Dayflower cardigan

This was the first thing I knitted this year - I took a break from knitting in January and finished this in early March.  I can't remember now where I saw this colourway (it's Madeline Tosh sock), but I know that I liked it and bought some online two years ago before the prices went up dramatically and it's sat in my stash ever since.  I decided it was high time to knit it up!

I did have some other plans for it originally, but changed my mind and so I had a look through my stitch dictionaries to find a pattern that I liked and this was what I settled on.  The stitch pattern is called drooping dayflower, and it's from The Knitter's Stitch Collection by Lesley Stanfield and Melody Griffiths (other retailers are available).  There are lots of stitch patterns in this book and I've used quite a few over the years.

It was an easy knit and I followed my usual template for cardigans which I knit without a pattern - knitted bottom-up in one piece to the armholes, create fake side seams and split for the back and fronts and work them separately.  Seam the shoulders and pick up and knit the sleeves top down.  The button band is picked up and knitted on.

The buttons are vintage although I can't remember now where I bought them.

I love this, it's a great colour for spring!

Grasshopper cardigan - #OAL 2019

Finally... I have got this wool knitted up!!!  I've had it for at least seven years...

I used the stitch pattern from this vintage pattern,

but as you can see I did plain sleeves, a lower neckline and no collar.  The back is also plain and I knitted the body in one piece rather than separately and seamed (apart from the shoulders - they are seamed).

I bought the buttons at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival two years ago and they are a really good colour match.

I am so pleased to have got round to knitting this up - I love the colour and there hasn't been a justifiable reason for the delay (other than so many other things to knit...)

Joshua Tree cardigan

I wasn't sure whether I'd get this finished this year, but I finished the second sleeve last night and so it's in under the wire for 2018.  I bought the wool this year, so it's not a stashbusting project - I don't often buy wool with an immediate project in mind, but this was one of those times.

Standard construction for cardigans I knit without using a pattern - first pick a stitch pattern -  in this case two - the cable pattern is from the first Barbara Walker Treasury and is called Reverse Plait cable, or Branch cable. It’s easy to work, and is the second time I’ve used it (the first time was on an aran-weight cardigan I knitted in pre-blogging days).  The eyelet pattern is the column lace from the Honeybee pattern, (and is also in Barbara Walker’s second Treasury - called Honeybee Pattern with Faggoting).

The body is knitted in one piece up to the armholes then separated for fronts and back (at which point I make fake side seams), shoulders are seamed and sleeves picked up and knitted top down.  The button band is knitted on and I did seven three-stitch one-row buttonholes.  The buttons are vintage from my stash - I can't remember where I bought them though.

Knitted with Madelinetosh Sock yarn (one of my favourites, but has become very expensive so I only ever buy it when it's on sale now).  This wasn't an easy colour to photograph - it's definitely more of a yellow-green than blue-green, and I love it.

#OAL2018 Pink Cardigan

Now for some knitting.  I'd had this cardigan pattern for a while and decided that now (well, back in June) was the time to knit it.  I don't think I'm often influenced by the colours used by pattern companies to illustrate their designs when I decide which wool to use, except perhaps for the Penelope cardigan, but I'm pretty sure I'd had this wool in my stash since before I bought the pattern, so maybe the pattern just gave me an idea of how it might look when knitted up.

Hayfield 960

I didn't actually follow the pattern directions really, just the stitch pattern.  And now I come to think of it, I don't think the pattern directions provided for the fronts to be mirrored, so I offset one side so that they would be.  My tension didn't match, I knitted the body in one piece up to the armholes, did fake side seams, lowered the front neckline, did short row shoulders, a plain back, and plain, top down sleeves.  The buttonband and neckband are picked up and knitted on. 

Shown with an rtw dress which I bought in Paris in May

The buttons I think I bought locally.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, it's a very happy colour.

OAL 2017 - Robin's Egg Vandyke cardigan

So, having written about the two dresses I made for this challenge, I thought I'd jump the post queue with this cardigan, to keep the three OAL items together.  (In addition to the two OAL dresses I've already written about, I made six dresses during the time it took me to finish knitting this - I sew more quickly than I knit!)

I knew I wanted to use this wool (Madelinetosh sock in Robin's Egg) and so the fabric choices for the dresses came after I'd decided on the wool.  I also knew the shape of cardigan I wanted to knit (fitted, v-neck and waist-length), but spent some time scouring my stitch dictionaries and knitting some tension squares to see how the potential lace patterns knitted up with this particular wool.

I settled on using this stitch pattern (which is the top pattern in the swatch above) from the lace and eyelet stitches Harmony Guide.

As I was knitting, the first and third skeins I used bled colour a bit onto my hands and needles (although the second skein didn't...), so I was very pleased to find that the birds on dress number 2 were a great colour match.

Buttons were in my stash, but originally from Textile Garden

I've worn this cardigan a few times since I made it (thanks grotty English summer weather which necessitated wool cardigan wearing) and the colour didn't come off onto my (bare) arms - or the dress underneath it - but I haven't chanced wearing it with the Homemaker dress.  I still love it though, and I have plenty of other clothes I can wear it with.

Then, as a lovely surprise at the end of the OAL, a benevolent random number generator chose me as one of this year's winners!  And Lauren said some very lovely things about my cardigan on her blog - cue warm glow inside :-)  It took me a little while to choose the patterns which were the prize (two knitting patterns from Andi Satterlund, and two sewing patterns from indiestitches but I settled on Blaster and Mary Mead for the knitting patterns, and Stockholm and Emery for the sewing.

I'm not sure when I'll get around to knitting up either of Andi's patterns, I have a list as long as your arm of vintage patterns I want to knit (in addition to the ideas in my head and knitting for the family), and also I prefer to use 4-ply or thinner wool.  But I like the style of them so I might get around to them eventually.  The Emery is to replace the one I've got which has got a bit frayed around the edges from use, and the Stockholm jacket pattern is from a new-to-me company and I liked the shape of both jackets.

Hi Ho Silver cardigan

This cardigan is my first knitting finish of Me Made May and gets its name from the theme song for Boon, which I have been watching recently.

I knitted this in one piece up to the armholes then separated for the fronts and back and made fake side seams.  There is waist shaping, top-down sleeves, one-row two-stitch buttonholes and an i-cord neckline.  This is pretty much my usual construction method for cardigans that I make without following a commercial pattern.

I love knitting with this wool (MadelineTosh Sock) and I think this colourway - Espadrilles - is gorgeous, although it's now discontinued and also difficult to photograph.  Despite editing these pictures I don't think I've got the colour quite right - it's a lovely deep pinky coral and goes very nicely with my new flamingo skirt!

The lace pattern is from Drops 160-17, but I substituted the column lace from the Honeybee pattern for the cables.  Having just knitted both a cabled cardigan and jumper I wanted a break from cables!

The buttons are from Textile Garden - I actually bought them with a different yarn in mind, but decided to use them for this cardigan instead.

Goes very nicely with Carmen Miranda, Flamingolex, Watermelons! and Tropicanna dresses

I can see I'm going to get plenty of wear from this - it also goes with quite a few of my me-made dresses.

Me Made May 2017 week 3 summary

Well, we've had another week of dreary weather.  Although there has been some sunshine there hasn't really been much warmth and several days were really rather grey and either damp or downright wet.  Urgh!

So, I started the week off with an Anna dress and rtw cardigan.

Then I had a few days away with work, so Tuesday to Thursday's outfits were chosen with suitability for travelling and survival in a suitcase in mind.  On Tuesday I wore an rtw skirt and t-shirt with my Primroses for Spring cardigan.  I'm not sure how much longer this skirt is going to last, I've had it a few years now, love the colour and have worn it a lot, so once it finally does get to go for recycling I'll be looking out for some corduroy in this colour to make another one, although the style may be different.

On Wednesday it was another rtw skirt and t-shirt and my blue Palm Leaf cardigan.  This is another skirt which I've had for years and really like.

On Thursday I wore an rtw dress which has so many colours in it that I'm spoilt for choice when it comes to pairing it with a cardigan - but I chose this orange Emelie cardigan which I made in pre-blogging days and which is a bit big really now - I'm not sure though whether I can be bothered to unravel it all and reknit it, maybe... because I do love the colour.  Just not yet.

On Friday I wore an rtw t-shirt, a skirt which I've just bought from Lindy Bop, having seen Kate Davies wearing it in a pattern photo - I absolutely love it, and the yellow of my Bette cardigan is a perfect match.  I love the jumper in the Kate Davies photo as well, I hope to make it this winter...

On Saturday I had a day at home catching up on the washing, ironing and general housework and wore an rtw t-shirt, skirt and my Cherry Blossom cardigan.

And today, yay, the sun is shining and the forecast is saying that we are in for a sunny, dry and warmer week.  At last!  So I've ditched the tights and as a small celebratory gesture, I'm wearing a dress covered in sunflowers.

I haven't sewn a stitch yet this month (apart from the curtains mentioned in last week's round up post), but I have done some knitting and have finished a cardigan, which I'll write about during the week.  The second cardigan I have on the needles is also coming along nicely, I'll get the body finished today which will just leave the sleeves to get done before the end of the month.  So at least I'll fulfil the knitting part of my pledge if not the sewing one!

Mica cardigan

Inspired by this cardigan, I made this with madelinetosh sock yarn (the pattern is designed for aran weight) which was an impulse purchase bought at same time as the Button Jar Blue DK for my daughter's Winter Breton jumper.  I liked the look of the colourway (another discontinued one) in the photo on the website and was pleased to see that the wool looked like the photo when it arrived!  It's always a bit of a leap of faith buying sight unseen.

This was an easy lace pattern to knit, I modified it slightly from the one used in Kristenhamn, and I only put patterning on the front of the cardigan, the back is stocking stitch.  There is some waist shaping in the back and at the sides and I picked up the sleeves and knitted them top down.

I've worn this a fair bit since finishing it, it goes with quite a few of my dresses and is equally at home being worn with jeans.

Honeybee cardigan no 2

I love this pattern, I think the lace is just so pretty.  This is the second version I have knit - I knitted the first one in spring 2013 (pre this blog) and as far as I can remember followed the pattern to the letter for that one.  This time round though I just used the lace panel on the front and did the sleeves top down (rather than from the bottom up and then join at the underarms and knit up from there all in one, which is how the pattern is written).

The yarn is Madelinetosh Sock in Button Jar Blue - I absolutely love this colourway - it's a shame it's been discontinued.

I spent a while trying to decide which buttons to use - toning or contrasting.  As you can see I went for contrasting in the end - I bought these in John Lewis.

I love this cardigan, the colour just makes me smile :-)

OAL 2015 - a complete outfit

Last year Andi Satterlund and Lauren Taylor ran an outfit-a-long in Andi's Ravelry group and I loved seeing what people made, so when they announced that they were repeating the event this year I signed up - I wrote a bit about this here.  Although there were both knitting and sewing patterns suggested, which Andi and Lauren blogged about, I decided to do my own thing and the end result was another toshsock cardigan and an Emery dress.
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It took me a while to decide on the fabric and yarn combination to use, with a couple of options which I eventually ruled out, but which will no doubt get made at some point.

Option 1 - Excelana 4-ply and Dear Stella Queen Anne's Lace fabric

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Option 2 - Malabrigo sock and vintage fabric from Hammersmith Vintage Fair

I finally decided on this combination - I would make the cardigan design up, and the fabric would become a Simplicity 3774 (second dress down). 

Tosh sock and fabric from Barry's in Birmingham

However... once I'd knitted the cardigan I decided that it wasn't a great match for the fabric.

Cardigan knitted in Madelinetosh Sock colourway Stovepipe

The lace pattern on the front is from Erika Knight's Lace and Eyelet Stitches book and the back and sleeves are stocking stitch.  The book actually lists the pattern twice - once as a single column called King Charles Brocade, and once as a repeating pattern called Diamond Rib.  I charted the pattern and it was easy to memorise.

Close up which shows the lace pattern in a bit more detail

These little buttons came from Hammersmith Vintage Fair and I chose them because they were the only ones in my stash that I had enough of - it doesn't show in the photos, but they are mirrored.

Once I'd got the cardigan finished I needed to find an alternative fabric for the dress and after a bit of humming and haa-ing I settled on this Bird on the Vine fabric from Michael Miller which I bought in Fabric Fair in Brighton last summer.  So I now have another bird print dress in my wardrobe.  I spent a bit of time cutting it out because I wanted to pattern match on the back of the dress and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Talking behind my back maybe?

Because this fabric has quite a large pattern repeat and I didn't have enough to cut symmetrical sleeves, it is sleeveless.  Which also saved me the hassle of setting in sleeves, possibly one of my least favourite sewing things to do.  Nothing else to say about the construction really, it's a straight size 6 and I love it!

Bluebirds on the Vine dress

And here are the two together - I'm really pleased with this outfit.

2015 Outfit-A-Long

If you'd like to see what others have made this year, the finished outfits are here - and there are some really great combinations there, more patterns / fabrics / yarn added to my mental wishlist...

Purple hearts cardigan

And another long blogging gap - life has been busy this year!

This was my first finish of this year (back in January) and I've already written a bit about it here so I won't repeat myself.  I'm pleased with how it's turned out and I managed to power through the sleeves pretty quickly - well for me anyway - with the added impetus provided by the #sundaysweaterkal on instagram and Foyle's War being back on TV on Sunday evenings - sadly finished forever now - a great series which I will miss.

Purple hearts cardigan in Madelinetosh Sock colourway Thicket

Because I used 4-ply wool rather than the aran/worsted weight the pattern was designed for I was able to add more pattern to the front, and I also put lace panels on the back - it was an easy pattern to knit and I'm quite tempted to use it again. 

Back view which shows up the stitch pattern a bit more clearly

I've knitted four more cardigans so far this year - I rather hibernated during the winter evenings with TV box sets of series set in the 30s, 40s and 50s and now have a long wishlist of jumpers and cardigans I want to knit based on those I've seen on TV!  I've also got two jumpers on the go at the moment as well.  All this knitting has meant that I've only just recently started sewing again - I'd already knitted more yardage by the middle of May this year than I did in the whole of last year and there are only so many hours in the day, well evenings and weekends, so the sewing was rather abandoned.  However... my machine is now back in action and I've made two dresses and have another which should be finished soon.  I actually cut it out on the August bank holiday weekend last year and would really like to wear it before this summer disappears!

Me made May final round-up

Here's the final round up for this year's me made May.  I'm hoping that June will be warmer!

Day 22 - a vintage Laura Ashley dress and Cad cardigan, which I knitted back in 2011.

Vintage Laura Ashley dress and Cad cardigan

Day 23 - a Simplicity 1990 dress and an rtw cardigan.

Simplicity 1990 and rtw cardigan

Day 24 - Yes, it was just about warm enough to justify wearing my Flamingolex dress - hooray!  This is still one of my absolute favourite dresses. With an eye-searingly bright rtw cardigan.

Flamingolex dress and rtw cardigan

Day 25 - An Anthropologie dress which I adore, and Emelie cardigan which I knitted in early 2013.

Burgeoning hypericum dress and Norway Spruce toshsock Emelie

Day 26 - Bluebirds dress and an rtw cardigan.

Bluebirds dress and rtw cardigan

Day 27 - Up, up and away dress and rtw cardigan.

Up, up and away dress and rtw cardigan

Day 28 - Watermelons Anna dress and rtw cardigan.

Watermelons dress and rtw cardigan

Day 29 - Ocean Waves cardigan, finished in 2012, and polka dot Simplicity 3774 dress - I must make another of these very soon, I love this pattern!  This is the first time I've worn these two together and I'll do it more often - they really go well together.

Simplicity 3774 dress and Ocean Waves cardigan

Day 30 - Carmen Miranda dress and Gooseberry Fool cardigan, knitted in 2011.

Carmen Miranda dress and Goosebery Fool cardigan

Day 31 - Tropicanna Anna maxi dress - I love this, although because it's got a V-neck back as well as front I think I'm going to replace the front bodice with a bateau-neck because it slips off my shoulders rather too easily if I'm sitting down.  It's fine when I'm vertical, gravity keeps it in place!

Tropicanna dress

And that's it for this year's me made May.  19 handknitted cardigans and 22 me made dresses - three Annas & variations, three Elisalexes & variations, three Emerys, two Butterick 5748s, one New Look 6824, one Simplicity 1990, one Simplicity 3774, two Vogue 8789s, one Vogue 8728, two Cambies and three dresses which were mash-up combinations of two patterns (Elisalex/Emery, Butterick 5748/Simplicity 2444 and Elisalex/New Look 6824).  I've really enjoyed it and it's made deciding what to wear each day easy.  I took the outfit photos in batches, usually on Sundays, and once I'd seen the weather forecast for each day I'd look through the photos and pick something suitable.  It says something about how cold this month has been that so many me-made cardigans have featured - normally at this time of year I wouldn't be wearing wool!

And now I must do some housework!

Me made May week 3 round-up

And here we have the outfits I wore during the third week of May - lucky there has been a long bank holiday weekend for me to do some blog catching up!

15 May - Shell Pink cardigan and rtw jeans and blouse.  As is obvious not a very good mirror selfie!  But this was the least worst of the dozen or so photos that I took...

Day 15 - Shell pink cardigan and rtw jeans and blouse

16 May - Honeybee cardigan which I made during Spring 2013, and Vogue 8789 orange dress.

Day 16 - V-8789 orange dress and Honeybee cardigan

17 May - rtw dress and Purple Hearts cardigan - blogged about here although I haven't yet published the post which I wrote once it was finished...

Day 17 - Eucalyptus dress and Purple Hearts cardigan

18 May - Pink birds dress and Bette cardigan - I've only recently finished this, so, yet another FO which I haven't blogged about yet!  Wrote about the dress here.

Day 18 - Bette cardigan and Pink Birds dress

19 May - This is a cotton cardigan which I made back in 2010 and which I haven't worn that much in the past couple of years because I prefer waist-length cardigans with dresses with full skirts.  However, I love the colour and should wear it more.  The t-shirt and skirt I've had for quite a few years.  The skirt originally had a tie sash on it, but I unpicked the side seams and took it out because I think it looks better without.  Love the vintage-y look of it.

Day 19 - Yellow cotton cardigan, skirt from Next

20 May - Shell Pink cardigan (again) and green daisy Emery dress.  I love this dress, it's so summery (shame the weather hasn't caught up with itself yet though).

Shell Pink cardigan and green daisy Emery dress

21 May - This is a tie front cardigan which I made a few years ago, and the dress is a modified Elisalex which I blogged about here.

Tangerine Dream cardigan and Birdielex dress

And now I'm all caught up with me-made-May.  Phew!  Just the posts about this year's finished cardigans to finish writing and publish now...