Oh deer...

I have finally come to Fair Isle knitting.  I've always been enchanted by it, and here I am now- working on the bust of a stag and trees in fingerless glove format.

The design I've used is based on one that I found on  braceletbook.com.  I took the pattern and altered it a bit to fit more of what I was looking for, and then designed a very basic tree shape.

I transferred and designed the tree for my patterns on stitchfiddle.com, which ended up being endlessly useful, as it has a function that allowed me to select which row I was focusing on and highlighted it while dimming everything else but still leaving it visible.  This is probably old hat to most everyone else, but I was plum thrilled to not have to keep making various marks to know where I was at.

Curled under my Halloween quilt, I chipped away at the first fingerless glove. Despite a couple of hang ups in figuring out my own rhythm with multiple strands, it started to come along quite nicely.  

I did quickly realise as I was knitting along, however, that knitting as tightly as I normally like to was both my greatest ally and greatest foe.  Keeping the stitches tight made sure nothing was disproportionate to the rest, yet pulling either of the strands too tight would make it so that I would end up with unfortunate puckering and a lack of stretch around.  I found though that carrying the non-active strand consistently behind the active strand helped keep me from feeling like the non-active was too loose.  I did this by twisting the two strands so that the non-active would be caught with the active, but as I created the stitch, only the active would show.  

The dark grey is the active strand while the white is the non-active.

Pulling Only the active strand through.

Only the dark shows.

Yet the white is close and makes it so that I don't shred these within a couple of months because I keep getting my fingers stuck in big loops.  

The end result of this strange adventure of Fair Isle was elating - it was remarkably satisfying to be able to turn the blocked-out pattern that I had adjusted to fit my wishes into this beautiful, and incredibly soft, creation.

I've found that what I love most about quilting, knitting, spinning, et cetera is that I can create all of the beautiful things I think of.  It's an expression of the soul and grants me the ability to give myself something I want.  I can take something I think is beautiful, and make it into something unique that holds that same beauty while being something that’s entirely my own.

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more projects!

Don't worry, that's all the French I will attempt for now.  

Baby Blankets!  Because I do not have children, and therefor I NEVER know what to get people for Baby Showers.  I've erred on the side of caution a couple of times and just got the mother something that she can soak in the tub and ease the strain of creating a brand new person with, but sometimes people adopt, sometimes people have a donor setup, and sometimes people are like me and can only really use particular bathbombs because otherwise their skin acts like it's the end of the world.  Seriously, I can withstand blizzard snow, sand-blasting my face, no problem other than maybe a slight chill, but the second I put the wrong ingredient on my skin, all hell breaks loose.  

Anyway, baby blankets.  That’s a nice thing about being a quilter -  It's a lovely gift that can go a long way since, if made the right size, it can last far longer than the $50 onesie.  Also handcrafted items are a little more intimate and show how much you care in a very real way  Taking time to make something for someone is precious, and special- but then again, I'm a sentimental fool, so maybe that’s just me.

I actually started cutting out pieces for this quilt before I even knew who it was for.  It was just a beautiful collection of fabrics that went well together that I thought I should do something fun with.

Then I found out the one of my first aerial coaches, and someone who has made a big difference for me moving forward in my training, is pregnant.  She specified in her invitations for the baby shower that she wanted hand-made, second-hand, or hand-me-down gifts for her bundle of love that would be gracing the world in the months to come.  

This quilt's time had come.

It came together quickly and I found it be beautiful in every step.  This was definitely an extremely simple and straight forward design, but I love it for that.  It's what I like in a lot of things intended for children.  There is a simple and beautiful style that makes it feel like I can view and appreciate the simplicity and joy of what it means to be a child.  Kids deserve that.

With all of the straight lines and big blocks I was able to quilt it up in no time.

Ecstatic with the end result, I photographed it before I even took the time to press the binding, so please excuse the jello-in-an-earthquake look.  

This photo was before I did the binding, but I thought it did a nice job of showing the beautiful backing.

After a nice wash, and air dry, I wrapped this up and shipped myself off to the baby shower.  I ate a magnificent cupcake made by my Intermediate/Advanced Aerial coach and his husband, attempted being good at socialising, and was able to enjoy the moment where the soon-to-be mother opened my gift and looked at me in surprise.  My whole heart glowed.  

I tell people I quilt, because it's what I'm doing with my life, but I still revel in the sight of someone being pleasantly surprised by what I create.  

With my gift I wished her happiness in her motherhood, and happiness in her life.  Then, snagging a cupcake for my partner, I headed back home, helped move my friend's couch up a couple flights of stairs, and capped it all off with an evening of watching shows with some friends.

It's days like this that remind me why I do this.  This whole Crafterlife business.  I love creating, and I love helping to bring happiness to people.  It's a whole lot of joy that I can't really fathom getting anywhere else.  And you, reading this, are helping make that possible.  

Thank you.

A little bit of an introduction before I get to the sweater.

This website, blog, shop, what have you, has been a long time coming.  I'd make small little branch blogs that I never stuck with, Etsy shops that I woefully neglected, scattered quilt sales that would lift me up just high enough to make me see that this is what I wanted to do, but not enough for me to put any real drive behind it, and all other various assortments of half-hearted efforts that would end in me letting myself believe that I might not be cut out for my dreams in my life.  Which leads me to The Sweet Crafterlife.

Maybe I chose this name because I don't want to end up a wee spooky ghost haunting fabric and yarn shops, making strange and eerie appearances at circus performances, and giving my loved ones cold chills every time they try and curl up under one of my quilts.  Maybe it's because I've met my Fate and can, instead of bleeding my heart out over practicalities, enjoy all of these wonderful and beautiful creative works that I've so adored throughout my lifetime.  And maybe it's just because I've studied far too much death culture with an Anthropology degree, and this is now my twisted sense of humour.  Any which way we hack it, I welcome you, to this place where my otherworldly wishes are granted, and I simply enjoy (and perhaps grumble about my capabilities) for all of us to share.  

Now, enough about that.  I made a sweater and I'm excited.  Let's talk about it.

This project was born from my complete lack of ability to leave behind anything that is soft.  I had ventured off to the Knitting Bee of Portland with my phenomenal mother and, as per usual, I was feeling all of the fun and beautiful yarns when I found… the one.  It's baby alpaca, so it's made out of all of my wildest hopes and dreams, compacted into a semi-bulky strand of love and softness that makes me want to curl up in it for all of eternity.  

The pattern is what my brain thought a good sweater would be constructed like, partially because I like the challenge, and partially due to the fact that I'm still wary of knitting patterns and just try to wing it so I don't have to translate the whole thing into what works for someone that knits ambidextrously.

I started with just a basic rectangle shape, and as I approached the point where I wanted my arms to be, I decreased by one stitch on both ends for three rows.  I'm not particularly broad in the shoulder department, so wee bits of shoulder coverage were just fine.

The neck hole started with me feeling a little extra brave since everything else had been going so well.  

I chose to leave all of my stitches on the circular needles I was working on, but only knit the 15 stitches that would make up the shoulder on one side until it was a length that I thought would be suitable.

As is nearly impossible to see here, I looped the yarn I was working with in a continuous slip knot sort of chain, threading each new loop further down the side of what I had just worked on, and towards the stitches I had been ignoring.  I cast off on the middle stitches, which led me to the other side, so that I could begin my other strap.  

Once both straps were at the same length, I cast on the same number of stitches I had cast off in the front, and worked my way down on the back of the sweater, in time increasing my stitches towards the end of where the arm hole would be as I went.

Because I wasn't working with a pattern, have never made a sleeve before, and (at first) could not  conceptualize that the arm hole was bigger than my arm, I ended up needing  to decrease stitches quickly.  This made the (w)hole thing a little wonky and I quickly had to make adjustments so that I didn't look like an albino bat hopeful in my new sweater.  The second sleeve felt a little more like old hat (or old sleeve I guess) and I managed to finish it in half the time, finishing off both sleeves with a classic cuff of knit two purl two.  

Ultimately, I was thrilled about the end result and notified more people of this sweater than I'm going to fully disclose.  It definitely got a little rough around the first sleeve, but looking at the pictures and looking at it longingly in this summer heat, I'm happy.  

Now all I need is for it to be cold enough outside for me to actually be able to wear it.  

Thank you for the dedication of your eyes, and more will be coming soon.  All the best to you, and all of your lovely creations.