After my wonderful trip to the mountains a few weeks ago, I came down with the worst cold I can remember. And I coughed so much my ribs were hurting! I’m finally feeling a bit better and getting at some new projects.

But first, let me share a cute moment from our trip. One of the highlights my husband and I enjoy about going to the mountains is seeing the wildlife there. This trip we saw a few deer, coyotes, and bunnies. Yes, bunnies. At some point in the not too distant past, someone thought it would be a good idea to let domestic bunnies loose in Canmore. Well, it’s not uncommon to see the little furry guys hopping all over the town. But back to my dear husband. He kept saying he wanted to see bears. I reminded him, bears hibernate, but he still kept saying he wanted to see them. On our last day in the mountains, we were driving around and at the top of a road near the Banff Springs we came across this adorable family of bears!

This made my honey’s trip! He got his bears.

As for me, other than coughing this past week, I did get my scarf done. I love it. I really mentally debated how to finish the outside part. And I actually knit up the better part of a ball of wool in a seed stitch. But I kept thinking with the straight border on either side, the overlapping edges of the middle part would give it a clear front and back side. And I didn’t want that. So, I abandoned the seed stitch and sat (and coughed) and tried to think of something else to give me that black border that looked so nice. I decided just to do some crochet all around the edges and I really like the result.

I love the contrast between the variegated red and the black. The black wool is 100% Merino.

Hmm. Although I’m using my camera again, and editing my photos. I still don’t love the quality. However, this does show that variegation better. It goes from pale reds to really deep burgundies. Just lovely colors.

And I’ve also been mulling over what changes I’d have to make to my Fantasie Vivienne clone. I knew a few changes I wanted to make. A narrower bridge, and lower too. And seeing as my wires are shorter than the professional wires, I’d need to adjust the side’s height as well. I was also trying to figure out how to adjust the cradle and use my correct wire size which is one size smaller than what was in the original.

So I started that too. No cutting out yet. Just figuring out all the changes. So let’s look at that first one. Narrowing the bridge won’t affect anything else very much. But lowering it will. I had to adjust the upper cup accordingly. Same with lower the side. I adjusted the side panel and then the band. And lastly, the cradle. I was having a little trouble figuring out how to adjust for one size of wires. Would I have to re-draw the whole cradle using the wires as a starting point? I decided to take a 1/4″ out and eyeballing it, it looked good. There’s still some splay room for the wires, so all should work out okay.

Here are my re-drawn pattern pieces with the adjustments made, my bra kit from Bra Makers Supply in a pretty black with pink detail in the lace, and the picture of the original bra as a reference. I’m thinking with the changes to the bridge I’m making, it may end up looking more like their plunge bra.

Here they are for comparison. I’ll have to see if this is more along the lines of what mine ends up looking like.

Happy creating!