Majestic Moose

Hello, after months of slight problems with technology and being busy with school, finally I have something to share!  And as a bonus it’s a twofer of sewing and knitting.

First of all I just want to say that I would never call myself a fast knitter but Andi Satterlund’s Majestic Moose vest knit up very quick!  Like I had grand delusional plans on December 14^th that I had to have one for THIS Christmas.  I know we’re talking serious crazy here considering I had plans to make a few presents and still had fabric to choose.  Actually I had bought all the various yarn colors for the moose head during Knit Picks Thanksgiving sale which many people must have taken advantage of because it took much longer than usual to ship.  Still, considering some of the great yarn deals that were offered it’s not much of a surprise.

Malls have great backgrounds this time of year!

Never having done intarsia before I decided to knit the vest in the round and then add the moose by duplicate stitch.  This ended up being a very good idea and avoided me having to curse a blue streak later on.  Plus I figured my embroidery knowledge would help make this a much speedier project and I basically had no room for delays.

 

In a couple days I had the body done and was starting in on the duplicate stitching.  I had the face done and was starting in on the left antler(?) when I realized I was getting dangerous close to the end of my knitting and still had a fair amount of duplicate stitching to do.  After a quick count and then several slower recounts I realized that a fair bit of the design was going to be cut off.  I went through all the other projects on Ravelry and nobody else had this problem but I also couldn’t find another XS.  Wanting to do it right I took all the stitching out restarted 4 rows lower.  All the while I thanked my lucky stars I didn’t decide to try my hand with intarsia on this project.

This is when I discovered my problem

The second time around the duplicate stitching went much better – I think in the very beginning on version one I was stitching a bit too tight.  I still didn’t get all the stitches on the left hand side on, I think I’m missing 3-4 but I didn’t want the moose to be too low on my chest.  And I like to think it’s only visible if you stare at the pattern and then look very closely at the vest – something you shouldn’t be doing while I’m wearing it!

Overall I’m very excited with how the vest turned out!  Even better, I finished within my slightly unreasonable timeline.  It’s warm and cozy without being too bulky and the moose head makes me smile when I see it.  I like that it’s festive and cold weather fun without being totally Christmassy.   This way I can wear it throughout winter without being the fashion equivalent of that house still decorated for Christmas in February.  And I’m really looking forward to wearing it a lot during the next couple months!

 

I’m also wearing my second pair of Megan Nielsen's Tania culottes, this time a more all season version.  I used my same graded down pattern as last time but this time used the XL length.  I used a navy silk noil which I thought would make it a bit more casual but the nubby texture would make it a bit interesting.  I slipstitched the waistband facing and totally forgot until they were hemmed about interfacing the fabric before inserting the zipper.  Not that it gave me any problems.  In fact, this fabric was extremely low maintenance.  I hung them up to allow the hem to drop but the next day when I went to even it out I realized I didn’t have to. 

The hem that didn't drop

Surprisingly the hem didn’t distort at all and was just as even as they had been while lying out on my cutting/sewing table.  Talk about a very pleasant surprise!  The fabric was too thick to use my narrow hem foot so I serged the edge and used that to help evenly press the hem.  The actual hemming went quickly and afterwards looked just as even.  To be honest over the past few weeks I’ve kinda expected the hem to go all wonky on me but it hasn’t.  So sometimes you get lucky with circular hems.

In a perfect world I would’ve worn this with a shirt I’ve made as well, but that hasn’t quite made it to the top of my To Do list yet.  I’m very happy with both of these makes separately and love how well they go together.  The vest is probably the first piece of winter clothing that I’ve actually gotten very excited about as I greatly favor my summer clothes.

Lake Chelan Central Park Hoodie

If you knit I think it’s almost required to make a Central Park Hoodie (CPH) at some point.  Naturally as I’ve taken up knitting in the past year I dutifully put it in my Ravelry queue and then went ahead and made one.  Now that it’s finally done I’m really glad I did.

Right off the bat the eagle eyed out there may notice that mine looks a little… wrong different than the small army of CPHs out there.  That’s because I completely spaced on how to knit and totally did it wrong – apparently I knitted into the back of the stitches.  My purling ability stayed the same resulting in nonstockinette stitch.

 

But like I remember my mom saying way before I learned to knit: if you’re consistent it’s not a mistake, it’s part of the design.  And I was very consistent.

I knitted this up with Cascade Yarn 220 Heather in the Lake Chelan colorway which is a bluish green with yellow flecks.  I liked using yarn from a local company (they’re located in Seattle) and have fond memories of vacationing on Lake Chelan as a kid.

There’s not much to say about this pattern that a thousand Ravelry members haven’t already.  I ended up knitting the body in one piece to try something new and avoid sewing up the side seams.

I waited to get some help from my mom picking up stitches for the hood and ribbing since I’ve never done it before.

I was looking forward to relearn how to properly knit before starting sweater #2 but wanted to wait until this one was finished.

I love these silver buttons I found during a ½ off sale.  I used the yarn separated into 2 ply to sew on the buttons using a long strand of yarn that is worked from button to button along where the stitches were picked up.  This technique is from Finishing School: AMaster Class for Knitters which includes tons of information on all sorts of finishes.  Not that the lack of buttons stopped me from wearing it.

Now that it’s officially sweater season here in Seattle this hoodie is warm and cozy and will get lots of wear. I’m really excited about finishing my first sweater and have already started on another.

Distractions From Sewing...

Usually sewing occupies a lot of my free time… but not lately.  I’ve been on a big cross stitch kick and it has definitely pushed sewing to the side.  It doesn’t help that I picked the largest project that I have ever attempted.  It's from the Cross Stitcher magazine Designer Stitches special issue.  Once I saw the flamingos I knew I had to make it up!

 

But I’ve really enjoyed watching it take shape.  Despite the long hours of stitching I’m starting to feel like I’m in the home stretch.

 

These are in progress photos taken about a week apart.  I really need to use the large frame and it gets awkward and in the way frequently – adding a fair amount of time as I rotate it around trying to find the most comfortable (i.e. easiest) position to stitch in.

 

 

I took a small break the other day to work on my Chantilly and just have the zipper, sideseams and hems to finish.  Ideally this will happen this week.  I also traced off a couple McCall’s patterns for some cute summery knit dresses, including refashioning a dress I made last year but never really wear.
 

Because I can’t spend all my time stitching I’ve also picked up working on the sleeves for my Central Park Hoodie.  The body is done and the sleeves are knitting up quickly.  Once done it will totally coordinate with my Chantilly.

 

 

On top of all this I’m planning on whipping up some PJs in time to join Karen’s Pajama Party.  Some pretty lofty goals for the rest of the month.  Hopefully I’ll have everything done soon so I can do some more FO posts soon!