A knitted Cardigan: Myrna

Today I'm showing you a knitted make. A cardigan that I finished last year in November. I call it my commuter cardi because most of it was knit on my commute from Cambridge to London. Sometimes I got surprised views and remarks from fellow commuters.

I even talked with a couple of interested woman about knitting which was really nice. Sometimes people kept starring, which is especially annoying when the person in front of you turns around on her seat the whole time and watches you through the gap between the seats. Have you ever made something on public transport? How did people react?

I only realised when looking at these photos that there is button peaking out from the center of the keyhole, haha.

Pattern: Myrna by Andi Satterlund. In contrast to Andis pattern my cardi  has long sleeves. That's because I'm always so cold and my three quarter or short sleeved cardigans don't get worn in winter.

Wool: I had three skeins of Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 in lilac mist which I bought for half price when sadly the online retailer closed down. Because I had only three skeins, I was a bit limited for the length of the sleeves. I would have liked them to be 2" longer but had no wool left.

Construction: I think it took me about 1.5 month to finish this cardigan. I could have been faster but it took me a while to figure out how to knit the long sleeves.

I knitted too many buttonholes - 6 instead of 5 - by mistake. I was knitting in people carrier
with 5 lovely ladies and just got carried away ;)

Have I worn it? Several times although I'm not so sure the color suits me well. Saying that I have a color consultation in April, which hopefully will shed light on the colors that suit me best! I'm a bit scared that my favorite colors don't suit me!

You might remember my Megan Dress from last week. Here you can see that it is too short
and my slip is displayed because I'm lifting my arm.

A little Chickadee told me . . .

As soon as I finished my Hetty Cardigan, I started to knit the Chickadee cardi - a pattern by Ysolda Teague. The pattern has been published in the book a "Little red in the city". I don't have the book and only bought the cardi pattern from Ravelry. I really couldn't wait to get knitting this cardigan. Although it has the Chickadee fair isle pattern (which was what drew me initially to the cardigan), most of it is knitted in simple stockinette stitch. So having knitted Hetty, I really wanted to knit something simple without having to think about the pattern too much.

Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Karisma Superwash. It was the first time that I used the brand and I just love it. So far, I think this wool feels best in comparison with the brands I have used before. It's super soft and was nice to knit with.

Instructions: I love the instructions, because the pattern has little gaps where usually the numbers of repeats are. You just have to look into a table, find out the numbers of repeats for your size and fill it into the gap. So no confusion with other sizes, genius!

Construction: I'm not going into detail here, but you can find some more infos on my Ravelry page. It was the first time that I tried a fair isle pattern and it was challenging, but manageable. The birds are not perfect yet with the tension being far from even. But after I wet blocked the cardigan the bird design smoothed out a bit and now they look great :) I think I had to start the first row of the fair isle pattern three times because I just kept making mistakes with the order of the yarns.

The cardigan is knitted from the top down and after knitting the yoke, I had to knit the sleeves. I liked that a lot. Because that means your are already done with the sleeves when starting on the bodice and they are not looming at the end of the knitting, yeah. These sleeves were the fastest I ever knit, it took me only four evenings to finish them.

My main problem was knitting the neckband/buttonband/hem bit. It is knitted altogether in the round in garter stitch. Meaning you have the complete outer edge (hem- left buttonband - neckband - right buttonband - hem) on your needles. So one row took me about 30 min and to knit the whole edging it took me about 6 hours! Because you have the whole cardigan on your needles, you can't try it on and that's why I didn't realised that my edging was too big. So imagine, a totally excited me trying on the cardigan in front of the mirror. Realising that the neck edging stood up making me look like Dracula. There was no way it would stay like that.

It took me almost a week to finally gather my courage and frog the edging. I then knitted the edging on smaller needles because I had read that often garter stitch turns out bigger than stockinette stitching. I also only knitted half of the edging rows to prevent the neckline from being to close to my neck. And this time it worked. The neckline lies flat against my collar bone :)

I think the buttons I used are a bit to small. They look nice with the cardigan, but tend to spring open when I'm wearing it. You might have noticed the open button in a few of the photographs already---my photographer obviously didn't. Also, I should have added a few more buttons in general as there is a lot of strain on the yoke and I think one more button there would have divided the strain.

There is no more left to say. Thus I wish you all a good start into the coming week and if you get ever tired or stressed get a cuppa tea :)

Part II of the Outfit Along: The Cardigan

Thanks a lot for all your lovely comments about my Outfit Along Dress. I'm glad you love it as much as I do. As promised, I am going to show you the matching cardigan today - my pink and girly Hetty Cardigan!

Pattern: The Hetty Cardigan from Andi Satterlund. I had the materials for the cardigan at home already and decided to knit Hetty instead of Myrna. Also, both Hetty and the dress have an eyelet pattern, so a perfect match. But Myrna is on my knitting list as well, so you might see it in the near future :)

Wool: Berroco Blackstone Tweet in Wild Rose. I was lucky and got the skeins for 54% off from the Loop Knitting Shop. It was the first time that I knitted with an expensive wool. Being expensive I thought the wool would be of high quality, but there were hard bits entangled in the thread. 

Construction: Me and Hetty were no friends during construction :( Although the lace pattern is really easy, you have to focus quite a lot and when your thoughts slip a moment you easily make mistakes. I had an especially hard time with the 2nd sleeve. Whereas I had no problems with the 1st sleeve, I somehow miscounted the lace pattern on the 2nd one. My lace pattern shifted by 5 stitches and that meant that the beginning of my row started not at stitch one, but somewhere in the middle of the lace pattern. I only realised after having finished the sleeve cap shaping and couldn't convince myself to rip back. In the end I changed the lace pattern slightly for the 2nd sleeve. Luckily, you can't see it and I think nobody is going to stare at my sleeves and count stitches, haha. 

Finishing: I unraveled the neckline and hem line twice, because I was not happy with the fit. In the end I finished the neckline and hem with a stretchy bind-off. I was a bit scared that the hem would stick out from my sway back as happened with my Agatha Cardigan. But it fits perfectly :) To bring out the beautiful lace pattern, I wet blocked the cardigan. It took 2 days for the cardigan to dry and I had a hard time to be patient and wait!

Buttons: I wanted to use some lovely white buttons that I brought from Kiev with me. But I was one short, because I bought the last 7 they had in the shop. The pattern calls for 8 buttons, but I was determined to use only 7. It didn't matter how determined I was, it wouldn't have looked good with seven buttons only (the spacing between the buttons was perfect for 8 but not 7).  As I didn't want to risk a gaping button band, I settled for self-cover buttons in the end. I got the buttons and fabric from Charlie for my Birthday in March (Thanks!) and I'm super happy to finally use them. They are playful and look great with the cardigan :) 

Have I worn it yet? Once, but only inside the house because it was a bit chilly. The weather is so lovely hot in the UK at the moment, that there is really no need to wear cardigans. Instead I finally wear my handmade summer dresses, yeah. The cardigan is a bit scratchy, although it got already a bit softer after its first wash (for the blocking).  

Do I like it? Yes, I finally do :) Seeing it on these pictures makes me happy. It does go perfect with my new sandals, doesn't it?!

I hope everybody is getting on with their projects for the Outfit Along. I for sure can't wait to see all these lovely outfits, color combinations and patterns! Inspiration! I really enjoyed to participate in the Outfit Along 2014. Thanks so much Lauren and Andi for coming up with such an amazing idea. I usually make my cardigans for garments I have already made, but I never planned both before and worked on them simultaneously. 

Meet Agatha!

Pattern: Agatha Cardigan from Andi Satterlund.

Yarn: I used the recommended Cascade Yarn Cascade 220 in gold yellow. Although yellow is not my favorite color I wanted a cardigan in a happy vibrant colorway to go with all the blue fabrics (and soon to be garments) in my stash.

Knitting: For my detailed knitting notes you can check out my Ravelry notes. All in all the cardigan knits easier than I thought and I was especially worried about all the purl stitches that show on the right side. My tension is not really even yet and you usually see this on the purl side. However, it was no problem for this cardigan. I suppose that is because you are knit1 and purl3 stitches.

You can see here that it is a bit loose at the waist.

I knitted the body in no time, but the sleeves took me a while. It was especially annoying that I had to knit one sleeve twice! I knitted the first sleeve in size M and realised that it was too big - at this point the sleeve reached already to my underarm. So I frogged it up to the sleeve shaping and decreased until I got size S. Much better.

But as you can imagine, my motivation was really low at this point and I just kept going because I wanted to take this cardigan with me to Kiev. I was also running low in yarn and thus I finished the neckline and button band before finishing the sleeves. These sleeves are the longest I ever knit because you turn the ribbing, you knit them like 10 cm longer than your arms actually are.

Embellishment: I ordered some beautiful dark wood buttons for the cardigan, but because they didn't arrive in time I used some buttons from my stash. And actually I think they go perfect with the color and style of the cardigan.

I even put my label in :)

Do I like it? I love the cardigan. And I practically lived in it during my holidays in Kiev. The color does not only go nicely with my blue clothes, but also with my pink Lady Skater dress :)

Will I make it again? At some point yes! The only thing I would change then is the size of the waist ribbing. I knitted the bust in size S and the waist in size M to accommodate my bigger waist. But I think now, the waist turned out a bit to loose and I would have preferred it a bit tighter. This might also be because of my sway back. I was thinking about unpicking the bind-off at the waist, but can't find the beginning.

However, I washed the cardigan already a second time and I have the feeling it is a bit tighter now. It is not supposed to shrink at cold wash (I have a wool program in my washing machine), so I don't know what happened. But it is wool, so it will widen again.

Knitting: A Cropped Sweater for Winter

I finished another sweater! (No, I didn't make the skirt.)

Pattern: Andi Satterlund's cropped sweater for winter (which is a free pattern!)

Size: I knitted with 5 mm needles size XS for the bust and size S for the waist. To get size S at the waist, I just did less decreases. The sleeves are also size S - here I picked up a few more stitches.

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 in mystic purple and rose.

Ignore my bad posture...

Construction: The pattern is really straight forward and thanks to the many photographs easy to follow. I only had problems with the scalloping - I actually had to unravel it three times! It was my first time knitting with two colors and after my first attempt, the scalloped part was too tight and I had problems getting the sweater over my bust. On my second try, the tension was alright, but I had made a mistake when knitting the scallops. So I frogged again. Finally, my third attempt turned out perfect :)

Another difficult part for me were the sleeves! The armscye is shaped with short rows and when knitting the first sleeve I somehow miscounted the stitches. I ended up having only half of the required rows - I noticed it only when knitting the second sleeve. So, if you have an eagle eye, you will see that one of my sleeves sits much better on the shoulders than the other. I am only saying that to you :) I am not going to point anybody else towards it! I wet blocked the sweater, which enormously improved the fit of the scallops.

I do have a question though: Do I have to block a wool sweater every time I washed it? Or is it fine, when I just dry it flat?

Scallops! The ribbing looks also much nicer after the blocking!

Do I like it? Wrong question! I absolutely love it!!! The colors are my favorite ones. And the fit is just perfect :) The sweater goes perfectly with high-waisted skirts and even fits over my Hawthorn Shirtdress!

Have I worn it yet? I have! I wore it to work, but nobody noticed. I was a tiny bit disappointed :P But Lescha said it is actually a compliment because the jumper does not look home made :) Yeah, such a nice guy!

Ribbed neckline.

What's next? Winter is not over yet and I am still in knitting mood. I think I need another cardigan to go with my dresses. Next on my project list is the Agatha sweater, also a pattern from Andi - I just love her designs. I have the pattern already and was a bit shocked. I wanted to challenge myself and that's why I went for a lace pattern. But seeing the pattern, I am a bit scared! I will get the wool for my birthday (which is beginning of March).

Another question: The wool will be Cascade yarns. I am getting it in yellow. But I still have some red one at home from my owl sweater. Can I use the the red wool to make a swatch, or is it better to wait for the yellow one that I am actually going to use? I just thought they might behave differently because of bleaching or dyeing? 

What is she doing? I am holding the washing line out of the way :)

What a lucky guy: Knitted men's vest

This will be a knitting post. So if you are not really interested,  just scroll down to the New Year Resolutions and there will be some more general thoughts about sewing ;)

Yep, I am still knitting! And this time not for me, but for Lescha. I am not sure how he convinced me to knit a vest for him, but I guess I felt bad that I still haven't sewn him his shirt. But it is so much more fun to make stuff for myself! He was not jumping happily around when I gave him the vest (maybe because he had to go outside in the garden, so that I could take pictures, hehe). So let's talk about the vest! I am not going to bore you with the detailed knitting, but if you are interested have a look on my Ravelry notes.

Thread: It had to be cotton, as Lescha doesn't like wool. So I used Rowan Handknit cotton in chocolate.

Pattern: None :P Lescha wanted to have a vest similar to one he saw at Ted Bakers. So, I had a look a Ravelry, but couldn't find one that I really liked. Thus I made up my own pattern.

Ted Baker vest, image source

Leschas vest

Construction: I measured Lescha (hips, waist, chest, shoulders...) and then calculated the number of stitches I needed corresponding to my gauze swatch. I knitted the vest bottom up and knitted fronts and back together, so that the vest does not have any side seams. Then I split fronts and back at the armholes and grafted them together at the shoulder seams. Finally I added a button band and buttons. But I have to admit, I got some ideas about the armhole and shoulder shaping from looking at other knitting patterns.

Next time: sway back adjustment

How long did it take? It took me only 3 weeks to knit the vest, including blocking, because I had loads of time over Christmas and even more on the airplane and train. I am not bothered anymore by people looking at me :P

See how that pulls? Makes me cringe. 

Does he like it? Yes he does! Not in the jumpy, happy, screamy way (my way, hihi), but he is wearing it.

Am I happy with it? I think it is a bit tight (he wanted it to have some negative ease and he also gained some weight over Christmas, buh) and tries to pull apart at the center front. It is an annoying sight, but hopefully with some time, everything will get a bit loose and fit better.

Side increases.

I know the vest does look different then the one from Ted Baker. I could have probably added the pockets and used different colored yarn, but honestly I just wanted to finish it so that I could start knitting a sweater for myself :) (Good that he is NOT reading my blog.)


New Year resolutions?
One thing that I noticed is that I am knitting more than sewing at the moment and that is not only because I like to snuggle on the couch. I think that is because I have so many sewing projects in my queue and so much fabric in my stash that I don't know where to start. But for the knitting, I am only having one project at the time at home and thus I don't have to decide with which one I should start next.

So, one of my New Year resolutions is to use up some more fabric from my stash and then try to keep it small, before buying new ones. Also, I will try not to buy any new patterns, before I have made the ones in my pattern box, ha! Have you seen Gails post (from today's agenda)? She and many other bloggers are currently on a stash diet and have set themselves some rules about using mostly stash fabrics and not (rarely) buying new fabrics. I really like that idea and will participate in the stash diet. What about you? Do you feel like you stash is crushing you?

Owl Christmas Jumper

Just in time for Christmas, I finished my knitted Owl Jumper. I am a little bit proud because it is my first knitted jumper (and my 2nd knitted garment) and I even made slight adjustments to the pattern.

Here come the owls!

Pattern: Owls by Kate Davies. When I saw it, I just fell in love with it because of the little owls at the neckline. Having been an owl fan even before the owl-trend started, I just couldn't resist!

See the little black buttons? Love that detail :)

Wool: Cascade Yarns Eco + in Merlot. Because of the color, I think it is suitable as a Christmas jumper, hehe.

Pretty from the back as well.

Construction: It took me only one and a half month, so pretty quick and easy :) You can see my Ravelry notes here, if you are interested. It took me longest to knit the sleeves! They were so boring, but otherwise it was fun :) (It was no fun, however, to sew on 40 little 5mm buttons, buh, took me a while.)

Look me in the eyes, hehe.

Have I worn it yet? Nope, because the UK weather is quite warm at the moment. But I will wear it in cold Germany, where it will keep me warm and cosy.

Do I like the jumper? I love it! The color, the fit, the OWLS!

One more to go, just because :)

Last one!