Cactus-Themed Items for Your Home

grand pointe cactus, monique monique tricot

From what we’ve seen on instagram and pinterest, cactus- and unicorn-themed things are all the rage these days. I haven’t been into unicorns since I was about 8 years old, but cacti are a whole different thing. Tomiko and I first saw cacti when we visited Arizona around 1993, and we were awed by the […]

DIY: McCall’s M7188 Princess Seam Dress with Piping

DIY McCall's M7188 Princess Seam Dress with Piping

McCall’s M7188 is a dress with princess seaming and a lined bodice. I sewed this out of a navy rayon twill fabric with a turquoise, white, and red floral print. This was the first time I used piping, so that was a learning curve for me. Some of the piping is not 100% straight but […]

DIY: Crochet Knit Stitch Beanie with Ribbing and Free Pattern

Crochet Knit Stitch Beanie

This crochet knit stitch beanie is made with a fingering weight wool and made to look like knitting. I bought two beautiful colours of Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 170 from the nearby  Ewe Knit shop and decided to make a finely crocheted hat. Since the hat is made of single crochet knit stitches, the hat fabric […]

DIY: Crochet Wavelength Beanie

Crochet Wavelength Beanie

I made this crochet wavelength beanie designed by Sharon Zientara. The pattern for this wavelength beanie is from the Quick Crocheted Accessories (3 Skeins or Less) book by Sharon Zientara. The beanie is a relatively simple pattern of single crochet and front post double crochet stitches that looks quite chic.

DIY: Chunky Cabled Crochet Beanie with Free Pattern

Chunky Cabled Crochet Beanie

Although it’s now spring, I’m still energetically crocheting hats – this chunky cabled crochet beanie is from Yarnspirations. Tomiko and I are trying out some new patterns (and writing our own) in beautiful yarns from our local yarn stores to eventually sell in our Kiku Corner Etsy shop! This was the first time I crocheted […]