A Little Knitting

Hello and whew!!  Once again the months have flown by and it's been over a year since my last post.  I thought that I'd get back into the swing of things after Me-Made-May 2019, but evidently I needed to be confined to my house and have a lot more free time!

In all seriousness, it has been a trying year, both for me personally and for the world at large.  I have responded to all of the craziness in various ways, but making things has definitely played a central role.  Knitting, sewing, embroidery, and crafts of all kinds have been a form of solace, as well as a way to express my thoughts and feelings.  They have also been a way to connect with my community and help others, if only in a small way.

In France, the lock-down (le confinement) related to COVID-19 enabled me to take my sewing machine out of its box for the first time in three years.  I finished a quilt top, made a good number of masks, and made a top for myself.  I also finished several embroidery projects, a knitting project, and have almost finished several other knitting projects.  Because I finished it first (back in May), today I'm showing photos of the sweater.

Wind at Your Back Pullover, pattern by Kathy Zimmerman.

Here's the link to the pattern in Ravelry.  I know with the design change, using Ravelry has become problematic for some people; I hope that issue is resolved soon if it's not already the case.  In any case, I got this pattern from the Winter 2015 edition of Interweave Knits magazine, so I've had it in my queue for some time.  I used Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash wool in the vermillon colorway.  It's an orange-red color.  To me it looks more red than orange, but others have told me the opposite! 

I am very happy with how it turned out and I think it will be in regular rotation when the weather turns cold again.  I followed the pattern instructions faithfully, except for the sleeves.  The sleeves would have turned out too wide for my taste, so I vastly reduced the number of stitches and I still think there is plenty of room to wear this over a shirt.  There does seem to be a little technical problem with the count as far as the cables go; another person on Ravelry noticed it too.  You can look at the 'comments' section for the pattern if you want more information on that.  I simply adjusted the count so that it made sense and didn't find the adjustment difficult.

It was a very windy photo shoot!  You can see the side seams here; the pieces are worked flat and then seamed together.

This was actually a two-for-one photo shoot.  I made a costume change half-way through, but I'll save the other finished project for a future post.

And you can see by the look on my face that I've officially had it with the wind.  It was a nice day though, just cool enough to be able to take photos wearing a sweater outside!!

Like always, I'm hoping to reclaim this space and put some life back into my blog.  I have an account on Insta and I follow lots of sewing and crafting people there, but I still read blogs when people write them, so thank you to all the makers out there who continue to publish.

And for non-crafting content - stop reading now if you're not interested:

Yes, Black Lives Matter.  My heart is with you my fellow Americans even though my body is across the Atlantic.  We are in this together and we can contribute to equality and justice wherever we may be.

And, Happy Pride! 

Thank you for visiting my little corner of the world :)