Estonia in Ewe2Yarn Iceberg

Hello!  We have less than one week left until we officially leave Florida.  Things are, of course, a bit nutso here, but very exciting, too.  I finished this sweater a few weeks ago and am loving how soft and cozy it is.  

The pattern is Estonia by Vera Sanon.  It is a basic top-down raglan (no more of those for me in cardigan form, but a pullover is ok) in stockinette stitch.  The interesting detail is the Estonian Braid at the neckline.  The pattern also uses this stitch for the cuffs and hem, but I used simple 1x1 rib for those areas.

The fit of this is great - form-fitting but not tight.  The sample is shown in a semi-solid tonal yarn, so that is what I used, although it does look more variegated than I expected.  My yarn is Ewe2Yarn  100% merino in a colorway called "Iceberg."

Here is a better look at the Estonian Braid neckline.  It was less fiddly to knit than I expected.

Clockwork in Brioche by Stephen West knit in Ewe2Yarns

This is Clockwork in Brioche by Stephen West.  This is my first brioche stitch project ever and can I just say - so easy!  If you can knit, purl, knit 2 together, and yarnover, you can knit brioche.  Detailed instructions are included in this pattern.

I think many knitters who have heard of Stephen West's designs associate him with kind of crazy shawls.  True, he has a unique style, but many of his designs are very wearable.  I am waiting for the perfect yarn combo to jump out at me for a Daybreak.

The yarn for this project is almost all from Ewe2yarn on Etsy.  I am a big fan of her nature-inspired hand-dyed yarns.  They are mostly semi-solids, which I like.  The colors I used are Haystack (the golden yellow), Buckwheat (brown), and a bit of leftover Herb Garden from my Featherweight Cardigan is in the border.  The white is leftover alpaca from this hat.  I gave that hat away to a very knit-worthy 4-year-old niece who couldn't stop admiring it last year.  I kind of want to make myself another one now.  It is a great hat!  

As usual, let's close with a shot of how I actually wear this shawl.  I generally knit long skinny shawls that I wear more like scarves.  I am also a big fan of a safety pin or even a decorative pin to keep things in place.  

I am off to do a little serger sewing.  I'm still getting used to my serger and coverstitch machines that I received for Christmas presents.  Can't wait to share a couple of things I have made using them.  I hope everyone is have a relaxing, crafty weekend!

Featherweight Cardigan by Knitbot in Ewe2Yarn + No-Pattern Elastic Waist Skirt

Well, I did it again.  I have gotten super behind with my posting.  Good news is there will probably be a flurry of posts for the next two weeks or so.

This is a 2-fer because the skirt is as simple as it gets.

The cardigan is the very popular "Featherweight Cardigan" by Hannah Fettig, also known as Knitbot.  I do mean popular.  Right now, there are 8,490 projects in Ravelry, but that will go up as soon as I post mine!  The beauty of this pattern is its simplicity.  If you look through the projects on Ravelry, you can get so much inspiration to customize it for yourself.  I wanted the basic version, though, since my yarn is fun.  It is hand-dyed by Ewe2Yarn.  The colorway is called Herb Garden.  

The finished sweater actually reminds me of camo, which is fun.

 The only downside to this sweater, for me, is the raglan sleeves.  I must have shlumpy shoulders or something, because raglans always seem to slide down my shoulders.  Super annoying.  I am going to add raglan-sleeve cardigans to my no-no-knit list along with single-ply yarns. (Single-ply rant here.)

 

The skirt is simple, but it sat half-finished in my sewing room for months.  It is just a rectangle seamed together to form a tube, and then fold-over elastic is stretched and stitched on the top for a waistband.  The reason it sat for months is that I made it too big at first.  I added too much ease at the hips and it was not very flattering.  The idea of unpicking the elastic, making the skirt smaller, and then re-doing the elastic was just too much.  Finally, I decided to just cut off the elastic and put on new.  Much easier.

Here is a look at the waistband.

I used a narrow-hem foot on my sewing machine for the hem.  The finish looks nice, but it was a super slow process getting the edge to go into the foot evenly.  I definitely need more practice with it.  The fabric is a poly charmeuse from Pennie Fabrics in Sarasota.  I love a nice border print, even if it is polyester!