Ava

Next up in the FO Parade is Ava, a grandpa-style sweater in angora, designed by Kim Hargreaves.  For a long time I'd thought I wouldn't post this FO, but I decided to go ahead with it after all, because I really like the sweater.

Ava is one of the many lovely patterns in Kim Hargreaves' book Smoulder, published in September 2013.  (The Holt coat I made last fall is also in this book.)  Shortly after I got the book, I ordered the yarn to make this sweater, and cast on in December of 2013.  And shortly after that, there was a kerfuffle about angora yarns and mistreatment of rabbits.  There were LOTS of discussions on Ravelry forums about it, and although Rowan issued a statement that their angora was ethically sourced, a lot of knitters started to boycott angora across the board, and shortly thereafter Rowan discontinued the yarn.

By the time I became aware of all this (I don't actually read any of the forums on Ravelry!), I'd half finished the sweater.  And I had really mixed feelings about it - of course I don't want to support unethical and cruel treatment of animals, and yet Rowan claims this yarn does not fall in that category.  I slowly continued to knit on it, and finally finished all the pieces around April.  Just in time for warm weather! 

So it sat, in pieces, all summer long and through the early fall.  Around mid-October, I got it out again and slowly started to seam the pieces together.  I felt embarrassed to share about it because of all the anti-angora sentiment.

I finally decided that I would go ahead with it - I'd already purchased the yarn; any cruelty I'd unwittingly participated in had already been done.  But I hope that the statement Rowan made was true, and that this angora yarn is "clean."  It's a lovely sweater, despite my mixed feelings about it.

 

Ravelry notes here.

White :: Turquoise :: Coral

Here's the last outfit with my new Hazel dress, as mentioned in my last post:

Yes, I finished my Cameo sweater yesterday!  Gosh, it felt like it took forever to knit this, but according to my Ravelry page, it only took about 5 weeks.   Considering that I was using big yarn and big needles compared to what I'm used to, that seems slow.  But I wasn't able to work on this sweater for very long at any one time - the stiffness of the yarn was really hard on my hands and elbows.  Still, I love how this yarn wears - I wore one of my old sweaters knit from the same yarn every single day in San Francisco.  When I got home, I tossed it in the washer and dryer (delicate cycle on both) and it was good as new!

This is another fantastic pattern from Kim Hargreaves.  Aside from the sore hands and elbows thing, I really enjoyed working on this, and it was mostly knitting I didn't have to think about too much, so plenty of Netflix was watched during the making  of this garment.  I think the shape is amazing:  the wide sleeves are the same length as the body up to the armhole and slightly wider than the back piece, giving it a wonderful cape-like look when worn:

Here's how it looks spread out, to give an idea of the shape:

So boxy!  I love it!

I steam blocked my pieces like I always do, and then sewed the whole thing together using mattress stitch.  You can't even see the joins - it's my favorite way of joining pieces.

Here's a look from the back:

I am such a sucker for a deep raglan!  And by the way - white is very, VERY hard to photograph I discovered, so I'm sorry for the amateurish quality of these photos.  But you get the idea:  new sweater!

I'm also wearing a vintage necklace and bracelet, both plastic, both purchased a year or two ago on Etsy.  The bracelet is large on me, as you can see in the first photo, but I love it anyway.  And I've got Mac's Vegas Volt on my lips - my new favorite lipstick.

I'm thinking of wearing this outfit when we go out for dinner this weekend to celebrate our anniversary!

Cameo

So here's what I started after I frogged the ill-fated Pip:

Of course, it's another Kim Hargreaves design!  This one is from Whisper, the spring book released in 2011.  It's called Cameo, and it's a short open jacket with deep raglans.   Here it is on Kim's lovely model:

I've wanted to make this sweater since the book came out, and just before getting this spring's book, I ordered the yarn to make it.  Then I got distracted with the new release!  But since Pip didn't work out for me with the yarn I had on hand, I came back to this.

The sweater is knit in Rowan's All Seasons Cotton, a cotton/acrylic mix.  It's a yarn I've used before, and while I don't especially enjoy knitting with it, I do love the final result - it's a great weight for spring and summer and quite easy to care for.  One of my all-time favorite sweaters was made with this yarn.  It's a little more tedious this time because I had to go down a needle size to get gauge, so it's all quite stiff.  But I love this fabric:

I've been having a lot of missteps lately with my knitting, so I'm really hoping I can stay on track with this and actually finish it!

In which I show you my sweater and skirt.

Yesterday after I finished taking pictures of my Shifty dress, I popped on my new sweater and the skirt I made last month to go with it, so you can see how they look on a body.  Well, my body.  First up, here's the whole ensemble:

I liked that picture better than this one, but in this one you can see there's no under-arm poofiness going on with my sleeves - they turned out just the way I wanted them to.  Finally.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I put on the skirt since it's been finished.  I'm actually not crazy about the way it fits, and it certainly could have used a pass with the iron - it's been hanging in my closet for a month.  My weight has been fluctuating lately; I'm a little *poofy* at the moment, and I don't think this is the best style for a poofy tummy. 

Another thing which I found very interesting was the following:  I didn't take in my right side seam for my less-full right hip, because I thought the fullness of this skirt would camouflage it.  It does not.  And here's the really interesting bit:  I've noticed that when I don't do this adjustment, the clothing hangs in such a way to make my right hip actually look bigger than the left one!  Isn't perception weird?

Anyhoo  . . .  here are some close-ups of the lace, since you can't really see it in the above pictures:

I cropped out my veiny old lady hands.  You're welcome.

And one more, just because the first one wasn't centered.  I had a really hard time figuring out where to stand with the camera set on zoom!

I'm very happy with the fit of the sweater - it's just how I wanted.   Because my bust measures at 33", I always have to ponder a little before deciding whether to use the instructions for the 32" or 34" bust.  This time I chose the 32" because I wanted a slightly closer fit.  I don't always make the right choice, but this time I did!

Lou

Thank you all for your lovely compliments on my sweater yesterday!  As soon as I'd finished that one, I got started on something I don't have to think much at all about:  I can watch TV while I work on this one!  Yay!

My new sweater is a rather old Kim Hargreaves design, from Rowan 33 way back in 2002:

Lou by Kim Hargreaves, Rowan 33

I've wanted to make this sweater ever since the magazine was published, but could never find a combination of colors I thought would be versatile enough for me.  Last week it dawned on me that this design would work equally well in a solid color; I could really see it in a sunny yellow.  And I just happened to have seven balls of Calmer in Freesia:

So yesterday afternoon, with Doctor Who to entertain me, I got started:

I'm surprised that until I cast this on, there were no projects on Ravelry for this pattern - in fact, the pattern itself wasn't even in the database until I added it yesterday!  I think it's a very cute and wearable design.

I haven't shown nails in quite a while, but I couldn't resist today.  I just bought the Misa Fresh and Fruity collection based on these swatches, and was excited to try out Peach Passion.  The color wasn't what I was expecting based on those swatches, but I really love it - it's the perfect shade of melon:

It's quite a bit brighter in real life - it was still pretty cloudy when I took this picture.  I've only recently started using Misa polishes, and I really love them.  I haven't come across one wonky brush or icky formula.  Win!

Ghia

I've been feeling kind of uninspired by all three of my current knitting WIPs for the last couple weeks, but almost finishing the skirt the other day lit a fire under me to get back to my Geno sweater, which I've renamed Ghia.  As I explained on my project page, in my family there's a Gino, a Tino and a Nino - but this is a very feminine sweater, so I gave it my family nickname, Ghia.  And yes, we're Italian! 

I'd finished the back about a week and a half ago, but was procrastinating about the fronts.  The pattern is a 26-row repeat, and not very easy to memorize for me.  But I've finished the first repeat, and I think it's lovely:

I've read that there are some problems with the chart for the right front.  This is the left front.  You really have to pay attention here:  there's just one chart for all the sizes, so the lace pattern isn't centered.  I'm making the smallest size and in some places, the first stitch is a yarn over.  In order to neaten up the edge for sewing later, I cast on an extra stitch at the side seam edge and am working this as a garter stitch selvedge.

 

As I usually do, I lined up a sticky note at the edge of my size so that I'm not distracted by stitches from the other sizes.  One of the tricky things about this pattern is that the yarn overs at the side edge are not always "balanced" by a decrease, so if you're not careful the stitch count can easily grow.  To remind me of places where I need to decrease an extra stitch to avoid this, I highlighted the yarn overs that are unbalanced.  Of course I made a mistake and highlighted one that is balanced, so I still have to pay close attention, LOL!

I put down my other sweater a few weeks ago after knitting the whole back and deciding it was too small, then ripping it out and starting over.  At that point the weather was warming up.  But now we're below freezing again!  March, why you gotta do me like that?!

Rowan

In the last week, I've added three issues to my collection of Rowan Knitting Magazine:

On top is issue 53 - for spring and summer.  This one is causing something of a kerfuffle on the Rowan Love ravelry group.  It contains a large amount of intarsia patterns with dropped shoulders, which is making folks kind of grumpy!  On my first pass I found exactly one pattern I might consider knitting.  Rather a disappointment.

I've been slowly adding to my collection over the last couple of years, in hopes of making it complete.  A couple weeks ago, I found two early issues at a relatively reasonable price, and went ahead and ordered them:

Rowan 4, from 1988

Rowan 8, from 1990

As you'd expect, there's a whole lot of oversized, drop-shoulder action going on in these two issues, as well as intarsia and stranded knitting which contains more than 2 colors per row.  Example:

Yikes!

Not super useful at the moment without a lot of alteration.  But a collection isn't really about being useful, is it?  I did fall in love with this ski sweater from issue 8 though:

I've been subscribing to Rowan since issue 21 (1997), and have managed to fill in over the years to the point where I'm only missing 6 issues:  the extremely elusive numbers 1 and 3 (when it pops up on Ebay, #1 sells for well over $100), along with numbers 5, 10, 12 and 14.

Today I decided to wear the first Rowan sweater I ever knit, from issue 21, the first magazine I received as a subscription.  I made this probably the following summer, so around 1998, and I still love it.  I remember finishing it up on our trip to Turkey, and walking to the little fabric shop with my mother-in-law to find the buttons for it.  Good times . . .

please excuse the mirror pic - it's all I have time for at the moment!

Yeeeeeeeears ago (1991) when I moved to St. Louis, there was a craft store called Leewards.  I'm pretty sure it was a chain, although I never saw one anywhere else.  It was similar to a Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  I would regularly find balls of 100% wool (even Shetland), usually German or Russian brands, for ONE dollar!  Every time I saw some in a color I liked, I would buy 15 or 20.  This sweater is made from one of those yarns.  It was a sad day for me when they closed their doors.

April, from Rowan 21

You can see from this and the first picture that this is a fairly boxy silhouette, as per the norm of the day.  I love the diamond stitch pattern, and my favorite part of this sweater is the notched collar.

So impeccable.  Any guesses as to the designer?  That's right:  Kim Hargreaves!  I'm starting to think I should make her her own tag, her name comes up so often here!

Are any of you Rowan collectors?  I'm curious if the back issues are easier to find in the UK than they are here.  It seems that the early issues that come up on Ebay are often in the UK, and it makes me wonder if they surface in thrift shops or garage sales.  Do they do garage sales* over there?  Please enlighten me!


*Garage sales seem to me to be a part of American culture, but I'm not really sure if this is true!  Over the summer, we took Niecey-poo to a garage sale, just as a point of interest about American culture.  She wasn't overly impressed!  They don't have garage sales in Turkey.  Because mostly they don't have garages, at least not where our family lives!

Moar yellow, pleez

Yesterday afternoon I wore my new Miette sweater for a very special occasion:  I had my first blogger buddy meet-up!  It was so fun!  I met new knitter, blogger, MMMer and Miette KALer Alicia from Iron-On Maiden - seriously, isn't that one of the best blog names ever?  Alicia is sweet, funny and articulate - all my favorite things - and she's practically Sewing Royalty because she has met and been fabric shopping with the one and only Peter of Male Pattern Boldness!

I had meant to take a couple pictures, but we tore through almost 2 hours talking and comparing notes about knitting and sewing and I completely forgot!  Oh well - next time!

So instead you get some pictures of the new sweater I started the other day.  This one is actually from my list too!  Meet the beginnings of my Antibes:

Have I mentioned I love yellow?  This is some 4-Ply Cotton I stashed a couple years ago when it was discontinued.  Since that time I've been working my way through all I bought, and have so far made six sweaters.  This is number seven, and I've got enough for one more after this.  I do love this yarn and wish it hadn't been discontinued.  The new version, Siena, isn't quite the same.

Anyway, this is a short-sleeved polo shirt, and the stripes are somewhat textured:

Which is nice, because it keeps the work from being too boring, but it's got enough stockinette to keep it from being too "thinky" also.

This evening's knitting, however, will be some swatches to use in taking macro photos to show you all a couple things about picking up stitches for the button bands.  I thought it would be easier to show on plain stockinette - and also, I was just dying to finish my sweater!

The Miette post I do on buttonbands will probably be the last of the KAL, unless someone has a topic they need help with that they'd like a separate post on.  I'm also considering moving questions to the flickr group discussion board after the last post.  I think it will be a little easier for me to keep track of that way.  Anybody have any ideas or requests regarding this?

Are you ready for some Grey Wall?

I sure hope so, because I want to show you my new Winnie sweater!  I'm so happy with the way it came out!

Outfit details:
Winnie sweater
Eloise tank
J.Crew cotton/linen lawn skirt, circa 2007
Camper Laura T-strap wedge

Closer up:  note the dropped shoulders.

I was really careful to match the stripes
everywhere.

The ribbing at the waist pulls in
a lot.

Back view.  Nails are Essie Camera.

Unbuttoned.

Angled armscye.  I blocked the pieces with steam like I normally
do, but pressed out the seams with a dry iron and a damp
pressing cloth.  Shoulder, side and sleeve seams are done in
mattress stitch, and sleeves are set in with backstitch.

Nifty buttons!  Neck and button bands
are picked up and knit after sewing the
pieces together.

I'm having an at-home day today, so I'm not actually wearing it, but I really liked this outfit and I'm looking forward to wearing it out into the world soon!

Something new, times two.

I spent the day with Sergio and Ken yesterday, and came away with two new skirts!

The first is one I'd started earlier in the week, Simplicity 2314.  A very simple, four-panel flared skirt with lapped side zipper.  I bought the pattern in the fall with a specific purpose in mind.  Ever since 1997, I've wanted to recreate this outfit from Rowan 22:

I just love everything about it:  the sweater (which of course is a Kim Hargreaves design), the skirt, the tights and sandals, the scarf, the beret.  But fall and winter passed, and I never got around to it.

Last month I was doing a little online fabric shopping and saw this Anna Maria Horner fabric.  I got fooled by my monitor into thinking it would be a good match for my Winnie sweater.  I was wrong.  But I do love the fabric.  And I'm pleasantly surprised by the fit of the skirt.

The pattern is a "Learn to Sew" pattern, and it actually took me a while to make - there were too many directions!  I know, that's the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?  Anyway, this is a straight size 12.  It sits on my natural waist and fits everywhere!  All four vertical seams are perfectly straight, and my hips are not, so I wasn't sure it would work for me.

Trying to show you the side zip.

Once I finished that one up, I made yet another Ginger skirt - this time in a coral pink that's almost the same as my kimono dress.  I told you I love this color!  It goes with SO many tops I have, some of which I haven't been able to wear for a long time for lack of a bottom piece.  I tried a bunch of them on yesterday with the skirt, and Hubby was doing a little critique of which pieces he thought went best.  Too precious!

Did anybody else do any crafting over the weekend?  We don't celebrate Easter or Passover, but we did have a very lovely day outside in the beautiful spring weather on Saturday.  And I got my weekly banh mi!