Category Archives: finished

1:01 pm - January 10, 2015 - AngelaH

It’s becoming my go-to pattern

My last finished knit of 2014 was yet another Sunnyside, my third for the year (though the first two feel like they were finished much longer ago). I think it’s safe to say that it has become my go-to knit for a new baby. It’s simple, but with a little something extra, and lots of possibilities for customization, and just look at how cute it is.

Ruby Sunnyside

I knit this basically as written, except that I mirrored the cables down the fronts and across the raglan lines.This is for my cousin (due any day now!) and, although I finished this last week (just before New Year’s), I started this way back in September, before we knew whether she was having a boy or a girl. Red with cables seemed like a safe choice at the time, and since we later found out she’s having a girl, I added the lilac-coloured flower buttons to girl it up a bit. I noticed when I was buttoning up the sweater that the little petals on the buttons were snagging in the yarn-over button holes, so I went back and stitched around each button hole to make them both more open and smoother (for some reason, I don’t have a photo of that. Sorry.)

Anyway, this was a very quick little knit, or would have been if I hadn’t been so distracted. When I cast it on in September I worked on it until I was almost done the raglan shaping, and then put it down in favour of, well, lots of other things, but mainly the Wee Envelope sweater* I needed to start for friends of ours (I finished that too, but forgot to get FO shots before I gifted it. Ho hum). I picked Sunnyside back up over Thanksgiving (that’s early October in Canada) and finished the body, and then it languished while I did all my Christmas knitting. I just kept thinking “I only have the arms left, it’s no big deal.” It wasn’t a big deal, really. I knit the sleeves in an afternoon after Christmas and then dithered around for a week and half before I mailed it — and I didn’t want to blog about it until it was in the mail.

I really love a deep red for babies. Especially winter babies. It’s just so cozy!

There’s really not much else to say about this little knit except that you’re almost certain to see more Sunnysides popping up over here because it’s such a great little pattern. In fact, our friends (to whom the Wee Envelope was gifted) are also having a girl, which means I have an excuse to do the lace version of this pattern next!

Details
Pattern: Sunnyside by Tanis Lavallee
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 in Ruby (my stash is really starting to earn its keep, let me tell you)
Notes: I have this weird feeling that I actually cast on for the 6-12 month size, and then forgot and knit this as if it was for the 0-3 month size. I can’t be certain, but the collar looks a little larger than it should. Other than that, and mirroring the cables, it’s knit exactly as written! Ravelled here.

*As an aside, I really wish I’d taken finished photos of the Wee Envelope I knit because it was adorable! I will definitely be revisiting the pattern in the future.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: baby, Sunnyside

12:31 pm - January 1, 2015 - AngelaH

The year in making: Looking Back

It’s that time of year I guess. 2014 was a funny one for me: I never felt like I had very much time to knit anything at all, but looking back I think I did okay. I’ve also included some sewn pieces in this collage, but not everything. I sewed a lot this year and most what I made are not garments I’d wear, though they all taught me something. A few of these pieces are unblogged, either because they were gifts or I just didn’t quite get around to them. Anyway, here is what 2014 looked like from over here.

Starting at the top and going across each row left to right: January – Cold Snap socks, Brig, Sunnyside Twin Set, Rye – February – Hodgepodge Mittens, Sochi Socks – March – Flukra, Shaelyn, New Girl – April –Splish-Splash socks, Gaspereau Mitts, Fine-Feathered Madeleine, Pheasant socks (actually finished in June, but they fit better in this row), Grace – June – Baldersquash socks – July – Gatineau Stripes – August – Summer Skyps, Endless Summer Tunic/Dress, Brig II – September – Kelly skirt, Betula, Stasis – October – Endless Summer Dress, Motoring Madness mitts, Rye II (unblogged, my mum’s Christmas gift), Norby, Dad socks (unbloged, my dad’s Christmas gift) – December – Skiff (unblogged, my sister’s Christmas gift), Wee Envelope (despite appearance, I did finish it, I just gifted it before taking a new photo), Christmas Stockings, Return of the Moose gloves, Blackberries, Ruby Sunnyside (unblogged because I just finished it).

If you’re keeping count, that’s 35 actively enjoyed finished garments, and there are actually a couple of others that I never got around to taking photos of (including a second Kelly skirt, which I made for my sister). That works out to: 12 pairs of socks, 4 hats, 4 baby sweaters, 4 pairs of mittens/mitts/gloves, 3 skirts (two sewn, one knit), 2 shawls, 2 sweaters, 2 sewn dresses, and two Christmas stockings! Not too shabby, and a good range of garments that managed to not be all in the same colour!

Besides the socks, my most-worn knits have definitely been Shaelyn and Grace, with New Girl coming in a close third. Shaelyn is an ideal shawl for summer (for me): long enough to wear when bicycling to and from work, a nice lightweight fabric that’s still warm, and a colour that manages to be a both snappy and a neutral. Grace is both easy to wear and very comfortable. It’s perfect for work, and brings some good colour to my otherwise kind of dark winter wardrobe (so much navy…) New Girl was a complete surprise. I’d been interested in knitting a skirt for a while, and although I loved the pattern, it was hard to know how it would turn out. As it is, I’ve worn it so much I’m honestly thinking about knitting a second one.

What was your favourite FO of the year? Does it surprise you?

I’ll get to my 2015 goals later, but in the meantime let me just say thank you to everyone who reads this blog, whether you comment regularly, just once in a while, or not at all. There have definitely been days when knowing I’d blogged about something pushed me to keep going at it, or when knowing I could ask for advice or an opinion kept me from worrying about some detail or another. So, thank you for hanging out this year! Let’s do it again in 2015.

Categories: finished, Knitting, Sewing, Uncategorized Tags: year in review

11:43 am - December 30, 2014 - AngelaH

On my toes

Tis the season for year-end posts, I know, but I’m going to squeak one more FO post in before I start that (I’m giving myself the whole first week of January for look-back, look-forward stuff). Anyway. When I started knitting/sewing all my Christmas gifts, I started a little tradition for myself: when my last gift is off the needles, I cast on a pair of socks for me. It’s not a big thing, but socks are good for all the travel and casual socializing of the holidays, and new socks are sort of a holiday classic.

This year, though, I decided to do something a little different. For starters, L and I decided to spend Christmas together, so I went home with him for a week. I know the rhythms of my family’s holiday traditions inside out, but I wasn’t sure how much knitting time I’d have with his family, and I wanted to be open to all the differences instead of lamenting a lack of time with my needles. I also, if you remember, wasn’t at all sure I’d be able to finish L’s gloves before Christmas, so I wasn’t really sure I’d even have time to knit Christmas socks for myself.

This picture is from the beginning of November, and I hadn’t added a stitch to these socks until I pulled them out of their bag a few days before Christmas.

How lucky then, that I had a lovely pair of socks already on the needles! I started my Blackberry socks way back in September, but as often happens with this kind of sock (fun, variegated yarn at a tight gauge) they were my in-between knitting, and quickly got put aside entirely in favour of holiday knitting. I was part-way into through the leg of the second sock, and they were in a holiday-ish colour, so they were a perfect alternative to an entirely fresh pair.

I finished L’s gloves a few days before Christmas, so I picked up these socks and got to work. Somehow, between cooking and eating and socializing I managed to sneak in a few stitches, and a couple of movies later they were finished! I cast off on Christmas Day (thank goodness I’d brought some back-up yarn for my short flight home!) and they are lovely, if I do say so myself.

Photo taken a few days ago, in front our (first!) Christmas tree.

I’ve been paying attention to my habits lately and it seems that, when I have a full drawer of clean socks, these kinds of plain, tightly knit ones are the first to get warn. They’re the ones I reach for again and again, though they’re also the ones I take longest to knit: if they aren’t striped, I don’t seem to ever be in a hurry to finish plain stockinette socks — my last three pairs all took more than three months from cast-on to cast-off, whereas plain striped socks seems to knit themselves. The solution, I think, is clearly more stripes!

Since this post is turning into an end-of-December sort of analysis anyway, one last thing: Do you remember my sock goal for this year? Basically I wanted to knit about seven everyday pairs of socks, preferably from my stash. Well, I just about did it. I knit six plain pairs (out of 12 pairs total — more on those in my actual wrap-up post) and, except for one pair, they were all from stash yarn! My Blackberry socks are actually from yarn I bought over three years ago, right around the time I was acquiring a stash, so that’s pretty good I think.

In case you’re curious, this is Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 in Blackberry. I really like the way the colours knit up at this gauge. Not too much flashing or pooling, but a little pattern nonetheless.

I definitely have more sock (and knitting) plans for 2015, but I will give that its own post. In the meantime, do you knit for yourself over the holidays? After so long knitting for others, it feels like such a treat.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Christmas, Fleece Artist, socks

3:21 pm - December 27, 2014 - AngelaH

Return of the Moose (and the Brig!)

I totally made it. Three days before Christmas these puppies were off the needles, blocked, and had their ends woven in, and I’m still not sure how I managed to make up that much time — call it a cliché, but this felt like a (secular) Christmas miracle.

Because it’s basically impossible to secretly knit for the person you live with, and doubly so when you need them to try things on, L knew these were coming. I actually ended up giving them to him early since he hasn’t been able to wear the old ones and thus has had no gloves. They fit perfectly (like they were made for him!) and thanks to the denser yarn (Quince & Co. Chickadee), should be warmer than the last pair.

I made a few other changes this time around, the biggest one being completely re-creating the chart in Illustrator. The chart in the book is impossibly small and has no numbers for either rows or columns, making it easy to lose your place. Additionally, the chart for the moose pattern on the back of the hand has enormously long floats. There wasn’t really any way around it for the actual moose (I didn’t want to make it speckled, though that does seem to be the consensus in other designs), but for the area around the moose, long floats seemed unnecessary. I charted in some little specks (a friend called them snowflakes, which is a nice interpretation), which definitely gives these gloves a different look than the other ones, but luckily it’s one that L likes.

They go quite nicely with his Christmas hat too, which is a happy coincidence. He knew about the hat too, but I made him wait for it since he has others. This is a second attempt at Brig, and despite knitting it to almost exactly the same specifications as the previous one, it’s much smaller. L tried it on before I wove in the ends and said he liked it as it was (I offered to rip out the decreases and knit it long enough to have a fold-over brim), so I left it. It’s nice and tight around his ears, and the yarn (Swan’s Island Organic Washable DK) is lovely and soft, with really good recovery.

I think it’s very fair to say that L is happy with his new hat and gloves. We took these pictures on Christmas day and it was definitely his most enthusiastic posing yet! (This is doubly amazing because I just realized that both of these are second-timers for him. He just likes what he likes I guess.)

Details
Pattern: The Moose at Sundown by Annemor Sundbo
Yarn: Quince & Co. Chickadee in Winesap and Slate
Needles: 2.75mm, 3mm, 3.25mm
Notes: My main changes were to the chart — adding extra specks to keep the floats from being too long (you can see the insides here) and adding extra length to the hand, which I did last time as well. I also when up a needle size for the fingers. One other thing I did when I recharted these was to make it so the beginning of the round was in the same place for both gloves. As it’s written in the book, for the left glove you knit the palm and then then back of the hand, and for the right hand you knit the back of the hand and then the palm. It’s not a huge deal, but I did notice that the tension of my floats were different on the two different gloves, and I wondered if that was why, so this time I knit both of these with the palm first. I’d say it resulted in much better tension, especially at the edges. Anyway, these are ravelled here. (And the hat is here.)

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Christmas, hat, moose gloves

12:04 pm - December 7, 2014 - AngelaH

Sneaky Norby

Other than a couple of mild days, this winter is shaping up to be a cold one. November was cold and windy, and it became clear pretty quickly that this was not a year to go hatless. I have a lot of hats, but I really don’t like any of them (I have never been a hat person), so right in the middle of a frenzy of holiday knitting I took a minute to knit one for myself (that it took another three weeks to get photos is a whole other story).

I decided to knit Norby, which I bought the pattern for ages ago. It’s written for fingering weight yarn, but it was cold, so I decided to use DK for a little extra warmth. Despite having many excellent options in my stash, I figured that since I was breaking my holiday knitting rules* anyway, I might as well splurge. This is Shalimar Breathless DK, a merino, cashmere, silk blend, and it is deliciously soft and snuggly.

To make the pattern work for the heavier yarn, I cast on fewer stitches and worked one fewer repeat of the chart. The whole thing was a breeze to knit, and the tassels (which I wasn’t sure about at first) are the perfect finishing touch!

This is by far the most successful hat I’ve ever knit for myself. I’m not sure this will be warm enough if the weather gets as cold as last year, but for now, Norby is perfect.

Details
Pattern: Norby by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Shalimar Breathless DK in Scarab
Needles: 4.5mm
Notes: Followed the pattern exactly as written, but used a different stitch count. Ravelled here.

*As a general rule, once October rolls around, I focus on my holiday knitting until it’s finished. It’s the only way I know to get it all done without scrabbling around alone on Christmas Eve. So far, despite Norby sneaking in there, I’m still on track to finish with a healthy buffer.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: hat

11:15 am - October 28, 2014 - AngelaH

Dressing up

For a while now I’ve been wanting to incorporate more skirts and dresses into my regular wardrobe. I don’t work in a fancy office, so there’s no pressure to dress up (just as well, really, since I’ll probably always jeans and a t-shirt best), but it’s nice to have options in the morning, and to change things up, so I’ve been working on it. I am not a big shopper, so when it comes to new clothes these days a lot of enters my closet is handmade, so more skirts and dresses means making more skirts and dresses.

I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m freezing in this picture. I also really need a haircut. Oof.

All of which brings me to my most recent sewing project. I sewed another Endless Summer Tunic, but this time added another two inches to the length and put in the pockets. I used Liberty Lawn in Lauren’s Leaf (my LYS started carrying Liberty earlier this year and I had a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, so…) and wow, what a delightful experience start to finish.

I love this print so much.

I’m sure it helped that I’d sewn the pattern before, and I was definitely way, way more patient this time around, including when I put on the almost-finished dress and discovered that the fit in the back was all wrong. I ended up ripping out the seam at the back yoke and taking two inches off the top of the back piece, which has fixed the issue (I think I need to narrow the shoulders a little next time, but it’s nothing I can’t live with).

It might seem like a strange choice to sew a sleeveless dress just as the weather is starting to cool, but there was a method to my madness. First, that the lawn is a lightweight fabric, so this will be wearable year-round; second, that the loose shape will easily allow for leggings underneath as it gets colder; and third, that my office is pretty warm and I’m a big fan of cardigans. Basically, I wear t-shirts all year round, and I’m not sure that extra little cap of fabric offers up that much extra warmth (we’ll see what I say in January, I guess).

We photographed my mitts at the same time, and when I was looking through the photos I realized I’d never posted a photo of my Flukra in action. So here it is!

I think I’m just about ready to try actual fitted dresses now. I’m debating whether to try the very popular Emery Dress (which has darts, which I’m more or less familiar with — I’d skip the collar and bow, though) or the Hepworth Dress (which has princess seams, which I’ve never sewn, but so what?). This isn’t really a pressing decision, since my sewing time is limited, what will all the holiday knitting I have going on, but still. It’s fun to have projects to dream about. Also on my (dream) list is a second New Girl skirt, but with a different pattern at the bottom — I wear my blue one a ton, so I know a second would get lots of action.

Am I alone in my urge to mix things up with skirts and dresses? I know this feels a little out of left field to me, but maybe it’s part of a broader culture shift I haven’t been conscious of? What other patterns (knitting and sewing) should I be dreaming about?

Categories: finished, Sewing Tags: dress, Endless Summer Tunic, Liberty fabric

11:35 am - October 20, 2014 - AngelaH

Warm hands

Without fail, there are a few weeks every fall and every spring when I wish I had fingerless mitts. I kick myself for not knitting them sooner, I swear that next time it will be different, I plan for them to be the next article I cast on, and then the weather either gets cold enough for full-on mittens or warm enough to forego them entirely and they never get knit.

The pattern is mirrored on the other mitt, which is one of those design details I’ll always appreciate.

Last year I whipped up a speedy pair of Camp Out Fingerless Mitts, wore them camping, where they got very dirty and slightly felted, and swore to myself I’d replace them (I mean, the whole pair only took a few hours to knit, so no big deal, right?). Yeah, I never replaced them, even though I thought about it over the winter, and then again in the spring, and once or twice in the summer. A few weeks ago, though, the temperature here dropped and my hands were cold, and I was in a restless place with my knitting, and I decided it was was time. I looked through my many knitting books, and through my many (many) favourited patterns, trying to decide on a pair. It’s fall, so the weather is getting colder (unlike spring, when it’s getting warmer), so I decided that the mitts I’d been planning to knit probably weren’t the best choice right now (in March, though, I swear I’m going to knit them and be ready for spring!).

Then I remembered that last year, when I reviewed Audry’s book, I did so with the full intention of casting on the Motoring Madness mitts more-or-less immediately. I even had the right yarn (The Fibre Company’s Acadia) in my stash, all wound up and ready to go! That pretty much settled it. I finished the first mitt in an afternoon (minus the thumb), and even though it took me the rest of the week to knit the other mitt and two thumbs, they’ve been seeing lots of wear since finished them (a little over a week ago now).

Knit in The Fibre Company’s Acadia, in the Douglas Fir colourway.

I modified the pattern a little (you can see all the details here on Ravelry), but really only for length, since I wanted a longer cuff and I also have long hands (and, lets face it, probably knit these at a tighter gauge than written, despite going up a needle size). I love how well this colour goes with my array of navy blue jackets, and also that the pattern is interesting and pretty without being too loud/likely to snag on things. I’m also really impressed by how well the yarn is holding up. I thought the alpaca might cause pilling or fuzzing (you should see the state of my Hodgepodge mittens, which are very warm, but also absurdly fuzzy), but I haven’t had any problems at all, which makes me really want to knit something larger with Acadia. I have two more skeins in this colourway, so I was thinking of knitting a matching cowl or something — what to do you think?

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: fingerless mitts

10:48 am - October 11, 2014 - AngelaH

Hot pink socks

I finished these the same weekend as Stasis, but they are impossible to photograph! This colour (Espadrilles, by Madelinetosh) is definitely not what I usually go for, but it’s fun and bright and very well suited to this pattern — Betula Socks, by Rachel Coopey, whose designs are so reliably excellent and fun I will happily continue to knit them up as long as she continues to publish them.

These were on my needles for a while. I cast on before going to California, knit them on the plane there and during our time in San Francisco, before putting them down to finish my Skyp socks. I blame the lag for the reason they are not quite the same size: Despite knitting them with the same skein of yarn on the same pair of needles, one sock is slightly larger than the other, in both length and width. Maybe I knit one while relaxed and another while tense? Who knows. The difference isn’t enough to really bother me, but it is a little funny.

Details
Pattern: Betula Socks by Rachel Coopey
Yarn: Tosh Sock in Espadrilles
Needles: 2.5mm
Notes: I tend to choose my size based on the number of stitches cast-on. With these socks, though, the majority of the rounds actually have additional stitches (because of the stitch pattern), so they fit a little big. If I were to knit them again, I would probably go down a size. I’d also be tempted to mirror the charts across the socks, but it’s kind of fun that they’re designed to be matching-yet-fraternal. Ravelled here.

Since these were finished in September, they don’t count for Socktober, but I have big sock plans for this month. I have a pair of plain socks on my needles at the moment, which are likely to become background knitting as I dive into my holiday-related projects. But, since those include socks, if all goes according to plan I should get a couple of pairs knit this month — updates to come (promise!)

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Rachel Coopey, socks, Socktober

10:25 am - September 28, 2014 - AngelaH

St-st-st-Stasis!

Oh my, oh my, oh my, I am in finished-sweater heaven. I actually finished Stasis last weekend, but it has taken me a week to get proper photos (of course, the week after I finish a sweater has the warmest weather we’ve had in ages — not that I’m complaining: I loved it).

This was my Summer-Sweater KAL project this year (last year’s was Burrard — I can’t believe that was a year ago), and I am so glad that Shannon hosted the sskal again because it inspired me to pull out Stasis, which I’d started in February, and get it done. The pattern recommends knitting the sleeves first, so that’s where I started in the winter (I finished the colourwork portion on each and got maybe an inch further before putting them down). I knit each sleeve separately through the ribbing and colourwork, and then knit them two-at-a-time until they were about 18 inches long, at which point I put them aside and cast on for the body.

A little blown-out, but you get the idea.

I pretty quickly realized that the tubular cast-on I used for the sleeves wasn’t going to work for the body. I had used Ysolda’s technique, which I really like (so quick!), but there were too many body stitches to keep under control. I did some Googling and found this method, which worked very well indeed, and is absolutely identical. After that it was pretty much smooth sailing up to the yoke (my only mod was to add about an inch to the length). Although the yarn was pretty evenly dyed, I alternated skeins every two (or three) rows after the bottom colourwork, just to keep the colours blended.

Everything basically went fine until the yoke decrease portion. I read lots of project notes, many of which said they’d had to shorter the yoke section, so I knew it might be a problem area. I was getting row gauge, though, which seemed like such magic I assumed that I’d be okay, especially since I’d knit every other part of the pattern as written and it was turning out beautifully.

First attempt on the left, finished yoke on the right. I’d say there’s about two inches of difference (at least). (Photos are pre-blocking.)

I knit and knit and knit, and worked the ribbing and worked the tubular bind-off, and put it on and did not like it. It was wearable, don’t get me wrong, but the ribbing sat up on my neck like a mock turtleneck, and the yoke sat low around my shoulders, which made it feel strangely like it was falling off. It also made the armpits feel saggy and the arms too long, and I knew that if I left it it would never be a sweater I reached for. Looking at the way it fit, it seemed to me that I needed to be starting the collar ribbing more-or-less where the second decrease round was, and also that I needed to do fewer (and wider) short-rows across the back neck.

I used the needle end on my trusty plastic stitch-holder thing (no affiliate, so click away) and wove it through the right leg of each stitch in the row approximately five rows above the colourwork. Then I ripped without fear of going too far. I knit one row, to get everything even, and then worked decrease row 2, then knit five plain rows before starting the short rows. To make those work better, I used the numbers for the size up, and only knit four sets. After that I finished as written.

Even a freshly-blocked sweater manages to collect cat hair around here. Thanks for that, Ganymede.

The result is exactly what I was hoping for. It’s a fitted sweater, but still with plenty of space for layering once the weather gets cold. The yarn is soft enough that I can wear this with just a tank top underneath, and the main colour is a subtly variegated grey/white, which looks really nice over the all the plain stockinette. Now I have a reason to not bemoan the advent of cold weather — it was in the low-20s (high-60s) today when we took these and we had to seek out shade so I didn’t sweat too much!

Details
Pattern: Stasis by Leila Raabe
Yarn: The main is Kettle Yarn Co. Falkland (sadly discontinued) in Dusty Miller; the contrast is Plucky Feet in Pup Tent
Mods: I pretty much went over all of this, but to sum up: I added length to the body (about an inch) and then fussed around with the yoke until I was happy. Other than that, I knit the sleeves two-at-a-time (the first time I’ve ever tried that!) and, since I forgot the colourwork gauge needle when I went away last week, I just said to hell with it and knit the yoke entirely with the main gauge needle. It’s more fitted I guess, but I think it’s okay. I let the floats run a little long just to make sure it didn’t get tight. Ravelled here.

Let me leave you with one of L’s test shots. It’s a weird angle, but I like that it’s sort of an action shot.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: sskal14, Stasis, sweater

9:59 am - September 8, 2014 - AngelaH

Kelly with green buttons

When I set out to sew something (which isn’t often, since I don’t have a dedicated space) I plan out how long I think it will take, hit play on whatever Audiobook I’m listening to (this weekend I finished Middlemarch and got back to The Goldfinch) and put my head down. I have been known to forget meals and/or not realize it has gotten dark when sewing, despite all the up-and-down from machine to iron (so much ironing). All of which means the finished garment tends to be accompanied by a stiff neck and a sore back (again, something I don’t notice until I’m finished.)

This weekend, though, I was pleasantly surprised by how well this skirt — the Kelly Skirt by Meghan Nielsen came together. For starters, to mitigate the back/neck pain and also make time to leave the house, I spread the process out. I don’t know where I got the idea that sewing had to be a one-day affair, but realizing I don’t need to finish something in one sitting has been really liberating. I traced the pattern and cut my fabric on Friday, did the sewing on Saturday (several hours spread out over the whole day), and sewed on the buttons yesterday. Not only did spread the process out mean I didn’t end up stiff and sore, but I’m pretty sure it led directly to a nicer looking (and better constructed and finished) skirt.

I made the straight size medium, with my only deviation from the pattern being that I only had six of the vintage green buttons, so on the waistband, in place of the second button, I used a hook and eye. I don’t see myself wearing this without a belt, so I don’t think it’s a big deal. This fits really well with just a t-shirt tucked in, and is definitely easy to wear — I think it will even suit tights as the weather gets cooler.

I’m not 100% sure about the shape on me, but I think that’s something I could fix by shortening the waistband and adding maybe a half-inch of ease to the skirt. I might also add a couple of inches to the hem, to bring the skirt to just above the knee. I’m thinking about making a second version using the grey-blue cotton/linen fabric I bought in California. What do you think? Is the Kelly skirt worth a round 2?

I’m including this hilarious photos because even though who knows what I’m doing with my arms (mid-stretch? Too much Top Model in my undergrad days?) it’s a decent angle on the skirt.

(If you’re curious, I managed to get a fair amount of knitting time this weekend too. I’m an inch from finishing the body increases on Stasis, which puts me very, very close to joining the arms.)

Categories: finished, Sewing Tags: skirt