A Trio Of Elliots

Hello all!  Here we are almost a week later since my last post.  How is everyone doing?  I waver between calm, rational thought and obsessive worrying and anxiety lately.   There seems to be no middle ground for me.

So I thought I'd distract myself with a long overdue post about my trio of Helen's Closet Elliot Sweaters that I made earlier in the new year.  How have I neglected to blog about them?  I wear them all the time!  Next time One Week One Pattern roles around it will be a no brainer for me given I have a total of five Elliots now! You can see my previous versions here and here.  Oh!  And I made my daughter one last year for Christmas... I don't think I have a photo of that one though.  I love this pattern.  Can you tell?

Let's get down to business here!  Note - these might not actually be in order of how I sewed them. Too many weeks and too many things have gone on in between to remember details like that and I'm a bit too lazy to figure it all out right now.  It doesn't really matter anyway.

Elliot #1 :

I sewed this one as an entry for the Fabric Snob's sew along.  It has a few mods to it - I lengthened the front, lowered the neckline slightly,  and simply lengthened the sleeves following the pattern lines so they ended up somewhat belled.  I LOVE this sweater.  It's in a hacci sweater knit from the Fabric Snob.  They still have it stock right now as a matter of fact.

Elliot #2 :

A t-shirt version is up next.  This one I'm not quite as happy with because first I lengthened it too much and then I shortened it too much.  WHY?  Why do I do that so often? ??  And now I feel that it hits at an awkward point maybe.  Also the sleeves need to be shortened just a smidge still.  I followed View C with the banded neckline, and had, as mentioned, initially lengthened it to have a curved hem.  I also initially shortened the sleeves somewhat from the pattern, but still not enough for my preference. After over shortening the top itself I'm scared I'll shorten the sleeves with reckless abandon as well and regret it.  What I don't regret at all is the fabric I used.  This one is a tri-blend jersey also from the Fabric Snob (and also still in stock) and it is so, so soft and comfy!

Elliot #3 :

I'm not going to lie... this one could be my very favourite of all my Elliots maybe.  It's definitely right up there. What seems like forever ago, Helen posted photos of herself wearing an Elliot dress.  She looked amazing in it and I couldn't get the idea of a Elliot dress out of my head.  I had some French Terry from Water Tower Textiles sitting in my stash since last August waiting to be used, and it seemed perfect for a dress with such simple lines.  For this one I simply extended the front and back to the length I wanted to have a straight hem and the rest is as View A is designed.  This dress makes me feel like a million bucks. It's comfy (hello, secret pjs!), easy to throw on and easy to wear.  It checks all the boxes!  Thanks for the inspiration, Helen!!

So there you go!  There's my three Elliots in all their glory!  It's such a great "blank canvas" type pattern with its simple design lines and possibilities for hacking.  Helen also has a great post up on her blog with her versions of just her tees which could be a great jumping off point if you're looking for inspiration!

That's it for me now - back to reality, housework and making supper.  Until next time, I wish you all to stay safe and healthy and remember, especially in these difficult times to try and share kindness and light as you go throughout your day.

A Crafty Catch Up

I'm back... hope all is well out there and apologies for the radio silence as of late.  I've been posting a fair amount of my crafty pursuits on Instagram lately, but haven't had the chance to sit down and properly write a blog post.  The whole new job thing didn't work out unfortunately - it just wasn't a good fit at all for our life right now, so I'm back to pounding the pavement so to speak and looking for something new.  I'm hoping to be back to work somewhere soon - and hey!  If you know anyone looking for a library technician/parts person/purchaser let me know!!

I have done quite a bit of craftiness in my blogging absence, albeit most of it Halloween related.  I made the boys halloween costumes this year again and of course they had very distinct ideas of what they wanted to be.  Little Man wanted to be Harry Potter wearing his Quidditch uniform and Baby Boy wanted to be a Red Panda, which happens to be his very favourite animal.  But he didn't want to be any ordinary Red Panda.  He wanted to be one that had super powers.  And Red Pandas with super powers have wings.  Not capes. And the wings had to be very specifically shaped and attach to his costume in a very concise manner. Fair enough. Who am I to argue on the finer points of the elusive Super Red Panda?  Little Man's costume even included a very exclusive "Nimbus 2009" model made by his dad.  The boys got to go Trick or Treating at the zoo again this year on the weekend before Halloween and the highlight of course was getting to see mama, papa and baby red panda very active in their outdoor enclosure!

Super Red Panda set to save the world!

Trick or Treating at the Zoo!

Harry Potter's favourite animal is also the Red Panda...

Super Red Panda meets up with his ordinary counterparts

I also decided to put my Silhouette Cameo and some glow in the dark heat transfer vinyl to good use and make them some skeleton tees for Halloween.  I went the easy route and just purchased the plain tees at Old Navy rather than sew them up, so it was a quick afternoon project that I surprised them with when they got home from school one day!

In the un-halloween related realm of craftiness, I finally met our newest little great nephew last week and was finally able to give him his baby gift.  I went with an owl theme - I love owls, so figure everyone else should too - I had got a little book and owl stuffy and had a tiny little owl toque I'd knit ready to go, but I wanted one more little something to go with it, so decorated a little onesie with vinyl.  I was really happy how it worked out!

I also sewed up the Elliot Sweater, which is the newest release from Helen's Closet.  I snapped up the pattern and printed it out instantly when the notification hit my email inbox that it was up on her site, but then had to wait a bit to have the time to sew it up.  I had bought the fabric from Blended Threads last fall or early winter, and when it arrived I had no hot clue what I was going to make with it.  It's a bit bulkier than I wanted for a cardigan and I wasn't sure how it would handle any sort of bands because of the bulk. I thought of a waterfall type cardi, but that wasn't really speaking to me much as something I wanted in my wardrobe, but as soon as I saw the Elliot I knew that was the pattern the fabric was waiting for!  It's a super quick sew.  I had it done in an afternoon, except for the sleeve hems.  I wasn't sure what route to take because they felt just a bit too short for such a bulky knit and because I'd only had 1 1/2 meters to start with, there was no way to cut longer sleeves but I had just enough left over to make nice wide cuffs to create somewhere between a 3/4 and bracelet length sleeve.  I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out and may actually live in this for the rest of the fall and winter.

Lately my knitting and spinning has really take a back seat in my crafting time.  I am not sure why, but I still haven't located my missing knitting mojo.  I want to be knitting, but am finding it hard to find the energy or mental space for it somehow in life right now.  So because of that I am still working on my latest Untangling Knots knit along Populuxe cardi (the deadline was November 1st, but my cardi is, as of yet, still sleeveless.  Ooops!)  so I thought I'd try to jump start my motivation and shift gears with a little colour work project, but sadly even that is not going anywhere quickly.

I have taken some time to do a bit more sewing though this week and I'll leave you with a bit of a teaser of that one.  I was outside in the snow this morning trying to take pictures of it, which was a bit silly, but the light was better out there than in here.  LOL!

I'll be back next week to tell you all about this one, so until next time, happy crafting everyone!