Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah! 

(Picture is from the first night of Hanukkah, I'm just a little behind in uploading it ;) )

I have to admit, I think the best Hanukkah present is being DONE with the semester! My final exam essays are graded and final grades are in. Hooray! Thank goodness for Starbucks is all I have to say about that. I've been spending my time catching up on my life. I've been reorganizing craft supplies, making various appointments, grocery shopping, doing laundry, etc. Today I got my hair cut (and am thankful for a stylist I like and can trust!) and tomorrow I'm taking my car to the shop. Cross your fingers for me. 

In addition to organizing, I've been pretty crafty this week. We did an arts and crafts project in my church covenant group, which was lots of fun and a type of craft I'd never do on my own! I'm currently working on some Christmas presents (so no pictures of those yet!) and I finally got around to making the cardigan that's been on my "must sew!" list for a few months now.  And I'm very pleased with the results.  I got both the pattern and the fabric from Girl Charlee.  (In the interest of full disclosure, if you sign up through my link and make a purchase, I get $5 store credit. Feel free to feed my fabric addiction). The pattern is called the Julia Cardigan and it's also available on both Craftsy and Etsy, if those are more your style. It comes in sizes XS through 3XL.

I've made several things from online patterns, but this is the first one I've actually purchased and it was a little more complicated than the free ones I've been making lately.  It was also my first time making something with long sleeves and I was very nervous about how those would turn out. I had visions of one being way too tight and the other being huge because I messed something up ;)

I can't say that I did everything perfectly, but this was a great pattern and I think my cardigan turned out very nicely. I've already worn it once!  As it's a paid pattern, I won't reveal too much about the construction, but I like that it started with the cuffs. So you can feel accomplished real quickly! I used a very lightweight burnout fabric for the cardigan, which produced a beautiful finished product, but was not the easiest to work with. I really liked the pattern and will probably make it again, but likely using a heavier fabric. 

The finished product: 

Two thumbs up from me for this pattern and tutorial! It made things I thought would be really difficult quite manageable (especially those sleeves!)

 And I'll leave you tonight with this cute picture of Conway and his buddy Luke, a fellow Border Collie mix.  They spent all day Tuesday playing outside and were quite exhausted and muddy by the end of it! :)