as well, I am so lucky to find a half yard on the remnant section:)

 

The sewing of the hoodie is really straight forward and simple. And it just take 1 day to finish up on the 2 hoodies for the boys.

 

 

For the pants: I went back to my beloved Treasure Pocket Pants Pattern.

I really like this design as it doesn't look too simple and allows for a contrast pop of fabric usage.

For the materials: I used green kona cotton and the dinosaur prints cotton from fabric.com

While cutting the pieces, Aidan was actually beside me admiring the dinosaur prints on the fabric and kept repeating: 'See nani, dinosaurs!' Yes, he calls me nani as he couldn't pronounce the 'M' properly. Even his school teachers are confused by him and thought I am his nanny instead. Luckily, the little one calls me 'ma ma'... Hopefully, when his pronunciation gets better, we will be able to correct him back to mummy...

 

Beware! Allen the Dino is stomping away!

 

The usual bribing with sweets in order to get the boys attention for photoshoot.

 

Oh,  a front pocket!

 

And lastly, Allen ever so cute smiling face.

 

Thanks for stopping by:

XOXO

Ashley

 

PS: Sorry for the late updates, I just finished my fair isle sweater 2 days back. HAHA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I caught a bug!

Yup... A very serious bug... It's getting colder nowadays, n I caught the knitting bug again. I just keep knitting n knitting on the couch, had finished with 1 hat, 3 sets of fingerless and halfway through a sweater for myself... With both of my hands busy on the needles, eyes on the boys, cooking n housework while their naps, I have neglected my blog. I have gt so many finished apparels for myself n the boys waiting to be blogged n of course the knitted accessories as well. 

Every time I tried to shift my attention to blogging, my mind just keep switching back to knitting mode...   Maybe I am just too excited with my first fair isle sweater, maybe I will be more settled down after finishing that n be able go get back to blogging on the fos. Yes... Back to knitting.... Bye.

Project Sewn Week 4 Entry: My Signature Style

I am having so much fun sewing along with PROJECT SEWN:) And this is my last entry for their week 4 challenge: Signature style. Hmm... I am not really sure of what exactly is my signature style at first, so I went to look through all my previous sewing works. It seems that I love navy and red colors a lot. Further more, I am in desperate need of a fall jacket as we will be going for a road trip to San Francisco next week. And! my winning prizes from Sewaholic patterns had arrived in my mailbox. So everything mixes together and churned out an ever so cute Minoru Jacket:)

Pattern used: Sewaholic Minoru Jacket
Materials used: Cotton twill in navy color from Joann. Red Japanese flora cotton from stash. Zippers and Velcro and elastic.

This is my first time sewing up a jacket for myself, and I am really glad that I choose this pattern. It's easy enough for me and also taught me many new techniques along the way. I cut a size 2 throughout and did my usual reduction of the bodice length by 2cm. It turns out to be quite long for me still, but that wont be too big of a issue.


The jacket took me 2 nights to whip out and 1/3 of the time I am stuck at the stitch in the ditch part. (yay again! I hated it man...) I tried my best to align the seams as much as possible, but somehow, the stitching will not hit the correct spot on the under layer so I just keep unpicking the stitches and repin and re stitch. The tedious struggle ended up with a more decent stitching in the ditch but still not perfect.

 

Everything I adores are in this jacket, navy color and my precious Japanese red cotton print. Red top stitching. Super cute hoodie that can be folded and zipped up in the collar. Sweet little pockets with Velcro closure and an elastic waist at the back for overall enhancement of the figure. I even brought some coco cotton twill hoping to sew up my second minoru jacket:)

After living here in AZ for 6 months, I really love how easily available quality fabrics are and their humongous range and cheaper prices than in SG. BUT! the notions here are so expensive! 1x 500yards thread can cost more than $4 while in sg, u can get it at less than $2 each. And the zippers.... I dunno what to say. My jaws almost unhooked itself when I first saw their prices here. But I must admit that for their prices, their quality is much higher than the usual made in china notions found in SG.

 

This jacket is not super thick and cosy, hopefully it will be sufficient to keep me warm during the road trip. (Sorry I am not really sure of what to expect yet as it's my first fall experience and I can't wait for it!)

 

 

Little bitsy Velcro closure. Navy with red, I am loving it. How about you? And to all my dear readers, thank you all for visiting and even leaving lovely comments on my works. They are super encouraging to me. My English isn't really good, so I am not exactly good with words. Hope that my sucky English wont turn you all off :P

 

Thanks for stopping by:

XOXO Ashley