Sweet Heart Fair Isle Cardi Pattern

I'm so excited to announce the release of my latest pattern.  This is that perfect pattern for that special holiday project.

 

This Fair Isle style cardigan pattern features a lovely heart stitch yoke that has a refined yet rustic vibe. I created this design intending it to be used for those special occasions such as the holidays or a birthday party, but its versatility makes it great for casual layering too.

Available on Ravelry

Also Available on Etsy

This pattern is written in standard U.S. crochet terms for the advanced beginner to intermediate crocheter who is comfortable with simple one color per row color work, different combinations of standard stitches in the same row, decreasing, and working in rows below the usual working row. Pattern comes with 5 size options for all the girls in your life!

Many people helped me to make this pattern possible.  This was definitely a team effort.  For this pattern I included the following Acknowledgments section:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you so much to all the people that helped me to make this pattern so awesome!  Thanks to Cecilia De Jesus, my co-worker, who insisted that the heart row be in the yoke and not around the bottom; while it gave me headaches to get the stitch counts correct to do so, the finished result made it all worth it.  Thank you to Shibui Knits for yarn support; their Baby Alpaca DK is the most scrumptiously soft yarn ever! Thank you to Joanne Scrace for her amazingly quick technical editing skills.  Thanks also to my awesome testers Lexi Suby and Gail Dvorchak. Finally, thank you to Amanda Tipton for the beautiful photography. 

Fun with Counted Cross Stitch

If anyone had ever told me even just 5 years ago that I would fall in love with counted cross stitch I would have laughed hysterically.  I think I have to give most of the credit to Alicia Paulson's beautiful blog Posie Gets Cozy.   The stars lined up when I found a box of embroidery thread at Goodwill for $3.

Yesterday I went to the library and picked up Alicia's lovely book Embroidery Companion and got to work.  I started on a piece of linen with the school house alphabet sampler project and quickly got frustrated.  Reminder to self: Don't start with the most difficult project in the book first!  I had to get creative quickly so I could satisfy my urge to cross-stitch.  So I found one of my husband's checked shirts that he has already graciously donated to the craft bin.  With the generous, perfectly spaced squares I was able to see what I was doing and make it look straight.  Here's what I've got so far of the Karin Curtains.  So excited!

Because the checks are way huger than the squares in Aida cloth, I'm going to have to cut out some of the design or at least reposition it.  The plan is to make this to top a curtain panel for the bathroom.  There are just tons of projects in the book that I want to make so I am thinking this is going to go on the Amazon wish list for the holidays. 

And there you have it, my first counted cross stitch project.

Thrift Store Finds

Let's face it, excessive crafting is expensive.  And, yes, one may say I craft excessively.  To keep up with my pace, I've had to get creative with supplies.  Last week I had a particularly amazing thrift store experience and found some incredible deals.

I found these fabrics all for about $2 per yard.  The navy is 100% cotton Linen, the cream is 100% wool, the taupe is 100% cotton velour, and the polka dot is most likely some sort of poly/cotton blend made to look like linen. 

I used the navy fabric to make a cute little hooded jacket using this pattern.

I had a kinda grumpy model today! But the jacket turned out really cute (in my opinion), still needs buttons.  The pattern is very good.  The sleeves are a bit long, but I actually like how they look rolled up.  Still have about 3 yards left of the navy fabric!!

I also found this entire box filled with lovely shades of DMC embroidery floss, all on labeled bobbins with extra bobbins.  Guess how much?

Yup. . . .  I also found some embroidery patterns, sewing patterns, a few buttons, and of course I couldn't leave the thrift store without these:

Are those the cutest or what? They cost $8 for the lot, which is kinda pricey for GW, but they were just too darn cute to leave behind. They are from Guatemala and look handmade to me. The tag is in English, so my guess is that they must be some sort of souvenir for tourists.

The fabrics are cotton and colorful, they each have a teency pair of leather sandals, and best of all my daughter is in love with them.  She's named them Gavin, Daria, and Kennedy (also, coincidentally I'm sure, the names of her buddies at preschool).

Did I do good or what?  So as you can see, there's no need to stop crafting when your budget is tight, just get out to your thrift store pronto and may the thrift store gods be with you.  Happy thrifting!