In the absence of sewing, here’s what I’ve been knitting

I don’t know what happened in 2022, but it was definitely a year of Knitting rather than Sewing. Maybe I had enough clothes already and didn’t feel the need to sew much. But this winter has definitely required a few more big cosy jumpers.

I’m going to start, though, with the year-long Temperature Dress, because this has definitely been my major knitting project, and I’ve mentioned it before on this blog and a lot more on Instagram. I referenced it early in the year, then in my Me-Made May round-up. And now it’s all finished!

This dress makes me so happy!

I love it when something that’s in your head becomes something real!

This was a self drafted top-down raglan jumper, that I just carried on knitting until the end of December 2022, one row for each day, leading to a midi-length dress. The colours were determined by the noon temperature, so it wasn’t necessarily the top daily temperature. The temperature range was in 4°C bands and the colours ranged from white (0° and under), to cloud blue, to aster, to wisteria, to magenta, to fuchsia purple, plum, emperor, and finally, for 29° and over, black. I was using Stylecraft Special DK, which is acrylic, because I’m going to be wearing this close to my skin, and I don’t want any kind of itchiness. Also, it’s a lot more washable – this needs to be a practical garment.

I have to confess this dress went through a few changes of plan, in terms of the pattern and also the colours I used. I didn’t really think my colour scheme through at the start, and looking back at it, the graduations aren’t very smooth. But that’s ok, I think it still provides a strong visual of how warm 2022 was. New year’s day 2022 was magenta (13-16°) and I was still using magenta in December. I didn’t use the white at all until the middle of December.

I’ve learned a few lessons that I’m taking forward into the Temperature Dress for 2023.

I needed this to look and feel different so I’m using Scheepjes Softfun, which is a cotton/acrylic mix, and this will, hopefully be more of a spring/summer style of dress. It’s a DK yarn, like the 2022 dress, but when I knitted up a swatch, it worked better with a slightly smaller needle, so I think this one will be a smidge shorter. If you want to follow its progress, I’m using the hashtag #TemperatureDress on Instagram

These colours are so pretty!

Moving away from the long-term makes, I ended up making three fairly chunky jumpers. The first one was the Mayflower Jumper (because that’s the name of this pretty violet-blue yarn).

The Mayflower Jumper

This was self-drafted. Nothing complicated. I moved away from the all-in-one construction, and knitted this flat. I wanted a stand up collar, and I think I nailed it! The yarn was Scheepjes Chunky Monkey, and I love it, I’m definitely going to knit with it again. It comes in lovely colours, and it’s got a soft, almost cottony, feel.

Then I got very inspired (still am), by the amazing Laerke Bagger, and decided I wanted to knit one of her jumpers. I was wanting to do her Alone Together Sweater, which was a free knitalong pattern she did for her instagram during the pandemic, but I was knitting from leftovers and stash and general oddments, and I didn’t have enough of a single base colour, so it’s sort of vaguely inspired by the ATS, but different. Basically it’s a big oversize chunky jumper and it’s so cosy! This is the jumper you put on, when you want to delay putting the central heating on, because leftover and stash yarn is free (right?), and therefore much cheaper than electricity.

The Put a Jumper On Jumper

I love Laerke’s easygoing attitude to knitting (“just tie knots…”), and the simplicity of the construction (crocheted slip stitch). And one day I’m definitely going to make the Alone Together Sweater properly.

Then around the middle of December, when we had the cold snap, I felt an overpowering impulse to cast on another big chunky jumper. I had no chunky wool in my stash. But what I did have was a load of leftover DK in pinks and purples, from the Temperature Dress that I knew I wouldn’t be needing for the rest of 2022, and a recent history of knitting with different yarns together. So I started the Impulse Jumper.

The Impulse Jumper

Not gonna lie, the impulse was poorly thought through. This was another self-drafted top down raglan, and I didn’t have a plan. It ended up being massively too big, and I should have tried it on earlier in the process, because then I might not have had to rip it all back and totally re-knit it. But you learn from these experiences, don’t you? To borrow the carpentry adage, next time I will know to measure twice and cut once. But I do love it!

If you’re interested in the full details of all these projects, I documented them all on my Ravelry account. I usually write my notes there, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness flow, as I’m going along, so you get the down and dirty info there!

Knitting Bright

Well, today was the first Jumper day of the autumn. This was my summer knitting project (running alongside my Temperature dress). I do love a cardigan, but I’ve not had a brilliant result with cardigans from other patterns, so I thought maybe working it out for myself would be more successful. It’s done me ok with the self-drafted jumpers I’ve made recently.

I still prefer the speed of an aran, or a chunky, but I’ve come to appreciate a DK yarn. I looked at all the lovely Stylecraft Special DK colours online (at Wool Warehouse), and opted for “Bright Pink” and it turns out Stylecraft don’t mess around when they’re naming their colours. It really, really is. I debated with myself on how to deal with the brightness of it, and it turns out “lean into it” was the way.

My design concept was a top-down, circular yoke, all-in-one kind of thing, with moss stitch edgings. I did write a pattern down, based on my measurements and my knitting tension, but I was tinkering with it as I went along. I was aiming for vaguely Chanel jacket vibes. I think it ended up pretty close to the image I had in my head for this before I started, so that’s a win.

A very bright pink jumper

One thing I’m kicking myself about, is that I got the buttonholes on the wrong (boys’) side, but by the time I’d realised it, I’d got about a third of the way down, and I couldn’t do anything about it without undoing the whole thing, and ain’t no-one got time for that. I’m considering it a design feature, and a lesson learned. To be honest, once it’s done up, I don’t think anyone would particularly notice.

I originally had the idea of adding black pompoms to tie in with the black buttons. But when it came to it, I decided against them, as they looked a bit too clownish.

So it’s all done & dusted and I’m calling it the Cherry Cardigan.

Ready for a very bright autumn

P.S. I’ve got another jumper completed, so hopefully there’ll be another knitting post soon.

Some Knitting

I’ve been knitting more than sewing over the last few months. When I say “more than sewing”, what I mean is, I’ve done hardly any sewing at all. It’s a combination of factors. Firstly, I don’t really need any more clothes right now. I’ve got a full wardrobe, and with all the working from home and not going places much, I haven’t felt that I’m lacking in appropriate clothing choices of a morning. Secondly, my sewjo pretty much always goes awol in the winter months, so no change there.

But mainly, my niece has just had a baby this very morning, so the last few months have been focussed on knitting snuggly winter baby things for her beautiful boy.

I’m still waiting on buttons to arrive for the blue & white stripy jumper

It’s so nice to knit baby things, they’re so small, and they get finished in no time. I’ve used the smallest size on all the patterns I’ve used, but they’ve all come up in different sizes, so at least mum will have a selection as he gets bigger. I’ve used this Plain & Simple Baby Cardigan pattern as the base for most of the cardigans/jumpers, but I used the Wee Stripes Pullover pattern for the blue & white stripy one, and patterns from Cheval Blanc Laines, that I got in France in the summer.

I’m now in the process of using up my white blue and red yarn, in a tiny colour block cardigan, using a new pattern.

And while I’m on the subject of knitting, I’ve started a major project – a Temperature Dress. For those not in the know, knitters and crocheters have been in the habit of making blankets that record the temperature for each day of the year, by colour. Since I don’t need blankets, but I do like knitting clothing, I decided to try this, but making a dress. I didn’t have a pattern already picked out, so I decided to do what I’ve done on my last couple of jumpers, and that is, work it out for myself, based on my knitting tension and my measurements. I’ve already made a couple of “top-down” raglan jumpers, knitted in the round, and that seemed like a good start. Using one row per day would make it basically a long jumper!

The Temperature Dress so far

I haven’t quite worked out what I’m going to do about the sleeves yet. My initial thought was to keep the dress sleeveless, but since it’s going to be a winter wear dress, it would make more sense to have sleeves on it. I’m not sure of the practicalities of knitting them as I go, but I don’t have to worry about that until mid March, when I get to the end of the raglans, so I’ve got time to work things out!

I decided to use Stylecraft Special DK, because I needed a wide colour range, and I needed this to be an easily washable garment. I decided on double knit, as my yarn weight, because it was going to knit up to the right sort of length for a dress. I think it’s going to end up a bit below knee length.

My rules for determining what the colour is for each day is that it’s the temperature at noon, where I live, unless I’m on holiday, in which case it’s the noon temperature wherever I am on holiday. I’m using this website (Historical weather data for any location | Visual Crossing) to verify my data.

Cool to Warm

I decided on a blue-through-to-purple colour range, and got myself eight different colours. Then I had to decide on what temperature range to apply for each colour. I started by looking at average temperatures for where I live, over the last few years, to get an idea of what the range this year might be. I’ve gone for increments of 4°C, with white being my “anything 0° or lower” colour and the colours going from pale blue (1-4°C), through to lilac and on to a deep berry purple (25°C and over). Since starting, though, I’ve made a mental note that if it looks like it’s going to get REALLY hot, I’ve still got the option to add a deep midnight purple for 25° or more. But I’m not going to buy that yarn unless it starts looking likely that I’ll need it! Plus I’m adding in a strand of silver, on the 1^st day of each month and I’ll also add it at the end, on 31^st December.

So far it’s going well, but ask me again in March, when the rows are longest!

The Go It Alone Christmas Jumper

My first ever Christmas Jumper

I like having something new for Christmas. I haven’t sewn much this year, because I haven’t really had any need for new clothes, with all of the working from home, and all the not meeting people. But once the nights start getting earlier, knitting becomes a good outlet for creativity and makery.

This jumper had its origins in April/May 2019. I started and damn near finished the Sewrella My First Holiday Sweater. It’s a fab jumper, but it’s very boxy, and the shape just wasn’t working for me. I put it in the pile of things to think about, and by summer this year, I’d come to accept that despite all that work, it was time to frog it, and use the yarn for something new that would be more flattering on me. I wanted to use the lovely colourwork again, but have something a bit more close-fitting. Whatever pattern I used, I knew I’d have to adapt to suit the colourwork repetitions. I decided to Go It Alone, and write my own pattern.

My last three jumpers (apart from the ill-fated First Holiday Sweater, have been based on the Jenifer Stark Nutmeg pattern which I’ve tinkered with each time, to suit what I was aiming for. (It’s no longer very recognisable as that original, but credit where it’s due). They have been knitted top down, and I have no idea why but I decided to go bottom up for this one, probably because the first thing I wanted to change was the ribbing at the hem. I did a sample square to check my tension, and used that to work out how many stitches and rows I would need to make the basic torso, how many increases I would need to make my sleeve widen as I knitted it up, how the yoke would join, and how much I’d need to decrease to get to the neck. You never realise as a child how much you will use Maths for fun.

I wasn’t making it up as I went along – I had a plan – but I did find that I adapted slightly as I knitted, and

Obviously, the most fun thing was working out the colourwork. I used the Sewrella pattern as my starting point, but I needed it to be a bit longer, and I needed to fit in a different decreasing pattern. If you’re that interested, I’ve put the chart, as well as all my construction details, on my Ravelry Project page.

I started this project at the end of November, and I’m thrilled that I’ve got it finished this quickly. I am literally going to be wearing it all week.

Merry Christmas!

 

A couple of finished projects

Lovely and warm!

The holiday cardigan was finished a while ago but today is the first time I’ve actually worn it. I’m pleased with myself for two reasons. Firstly,  I was adapting a pattern on the fly, to suit my sizing and what I wanted for this cardigan. I knitted this in the round rather than in pieces, which meant a fair bit of head-scratching maths when it came to splitting the body for the sleeves, and calculating the Raglan decreases. I took out the eyelet detail on the Raglan decreases from the original pattern and added a bit of lace patterning just after the ribbing, instead, for interest.

Secondly, I was using buttons that I made myself!!! I took a pottery workshop at the Farnham Maltings on Buttons and Beads, two years ago, and I made two sets of buttons, these and some smaller ones. These were decorated with a fern press. I’m keeping the others for the time I nerve myself to make a shirt or shirtdress.

It’s really tricky capturing that texture!

The cardigan is proper toasty and such a glorious berry colour that I can see myself wearing it a lot over the winter months.
The second finished project is a top, which has been in the Work in Progress pile for months! All it needed was hemming, and I finally got round to it at the weekend.

This top is made in the same aubergine ponte that I used for the stretch skirt I’ve been wearing since March. They were always intended to go together.  I used the same self drafted pattern that I used for the Cairo top. It works but it feels very plain. I might try to tart it up with some beading, or possibly embroidery.

Matching with the skirt

I’ll have to wear it layered with a cardigan for the next few months, since we’re moving into Needing Sleeves weather. I’m determined not to wear tights until the start of October though!

Ready for the cold weather

And finally… a bit of holiday knitting

Once I was finished with the Holiday Sewing, I had my final project to deal with. A couple of years ago, I started on a Hetty cardigan, which I got almost all the way through knitting (and I knit *really* slowly), before realising that it didn’t work for me and my figure, and I don’t have the knitting skills to grade on the fly. It just didn’t look right. So this summer, I bit the bullet and ripped the whole thing back. The. Whole. Thing. I was gutted.

But I had another pattern to work with, for a straightforward raglan cardigan, one which I have already used, so I knew it reasonably well, and would feel more confident adapting to my own particular shape. And I really love the colour of this yarn, so I’m glad it’s going to be becoming a better thing.

And I was doing some hard-core adapting! The pattern is drafted for a pair of needles, and I’d only brought a circular needle (because that’s what the Hetty had been knitted on), so I was pulling together all the body pieces, to knit them as one piece, from the bottom up, and then I had to work out how I was going to add the sleeves, which again, I was knitting in the round rather than flat. That took me a while to figure out, but I got there. I was also knitting a smaller size than I’d used before, because my last one of these cardigans was very slouchy and loose, and I wanted something a bit more close fitting. I had to do a lot of maths to get it to all work out.

A little over half way

I decided to take out the little bit of raglan lace patterning that is in the original pattern, because I didn’t see the point, I like a nice clear raglan decrease. But I added some patterning in the body and sleeves to make sure it wasn’t all plain.

I generally get very bored with knitting because it’s so slow, but I can quite a lot done on holiday. The challenge is to keep going once I’m back from my hols. I managed to get about 4/5 of the body & sleeves done while I was away, including while I was waiting at Calais to be let into the check-in queue at the Eurotunnel.

Car knitting

I’ve now finished the body, and I need to get the collar and buttonbands done. I’ve got some lovely buttons lined up for this, so I’m posting this very much as a driver towards me actually finishing this cardigan.

Wish me luck!

Another cardigan under way

I’ve started knitting another cardigan today. It’s one of Andi Satterlund’s patterns, Hetty.

Pink knitting

This is my first attempt at knitting with circular needles. They feel a bit weird! I’m getting more used to it, but it still feels rather strange having little tiny needles in hand rather than long ones.

The lace pattern’s nice and easy to follow. Although, having said that, I’ve still managed to cock it up a couple of times. Fortunately I noticed in enough time not to have too much to undo. Things will get trickier when I have to start adding the fronts to the back. This is another first- I’ve never done one of these Top-down all-in-one patterns. It’s all an adventure!

The photo isn’t showing the colour faithfully, and I’m too lazy to futz around with editing it. It’s a darker pink- think of blackcurrant sorbet and you’d be in closer territory.

A long Me Made Weekend

Day 27 already and I can’t believe I’ve got all this way through Me Made May and have managed to wear something I’ve made or refashioned every single day. I’d been slightly dubious about it, hence I’d hedged my bets with a 5-days-a-week pledge, but I’ve surprised myself. A full Reflections and Lessons Learned post will be forthcoming once May is properly finished.

Onto the photos… As previously noted, we’re well onto repeats now, unless I surprise myself and manage to make something new in the next two evenings.

Day 23 – Friday

A bit grungy!

Friday I was at my volunteer job, and it’s generally very casual. I was wearing my pre-blog long tunic-y t-shirt dress. Styled with yoga pants and a hoodie. I thought it was all a bit grungy and down at heel, but my volunteer boss said I was glamorous because I was wearing animal print!

I was *this* close to saying “hang the photographing, I’m tired” on Friday evening.

Day 24 – Saturday

A new make! The Slouchy Teal Cardigan

Aha! A new item! The previously mentioned Me Made Cardigan. I should have known better than to say it was too warm for using in May. That was just tempting Providence, wasn’t it? It turned cold over the weekend, so although I didn’t think I’d be wearing it much for a few months yet, I pulled it out of the cupboard. It’s a bit formless and unflattering, but it’s toasty and it’s the first jumper I’ve knitted for myself in a good 20 years, so I’m cutting myself some slack, and calling it “slouchy” rather than shapeless.

The leggings are also me-made, repeated from Day 9.

Day 25 – Features one of my lovely nieces

Saying goodbye to my eldest niece. Inadvertent colour co-ordination.

My eldest niece*, Sophie, is off to the far end of the planet in the next couple of weeks, she’s flying to New Zealand for a year or two. Or maybe more. I can’t help fearing that some hunky rugby player will steal her heart and keep her there. Her leaving party was on Sunday. Although I didn’t realise it when deciding what to wear, I wore the perfect dress (repeated from Day 14), as the colour scheme for the party was lime green and blue (hence the pompoms).

Most of the guests were the nieces’ friends, it made me feel very old as they were all in their teens and early twenties! But they’re all such nice kids. Eldest niece already knew about MMM as she’d taken the Eurovision evening photo, and, bless her, she was telling her friends all about it.

Day 26 

Selfie Fail

Monday (being traditional British Bank Holiday Weather) ended up being a stay in and hunker down day. I wore jimjams for much of it! But I acknowledged that my pyjamas are not me-made. Lesson learned. Next MMM, I’m going to need a cosy onesie or something like, so that if I need to take a duvet day, I can do so within the terms of the challenge.

So I got dressed for the afternoon. Another repeat for the easy-peasy floral hi-lo circle skirt. This is turning into my go-to comfy weekend wear.

I totally failed to photograph myself in it.

Day 27 – Back to work

Total outfit repeat!

This is a complete repeat from Day 12. In the same outfit too, only the shoes are different. I feel like I’m letting the side down! I love this skirt but today has been a trifle windy, and the walk to my office is a passageway up a hill which acts like a wind tunnel, and I’ve had a fair few Marilyn Monroe moments- eeek!

I just spotted I have “orbs” in this photo. Indeed I have orbs on my orbs. How ghostly! Some say these offices are haunted- it’s an old school, and there’s rumours of a ghost of an especially fierce headmaster, but this particular office is apparently the old lavatory block, and I’ve never heard of a haunted lav!

 

Only four more days to go! Thursday, Friday and Saturday are going to need some planning, because I’m off to France for the weekend.

 

* I am very blessed in the Niece department. I’ve got eight of them, and two nephews. Eldest niece is 22, and Youngest Niece is 5.

Pretty Summer Splodges Skirt

I finished hemming the skirt last night. Hooray, another thing for Me Made May!

The Pretty Summer Splodges skirt

And another shot, because I like it

 

I hadn’t realised when I bought this fabric, that it’s got a bit of stretch. Not that it made any difference to what I wanted to do with it- the fabric shouldn’t get any significant stretch-age in use. It did mean that where the shopkeeper ripped the fabric along the grain to cut off my bit of it, it had puckered a bit, but I don’t think it affected what I was doing.

This skirt is “self-drafted”, as I don’t exactly need a pattern to cut fabric in half lengthways, sew the sides together, put in a zip, gather the top and whack on a waistband.

It did involve a ridiculous amount of hand sewing. I hand-picked the zip, because I like the control that it gives me. I did the gathering by hand and I finished the waistband off by hand, because I haven’t mastered stitching in the ditch convincingly. And of course, I sewed on the hook and bar by hand. And then I hemmed it all by hand. I went for a deepish hem, as I wanted the skirt to be a bit short and summery, and I like the weight that a deeper hem gives (all the better for twirling!). I used invisible thread, to avoid the wrong colour showing through, and I’m happy with the results. I did find the threading of needles and tying knots were a bit of a challenge though, with my appalling eyesight!

While I was sewing, I was thinking about how I could style this skirt. I knew this grey top would go with it perfectly and I think I’ve got a couple of pink t-shirts that would tie in with the pink elements. But I can see a need for a couple of plain white tops to go with this now. Or red maybe.

I do love this skirt! It’s so pretty! And Twirly!

How do you get twirly skirt shots to not be blurry?

 

In other Makey news… I finished the Teal Cardigan. It’s lovely and toasty, but not really a thing of beauty. It’s a bit shapeless and not particularly flattering. It’s quite tight-fitting in the sleeves, but it’s unshaped in the torso, which doesn’t really do much for my body shape. It will be very snug and warm for the Winter. Not much use to me in May. Since it’s the first jumper I’ve knitted in at least 20 years (baby clothes don’t count) I’m treating it as a getting-back-into-it exercise. I’ll have to find a way of wearing it that doesn’t make me look like a sack of potatoes.

And this morning, I received a Parcel Of Joy! I was lucky enough to win SewMuch2Learn‘s Ultimate Blog Challenge Celebratory Giveaway. I won the pretty chambray with coloured dots. When I opened the parcel it was even prettier than her photo. It’s a beautiful cloudy bluey grey and its SO soft to the touch! I’m going to be making something with it very soon, because I don’t want it to simply shift from one person’s stash to another- it needs using and wearing and enjoying and being seen.

Beautiful chambray

And now I have to crack on with the selfless sewing for littlest niece.

Driveby…

I have bought enough wool to make a cardigan with (two giant balls of Wendy’s Aran), and I’ve just realised that the teal/petrol blue colour is almost exactly the same as a cardigan I knitted for myself when I was about 18. That one was much more interesting as it had exciting colours added in, in slightly Fair Isle stylee.

Wool, plus a cd case (very topically Kate Bush) for size comparison- it really is a ginormous ball of wool

I have started knitting it up, but I’m a slow knitter, so expect a “finished” post some time around Winter 2016/17-ish.

Edited to Add – I’m on Ravelry with this.