Sweaters and Sequence

I took an old loved sweater and gave it new life by adding a sequence detail to the neck line.  It was a great way to fix a few problems and update a most beloved sweater.

I love this sweater.  It was my first cashmere sweater ever, but it has seen better days.  This poor sweater has been through the washer and dryer (Simon didn't realize you can't machine wash and dry cashmere) but although is was treated roughly it came out in pretty good shape.  It didn't felt and it still fit although the little bit of room in the sweater was gone.  I attribute the sweater making it through its traumatic washing and dying to the fact that we wash everything on cold and gentle and dry everything on low.  The sweater had also gotten snagged on something the last time I wore it and there is a small hole near the neckline on the right side.

This has been sitting in my pile of projects to do.  I had some down time this week and figured that I should get going and finish this before the weather got too warm for a cashmere sweater.  

Here's the hole I was talking about.  My idea for this sweater came about as a way to fix and hide the hole.  My favorite fabric store was having a sale on sequence back in the fall and I bought some metallic and teal sequence with this project in mind. 

Teal and bronze are the colors I picked and as you can tell from the top photo I used mostly teal sequence.  I like the look of the teal sequence glinting on the teal sweater.  

First things first.  I decided to go ahead and mend the hole before I started to attach the sequence.  I figured it was best to hide the weird blip the mending left in the sweater with a sequence than to just cover the hole with one.  

The mending isn't anything fancy.  Just a few quick stitches to pull the hole closed.  I did weave the thread through a few stitches like you would if you were grafting in knitting or weaving your ends in at the end of a project.  

I started by covering the blip and then continued up the side of the neckline to the shoulder seam.  I attached my sequence closer and closer to each other as I got to the top of the shoulder to make it look as though the sequence were trickling down the sweater.  It took two passes of attaching sequence to get the desired affect.  

A quick note.  Attaching individual sequence is time consuming, but there is something meditative about it and the end result is worth the time.  

Knitting Update

I've been knitting and knitting.  Although that's not unusual, my schedule has been a bit wacky with the new jobs so there is some getting use to the time frames and such.  This scarf has been completed for about a week and put me right on target for the Christmas gift knitting.  I love the dyed job on this yarn and am tempted to keep it.  I mean I won't, but I'm tempted. 

I finished this lovely Wingspan in record time and with the completion of this item I am ahead of my gift knitting time line.  This was knit with some of my hand spun and it turned out even better than I had expected.  The Wingspan is a great pattern for hand spun yarn, and gift knitting.

This is my current gift knitting project.  I've used this yarn before and was looking for an excuse to use it again.  This is a little shawl scarf I found on Revelry.com.  It's super simple to knit and the primrose edging makes the knitting interesting and adds a feminine touch.  The pattern is called Prim's Scarf and is Hunger Game themed, although other than the edging and the name of the pattern I feel it's a stretch.  The pattern however is great and I might make a second one of these. 

I am still knitting away on my hoodie.  Look I'm almost done with one sleeve.  The plan is to have this completed right before the fall so that when the weather turns chilly I have a cozy hooded sweater to wear around the city. 

Sewing My Me Made Wardrobe: Week 4

Remember this boring too big sweater? 

Now it's not boring or too big!  

I must confess that out of all of my MMM '12 sewing projects this was the biggest pain in the rear to sew.  All I had to do was turn the damn thing into a 3/4 length sleeved, v-neck cardi.  That can't be hard right? Well, I was wrong.  

It wasn't so much hard as infuriating.  First off some of this is on me (probably all of it).   The biggest thing being the fact that this sweater is striped and I insisted that the stripes match up at the button band and that when I shorten the sleeves everything lined up.  Lesson learned; knitting stripes is relative easy, sewing things with stripes is not. 

My second gripe was the button holes.  Again this is my own damn fault.  Lets use the smallest shank buttons ever and place one every inch.  While we're at it lets do this all on a knit that gets caught in the feed dogs of your machine.  Lesson learned; when sewing button holes in a knit that is fuzzy, face the back of the button band in something smooth that won't catch.  

Finally, damn was this sweater stretchy!  I figured it would be, you know being knit from wool and all.  But this sweater was stretched out to begin with and then add the pull of the machine and well it resulted in a lot of seam ripping.  This was especially true when it came to taking in the sleeves.  Lesson learned; zig zag is a life saver. 

All in all I am pleased  with how the sweater came out in the end, but you won't see me altering many more sweaters.  I'll stick to knitting them.  

Once that project was done I had one more thing on my sewing list, a dress sewn with some lovely batik fabric that I found at a hidden away fabric store in center city.  Here's the fabric:

And here's a close up of one of the motifs:

Teal and brown are one of my favorite color combinations.  I originally was going to make another Anda, but after spending time with this fabric I realized that it wanted to be made into a dress that had more structure.  Instead of the Anda I made this:

It was so much fun to play with the pattern placement on the print to come up with an interesting use of the motifs.  The dress is a simple gathered skirt attached to the bodice of the Danielle from Burda Style.  The Danielle has a great neckline that shows of your collar bones and a little bit of the girls with out being over the top.  I think I want to make 6 more versions of this dress so I have one for every day of the week.  

And with this I have completed my sewing for Me Made May '12.  Wow, I'm finished and still have a few days left.  Maybe I could squeeze in one more project.

Knitting Updates

It's rainy and gloom outside today and it totally zaps all of my ambition.  I did however get up and go to the Y, so that's a start.

Since today is starting to slip away from me I think it's going to be spent catching up on my knitting.  I just finished the best mittens ever.  The are knit out off super fine alpaca and lined with mohair and silk.  They are super warm and will keep my hands toasty warm when the weather finally drops to a seasonably temperature.

This is a super easy mitten pattern, and they're fast.  You can find it on Ravelry.com as a free PDF download it's called Delicious Mohair Lined Mittens.  I lined mine in a fun contrasting color.  It's like a secret surprise.

I also need to get knitting on some test knitting I'm doing for NoTwoSnowflakes.  I'd love to blog more about it, but I'm sworn to secrecy.  It's a really awesome project though and as soon as I can say more I will.

On top of test knitting I need to finishes this cardigan:

It's the never ending project, but I guess that's what I get for deciding to design and knit a garment in lace weight yarn.  At least it's with size 6 needles.  Don't worry I'm not that crazy, I would never knit this with size 2 needles.

I've started some swatching for spring patterns.  Lots of garments are being designed and, fingers crossed, knit up for the spring on Blue Betty.  I'm going to have to knit like the wind, but here's hoping for some pattern releases starting sometime in late February.

What  projects are on your needles?

New Look & October Giveaway!

I am trying out Bloggers new templet designer.  I'm still up in the air about it, the real reason I switched is because I wanted to change up my layout, but Blogger wouldn't let me do that with my old design so I had to "upgrade".  Expect a few tweeks here and there till I figure out what looks the best.

In other news I'm an October sponsor for One Pearl Button who also recently got a new look.  Also I'm planing some great patterns to be released this month and I'm starting to knit for November too. I love October, the leaves are changing, it's a great time for apple cider, I can wear my wooly sweaters, I start knitting more sweaters, and it's my birthday month.  In celebration of the month of October I am giving away a copy of the Saucy Librarian Sweater Knitting Pattern.  Leave me a comment about why you love October and I will pick a winner at random.  The winner will be announced on October 14th.  Good Luck!

Weekend Update: Surfing and Such

We had our first surf on the Jersey shore yesterday and it was a good one! I should have brought my camera, because the waves were about knee to chest height and spilling. (A spilling wave is my favorite kind of wave.) I got to try my new board and well I love it! It was a good thing we went yesterday, the weather here in Philly has turned cold, cloudy and rainy. Just a good excuse to get knitting!

This week is going to be a busy one. I have to work on my design, and sew a dress or something to wear to a party on Saturday. Here are some of my fabric choices from my stash. I love them all, but am having a hard time trying to decide.

I also have different amounts of each of these, so I can't just pick one dress or design and then pick a fabric. Each fabric choice would need a different project.

This was my newest addition to my fabric stash, that I like being about to say is grown, but not out of hand just yet. I'm tempted to go back and buy more yardage I love this print so much. It's fiber content is 100% cotton, but this fabric has a nice drape and body without being too stiff.

I also finished my sweater and actually wore it out the other day. I will have to get a picture of me next time I wear it. I swear it has buttons on it. The sleeves need a bit of elastic in the cuffs, but that's an easy fix.

The Tale of the Cotton Cardigan

I have been diligently working on my newest sweater project. It's a lovely cotton cardi in lavender and gold. I was hoping to have it completed by the end of this month, but I need to be realistic. There is no way (unless I quit my job and stay home all week and knit) that I will be able to finish this sweater in 4 days. However I plan on having it finished for June. So I have one more month to complete it. As you can see I am almost finished with one sleeve. Tonight at the knitting circle I plan on starting the second sleeve and I will be well on my way to finishing my lovely summer cardi.

On top of finishing my sweater I also have a design to knit and write up. My deadline is June 8th, and this is not a self imposed deadline. I love getting design work it makes me super giddy. When my design was accepted I did a little dance around my living room.

The Black Hole

That's right I am stuck in a knitting black hole right now. If you have never heard of this check out Yarn Harlots post here. The above pictured project seems to not be going anywhere. I have measured and knit and measured and knit and my progress is slow. I think the only thing keeping me sane it the joggless stripping that is in the body of the sweater. But for real, I sit next to the hubby on the couch and knit and knit for what seems like hours and when I measure my project there seems to be no progress.

The Yarn Harlot says all you can do is put in your time. So I am patiently waiting, ok, maybe I'm not that patient. But I want to knit sleeves damn it! I want to wear my new nautical stripped cotton sweater right now!

There is my tantrum, maybe a nap and a glass of wine and finally my time will be up.

My First Sweater Design!

Here it is! My first sweater design with multiple sizes. I absolutly loved designing this sweater and knitting it. The yarn was amazing, I used Mirasol Project's Tupa, which is a 50/50 wool silk blend. The colors that it comes in are amazing.

I just posted the pattern in my etsy shop and on Ravelry. Check it out if you want more info on the pattern.

Simon has been away for a week now and my days here in Philly are moving, I'm not sure yet if they are moving quickly but the are moving. It is now down to 16 days before I fly out from Philly. I'm getting excited and can't wait to see Simon and meet his family, not to mention be in warm weather.