FO's Knitted and Sewn

My dear photographer has been very hard to press into service lately. Perhaps he's been burnt out by the Naknitsomodo challenge and the sweater model being a bit demanding about wanting close ups. It might be time to invest in a cheap tripod since finished sewn garments are starting to pile up.

Between the reluctant photographer and the camera battery suddenly running out I have only one decent picture of the "Climbing Vines Pullover" to show you.

(Hi, the rest of me is stockinette so use your imagination)

An easy knit except for a little confusion on where to start binding off stitches at the neck. The lace pattern changes stitch count and my row gauge was a bit off which meant I had to do that part twice. Second attempt worked perfectly and I was able to get the last leaf finished off with the neck decreases. Moral of the story there is math is easier in the morning than at 11pm.

Overall thoughts on this sweater.....
- Knitting a slightly smaller size is a good choice if you like a trimmer fit I went with the 34 which gave me an 1 of negative ease at the bust. It hugs my figure but does not bind in any way.

- This is a good design for a variegated yarn. Got to give other knitters on Ravelry the credit for showing me how great this sweater looks in Classy. I decided to go with with the "Don't be Blue" colorway (exclusive to The Loopy Ewe) since it color changes were very subtle. You can only see it in person but the yarn goes between a greenish hue and a purplish hue. Very nice and flattering.

- I'd classify this as boring to knit but easy to wear. One the plus side with the 3/4 sleeves and worsted weight you can bust out those all stockinette sleeves and back in a relatively small amount of time.

Now on to the sewing.....
With all my free time I started trolling the internet sites for sewing content and found a lot of great stuff out there.

First of all was the pattern company Hot Patterns. If you like their styles the head designer Trudy has made several Youtube videos showing some of the patterns sewn up and all kinds of variations. Most entertaining! Their stuff is not cheap but it comes on thick paper instead of tissue and you get the entire size range. I fell in love with the "Weekender Sunshine Top" and bought a copy. Then used my roll of trace to copy one size instead of cutting up the paper, thereby preserving all the sizes.



Here is the pattern in a size 10, sewn up in a bamboo/cotton blend from Hart's fabric. The color is a very pale mint and the fabric is fantastic. It's no exaggeration to say it is the best knit fabric I've ever felt. (Some of the other colors available are on their way to me now)

The pattern gives you three lengths for the shirt, this is the shortest tank length. Instead of attaching the suggested 6 inch deep band, I made mine 7 inches deep and about 3 inches shorter then the circumference of the hem. Then the band was folded in half length wise (wrong sides together) and serged together to form a loop. The band then is folded with the right sides together, so you have a 3.5 inch band and serged to the bottom of the shirt. This gives it a bit of a blouson effect and the width balances the yoke nicely.
The sleeves were finished similarly but with a 3 inch deep band (for 1.5 inch finished) and the length was only an inch smaller than the sleeve radius.

Here's more of a close up.

Planning to make some more but in different prints. Stay tuned!