My New Cardigan!

I've always wanted to make clothing for myself. Due to my size though, I've always been discouraged by the fact that most patterns call for 5+ balls of yarn (I'm cheap) and also I'm impatient! There's a reason I mainly crochet tiny dolls and hats! But I was determined this past weekend to make something for me. I started out with the popular Chevron Lace Cardigan, then realized I didn't really like lace that much, or the zigzag bottom edge and that I was making it too big... so I frogged that one, and found the Brown Sugar Shrug pattern! This is more of a tutorial than a pattern. Kristi very clearly lays out what measurements you need, and how to create the garment so it'll fit you perfectly! It's also highly modifiable, which was a big plus for me, I wanted something that would hit a bit below my waist, with elbow length sleeves. This one is plain light grey, though I've drawn up a bunch of other colour variations that I'll hopefully be whipping up!

In case anyone is interested, here's the pattern I wrote up for my cardigan!

My Raglan Cardigan

Size: XXL or 18/20
Yarn: Red Heart Soft Touch (2 balls)
Hook: 6.5mm
Gauge: --- forgot to check, will update

Yoke & Body
ch 95
1: sc in 2nd ch, sc to end (94) turn
2: (dc 15, [dc, ch, dc]) x 2, dc 30, ([dc, ch, dc], dc 15) x 2 (98sts + 4ch) turn
3-11: dc in each dc, [dc, ch, dc] in each ch-sp* (should have 170sts + 4ch the end of r. 11) turn
12: dc 25, dc in ch-sp, sk 35 dc, fdc 10, dc in ch-sp, dc 50, dc in ch-sp, sk 35 dc, fdc 10, dc in ch-sp, dc 25 (124) turn
13-27: dc* (124) turn
28: sc around entire cardigan
finish off

Sleeve
Join yarn to a stitch from r. 12
1: dc 49, turn
2-6: dc* (49), turn
7: dc2tog, dc* (48), turn
8-9: dc*, turn
10: dc2tog, dc* (47), turn
11-12: dc*, turn
13: dc2tog, dc* (46), turn
14: sc*
finish off

Pinkie Pie Pieces...

Finishing up a Pinkie Pie My Little Pony to ship off to a customer tomorrow. I hope he loves her!

Muddy River Murder

This weekend was the Muddy River Murder, a 3 day roller derby tournament in Moncton and it was awesome! There were 11 teams from 6 leagues (Muddy River Rollers, Red Rock n Rollers, Roller Derby Quebec, Maine Roller Derby, Capital City Rollers, Halifax Roller Derby) there and it was so much fun to see them all playing each other!

It started off with a game Friday night, where Moncton won! I love watching the Lumbersmacks play. On Saturday games were played from 9am until 6pm, when there was a co-ed scrimmage. Co-ed derby was really great and different, it was so much fun to see these girls getting to really check people and see the guys flying around the track! The coach from one of the Quebec teams El Tannant was AMAZING! His ability to dodge the blockers was great to watch, he somehow managed to jump around a bunch of them at one point, it defied logic. I also had a table on Saturday, selling some leftover stock from previous sales, it went very well, and I'm hopeful some commissions will come from it :) Sunday was actually really nice because we just got to watch, we set up (like always) on the edge of the suicide seating* and spent the day watching the 2nd round of the tournament. Moncton won 2nd, and my Fredericton girls took home 4th! So proud!

It was a fun weekend, however the weather did put a bit of a damper on the whole thing... IT WAS HOT. Friday and Saturday the arena we were in didn't even have the fans on. It was horrible. I felt so sick Saturday from the stale heat. Sunday, they had the fans on, but not the AC, so it was slightly more bearable... but the best thing ever happens on Sunday... IT RAINED! It was glorious!

I know people have a lot of misconceptions about Canada, especially the Maritimes/Atlantic provinces but here in Moncton, we get extreme heat, extreme humid heat. Friday it hit 33C (91 F) or 41C (105 F) with humidity! And it's the humidity that is the problem, it's like being in a sauna, everything is sticky and damp!

The weather this past week has put a huge damper on my crocheting efforts... I was commissioned to make a Pinkie Pie last weekend, that was suppose to mail out today, I unfortunately had to email him over the weekend and tell him it would take another day or two because trying to crocheting in this humidity is impossible! Thankfully he's awesome and understanding!

*Suicide seating is an area a few meters away from the derby track and is called that because sometimes someone gets pushed so far off the track that spectators get hit... I think it's only happened once to us

Animaritime 2013 Wrap-Up

I really liked how I did my wrap-up last year for Animaritime so I figured I would follow the same style this year as well! This was my 3rd convention, my 2nd time at Animaritime and my 1st time doing the whole weekend. IT WAS AWESOME! I could never have imagined the love and compliments I received, or that I would sell out of most of my dolls within the first day! WOW!

Friday - Day 1 table set up

My favourite part of Animaritime was: the reactions from people! It just makes me feel so awesome to see people jumping in spot and smiling when they look at something I made. I was also extremely happy that J was there with me and was able to see what both of our hard work and frustration during prep-time was totally worth it!

My least favourite part of Animaritime was: the set up this year... Due to the large number of events being held, the convention spanned the convention center and the hotel across the street, which made it feel like we weren't getting the same number of people through the vendor/artist room on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday - Day 2 table set up
Hey look it's me crocheting!

What surprised me the most about Animaritime was: that a lot of the hats, mitts etc that I brought more as table filler (as I didn't have a ton of time to create stock) sold really well! They weren't big sellers the 1st day, but on the 2nd and 3rd as my table became less cluttered, people seemed to really love them and often commented that they hadn't noticed them on Friday or Saturday.

What I learned from Animaritime was: I need to start my stock now for next year... like right now! As J kept pointing out if I had had 2 or 3 of some dolls, they would have sold...

Sunday - Day 3 table set up

The next step for me is: I'm going to be a the Muddy River Murder this Saturday, then, it's looking through my stock and perfecting the items I want to have for next year! Sadly this year Hal-Con isn't in the plans for me, but hopefully next year!

As J and I lived in Fredericton for 2 years while I finished up my university, we decided to turn this weekend into a small vacation as well! After the Con was over, Monday was Canada Day!

Canada Day was wonderful! We had breakfast at Crêpe Suzette

Their version of eggs benedict was delicious!

Then we pretty much set up downtown and watched people, hung out, listened to music and I even found some time to do some crocheting (you can't be surprised).

Aww we're cute!

Sadly the night ended on a bit of a downer... the fireworks, which I remember being great years ago, were a bit of a flop... they usually shoot them off of two barges in the river, but I think the 2nd barge malfunctioned...

There's a whole lemon in my lemonade!

And Tuesday, the rain that had plagued us Friday and Saturday, started again... but we braved it to hit a few stores before heading home. I was really excited to hit up their LYS (local yarn store) but unfortunately their clerk was too busy on the phone with a friend to acknowledge us, plus there was a large dog in the store. As I advertise my work as being done in a pet-free home, it felt disingenuous to purchase yarn from a shop where animals are present. We left, with only a glare from the clerk for talking to each other while she was on the phone...