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knitting, Uncategorized

2 Knits: 3 Color Cashmere Cowl, and Bitey Bum Monster Leggings!

christinahopgood

I’ve got a couple of projects to share today, since neither felt big enough for an entire post.IMG_0364

This is my 3 Colour Cashmere Cowl, by Joji Locatelli. My Ravelry notes are available here.IMG_0279

My yarn was some lovely soft Alpaca bought at the Oslo Knitting Festival in October 2017.  It was lovely in the skein, but is a little prickly on my skin.  However, it works really well for this cowl.IMG_0367

The cowl is LONG, and I used smaller needles than the pattern indicated to get a smaller circumference. I wanted it nice and snug around my neck, instead of the loopy drapey version in the pattern.  I usually wear it folded over (like in the first picture) to give maximum warmth.  It’s also nice warn scrunched up like below.IMG_0366

It’s a nice little pattern, very simple.  It just uses three different coloured 50g skeins of yarn and a few different textures and colour patterns.  Easy, simple, pleasant knitting!  And I wear this literally every day now 🙂

 

The next thing I knitted is the Bitey Bum Monster Pants by RaggedyMoo designs.  My ravelry notes are here.  These are for a friend of mine who just had a baby.  For this I just used a few different balls of superwash DK weight wool and acrylic blend yarn in a green, purple, light grey, red, and a little black for the eyes.  The cuffs on the legs are knitted long and then folded up to give some extra wear when baby grows upwards!IMG_0479

I made the waistband a little differently – the pattern has you knit eyelets to weave the icord drawstring through, but instead I folded it over and encased the drawstring, using only two eyelets to pull it through.  The eyes are crocheted as per the pattern, and I knit the teeth improvising the design.

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Aren’t they cute though? OM NOM NOM!

knitting, Uncategorized

Knitted Twigs and Willows cardigan

christinahopgood

To be honest, this has been finished for a while, but I’m only just admitting to myself that it’s FINISHED finished and I’m not going to work on it any more.  This has been a long time coming!

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Details:

Pattern: Twigs and Willows by Alana Dakos, in her first Botanical Knits book.

Yarn: Berocco Ultra Alpaca in the Cranberry colour (I think)

My Ravelry notes here.fullsizeoutput_5ba5

I actually knit this cardigan TWICE.  The first time, I finished it and wore it out a bit before deciding it was really too small.  I frogged the whole thing, and knit it again from scratch.  I am STILL not super happy with the fit – as you can see, the buttonband gapes (especially between the top two buttons).  I intitially was going to sew a ribbon on the back of both the button and buttonhole bands, but just never got around to it.  Then I was considering knitting the bands a little longer so the gape wasn’t so obvious.  I could still do that, but since I’ve been wearing it all winter it’s not likely now!fullsizeoutput_5ba7

Apart from the gaping at the front issue, this fits really well.  It’s really not too tight.  The length is perfect for me.  I really am a big fan!  I mostly wear it open, and this cardigan gets a lot of wear every week at school.  I love the long ribbing at the hem and sleeves.  The cabled leaves are so pretty!fullsizeoutput_5ba1

If you want to knit this jumper, please knit a gauge swatch and choose your size wisely!  You don’t want to have to frog an entire jumper, buttons and all!  Learn from my mistake!

sewing, Uncategorized

Red silk Archer shirt!

christinahopgood

After making my first red Archer shirt, why not make another one!

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Again, this is the Archer shirt by Grainline Studio.  I’ve had this red silk in my stash for almost a year, since I bought it when I got my new teaching job here in Oslo.  I was planning to make myself a nice silk shirt to wear to work… it only took me about 9 months to get around to it!IMG_0452

Silk is… difficult to sew with.  I don’t have a cutting mat and rotary cutter, so I have to use scissors.  I was so sure that the silk was lined up perfectly straight and smooth, but of course some of my pieces ended up a little warped.  This meant that the collar was a bit of a pain in the bum.  It had to be redone a couple of times, and the under-collar is still a bit bumpy (maybe a lot bumpy).  It’s not too visible when worn though!

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One thing I don’t understand about this pattern, is that the upper collar and under collar are two different pattern pieces, and the under collar has a seam in the middle.  Why not make them the same pattern piece?  It would mean my pieces are slightly more likely to be the same once cut!  This problem didn’t surface with my other shirt, I guess because the fabric was more obedient!IMG_0440

The buttons are little gold metal shank buttons. Very cute!IMG_0436

I used the fabric as interfacing as I didn’t want anything stiff or visible.  It worked ok!  My only other note is that I did french seams throughout in order to minimise fraying and help the garment last as long as possible.IMG_0435IMG_0434

So far, it’s standing up to wear.  On one of its first outings we went out for ramen and I got a splash of soup on the front, which washed out fine!  Phew!  The fabric is a little thicker than chiffon and is quite bouncy.  Hopefully it won’t wear out too quickly!  While sewing with this shirt was really hard and frustrating because of the fabric, I really love the finished garment and am thinking of what to make from silk next. I’ve gone mad! Stop me!

beads, knitting, Uncategorized

Knitted Luella Top with beads!

christinahopgood

This knitting project has been a long time coming.  It was on my needles since August 2017!

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Details

Pattern: Luella Top by Suzie Sparkles

Yarn: Wollmeise Lace yarn

My notes available on Ravelry here

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I bought this yarn at the Oslo Knitting Festival in October, 2016.  It was a 300g laceweight skein, which was a one-of-a-kind.  For this top, I held the yarn double as it’s written for a sock-weight yarn.  As a result, this whole top was one big game of yarn chicken!fullsizeoutput_5bac

The pattern itself is very straightforward, a top-down round-yoke jumper which is the same back and front.  That’s nice, as I don’t need to worry about which way to put it on!  Of course the biggest change I made was to add beads into the lace yoke instead of the bobbles that the pattern calls for.  I guess this saved me some yardage which was added to the bottom of the jumper!  Initially I bought one packet of 125 beads thinking it would be plenty… I waws wrong! This jumper required about 500 beads and I had none left at the end!IMG_0459

This picture kind of looks like it has and ombre effect but it doesn’t seem to in real life.  If I’d had more yarn I would have made the top a bit longer in both the body and the sleeves.  As it is, it hits me right at the elbow and the hip.  It works fine with mid-rise pants but I would have liked it a bit longer. I used every scrap of yarn, even the swatch!IMG_0460

The yarn itself is very smooth and feels almost like cotton, although it is 100% wool.  It was really lovely to knit with and feels smooth and soft against the skin.  Before it was blocked the fabric felt a bit stiff, but after blocking it’s got a lovely drape and handle.fullsizeoutput_5ba8

I highly recommend this pattern if you’re looking for a simple top-down top, with a bit of lace interest.  It would look beautiful with bobbles too.  The pattern would be a good basis for a plain jumper too, if you left off the lace!  I’m looking forward to wearing this top once the weather warms up a bit.  Right now it’s still too cold in Norway to even contemplate!

Uncategorized

Wool Milano Cape

christinahopgood

Apologies for slightly blurry photos… Using my front camera on my phone is a bit blurry, oh well!

This latest make is the Milano cape by Papercut Patterns.  It’s only availble as a paper pattern, unfortunately.  The pattern is in 3 sizes, and the main difference between sizes is the length. I cut the smallest size.

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The fabric is some wool coat fabric I bought years ago in Melbourne.  It’s quite thick, and has a nice heft and warmth to it.IMG_0455

However, as shown, it also picks up every particle of white dust in the vicinity.  Hopefully as the fabric wears and smooths out that will happen less?  A bit doubtful. IMG_0372

This pattern features a lovely Peter Pan collar with no undercollar.  It got a bit cumbersome and thick sewing the collar area on my little machine!IMG_0371

This pattern also has single welt pockets.  These are a bit scary to do, and were kind of hard to place evenly.  I also found that the welt pattern pieces were not the same length as the mark on the front pieces.  They were significantly different, not just a little, and it took a lot of checking and measuring to get it right myself.  IMG_0458

The pocket bags are some other wool suiting I had, and to prevent it from fraying I used a fusible hemming tape to glue some bias binding over the raw edges.  I could have just finished the edges before sewing them on but I didn’t think of it at the time!fullsizeoutput_5bf2

Who knows if I’ll wear this really.  I’m not a cape kind of person, yet.  I’d like to be one of those women who just swoosh around in a cape and look so cool, but so far I’m not quite convinced!fullsizeoutput_5bf4fullsizeoutput_5bf5fullsizeoutput_5bf6

It is very swishy, though 🙂