Tag Archives: ktfo2016

KTFO-2016.6 : black Anna Vest

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FO : black Anna Vest

When I cast on this sweater in this yarn, as you know, I didn’t give it a ton of thought. I’d written the pattern for Tolt’s Farm to Needle book and sent off the sample, leaving me wanting one of my own. I thought the vest would be a great wardrobe staple in black, and I happened to have enough black Terra in my stash (purchased as part of a class at Squam in summer of ’14 for a different vest I never knitted). So I cast on! The minute I saw how amazing the yarn looked in this stitch pattern, I was in love. But even then, I had no idea how dreamy it would turn out to be in the finished garment. As noted in yesterday’s discussion, the weight and drape of this vest in this yarn is absolute perfection, which was basically a very lucky accident because omg I love this thing.

I’m never taking it off.

Difficult to photograph in this blackest black, but so easy to wear. I didn’t intend to only photograph it with sleeveless things — that just happened because it’s my favorite way to wear a vest, and this is what I wore the first three days after it was finished! (Included are my blue dress and my linen dress.)

The only modifications I made were to do one pocket instead of two, and knit the body to one inch shorter than the pattern calls for, anticipating that this yarn would likely grow when blocked (and/or worn), which it did. So in the end, it’s exactly the pattern dimensions for the second size. Knitted on US8.

Pattern: Anna Vest by Karen Templer
Yarn: Terra by The Fibre Co. in Coalwood
Cost: my own pattern ($0) + concave horn buttons $10 + yarn $112 (from stash; expenditure made in 2014) = $122

It’s not too late to join the Anna Vest Knitalong! Just use hashtag #annavestkal wherever you post.

All posts on this sweater: On the blog | Instagram | Ravelry

KTFO-2016.5 : Blue loopy pullover

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FO: Blue loopy pullover

This is the most absurd thing to have knitted, on impulse, in April — which, when you think about it, is the whole fun of it. It’s good to go a little rogue on one’s well-laid plans once in awhile, as long as A) the journey is fun or B) the outcome is worthwhile. Hopefully both — and in this case, I can say both. Making a sweater in about a week is fun, no way around it, and the relative kookiness of the finished sweater will do my increasingly reserved closet some good. So I’m very happy with it, even while I’m leery of how this yarn will wear over time. As I mentioned somewhere in the comments last week, given that it’s basically single-ply merino (at superbulky gauge) I fear it will be a giant pilled bathmat within a couple of wears. I truly hope I’m wrong, but even if I’m right, I’ll be perfectly happy to wear it around the house nonstop with my flannel pajama pants in the cold months, because putting this on is like climbing inside your favorite pillow.

The pattern is a bit lacking, I have to say. The extremely basic construction of this makes it a great candidate for a beginner sweater, but I would never recommend it as anyone’s first sweater. Just because if you don’t already know how to put a sweater together, you’ll have no chance at making sense of these instructions. But if you’re capable of filling in the holes for yourself, and can get by on some rudimentary stitch counts and measurements and wing the rest, you’re good!

Pattern: Super Cropped Sweater by Loopy Mango
Yarn: Loopy Mango Merino No. 5 in Lady Blue
Cost: 5 balls (one more than the pattern calls for) at $28 each = $140

NOTE: I bought the yarn from the incredibly lovely Loopy Mango ladies while at Stitches South, and they very kindly threw in the big US19 needles (with hot pink cable!) in addition to their Loopy tote bag. I was super pleased with the whole shopping experience!

Modifications: My row gauge was more compact than theirs, so already it was going to take me more rows (and more yarn) to reach the designated measurements, but I also lengthened all of the parts. The body is meant to be 16″ and I made mine 18″. The sleeve length isn’t given, but if you tally up the rows and compare to their row count, it would come out to 10.4″ — too short for me. I wanted them a bit cropped but not elbow length; however, I was limited to what I could squeeze out of 1 ball per sleeve, which wound up to be just dandy. I also added neck shaping at the front (as opposed to the square neckhole of the pattern); knitted the sleeves flat rather than picking up stitches and knitting them top-down; and worked the neck band on US17 needles. I wish I had noticed that the pattern was not written for the nice long cuffs the sample had, which I loved — it appears to have had 12 rows of ribbing instead of 10 — but by the time I noticed it, I wasn’t going back.

I have only steam-blocked this, but did widen the body considerably in the process — mine is about 42″ circumference (compared to the pattern’s 32″), and as noted above, knitted to 18″ length (not 16″).

FO: Blue loopy pullover

By the way, I opted to photograph this with the same clothes I had on that day at Stitches, and up until 10 minutes ago I could actually have gotten away with this exact outfit. But now we’re into the 80s and staying there. Hopefully there will be a cool night or two on the porch between now and fall, but I look forward to wearing this with a dress and boots once summer has come and gone.

See all posts on this sweater on the blog and on Instagram.

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PREVIOUSLY in 2016 FOs: Blue sleeve/less dress

KTFO-2016.4 : Blue sleeve/less dress

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KTFO-2016.4 : Blue sleeveless dress details

Technically, I made this dress last fall (although it didn’t get hemmed until January) and remade it this year. It started out as a mash-up: Amber Corcoran’s Fen top spliced onto the lower half of Liesl Gibson’s Gallery Dress. (I.e., my beloved linen dress.) I had ensmallened the neckline — most neckholes in the world are too big for my liking — and changed the dress:sleeve proportion. I’m pretty sure I used the size 10 body and size 4 armhole and sleeve. The idea was to keep the dolman sleeve from being too dolman. And it turned out to be a really cute, really comfortable dress. But what I mean by too dolman is I wanted to be able to put a vest or cardigan or jacket over it. It worked, in a sense — I could put a cardigan over it — but it was still just too much fabric to really work as a layering piece. And as cute as it was on its own, for me and the way I like to dress, that’s too limited to live.

So I cut off the sleeves.

It was a total hack job and there’s no reason it should have worked out so well, so I’m chalking it up to beginner’s luck. But it really did work out well. The armholes lay nicely, and I repeated the Fen neckband treatment (which I really love) around the armholes. And now I’m happily wearing this dress under and over everything. But I said it at the time and feel it very strongly looking at these pics: I really wish I could have it both ways!

I also added a little pocket before calling it done, just because it was so plain. I’m planning to redraw my pattern for this from the ground up and make it again, and I have visions of big cargo pockets with flaps. I almost added them to this one, but it was just too much with the stripes. So we’ll see if that happens on a future iteration.

Patterns: Fen and Gallery Tunic + Dress
Fabric: Unknown blue cotton shirting (purchased as remnant from Imogene+Willie)
Cost: Fen pattern $20 (Gallery is a reuse) + $10 fabric = $30

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PREVIOUSLY in FOs: Quick black raglan pullover

KTFO-2016.3 : Quick black raglan pullover

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KTFO-2016.3 : Quick black raglan sweater recipe

We’ve talked about how this sweater wound up being a V-neck, why this sweater reinforced my love for top-down knitting, and how much I adore this yarn (especially at this gauge), but I know a lot of you just want the details already! I hear you — here they are! Please accept my apologies for the terrible FO photos lately — I am really struggling with the grainy winter light and cannot wait for it to end.

This here is a super straightforward top-down raglan, and if you know how to knit a top-down sweater below is everything you need to replicate it. The one thing I really wanted to play with on this one, though, was actually shaping the raglan seams. I first toyed around with the notion a few years ago (and have since heard the term “compound raglan” floating around but am not sure precisely what’s meant by it!) but had a different idea I wanted to try. Basically, I wanted something in between a saddle shoulder and a raglan, and wanted to see if I could curve the seams in a way that was more flattering than a straight 45° line jutting out from the neckline (often at an odd starting point). So rather than beginning with a sleeve stitch count that’s 30% of the back-neck count, as is the norm, I started with a higher ratio of sleeve stitches and worked the increases in the sleeves and body at differing rates, such that the front and back initially got wider at a faster rate than the sleeves did (for a more outward raglan line), then at the same rate for a bit (the old 45° angle), and then the sleeves got wider faster than the body (for a more downward slope). Hopefully between the photos and the notes below, you’ll see what I mean. I’m totally thrilled with the outcome.

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Lettlopi by Istex in Color 0005 (purchased at Tolt)
Cost: no pattern + 5 balls of lopi at $5.50 each = $27.50, plus shipping (I know!)

Quick black raglan sweater recipe

GAUGE

3.5 sts and 5 rows = 1 inch (measured over 4″ = 14/20) knitted on US10

TARGET MEASUREMENTS

42″ chest = 148 sts
16″ upper arm circumference = 56 sts
9″ cuff circumference
21″ total length
9″ yoke/armhole depth (45 rounds)
12″ body length (3″ hem ribbing)
7.5-8″ sleeve length (3″ cuff ribbing)

DETAILS

— Wanted 6.5″ back neck measurement and higher ratio of sleeve stitches, as noted above = 23 back neck sts, plus 15 for each sleeve, 2 for each raglan and 1 each at the front neck

– Thus CO 63 sts, divided with markers as follows ( 1 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 23 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 1 )

– Planned on 11 sts cast on at each underarm, and divided the raglan stitches evenly between sections when separating sleeves from body

— Worked raglan increases as kfb on either side of the raglan stitches, differing increase rates as noted below

— Increased at the front neck on 1st RS row then every other row until 18 sts each front, 41 back sts between markers; cast on 5 sts and joined in the round (front sts at 18 each + the 5 cast on = 41 front)

— Increased the sleeve sts on the 1st RS row, then every 4th row 3x, then every other row until until 43 sts (plus 2 from the raglans at separation, plus 11 underarm cast-on = 56 / 16″); work-even till separation at 9″ depth

— Increased the front and back on 1st RS row, then every other row 11x, then every 4th row 2x, then every other row until 61 sts each (plus 2 from the raglans at separation, plus 11 per underarm cast-on = 74; front + back = 148 / 42″)

— Worked sleeves even for 4.5″, then decreased 8 sts evenly around (48), one row even, decreased 8 sts evenly around again (40), then switched to US8 needles and worked 2×2 ribbing for 3″

— Worked body even for 9″ (with a basting stitch at each side seam, to be mattress stitched later), then switched to US9 needles and worked 2×2 ribbing for 3″

— Worked the neckband as 2×2 ribbing for 5 rounds

— Wound up blocking it at 44″ wide (9.5″ positive ease) and it’s perfect

I did have to think a little about that V neck, since it wasn’t a complete V but more of a blunted one — remember I had actually cast on 5 stitches. When picking up stitches for the neckband, I picked up (and marked off) the center stitch, skipped the two flanking that stitch, and picked up the remaining two, and picked up the rest of the way around the neck as normal. That pulled it into more of a true V. Then I worked that center stitch as a purl stitch and the rest in 2×2 ribbing, and decreased on either side of the center stitch (inward leaning decreases) every other round. Worked out great.

Shaped raglan details

PREVIOUSLY in FOs: Bob’s rollneck sweater

KTFO-2016.2 : Bob’s rollneck sweater

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KTFO-2016.2 : Bob's rollneck

I can’t believe it’s the end of February and I’m just now posting my second FO of the year. There are three more things completed since #1; it’s just taking me a bit of time to get them written up! Anyway—

For a long, long time, as many of you will recall, Bob and debated what kind of sweater I should make him. His favorite sweater of all time is a charcoal grey rollneck from J.Crew from six or eight years ago — you know the one; it comes around every ten years or so. It fits him perfectly, looks amazing on him, but he almost never wears it because it’s heavyweight, very densely knitted, 100% wool. It’s super hot, and the weather is rarely cold enough (in either CA or TN) for him to wear it — which is a shame, because it’s so perfect. So in the end we decided to try to make the closest possible replica, but more wearable. The yarn is O-Wool Balance (in Emerald), which is as ideal for husbands as it is for babies: It’s an organic, machine-washable yarn (nothing at all like those superwash wools) that is 50% cotton and 50% wool. And it’s what I would consider light worsted weight. So this sweater is thinner and less hot than his beloved charcoal sweater, and it can go in the machine — which, I should note, it will need to do a little more often because cotton does tend to bag out a bit in the wearing.

The key difference between the green replica and the original is that greenie is raglan sleeved, whereas the J.Crew classic is saddle-shouldered. Knowing how picky Bob is about fit, I was determined to knit it top-down so I could put it on him and check it and get his buy-in at every step along the way. And while it’s possible to do a top-down saddle-shoulder, I’ve not done it before, and for this one I wanted to stay on known ground for the best chance of a solid outcome.

KTFO-2016.2 : Bob's rollneck

I’m giving myself a B- on note-taking on this one — there are a few details I failed to record in my notebook along the way — but for anyone who knows how to knit a top-down sweater and wants to recreate this, these top-line specifics should get you there.

PATTERN

Improvised

GAUGE

5.25 sts and 7.25 rows = 1″, measured over 4″ in stockinette, knitted on US6 needles

TARGET MEASUREMENTS

44″ chest = 238 sts
14″ upper arm circumference = 74 sts (76 with selvage sts)
9″ cuff circumference = 48 sts (50 w/selvage)
27″ total length
2.5″ front neck drop
9″ yoke/armhole depth
19″ body length (3″ hem ribbing)
19″ sleeve length (3″ cuff ribbing)
3″ rollneck

DETAILS

– Wanted 6.5″ back neck measurement = 33 sts, plus 10 for each sleeve, 1 for each raglan and 1 each at the front neck

– Thus CO 59 sts, divided with markers as follows ( 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 33 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 )

– Planned on 16 sts cast on at each underarm

– Increased (kfb) on each side of the raglans and at front neck every other row, casting on front sts to match back count and joining in the round when back measured 2.5″ deep

– Before going too much further, knitted the neck — picked up sts exactly as if I were ribbing the neck band (didn’t record st count, sorry) and worked in stockinette for 3″, decreasing twice along the way, in line with each back neck/shoulder seam (total of 4 sts dec)

– Continued increasing sleeve sts until 58 each (+16 cast on for underarm = target of 74) and increasing front and back until 103 sts each (+16 = 119 each; front + back = target of 238) (counted raglan sts as body sts)

– At 9″ yoke depth, set aside sleeve sts, cast on the 16 at each underarm, marking the center stitch (side seam “basting stitch”), and joined body in the round; from this point worked the stitch at the side seam as a purl stitch to be mattress stitched later

– Can’t remember if I decreased at the side seams once or twice as I headed toward the hem, but I think just once; worked 1×1 ribbing for 3″ on US5 needles, I think (maybe 4s?)

– Opted to knit the sleeves flat (turning the work to knit back and forth) and seam them — picked up one extra stitch at each end of the armhole cast-on and those were my selvage stitches; decreased every 8th row until 50 sts (48 cuff sts plus 2 selvage); worked 1×1 ribbing for 3″

– Oh, and there is that one teensy mistake no one will ever see.

The sleeves have been seamed, obviously, but I haven’t mattress stitched the sides yet. I also am reserving the right to seam up that single stitch at each raglan if the sweater appears to be bagging out in the yoke at some future date!

We’re both really happy with the sweater — and you can see in the photo below how well I managed to match the original’s dimensions. In most ways, the fact that this sweater is lighter and thinner is a plus, but it’s proving to be not ideal for the rollneck. The fabric just doesn’t have enough body to resist the roll, and wants to roll all the way down pretty quickly rather than standing its ground a bit, so there may be a neck band alteration in its future. Other than that, four thumbs up!

KTFO-2016.2 : Bob's rollneck

PREVIOUSLY in FOs: Wool gauze pullover

KTFO-2016.1 : Wool gauze pullover

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KTFO-2016.1 : Wool gauze pullover

This year I want to do a better job for myself and the blog of documenting how the things I make wind up being integral parts of my wardrobe rather than random disembodied garments. (Part of the whole mission to make things that do so, you know.) That objective is inspired in part by my friend Jen Beeman of Grainline Studio, who happens also to be the pattern drafter behind this great pullover, which is a modified version of her Hemlock Tee, details of which I’ll get to in a moment. It’s arguable whether this is truly my first finish of the year, though — I hemmed that blue dress the day before we left for Florida, so technically that was first, but I’m not convinced it’s finished. I think I’m going to make it sleeveless! So that will be for another day.

For now, I present you this woven pullover I’ve been talking about since October, which in this first iteration is every bit as good as I had hoped. You may recall this whole thing started when I was professing my love for my beat-up old sweatshirt and lamenting the fact of there being exactly one pullover in my closet as we headed into colder weather. I knew sewing a few woven replicas of that sweatshirt would be quicker than knitting sweaters, and time was of the essence. My thinking took a little detour when I saw that Karen Walker top with the knit ribbing, but once I was cutting muslin and working out my pattern, I found myself heading back toward my original vision, and am very happy with how it turned out. It’s a fantastic layering piece. Now that I have the pattern worked out, I can surely whip one out in under three hours. It doesn’t take a lot of fabric — this one was sewn from some scraps of an amazingly light and warm wool gauze I bought a few weeks ago (for $15!) when Elizabeth Suzann was clearing out some fabric. And it will be just as wonderful and useful in linen as it is in wool.

In this case, I photographed it with some of my oldest and dearest: my trusty Endless Summer Tunic, my 15-y-o me-mended jeans, and a beat-up pair of ankle boots. But you can see from the sketches up there how versatile it is! I can’t wait to make more.

Pattern: Hemlock Tee by Grainline Studio (modified, see below)
Fabric: Unknown black wool gauze
Cost: free pattern + $15 fabric = $15

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HEMLOCK TEE MODIFICATIONS

– Re-drew the front neckline for a smaller, higher neck opening

– Straightened the sides (removed the A-line, in other words)

– Marked where I wanted the finished length to be (based on my beloved sweatshirt), then drew the cut line for front and back pieces 1.75″ above that

– Widened the sleeves an inch on each side without any change to the upper curve of the sleeve cap; redrew the underarm curve accordingly

– Sewed the shoulders, sleeves and side seams according to the pattern instrux, but with a 3/8″ seam allowance, because I’m weird like that

– Neckband is a 2″ bias strip, pressed in half lengthwise, attached (while stretching pretty aggressively) to the right side of the garment with a 1/4″ SA, then folded upwards and pressed; top-stitched in ivory with longer stitch length (3.5) and black bobbin thread

– Waist band is two pieces each 4.5″ x [the finished width of the garment + 3/4″], pressed in half lengthwise — I seamed two ends together (right sides facing, 3/8″ SA), then lined them up with the garment and marked where to sew the other ends so the circumference would match the body; then attached with right sides facing and 1/4″ seam allowance; folded down and pressed, and top-stitched in ivory, same details as above

– Hemmed sleeves to the length I wanted, turning them 1.5″ twice and stitching as close as possible to the fold line

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PREVIOUSLY in FOs: 2015 Year in Review