Mohair Cardigan

Sometimes a simple project takes a ridculous amount of time. This is the sweater I blogged about in September, made out of Rowan kidsilk haze. I started this cardigan YEARS ago, and restarted it a year ago, after a disaster with the first orginal. I've finally made some progress, and now i'm feeling lazy again. I have a long, long strip to knit that will become the ties and the facing around the neck. The problem with this yarn is that you knit 10 rows and can hardly see any progress. I have to knit at least 114cm more!

I'm not feeling motivated, I want to knit my spring sweater! How does everyone stay motivated when working on a tedious project?

Spring Palette Update

I now have all the materials for Colette's spring challenge.

I bought this at my lfs (local fabric store), it was off white. A quick run in the washer with some purple RIT dye made it the perfect color for spring. I especially like how the raised flowers came out a lighter color. I think I will use this to make another sencha blouse.

Cotton poplin and cherry fabric are both from Hart's Fabric. I'm going to make another beignet skirt. The first one I made with a heavy denim, I think this fabric will turn out a little better. The cherry fabric is for lining. I love anything with fruit on it!

I've been wanting to knit with madelinetosh vintage forever, this is the clover color. I picked up this during a superbowl sale and go 30% off. Hooray! I'm casting on the miette cardigan.

I've also been working on new look 6587. The fabric was a little see-though so I interlined it with some light cotton.  It is slowly coming along. I'm dreading sewing 32 buttons onto these projects!

Simplicity 2337

My first spring project is done. Simplicity 2337, it is a project runway pattern with a lot of different options. This is a basic shift dress with a pleated sleeve. I used cotton matte jersey that was in my stash from JoAnn's. I also used my serger for most of the seams and to finish the facings.

I wanted to make a simple dress that would make my bright accessories stand out. It's also a good transitional dress, I can wear it now with my velvet jacket and tights. I'll wear it in spring with a bright necklace and cute wedges.

I'm waiting till the end of the spring palette challenge to take pictures with the dress on, as well as the other pieces. That way I can mix and match what I made, and show how I will really wear it.

Balloons for Blocking!

I did a lot of bust shaping for the beatnik sweater , 4-5 inches of it. It looked like a giant flap when working with it, a giant nippley flap. I had to do something to fix it while blocking. I wet the pieces in my bathtub, with a little Soak, pinned the sleeves and back to towels. For the front I inflated balloons to size, using my bra as a measurement and then put the balloons under the sweater and pinned the front like the rest. Laying on the floor it looks a little like J-Woww but it worked out well.

Beatnik Babe

This is the beatnik babe sweater from the book Ohio Knitting Mills. I used Manos del Uruguay in calypso, citron and some kind of grey. The book called for 4 skeins of the main colors but I only used three. The facings are a pink worsted weight. I added a lot of bust shaping using short rows for a close fit. I lowered the neckline a little as well. Over all I love the way it turned out!

pictures by verbenaknits