Mint with choc chips Miette

I fell in love with Carolyn's Hunter Miette and had already downloaded the free downloadable pattern by Andi Satterland just waiting for its turn to be made.

It wasn't until January 2014 that I finally got around to purchasing the wonderful Morris Woollahra  wool in Celadon 1116 from Morris & Sons in York Street, Sydney.

At the same time I found Gail's wonderful Miette Knitalong posts.  This information is so detailed it let me knit my cardigan with a lot more confidence than if I had been doing it on my own, especially as I wanted to add length but working out the lace pattern by myself would have done my head in.

You can probably gather that I am not the fastest knitter, but the cardigan was up to taking the sleeves off (this is a top down cardigan) when we started our trip and by the time we got home I only had the button and neck band to do!  I am so thankful that you can take your knitting on the plane now, it does help with the long flights.

I knitted a size 38 and:

• added an extra lace repeat in the length
• didn't change down to a smaller needle for the bottom band
• and also just knitted 2 pearl and 2 plain as I didn't want it to pull in too tight.

and you did see it being worn during Me Made May 2014, however when I saw the lace pattern at the centre front in this photo the decision to start again was made.

The other issue that you can't see in this photo is the bust shaping for the size 38 gave me a very a large curve of fabric off to the side when I left the cardigan open, not a look that I wanted.

The one positive was that I love the buttons that I purchased from All Buttons Great and Small at Newton on the way home from work one Thursday night!

So I have been slowly re-knitting this cardigan starting with a size 36 this time and again added the 2 lace repeats in the length.

I thought I had finished it, and did wear it for Me Made May 2015 but again made the decision that long sleeves where necessary.  This wool is too warm to wear in summer and the rest of the year I want my arms covered.

29 May 2015

This is why I made my Me Made May 2016 Challenge about lengthening the sleeves so I could finally get to wear this cardigan in comfort in winter.

So here is my mint with choc chips Miette with long sleeves.

This is a snug fitting cardigan but that is the way is has been drafted.

A Special Birthday present!

My DBIL is a keen Ducati lover and rider and he celebrated a big "0" birthday in April with friends and family.

I had been racking my brain what I could do for a present that was a bit different.

Then I started to see some patterned mens t-shirts about and was seeing a lot of fabric printed at Spoonflower and an idea started to formulate.

My BIL loves to wear t-shirts and also likes to have a pocket, which most RTW don't have, so after making 2 Strathcona Henleys for Mark, I decided this is what I would do.

I found a picture of his 900 SS Darmah and then used the feature in PowerPoint to "remove the background" and with a bit of fiddling I had a pretty clear black and white jpg of this bike.  I uploaded it to Spoonflower and chose a half-drop layout and then ordered a sample in their Organic Cotton Interlock Knit.

This arrived just before Christmas and gave me time to think about exactly what I was going to do. So at the end of February I ordered the Ducati fabric as well as a metre of the plain Organic Cotton Interlock knit in case I wanted to use it on the Henley.

Now this is where I had a bit of a shock, the sample I received the bikes looked like this

and the real fabric they looked like this.

I did pop back onto Spoonflower to double check what size I had chosen, and it was the 5" size.  I completely forgot to the check the size of the bikes on the sample because if I had I would have reduced the size of the bike to 2.5" only if I could have spaced them out a bit more.

Now I wasn't sure if this would look like a t-shirt or a night shirt but I decided to go keep going.

It did take a bit of head scratching to cut it out, Roscoe was locked outside and the fabric was spread out on the floor so I could get a better idea of the positions.  I soon realised that I would not be able to pattern match the sides so I decided to have a

• full bike at centre front

• a full bike at the side seams on the back.

The first thing you do is the placket, so I chose to use the white organic cotton interlock knit for this and it went together very well with the help of the Olfa Rotary Point Cutter.

Next up was the pocket.  Now I wanted this to be invisible so I traced of a pocket pattern

and then laid it on the fabric to get the design and placement correct.

I've never installed a knit patch pocket before and found this great tutorial over at Seamwork.

Next the shoulders and then the neckband.  I have tried the method that Thread Theory suggests but I just don't like the overlocking on the neckband and this is the way I did the neck band on Mark's but didn't document it.

I sew the ends of the neckband together as per the instructions, but that is where it stops.

Then I pin the neckband to the neckline like this, and sew it in place.

Then I turn under the other neckband edge and pin in place and handstitch this in place, remembering to add the label.  Thinking about this it is like attaching a waistband.

oops I forgot the label!

The final step is to add some twill tape to the inside neckband just like RTW and I did this for Mark's Skiing Henley but found more information over at Baste + Gather and her T-shirt Neckline Twill Tape Tutorial.

The rest of the t-shirt went together very smoothly.

My final decision was what I was going to use on the placket:

• black buttons
• white buttons
• smoke open prong ring snaps

The snaps won and I got to use my new toy, the DK-93 snap press which you saw happening here!

The problem with a surprise gift and your sister telling you not to make the t-shirt because you are so busy, is the Henley was a bit too tight for my BIL's liking, it did fit him and in fact it is the best fit across his shoulders he has ever had but it was just a bit too close fitting for him to be comfortable in.

So it came back home with me so I could adjust the fit.

Luckily I had some left over fabric and manage to cut out two side panels of  8cm width that ended up in a point into the sleeve hem.

And look at this cool card I found when we were in Canada!

When he opened his parcel he thought I hadn't done anything to his Henley until my sister showed him the pattern matching at the front side seams.

He is very happy with his Ducati Henley.

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2016 Stash Out: 8.1 m
2016 Stash In: 18 m

Me Made May 2016 - It's a wrap

This May has been rather challenging for my wardrobe as the first 3 weeks were a lot warmer than usual and this is where I realised again that I need cardigans as the two I have were in high rotation.

This year I decided not to clutter up my blog with daily or weekly posts and the collage below is what I have worn during May.  This link will take you to my Flicker Album if you would like to see any of my outfits in more detail.

I know I don't want a large wardrobe, so I am quite happy to see most of my garments being worn multiple times, my biggest challenge is to make the outfits look different when I am sitting at my desk at work.

There are still holes in my wardrobe and this is what I need to make:

• I still need layers in my wardrobe and even though this comes to light every May I haven't managed to rectify this.
• I only have 1 plain long sleeved top and this made it difficult to wear a couple of other items in my wardrobe when the weather finally got cooler.
• Some more necklaces.

So how did I go with my challenges for May 2016?

"I, Sharon from Petite & Sewing, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '16;I will wear handmade clothing (except lingerie) for the duration of May.  My challenge is to finish the Burda wool jacket I started in January this year as well as lengthening the 3/4 sleeves on my Miette cardigan."

Not 100% finished but both garments are looking like they will be worn this Winter so that is a plus and it means two more layers added to the wardrobe!

• Burda 7286 has the hems, pick the buttons and buttonholes left to do.
• My Miette has one long sleeve and the other one is halfway there.

I really liked seeing the variety in the MeMadeMay2016 Flicker group and there are a few things now on my wish list and that includes some cardigans!