Tag: top

sewing, Uncategorized

Finished: Paule Top

christinahopgood

When I came home to Australia, I realised that I needed some work clothes – because our stuff wasn’t going to be arriving for several weeks, and I didn’t know what the immediate future held for me.  I wanted something comfy but smart looking, preferably in a knit fabric.

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Pattern: Paule Top by Chez Machine

Fabric: Viscose knit from Spotlight.  I never thought that a bright yellow and black would suit me, but I like the colour a lot now!

The pattern instructions were a little hard to follow – because they’re only available in French!  I tried to figure it out using the pictures but I’m sure I probably did something wrong somewhere.  DSC_0556

This top is basically a front, a back, a waist tie and a neck band.  That’s it!  The waist tie wraps around front, back, and front again and ties in a bow.  It also looks nice tied the other way.DSC_0559

I like that this top shows off my waist and my newly strong arms but has a modest neckline and pretty shape.  It’s also really comfy!DSC_0554I’ve also made myself one in a stretch velvet, but I need to alter the neckline as the firmer knit fabric is a little chokey.  But all together, a very easy, very flattering top pattern I’ll definitely make more of in future!

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!