Tag: finished object

Sleeves!

Leave a comment

Last week I wrote about the vest I had recently finished, and this week I’ve made sleeves without a shirt body.

It all started when Sam Hermes of Little Bud Creations saw something very random Zara had come out with. It was a bodiless jumper that she felt compelled to recreate. Enough people also wanted to make it that she wrote up the pattern, and now I’ve made one myself.

Unfortunately, I didn’t bother to weigh anything, so I can’t tell you specifics. But what I can tell you is the sleeves themselves are crocheted in DMC Natura cotton and the cuffs and collar are Knit Picks Stroll Brights. The collar and cuffs are shortened slightly, just because I was using stash yarn and ran out of the blue in the middle of a round, so I shortened the cuffs to match.

I made the size large to go over sleeves in California winter weather (and because I know nothing about UK sizing and kind of just winged it), but now I’m thinking I need to make a second one in a smaller size and different fiber content for going over t-shirts at the ball park near sun down.

I love how the cotton makes the sleeves so drapey and flowy. If parties or concerts ever become a thing again, I can definitely see wearing this to something in the winter.

If you want to make one of your own (the colors don’t have to be quite so loud, her original was more pastel and only had three different colors), you can find it on Lovecrafts here. And don’t forget to go check out her Instagram because she makes amazing crochet designs all the time.

The Vest is Yet to Come

Leave a comment

Actually, the vest is finally finished but I couldn’t come up with a pun for that.

The torso of a woman wearing a green rib knit vest with a single green button at center neck, blue from hem, and blue crochet edging over a grey long sleeve shirt and black pants standing in a garden.

This vest came about because I had a variety of green yarn in similar weights sitting around in my stash. I wanted to do something with it, so I opened up my 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders book and searched through until I found something that matched the approximate weight category.

The front of a green knit vest with blue hem and crochet edging and a single green button at the center neck laying on a light wood floor.

The Simple Mistake Rib Vest by Karen J. Minott fit the bill perfectly. I didn’t end up having enough of the green (though I did try to gauge it by knitting with the rest of the yarn in pattern for enough stitches for the front. I did not take into account the neckline increases and fooled myself into thinking I had enough), so I added some blue at the bottom front since the vest is knit from the bottom back hem up and over to the front hem. I did both front panels at the same time so they would run out of yarn at the same time, and also because shirts take a long time and I would’ve procrastinated even more if I had to do another front panel after finishing the first one.

The back of a green knit vest with blue crochet edging laying on a light wood floor.

To tie it all together (and because I was already out of green yarn) I worked the crocheted edging all around the neck, hem, and armholes in the blue yarn. The edging is only called for on the neckline, but I thought it would look less out of place or like I had run out of yarn if I added it to the bottom and arms. I also sewed the side seams with that blue yarn, even though you don’t see it as much from the outside.

Close up of two buttons sewn together on the edge of a green knit vest with blue crochet edging.

To make the button more stable, I used two of the same button to sandwich the edge and make it sturdy.

All in all, this is a great stash-busting pattern. I would say if you have a bunch of yarn in the same weight but different colors, striping them in could make a really nice vest with this pattern. Or you could always just use the same yarn throughout and have a really polished garment.

An 18-month Shawl

Leave a comment

I knew this shawl had been hanging arounf for a while, but I did not realize I had started it in February 2019. That means it took me almost 18 months, ignoring the fact that it apparently took three attempts to get started, from start to finish.

Not that I worked on it consistently, of course. I was focusing on it for a while, especially when it was small and a row took under 10 minutes.

Once I ran out of the pink, which was some hand-dyed Knit Picks Shadow Bare that I had dyed with drink powder, and moved on to the white, the rows started taking longer and I started getting bored more easily. It started getting set aside for longer intervals, though it did get dragged along to sports practices.

Once I ran out of white and hit the blue, the rows were taking at least 30 minutes each. Not to mention the sheer amount of markers I needed and how paperclips get tangled into stitches so often.

Still, I kept dragging it along whenever we went out, because that is how I could force myself to work on it without getting distracted by other things I’d rather be doing.

But sometimes I would be able to focus at home while doing other projects that didn’t require my full focus.

It eventually got to the point where each row was taking an hour, so I tried to fit in partial rows whenever I could.

Don’t even ask how long the picot edge binding off took. It was spread over days, possibly even weeks. I honestly can’t remember at this point because it took so long. But it is finished, it is giant, and it is up in my Etsy shop.

I had originally intended to write up the pattern for this, but I don’t think anyone really wants to make a shawl this big that takes this long. Maybe I will revisit it and make some adjustments to reduce the size and write it up smaller.

A pink and white shawl propped up on various items in a large spiral, showing off the immense size.