Me Made May 2015 Part II

Here's part two of my Me Made May round-up & some wearing notes

16. Shapely boyfriend cardi at the Moor Brewery - still goes with everything!

17.Green Simplicity 2451 skirt - I think I need to make a smaller version of the longer view with a bum adjustment - there's more to this pattern than I'm getting. And this is the wrong fabric!

18. Drapy cowl-neck Renfrew. Good for hiding on a rainy day. Not so good for telling if the pattern fits as this fabric is so stretchy and heavy!

19. NL6154 - Comfy and spotty! Shame the fabric isn't great quality but at £6/m I can't complain much

20. Sparkly short-sleeved Plantain tee. Bit snug in the chest - I think I underestimated the importance of stretch percentages

21. Purply boyfriend & Paisley Pastille - A good basic cardi but could do with higher buttons and/or more chest width. Dress is alright but armholes have ripped a little - I think I have a broad rib cage!

22. Cord NL6154 skirt - realizing that this is nicer to wear than I thought. Feels a bit homemade-in-a-bad-way but I don't think my colleagues notice or care.

23. Scoop/a-line Pastille mod - still feels like Wearing A Nice Dress, which is good. Should figure out front darts/width and make another. Facings are an arse, maybe bias binding next time?

24. Cheaty day - I made the zippy pouch for my knitting accessories & it turned out just the right size. I ought to make a giant one or two for carrying projects in - A4 size maybe? They're from the Flossie Teacakes tutorial.

25. Miette cardigan - the more dresses I make the more this will go with... I rather like the length with a dress

26. Purply boyfriend & red NL6154 skirt. The skirt is great apart from the zip that likes to come undone and the hem trim that flips out because I stretched it the wrong way while sewing it... lesson learned.

27. Shapely boyfriend yet again :)

28. Spotty NL6154 again. Photo effort minimal

29. Stripy Coco top in Ikea. Fabric is surprisingly nice and thick and drapey for a Fabricland number

30. Lacey flower brooch - made from gathered trim - at a barbecue with proper rustic cider :)

31. My basic ribbed socks & purply boyfriend cardi for a day at home doing tidying, hoovering, & sewing.

So... there's been a lot of cardigan wearing, despite the weather being pretty nice recently. A good, slightly woolly, cardi is a very useful thing to have in the UK when you're going out somewhere and don't know if it'll cool off or get windy later.
Most of the me-made garments I've worn this month have been made with fabric from Fabricland or Goldhawk Road, or with wool from eBay. My second Pastille-hack is made with more expensive fabric from the lovely local shop called Flo-Jo (stockists of Liberty and Alexander Henry fabric, Colette, Sewaholic, & Anna Maria Horner patterns, and holders of knicker-making workshops!) which perhaps indicates a bit more confidence? However all my recent purchases have been from Regency Rags on eBay who are really *really* bargain basement-y.
I finished the purply boyfriend (adding buttons), finished my first knitted socks, re-hung some earrings, and made most of a Colette Hawthorn. Unfortunately the Hawthorn in its current form is not terribly flattering and the long, long hem is somewhat daunting. Hopefully I'll try it on again and find it's magically got better? I think I need to shorten the shoulders somehow - not easy with lots of facing in there :s

If any of this catches your interest, have a peek at my Fabric Stash, Fabric Stash Used (where pins go when the project is finished), and Things I've Made boards on Pinterest.

Right, enough of that. Today is June and I've worn my red NL skirt & another Plantain t-shirt that I made yesterday. I might do some sort of t-shirt round-up post as I've made a few different patterns now.
The weather here is atrocious today - lots of wind and rain - and Boy and I have had a cheeky curry for supper and are going to get an early night. Ciao!

Me Made May2015 Part I

This year I went in boldly with my pledge:

'I, Sarah of http://52weeksof.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade item each day for the duration of May 2015'

...and then I went to Spain and forgot to consider Me Made May while packing. I only missed out two days in the end, but it felt like more at the time. If I had remembered then they'd probably both have been pictures of my Shapely Boyfriend cardi.
My packing strategy was all dresses all the time to keep things easy and minimize wasted packing (Easyjet handluggage-only). I think that worked out pretty well as there were only two things I didn't wear - a jumper and a long-sleeved t-shirt.
Anyway, Me Made May seems to be going alright thus far. Some days I've found it almost too easy - I gravitate towards a couple of me-made skirts for work anyway - and some days I've felt the restriction. I've had two days counting only on jewelry but they coincided with a particularly loungey Sunday and dreaded ladytime, and where's the fun in getting dressed up when I don't want to? The loungey day would have been more Me Made if I had been able to find my £1/m jersey dress. I think I put it away in a fit of optimism during the warm latter part of April.

On to the pictures!
I'm afraid this is coming in list format because balls to HTML...

1. At the alcázar in Segovia in my scoopified, A-lineified Pastille/Truffle dress. Photo by my sister.

2. Up the tower of Segovia's cathedral in my drapey black first Plantain t-shirt

3. By the acqueduct in my first Pastille/Truffle dress, photo by my sister again

4 - In Spain, run out of me-mades
5 - In Spain & travelling back

6. Red stretch-cotton New Look 6154 with Simplicity 2451 pockets

7. Tilly & The Buttons Coco t-shirt in what Fabricland calls "pirate stripe"

8. Floppy teal cord skirt - this was the proof of concept for the red one above

9. Newly finished purply boyfriend cardigan - I shouldn't have procrastinated so long with the buttons! The placement is a bit iffy but they're on there now.

10. Plastic bead earrings, plus newly-finished Rugby Fan's Bobble Hat

11. Navy polycotton Mimi blouse from Love At First Stitch. Polycotton is definitely sweaty & the fit on this is not great.

12. Navy truffle & Miette cardigan - got a bit hidden by free company t-shirt but was comfy all day

13. Black mystery remnant Lilou/Truffle dress. Too tight above the bust, bum darts wrong, zip undoes itself.

14. Ceramic bead earrings redeem a "secret pajamas" outfit

15. Loud floral rectangle t-shirt reverse-engineered from Pattern Runway Harvest Top. Will make more, possibly with smaller/narrower backs & different neckline (this one may just be stretched).

That's about half the month down and another half left to go. I feel as though I've got plenty of me-made items I haven't worn yet and I may finish a couple of knitting projects and a couple of sewing ones before the month is out. I'm posting these to instagram as I go and Flickr when I remember - you can click through on these photos to see the original captions from Instagram imported into Flickr.

So far Fabricland is the most represented source of fabric. This isn't terribly surprising as they're local, cheap, and I don't feel the urge to save things I've bought there or fear ruining them. The frontrunner for wool is eBay, which is also unsurprising as my skillz are not well-developed yet & the cheapskate instinct is strong.

Happy remai(y)ning May!

Becoming A Competent Knitter (in a year!)

Lest I lose track of what great progress I've made in my knitting I'm going to document some of it here.
At the beginning of December 2013 I could knit only wonky rectangles. I asked for Learn To Knit Love To Knit for Christmas and had bought Debbie Bliss's How To Knit after borrowing it from the library. Over Christmas - my first one without coursework in four years - I spent lots of time curled up in chairs and sofas, teaching myself to knit in the round and to increase and decrease. After Christmas itself I embarked on a pair of the armwarmers from Learn To Knit Love To Knit, and two more pairs quickly followed for friends with January birthdays. (Ravelry pattern page, pair two, pair three)

Pair #1

Pairs #2 & #3

 After this I was more confident that "real knitting" was just lots of little techniques joined up (like many apparently complex things). I had seen lots of Miette cardigans about on the internet (including Lladybird and GKs Agenda's KAL) but lacework seemed a bit much still - I wanted something plain but not a baggy, shapeless thing or a tiny shrug I'd never wear. Kristina of Little House By Hand posted about her Shapely Boyfriend cardigan - her first knitted cardigan - and it was exactly what I wanted. The pattern is free and is on Ravelry and on the Knitty website.
I bought my circular needles in Lidl (and they work fine for now, maybe I'll go deluxe and get interchangeable ones one day) and got to work on a tension swatch. I extended my tension swatch and tried out the increases and decreases plus a few practice buttonholes. My Ravelry notes have more detail, but suffice to say I got gauge with my cheap 30% wool yarn (via eBay) and set off. The cardigan is knit top-down in the round so I was able to see it taking shape and try it on once the arms were off the rigid stitch holders.

I finished Shapely Boyfriend in mid-April and wore it *loads* during Me Made May - it was definitely a big factor in my being able to exceed my Me Made May target - this blue-grey really goes with everything. There are a couple of cons to this cardigan - the bust could do with being a little wider and the back drapes over my bum in an unflattering way - but it's still very wearable and I had an idea of how to deal with these in future makes.

After Shapely Boyfriend I still had an absolute tonne of the yarn I used so I thought I could safely try out Miette and not be wasting anything if it went wrong (there's my can't-have-nice-things instinct again). Again I swatched and practiced the increases and decreases (different ones) and got going very soon after finishing Shapely Boyfriend. My Ravelry notes document some of the difficulty I had forming the neckline (new technique) and counting right on the sleeves. I finished it on a rainy day in Cornwall. I was a little sick of it by that stage but I made a point of finishing it and it looked pretty cute with my navy truffle (now semi-retired due to fading).

This Miette re-confirmed that cropped cardigans aren't a thing I wear a lot - they look really odd & unflattering with hip-level skirts, so this is reserved for wearing with dresses. My next Miette - and there will be more, the stitch pattern is lovely and the bust fit is great - will be a longer version with longer sleeves. The advantage of knitting such a popular pattern is that there are heaps of helpful Ravelry notes, tips, tutorials, and instructions on how to lengthen and adapt it. It's also convinced me that I ought to buy another Andi Satterlund pattern -the difficulty is deciding which!

I then embarked on a second Shapely Boyfriend, a shorter version. This version suffered a bit from lack of inspiration - I was more excited about sewing and socks - , the need to make Christmas and birthday presents, and my newfound gym habit. Shamefully I started the poor thing in July and have not actually completed it yet. It's been awaiting buttons since mid-November but I don't have any that are quite right - I need to take it shopping with me! I used some very very cheap wool from a local Draper's and could have been more excited about the colour so I think that hasn't helped me get up the motivation to finish it.

The length is just about ok - I think I could have gone slightly longer. Once the buttons are on I'll be able to tell if it rolls up when done up - the ribbing might be a bit much for such a slopey part of my body. I don't think it looks toooo much like an overgrown bolero...

Raglan increases on the Shapely Boyfriend

Next it was Christmas knitting time! This year, giftwise, I knitted one and sewed a few. This was probably about right in the end although I could have started the knitting earlier - I might have managed to get a completed photo of my sister's cowl that way! I made her a variation on the famous GAP-tastic cowl. I searched all over for the right shade of H&M mustard, had a false start with some cotton DK from eBay, and eventually struck warm-toned gold in Wool in Bath. Wool is a nice little shop full of the kind of good quality wool that makes you want to buy it all and roll around in a big pile of yarn all day (as opposed to the apathy-inducing neon or pastel acrylic that does for yarn in some shops). Anyway, I bought King Cole Merino-blend aran and it's lovely. There was a slight *cough* design feature *cough* in the finished cowl - it ended up twisted round twice, but by the time I'd noticed it was too far along to go back and the whole thing is long enough that the twist just adds cose.

Cose in the making, cose in the wearing

So - that's all the knitted items I've completed. My current ongoing project (ignoring some crochet blankets that are languishing slightly) is my first pair of socks! I've been excited about these since I bought the yarn at Tiger in August but I only let myself cast on after the purply boyfriend was finished. They're Wise Hilda's Basic Ribbed Sock pattern - available on Ravelry and on her website.
I started off while sitting in bed with ice on my sprained ankle, got a good chunk done waiting for my x-ray, and started turning the heel over Christmas. I hate picking up stitches along edges so I've stalled a bit currently. I'm starting sharing lifts again this week so I should get some more knitting in soon. I don't know yet if they'll actually fit but since I don't really like wearing socks this was always more of an academic exercise. I just love the colourway of this yarn - maybe I should get some more and make a shawl? Not when I have a huge stash!

Dark, but you get the idea

Speaking of that stash I think I'll have a look at it and try to come up with some projects - I have a few in mind already, both for myself and for presents.

Here's to another year of self-taught new skills, steady progress, lovely knitted things, and enjoyable knitting!

Me Made May 2014 - Part 2

It's (finally) time for installment two of Me Made May!

I'm glad I somehow talked myself into joining in with Me Made May this year - I thought I didn't have enough me-mades to do it at all properly but I really surprised myself. I also negatively surprised myself by only having two pairs of me-made earrings with me in Bristol and no non-broken necklaces. Next time I visit my parents I'll be bringing some back for sure.
I pledged to wear handmade clothing at least once a week and I think it's fair to say I smashed that target. I tried to wear something - including accessories - as many days as I could. The challenge definitely made me wear more accessories - I don't normally think to put a brooch on (especially since my office is so informal) but I turned to them a few times during the month. No-one commented on my change of wardrobe so I think my fears of being obviously handmade (in the scruffy, negative sense) were proved unnecessary.
Over all I really enjoyed having that little extra challenge in choosing what to wear, and the sense that I was part of something so big but so low profile (Guardian article aside). It's like a very friendly secret club :)

Right, here's some more photos:



Days 17 & 18: What I wore for the epic day that was #NYLon2014 - sadly I packed on a grey morning and was boiling in my navy cord skirt, opaque tights, & boots! Day 18 was spent exploring and picnic-ing at Ham House with my sister. The little yellow felt flower is a handmade brooch. The skirt is from a charity shop & I was considering refashioning it as it's all gathered at the front.




Days 19 & 20: The bloggers' favourite Simplicity 2451 skirt (cotton sheeting is not a good skirt fabric) and my good old shapely boyfriend cardigan.



Days 23 & 24: Shapely boyfriend goes to work and NL6154-with-Simplicity-2451's-pockets for a day of domesticity



Days 26 & 27: Shapely boyfriend visits The American Museum in Bath to see The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett and blue china bead earrings worn to work and for an evening sewing the lining down in my truffle wearable muslin.



Days 28 & 29: Simplicity 9175 top and 6154/2451 hack skirt. Sleepy work days with dull weather. I think I used all my nice outfit brain on the first of these two days.



Days 30 & 31: Purple feather earrings visit the Wills Memorial Building and my truffle muslin, shapely boyfriend, and lacy flower brooch visit Waitrose to send off Me Made May in style.

It looks like I managed 22 days out of 31 and wore 11 different items. I don't think I need to count to say that my shapely boyfriend cardi was my most worn item. Good thing I've got another cardigan in the works.
The glaring (to me) omission is my navy NL 6154 skirt which - due to a combination of it shrinking and me putting on weight - doesn't currently fit. Boohiss. I have taken up swimming though so hopefully that will help make up for the fact that I'm no longer getting the exercise of dashing between buses or walking to The Boy's house (now that we live in the same house :)).

The first installment can be found here and on my sewing Flickr account.