Bloggable Gift

I finished this little set up just before I left for ANWG but I was reluctant to blog about it until the gift was opened by the recipient. It is a "set" of sorts for a grand-nephew. He was born months ago so it won't be long until he is able to wear it. I hope the fit will be okay come fall when the weather is cooler!

The sweater is the "Gingersnap Cardigan", knit using a free pattern by Kristen Rettig. Fun, easy knit!

The hat was from an unrelated pattern, the "Sweet and Simple Baby Hat", a free pattern by Debbie Bodner. To help it better coordinate with the cardigan I added matching stripes and concealed the joins using the technique described in the free "Jogless-Join Stripes Baby Hat" pattern by Larissa Gregorin.

The hat might end up being too small by the time the cardigan fits. It was a bit of a guessing game. I chose a cardigan pattern and a hat pattern that were both for "12 months", but of course head to body proportions may vary! 

The little pants were super fun to create. Using "Jalie 3243" as a starting point I cut the pieces from the "good" sections of my husband's old, cast off, brown denim work shirt. 

I then added layers of patches and a variety of Sashiko stitching and distressed them a little by scrubbing with sandpaper. 

I'm really happy with the way they turned out!

Meet Bella

This active little girl is "Bella". I found her today at PetsMart. I went out specifically looking for a light coloured betta (easier to see in my tank) that had shorter fins. Although longer finned male bettas can be stunningly beautiful they are weighed down by all that finnage and eventually become very sedentary spending most of their time stuck to the filter intake to rest. I wanted a fish that would be active and fun to watch so I was looking for either a plackat male or some sort of light or colourful female.

I've heard that the female fish are more active in general anyway. This little girl, with her white/clear colouring with red and black spots, may carry the marble gene. If that's the case she could colour up very nicely. We'll see. Anyway, she is definitely fulfilling the "active" requirement.

My Walking Buddies

Five days a week I enjoy walking with my buddies. Always the fur-girl on the left. Often the handsome fellow on the right too.

We're extremely fortunate to live in such a beautiful area.

With the perfect mix of sunshine and a little rain the foliage at the Blue Heron Reserve has really closed in! 

Long Necked Patchy

Since I'm bringing three exhibits to ANWG and all three present best on a mannequin, I contacted the organizers to see if they could use more mannequins if I brought them. The answer was "Yes!".

I had one store mannequin of my own, I borrowed another just like it from a fellow guild member, and then asked at a guild meeting for permission to also borrow the one pictured above. The trouble with the one above was that she was in a rather sad state of disrepair. She had some rather large chips missing from the exterior surface and, upon close inspection, I realized that several more spots were about to go as well. It wouldn't be a simple matter of just spray painting her since chunks were flaking away and peeling off.

I decided (with permission) to paper mache over her completely in an attempt to hold her together. Newly completed she's still wet and shiny. She should dry matte.

My husband has commented several times that she looks "vein-y" now. Do you think I should spray paint her? I kind of like her the way she is, sort of rustic looking.