Hello! Remember me? I used to sew things and then write about them here. Well I still don’t actually have a sewn garment to show you as I have spent precisely zero minutes at my sewing machine so far this year but I do have a handmade garment.
I knit a cardigan. I am ridiculously proud of managing to knit myself something wearable. I’m not particularly good at knitting. I’m slow and awkward. A work friend tried to teach me how to cast on once and I’m pretty sure she was getting so frustrated she wanted to hit me. (I still can’t – and won’t – do it the way with two needles)
I took the Knit Lab Craftsy course toward the end of last year and got a lot more capable and confident. You knit a lacy scarf along with the class to teach you different stitches and techniques. If you don’t knit and would like to, I really recommend it as Stefanie Japel is adorable and it gives a really thorough grounding in the basics. After finishing the scarf I moved on to these lovely fingerless mitten things to practice the techniques I knew I’d need for my end goal, which was always a Miette having seen loads of versions of it all over the Internet. (I originally asked my nan if she’d knit me one but she just laughed at me – apparently she’s not good enough, but she’s a nan, I don’t understand this. So I had no choice but to learn.)
After the mittens I knit a cabled scarf as a Christmas present for a friend – I do like to throw myself into things – but I don’t have any photos of that. I then bit the bullet and bought some cascade 220 and cast on my Miette.
I knit the 38″ size and I think I knit it faaaar too tight as I used a whole skein and a half less wool than the pattern says you need. Of course I didn’t do anything as sensible as knit a gauge swatch before starting. After blocking it fits everywhere but the cuffs, where I cast off too tight. It fits there but it’s not that comfortable. I have seen some mentions of “stretchy bind off” online that I should probably look into a bit further and learn how to do it.
The knitting went okay, I messed up a few things and there were places where my stitch count had wandered but instead of going back and finding the mistake I tended to just do some sneaky increases or decreases under the arms.
Please excuse the terrible quality photos, apparently there is no good light in my garden. These were actually taken back in March before me and Manfriend went out to watch the rugby for one of his friend’s birthday so they were a bit rushed. I will try harder and maybe find somewhere more interesting for my next finished garment. Which I’m hoping will be soon as I’m going on holiday with my family two weeks and I’m going to try to get a couple of things made to take with me. I have a Sewaholic Gabriola skirt cut out and I have plans for some tops. I’ve also started work on a dress I promised my nan before Christmas so hopefully I’ll have a bronzed pensioner in a slinky dress to show you the next time I post. Helloooo, weird search term traffic!