Author: Christina B

Fireside Cardigan

Pattern: Fireside Cardigan by Kate Oates

Yarn: Windham by Jill Draper (colors weren’t labeled)

Needles: US6 (4.0mm)

Size: Newborn

Ravelry Link: ta-da!

Started: December 1, 2017

Completed: January 2, 2018

When one of your best friends is pregnant you want to send as much love as you can. When that friend lives in another city you have to be crafty in finding ways to send your affection. I knew I couldn’t be there in person to snuggle Mary Heather’s baby, so I decided some special knitwear was the next best thing.

I started with yarn, selecting my favorite – Jill Draper’s Windham. I think merino is generally overrated, but this one is so bouncy and just pleasant to feel in your hands as you work. Jill is a mutual friend of Mary Heather and I, so adding some more friend-love to the gift was a bonus. I selected a mixed color bundle at Rhinebeck; I was so excited by all these yellows and the chance to make a bright baby knit.

Choosing a pattern worked out similarly – Mary Heather and I both love garter stitch, babies in shawl collars are adorable, and Kate Oates, the designer, is another friend of ours. I was short on white yarn for the collar so it’s a little sad, I wish I had had a bit more to beef it up with. I love the detail of the knit stitch column at the sides, like you can see in the photo above. The pattern is written for a solid and I just picked a random number of rows to knit to make the stripes. The other modification I made was to reduce the number of sleeve decreases because they looked tiny.

The best of knitting a love-filled sweater for your best friend’s baby is that you get pictures of said baby in said sweater. It was thrilling to see sweet Adisa grow into (and eventually out of!) the sweater. I’m mostly a selfish knitter, but this baby/mom pair is quite knitworthy. Have you made a beloved project for a friend far away? Tell me about it below!

Eliza Hamilton Costume

Pattern: purchased shirt with embellishments and skirt

Fabric: shirt and skirt are cotton, trim is unlabeled

Started: October 26, 2018

Completed: October 27, 2018

Y’all, this is the worst thing I have ever sewed. When my daughter decided she wanted to be Eliza Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton’s wife) for Halloween I knew it was time to sew my first costume and was psyched to pore over pictures and plan. But when it came time to sew I had so little energy and time and just had to dig deep and make it happen at the last minute. I want to show you all the issues with this dress. The skirt is backwards and also needs more volume. The neckline is a mess. The hem flips up. The buttons don’t line up. But the second I presented it to my daughter she swooned: “it’s so beautiful!” As soon as she put it on she carried herself tall, clearly feeling so beautiful and proud.

My daughter’s love for the dress makes me uncomfortable. It doesn’t look like what I imagined and it feels like a flop. I was embarrassed to say yes when adults asked if I made it. But my daughter loves it and feels like a founding mother and can’t wait to keep playing Hamilton around the house. She feels special that she has a mom that can make her things. So do I want to focus on the ways I feel like I failed or on the joy I brought my favorite 7 year old? Am I going to tell her that no, this dress isn’t amazing, it’s full of flaws?

She felt great and had a blast Trick or Treating, so I can’t call this anything but a success.

Rhinebeck Recap 2018

Rhinebeck, the knitter’s shorthand for the NY State Sheep & Wool Festival, is one of my favorite weekends of the year. This was my 5th year going and it is nice to be a veteran – I felt no urgency to see everything, and knew that however I spent my time I would see beautiful things. First up I will share the classic Rhinebeck blog post content – my haul.

I brought home (the big stuff):

Here, the new book of designs from Jill Draper (all in her new yarn, Kingston)
Amy Herzog’s Ultimate Sweater Book because I love her and I love this kind of book
The Secret Lives of Color – I was sold when I saw that the edge of each page is the color it is discussing!
Mending Matters – A must for any slow fashion enthusiast’s library
When Your Lion Needs A Bath – the author wrote the nicest inscription for my daughter ❤
4 skeins of Jill Draper’s Kingston yarn
1 skein of a new Lornas Laces yarn
a tub of Long Island Livestock Co Body Butter – I’m having some chemo side effects in my fingers and lanolin-rich moisturizers are supposed to help
a much better faux pom pom than the one I brought with me

Seriously, check out this pom pom glow up!

And here’s a close-up of the little stuff:

a pen topped with a llama with googly eyes, a present for my daughter
a tiny pair of scissors that I plan to keep in my purse
a pain of earrings from Jennie the Potter
a tube of 9 different embroidery needles
3 enamel pins from Shelli Can – the outer 2 were from her Rhinebeck set and the middle one is for Pom Pom (and happens to be holographic!)

While I clearly enjoy the shopping, that’s not my favorite part of Rhinebeck. The weekend is so special to me because it is a chance to connect with the fiber arts community. The Ravelry meet up on Saturday is the biggest one I can remember for a long time, and it was one where different groups mingled on the hill. It felt like we all were ready for some connection.

The other thing I really enjoyed this weekend was the chance to speak with some of the business owners there – farmers and dyers and shop owners and designers and editors – and celebrate their niches in the industry and their successes. It delights me to see their ideas come to life and supporting them.

As always, I’m already looking forward to next year’s Rhinebeck.

FO Friday: Ninilchik Swoncho

Pattern: Ninilchik Swoncho by Caitlin Hunter

Yarn: The Farmer’s Daughter Fibers Craggy Tweed in Pukuni, Elk Antler, Paul Newman and Napi

Needles: US6 (4.0mm) & US 4 (3.5mm)

Size: 1

Ravelry Link: here!

Started: January 4, 2018

Completed: September 5, 2018

When I first saw the Ninilchik Swoncho (sweater/poncho) pattern last year I remember thinking that kind of colorwork design is so not my style – I wore simpler designs. But I found myself continuing to visit the page. To look at different color combinations. Then the designer of the pattern and the dyer of the suggested yarn came to my LYS for a weekend. I tried on the sample and it was all over, I immediately began picking out colors from the trunk show. I went late in the weekend and my options were limited, but I could not be happier with the color combination I ended up with. I do wish I had switched the white and the tan in the colorwork but it doesn’t detract from my heart-eyes feelings about this FO.

I adore the shape and fit of this sweater. It feels good to move around in, the low sleeves are not in any way restricting. I expect that this will become my new woolen to throw on when I head out for school pick up, keeping me warm during after school play. I also love how this fits in perfectly with the style I have been cultivating for myself recently. I can lift my arms and get a more cropped shape. And the ease makes me feel good about the space that I take up. It feels like the warning displays and coloration of the animal kingdom – I am big and brightly colored, do you want to mess with this poisonous giant?

I want to hear about the clothes that make you feel badass like this – handmade or not. Share in the comments below!

Dressing like me

I’ve been thinking about Kate Davies’ blog post a question of proportion ever since she published it in July. She talks about how her disability and her feelings about it have effected what she wears. And this week’s topic for Slow Fashion October is What’s Your Look. So I want to respond to all of that and talk about dressing like me.

Last December I began wearing a medical device on my stomach that I prefer to conceal. Additionally, I’ve gained weight over the past year. The combination led to a body that I didn’t know how to dress.

I started with the most vital – clothing that accommodated my new medical device. It needed to have a rise up to my belly button so the whole thing was covered. Patterns and tighter fits provided the best camouflage.

A wide variety of influences led to my selection of tops. In Shrill Lindy West talks about looking at larger bodies helping her to find them beautiful. And as a chronic cancer patient, the rules about what certain bodies and ages should wear don’t seem deserving my attention. I dove into a new wave of inspiration and experimentation, nothing was off-limits.

And this is the silhouette I love – slim fit high-waisted pants with a cropped top. My belly is bigger and home to some of the most intimate parts of my illness, yet I feel like I have found my style in baring it. I feel cool and sexy and comfortable in my skin.

FO Friday: Kalle Shirtdress

Pattern: Kalle Shirtdress by Closet Case Patterns

Fabric: Cotton + Steel Mochi Speckled in Navy

Size: 10

Started: May 2017

Completed: June 2017

Y’all, I am so good and consistent at blogging. Here is a dress I finished last summer and photographed almost exactly a year ago. But I still love and wear this dress a ton, so I want to put it up! I had made several button up shirts before, but the Kalle was my first shirtdress. I adore them, and this pattern looked so accessible as a first one – the ease meant no fitting changes were necessary, and also make for a gorgeous silhouette.

Def wish I had ironed this before taking pictures 🙃I made a straight 10 and am happy with the fit. I’m about 15lbs heavier than when I made it and it still fits well enough that I get complimented on it regularly. The back definitely billows out – I’m not sure if that’s the box pleat or the cotton lawn.

I really love how the yoke flows into that sleeve.

When I look at my sewing queue it’s clear that this is just the start of a shirtdress obsession. I have, uh, 5 that I have fabric picked out for. Would y’all be interested in a post about my shirtdress dreams? Do you have a kind of garment you keep coming back to?

FO Friday: Riley Tee

Pattern: Riley by Amy Christoffers

Yarn: Berroco Corsica in Cork and Conch

Needles: US5 (3.75mm) & US 3 (3.25mm)

Size: 3

Ravelry Link: here!

Started: June 16, 2018

Completed: August 10, 2018

I lost my mind over the Summer 2018 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly, it is all striped patterns and there are so many gorgeous summer knits in there. I knew I would make more than one project from the issue and chose Riley to start with. I love the log cabin construction – how it makes a really beautiful sleeve shape and has the visual interest of stripes going in different directions.

I made some modifications to the pattern – I shortened it by 6.25” and raised the neckline 1.5”. I shortened it because I wanted a cropped silhouette. I wish I had knit it an inch or two longer, so it fell over the button of my pants rather than above it. It’s knit in cotton so I might try drying it hanging the next time I wash it to see if it stretches and lengthens a bit, but I have a feeling the log cabin construction is going to keep it pretty stable. I like where the neckline ended up.

Overall I really love how it turned out, though; I feel so cool in this silhouette. I talked earlier this year about how my style has changed and this piece makes me feel like I am really finding a new look that works for me and that I love.