While Tangerine Dreams

X Skis Me, Coming Through

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas. La, la, la, la, la. Wha? Gone already? Seasons greetings everyone. We had a beautiful, relaxing, chilly chill, dream mellow time at home. Dada gifted himself some cross country skis and I pulled out some hand me downs from his step mom and we've been hitting the trails and backyard with them. Ample of places to explore around these parts. I have some video of myself attempting a gentle downhill slope but I'll spare you the pain of watching that embarrassment.

So what exactly does Mama need for all this Swiss Miss action? A new ski hat. This is from the Twinkle Big City Knit book, again, which I borrowed from my friend Abanney but now, thanks to a jolly elf, own. It's the Aspen hat and knit up in some Brown Sheep Burley Spun. Because gauge did not come out right on I made some lame attempt at modifying (oh, if you could here the voices in my head when I try out some justification math  - it's a new style, all the cool kids are doing it) it came out some what, um, special.

You know what I find helps to distract from the stuck in the birth canal look I'm taking on here? Lipstick. Lots of it (at least for me). Viva Glam, baby.

Happy Solstice

Day of long shadows. We had a lovely Solstice celebration yesterday. Our friends had an amazing gathering on their land with a skating rink where Edie busted out some skates for the first time, a bonfire, treats and ritual. Would have some pictures but Edie didn't want to get off the ice and Craig was immersed in this epic hockey game and so, just trust me, it was awfully cute. Speaking of cute, Edie playing with her shadow all day long by herself has inspired us to welcome a little shadow buddy as a solstice gift to her:

Meet, hmmm, not sure yet what his name is yet but he was pretty much born next door to the Horniman Ranch (ooo! Horniman!). The deliberation is kind of humorous but calling him Kitty is starting to get a bit on the creepy side (Miss Kitty! bless her little heart). Here's a snippet of the hot topic of discourse going on around here the last couple of days.

Bobble-y Goop

Edie loves twiddling my bobbles! Again I imposed a crazy deadline for the completion of the Groovy Sweater Dress - it had to be done for our trip out to Calgary last week. Thank the Knit Goddesses that was able to happen because it turned out to be the perfectly practical Calgary winter type article of clothing to have handy. I wore it as a jacket when balmy and five minutes later, when the temps drops to chilly chill, I wore it under the jacket I brought and I was totally hooked up.

There it is in "worn-as-jacket" mode whilst we had a super quick connect with my "little" bro Mike and "little" cousin Julianna (she's also three - four in February). Growing up Mike and I were pretty tight being close in age (a little more than a year apart) and, being a seamstress, my mom had the God-like power of dressing us up in matching outfits so people were often misled to believe we were twins. He was a such a sweet little kid. He use to deliver me cereal when I was too lazy to get up from the couch to get my own. I was a pretty lazy little girl.

Last glamour shot - promise. So, hmmm, I don't know. I know I love wearing it for that happens lots, it's warm and comfy and I get lots of compliments, from strangers even. But looking at it from the camera's point of view it's like - yeesh. You can tell I wear it lots and had a crazy self-imposed deadline for finishing. I notice that a lot of FO's of this project are pictured off the body and maybe because it looks so hole-y (not like Christmas holy either) while it's all stretched out on. Hmmm, so complex yet so simple. I really need to block it still, that should it settle in some of the kinks but the problem is I won't be able to wear it for a couple of days and it's party week!

Wheel-y Glad to Be Home

... while visions of spinning wheels danced about my head. I'm back! Again, I was paranoid to mention that we were leaving town but we went to Calgary and back and again safe and sound. I hate traversing the mountain pass this time of year and always preclude the trip with a month's worth of prayer giving.

A couple of reasons for this trip; Craig's office Christmas party, soapmaking training and closure to the business sale transaction; and, with the proceeds from the former, purchasing myself a long awaited wheel to call my own.

First stop was my friend's store, Make1Yarn, where she was sweet enough to show me her wares and patiently guide me through some pathetic attempts of test driving her selection (I'm such a rookie). Unfortunately, I was seeking a large orifice (I hope that word doesn't pick up some weird traffic over here - yuck) and found what I was looking for outside out of town at Shuttleworks.

So I lug my buddy Karen along, also a foster parent to a buddy's wheel and ready for the commitment of a permanent adoption. We felt like two Angelinas out on an African excursion (okay, I speak for myself). Above is her new baby Ladybug. That was a pretty spontaneous and exciting purchase, while I pretty much fell instantly in love with the foldable Lendrum, which I was already eyeballing in my mind's eye because I like those big orifices (you again! Stop it!) for accomodating art yarns which is what I'm pretty interested in cranking out mostly. Check out The Yarn Musuem for some examples of what I speak of. Look what I found under the Blue Faced Leicester in Aisle Four:

Think I'll take that home and spin me up something cute on my new wheel. Wohoo!
 

Diss Robe

Yet another example of clothing items worn only for photo shoots. The plan was for something cuddly to be thrown over her jammies in the morning while the fire is being stoked. I really hyped this plan out, let her pick out the fabric (Strawberry Shortcake - gawd) even. Instead, she slips it off in about a minute in favour of nakedness. I'm freaking out that it's cold, it's winter, but she points at the little pathic beginnings of a slow burn and says "the fire's big".

Had I been thinking, I would have looked into a vintage design such as Soulemama's solstice gift to her little girl. Buttons! That would help the cuddly moment last a little bit longer.

How do I feel about this? Very much like Edie's favourite new snack. She loves corn thins with cashew/almond butter and raisins with a sad face. Not happy, sad face, please. Little twisted, I know but it makes more sense I guess when the snack is pleading "Don't eat me."

Stop Stairing

Take a picture - it'll last longer! Like I said I had leftovers from that olive hemp blend and exactly enough for one sized up Olivia dress from Farbenmix for the munchkin. Only one problemo. It's not pink. She's refusing to wear anything but her tutu or pink items these days because in most moments she's either a. a pink princess or b. pink baby dinosaur. It was hard enough to get her to sport it quickly for a photo shoot. Only way I could coax was to promise I'd leave the view finder open so that she can check herself out (where did she get that from?).

Check out our new stairs!!! We would have took a before picture but they were so butt ugly we didn't want to hurt the camera. My friend Ellie's (my soopa doopa talented friend who made these remember? Another incredibly cute item that Edie refuses to wear because it's not pink and perhaps also because she senses Mommy might die from cuteness overload if that were ever to happen?), husband was the carpenter, Craig hotly assisted and, oh my, I love them. We tweaked the stair entrance too so that they open up to the opposite side buying us room in the living room to live more. Check out the railings. They're branches from hazelnut trees on Dan and Ellie's property. It's like walking through a forest everytime we go up. And again when we go down.

I love sewing for Edie (she's so little so it goes fast and the finished project's so cute and cuddley) and actually was able to have a full Saturday last weekend to do so. But, man, she's picky these days! I made her a bathrobe that I'll see if I can swindle her into wearing long enough to get a picture of her in it. Gawd, I hope she learns to love this dress. It looks so cozy and cute on her. She looks like a little Gnome. A little, cooperative, appreciates all handmade things from her momma even though it's not pink Gnome.

Groovy Changes Part 2

My big news is that Hempress of Clean (pictured above) is retiring. I sold Do Be Clean to my friend Leona. I have been the Hempress now for six years and it was time to either shut things down or pass it along to someone with the energy and enthusiasm to keep the momentum rolling. I can't think of a nicer girl to carry on the Hempressing duties. She'll be keeping the same website if you're suffering from Do Be withdrawals.

Changes to the house that yet have to happen #32: See that ugly yellow paint inside the window sills? That's on all of them. Blech. I bought some copper-coloured mica (no typepad, that is not a spelling error, eh?) and I plan on repainting them all white with some of the mica flecks to capture the sunlight and make it look all fairy dusty; not just dusty, dusty. To veer off topic for a second (the topic by the way is that I sewed up the above "good-from-far-but-far-from good" outfit (happy bday Brenda by the way)), the reason the house is so dusty is we built these beautiful new stairs ("we" meaning our friend Dan the carpenter and his hot assistant named Craigy) that I'll have some flattering shots of once it gets sunny in here again.

The pants, as you can plainly see, are humongoid. Again (this is my second attempt at a Built by Wendy pair though a different pattern - Simplicity 4110). And it's not because I didn't go with the appropriate waist size. I'm an apple shaped girl, really, so I went with a size 12. It just went all wrong. The waist dips down dramatically for some reason. One more try; size 10. I'm going to make myself a pair of slacks that fit if it kills me.

The shirt I'm much more pleased with. It's the Plain and Fitted Simple Tee from Hotpatterns. I cut up the fabric while Edie slept in and by the end of her afternoon nap it was VOila! (Please note that her sleeping in and her afternoon nap were two separate events). The fabric is a hemp/cotton blend. I bought two yards as indicated by the pattern and turned out I had almost half of it left. Enough for another Olivia underdress for Edie. Yay! A fifteen dollar hemp shirt and a fifteen dollar hemp Edie dress. See, Craig? Look how home economical Mama's getting!