denim for summer

Apparently trying to photograph myself is just tragic these days.  We also live on a pretty busy street where all sorts of cars were backed up in traffic and watching me try to run in front of the camera...

All that said, I made an oversized denim top a little while ago, and it's been getting loads of use in this early fall/still warm/finally no humidity weather.  Ug, can you even tell there is a breast pocket?  There is...

finished weaving

 Oh my this semester and fall have gotten away from me!

Between classes, working, and figuring out this long distance thing, I've actually been knitting and sewing more than I thought I would, but not really taking photos of anything.  Hopefully that will change.

So I finished my scarf a little while ago, and I'm really happy with it.  It was a total learning curve, and imperfect in SO many ways (there is puckering, uneven edges, and hardly any warp showing), but it is soft, warm, and feels awesome to wear.  Any tips out there for next project?!

I'm heading to New York next weekend to visit Seb before midterms start, and looking forward to finishing a sweater I've been knitting for almost a year now.

weaving

So I bought a loom!  In the middle of moving, exams, and a million summer visits I've been eking out little bits of time to weave lately.  The process has been a pretty slow learning curve, and I'm sure I'll look back on this project and cringe in the future, but I'm so happy to be doing it!  All the steps are so methodical and simple - it's a great way to zone out and repeat the same thing for an hour. 

Here's a brief overview of the weaving steps: (1) Get strands of the right length for you warp (the long direction).  You can use more official methods than this, but I found the fence  posts in front of our place worked really well.   (2) Make sure the strands cross each other like this, so they stay in order and don't get tangled.  (3) When you're done, tie the cross point, and move to the loom. (4) Attach the threads to one end of the loom, get a friend to hold the threads with tension, and wind all the thread onto the back bar. (5) Pull all the threads through the headles, in whatever pattern you've decided on.  Tie them on the other side to make sure they don't pull back through. (6) Feed all those threads through the reed next.  (7) Attach the threads to the front bar, and then start weaving! (8) As you can see, my ends are totally uneven, and the weaving is a little streaky and wavy, but I'm happy with it anyways!  My first knit scarf was pretty terrible, too.

I love that I can now make both knit and woven fabrics!  I like feeling one step closer to the materials I wear. 

Next up: knitting machine and spinning wheel (ha, I'd need a bigger house if that happened)

making a home

 I'm one of those people that nests like crazy - that put up decorations at summer camp.  I hadn't really done much of that in Montreal - seeing as we were moving yearly and the move was temporary. 

But now that I know I have another two years here (at least), I'm starting to fill the place with the little things I find comforting - the ceramics, textiles and photographs.  It feels really good.

sister visit

 A while ago my little sister came to town for a visit.  I dragged her to work, cleaning our new apartment, and other terrible things, but between those we hung out and relaxed, acted like tourists, played lots of petanque in the park, and treated ourselves to at-home facials (care of the drug store and bowls of hot water with towels over our heads!)

It was so awesome and rare now that we get to spend time together.  Normally when I see her now there are a million people to see and many relatives to compete with for attention (read: Christmas).  She's turning into such a charming and competant woman, I'm so proud of her!

Here's a photo of our faces, from her phone:

ps. I finally broke down and bought a linen towel from Fog Linen - couldn't be happier about it.  Never going back to terry!

spring

The snow has melted, and it's finally starting to feel like spring around here. The light is that perfect warm weather light that I miss so much in the winter.

Even though I'm in the middle of exams (yay procrastination!) I decided I needed a new top for summer, so I spent my Saturday afternoon sewing myself a button up tank with some fabric in my stash.  Now, if only I could find some good linen jersey in Montreal....

twenty-five

Well, I turned 25 this week.  It's a strange age for me to adjust to - I just really thought I'd be more of a grown-up by now.  Being a first year surrounded by 19 year olds, still not really having a ton of work experience, living with roommates, it all seems very...like I'm not ready to be this old.

Eh, what can you do?  I made this awesome cake, will celebrate at my favourite bar with friends, and skipped out on a day of schoolwork.  It was also the first day of spring and the first International Happiness Day, which is a pretty awesome day to get to celebrate extra hard.  Hope this never ending winter is treating everyone well!