Outfit Along Outfit Take 2!

Woah, guys, it’s been like a year! I’m not going to do a massive lengthy ‘sorry I’ve been gone’ post- I got a job as a teacher, I think that says it all. I have now quit said teacher job so life can resume as normal! In the year I was teaching I sewed a total of one dress and knitted some socks- that’s it! Teaching is time consuming.

So, on with the show!

This year I entered the Outfit Along again. Here’s last year’s entry (which was only like 3 posts ago!) If you need reminding or are thinking what the bloody hell is an Outfit Along then the idea is to knit a piece and sew a piece which can be worn together-an ‘outfit’ if you will.

I purchased the yarn for an apple green Hetty a long time ago but no knitting was happening so it sat and sat. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to use it. Finding fabric, however, was another kettle of fish. I had almost finished the cardigan by the end of June but still hadn’t ordered any fabric! I found this one on eBay and wasn’t in love with it but had nothing better so ordered it anyway. When it came I liked it even less so I put it off until the deadline day and sewed the whole thing just before cutoff.

Since I hadn’t sewn in ages I returned to the good ole Simplicity 1803. Unfortunately(?) I think I’ve lost a bit of weight since I last sewed it up so the bodice is a bit baggy which means this week will be filled with muslin-y goodness. (Did I really just say muslin-y goodness? Since when has making a muslin been fun?!) Other than that though it’s cotton lawn so it’s lovely and light which is perfect for summer and it floats around my legs nicely. Despite not initially liking the fabric, now it’s been sewn I love it!

Unfortunately I can’t count so I screwed up my button placement and have to redo them but it ain’t happening any time soon- I’ve got too much to catch up on!

Did anyone else join in the OAL?

The Outfit Along Outfit

Hey guys!
First off I would like to sincerely apologise for my absence of late. I’ve been busy getting a new job!
Remember in my goals post I said I wanted one? Well, I made it happen! I am now going to be a full on teacher, which meant a lot of my month was filled with planning, interviewing, all the fun stuff. But now I’ve got 6 weeks off and by golly will I make it count.

Have you guys heard of Andi and Lauren’s Outfit Along? If you haven’t, it’s kind of too late now as the deadline is today. Unless you’re some kind of super knitter or have Bernard’s watch. (God I would kill for Bernard’s watch) 

The idea was to create an outfit, 1 knitted, 1 sewn piece, that complemented each other and you would wear. A knit along and a sew along were hosted by Andi and Lauren respectively with official patterns and we were given 2 months.

2 months? I can easily make 5 outfits in that time……

Turns out I did just 1. And here it is!

 

The cardigan is the ‘official’ pattern- Myrna by Andi Satterlund. 

When she first announced the new pattern I was kind of meh about it. I didn’t like the short sleeves and it was all pretty boring. 

Remember when I said that about Miette?

Yeah… turns out I love Myrna! I lengthened the sleeves here but ever since I did that I’ve been thinking about how nice a short sleeve cardigan would be- that’s next on the list!

I knit this in Drops Karisma, Wine. I bought 7 skeins, planned it all out so I’d have 1 skein each for the sleeves, 5 for the body and it would be perfect. I finished and thought it was a little short but no more yarn and I can deal, only to find another skein!!

I keep telling myself I’ll go back and add some more ribbing but we all know I definitely will not do that. Once something’s done, it’s done. No takesies backsies. 

 

The buttons for this thing took me bloody ages to find.

Did you know Minerva crafts have approximately 27902645782398365490 different types of brown button? I’m estimating, the figure might be a couple off.

But seriously, I think it took me at least 6 hours to find these buttons. Worth it though, they’re perfect! They’re these 18mm crendon buttons with little flowers on them and they’re so smooth and shiny.

And whilst we’re talking about buttons can we just add in how bloody ridiculous with them I am? Remember my previous button dilemmas? I had another.

The pattern calls for 5 buttons. 5. Knowing my previous disasters and thinking I had added in an extra buttonhole on the V, I ordered 6 buttons. 6, to be safe.

They arrived, I stroked their smooth shiny-ness for a while and went to attach them. How many buttonholes did I have? 7. 7 effing buttonholes. Just incase more buttonholes wanted to appear on me I ordered another 3 buttons. I sewed them all on and 7 buttons looked ridiculous! I showed Mark who doesn’t usually give a toss about sewing/knitting and he burst out laughing followed by ‘that’s made my day’

So I cut out every other one and how many buttons did I require? 

4.

Ridiculous.

 

Anyway, whilst I was ordering said buttons I ordered my dress fabric from Minerva too. It’s a balloon print polycotton that was like £2.99 p/m or something and you can tell. It feels very cheap and online it looked like it had a blue background but in reality it’s white. Still, not one to waste fabric, I made it up and I’ve had a few people tell me they like it so I guess it doesn’t look cheap from a distance (just don’t get too close or you’ll hear it crunch!)

I’m hoping it’ll soften up with a few washes and a tumble dry. 

The pattern is Sewaholic Cambie with a modified skirt. this is actually not the first Cambie I’ve made but the other one remains unblogged. The post is written, it just (altogether now) needs photos. This one only got photographed due to OAL time pressures or I’m sure it would sit for 3 months too. 

I did an FBA on this version and spread the dart into 3 since I have to take in 6 inches through my waist. A 3 inch dart results in very Madonna-esque nipple action.

It’s still a tad big- I’ll admit to just eyeballing the darts which probably contributes to the bagginess but it’s a little loose down the sides too so on version 3 I reckon I’ll have it down. (And I will measure, I promise!)

Shall I tell you a secret?

I didn’t hem the dress. The selvedge isn’t selvedgy, no little holes, no weird pattern issues, it just stops so why make extra work when we all know I hate to hem?!

Oh, and I got Mark to take photos for me and he likes to mumble and not tell me what’s going on so I have some excellent outtakes for you

I think I was in the middle of saying something like ‘can you actually pronounce some words and tell me if you’ve taken a picture please?’

‘What? Open your mouth, have you taken a picture yet?’

And finally, the classic stretch out the cardi pose

 

Did anyone else join the OAL? 

Miette: the Cardigan.

If from this post you guessed that I was knitting Andi Satterlund’s Miette then you were correct!

Regular readers will know that I love, love, love Andi’s patterns. Of all the garments I’ve knitted, only 2 have not been Andi’s. However, I never really considered Miette.

I saw Agatha and started knitting it that day. I even knit Chuck pretty promptly despite not wearing jumpers but Miette just never grabbed my attention. Perhaps it’s because I enjoy things that change constantly (like the cables and lacework in the above patterns) so the idea of knitting an almost solid cardigan seemed kind of dull.

Guys, I was so wrong! I love this cardigan so much!

The bust darts are amazing. I did an extra repeat of the section before the dart so it was a little bigger and it fits perfectly. I knit the 42″ bust and it didn’t take that long to knit, even in DK- I think a few weeks? Despite me thinking it would be boring to knit all of that plain section it really wasn’t, there’s always something going on or to look forward to because there’s at least lace work at each end and often shaping in the middle too.

I used James C Brett’s Top Value DK on 5mm needles to knit this. I bought 3 balls but only needed 1.5 so with buttons included (which were on sale!) this cardigan cost me about £4. I told you I wasn’t a yarn snob- this cardigan is soft and cosy and fits perfectly. It’s also made entirely from acrylic so it’s hardwearing too!

The simple lace design around the edges is beautiful. I’m adjusting myself in this photo but I think you can see the detail!

The more observant among you may have noticed  large flaw- I am missing the top button. I could’ve sworn the pattern needed 7 buttons so I happily asked for 7 at the counter only to find I had 8 buttonholes when I got home. I’m going to go back and see if I can get another but if not then I’ll leave it. I love the buttons too much and I never do cardigans up anyway- just why did this have to happen again?!

In my baby cardigan post I mentioned a style of knitting I hadn’t come across before by provisionally knitting the sleeves and top all in one and then putting the sleeve stitches on hold. I thoroughly enjoyed knitting in that style and just by chance this pattern used the same method! It’s a very comfortable fit, (almost) cured the second sleeve syndrome and didn’t require picking up a certain number of stitches in the armhole (which I can never seem to get right 1st time- is there some magic math to this?!)

I’ve definitely got plans for more of these- I need a red cardigan so even though I’d totally be copying Andi’s I’ll probably do it…

 

 

Chuck will no longer be chucked.

Remember in my goals post that one of my goals was to sort out Chuck? I’ve bloomin done it! 1 goal down, 12 to go!

According to my Ravelry notes I started this in February last year. 😳 I actually knit up the body pretty quickly but you know fo sho those sleeves sat there unfinished.

I finally faced my demons and battled through the sleeves (which were only half length anyway!) until I ran out of yarn 😦

All I had left to do was the ribbing on the left sleeve and I ran out of yarn. How bloody ridiculous is that? So it sat for another few months. Then I finally bought some more yarn but apparently there are 10485739 different shades of cream and it looked horrible.  I’m sure most people probably wouldn’t have noticed. My elbows are pretty normal so people don’t generally look round that area but I knew I’d be staring at it all day.

So it sat another few months. The only solution I came up with (because buying more yarn and reknitting is definitely NOT a solution) was to dye it. But even though the yarn was 80% wool, that 20% acrylic could’ve thrown the whole thing off.

I looked at buying polyester dye, but that would only dye the acrylic part and not the wool, which is the majority of the jumper. What about a combination of normal dye and poly dye? Too expensive- we’re talking nearly £15 here and there’s no guarantee it will even work.

I tried boiling it with food colouring following a video on youtube but all that did was ruin my kitchen floor (srsly, my kitchen floor is now a lovely shade of navy) until eventually I went out to Dunelm, picked up some Dylon and shoved it in the machine before I could even think about it. I wasn’t wearing it how it was anyway so whatever happened it couldn’t be worse than its current state.

Tip: definitely do things on a whim.

I love it! I love that the 1 strand of acrylic yarn hasn’t taken so it gives a heathered effect. I love that it’s not a bright, in your face navy but a subtle, washed out look. I also love that there’s no colour difference in the left sleeve ribbing!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!

Unfortunately I don’t actually have anything to wear it with in this colour- I chucked it over what I was already wearing for these photos but I look like Andy Bernard- so preppy!

After coming out of the dye wash it was scratchy of scratchville. I literally got jumper burns down my arms just from putting the thing on. But I’ve shoved it in the wash with a shit ton of fabric softener

and it’s still scratchy of scratchville. But after he’s taken some Berocca so I can deal.