Wohoo !!! Finally finally after nearly a year it's there : the new (& hopefully better) chez Plum !!

The blog is also moving over there, please update your bookmarks. It's now :

So I made a second car, the pink and turquoise one. Encouraged by Ajour's comment, I tried my hand at embroidering around the windows but after about half an hour and trying several different stitches, I just left it plain. I sticked to my original plan and just added Xs on the wheels. (first car's wheels are too "fat", I might take them off to fix them.. maybe)

I went to the fabric / craft store on saturday (leaving the girls with laurent, makes it so much easier!) and just COULDN'T resist buying this book. The bag on the cover is so pretty, and some other projects are real cute too. But mostly, I like the general concept, the coordinated colors, plus now I have a little guide of easy embroidery techniques !

I also got a piece of double-sided fleece there, which I want to make a zip-up hoodie for prune with. (I'm trying to find a -super simple- hoodie pattern btw, suggestions..? I'll probably go and have a look at the library..). But I thought it would be perfect for some wee maryjane booties. I used one lonely bootie I found at the op shop for a template and a little later, here they are.Quite like them... I'll probably make a couple more for my Etsy shop. :-D

Now the question is what should I send to those 2 babies tho. I may stick with my idea (crocheted caps for the older brother/sister), but should I add a pair of fleece shoes as well..? Time will tell.

I've also cast on for the new Glampyre/Stitch Diva sweater the other night while watching a pay-per-view. I'm using a big cone of nice thin white mohair, it's very fluffy but I hope it'll turn out nice. I'll show a pic when I'm a bit further along...

We had a great week-end over at my parents with a lot of my family on my dad's side. There was 23 of us, ranging from 1 month to 95...! Not all of us, we're a large family, but already quite a bit.
It was really cool to spend time with them. Plus my mum babysat the girls to let me do a short walk with everybody else, which I sooo appreciated. Usually I stay at home while the others have fun.. ;-P
Here's one pic I like. Usually I'm the one taking photos, so I love when I'm on the pics too.. ;-)

Now the only downfall of that week-end is the little "souvenir" we brought back : a tick on prune's hip. Oops. And I hate those little guys! So we went to the doctor yesterday and had it removed... Only to discover that I also got THREE of them right afterwards during the mini-walk in the woods we made with my friend Pascale and her family. (she's such an awesome friend, and I love her aussie husband !)

...Morality of the story: I hate ticks. And I'm not going walking in the woods any time soon !!!

Craftwise, I've been (slowly) working on those baby gifts: crocheted cars. I'm still in the prototype stage, but here's the one for baby Nikita, nearly finished. Still needs a windshield. & I may change the wheels a bit on the next ones. Like the kitty rattle, it's got a wee sleigh bell inside. Prune has already placed an order for one... ;-)


Edit : Have you checked out Knottie's Pattern database yet ? Still in the early stages, but that should be such a great ressource ! Read about the project here, look for patterns here, add a new pattern here, and finally give some feedback here.

"La canicule" is a super hot summer. Like the one they had in 2003 (we weren't in France then) or this one we're having now ! Everyday I fight against the heat to keep it away as long as possible. Closed blinds all day and going out only in the morning... I so need a fan !

But well, we're surviving. Not much kitting though. We were away all week-end again (our parents live in cooler places, thank god) and now with the 2 girls I just didn't take the extra time to choose and pack my knitting/crocheting..!
Got to meet this cool lady there who's selling all sorts of things (jewelerry, antique dresses and sheets, beaded bags etc..) on Ebay since 2003, and now has a little side-shop too. Might not be so extraordinary for you guys, but for me it was the first time I met sbdy with whom I could "speak the same language", if you see what I mean.. so cool !

Oh. And after finally succesfully destashing a bit (40 skeins !!), ... what do you think I did..? Well, re-stashed of course !! ;-)



I received my order from Pureknits last week, Ta da ! (people who know me will know it's quite extraordinary for me to buy brand new yarn from a real shop!!) So I got me bamboo needles (the circs are real hard to find here, and certainly more expensive !!), 5 skeins of Hip Knits silk in "barbie", 2 skeins of Malabrigo in "calypso" (still not sure what I'll do with it but that colourway is soooo pretty !!), ... and of course the pattern for the famous Noni Camelia's !!
As usual, it was all so pretty packed, and she even included little samples of Fable Handknit Yarn, so soft !!

I've added several pictures in the Gallery lately, go check them out ! Also, I had to remove all the direct "mailto" links featuring my email adress, I'm just getting SO MUCH SPAM !! Instead, my uncle said to dispay it in a jpeg picture (see it in my sidebar), so that the robots and search engines can't read it... Hope it'll help !

okay, now I'll try and start on my next project, .. another belated baby pressie, for little Gaspard !

Thanks to "ChloeZ" in the Tote Knitalong for noticing a big bad typo in the Isabeau handbag and tote pattern :

In the "body of the bag" section, right after the seed stitch section it should read
"Next, work 33(53)rows in lace pattern" ( instead of 37/57).
I'll be sending the corrected pdf tonight to all people who bought the pattern. I've just sent the corrected pattern to all the people who bought the pattern. Got a few failed delivery though, so if you haven't received yours, please contact me at sylvie@chezplum.com
So sorry !



The lime cardi is finally finished... BUT it's so too big for me !! I really should have gone with smaller sizing. Even though it's kind of ok in the boobs area (breastfeeding!) all the rest is too big. Laurent says it looks like a potato sack... ;-) (but he also says it's too bad cause it would have been nice otherwise.. ;-) He's not that bad..)
Hopefully I'll be able to make better pics later. It's so dang hot here these days we keep the blinds closed all day, which is not the best to take pictures... I may try to model it tonight as well, just so you can see it IS too big.



So now I'm not too sure what to do. Will I have the courage to knit a second smaller one ..? And what to do with this one ?... We'll see. I do like it altogether tho. Proud of the ties in the back too. Turned out exactly the way I wanted it too ... which is not always the case ! ;-)

Oh. And more real pretty Lacanau sandals there !

The skirt was REALLY too short. The top was slightly too wide and kept on rolling. Prune wouldn't keep it on. All this for nothing..?
So I took my hooks, leftovers of Cotonina in an close-enough light blue... added a sc few rows around the waist with eyelets for an i-cord belt (but turns out she doesn't even need it) and one row of sc around the bottom of the skirt. Now it's the perfect size, stays around her waist and flares exactly how it should. (You can kinda see the mods on the first pic. )
Yipee for crochet !
It's really cute now... and she even seems to like it !


I just received this cute package in the mail from Marsha : 2 sk and a bit of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino swapped for some of my stitchmarkers...
I love swaps !! :-D Thanks again Marsha !!



Also ... some Lacanau sandals across the web already !!! :-D And Sunflowerfairy finished her shrug !

So I just finished Prune's skirt... finally. Tried to make the best of the yarn I had (really liked that color) but it doesn't make a very long skirt...! I guess I may make another longer one with some Cotonina, and with eyelets (and i-cord or something..) around the waist so it stays where it should ..! Doesn't show well on that pic but it's got eyelet and lace rows. Sort of the same kind of look as Kat Koyle's eyelet skirt on Knitty.



It also took me ages but I sewed the buttons on my lime cardi yesterday. Despite the 26° C in the appartment (!) I've already been wearing it much, and it's such a perfect cardi for the summer !!! The 3/4 sleeves, wide neck and airy lace pattern make it just perfect.
I still need to block it though. And I may have to do some minor mods / finishing on it.. We'll see.


I also finally finished the pattern for Nia's babyset. Yep, a crochet pattern chez Plum !



There are also a couple new pics in the Gallery. And look at the beautiful color Sunflowerfairy chose for her Isabeau shrug !

My pattern in the summer Knitty is finally out !!


I hope if anybody ever tries making a pair they'll send me pics ! ...& I'm actually glad it's out: didn't know what I'd blog about this week .. ;-)

We've had a bit of a heat wave here so I came over to my parent's place for a few days with the girls. And although I did knit and crochet a bit, there's not much I could show: the little skirt for Prune I had to rip entirely because I ended up not having enough yarn for the shape I was going for. And my other project is a nursery wall-organiser. Only a plain rectangle in progress so far, not so exciting...!

I also want to start on a little crochet toy thingie for my cousin's new baby (yes, it IS baby time big time these days !). Should be fun, and I have this plan of a collection of 2 or 3 of them for a new pattern... Stay tuned !

... where should I start ? Oh yeah, first, the promised pic of the beautiful placket neck pullover (from LMKG) that Yahaira knitted for Maud.

Can you guess I am obviously IN LOVE with the color she chose...? ;-) She also sent along more yarn (hat, capelet..? we'll see this winter) and Swarowski crystals that I believe will soon become divine stitchmarkers... :-P

We came back on saturday night from a full week away. My cousin's wedding and then visiting pretty much the whole family. Plus saw some friends too, coool.
And the girls..? They're doing great, really. Prune was such a nice baby we expected the worse (like "you can't win all the time"..) but no, Maud hardly ever cries at all, & sleeps and eats well. And Prune doesn't seem too jealous at all so far. (Look at her hugging her "lil sister" at the clinic). Mind you, there is this wonderful thing in France called "conge paternite" ( fatherhood vacation) where the dads can take 2 (paid) weeks off for a new baby. So Prune had a lot of daddy-time and it certainly made the transition easier.

And here's Maud having a nap on her daddy's tummy.(& the uncropped original .. ;-) )


In knitting news.. not too much obviously, but I did weave in all the ends of my lime cardi. Need to attach the buttons now, hadn't brought them along. I'm also working on a very basic flared cotton skirt for Prune. Might have to rip a few rows but it's on circs, so very portable and easy to bring along anywhere. The perfect kind of project these days... ;-)

Laurent also nearly finished the "new" chez Plum yesterday. Hopefully we'll be able to put it online in the coming week ! (the blog should move over there too)

And last but not least, thanks for all your messages and comments! We're indeed very happy and it's nice to be able to share thatwith you guys..!
(and yet another baby to come chez Karen !!! Yeah !!)

Hey, we're back home !!


Maud was born at 4 pm on thursday, labor did take a bit longer than expected because she "floated" so much (twice the average quantity of liquid), but once they broke the waters she was out in 3 contractions. 53 cm, 3.8 kg. She seems real calm so far, only thing is she sleeps a lot during the day, .. but has trouble finding sleep at night.. But hey, she's only a few days old !
I'm fine too, although I fainted on the first evening ( didn't eat for the whole day and you should have seen the meal they gave me, like I was on a weight watchers diet !!). All good now, just need to be able to find sleep again. Not that that I don't have the time, my body just won't go in "sleeping mode"... hormones ? Was the same for Prune anyway.

Anyhow, enough baby talk. Tomorrow we're starting the grand tour to visit the family, so you probably won't hear much from me for a bit ... But let me just tell you I got the most amazing package from Yahaira today, I'll post pics later but you can already see a pic of the beautiful sweater she knit for Maud on her blog.

Oh, and can you believe I even knit a few rows while at the clinic..? Actually I even would have knitted more if I had packed it from the beginning but I felt silly taking my knitting with me. But it was nice and relaxing to have something to keep the fingers busy during quiet times...

Okay, talk to you all later :-D

Remember how I said I had an appointment with my doctor on tuesday ? Well well ladies, turns out I'll be induced .... tomorrow !!!!! We have to be at the clinic at 7.45 am... Ta da !!
...unless she comes all by herself by then of course (I've had contractions all night and morning yet again)

I've managed to finish the lime cardi finally, after spending a whole evening counting stitches on each section about a million times !! This is REALLY not my favorite part of the whole process I tell you ! Now to weave in all these ends, give it a goooood block, and attach & choose the right buttons. I tried several options yesterday, I think my preference goes to the plum assortment (!) so far, but I'd love to hear what you think. (click for larger pics)

Okay, see you guys in a few days, wish us luck !! (I just hope everything is fine for the baby..)

if it always worked at first try. Progress is slow, but I'm getting there. The collar looks nice enough and it did motivate me to finish it, BUT I have to rip it all (already frogged the buttonhole front band this morning and nearly ended up with a major catastrophy but that's another story) and redo it. I tried to avoid the "300 stitches" thing, but it's not working nice enough otherwise so 300 stitches it shall be .. At least the numbers are written already, and (most) stitches picked up.

I'm also not too sure about the width of the sleeves. But I'll see that after it's blocked, and also check whether it's because I went up one size to accomodate my "pregancy-then-breastfeeding" bust...

On that pic, you might also notice my new love, a fantabulous necklace I found at the thriftshop on saturday (I'm always the best to find excuses to go to thrifstores..). It's heavy, it's heavy-duty looking, it's made with ceramics, metal and leather, I just LOVE it. I even took off my NZ jade pendant to wear it, and I believe it's the first time in like... 3 or 4 years..?!!!

... and what about that baby you may ask..? Well, either laurent is right and because I have a lot of amniotic fluid (?) all these contractions I keep on having aren't efficient, or she's just not ready yet. Anyhow, I'm seing the obst. tomorrow. And I can't wait to see what he says, I tell you...

I mean, did you see that ?!!! Yeah, the swatch !!! It may not look like much at first but WOW !

This is the proof that Gedifra "Wellness" is THE perfect substitute for my "Cotonina" yarn, the one I used for all 3 Isabeau patterns (shrug, purse & totes). Lime is cotonina, and olive is wellness. Same gauge, feeling, fiber contents and yardage, it's got it all. Even looks like the same color range. Like it's the same yarn with a different name really !!!

Thanks again so much Emmie for finding it !!! :-D

Seems it was more of a false alert in the end. She's still super low but hanging in there despite it all. Hope she won't wait until due date though, as the 3 next week-ends were booked with family, friends and weddings...

This week-end we drove again to my parents and celebrated the girls birthdays. Each one chose one of the Lucille dolls (yeah, still haven't embroidered faces, was afraid to do a mess..), and they got a phone too: look at them executive women !!!


The pattern for the crochet babyset is now ready but for the proofreading. Next up: finish the lime cardi. I've only got to finish seaming the shoulders & sleeves, then pick up the stitches for the collar and knit those - what, 4 rows ...? Better get it done now.

So we've tried it all this week-end, the foot massage, grocery shopping with prune under the rain (!), the mini-hike, vaccuming and cooking for our friend's visit, and then to top it off a 2.5 hr drive (on a bumpy country road!) to my parents.. I sure did have a lot of contractions, but still no baby !!
So now I'll just let her decide, & she'll come whenever SHE feels ready for it.
One thing's funny though, my back really doesn't hurt half as much any more now she's so much lower. Cool.

I was trying to wait till I had a pic of the 2 finished Lucilles before I posted, but even though I'm THAT close now and it's just a matter of like half an hour, I guess I'll post it after. Just to let you guys know I'm still there..!

Instead, you'll get another kiddie pic :

The drive to my parents was to see my niece (and SIL) from Reunion island. First time ever the two cousins met !! Beginnings were a bit hard... but after a while, man, they were chatting and playing and laughing, it was so cool !!! We had gorgeous weather too so it really was a great day !

In other news... The fab Y. helped me do a little spring cleanup in my sidebar. (if it isn't working for you, please let me know). Oh, and I keep forgetting but my friend Emmie did it again, she started a Kal for the Isabeau tote ! (still free patterns up for grab for first pics of your tote/choker/shrug !). I also did a little reorganising chez Plum... Would you believe prune says "sayplum" now when she sees me working on the comp..?!

And we just learned yesterday that our great great friends are due in july (second girl as well, Christine, should we start a club ? ;-) )... by reading an interview of them on the internet, them sneaky monkeys !!!! But it's such great news they're forgiven ...
So.. it's just going to be another very-baby summer around here, just like when prune was born. Makes 5 of us due in june/july !!

Wow, that's going to be one lenghty post, better stop now ! ;-P
And back to the Lucille dolls...