changes.

I've been blogging about knitting for about 10 years now. Wow. 

I started at Wordpress, as "JDKnitter in the 9th Circuit" (HAHA). And back then, it was just to keep a journal of my new hobby, knitting. Soon, it became more serious and I started focusing on sharing my knitting designs with others. 

My life has evolved significantly since then. I'm no longer a law student who used the 2-hour shifts at the law library counter as knitting time. I'm a mom with an energetic toddler, and 2 fur-babies, Candy and Bagel. I also have a very fulfilling job as general counsel of a company. I now not only knit, but spin yarns, dye fibers, and sew clothes. 

The world has evolved as well. It seems like people are becoming less and less interested in reading long blog posts, or read through long patterns/tutorials. With Pinterest and Instagram, it's all about exchange of information in as few words as possible. 

Knitting world is changing -- magazines are going out of operation or merged with bigger companies, design aesthetics change, and the economy of selling patterns as an emerging designer is tough. 

All of these to simply say, that it's time for a change. I'm going to think about it more, and I don't know where this blog/design page is going, YET. I want to keep sharing my passion in handmade fashion with others, so this place will never just disappear, that is for sure.

But I do see a need for a change. One idea is to focus on how I usually modify other people's pattern to fit my body. I do feel like I want to focus on sharing How-to's and tips, rather than designing. 

I changed the website design back to the previous version. Until next time....

hippo hippo hippopotamus!

When L was just a newborn baby, we got a wonderful gift, a book called "The Spectacular Adventures of Sophie and Sebastian." It is a story about a hippopotamus, Sophie, who wanted to skateboard. Even though L was really too young for the book, I often read it to him. Now, he often pays attention from start to finish, and really loves that story.

In the book, Sophie is a purple-gray hippo with "hefty proportions." So I grabbed some 100% cotton yarn from Twist.... Yarns of Intrigue.... in "Lavender Gray" and "Iron" color, and made this Hippo from Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Toys book.

If I haven't raved enough about this yarn, please forgive me. I normally don't like to use cotton for my project because it hurts my hands/fingers since cotton doesn't have memory as many animal fibers. However, this yarn completely changed my attitude towards cotton, and now it's my go-to for toy knitting. 

I finished this project late at night. The next morning, I brought the book and this hippo to his bed before waking him up. The silly grin on his face... I love making toys for him!

The pattern by Susan B. Anderson is, as usual, super easy to follow and clearly written. This is the second pattern I tried in the Itty-Bitty Toys book; my first was the Doll set. 

What I found helpful was the row counter that goes on your finger. I bought a 10-pack a while ago, and I don't usually use it for my garment projects because often the directions are "knit evenly until x" but with toy knitting, it's essential to keep track of your rows. 

Sewing FO: The new Sorbetto pattern by Colette Patterns

Colette Patterns is my go-to sewing patterns. They are simple enough to be easily adaptable to fabric choices and other modifications you want to try, but interesting enough to make you want to make multiples of the same pattern. From a cost conscious hobbyist's perspective, a pattern that keeps on giving makes sense.

And in this case, it's even better because Sorbetto is a free pattern. There was a short-sleeve modification floating around on the internet, but finally, they came out with newly graded Sorbetto pattern, with the official short-sleeve pattern. The new one has a simpler dart-line pattern for all sizes, the short sleeves look perfect, and still very simple. 

I bought this 1.5 yards of Kaufman Chambray Union Dots Indigo fabric from Fabric.com when L was born. I thought I would go back to sewing soon so I bought it to make a summer top, but it ended up in my hibernating stash for a couple of years. 

When I saw that Colette came out with the updated Sorbetto pattern, I looked through my stash and re-discovered this chambray fabric. PERFECT.

I love how Sorbetto uses bias tape to treat the neckline. It creates a fool-proof, strong, easy neckline and I love how you can go traditional or funky with the bias tape choices. 

MeMadeMay is turning out well this year, I've already finished 4 new tops in the last 2 weeks!