FO: Briar Rose Sweater

This sweater is pretty much a basic fitted short sleeve pullover with most of the interesting details around the neckline. The pattern is the Briar Rose Tunic from Interweave Knits Winter 2011. I chose to go with a shorter length for a spring sweater. My sleeves are shorter also. The yarn is Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time cotton, which is a nice yarn weight for spring. My color is a bit dark for spring though, considering that everything in the shops seems to be neon pink, yellow, or orange.

I had to fuss a bit with the neckline stitch pattern. I ended up splitting for the V neckline one repeat later so the pattern is a bit wider on the sides of the V. I also increased my decrease rate because my row gauge is different. For the sleeves, I added the 7 stitches of K1 P2 ribbing in the middle just for ducks.

I converted the pattern to knit it in flat pieces because that's just how I roll. Also, there was no way I was going to purl most of a sweater on a circular needle.
I'm happy with how this turned out, although I could have gone with one more inch in length. The 2nd Time Cotton feels like hard string as a skein but it drapes nicely as a garment.

FO: Summer dress V8724

It's once again time for a sewing interlude. We are finally getting winter rains in the SF bay area, but I'm ready for summer with this dress. My fabric is a very comfy mid-weight cotton knit that has a faint ribbed texture, and it drapes wonderfully. The pattern is Very Easy Vogue V8724, and it was indeed very easy to make. My only change in technique was to use facings for the armholes and neckline because I didn't think there was any chance I could make narrow hems and not have it look like a child's first sewing project. I'm looking forward to wearing this as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

Snowboarding opossum video

I'm not sure if it's the snowboarding that makes this cute or the fact that it's wearing a sweater. I think it may be the latter.

My blog

I think this sums up how I feel about my blog

Stitches West 2012 Goodies

Last weekend I went to the annual fiber love fest that is Stitches West. I went on Friday to avoid the weekend crowds. I actually did not buy much this time around. One thing I did buy was a new swift. I had a small umbrella style swift that had some issues, so I thought I would try one these from The Oregon Woodworker.

I've used it a couple of times, and it seems okay so far.

I got only two kinds of yarn. The first is this ginormous skein of 70% merino/30% nylon yarn from Newton's Yarn Country.
I've never heard of that brand, and the yarn is labeled as "generic superwash merino". The company is really a yarn wholesaler and their yarns are usually re-packaged and re-labeled by other yarn companies who sell it on the retail market. The yarn looks black in the photo, but it's really a very dark purple made with a twisting of very dark blue and dark red fibers. My other purchase was 14 skeins of washable merino from Fibranatura.


I didn't know if photos were generally allowed, but at the Lion Brand Yarns booth, I got permission to take a photo of "yarn man" sitting on a yarn covered chair.