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trip to lake louise/banff day two

  • Posted on April 12, 2011 at 5:59 pm

after the heavy snowfall the day before, i woke to sunshine sparkling off a snow covered landscape. the day was calm and windless, a perfect day for a stroll and photo-shoot around the lake. the deep untouched snow did make for some hard walking, but it was so beautiful that i didn’t mind

walking around the lake

today i dressed in my new lace skirts (see tutorials for more info on them) and a lovely thick, soft jacket made of shocking pink, malabrigio sock yarn and trimmed with cotton lace. once again i wrapped my bamboo scarf around my neck to keep out the chill.

the sun was already melting the snow, so i debated climbing up a nice little path i found.

starting to climb

but in the end i decided it was just too steep and slippery…

maybe too far?

so i sat down to enjoy the view for a while instead.

i think i'll rest instead

it really was a gorgeous view!

here you can see just how far i had walked.  i started out at the chateau….

see how far we came?

and walked all the way around the lake to the other end!

the snow was so clean and untouched…

the snow is so untouched

i just had to make a snow angel

i have to make a snow angel
then it was time to head back for just in time for dinner.

on the way back i stopped to watch some brave people scaling a huge ice fountain on the cliffside.

ice climbers

but was just as happy to stay on the ground this time.

trip to lake louise/banff day one

  • Posted on April 9, 2011 at 2:46 pm

after a long drive through a spring snowstorm, we finally arrived at chateau lake louise for the first day of our  holiday. what a relief to get there! the drive took twice as long as normal because of the heavy snowfall. we took our bags to our room then quickly dressed for a walk outside before dusk.  the snow had stopped falling and the whole lake gleamed with a fresh coat of powdery white.

purple sweater statue

walking down to the lake i found a lovely bronze statue of a guide, who must have been a bjd, because he was just my size!

purple sweater statue base

since part of the reason for our trip was to photograph all of the new sweaters i had designed, we took a closeup of my lovely purple wool cabled sweater as i relaxed on the statue’s base. my cosy reversible cream bamboo scarf was just the thing to keep my neck warm in the afternoon’s chill.

purple sweater climbing

up the hill i saw an ice cave and climbed up for a closer look. i really need to knit some mitten’s next, that snow is cold on my bare hands!

purple sweater ice cave

the little cave had some beautiful ice formations but after the hard climb i needed to sit and rest a bit.

purple sweater ice cave closeup

maybe just a little longer? would you like another peek at my sweater while you wait for me?

purple sewater falling

on the way down i lost my footing and slid to the bottom. that was certainly a faster way down the hill, but i think i’ll go inside now and warm up….

 

crocheted lace skirt tutorial

  • Posted on April 9, 2011 at 12:37 am

(this tutorial is picture heavy and might take a while to load)

i just finished making 2 of these lace skirts with crocheted waistbands, and thought it would be fun to share how i did it.  it was so quick and easy that you can have a cute skirt for your bjd in just a couple of hours or less (depending on how fast you crochet)

first off you need to gather your supplies. i used about 1 meter/yard of 12.5cm/5″ wide lace, a small amount of bamboo lace yarn, a piece of elastic 3mm/1/8″ wide and long enough to fit over your girls hips with some overlap and a 1.00mm crochet hook (us size 11/12). that was enough to make a nicely gathered skirt for an msd sized bjd.  for a sd sized doll i would use 1.3-1.5 meters of lace  any width you deem appropriate.

ok, off we go….

starting at one end of the lace with the right side towards you, crochet single crochet along the top edge.  i went down about 3mm or so to catch enough of the lace to keep the stitches from ripping out. i also crochet over the yarn end so i don’t have to sew it in later.

crocheting the first row

this particular lace had a narrow woven in thread to reinforce the top, but my other skirt just had a cut edge.

try to keep your stitches at least roughly, evenly spaced apart, so that the later gathering is even, but you don’t have to be too exact.  i didn’t count the holes by any means, just kind of eyeballed that it was about the same. the other thing to watch out for is that your stitches aren’t too close together or the waistband will be too bulky. i gathered it in ever so slightly with my stitches.

continue on till you get all the way across.

finishing row 1

this is your longest row.  it gets shorter from here.

when you get to the end, bring the lace around to form a loop, being careful not to twist it.  stitch a join to the beginning of the row. if you like you could sew the lace edges together by hand or on your sewing machine before you finish that first row.

starting row 2

now we start to decrease. crochet 2 stitches together all the way around.

decreasing stitches

repeat until the skirt opening is just a little bigger than your girls hip. for this skirt i did two rows of decreasing every stitch and one row of crochet two together then 1 stitch plain, all the way around.  it will all depend on how many stitches you made on the first row, and how long you cut your lace, what your decrease pattern will be.

rows 2 and 3

now it’s time to add the elastic.  you can do this one of two ways.  the first skirt i made, i stitched one double crochet chain one, in each single crochet of the row below.  then i threaded the elastic over and under each double crochet all the way around.

the second skirt i thought, there has to be a faster way, so i tried the following;

chain 4  in the first stitch of the last row of single crochet (counts as 1 dc chain 1). place your elastic under that stitch. going under your elastic, dc chain 1 in next sc.  continue stitching around, alternating 1 stitch on top of elastic, next stitch under, till you get to the end.  your last stitch should go under the elastic, then flip the end of the elastic back  under the first stitch so it stops and starts in the same hole.  join your thread in the third chain of that first stitch and fasten off.

adding elastic

pull your elastic in until it just goes around your girls hip if you stretch it a bit.  overlap the two ends, cutting off any excess, and stitch together.

sewing elastic

sew the yarn end(s) in and, if you want to, hand stitch the lace edges together.  i made my skirts in a hurry while sitting in a hotel room so quite frankly i didn’t bother.  i just put the cut edges at the center back when i wore them for pictures and with all the gathers it didn’t show at all.

finished waistband

this is what your finished waistband should look like.

crochet lace skirt finished

and your finished skirt.  now wasn’t that easy?