Canela Vest

December 28, 2025 Bianca Silva

Hello, hello!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

I’ve had a great slow week, a lovely time with my family and a full tummy.

My partner made us some delicious food, all from scratch! From sushi to pork belly, churros and even marshmallows, some dishes I can’t even name, they were all really good!

We woke the kids up at midnight on the morning of Christmas day so they could open their presents. My partner used to do it when he was a child so we wanted to see how it worked for us.

And I can confirm that it was the worst idea ever! 😂

It took us so long to get back to sleep, especially after all the excitement. This was the first and the last year we did it!

Seeing their excitement was priceless though!

The pink cat sleep masks were very well received and the small ones went straight on to the dolls and into bed with them. I’ve been hesitant though to allow them to sleep with their masks because I’m afraid it moves down and covers their nose and mouth.

I’m only allowing them to play with them while they are awake.

On another note, I managed to finish all our felt initials with the last one finished the evening of Christmas Eve. Better late than never. At least they were finished for Christmas day!

Oh and the Lilo and Angel inspired scarf I made for our friend's daughter, I ended up adding tassels to each end in the opposite colour. It gave it a nice finishing touch. Hopefully I get a picture of her wearing it soon.

I’ve then been given a couple of sewing projects to work on which I will deal with next week when I’m back from London. One is to hem and replace a zipper on a pair of jeans. Then the other, my daughter’s teacher gave me 22, roughly A4 sized, felt panels that the class made to sew all together to create a large wall hanging.

I’ve mapped out the placement of the felt squares already so that no 2 of the same colour are too close. I will show you next week when I get round to sewing them.

Stitches of the Week

Canela Vest - Rita Made This

I finished it! Yay!

I’ve loved working on this project! It was a super easy make, quick and the yarn was just gorgeous.

I had just enough yarn to finish the ribbing for the last arm. All I had left was yarn for another 2 rounds. I’m so glad I cut a couple of rows from the neckband and a row on each of the armbands, otherwise I wouldn’t have had enough.

All the ends have been woven in but it’s not blocked yet. I will sort that out in the new year.

I seriously love this yarn, it’s soft and the garments I’ve made from this range are lovely to the touch. I’ve tried the Yarnsmiths Merino DK before and now the Merino Aran, and I would definitely use it again!

Did you know that the designer of this pattern is portuguese and the name canela in english translates to cinnamon. 🙂

Yarn: Yarnsmiths Merino Aran Superwash (100% wool) gifted by Wool Warehouse

Size: Smallest size

Needle Size: 4.5mm and 5mm

The Win: I had enough yarn and it’s finished! I love it! 😍

Leap Year Socks - Summer Lee

Since I finished the Canela Vest, I started a new project!

I’m making socks again!

I have so many sweaters now that I didn’t want to make another just yet. I do want to make a couple of cardigans though, but since I got this yarn from Wool Warehouse recently, the socks are coming first.

It's the second time I’m using a Summer Lee pattern and I thought my last pair were a little too loose, so this time I’m going a size down.

Again this time round I’m knitting both at the same time because I just won’t make the second pair if not.

The pattern suggests using 3 colours so I’m using some yarn from my stash. I checked the colour wheel before deciding which of the colours in my stash I wanted to use.

I settled on a pink cuff with stripes in a colour changing yarn. The first stripe on the cuff worked out all orange, but the second stripe is different. Each second stripe on the socks is different from each other too. I just went with it instead of trying to find the place where the colours matched on each skein.

The rest of the sock is going to be in a green colour and the plan is to make the toes pink.

Yarn: Yarnsmiths Merino Sock in Pistachio gifted by Wool Warehouse and Drops Fabel

Size: M

Needle Size: 2mm and 2.5mm

The Win: A new colourful project is in the works!

BeeSilva - Christmas Ornaments Initials

All initials for my mom, sister and nephew are finished!

I finished the two ‘L’s with a silver threaded blanket stitch. The ‘H’ I finished with gold thread and I love how they all look! I like the busy ‘H’ so much more now with the gold.

I’ve loved learning how to work with felt and doing hand embroidery, but there is so much more to learn still.

Materials: Felt, embroidery thread and beads for the letters.

The Win: All finished in time for my trip to London!

Skill Builder of the Week

Sew in One Direction

When you’re sewing long seams like skirt sides or pant legs, try to sew in the same direction the whole time instead of starting at the top for one and the bottom for the other.

This keeps the fabric from shifting and/or rippling, and it helps seams line up better, especially on fabrics that stretch a little or long panels that need to hang straight.

I always start sewing at the top and work my way to the hem because if anything needs straightening, I can just trim the ends.