Jo Sharp fitted cardigan

So, I knitted a thing. This took for ever, but hey, I finished it and I love it!

I first saw this cardigan on Carolyn's blog and whenever I saw it it kept saying to me, make me, make me, you can do it, nothing really fancy to do, it's mainly stocking stitch. The more I thought about it, and having got two berets and a baby blanket under my belt in recent months, I took the plunge.

I think it was just over a year ago when I bought the wool from Mrs C's shop, splashed out on some KnitPro needles and went for it!

To be honest it was pretty simple to make up, I'm just a slow knitter and sewing still takes priority! I didn't knit a swatch. The baby blanket was actually really good for me to really test how my tension is and I'm proud modest enough to say that it's pretty good and KnitPro needles are great for maintaining your tension.

I tended to knit it in fits and starts. I'd get loads done and then I'd want to sew something which then took priority. I did have a couple of moments when I realised I'd somehow managed to decrease too many stitches and had to unpick loads of it to get back to where I could count the stitches again. (I've not had enough knitting practice to be able to count and pick up stuff easily.) I constantly forget how to increase stitches and I found the Twist Collective really helpful for this. I tried to make one right and left for the back, but I have to say one of them I got holes, so I didn't use that method for the front.

This pattern is knitted flat and bottom up and then the seams sewn up. I didn't mind the sewing up, but then I don't mind hand sewing anyway! I found picking up the stitches around the neck frustrating, more due to inexperience than anything else. As for the lace trim, I thought I'd never finish it! It's knitted sideways, so that the rows are actually perpendicular to the rows on the main cardigan. It wasn't difficult, but it was hard if a stitch was missed or I'd made a mistake. I got there though and I attached it to the cardigan and happily sewed these lovely buttons on to reach the finish line!

The details
Yarn:  Turquoise Rare Essentials yarn Double knitting/8ply from Made Marion, August 2014 I think! It's 80% alpaca and 20% merino and really love to knit with. I used 11.5 50g balls for size 39.5".
Notions:  Thread and buttons, also from Made Marion
Pattern:  Jo Sharp fitted cardigan, view
Changes made:  None, I'm not clever enough for that!
First worn:  Probably at home one day, but here for photos in Rotoura at the North Island Sewing Meet by an appropriate tree!

Another one/recommendations:  I certainly recommend the pattern. Even if you're a beginner knitter, it's really easy to knit up and the fit is great. I love the length of the cardigan and the 3/4 sleeves. This has had a fair bit of wear already. I love it. 

Gifts fit for a baby

Some good friends of ours have just had a little girl, who was born two weeks ago. When we knew they were expecting a present from the stork, I just knew I wanted to make something, but what I didn't know.

It was time to break out those knitting needles again, even though I don't really consider myself much of a knitter, the gift just had to be knitted. I eventually found this blanket pattern on Ravelry. It looked easy enough and one which I didn't really have to think much about!

 

OK well, I'm sure the knitted toy made it look even better! But the moss stitch edging and the ridges with blocks of stocking stitch were just really simple and unfussy.

I found this yellow acrylic wool in Spotlight. They had a sale on and these 100g balls were only $5 - bargain! I didn't really go for cheap, I was looking for a yellow and didn't want wool, which might not be best for sensitive baby skin.

 
The pattern was so easy to make up, it just took forever, about two months! I decided to go for the largest size, 33" by 31" according to the pattern. This meant I had rows with 173 stitches on them. It took at least 10 minutes to stitch a row. The ridges are made by knitting a purl row instead of knitting. I have to say that before starting this my purl knitting (purling?) was decidedly slow, it got significantly better time I'd finished.

 
The baby's father is mad on the local football team (their colours are black and yellow) and Mum is mad on Formula 1 racing and originally I thought to edge it with black bias ribbon and stitch racing cars and footballs to the blanket. I couldn't find the latter and in the end found these cute little fellas (do they need an introduction?)

 
...and remembered both Mum and Dad's love of Despicable Me. Minions it was! So a couple were handstitched to the blanket. I have to say, it was the best choice ever.

I found some ribbon to add just that little homemade touch...

The second part of the gift came from a Facebook discussion. Baby's Dad put an image on FB of this

 

...wishing that Mum to be (at the time) could make one. Muggins here said something similar to "I have sewing machine..." And the rest they say is history! Yep, before long I was presented with a shirt to make a baby dress.

I found the original website which had this image to check out what was needed. Now, I know little about baby clothes, so off I went to the local department store to check out baby dress sizes!

I drafted my own pattern more by guess work, although there was a certain amount of measuring taking place. ;-)

I cut the pattern on the fold ensuring the button band on the front was central and the hem was the shirt hem.

I decided to try to sew self-bound seams. They provide strong seams for baby and children's clothes. Mind you, sewing these seams on the arms was a nightmare! There's not a lot of room there!

A spare button has been attached to one seam

As you can just about see in the photo above, the original shirt had purple binding around the inside neck. It gave me an idea to finish the neck and sleeves with purple binding.

I didn't cut the neck and sleeves big enough to require elastic in them, so it's not exactly like the the orginal on the All Day Chic website. The other thing I did was to remove the buttons, stitch up the button holes, attach brand new purple flower buttons and then stitch large snap fasteners on the inside. Fast removal is a good thing with baby clothes :-)

I'm really happy how this turned out. It's a wee bit big for baby at the moment - she's three weeks old! However, the best thing is that she has a dress to go into which isn't pink! I feel brave enough to try make some more of these, perhaps sleeveless so that they can be layered more easily for the cooler weather.

Trying to get back in the habit...

This month has been hard. I've not had the chance for much me-made sewing, as I'm still finishing off curtains for our lounge/diner, etc. They're taking a loooong time!

Along with curtains for the lounge, I've joined in with midwinter Christmas, a shopping trip to Palmerston North (more of these later), and...

I did manage to finish my Alma for Indie pattern month, but I've not taken any photos, the weather hasn't been the most favourable when I'm at home to take them. Plus you know what it's like in the winter - you leave home for work in the dark and get back in the dark. Daylight only seems to occur during the weekends!

Plus these last few days have been especially hard. We had three earthquakes here in Wellington last weekend. The quake Sunday afternoon was the strongest around here for a while (measuring 6.5). It was certainly nothing like I've ever felt and life in the UK doesn't really prepare you for these things. The quake has given me more respect for the country I live in now. The Kiwis are amazing people and everyone I speak to seems to have bounced back so quickly, whereas I'm still really jumpy and feel like everything is permanently swaying. I know I need to get used to these, they are a way of life here in NZ, but at the moment, I'm finding it hard. Yes, life does go on. Our house survived perfectly as it is designed to do and we had no damage, no breakages. Although somehow, since then, I find it lonely in the house now and my sewing room downstairs is not as welcoming as it was. Even going downstairs is not fun in the dark.

I'm completely digressing, but I'm hoping sharing what I feel at the moment will help me to accept my life and what it throws at me. Even if it does include learning to cope with earthquakes. My life here in NZ is infinitely better than it ever was in the UK and even with the quakes, it would take a lot to make me move back. NZ is my home now.

To get back to more cheerful things - being creative...

As a small thing to keep me out of mischief in the evenings, I decided to have a go at some more knitting. Now I don't consider myself as much of a knitter and apart from a few things I kitted when I was in my early teens, all I've made since is my snood! Well I created an account on Ravelry and got searching for free patterns. That site is bad, once you get searching, you end up with far too many patterns in your library! I digress. I decided I'd like a slouchy beret, so I found this...

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spring-beret

Well to be honest I found a few more than just this one, but once I'd looked at the patterns, I decided this one I could decifer and work out how much wool I needed.

It was not all plain sailing. I needed a circular needle - those things are a pain when there's not many stitches on the row. I got my supplies from MrsC's shop, Made on Marion on Lambton Quay. This great cream wool confused me anyway, it says 8-ply. What's this 8-ply, wool comes as 4-ply, double knitting and chunky, well it did in my brain! 8-ply is double knitting apparently. My poor brain!

Sorry it's sideways, I can't work out how to twist it!

I learned a lot. Cast on using long-tail cast on method - what is that? Make one by making "a tight backward loop using your thumb, as if to cast on the right needle." Fortunately YouTube is great for knitting nowadays. No wishing Mum/Nanna was sat by helping, just reach for your nearest Interweb connected device and go searching! :-)

I got there, even if I did have to undo the pattern three times. Yep, you heard that right. I stated it and got it wrong, ended up unpicking it and starting again. Then I went wrong again, so third time lucky it worked. Fortunately the first time I unpicked it I had the lovely Jo from Making it Well next to me. She was a star in helping me pick up the stitches and getting me going again. Thanks Jo.

Anyways, once I got into my stride the lace pattern was actually really easy and even if I found it hard to keep remembering to count, it worked and I have a beret!

Here are also a couple of the beret in action!

Have you ever tried taking a photo of the back of your head?

I'm really pleased with this. It's certainly getting lots of wear. It's even got me trying to decide on something else to knit! I can curl up on the sofa and knit, I can't curl up on the sofa with my sewing machine!

In the meantime, I'm joining in with my fellow Wellington Sewing Bloggers and taking part in our Cake party this weekend. Don't forget this Sunday is Cake day. Are you ready to party?