Here she is! My pretty little girl doing her best to beg for the treat I have in my hand. In this picture you can kind of see up her nose, which isn't ideal, but I still think that she's cute. She's modeling her new sweater that was inspired by my trip to Preloved. The sweater actually turned out surprisingly well. She has a winter coat that fits perfectly and has a really clever and practical construction, so I based the design of this sweater on that.

This sweater gets pulled over her head and then you pull the funny little flap part under her belly between her two front paws and secure it to velcro on the inside of the back portion of the sweater on either side of her rib cage.

So it's easy to put on, sweaters that slip over the head and have leg openings are great too, but if she's excited it can take a bit more wrestling to get her to cooperate and stick her legs in the holes. From the top she's got the button band running down her back, so it really looks like a real sweater, I think it's a cute touch. It's not a functioning button band though, I sewed it shut so it couldn't stretch open. You can sort of see in the above picture how I cut out what used to be the shoulder part of the fabric between the raglan to accommodate her smaller frame, but still keep that raglan style look. Having the velcro on the underside of the fabric makes for a cleaner finished look, it looks like the sweater just drapes over her and stays put. When she's more cooperative I'll get a photo of her wearing it, but it's a miserable, rainy day here so I couldn't get a nice outdoor shot.

On to the next thing I did this weekend! I made a skirt! All by myself! My mom was there for back-up and she guided me through the invisible zipper, but I did it all myself, pleats, zipper, the whole thing! Can you tell I'm very proud of myself? I made the Study Hall Skirt by Anna Maria Horner and it's lovely. Of course, I don't have a finished shot yet, but here are the fabrics I used.

The main part of the skirt is the beige polka dot and the pleats and bottom hem are the multicoloured fabric. From a distance it looks like I'm just wearing a lovely conservative khaki skirt, but then I take a stride and you get a flash of colour. I've already ordered some more dramatic Anna Maria fabric to make another version that's a little less safe, I love how she uses bright colours and bold patterns, so I'm going to take a cue from her and do the same on my next version. Modeled photo's to come.

I managed to block my Adamas Shawl over the weekend. This is a great pattern, and the yarn passes the experimental knitting test! It will be available at the Knitters Frolic and in my shop soon!

I couldn't resist and cast on right away for my drying rack inspired fiddlehead mittens. It's kind of funny how you get into a colour rut eh? I noticed that the palette for these mittens happens to be exactly the same as the palette of my new skirt! Maybe I need to branch out of the bright colour on neutral background theme for a while, but I just really love that combo!

Lastly, I sewed the buttons on my Ultraviolet February Baby Sweater. They're hard to photograph, but they're a lovely shade of violet that kind of look like they have rain drops on them. Very cute.

Tada! A very crafty and successful weekend indeed!

Love, Tanis

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