A couple of months ago I was getting really excited for autumn with cooler temperatures and gorgeously colored leaves. So I purchased some autumn-leaf patterned fabric and made a dress!

Making the blue dress I talked about in my last post was a fairly long process with a lot of modifications, and for this dress I decided to take the work I had done and use it to my advantage on a second project. I removed the collar and waist tabs, made the skirt fuller and slightly longer, added ties to the waist, and moved the zipper from the side to the back. Just a few tweaks made a dress that looks completely different!

I always like having a dress with pockets!

And...I don't really have anything else to say about this dress! It was a pretty quick and easy project compared to some of the other things I've been sewing, which was a nice break.

Thanks for reading! ;)

I recently finished another addition to my wardrobe of handknit sweaters: Gwenevere!

I used this pattern by Jennifer Wood and some Berroco Vintage DK yarn I had in my stash. This is the second sweater in a row that I knit from one of Jennifer Wood's patterns. If you knit sweaters and haven't seen her work, go check it out! Her designs are gorgeous!

Coming back to the project in question, though. Gwenevere is worked from the top down, starting with leaf-patterned circular yoke and then moving on to stockinette with raglan increases. The sleeves are split off and the body is worked as one piece with waist-shaping and ending with a leaf edge. The sleeves are then worked (in the round, so no seaming!) and finished off with leaves matching the edge of the body. To finish, the button-bands are picked up and knit on either side of the front opening, and a small reverse-stockinette edge is worked around the neck.

Overall, I really love how this pattern worked up. I did make a couple modifications though; the waist shaping started too far down on me, so I shortened the body. I had a bit of trouble with the button-bands, which may have stemmed from the fact that the body was shorter than the pattern called for. I was able to fudge it a bit, and though it's not perfect it doesn't look too bad!

I also made a hat to match from the coordinating Gwenevere Hat pattern, but unfortunately it didn't work out too well. I made it longer for a slouchy version, but instead of slouching nicely, it wants to stick up it the air, which looks a bit awkward! It's currently sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to frog the top to make it shorter.

These gloves were a gift for my mom. I used the free Wood Elves Gloves pattern by Christelle Nihoul and Cascade Heritage sock yarn. Although I've knit lots of fingerless mitts before, this was my first time making gloves. It wasn't as challenging as I expected; not much harder than the fingerless variety, actually, though the fingers were a little fiddly. They turned out well and my mom really loves them!

The socks I recently finished were a bit of an ordeal to knit. I started them at the end of March (!) last year, and they were intermitantly in progress for nine months. I wasn't stalled by the pattern (Hunter Hammersen's By Naughty Design) or by the yarn (Seven Sister Arts Meridian). In fact I love them both and think they go wonderfully together. No, my problems arose from gauge and fit, as they often do. I had a bit of initial trouble figuring out which size to make, and once that was decided I knit both socks only to find one smaller than the other. After a few months of time-out, I returned to fix the tight sock and accidently ripped out half the foot of the wrong one. 

​After all this drama, I am thankful to have these socks finally finished! Sometimes it's worth it to take the extra effort and end up with a finished project I'm happy with.

The final project I have to show today is my Du Ciel shawl. I named this project after the yarn I used, Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the colorway "cloud dweller." The grays and blues capture the look of a cloudy sky, hence the name "Du Ciel," which is French for "of the sky."

I ended up running out of yarn, so the edging on the shawl is only about half a long as it is supposed to be. I still think it looks nice though. The pattern is Linette Grayum's Prettyish Wilderness Shawl.

One last quick note: I got an Instagram account last year. I haven't posted there a lot yet, but feel free to follow me if you are interested! My username is alittlebittoknit.

Thanks for reading!

It's been a few months since I last posted on this blog. One reason for my absence is that my interests have been shifting. Up to this point, my blog has been focused on knitting, and particularly my design work. Recently though, I haven't been doing much designing and I've been exploring some other pursuits such as sewing. So I've decided to transition my blog from being a knitting blog to a blog where I share all kinds of things that I'm making (and I'm sure that will still include a lot of knitting).  :)

In the meantime, I'll take a couple of posts to fill you in on what I've knit during my recent hiatus from blogging.

First off, a pair of fingerless mitts from my Traverse Mitts pattern. I mentioned that I might make myself a set, and so I did! These are made from Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport.

Second, I made a rather large and exciting project: a sweater! I used Jennifer Wood's lovely Idril pattern and Malbrigo Sock yarn in the "Fresco Y Seco" colorway. I love the Celtic look of the cables on this sweater. I highly recommend Jennifer Wood's work; her sweater designs are gorgeous and her patterns are quite well written. I'm actually making a cardigan from another of her patterns right now.

I also have a new toy knitting pattern available! These are the Bear Pair, from the Knit and Crochet Toys special issue magazine. Both bears are worked following the same instructions, but with different yarn weights for a large difference in sizes. If you'd like to make your own bear (or pair of bears) you can buy the individual pattern here or the full magazine here.

Thank you all for reading my blog and supporting my knitting endeavors. Happy 2017!

​-Sarah

Recently, I tried experimenting with a craft I haven't explored much in the past: sewing! While this is not the first time I've sewn a dress, this time I really felt like I "got" what I was doing. In the past, the sewing machine had intimidated me and always seemed to be going too fast. But now I feel more in control of the machine and the process seemed less scary and more enjoyable. Getting comfortable with a seam ripper certainly helped me feel more relaxed about sewing--I ripped out a lot of seams during this project!

The pattern I used to sew this dress is Lekala 4345. I wasn't happy with how small the sleeves on this pattern are though, so for those I used the cap sleeve from Sew Many Dresses, Sew Little Time, modified using this tutorial for greater arm movement (and then modified again to fit on the fabric I had). Lekala patterns are quite terse, so I was glad my mom knows how to sew and could explain and show me what to do!

My finished dress is not perfect, but I think it turned out quite well, especially since I haven't had much experience. I'm hoping to do some more sewing in the near future!

Remember when I participated in the Initiate Knit Design Challenge with Aroha Knits? The challenge led participants through the steps of designing a pattern. Based on my concept that week, I made this prototype:

In my original concept, the cowl was knit flat in a strip and grafted to make a tube, with little cables serving as the edging. But in the finished cowl the cable edges flopped awkwardly and didn't work like I had hoped. Eventually, I had the idea of picking up stitches around the the edges and working a small ribbed border to add structure.  The ribbed borders help to cinch in the floppy edges and made the whole cowl sit better. There was a bit of frustration in there, but I need to remember that designing is a learning experience, and things don't always work out as planned. I'm thankful I was able to find a solution though!

Here you can see more of the stitch pattern details. I love knitted leaves, so I'm really happy with the way this stitch pattern turned out.

Have you ever had a time when you're knitting didn't work out as planned but you learned from the process?