FO: Dahlia Cardigan with LoveCrafts

A very long time ago, I was contacted by LoveKnitting.com (now known as LoveCrafts.com) to see about collaborating on a project. I was elated - this is just the thing a knitting blogger hopes to eventual have offered to them. I quickly replied that I would love to work with them on a post and they offered to send me some of their exclusive yarn for a project of my choice. Holy cow was that hard to decide, friends. In the end I decided to take the opportunity to make a fingering weight cotton sweater since that was a big wardrobe gap that could help me get to wear my knitting more in this devil's armpit they call Florida. So they kindly sent me the yarn - MillaMia Naturally Soft Cotton in the Flamingo colorway - and I started work on the beautiful lace panel for the Dahlia Cardigan. Little did I know how drastically my life and knitting time would change within weeks of this whole arrangement being made :/ Over a year has passed with so many great, hard, etc things in that time, but this poor sweater languished in a bag unfinished, plaguing me with guilt of this unwritten blog post.

Fast forward to about late June of this year - my personal life felt like it was falling apart, but I finally found myself with a little time to start working on this sweater again. I originally had the goal of finishing it for the Outfit Along since the theme was old wips, so I diligently started working on this whenever possible, which admittedly still wasn't much. Then the unthinkable happened ... my knitting needle broke the last week of July! Thankfully my Knitter's Pride needles have a lifetime warranty, and since I bought them from yarn.com I had a wonderful no-questions-asked experience with getting a replacement size 5 for my set, but it didn't come until July 30th. So I didn't finish it for the OAL2019, but I finished it on August 4th :) This is the Dahlia Cardigan by Heather Zoppetti and it was published in the Fall 2011 issue of Interweave Knits, so it's definitely an older design as far as the internet goes. I've had this issue for a while and I always loved this design. It's a different style then I usually go for - I've never really jumped into the waterfall cardigan trend - but it looked cute and I had one big draw to the design...

LOOK AT THAT LACE BACK. I mean, really. I just adored this lace panel back and always wanted to make it. The construction of this was definitely the strangest I've ever done. You start in the center of that lace flower on the back panel and knit the whole lace chart square, then you set that aside and create rectangles to fill in the area below and above the panel, which will make a solid back piece when you're done. Next you pick up the stitches on either side of the lace panel as well as the extra rectangles you made for the back and knit the entire front panel to completion, leaving an after thought spot for the armholes. Then you go back and knit the sleeves, block the whole thing, and sew the open areas above and beneath the lace panel to make the back one solid piece. As you can tell from how confusing it sounds just to write that out, it was like pattern tetris. You also can't try on much of anything until you're almost entirely finished, which was interesting. I do love the design, but I have to confess that all that plain stockinette (which was the majority of the project) got pretty boring, so I'm sure that contributed to how long this took to make as I just wasn't motivated to get through any certain section like I am with projects that change frequently. The back is beautiful, though, and I'm glad I finally got it finished up.

The one echo of how pretty the back is would be the lace detail on the sleeve, which I also love. Since this is a cotton sweater, I wanted to make sure I could wear it in warmer weather, so I went with 3/4 length sleeves (I left off a few decrease repeats). It's a simple touch, but I think it really makes the front have just enough interest.

As this is a waterfall style, there are very long drapes on the front that look like ridiculous wings when you hold them out, lol. I'm sure I will wear them just hanging like normal most of the time, but the pattern offers another suggestion that I really like:

You can wrap the front drapes across and pin them in place to get a more streamlined front. I will definitely be doing this with a cute brooch or something when the weather gets cool enough to wear this.

The sweater has a collar that is knitted all at the same time as the front drapes. The collar is finished off with a seed stitch border, and in theory this should work fine, but mine just wants to constantly roll up and now show itself off at all. I was super careful to block the collar with the crease in it and keep the border nice and flat to encourage it to lay this way, but I think a combination of the fingering weight yarn and it being cotton have added to it not wanting to cooperate. Part of me wants to starch the collar, but I'm not sure how that would look if the rest of the sweater is not starched. But it does look nice if I actually unroll everything and force it to lay flat - as long as I don't move - but the area around the neck feels kind of hopeless.

The knitting of this certainly did not go perfectly - one of my most glaring mistakes is right on he collar. I must have twisted a stitch or something, because I wound up with a decent little hole. I just try not to look at it, lol. Also the area where the sleeves start have some larger spaces, and since I knit this over such a long period of time, there are some tension differences. It's all not really a big deal in the grand scheme. I will say I don't love the fit of the sleeve with just the afterthought - it feels too tight for my upper bicep, which not only contributes to the stretching out of that joint area, but also feels like it won't pull up high enough on my arm to make the sweater sit right.

As you can see, the sweater doesn't hug against my body in the most flattering way, and part of this I believe is from the afterthought sleeve. I think I'll just stick to sleeve caps in the future. I feel like if the sleeves would pull up further, the top of the sweater would hug against my arm pit better, which generally gives my body the best look. And I don't really feel like everything I wear needs to make me look as thin as possible, but since I've lost weight lately it's a bit of a bummer to not help my stomach look like it does if that makes sense. A lot of this is just the style of the sweater though.

This was also a very interesting blocking experience. You can really see the odd shape - it's basically a big rectangle with a collar and sleeves. I had to put the sleeves underneath the drapes so that I could ensure the edges stayed straight. You can see here that I pinned the collar folded how it should lay. Also the pins around the lace panel are because it wasn't sewn together yet at this point. So odd, lol.

This sweater took me 8.5 skeins of MillaMia Naturally Soft Cotton yarn (I received 10 skeins, so I still have a full skein left over). As far as the yarn goes, it was a lovely experience to knit with, even being a cotton yarn (which is saying something because I'm not generally the biggest fan of knitting with cotton). The yarn is appropriately named because it is very soft to the touch and gives a smooth feel when knitted up. I haven't been able to wear this out yet, but I can tell just from wearing it at home that this will be a nice transitional sweater as well as good to wear in the cold air conditioning to take the chill off. I can definitely recommend this yarn if you are looking for a nice, sweater worthy cotton yarn. Also I love the color selection - I am addicted to coral pink, but I was very close to picking their bright green (another favorite of mine). The quality of this yarn was lovely and the color stayed fast in a hot wash for blocking. I will certainly look at this yarn if I want to make another cotton project in the future.

So that's my latest finished project over a year in the making! It feels so good to finally have this done as well as to have real blog photos again after so long. Just to keep everyone filled in - I'm getting divorced as well as trying to adopt some 16 month old twin girls I've been taking care of since last April. Lots of craziness this past year. But I'm nearing what feels like the tail end of a very bad time, and after being so overwhelmed with life and not taking good care of myself I've started doing things I've been putting off (cut and permed my hair, lost weight, new glasses, good eye cream, etc) and I haven't felt better in years. Thank you, readers, for sticking around my blog in spite of my total lack of posting. It really means a lot to me to have people actually care about what I'm making and doing. So I may not be able to post as much as I once did, but I certainly will be posting more than the past year :)

Summary:

Yarn: 8.51 skeins of MillaMia Naturally Soft Cotton in the Flamingo colorway - free courtesy of LoveCrafts.com
Pattern: Dahlia Cardigan by Heather Zoppetti
Time: 1 year, 2 months

*I received this yarn free of charge from LoveCrafts.com, but all opinions are 100% my own and not influenced in any way. I genuinely enjoyed this yarn :) 

Knitting Progress Update: So Little Time ...

I feel like I'm always saying this, but I've had the craziest few months ever. This time it really is different and more crazy than the usual crazy, which has left me with almost no time to make much of anything. I've managed to sew a few things that I had deadlines on, but my knitting has almost come to a complete stand still. It's so sad and I really wish I could be knitting more - I miss the relaxation it brings, not to mention the joy of a finished project - but trust me when I say that it's for the best reason. I'm hoping I can talk about that reason soon. For now, I wanted to at least post an update on various projects for my own sanity (to feel like I've not given up my blog!). So here we go.

My biggest project is my Dahlia Cardigan. I started this back at the end of May and made good progress for a while, making it almost halfway before I had to set it aside for regular life. This is seriously the strangest sweater construction I've ever done. The pattern itself is a little older, but it was very popular with 1599 projects up on Ravelry alone. It was published in the Fall 2011 issue of Interweave Knits but you can now buy it as a digital download. I've been really pleased with the drapey front look right now - after making so many sweaters, I like that I can switch it up in this way since I so rarely button my sweaters anyway. I wanted to make something lighter weight and still different, so I'm knitting this up in MillaMia Naturally Soft Cotton in the Flamingo colorway from LoveKnitting.com. This isn't a traditional choice for a cardigan like this, but I get to wear my heavier and wool based sweaters so little that I wanted to try out this tactic. So far it's going well aside from the crazy construction. I honestly feel like Holly Golightly when she says that she doesn't know if she's knitting a sweater or a ranch house. This picture should show you what I mean:

This is how the sweater looks now that I've finished the right side and am into the left side. You start by making the back lace panel (which is the most fun to knit, hands down). Next you put one side on hold and bind off the top and bottom while continuing on the right side. You set the main body aside, knit two separate pieces for the upper back/collar and the lower back, then knit them into the body as you work outward. You add in an afterthought line for the sleeve to be knit later, and make the entire right front drape. Then you unpick the provisional cast on of the upper back and make it the width of the entire back. Since I started this so long ago, I couldn't remember stitch counts, so I just had to try and read my knitting as best as possible to make the two sides of the upper and lower back even. These are the big open slit areas - that is the upper and lower back, not the sleeves. Crazy, right? My husband and I were in a weekly class that just ended last week, but this gave me some knitting time that helped me make a little progress ... until I lost my knitting bag! I was so heartbroken. I checked every place I had gone on the last day I knew I had it with me with no luck only to find out a week later that someone at work had wrapped it up in a sweater and shoved it on a bottom shelf to get it out of their way, I guess :/ I was miffed but that was completely overridden by my elation to have my sweater back. I had mentally tried to make myself ok with it being gone that whole week and it was so hard, guys. It felt silly to be so upset about something like that, but I think you other makers out there can understand - particularly when the bag contained a mostly finished sweater I'd been working on for 5 months. Anyway, it's back and will get worked on whenever I had spare time (who knows when that will be, but oh well, lol).

When my knitting bag disappeared, I still had my weekly class with knitting time that I didn't want to go to waste, so I grabbed my Ducks in a Row. I started this back in January (how sad is that), and I had barely managed to finish the mama duck body before I set it aside for my Recoleta sweater. During just 2 of our classes and one random Sunday with a little knitting time, I was able to give the mama duck her wings AND make 2 complete baby ducks! Now I'm very motivated to finish this project soon. I plan to buy the pieces for the wheels this week, then I can put it all together. I'm not really looking forward to making all the i-cord it will take to connect these, but it will be worth it. I plan to give this to some special little ladies at Christmas and I feel like this is a reasonable goal. It feels so good to make a toy again :)

I also have a pair of Jaywalker socks in the works - I mentioned wanting to make these back in this post about my case of start-itis at the beginning of the year and I started these just 2 days after that post went up in February. I worked on them for a few weeks on and off, but I quickly set them aside to work on my Recoleta. So I have most of a sock now just without the toe area, lol. Who knows when these will be finished. They do look nice, though :) I say that, but just pulling this out to take the photo has me more motivated to work on them since it is closer to finished than I remembered. Always nice. Then we will see if I am struck by Second Sock Syndrome or not.

I also still have my Lady Russel Shawl in the works, but I have made zero progress since my post in February. I also have a partially made blanket I bought at a thrift store years ago that I vowed to finish up when I moved back in July - it is still sitting in the same bag, totally untouched, lol. Also I swatched for 2 other sweaters - Endearment and Rebel Lace Cardigan - but those are still just swatches. Maybe someday I'll have enough knitting time to make a sweater again, lol. Until then I am enjoying the little time I do get and slowly but surely working toward a few finished objects. Wish me luck!

WIP Thursday: It Has Begun!

Sorry I'm a little late this week - a day late and a dollar short as they say. But better late than never, right? It's been one of those months weeks. Anyway, I think I'll start with progress on something you already are used to seeing, lol.

I finished the right front of my Emelie! Isn't it exciting?! It's looking more and more sweater-like all the time.  Even with my nice progress and excitement around this sweater, I have had to put it aside again :( I am getting a jump on my holiday gift knitting this year so I'm not a frantic crazy person like usual (well, let's face it, that will probably still happen, just for different reasons, lol). Anyway, I officially started my Christmas knitting on Sunday night and I already have one item 90% finished!

This is the only sneak peek you get, I'm afraid. I hate not being able to show what I'm making here, but I would hate for one of my family members to actually read my blog and spoil their gifts (I don't think they do read it, but just on the off chance...). I just had to show something because this is a project I've always wanted to make, but just couldn't justify for myself. So someone else will get it instead, lol. Don't you just love the colors?! The gray is Patons Classic Merino in Pearl Gray and the variegated is Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Alpine Pearl (ooh, fancy!). Even better - both of these yarns came from a thrift store! Crazy, right? I can't believe someone would donate Malabrigo anything, but it was 100% unused and even wound into a cake when I bought it. I love the subdued colors and I love this combo of purple with gray. Anyway, I think this year I will show mysterious closeups like this so at least I can say, "Look! I MADE A THING!" and have something to show for it :)

I've also been plugging away diligently on my first Dahlia dress. As usually happens though, I have hit an unfortunate road block. I'll admit, I did make this project much hard than it should be - I decided to use a super drapey rayon-type fabric, then decided to underline it, then decided to match the pattern - all of these things I have never done before. I thought I was in the clear after a ton of work on my muslin last week (like I am talking ALL of last Thursday was spent in my sewing room) and I cut into my "real" fabric. I've slowly poked along, working on things a little each night and Monday was the day I finally got things together enough to try it on and double check ...

It doesn't fit.

I think I've figured out my error, but that doesn't make it any less depressing. I must have cut out the bodice piece along my sewing line by mistake because no joke I cannot even make the side seam touch where the zipper should go. I know what I need to do - remove the entire bodice (which means undoing more than half of what I've already done), recut the main fabric and the lining, and reinsert the new pieces. Man, is that going to suck. On top of it not fitting, I also discovered that this fabric is so not "me". When I have it on, all I can think of is how I would never buy a dress in a store with this type of print. *le sigh* Oh well, I am going to finish it anyway just for some much needed closure. Honestly, I really just didn't need that this week, lol.

Here's a little look at my technically failed pattern matching - though it was a diagonal print so I don't know why I'm disappointed. Also the fabric is totally printed off grain - so yeah, I just did the best I could. Also here is a look at the insides - all nice and enclosed. Ah :) I treated the bodice as 'underlining' simply because the pattern doesn't give any lining instructions, so you can see the seam allowances, but I enclosed the waistband and did the skirt as 'lining' to keep things more flowy. I've learned that really drapey fabric is not exactly flattering on my lower half. For my body shape, "flowy" seems to equal "clingy", which is why I decided on adding a lining at all. The lining is there to pull the drapey pieces over my lumps in a more pleasing manner and it has definitely succeeded :) I really wish I was the kind of person who could just make up the dang pattern with no lining, but I will pick lining it every time - it's just so much nicer!

Oh, and I tried making bias tape for this project and I am honestly having to curb my ill-mannered words while typing this just by recalling that horrific experience. I followed the directions of the Colette Sewing Book with the black cotton batiste I used for the waistband and I even used a bias tape maker - what a load of crap that thing is. I've read countless sewists out there on the internet saying casually, "I made my own bias tape for this project," without batting an eye - WHAT AM I NOT GETTING HERE?! Is it really this eye-gougingly-frustrating for everyone and they are trying to sound nonchalant, or am I just missing the bias tape making gene? No joke, I actually had to make myself not scream in frustration and throw the wad of fabric across the room. To save my sanity I dug out some pre-made bias tape from my stash and used that. I'll willingly admit that I don't like this option - the fabric is really scratchy, especially compared to the rest of this dress - but I didn't have to try making it again so I'm ok with it. Ugh! Bias tape!

So, those are my projects this week :) On top of my crafty problems, I discovered 3 big time house problems in about 3 days - not fun! Hopefully things are going a bit smoother for you, lol. Anyone else started their Christmas crafting?

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.