Category Archives: Projects

2019: My sewing year in review

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My Sewing Year in Review: all the Fen mods

Any year that includes that magical striped dress up there is a good sewing year, in my book. But I think this was easily my most successful — if most myopic — year as a sewer. I sewed 12 things, some of which were never blogged but all of which are pictured here. Every one of them was completed during my Linenpalooza of summer-into-fall, fueled by the actual and neurotic need for suitable clothes for my India trip. (Although not all of them went with me.)

I think I mentioned before that this came about because I didn’t own clothing that was appropriate. Essentially all of my hot-weather clothes are sleeveless; my dresses are sleeveless and knee-length. It was going to be in the 90s the whole time and we would be outside for most or all of every day — everything I owned that was sufficiently modest would have been suffocating. Buying a whole travel wardrobe was not an option, so I bought some linen to augment what I already had in my stash, and I pulled out some of my tried-and-true patterns and began cutting.

The six garments above are all made from the same two pattern pieces of the Fen top, just modified in various ways: the striped and blurple dresses, the yellow dress, the black top, toffee top and cyan top. The four pants below are all from the Robbie pants pattern I’ve also made (with my modifications) many times before: pomelo, striped, blurple, toffee. The striped and blurple ones were both made from the scraps of the dresses, and I cut both a top and pants in the toffee color. From the scraps of the pomelo pants, I also scraped together the little pomelo top, below, which is from the Hemlock tee pattern (modified along some of the the same lines as before) with the amount of fabric determining the length of the body and sleeves.

Sewing year in review: Hemlock tee and Robbie pants

I had a lot of fun making the matching tops and pants, which can be worn together like faux jumpsuits but which also mix-and-match with the other pieces. And ultimately 10 of the above got packed for the trip, along with one RTW linen top (so I took 3 dresses, 4 tops and 4 pants) plus an 11th-hour surprise, the jacket below:

Sewing year in review: linen Wiksten Haori with travel pockets

The Sunday before we left, as I was neatly rolling my clothes and laying them into one side of my suitcase, I began to get anxious about the flights. And I convinced myself I needed to sew a jacket. I have no fear of heights or flying, but I am a little claustrophobic and I always told myself I couldn’t be sealed in a plane for 14 hours. So naturally when it came time to do that, I decided it would be fine if only I had a linen Wiksten jacket (lightweight! but fends off a/c! doesn’t take up too much suitcase space while not in use!) with perfectly scaled secret pockets for my passport and kleenex and earbuds and phone … . So that’s what I made for myself. And it worked.

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PREVIOUSLY: 2019 Knitting year in review

2019: My knitting year in review

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My knitting year in review: Smock Vest, Grace pullover, garter stitch shawlette kerchief

There’s always something surprising to me whenever I look back through what I’ve made in a given year. This year it’s the fact that I made things! For some reason, I don’t feel like I did, and it may be because this is the first year I knitted more for others than for myself. I also sewed more than I knitted (more on that tomorrow), which is easy to do — especially when you’re as simple a sewer as me — but it turns out I did, in fact, knit this year. And I even crocheted.

For me, I knitted only three things, above, but I’m well pleased with them: my smock vest (improvised), my toffee-colored cable pullover (Grace pattern by Denise Bayron), and the little black kerchief (modified from a Purl Soho pattern) that is my constant companion these days.

My knitting year in review: Solbein cardigan, Gramps cardigan, April Hat, Anker's Jacket

I knitted four things for tiny nieces: The little colorwork cardigan being shared by Misses M and T; the bobble beret for their big sister R; the sunny cardigan for their new baby sister E; and the keepsake cardigan in memory of their baby cousin.

My knitting year in review: Cabled Dad Hat, Joanne hat

And then there are the two slight disappointments. The cable hat for Bob is a thing of beauty but the yarn has no recovery whatsoever and so isn’t well suited to this particular task. He gave it back to me and I’ve been wearing it on the trail, and need to knit him another one in a more elastic yarn. Similarly, the summer hat I crocheted for myself has sort of … wilted. I need to try it again at the nice tight gauge the pattern calls for.

All in all, a pretty successful knitting year — especially given how much those girls loved their gifts.

Please note that each of these things is linked to the original blog post about it where you can find further photos, links and details on patterns, yarn, modifications and so on — please click through to find out more! And if I left anything out, feel free to ask.

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PREVIOUSLY in FOs: Matilda’s cardigan

Q for You: What’s your strongest knitting bond?

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Q for You: What's your strongest knitting bond?

I’ll be honest and tell you I debated whether to post here about this precious little cardigan, but the point of this blog for me has always been a shared connection with you: fellow knitters of the world who’ve stumbled in here, being people who understand what a mysteriously powerful thing it is to knit, and especially to knit for others. We often describe it as a hug, but what this tiny sweater has really driven home for me is that to knit is to form bonds — some of them beyond description.

This sweater is for my great-niece, Matilda, who lived only a few days. Before she was born, I had envisioned a future hand-me-down. I wanted to knit a Gramps cardigan (because the only thing better than a shawl-collar cardigan is a miniature shawl-collar cardigan) and had picked out this sweet, soft green yarn for it.* As with E’s sweater, I would have made it 6-12 mos size so she’d have time to grow into and out of it before it hopefully got passed on to another baby. When she died, I still very much wanted to knit it and didn’t entirely understand why, but thankfully her mother still wanted it and so I got to have this unexpectedly profound experience. Time spent knitting it these past couple of weeks has been time bonding with her in a way I couldn’t have imagined. I didn’t get to meet her, and she became so real to me as this sweater took shape. And once it became a keepsake, the shape of it changed — I wanted it to be very specific to her. Newborn sized and a pure expression of love.

It’s a gift I hope will convey feelings I don’t have any other way to express.

I’m making this post a Q for You because what I would love in response to this is for you to tell me about the strongest bonds you’ve formed through knitting — with a family member, friend or stranger; someone you’ve knitted for or with, or who has knitted for you? If you’re willing to share, I’d love to hear it.

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*The yarn is Bummull in “grass green,” which is a misnomer — it’s more of a dusty mint color, so pretty — and I’ve knitted the smallest size of Gramps on US5 needles with this yarn to get it to be newborn sized. (It’s less than one ball.) I added the garter ridges above the ribbing and did a garter-stitch button band minus the shawl collar, but otherwise it’s true to the pattern.

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You:

Queue Check — December 2019

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Queue Check — December 2019

I took a break from my delightful green cardigan WIP to work on the baby sweaters — one of which I finished and the other of which is nigh — so it’s only grown about 5 inches since last you saw it. It would be farther along, but I took it on an 8-hour road trip on Thanksgiving completely forgetting that the WIP in my bag had no yarn attached and no spare skeins along for the ride. Having since wound more yarn and placed it in the bag where it belongs, I’m hoping to race through this gem between now and year’s end!

But as that year-end approaches, I took stock of what else was on the WIP shelf. The first is the unspecified cowl-dickie object I had started last winter before diverting some of the Luft yarn into the garter kerchief that is now never separated from my neck. Seriously, I love that thing more than life itself. So the question remains what to do with this dickie that wasn’t quite doing it for me.

Meanwhile, I also discovered the Carbeth Cardigan I had abandoned back in the spring when it wasn’t going to be done in time to wear. I was shocked to find it was as far along as it is — and also that I had picked up the button-band stitches while clearly having not blocked the body. That’s unheard of for me, so I’m not sure how that happened. But I am coming to terms with the fact that this rediscovered WIP leaves me cold, as it were. I should be thrilled to find a nearly done black cardigan, since that is what I wish for every single morning. But nope. It’s a classic case of “if I can stand to not be knitting it, it must not be right.” And between these two things, I’ve realized that I’ve always known what my heart wants in both cases, which is a cardigan in the black Luft yarn. So I’m just going to sit with that thought while I concentrate on the green cardigan. If I’m diligent enough, I’ll be wearing it by New Year’s Eve.

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PREVIOUSLY in Queue Check: October 2019

Pure wool sunshine

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baby Anker's cardigan sweater (knitting pattern) with Jen Hewett x Fringe Field Bag

When I asked you all for baby sweater pattern suggestions back in October, reader Dianne inadvertently reminded me that I’ve had Petite Knit’s Anker’s Cardigan on my own wishlist for ages and that there’s a baby version, Anker’s Jacket. My niece had asked for a baby sweater in the same goldenrod Germantown yarn as the mini Sólbein — of which I had plenty left over! — and Anker’s seemed like the absolute perfect use for it, as the two little cardigans would have some design resonance. Perfect tiny sister sweaters.

But really, I couldn’t have imagined how darling this would be. And again, it took barely more than a skein of yarn! (Which means I still have enough for 2.5 more, lol.) Rather than worrying about pattern gauge, I went with the gauge I had gotten on the sister sweater — 4.75 sts and 6.5 rows per inch on US8 needles — and knitted the 3-6 month size, knowing it would come out more like 6-9 months. I never buy newborn sized clothing as they tend to outgrow it way too quickly, and definitely didn’t want to knit anything that would last so briefly. It came out at about a 21.5″ chest circumference so she’ll have some room to grown into it. I just hope she doesn’t grow into and out of it in the middle of Texas summer next year!

baby Anker's cardigan sweater (knitting pattern)

Apart from gauge, I made very few departures from the pattern. I knitted the sleeves flat and did only one set of sleeve decreases along the way, with the rest on the first row of cuff ribbing, so the sleeves are a bit more balloon shaped. And I did garter-stitch bands (on US6) instead of ribbing because I’m still really into garter-stitch bands.

I bought the little felted animals in India, and while I thought I had once put together the cutest baby gift I ever would, this one made my heart impossibly melty. I hope Baby E and her mom both know how much I love them.

(Buttons, Jen Hewett x Fringe Field Bag and Lykke needles from Fringe Supply Co.)

Idea Log: Cropped wool shirtjacket

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Idea Log: Cropped wool shirtjacket

I’ve had one of those moments where two thoughts collide in my head into one bright idea. Thought One was how much I love my army shirtjacket that I refashioned a couple of years ago (seen on me here) and hate that I don’t have a cold-weather counterpart for it. Thought Two was how much I love my pal Jen Beeman’s chainstitched rendition of her new Thayer Jacket pattern. As much as I want a chainstitched one now, it got me thinking about how useful a little cropped, unlined Thayer would be for indoor-outdoor wear in cooler weather — a good cardigan stand-in. I happen to have some nubby black wool remnant fabric in my stash that could be great for this, although I’m not sure it adds up to enough fabric to pull it off. But I feel like I need to clean off my table and spread it all out to see if I can make it work.

While I ponder what my chainstitched version might be …

(As I uploaded this image, I realized the buttons in my drawing look like nipples! Forgive me for that.)

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PREVIOUSLY in Idea Log: Summer sweater-jacket

Queue Check — October 2019

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Queue Check — October 2019

It’s officially knitting season. I know because my brain is like “What’s a sewing machine?” and my fingers are like “Why are we not knitting?” I am knitting, but it’s also officially peak crazy season for me with work, so there’s little time for anything else. But as it goes, by squeaking in a row before bed here and there I’ve crossed the magic dividing line, and my cardigan-in-progress now has sleeve caps and a body. I’m absolutely dying to get to the shawl collar on it, and given that it’s as much knitting as a sleeve, I think I’m going to change up the order a bit on this one and finish the body first (which I usually do last), so I can do the collar next, then the sleeves last. I’m convinced that having that collar on there will light a fire under me and I’ll race through the sleeves so I can wear it.

But I’m also pondering baby sweaters. I’ve got two tiny new great-nieces (cousins to each other), and the circumstances for their arrivals are complicated. So I feel strongly that my first baby cardigans are in order. I just need to settle on patterns and yarn and then they’ll take precedence over this lovely green stockinette beast. Feel free to tell me your all-time favorite baby sweater patterns!

(This is an Improv sweater in Kelbourne Woolens’ Andorra, held double. Lykke needles via Fringe Supply Co.)

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PREVIOUSLY in Queue Check: Early Fall 2019