Tag Archives: Miette Sweater

Giveaway: Knitting Patterns from Andi Satterlund

13 Jan

I’ve got a really fun giveaway for y’all today! Assuming you like knitting… if not, what’s holding you back?? 🙂

As you all know probably know by now, Andi Satterlund of Untangling Knots is my not-even-trying-to-make-this-a-secret Knitting Girl Crush. I don’t want to call myself obsessive, per se, but every single one of her knittng patterns has a solid spot in my queue, and I’ve personally knit and finished (and worn!) half a dozen of her patterns for myself. I can’t help it – her designs are beautiful, flattering, fit my body shape exactly, and there is always some new construction trick to learn.

Aiken_Front_02_test_medium2
Aiken Pullover

My very favorite part about Andi’s patterns is how they are constructed. Every knitter has his or her own personal preference for knitting – some like knitting each piece and seaming them together, some prefer to knit things entirely in the round with no seaming. I fall in the latter camp – it’s so fun to watch the shape emerge as you complete the pattern, plus, you can pull it on to tweak the fit as you knit. Not to mention once you’re done, you’re done! No seaming necessary 🙂 All of Andi’s patterns are knit this way – one piece, in the round (top-down or bottom-up depending on the particular pattern in question). Sleeves are set in with short rows and button bands are picked up and knit directly along the edge. Like I said – NO SEAMING. Miracles all up in this bitch!

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Chuck cabled pullover

Another thing I really love about her patterns is the sizing. This is really a personal preference – my body just happens to fit exxxactly into that XS size. I love it! However, if you don’t have the same sort of hourglass figure that the patterns are written for (and there’s a full schematic on the back of each pattern with a zillion finished measurements, so as long as you gauge swatch matches up you can be pretty sure exactly what you’re in store for), they are pretty easy to tweak thanks to the in-the-round construction. Not to mention, the bust measurements range from 29″-50″+, so you’re much more likely to find a size that fits you 🙂

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Hetty Lace Cardigan

Not into knitting sweaters quite yet (well, what’s stopping you? ;))? Andi also has a nice selection of non-sweater knits – cowls, hats, and fingerless gloves. Most of the accessories patterns include some colorwork – such as the Stray beret in leopard print which I’m dying to knit, or the super fun Bernadine Cowl which has ball of yarn knitted into the design – but there are also even simpler accessories, such as Salt and Bea. Again – what’s stopping you from knitting a sweater, though? 🙂

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Geralindine Pullover and Ethel Beret

Feeling inspired yet? Look at all the makes I’ve whipped up using Andi’s patterns-
Agathamy mustard Agathaon Ravelry
Agatha(again!) – my Blagathaon Ravelry
Miettemy navy Mietteon Ravelry
Chuckmy red Chuckon Ravelry
Marionmy red Marionon Ravelry
From A to Zmy L is for Laurenon Ravelry

Yikes, that’s a lot of links! Hopefully that gets the creative juices flowing, though 🙂

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED


All right, here’s the fun part – Andi has generously offered to give away a small prize pack of 3 of her patterns, chosen by one lucky winner! Yay! To enter, all you need to do is check out her Ravelry store and tell me in the comments what 3 individual patterns you would choose if that winner is you (sorry, y’all, the Wrapped in Wool package is not included in this giveaway. But you could totally pick 3 of those individual patterns if that’s your jam ;)). That’s it! This giveaway is open WORLDWIDE and I will close the comments one week from today, January 20, 2014 at 8PM CST.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

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If you’ve yet to knit your first sweater and feel terrified at the prospect, perhaps I can tempt you with the gorgeous Agatha? It was my first sweater, too! 😉

Good luck!

Completed: the Miette Cardigan

10 Jul

I have a confession to make: this cardigan has actually been finished for about a week now. All I had left to do was to sew on the buttons. It is pretty uncharacteristic of me to put off the final touches of a project – I want it to be finished so I can actually wear it! – but this sweater stumped me for about a week.

I tried a regular ol’ wet block the day I finished it, and let it sit on the back porch so the sun could do it’s thang. Of course, that day had a 20% chance of rain and OF COURSE it decided to rain while I was at work (while we’re in the middle of a drought, no less). GR. When I got home, it was obviously still wet & that’s when I realized that it was quickly growing several sizes too large. I knew that cotton yarn has a tendency to grow, but I figured the wool blend would stop it… nope. So I tried to throw it in the dryer. It was at that point that I learned our (new-to-us) dryer has a busted heating element. That is also when I decided to let Amelia use the sweater as a cat bed while I went over my remaining options.

I’m happy to report that I did manage to fix it, though!

Miette

So now let’s talk about the pattern, and my issues with cotton yarn.

Miette
This is the Miette pattern by Andi Satterlund. Can I just say that I wish Andi had more sweater patterns, because I would totally knit every single one of them. I love how she lays out her instructions & I think her designs are just so pretty. The sizing is always perfect for my body, too. Anyway, this pattern was pretty awesome – simple, fairly quick (the actual knitting of this sweater only took about a month!), and mostly mindless. I used Cascade Sierra, which is a cotton/wool blend yard (80/20), and I barely pulled into my 4th skein. It feels so soft against my skin! These pictures are kind of deceiving; the navy is much more rich in real life.

Miette
I did make a couple of changes to the pattern – I left out a few rows on the sleeves, because I liked the length (and I actually think they are a smidge too long still, eh). I also knitted the sleeves with DPNs instead of my circular needles, since I didn’t want the cotton to stretch out. The ribbing is supposed to be knitted with a smaller needle size, but I didn’t have a smaller size DPN on hand so I just used my regular 8s (same size I used for the rest of the sweater).

Miette
I love that it is all knit in one piece! Yay for not having to sew it together!

Miette
Sorry that these pictures are so bad – I caught a break in the rain & had to rush! The dress I am wearing is actually lavender, but it looks white here!

Miette
Of course, now I notice that the ribbing doesn’t match up at the bottom band. Huh. I guess I didn’t block it enough the first go-round.

Miette
The button band is stabilized with petersham ribbon, so it doesn’t gape over curves. I really like this method, although it is a bit time-consuming to sew all that ribbon on. This time around, I tried machine-stitching my button holes on the petersham before sewing it to my sweater – it was MUCH easier than handworking button holes. Me gusta!

Miette

So how did I get it to fit, if it apparently stretched all out of shape?

Miette
I STEAM-BLOCKED THAT LITTLE SHIT.

Ha! It was sooo easy (and soooo much better than going to the laundromat lolol)! I just laid it on my table, scrunched up the sides & steamed the shit out of it with my iron. While it was hot, I molded the sweater to be smaller. Then I left it to dry. Easy easy! And it actually worked – yay!

Miette - neckline
The next thing I did was thread some thin elastic (like the kind you use for shirring) through the neckband. I sewed 2 rows of elastic, all the way around, and pulled it very slightly. Hopefully this will keep the neckline from stretching out again.

Miette - detail
The buttons aren’t my favorite but they were the only thing I had on hand that even remotely matched (and that I had enough of!)

Miette - button band

At this point, I got really pissy at how bad my pictures turned out, so I started playing around with effects haha
Miette

Miette

Ha!

Anyway, that’s 2 sweaters completed at this point! I feel so proud of myself 🙂

Completed: A Totally Tubular Simplicity 1803

27 Jun

“Tubular” is such a weird word. I mean in the sense when people use it as a synonym for awesome or rad. I mean… it’s literal definition is something that is tube-shaped. What is so rad about a tube? English language, you mystify me.

You know what is pretty radtubular, though? This Simplicity 1803 pattern, yeah! Now that we have set aside our differences, a beautiful relationship can be allowed to bloom. With this in mind, I would like to introduce you to my latest incarnation of Simplicity 1803, heading straight up Awesomeville.

Simplicity 1803, v2
This print is pretty loud in comparison to what I normally wear, but I like it!

Simplicity 1803, v2
There’s not much to say about the construction here – it’s pretty much the exact same as my Disaster dress, although a bit more simple (no underlining, machine-stitched hems, etc). I did discover that the fabric has a very subtle stretch, which made the dress a bit too big… so I ended up with some pretty giant seam allowances at the zipper. We’re talking 1.5″ seam allowances. Yeesh! On the fip side, the stretch makes the dress quite comfortable.

Simplicity 1803, v2
I remembered to put the pockets in the correct place this time! No princess-seam pockets for this girl!

Simplicity 1803, v2
This fabric is just fabulous… a nice, drapey rayon with a hint of stretch, and a really busy pattern that hides sweat – which is quite important these days, considering we are gearing up for a high of 108* later this week. I KNOW.

Simplicity 1803, v2
I did make the waist tie this go-round, although it blends in pretty well with the busy print. Oh well, I guess it provides a bit of texture?

It was difficult to get pictures of this dress – most of them ended up totally blown out with light. I kept moving around to different areas of shade.

Simplicity 1803, v2
Then I noticed the awesome neighborhood stray cat in my back yard!

Yay kitty!
This cat is so cool! He’s super friendly and VERY vocal, and he loves having his belly rubbed. I know he’s skinny as shit, but I’ve actually tried feeding him before & he refuses it. He looks pretty healthy and is definitely quite social, which gives me reason to believe he’s probably someone’s pet prowling around the neighborhood. I see him about once a week and we are best friends. I have named him Bobby, fyi.

THIS CAT
Told you he was friendly 😉

:3
Although he never sits still long enough to get a good picture!

Simplicity 1803, v2
This is the dress front. Again, I went with soft pleats instead of thread gathers on the skirt. I’m a big convert of the soft pleat!

Simplicity 1803, v2
Dress back, lapped zipper.

Simplicity 1803, v2
Orange zipper! Also, check out my massive seam allowances lol

Simplicity 1803, v2
I’m trying it with a belt for work today, I think I like it better than the tie… it breaks up the pattern a bit.

As a side note – I’ve got one sleeve on my Miette sweater now!

Miette Progress
My sleeves is a little shorter than the pattern calls for (I skipped a few rows of stockinette), but I still think it’s a little long for my preferences. I guess that means I have T-Rex arms hahaha.

Miette Progress
This sweater has been really fun to knit, but I’m looking forward to finishing it so I can work on something a little less mindless 🙂

Simplicity 1803, v2

Also, don’t forget to enter my Shabby Apple Giveaway if you haven’t done so already – it closes this Friday 😀

One last thing – I just looked up tubular, and according to dictionary.com: excellent. (Surfing and later general youth slang. Having to do with a tube [wave] that is good to surf in.) : That pizza was totally tubular!

Pointless Knitting Projects

23 May

Hey! We haven’t discussed knitting in a while, huh? I must admit, after spending 3 months knitting up my Agatha sweater, I thought it was time to take it easy for a few weeks. Also, my yarn budget was shot. Boo! I have been knitting in the time since – just easy projects, with yarn lifted straight from my tiny stash.

Let’s take a little lurk, shall we?

Knitted U-Lock Cozy
First was the Bicycle U-Lock Cozy. WHY. I DON’T KNOW. It was really easy & mindless – just very short rows of garter stitch, yeah! And it matches my bike 🙂

coordinated cozy
Then I knitted another coffee cozy, because apparently I just get off from coordinating everything.

THEN the Cozy Madness really reared it’s ugly head and I found myself knitting this…
Poodle Toilet Paper Cozy
That would be a Poodle Toilet Paper Cozy, knitted in Harvest Gold (acrylic, of course). What? Too much?

I think it’s safe to say that I should probably stop knitting cozies, for the love of everything that is pure & holy (and non-knitted)in the world.

In all seriousness, though, I did start two projects that are actual sweaters, knitted up in lovely yarns.

agatha - version 2
The first is my second Agatha cardigan – sorry for the Instagram. Also this picture was taken like 2 weeks ago & I’m much farther along at this point. But see my little sheeeeeep stitch markers! Ack so cute! Anyway, this is getting knitted up in another Cascade 220 – a beautiful jet black smudged with a soft gray. I think it will look really great with all the lacework. I’m not really pushing this one to get knitted up too fast, since it’s wool which is kind of deadly to wear during a Tennessee summer.

I also started my Miette last night, in a much more wearable cotton/wool blend:
Miette Gauge Swatch
I had to lighten the picture a lot to get anything to show (the yarn is a deep navy), but look! I got gauge on the first swatch woohoo!

Miette Gauge Swatch
And the other way!

I am really excited to knit up this sweater 😀 The mindless stockinette will be a nice change from all that crazy Agatha lace. I’m going on vacation this weekend – starting with a very long car ride – and I am looking forward to working on this.

Do any of y’all ever knit (or crochet!) totally pointless projects like cozies? Or am I alone in my cozy fascination? What is the ugliest thing you have ever made with yarn?

In the meantime, I’ve dedicated all my sewing time this week to endless piles of mending & refitting. I’ve actually accomplished quite a bit, and feeling very good about myself! Oh, and I’m also sewing up Landon’s Christmas present. You know, the one from Christmas that was like 6 months ago. I’m a shitty girlfriend.