FO: My Heart

 

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves, but I had mine out on my knitting needles a few weeks ago for this quick project.

I've known about the Heart pattern by Kristin Ledgett for years. This is a free pattern on Knitty.com that has been up since 2009. It's an anatomical style heart made in fingering weight yarn and I finally felt inspired to knit this up. The pattern suggests size 1.5 DPNs, but I only had 1 or 2. I decided to go with the size 2 in hopes of getting this a bit bigger, which made the gauge a smidge loose, but I think it turned out fine. I grabbed a skein of Wendy Family Choice 4 Ply yarn that was still sitting out after using it on the heel and whatnot of my Sock Week Socks since it was the right size and didn't require any skein winding and therefor I could just start knitting.

The pattern starts at the bottom point of the heart and grows up into the various ventricles. The body itself is simple to knit and then things get a bit fiddly as you divide several times for the tubes. Thankfully the pattern is written really well, so I had no issues getting the correct shape in the end. The last part you knit is the severed, divided ventricle that wraps through the center and faces outward. Interestingly, you bind off the knitting and leave the tubes open and the pattern suggests you stuff it with red fleece or sew felt over the holes. I wanted this to be durable since it was going to be a gift, so I went the felt route. I stuffed little pieces of red felt in the holes and then used a running stitch with red embroidery floss to sew them in place. It's hard to see in these photos because RED is so hard to photograph like this, but the stitches are visible on the felt and I like the handmade look it gives.

Once the heart is made, the pattern tells you to wrap the ventricles and then stitch them in place. My advice is to not pull the stitching together too tightly or you will end up with divots in your heart, and who wants that? Not me. So if you pull on the ventricles too much, you can see the stitching, but I'm not worried about it. As this will be more of a decorative item anyway, I think it should be fine. After I had the whole heart technically done, I wanted to add some embroidery for veins. I like the more realistic look it gives and yet it also makes it slightly more creepy. I went with just a freehand chain stitch in burgundy and blue embroidery floss. I simply looked at the heart and stitched where I felt it needed something. I made sure the veins were present on all sides, again for a bit more realism. Obviously this isn't a photo-realistic replica, but the sentiment is there.

The end result is a palm sized heart, which worked out perfect for my purposes. I'm honestly thrilled with how this turned out. It's sentimental but also creepy, and that is exactly what I was going for. I'm glad I finally felt like it was time to make this up, and if you need your own anatomical heart, I definitely recommend this pattern.

Need to give your heart to someone?

Video: Quick Mason Jar Cup Cozy

 

As a frequent smoothie maker, I have been meaning to make a cozy for my quart sized mason jars for AGES, so I decided to film the process when I finally did this weekend. This is such a ridiculously easy project - cup cozies are about as beginner as you can get, but it's still proved very useful and I'm glad I finally buckled down and filled this need. Now my hands don't freeze! Huzzah!

Head Over Here to watch the video yourself and maybe make a cozy of your own :)

WIP Wednesday: Almost Finished Rose Street and Video Planning

The past few weeks has seen a lot of knitting on my Rose Street Cardigan, and it is almost finished :) I managed to finish knitting the sleeves, which I knit flat kind of on accident. I completely knit the ribbing on the first sleeve before I realized the sleeves were meant to be knit in the round. Whoops. Not a big deal though at all. I currently have the sweater and sleeves blocking and then I will be sewing it all together and I will have a finished cardigan! Just in time for it to be 90 degrees on the regular, lol. 

While my Rose Street is drying, I decided to start my next project - the Dalloway Blouse, which is also by Sydney Crabaugh. I've had this in mind to make for a while, and I realized how hot it is now so I decided to just go ahead and make it up. This is a vintage Jiffy pattern from the 1920s, so I'm hoping it will go by very quickly. I'm making it up in Silk City Fibers Bambu 7 that I grabbed from Lion Brand on sale last summer. This is the Persimmon colorway and I have 2100 yards of it, so you will probably see it in something else later as well. I know this swatch photo isn't great, but I got gauge and I'm excited to see how this knits up.

I've also been working on a bit of sewing for my next YouTube video where I'm chopping up a knit dress to make a Vera Top, so stay tuned for that if you are interested in the process. I have filmed the beginning of the next several videos, but they will take a bit longer to have a complete project. So I'm trying to figure out what kind of videos I can put up while I work on those. Any subjects you want me to talk about? I'm open to suggestions!

So that's what's going on 'round here lately. Anything new and exciting going on in your making? Let me know!

Sew Frugal: Vera Knit Top

 

After the sad state of my Miranda Gathered (?) Tee, I didn't want my Sew Frugal entry to be a bust. I had printed out the Vera Knit Top by Forget Me Not Patterns quite a long time ago, but I never sewed it up. This was the perfect moment to finally give it a try! Since I had never made any Forget Me Not patterns, I did want to make a mock up just to be sure, and this turned out to be a great wearable muslin :)

For full details of this make, you can head over to my YouTube channel and watch this video :) But I wanted a written review as well. So the fabric I chose was a coral pink swan print bamboo knit I grabbed in the clearance section at The Sewing Studio sale a year or so ago. This fabric is buttery soft and lovely. I grabbed 2 yards back then, which is perfect for this pattern. Since i got this for a very good price and I wasn't 1000% adoring of the swan print now, I didn't mind using it as a potential sacrificial fabric if this didn't work out. Thankfully it did and I love the print now that it's all done. Funny how making fabric into something cute can make you fall in love with it again.

So the construction is pretty simple and the instructions are very detailed. I was able to get a nice V neckline even though I've never sewn one before. Sadly, I had my iron just a smidge too warm for this fabric and it made the seam allowance beneath the neck band press in a shiny line there. I didn't really pay attention to the fact that this shirt has a high-low hemline, which I honestly don't love, but that's a simple change for next time. There was enough length for me to do a standard 1 inch deep hem though, so that was nice. 

The sleeve length I have here is my own fault and not the fault of the pattern. It's not awful or anything, it's just not what I intended. The pattern comes with 2 cuff lengths - the long cuff gives full long sleeves, so I thought that the short cuff did too and I would need to shorten the sleeve. Turns out, the cuff is the only difference in the sleeve length. I should have cut the normal sleeve as drafted and used the small cuff piece for 3/4 sleeves, but instead I shortened the sleeve to the lengthen/shorten line, which put my finished sleeve just above my elbow. It's still cute and I have already worn it, I just know that next time I want to use the whole sleeve because it's a bit fuller as well.

So that's my successful Sew Frugal project for 2024 :) I'm really happy with how this turned out and I know that I will absolutely be making more Vera tops in the future. This is a fantastic free pattern, and I hope everyone makes one for themselves.

Summary:

Fabric: 2 yards coral swan print bamboo knit - $6.42

Pattern: Vera Knit Top by Forget Me Not Patterns - Free

Notions: Thread - $0.50

Time: 3 hours

Total Cost: $ 6.92