Last September I asked you guys to cast your vote on what yarn I should use to knit the featherweight cardigan, and you chose lace weight strandavarious.
FO: featherweight champion <– ravelry project page
Pattern: Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: Laceweight Strandavarious, somewhere in the neighborhood of 600-700 yards
Needles: US size 6 (4.0mm)
This was a fairly uneventful knit. The pattern is clear and easy to follow, so it was just miles of stockinette as I made my way through. I made it a shorter as I don’t have as many cardigans that work well with the skirts I tend to wear at my natural waist, so I thought I’d make this one fit that bill. I don’t mind how it looks with a longer tee, either. This did leave quite a bit of the skein leftover though.
As suspected, I preferred the reverse stockinette side. I made sure to sew in my ends in carefully so they wouldn’t be visible from either side, and I picked up stitches for the collar 2 stitches in to create a tidy ‘visible seam’ look. This is what I’m most proud of in this knit. I also did a sewn tubular bind off. It’s a bit of work, but it really makes the finished product feel polished, you know?
I would absolutely use this pattern again. It makes a very wearable cardigan. Next time, I’d probably opt for a slightly longer cardigan.
FO: Geode Hat <– Ravelry Project Page
Pattern: Diode Hat by Erica-knits
Yarn: Mirasol Yarn Nuna in Purple, about 1.5 skeins just under 300 yards.
Needles: US size 2, 2.75mm
Mods: None!
I love these bobbles! I really like knitting bobbles, and I find them fun fun fun, but admittedly, sometimes they can be a little overpowering or silly looking on knits for adults. So I love that Erica made it more about a small, all over texture, both by using a less bulky yarn (sport weight) and bringing down the size by reducing stitches. It ends up feeling classic and ladylike! Erica’s original version in navy looks especially classic to me.
This is also the first time I’ve knit a double thick brim. I’ve seen it around the knitting world, and contemplated how nice it must be in the dead of winter, but never actually tried it myself!
As a knit, this is a good on-the-go knit. Once you’ve got the hang of the bobbles, it’s a fairly meditative knit that fits well in a (large) purse. But I assume knitters really only carry large purses. The yarn is a silk, wool, bamboo blend, and it is really delightfully soft. It should satisfy any friends with wool-uncertainties in terms of softness. The silk really contributed to the slouch factor here. I’m kind of tempted to knit it again in a more robust wool for the kind of lovely cheeky wintry height that it seems very capable of.
here’s the song this sweater is named after:
originially written by jacques brel, but i tend to prefer nina simone’s versions of practically every song she sang. this is definitely my favorite song by her. it translates to ‘don’t leave me’.
anyways! sweater!
FO: ne me quitte pas <– ravelry project page
pattern: the ever popular aidez
yarn: cascade eco plus in amethyst heather, approximately 1.6 skeins, 765 yards
needles: US size 10 (6mm)
size made: 36
mods: none!
i mentioned this while i was in the progress of knitting this, but i was quite impressed with the cabled aspects of this knit. the pattern is set up in such a way that you are only working on one traditional cable (read: needs a cable needle) at a time, and all other ‘cabling’ uses little tricks to make them look more complicated than they are. ingenious! and actually, the trellis cable on the back is the only intense cable there is, requiring active cabling on all right side rows. the seed wishbone cable, on the fronts and sleeves, only requires active cabling one out of every 8 rows.
i used the three needle bind off for the neck, same as practically everyone else, and i’m quite pleased with how it looks. i originally knit the neck as was called for, but while seaming the sweater, i thought i might need more fabric at the neck. so i knit up some additional length in the neck, sewed in the numerous ends, and wore it one day like that. the neck looked like this:
constantly gapping at the back of the neck. it also made the shoulders feel looser, and as an open front cardigan, it kind of constantly felt like it was about to slip off my shoulders. not ideal. so i dug out all of my sewn in ends, pulled it back to the called for length, and re-finished the neck, and it is much much better.
i hadn’t wet blocked it yet when we took these pictures, just steamed the pieces for seaming. honestly, i was wearing it too frequently! i didn’t want to have it out of commission while i waited for it to dry. but it was just a smidgen tight. not unwearably so, or uncomfortably so. i wet blocked it two days ago, and it loosened up a bit, to a very comfortable fit.
i knit the fronts and the sleeves two at a time, which allowed me to perfectly duplicate all shaping, and i’ve found i am not gripped by the malaise that accompanies having to knit a second exact duplicate to something i just finished. i’m now using this technique for all pairs of knitted objects.
i made a few errors, such as knitting the ribbing for the fronts two rows shorter than the backs. but i didn’t find out that i had done so until i seamed them together. it doesn’t bother me at all, but i was mildly grumpy to find out about errors so late in the game, when even contemplating fixing them meant scratching entire sections of knitting to get back to a place where i could fix them.
i am quite pleased with my seaming on this knit. this isn’t the first time i’ve seamed, but it is the first time i’ve made a fully seamed garment!
i like it in purple a lot. i like how visible the cables are in the lighter natural tones that most aidez’s seem to be knit in, but i already own a few cardigans in those colors, so this should be a better addition to my wardrobe.
november passed in what felt like the blink of an eye! i feel out of the loop! i’m definitely behind on my blogging. again. how were your thanksgivings, to those who celebrated it? how were your novembers? did they feel as brief as mine?
FO: sloe berries
pattern: gin and tonic, by the talented julie
yarn: cascade 220 in heathered blue purple
needles: US size 6 (4.0mm) for the ribbing, US size 8 (5.0mm) for the rest
i don’t have much to say about this project. i pretty much knit it according to the pattern. i think i pulled the sitch count down by one or two repeats, but that is it!
okay, so this doesn’t have anything to do with gin & tonics, but while i was writing up this blog post, my thoughts meandered back to the cutest drinkers in cinema history, nick & nora, and this clip of nora keeping pace with her husband:
the specific clip i’m referring to starts at 29 seconds… the video is supposed to do that automatically, but it’s being persnickety right now
‘line them right up here’. #socute
untold imprint birthday necklace eddie bauer cardigan crewcuts chambray thrifted belt canvas purple cords target ballet flats
this is the first time i’ve ever managed to do that ‘half-tuck’ maneuver with any kind of success. i’ve tried it before, but i end up feeling sloppy instead of casual? here, let’s look at some good ones: 1, 2 (that plaid is fabulous, n’est-ce pas?), 3, and ugh, shall i just admit to myself that i’m pretty much a prep? no, not yet.
so this weekend chewed me up and spit me out on the other side. but: huzzah for daylight savings! i’m going to consider it a belated birthday present from the whoooollllle world! (or just the united states? or north america? who’s in charge of this daylight savings stuff? ….. okay, according to wikipedia, it looks like it is most common in north america and europe, and george vernon hudson might be the one to thank.) i sure appreciate a little extra daylight in the evening, as i am not especially a morning person. and even on a foggy day like this one, the light stuck around a lot longer.
(you can pretty clearly see the scar on the knuckle above my pinkie where i tripped over my shoelace in the fifth grade and face planted. i was trying to catch the schoolbus. i did not make it. you can also see how crazy dry my skin gets during the winter…)
thrifted banana republic cardigan – marshall’s dkny blouse – target gifted glitter belt – canvas chinos – galleria grey wingtips
in case you were curious why i tend to opt for pictures where i’m looking down, it’s because whenever i scan through pictures taken with my face up, i’m like tom haverford taking pictures of ann and mark for the summer catalog: ‘fix your face! your face is wrong!’ it’s easier to look down for a couple pictures and know that my face won’t be causing problems for those.
i wasn’t wearing my cardigan right before we grabbed these pictures, so i popped it on to take outfit pictures outside… it’s not terribly apparent, but i put it on inside out. i had no idea until i was selecting pictures for this post and i spotted my tag hanging out. #whoops!
thrifted banana republic cardigan, gap tee – canvas navy chinos – galleria grey wingtips – j. crew necklace
i’m really excited to be done with this remix, guys. more than usual, the rest of my wardrobe is just calling out to me ‘wear me!’ all of my thick wool sweaters, every single pair of jeans, my bean boots (oh, yeah, it’s cold and icy and wintry outside again). basically every warm piece of clothing i own is tempting me. two more outfits to go! i can do it!
i’ve been loving washi tape recently (examples: 1… okay, i thought i had way more examples, but apparently i haven’t been pinning or making note of them.) but i finally bought some! whoo! i bought neon pink and neon green. i celebrated by hanging up this postcard with a punch of concentrated color! bam! take that!
daily kitty!
thrifted grey blazer – crewcuts chambray button down – canvas purple cords – target shoes
yep. that time is accurate. this was after:
– work
– several rounds of dishes
– having friends over
– sloppy joes
– mashed potatoes
– broccoli fritters
– a lil bit of prosecco
– a few episodes of how i met your mother
– hugs & waving goodbye to friends
i was ready to climb into bed. but jake asked if i’d taken outfit pictures, and i hadn’t. and my outfit was (mostly) intact. put shoes & blazer back on, and voila! sleepy outfit pictures. i didn’t last long after this, tellyawhat.
target yellow scarf – second hand banana republic cardigan, pleated wool skirt – crewcuts chambray shirt – blowfish booties
i really like this nail polish. it’s hard to capture the color right (it’s called ‘cajun shrimp’ by opi, which i find to be a very unappealing name for an appealing color), but it’s a near neon red-orange. i feel like i’ve read/heard something about reds being the hardest color for cameras to capture? i know they give me grief. i might be making this up though… sometimes my brain feeds me pseudo-science to support my own opinions. not helpful, brain.
winter always brings out my hibernating mode. i mostly want to be home, i want to be cooking stews and soups and chilis. hearty, savory, hot meals. i saw pioneer woman’s sunday night stew last sunday, and i made it this week. AWESOME. i don’t know that i’ve ever had turnips, so i had very minor concerns about that, but i also trust pioneer woman, so i gave it a shot. delish! and perfect for short, cold, dark wintery nights. as a note, i cut the recipe in half, and we had five meals out of it. which is ample for one evenings worth of cooking.
canvas grey sweater, altered cords – thrifted gap tee – target shoes – gifted gold necklace
if you’re thinking to yourself ‘hey, weren’t those dark purple cords a different shape before?’ then i say ‘yes! yes they were!’ i bought these pants a year ago online and on sale. i sometimes have this problem with new clothes where i can’t tell if they it me properly? does that happen to you? sometimes things will fit great when you try them on, and then they’ll grow, and they’ll only fit right the first time after you wash them? or they are a little bit big, but you convince yourself that a) that’s how they’re meant to fit or b) you like them that way? anyways, these pants were a little bit too big on me. they were never in danger of falling down, but i was never in danger of feeling cute in them. but it took me like five wearings to really figure that out. and guys, i’m not one of those people who return things after wearing them five times. i’ve worked in retail. plus, they were on sale, and who even knows if they would have my actual size? in summation, i decided i needed to take them in. about 10 months ago. and i added them to this remix in hopes that it would inspire me to do so. it worked! huzzah! i used the same method i have previously: turn ’em inside out, use some better fitting pants to base my adjustments upon, and use what is possibly a crazy amount of seams to make sure they don’t pop on the second wear! voila! skinny cords! likely to be worn 300% more frequently!
oh, yeah, i got my hair cut, too!
ifandany 
