WIP Wednesday: Progress and New Projects

Well, I've managed to keep my knitting pace steady ... until this past Monday (but I'll tell you about that in a minute). On Sunday night I made a thrilling yet terrifying progression on my Emelie cardigan - I separated at the arm holes!

Technically I have deviated from my original plan for this sweater over the past week, lol. I measured the body and it was 11" long sometimes about a week ago - this is where I was originally going to separate for the arm holes. I decided to hold it up on my body to double check and while the length was ok, it hit me that I've only made cropped cardigans and it sure would be nice to switch it up a bit, lol. So, I kept knitting until I hit the next length up - 13". The pattern then has you put the left front and back on scrap yarn (I use extra cables thanks to my amazing needle set), and just work on the right front.

That's an arm hole alright! I did manage to screw up the armhole pretty quickly and had to tink back about 6 rows (including bound off stitches - ugh). I was really excited to make this great step in the progress of this sweater, but at the same time I am terrified that the length isn't right, lol. I've never made a bottom-up cardigan before and that is definitely one of the main draw backs in my opinion - no length tweaking. Hopefully I got it right though :) I'm excited to keep going.

Monday night brought a sudden change in my routine. Colette Patterns sent out the sneak peek of their newest pattern, Dahlia, and I was immediately in love. I quickly (and responsibly) searched through My Pattern Stash just to make sure I didn't already have anything similar, then snapped that baby up. Because I signed up for the sneak peek, I got a special discount so I snagged the pdf for $8.80 - sweet! I immediately printed it out, put it together, and traced off my size(s). (I traced the 14 and 16 in two colors on the bodice because I straddle the sizes so I can try to see how it ends up). Then last night I cut out my muslin from a sexy thrifted sheet of the 1970s. Brown and orange plaid, mmm... lol.

I managed to get the darts and boob gathers sewn before I needed to go pick up something exciting from a friend :) I'm really curious how this will end up fitting straight off the bat. I've learned a new trick for my hollow chest adjustment that is about 10 times easier than what I was doing, lol, so I'm going to try that out probably. I can't wait to have more time to spend on this project. I even have

fabric in mind for my first version:

Remember my Sewing Studio Haul from this past July? I had plans for everything picture here except for the green/gray/black check fabric on the bottom left. I knew I wanted to make it a dress and use the black batiste above it for the waistband, but I hadn't picked out a pattern yet. The green check fabric was an industry remnant, so I don't know the fiber content but it drapes beautifully like a rayon. So, my plan is to make the Dahlia with the sleeved top and gored skirt out of this :) Even better - Colette Patterns made a guide to using plaids or stripes with this dress and you can download it for free, so I know this will come in handy on this fabric as well.

So, that's what I am up to this week :) I've actually been doing more (non-crafty) things as well, but I will report on them later. Tami doesn't seem to do the WIP Wednesday link ups anymore, but you may get lucky and see more links later here.