With the beautiful, warm, sunny weather we've been experiencing lately, spring doesn't feel far off at all. I can't wait for spring ephemerals to carpet the forest floors and spring bulbs to break through the ground in gardens.

In the meantime, I'll have to make do with my new bright and cheery pincushion.



It's the Wildflower Pincushion by Anna Maria Horner and it's a biggie (for some reason the photo on the website makes it look deceptively small). The pattern is free at the Better Homes and Gardens website but you do have to register to be able to download it. If you register, you'll get e-mails from BHG once in a while. There are quite a few useful patterns and tutorials on the website though, so might be worth it.



I used some scraps of an Anna Maria Horner Good Folks bundle that I ordered a while back. I love the colours and prints of the fabric, and I've made quite a few things out of the 6 fat quarters that came in the bundle.

I stuffed the pincushion with wool batting because that's what I had on hand, and because I love to make things using all natural fibres.



If you're interested, the buttons in the photos are a lovely little assortment I purchased from BigFish.

Ruby's bibs

I whipped up a couple of bibs for my new niece Ruby.



Managed to centre a whole ducky on the front of this one which turned out nicely.


I used Amy Karol's pattern from Bend the Rules Sewing, and Hushabye fabric in the Sky colourway by Tula Pink. The backing on the bibs is a lovely, soft flannelette which I much prefer to using terry cloth.



Now I just need to send them off to England. I have to wait another month and a half before I meet the little dear.

I'll be making more bibs and baby things soon as I have another niece due in June :)

A bittersweet end

Well, I'm officially out of Sock Wars now. I went for a skate today and came home to a parcel from San Fran containing my death socks : (



It's not so bad really because the socks are great; they are fun, stripey socks and they fit beautifully. They're also a merino/bamboo blend so they're super soft. I've got happy feet! The package also contained belgian chocolate so I shall console myself with a nice treat tonight.

I managed two kills so I'm pleased with my effort. Now I'm free to work on my Olympic socks, a challenging Cookie A. pattern called Vilai from Sock Innovation. I've done and undone the same 4 rows over and over but I think I've got it now!

Winterlude

I spent the weekend in our beautiful capital city (Ottawa for non-canadians) and took in the sights and sounds of Winterlude.

I was surprised to find a couple of cozy trees:



These festooned trees were apparently part of an installation by arts collective Spins & Needles.


Marvelous ice sculptures were everywhere:


And I enjoyed an evening skate on the Rideau Canal.


Also spent a day at the incredible Canadian Museum of Civilization. Wish I'd had longer than a weekend to explore this wonderful city!

Kayla Shrug

I made this Kayla Shrug last fall and then stuffed it away in my closet because I didn't think it worked on me. It's an Americo Original pattern and I made it out of their Pima Cotton as the pattern suggests.


Turns out it looks great on my sister so I was happy to give it to her rather than have it go to waste. I couldn't bare to think that my 18+ inches of 1x1 ribbing for the top would be in vain. I hate 1x1 ribbing!

The shrug has a unique construction and, as I knit it, it took me a while to figure out how the whole thing was supposed to work on an actual body. But it does, and the cotton gives it a nice drape.


I hope my sister enjoys it. It's a frustrating aspect of knitting; you can spend hours working on something that doesn't fit you well in the end. I'm working on a new sweater now. Here's hoping!