Paule T.B. Knit Blog

Skull and Cross Bones

2011-01-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

I found the sweater!!! I was in a paper bag of "night side table" things....Since i do not have one here, i never ended up putting those things away. Namely, a magic bag, tiger balm (which i had bought another jar of since), that lost sweater (!) and a bunch of useless things. It fits her *perfectly*. Im kind of flabbergasted.

Stripes!

2010-12-30T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hey Allo! It has been a decent long while since i posted here. Again. But, to my defense, i have NOT been knitting at all. Last time i picked up the needles was during my summer vacation, and havent really got back to it when i came back home. I have been very very busy with illustration work, and (hum) schedule management, so hobbies have been put aside. Still, things cleared out recently so I've been getting around to working on some things. :) A friend of mine is pregnant, as been for a while now so i figured i should get knitting before her baby is born! I went shopping, bought cute wool, and got started on a blanket. I'll be posting about it soon. In the meantime, i found this in my knitting supplies, along with a bigillion other half started / half done projects, this was meant to be the back of a sweater. (the fact that this pretty much fits my 16lbs dog... tells a lot about how much weight I gained... this is so sad.)

Well, i got inspired by this post from Anna at DoorSixteen to make a doggy sweater with the piece of knitted fabric i had in hands. This "model" leaves the front paws free and seems to work well on Constance. (Even if she is very comfortable in "normal" dog sweaters with paw-holes.) This looks like a little cape and is pretty damn cute. But seems to come off her if she plays a lot with it on. So it is more of an outwear garment, which is needed because it is winter here, my friends. Snowy, coldy winter, just like I like it.

new place--cushions

2010-06-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hey look! I'm posting something on my Knitting Blog! Incredible!! It is not even made out of yarn! So sad that i havent posted here for ever...but i have been having no extra time for myself in a long while, and therefore, no knitting, no sewing, no reading, no nothing basically...

I did move into a new appartment. Smaller, and with WAY crooked floors. Seriously has been tricky, and hazardous...Still, im coming to a liking of this new place, slowly. I bought some fabric on my last ikea venture, and made those today. I also *finaly* sewed my curtains for the kitchen, but since i didnt fix the rod up yet, i cant really get a proper picture. Still, how cool are those fabrics!!? Especially the oregami one. I think its great that ikea writes the name of the designer on the fabric's selvage. Its pretty cool and quite rare i think. I had it show purposefully by the seam, you can see it on the cloudy one in the first picture.

Anyways, i'm pretty proud of myself, i got to say, because I actually finished them properly with zippers. Done with the extravagant ways of avoiding it...buttons, bows, ect. Just deal with it already!! It was not as hard as i thought... Though, i feel pretty dumb about buying such pale designs when THIS monster started showing her appreciation to the cushions's cushiness. HAIRS--BLACK HAIRS is the mentra of the week, as im starting to try to get this place to look decent. (how come was the shedding not as obvious in the previous place? Mistery...)

That's her being a little bit scared, well, startled for sure, by the crazy summer storm we had around dinner time. I had not seen a storm like this in a while. I love it.

Puppy sweater on puppy girl.

2010-03-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

Turns out it is quite a challenge to take pictures of a puppy...it is either super duper exited, or falling asleep like an abandonned rock. But....those are ok. It shows how her little peach sweater is JUST RIGHT. I could not have done it a better size. and it was totally random since i had no idea what size she'd be at 9 weeks. She is the cutest creature on earth. word.

I also, re-recommand the pattern i used. it was sooooo easy. simple to adjust the size with rules of three. (just mesure the cheast band and figure out with the size they profide.)

It is a sweater pattern especially made for bulldogs, pugs and other dogs that have a bigger cheast-neck area then other breeds. fits her like a charm. im happy.

now, if the crate trainning went just as well id be in heaven...

pattern here.

Big-Fat-Snowflakes/and or rain.

2010-02-25T06:24:00.000-08:00

We are getting the baby dog in less then 2 weeks! The wait is not totally unbearable since i have my head at other places. Im putting the final touches to the Girls of a Feather art show at HeadQuaters Galerie here in Montreal. I'm actually driving all the art there with my dear-dear friend Audrey-Frédérique on saterday, so its really final touches...

In the meen time, a couple weeks ago (or days...time is passing in a weird way) i sewed this little tiny blanket for the oh-so-awaited-dog.

I'm also knitting a beret for my friend Caroline. Its a trade of services, which i beleive should be the only currency in use. In the whole world. Really. This picture is awfully yellow and doesnt do justice to the very pretty deep purple shade of the wool she chose. But i'll take a picture under better lighting when the hat is knitted.

* this is a detail of an illustration that will be for sale at the galerie, as a limited edition print on awsome Arches watercolour paper. What wont be sold there of that serie will be for sale online after the show.

Smaller.

2010-02-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

This is the second mini-dog sweater. Its become my daily before-bed-while-watching-startrek routine to knit those tiny things. They are so quick and rewarding. As a little girly addition to the light pink one i was working on, i remembered this idea of a neck band that becomes a bow...i had seen that before, somewhere. This is from a previous collection in a Phildar catalogue, but its not where i saw it first. i cant remember. But...its quite easy. you just make the collar band MUCH longer, long enough to be abble to tie a bow with the two loose ends.

Since my sweater is for a dog...i made the bow at the back.

I am fully aware that those are very lame photobooth pictures. But i've been taking and uploading so many pics for what im currently working on ART-wise...that i've just had no head space left for the knit projects pictures. The light doesnt really do justice to the pretty yarn and garther stitch. but whatever, gives you an idea. i'll probably take a million better quality pictures when the shirt can actually be on the pup.

Puppy Love.

2010-01-31T08:50:00.001-08:00

I finished the puppy-girl sweater in no time! Its amazingly quick to knit something that tiny...

It seriously is kind of the same lenght project then a hat. and the seams are very simple and easy. (always the step that can turn out appocalyptically for me.)

I conclude that knitting a sweater for a puppy is defenetly more fun then knitting one for an adult.

Here is the little garment. that turned out to be not so little...im sure it will fit her at SOME point, but not when she comes here.

I totally recommand the pattern i was using. (it was FREE online too, thats nice.) it is simple and quite easy to addapt to different size of yarn or needles, since the pattern itself is quite straight and simple.

As for the dog names...we're still in decision-oblivion...

Still in the run;

-Brooklyn

-Mochi

-Bacci

-Miso

-Lilas

-Dossy

-Pumpkin

(as of today...tomorrow will be another deal..)

Im taking this opportunity to debut my new glasses on the internet! I've had them since about christmas but its the first time i take pictures with them. I like them, they feel like a cadillac. (i specifically chose a model that went the opposite way then my previous frames-that annoyed me for the last 4 years, these are much bigger, and have no wide frames on the side. i feel like i have 360' vision now...)

I also love that cute chain my friend sent me for christmas. There is something so sweet about receiving gifts from oversea in the mail. especially when they come 4 weeks after christmas and make you feel spoiled!!

And since the sweater turned out bigger then i thought..i'm starting a smaller one!

Snow.

2010-01-28T07:18:00.000-08:00

Today is so pretty, snow is very slowly falling and everything is white. (after a good two weeks without snow it feels very enchanting)

I feel a little bad, when i see that the last time i posted was november 18th....

Needless to say, i have washed my hair since. :)

My motivation lasted about two weeks, and then i was just sick of wearing tuques to hide my greassy mane...and washed it. but i have to admit, my hair looked pretty and silky for like 6 days straight after that drastic shampoo break. which, i think, was a better treatment then nothing at all.

I'm still on natural shampoo and sillicon free conditionner. so thats no bad either!

I have not knitted much recently, or over the holidays. I was lucky enough to be very busy work-wise, drawing farm settings instead. I am still pretty busy and will be all the way through spring, which is a very good thing for me. I find freelancing can be much more overwhelming now that it is my one and only purpose...

Still....

i have knitted a pair of mits for joel. (i havent taken pics yet. but i will post them soon.)

Since we've very recently decided to enlarge the mini-family of two with a four legged companion, i just couldnt resist knitting something for it before she gets here. She is a pretty little black pug girl. :)

The puppy is black with a little bit of white on the chest, and the front-left paw.

I was not aware of the fact that the photoshop "grid" was not going to show on a jpeg image. So i guess its a little useless as is...but feel free to use this pattern if you'd like. i dont consider this copirighted.

Id be happy to know if anybody knits it though. :)

It is hard to imagine what size she will be when she gets here. (in march) When we met and chose her she was only 26 days old and obviously tiny...think big rat with a bear look and velvet black fur. I decided to make it a sort of "dog XS"... about 15" chest circomferance...i have absolutely no clue how that will fit her. but im pretty sure it wont be too small yet. so maybe she'll have it for later.

I'm following this pattern for the shirt, with minor modifications...

(im not doing the actual stich pattern either. i opted for simple ribs and rice stich. since it seems more lady-like to me. ) Also, one of the *many* names i'm considering is Mochi, which is a sort of rice marshmallow, so i thought this stitch was more then appropriate. It is very delicate in a vintage way and fun to knit too. Another name i like is Snow. I'm still quite clueless about what to name her, so if anybody has suggestions, feel free. at this point...

Olivia Hat.

2009-11-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

This hat took no time. a couple nights of star trek, maybe a movie or two. I am so releived that i did not run out of harn though...i even have enough to make the pompon i had in mind. (i'll update with that pic as soon as its on and joel can snap the back of my head.)

note: my hair is wet in the picture. it is not THAT greassy, yet...

I realise that i really enjoy making more complicated patterns while i knit. even though it takes more time, and more yarn, its somewhat more entertaining then going along in jersey or garther stitch. this is a mix of purls, cables, rice-stitch (<3), and double-stitches, or fisher-man...

i hope she still like that little blue. it is a little baby-ish. i dont know if id manage to wear it a lot with my coats. i see it going nicely with a little jean jacket in the spring though, and a red pashmina (i think thats the colour she bought at china town last year.)

anyways, im allergic to sweet alpacas*...so i have to send the gift to her. (no being selfish and keeping it.)

though, i think i will need more hats, and berets and such, since my last thing is trying to "go no poo ". This does NOT have anything to do with my desastrous attempt at trying to cut gluten. (no fibres at all is no good for your belly. dont worry i stopped that nonsens.) but this new trend of going sort of organic on your own head and hair seems quite clever to me. im not the best to explain this, most people i've tryed to talk through this looked at me like i was going wacko...I am going through the worst phase at the moment (day 4, so technically, two days of not shampooing compared to normal habit) and i will be still "adapting" for a couple weeks. i hope my boyfriend doesnt make me sleep in the living room. i rinced and (scalp massage) water washed my hair today, and it does look nice and silky and doesnt smell as much as yesterday.....

MORE PICS, with the pompom.

There is not a lot of things that are more enjoyable, then giving a hair cut to a nice pompom you succeded making. (for some reason, this makes me so nervous. it can unravel and end up a total mess..)

Is November really here?

2009-11-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

Just a little tiny update. Is it just me or it doesnt quite feel like winter yet? November 1st has passed a couple days ago, and christmas-Craze has not hit me yet....which is very weird.
I am totally one of those freaks who thinks of christmas gift lists 3 months ahead. I dont know, this year, hollidays dont seem to have the same impact on me. Just like halloween didnt make me go AS nuts as usually. First off, we didnt host a party. maybe thats it.
I did carve a pumpkin. (and cook the whole flesh too. pumpkin soup, pumpkin and squash with meat sauce and melted cheeze, and buckweat pumpkin spice muffins-that were not that great)

Still, there was this amazing little strip of pictures we took for halloween night #2...that is magnetted on my fridge and is just too good not to share. We had exanged costumes for the second night. (boredom) I was originaly the mime.

So while we're waiting for the few silly leaves left to fall, and for the snow to come, that's what's on the needles...

*while star-trecking with lover before bed* I've been knitting this sweather for myself, with this acrylic blend called "super-softie" or something. It is totally "throw in the washer and dryer" so that is good for me. You have to imagine the look in navy blue, since this is an attrocious apricot colour..

and remember this angora blend tuque i was knitting?? that reminded me of biscottis? well, its done and worn and all. but i cant find it these days..so i dont have a picture of it. (my room is a little messy at the moment.) but i will take a picture soon.

in the mean time, i quite liked the pattern, though there is a couple modifications i'd make. Im going to use it to knit my friend's christmas present. (i bought the yarn for her birthday, in december, last year...not bad hein?? this is history repeating....) its a really nice alpaca blend i've knitted many many times. (genevieve red bell-sweather, pumpkin mits (that ended up being gen's too.... red mits, i cant seem to find either....)
anyways, its this swirl of off white and baby blue, and its gonna look amazing i think. Im thinking of adding a pompon. just cause they're great and wintery. and probably going for a cable-knit/purl. this friend is a knitter too. and id feel weird giving her a jersey-knitted hat. but thats just me being obsessed maybe.

that's the pattern of the tuque. it doesnt show very well but this is needle 6,5mm. its a quickie.

ok, back to work, black and white, poetry, poetry....
and i'm having a friend over for dinner, porc roast with fresh plums and honey.
(cause i bought this hummongus basket of plums and i'm stock with them..)

***

ok, the beret was NOT THAT DEEP into the chaos.
so here's a quick picture. the colour is not that dark, my bedroom is dark.

and here is the alpaca i was talking about:

and the dry unsuccessful muffins, but one of the amazing things of winter, good citrus fruits. i adore grapefruit.

Triangle scarf crusade.

2009-10-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

My Mommy did it.
SHE CROCHÉED ME MY SCARF THAT I WANTED!! <3

She actually had quite a hard time figuring the super unclear instructions....i DO love phildar for their fashion patterns, but i dont know how they manage to confuse us so hard sometimes...the whole thing was constructed out of several squares that you had to croché seperatly (and figure out) first.

anyways, the result is great. i love it. the yarn we chose together turned out even prettier then i thought. the little white patches it makes....oh pretty. its lovely between brown and purple and goes with most my clothes.

special love to the little "flower" trim all around it. and the tassels.

and sorry my bathroom mirror is so nasty with toothpaste stains...oups. time to clean soon.

++
some pics of the chinese lanthern exibition at the botanical garden.
+
and some mighty tasty orange autumn soup.

Soup:

-Butternut squash
-carrott
-orange coliflower
-chicken broth
-parmesan crusts, gouda cheeze
-salt n pepper
-fresh sage

sam-reduction.

2009-09-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

My dear dear friend Samantha, has litterally been melting half her size over the last 6 months.
i am very happy to be her new gym body, and hope that her slimming frenzy might motivate/have some magic influence on my body.
So i found myself fixing some shirts for her recently. (as mode of paiement for her making of my wonderful website: pauleillustration.com ) and liking it quite a bit. since her weight loss mementum is not quite stopped, she will be bringing me more clothes to fix. like i was telling her, this takes no time and is actually so much fun and creative.

BEFORE:

AFTER. (first time at appliqué. went sort of well.) pleeted the neck line and took in the sides/sleeves.

BEFORE shirt from bedo that was sort of an inverted tryangle pattern.

AFTER. now its straight. made the ribbons with red biais, that i zizaged in grey on both sides.

voilà!

autumn random.

2009-09-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

just a sort of mass update, because i feel all over the place, and needed a little sorting.
i also read a "random" post today and felt like i needed to share too.

first of all, i dont think i ended up posting decent, clear pictures of the king-size quilt i made over the summer. since it is a major realisation (for me to finish it and use it). ill give it some honner now.

As you can see here, sometime lately i DYED a pillow case totally unwillfully. For some mystic reason it ended up in the "colour" wash and of course, that week included my lovely joel's bright red jeans...i was fumming mad. this set of white sheets are actually good quality whatever ammount of thread sheets...(you know the kind you justify buying because white will always go with your stuff, and it will last....)
but, having calmed down, i sort of like how this makes our bed look very girl side/boy side. mine is the pink one, obviously. it IS a nice pink. at least.

AND NOW, talking about things that end up dyed in pink not on purpose....
the waldo sweather...many of you are actually aware of the catastrophe that accured last year, when i first washed the red and white sweather i knitted for joel. (joel..6'4 man...knitted in size 4mm needles.)
there was a lot of angry cries and such. the pink was a very vibrant, flamboyant, bubble gum pink. (im trying to put a white cardboard thingy in the picture to fix my white balance...the picture does not show how vivid the pink is in real life. too pink for ME to wear the damn sweather)

but, flash of genius..i decided to dye it more. i'll try and dye it red. joel likes red. and there is much more chances he'll wear it again that way.

and for whats on the needles now, a beret i stole in my mom's awsome accessory catalogue. im using this super soft angora blend. the colour actually makes me think of biscottis, so i took a picture of my afternoon snack. this yarn is terribly soft, and i think it will be very warm. im thinking of knitting myself a neck-warmer with the rest of the yarn...i have this problem lately, of always buying too much yarns for projects..even when i follow indications. whatever.

lastly, here is a picture of my new dog-free, picture addorned, living room. Toto does not live with us anymore. due to some lonelyness-barking issues. this is a watercolour joel gave me for valentine's day. im happy it thrones in my office now. where i always pictured it.

granny smith fail.

2009-09-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Okay.

so i did finish knitting the sweather in time. (i actually finished sewing the colar on in the bus over to my moms house...how is that for last minute??)

but, the buttom line being, the sweather was not a hit at all...
the sewing was a little clumsy...as it always is with me..it always ends up being the crucial (and cursed part) when projects either turn out good, or in the garbage/frustration tears.

this one was sort of in the middle. i didnt like the arm seams that much but i felt like the white colar brought it together, and made it look pretty dashing.

wrong.

my mom did not like the white colar. she actually might salvage the shirt by taking it off and crochéing a green colar instead...

anyways...here is a pic of all the peices before i started sewing them. i like this picture because it sort of looks like im SCOTCH-TAPING it together. i did not take a pic of it on my mom, in the melt down...but i might if it turns out wearable later.

*to be noted: she also got two hand made and embroidered dish clothes for her kitchen, and a very pretty card from joel. so she was happy anyways.

granny smith/saterday

2009-08-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

ok, today big-long day.
got a lot of images to work on. something to do with a theater play, a boston terrier, and a bunch of 8 year olds.
im also having my parents over for dinner. im cooking this:
AND i obviously need to clean around the house before they get here...

nevertheless, here's the pattern that salvaged the granny smith project. and what im going to make out of it.

OH AND +++
i totally want my mom to crochet me this:

wish i had ordered the accessory fall catalogue too...save some shipping. all the accessories in it are cool. though this is probably the kind of thing she could figure out easily without the pattern. i think that colour/yarn choice makes it look like a table center cloth thingy....i dont know what colour i'd want....a cherry red? pumkin? chocolate brown?

the granny smith challenge.

2009-08-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

ok,
so my mom's birthday is september 22nd.
and i want to knit her a sweater. for her birthday.

i bought yarn last year with the intent of kniting and designing myself a pattern for a green sweater, for mothers day. my mom's favorite colour is apple-green. propably secretly because it makes her eyes look neon green. but anyways, it is HER colour and the choice of yarn was made easy.....(bare with me, this photo was taken last may, and being almost done with my FIT degree made me go nuts, and paint my nails blue....)

i never did manage to knit it in time. full of good intention, (and rethinking the whole pattern too) i started over at the begginning of the summer.

ok, we are now a month away from her b-day, and i am starting over again...i do beleive that i'll be able to finish it in time. if i knit a lot during all off time i got. (luckily enough, i have a couple contracts to juggle with now...but this complicates the challenge even more...)

so basically, this is a race until september equinox. to make the perfect sweather for my mom....

and ps: heres some pics of the quilt, finished. its hard to take pics of such a huge blanket, and i did not really try yet, i could lay it on my bed....but im too lazy. those ones show my new couch too. :)

Curtains for my kitchn

2009-07-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

So this is what i've been up to today...trying not to mess up all those meters of pretty fabric i purchased a week or so ago.

I love this mug, it more or less says, "To a brave heart, nothing impossible." I think its a great motivation to drink coffee out of it when you tackle whatever thing you need to do...

we're babysitting my parents dog, Toto, while they are being real unlucky in the south of france for a month.

it was my first time sewing something that big, im glad most of it was only long, straight seams. it turned out pretty much exactly like what i had in mind. I have tones of extra fabric...so i might make matching plushies for decoration. (we're that silly in here...kitchen-plushies.) or on a more serious note, maybe place mats.

christmas in july

2009-07-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

This is old stuff.

***
but im in vacation in virginia with my family, totally taking it super-duper easy. catching up with being myself-and-relaxing-a tiny bit more then usual...and as im killing time until 9h30pm to go to bed....im updating this blog!

this vacation is totally great so far by the way, amazingly strong waves (boogie boarding and risks of drawning), sea-food everynight on the bbq, hanging out with my parents, godfather/godmother, and joel, and having so much fun cause they all get along so well, and cause we all love being on a beach vacation.

***

anyways,,,,this is my dear friend audrey-frederique's christmas present...that became a birthday present...as i took longer then i though making my other friend sam a sweather too...and then i ALSO had not finished it in time for her birthday....
so here we are, mid-june, and i sent her a lovely chirstmas package.
christmas card and wrapping paper and all...

so here's the card,

the phildar pattern i was following...

the peicing it up and steaming and such...

i also decided not to add the pockets. dont get me wrong, pockets are great. a life without pockets sucks. but i just couldnt help but not wanting to hide those cables that took me so long....so no to pockets, this time.

here is some pictures of the finished sewed up vest. i was pretty happy with the choice of buttons, i hesitaded for a while (debating with joel and my mom) about gold anchor button, vs black plastic anchor buttons...both providing a very sailor-look, more or less bling was the question...we opted for less bling, (and much less $$ too)

here is a little picture of audrey-frederique, at her birthday (back in march) with her little baby-stella. i just purchased a cutesy little american flag bandana for stella at a cute shop on main street here in chincoteague, VA. (gifts for pets and their people)
i'll ask her to send me a picture of the vest on her. it probably shows nicely all her tattoed arm and back...even though the vest is a little big for her, im itching to see the result on her.

i ended up buying red lipstick for her bday so this really is still a late-christmas gift.

im already planning mentaly what will be on the needles for next december's presents...got to start earlier this year...

update on the sewing stuff. (for joel to see.)

2009-06-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

So this is the two little cushion covers, now made.
i havent sewed in....actually, a decade. i was a lot into sewing stuff and making clothes (and not finishing any thing...) and experimenting a lot when i was about 13-14. but now that im a little more grown up, i wanna make stuff im gonna use!

so i didnt really know where i was heading with that, and there was a lot of instruction manual reading in the first half hour...but i made it. i basically tried to figure out how pillow-cases are made, and reproduced that on the scale of my little cushion(s).

i made the little flap inside, and im pretty impressed with my thinking it through, and making it work.
the buttons arent sewed yet, i dont remember how to make a button-hole. oops. oh, and those match the quilt im working on too!!

it is about a feet higher then me when its pined to my mom's shelf like that. and it was also flopping about half an foot on the floor. what makes me think it'll be long enough for my oh-so-tall fiancé. im actually aiming for 78"x100" because the little fluf i bought for inside is that size.

(i know im not wearing make up and i have paint in my bangs...but im fine. dont worry for my sanity. im moving in my real new house in a week and i'll maybe start looking normal at some point in august.)

cushion and quilt stuff.

2009-06-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

those are the two fabric i decided to keep to make cushion covers. for the futur couch.

http://www.ikea.com/ca/fr/catalog/products/70118666

and i also found a pretty cheap-priced cotton to make the layer under. i think its pre-tty and also a little manly. (good on the joel side...)

quilting project.

2009-06-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

making use of a lot of my dad's shirts..impulsive purchases that dont fit for long.
some of those were even bought in venice, italy... not too bad...
and i also have two fabrics that are traditionnaly dyed from africa. (the bright aqua one with mistle-toe looking stuff one and the paisley with gold stars)

im exited about this, obviously. i havent sewed, or done quilts since i was like 12 years old.

im still soul-searching as far as the back of the blanket goes. i want something extra soft, like felt...and i dont know if i want a beige, or a deep crimson.

i know quilting is more of a winter hobbie, but what if you actually want to USE your blanket when it gets chilly??

taking it slow and working like 5 minutes a day at it anyways...

smileys find

2009-06-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

I havent had THAT much time to knit lately. but when a freelancer's professionnal life is crazy busy, one doesnt complain.
so im updating with stuff thats mostly nothing.

i really ywanted to share all the amazing finds my mom and i got when we visited the SMILEY'S yarn outlet. in Jamaica, Queens, last may.

first of all i am so happy about this super nice cotton, its really original and modern, it looks more like a rope. or a thread...
i saw it a couple months ago and fell in love with that cute black and white twist. then i saw it again with my friend olivia at Purl (soho yarn shop) it was 11$ a skein (which is quite outragoeus considering there's only about 60 meters a skein..which doent bring you much much far knit-wise...)
those babies were going away for a dollar each in the oulet...so i was really happy. because of the small yardage i dont have a tone of it anyways, but i decided to make smaller things with it.

this is the beggining of a tuque for joel. the same model as the oh-so-loved waldo tuque, but this time im going for wrong side jersey. cause i love it.

those pictures arent really good but thats that...
this is another cotton, (it IS summer..)
this one is like a ribbon thats cream, with another small thread in beige that twirls around it. it is delightfull. i decided to make myself a little summer sweater with it. im adding some of the hand dyed cotton i had purchased last fall. (for a square shawl) for some accents here and there. ill post the pattern image soon when the back is comming along a little more then that.

and the pinkish one is more of a silk blend. it is like candy. really. it goes from deep crimson to pink to peach to fuchia...what more can a girl want?? an idea for what to knit with it i guess.
it is a little hard to knit since all the little threads that make the yarn are really intense on separating each other...but you need to suffer for beauty..that has been said.

and lastly,
my grey sleeveless cardigan is finished. DONE. i am super proud and cant wait to post it online.
only thing is i think ill wait a little before posting since im gonna ship the gift to my friend first.

:)

just a little teaser.

pour clara. et pour plus tard.

2009-05-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

a little coco-lapin i knitted for a friend's new baby girl.
I was knitting a little black sweather too. to go with that amazing children book that i love, from that amazing illustrator, natalie dion, "urban babies wear black."

http://books.google.com/books?id=Nbh9kA19LiUC&dq=urban+babies+wear+black&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=fr&ei=m8AFSp6YGIvAMrXqhaMD&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPP7,M1

this little plushie is so soft.
the white blanket is baby cash-merino from debbie bliss. and the head is cotton-silk from lang lara.
i want to sleep with it until i ship it to them with the book.. :)

the little sweather turned out unsuccessfull but i started a new one. (the pink and grey thing still on the needles is the starting of the back.)

i also experienced a little with this bamboo pink i bought to make myself a beret later this summer. i dont know what type of stitch i wanna use, but i feel like trying new things with more intraquate patterns.

en avril, ne te découvre pas d'un fil...

2009-03-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

here is what ive been knitting lately.
the peach beret remembers me of my first room. the wall colours were exactly that shade of peach in my baby room.

i found that amazing button at "tender buttons" in the upper east side, ny.

this is a more or less big deception.

2009-02-23T20:16:00.000-08:00

i was knitting a yet another raspberry beret, for my friend's birthday this time..because i knew that i wouldnt have the time to complete the cardigan im making her....which will probably not be done before the summer.
but once i was done with the actual thing, as i was afraid, its HUGE.

i feel like it belongs on the head of that mushroom in mario bros....whatever his name is...

i think the mistake was to double up the 100% wool red yarn (cascade superwash) with red mohair. it made it too think and it took away the souple-ness. and made it too fluffy.....but it was sure that the mohair would just make it look pretty and expensive...

nayniways. i really doubt that audrey would wear such a thing...so i might have to come up with an actual idea other then knitwear for her up-coming birthday...real coming...

and secondly, this is a pic Joel took in the knitnewyork store. we were just hanging out. now i get a chance to put my nice new uniqlo merino v-neck on the internet. :)

orange, tan, salmon, peach, you name it.

2009-01-28T16:50:00.000-08:00

ok.
2009 is here, and getting the schith together.
i havent sent my christmas present to my London friend (and ex-roomate) Genevieve. Which was the loose beret with three different yarns, orange-sorber, hot pink and dark purple. (see a little earlier). I did not send it before because i could not get myself to knit the second little hand warmer to go with it. I was so tired of see that yarn...(know that i had knitted another hat before that was too small for a grown up woman's head...)
but today i had an idea. I knitted this burnt orange pair of alpaca mits in the fall. and i have never worn them. (suprising.)
since they go pretty cutesily with the beret, i decided to send them with it.
I also decided that maybe her head is smaller then mine, so im sending the small tuque too. if its too small, too bad. a baby might wear it in the next decade or so...

so here is some pics of the small tuque. (stretched out on my enormous head)
and one of the mit, plus also the little lonely hand warmer, that will never see it's friend be knitted....
and those boots/sandals dont need any introductions, i saw the black version today on karla's blog (http://karlascloset.blogspot.com/) and i almost died of urge to purchass something like that.....

samantha's bumble teal cardigan.

2009-01-08T18:11:00.000-08:00

So i've been knitting since im back in canada.
And hugging joel a lot since im in montreal. this is the result of a lot of work. My favorite realisation so far. the most flawless attempt at knitting. on my side. i love those two colours together. and especially on Sam. i am defenetly sick. spells: S.I.C.K. of that colour. especially after that other thing i did for Eliska in the fall. (and having knit that before. mits for sam, also, and i dont remember what else.) bref, i will not touch turquoise yarn in a while, i swear.

Vintage looking.

2008-12-31T14:08:00.000-08:00

This is like a quick little update.
I am starting new stuff. WOOOOO hOooooooooo...soo happy.

first of all this is an awsome cariage joel found online to inspire into me some cinderella motivation. (did not work, knitted all day still....bad.)

SO:

this is the beggining of a cardigan (a sort of racerback veste.) for my dear friend audrey. it is all silky and soft. (the light grey and bleu one.) it will be so lovely with her eyes. and also show off her tattoos.

and im also starting an asome twin set of a little bolero and tanktop for me. with that cute little stitch (red) its pretty intense and intrequate. im loving it though. in french its called wasp-nest stitch. which is cool. i dont know what its called in english....

i have a couple of cute pics of the teal cardigan all sewed up and cute. but i dont want to spoil the surprise for samantha. who watches this blog quite fervently. (and might be the only one.) so ill wait till i have gave it to her soon enough, to post them. plus some of it on her. which should be even better. it was made for a slightly bigger bust... :)

i found this awsome winter coat in my mom's ceader closet. it is real cool. and it goes really nice with my chic plum suede ankle boots. just how it'll fit in my luggage back is a mistery......
and it is pretty sad to think she wore it when pregnant of my little brother... another 2009 resolution material?

last minute note.

2008-12-18T22:12:00.001-08:00

It is late at night and i am leaving for manzanilla, mexico in 2 hours and a half. But i still felt like updating blogs a little before going for vacation. And i am obviously too restless to sleep.
I just found out my boyfriend's flight was canceled because of the snow storm. (he leaves from toronto and had to fly there from montreal...) i leave from new york. I hope all goes well. hhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiii

this is the finished Waldo project. Joel wears them A LOT. i have to find a way to hand wash these in the winter break.

And this is a sweather project that was started a while ago. As i didnt plan out buying enough yarn at all to beggin with, it ended up as a mixed up colour sweather. I was knitting it for myself. But i am not sure at all i like the way the colour turned out. It defenetly washed me off a lot if im not wearing lipstick. As i was finishing it this week, (gathering all and finishing up the sleeves and colar was my little project before mexico this week.) i was thinking Hubbie, the woman i rent a room from and live with, might like those colours better then me. She is all about mauve, lavender and lilac a lot.

She gave me an awsome sleep blanket in fake lamb. (not lamb wool or skin, it is sort of A LAMB. :) and it fits with my sleeping mask. which is a little lamb face.) This totally sold me into giving her the sweather. I am actually glad that i spent this little bit of free time knitting a gift. I really hope she likes it! Is all wrapped in silk paper on the kitchen table at the moment.

ps: can i also specify how cute the eye shadow joel gave me for christmas is. (as seen on the close up in the round mirrow) i think the green of my eyes is way more intense with it.

and also, doesnt Velvet look like the cat on the I in the "Coraline" title?

chrismas frenzie.

2008-12-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

So this is sort of a fake upload.

first of all this is a beret i finished knitting weeks ago but was too lazy to put on and take a pic. wow.
and also, i have been knitting for what seems like forEVA a bell-shaped cardigan for my friend sam, that will NOT be ready for chrismas. i totally over-estimated myself thinking i would do that, AND a long sleeve-less vest for audrey, both for chrismas..not.
i also said id knit a pair of mits for my newish friend olivia. but this also isnt happening since i can barely find time to breath in between all my procrastination and work and school end of semester. but im liking this beret so much that i might do this instead of mits for olivia. i have this ball of super extra ultra soft alpaca that is swirl light blue and off-white. its gonna be pretty cute.

then i went to the yarn outlet with, again my friend olivia. (who is by the way a very promising begginer knitter, going on pretty awsome intermediate) i bought to things for myself. old oak brown bulky wool for another sweather for joel. and also very very pretty soft acrylic for me for a twin set. its a sort of twist (very small thread) mixing bright red, light blue, lime green and white. and once its knitted it sort of turned out more like dirty pale pinkish red. i am obviously exited about all of that but i do not have time to knit before a little while. maybe in january a little.

ok.
<3

waldo sweather completed.

2008-11-05T06:28:00.000-08:00

Finally im wearing the raspberry berret more then i thought. it kind of stretches a little in ways that i wanted.
im glad the sweather fits. :) next one is a big cable stitch chocolate or cabab coloured turtle neck. but i have some chrismas/birthday gifts i need to do first. if id listen myself id only knit for joel.

red and orange.

2008-10-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

so this is a little sneak peak at the waldo sweather. i dont want mr love to see the result clearly until its really done and on his body.
i knitted these two pairs of mits in september with the rest of the alpaca from genevieve's sweather. i though i'd give the burnt orange ones to my friend avy. but i kind of fell in love with them, even though usually i hate orange...im in a little «truce» with that colour for this season. i espacially am flipping for mustard and pumkin. which arent favorites normally...but there is some of that in the grey shawle i made, so i'll keep both pairs...i dont knit for myself tones so i dont feel so selfish doing so.

Cast on.

2008-10-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

Bonjour.
I've been wanting to have a knitting blog for some times. not wanting to clog my Illustration blog with it.
This is basically pure nascisim, i'll upload pictures of what i'm knitting. Yarn i order and flip over colours.

This might, or might not be interesting to people. I dont really care, its so interesting to me! (and that way my mom can keep up with me without repairing her Skype camera...)

Stay tuned. :)

Paule. xx

Ps: Some pictures of things I knitted recently and last year. The patterns and colours i chose are defenetly related to the people the gifts are for. I still have a little bit of a harder time finishing projects when its for myself...oh well. I love people around anyways...