On My Needles

If you follow me on Instagram (ErikaMadeIt) you may have gotten a sneak peek of my latest knitting project. This sweet fairisle cardigan is from the classic knitting book Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas. I've been lusting after this cardigan for almost ten years now (eeek!) and finally gotten around to making it. 

Once again I am using my favorite yarn, Blue Sky Alpaca's sport weight melange. The blue is a lovely cornflower color. This is a bigger yarn than the pattern calls for, a discontinued Rowan fingering yarn (why does Rowan discontinue so much?). But I had a lot of colors in my stash and I wanted to make it work. I knit up a gauge swatch and determined that 2 sizes smaller than the smallest size would work. It's easy to work out the amount of stitches in this pattern, the S,M or L sizes are all 7 stitches apart.  

I really like the way this is turning out, and I am trying to get back into knitting. I just have to remember to knit every night. Does anyone else have this book? How do you stay motivated to finish knitting projects?

Abbey Coat Muslin

I'm slowly crawling out of the black hole of flu that's been going around. I haven't done anything constructive for 5 days,but today I finally felt up to finishing my coat muslin. 

Most of the pieces I cut from some green felt fabric I had to simulate the weight of wool, and the rest in just muslin fabric when I ran out of felt. I think the fit is good, but not great. The upper sleeve is too tight, and I'm not really sure how I feel about the sleeve length for winter. I may lengthen them. It seems to be bunching a little bit around the upper  breast, I supposed a full bust adjustment would fix that. Or maybe it's just a result of the too tight sleeve.  It felt good on, but now looking at these photos it looks kind of blah. Maybe it's just because I'm feeling blah. 

Any fitting suggestions? Anyone else just feeling blah today?

I'm Coat Crazy!

I'm starting another coat! I've always had a serious addiction to coats, and now I'm addicted to tailoring and the two combined is impossible to resist. The pattern is the Abbey Coat from Jamie Christina, who I never knew about before I spotted this coat pattern. The pattern comes in a neat little booklet, and has extensive instructions. I will be adding the tailoring techniques I have learned so far: bound buttonholes and padstitching the collar. The full length version, is perfect for winter, with the addition of longer sleeve. 

The gorgeous blue wool is from Mood, thanks to a gift certificate from my In-laws. For the lining I chose an off white sunback satin material, a suggestion from Gertie's latest coat sew-along. One side is satin, the other is some kind of flannel for warmth, no need to interline! I also got some off white faux fur for some accents. The buttons are from Pat's Custom Buttons and Belts, in Lodi Ca.  I love getting custom buttons from her, they always look perfect, such a speedy delivery even though it's across the USA, and they really make projects look more professional. These buttons only cost me about $13.  I LOVE buttons! Anyone else feel the same?

The wool is going in the dryer to shrink, but I'm not sure how to pre-wash the satin, any suggestions? It's cold outside today, I've got to get started on my muslin!