Happy New Year

Wishing all a happy new year. New resolutions? not here, not this year anyway. I am anticipating some upheavals soon, so no need to add to the stress. Every time the phone rings, I think "that's the hospital" with a mix of fear and relief. It will be good to have this hip surgery over with and the rehab period over as well.

Meanwhile, knitting has been progressing as we have been watching quite a few movies here. My husband is a Brit from Liverpool and my parents came from the UK as well, so watching British flicks is normal fare. We just discovered the series Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. The repartees are hilarious and it is hard to believe this was written and filmed in the 80's. It seems as if nothing has changed. If you like political satire, try it. It is good to laugh at such things, and perhaps become a little wiser to the machinations of politicos and civil servants.

We made a short three day trip to Maine and stayed in Orono. There is a small lovely wool shop there, called Fiberphilia. I had hoped to find an apple green wool there for a cardigan, but there was no such yarn. And the shop here, LK Yarns, is also nice but smallish. So online I went and hopefully, the company I contacted will have the wool I want.

Anyone have sources for buying yarn online? I would prefer Canadian sources as the shipping from the US to Canada is very steep, often as much as $25 per parcel. Which means it is not worth buying anything unless you buy $100 or more.

I have a pair of LH Cruise pants cut out and ready to sew. I have never tried her Euro Pant pattern but took it out to compare. Basically the two pants are the same, with the Euro having wider legs. The crotch curve is identical and the Euro does offer an elastic-waist version, which is what the Cruise Pants are. I will stick with the Cruise Pant pattern as I have made this at least three times and there is no altering to do at all now. I even made a flat-seat alteration, taking a 1/4" tuck down the entire back leg. At my height, all extraneous fabric needs to be removed.

And just before Christmas, I was searching for some grey coating to make this coat - Vogue 8548.

I first saw this coat on Tany`s blog and I ordered the pattern, which took three weeks to come from Vogue. Then I saw the coat again on Erica`s blog and saw her line about pockets. Good advice, I will be adding side seam pockets to mine. The pattern is out of print but still available from Vogue.

There was no wool coating that I liked at our local fabric store and I really wanted a grey coat. I already have a black wool coat and the majority of my clothes would go best with either of those colours (or red, but I don`t want a red coat this year). Online again for a fabric search. I discovered that there is not much in the way of heavy wool coatings to be found. Most retailers have wool for jackets, but it is simply not heavy enough for a Canadian winter coat. I found lots of wools that are boiled wool weight, but that would be a cardigan in my neck of the woods.

I did find some at Vogue Fabrics and it seemed the right weight, although the colour was a little lighter than what I wanted. But I thought why not, I am not going to find anything more suitable at this time of year. And I want to make this coat for this winter, not for next. So that is next in the queue, after I finish the Cruise pants. So a quick trip to Fabricville for some grey satin lining, hopefully they will have Kasha, and thread and buttons. I have plenty of interfacing here, and will probably use weft insertion fusible for this project. I hope this will go quickly and I will have some pictures to show in a week or so. Enjoy your sewing adventures, and knitting ones too!

By the way, the wool coating arrived within two weeks and it is great, it has a brushed surface and has a slight bluish tint to it. Vogue Fabrics did indicate that on their webpage. I was very impressed with the shipping time. Usually parcels from the US take three weeks to reach Nova Scotia.