Saturday, December 17, 2016

Slender Sleeved Shrug

I love the look of boleros and shrugs, but being a short torso'ed curvy lady means that most shrugs and boleros cover my waist and make me look very round indeed.

So I have always wanted a shrug that had a thin, out of the way back line but couldn't find inspiration or a good pattern on Ravelry that I liked - and Ravelry.com has TONS of patterns!

I've been watching the UK TV series "Doc Martin" and got very excited when second receptionist Pauline Lamb was introduced, she was wearing an orange shrug.  I love orange, so I looked out for the actress featuring this article of clothing again and was not disappointed. 

In one scene, the shrug had fallen of the shoulders and THAT was the look I wanted.  Similar to the right side of this photo (actress' left arm).  Something that had a sleeve that scrunched.  Something that could be up on the shoulders, but not cover my waist.  Something that could fall off the shoulders but again, not cover my waist.

I trialed a couple shrugs that came close to no avail and then decided to wing it.

I made a sleeve, a slender scarf like back section that led to another sleeve and I am REALLY chuffed with the results!

Ravelry Project Page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/amandajewls/slender-sleeved-shrug






 
If you try this pattern, I’d love to see your finished project!

This was done on 5mm knitting needles.
Yarn 12 ply technically, but behaved like a 10 ply/worsted

My gauge was 15 stitches x 20 rows = 4 inches/10 cm

Plan:
16 rows ribbed cuff,
75 rows Alternating Yarnover Pattern
4 rows garter stitch
114 rows of Candle Flames 1 pattern from knittingfool.com (free)
4 rows garter stitch
75 rows Alternating Yarnover Pattern
16 rows ribbed cuff

Pattern
Cast on 36 stitches in stretchy cast on method
Rows 1 - 16: knit in the round 2 k x 2 p ribbing for 16 rows - or until desired cuff length is reached (fingerless mitts built in would be cool!)

1st Sleeve Section (restart row counter)
Switch to Alternating Yarnover pattern for sleeve:
Next row Knit even, increasing stitches evenly to 44 stitches.
Row 1 - 5: Knit even
Row 6: yarn over, k2tog, K3 repeat to end of row
Rows 7 - 11: Knit even
Row 12: K 2, yarn over, k2tog, K3 to last 2 stitches, then K 2
Row 13 - 69: repeat above rows 1 - 12.
Rows 70-75: repeat Alternating Yarnover pattern knitted in flat.
Row 76-78: garter stitch in flat
Row 79: garter stitch and increase stitches evenly from 44 to 56.
Try on as you go, if your arms are shorter, you might need less rows. Or more. Note down how many rows you did here and do that many on the other sleeve.


BACK SECTION (restarting rows)
Row 1: K 3, follow Candle Flames 1 pattern (4) times, K 3
Row 2: P 3, follow Coandle Flames 1 pattern (4) times, P 3
Repeat the garter stitch boarder and Candle Flames 1 pattern until back reaches comfortably across the back, over both shoulders and even to arm pit on other side. My back has 4.75 (114 rows) full Candle Flames.

Back to other sleeve section (restart row count)
If you altered the 75 rows, do YOUR number of rows on this sleeve too!
Row 1: Still knitting flat, Garter stitch 1 row, decreasing stitches evenly to 44 stitches.
Row 2 - 4: Garter stitch 3 more rows.
Row 5-10: Switch back to the Alternating Yarn Over pattern for 6 rows knitting flat
Row 11: In Alternating Yarnover pattern, knit in round again.
Rows 12 - 74: repeat Alternating Yarnover Pattern in round.
Row 75: While doing one last row in Alternating Yarnover pattern, decrease to 36 stitches.

Restart row counter:
Row 1 - 16: K2, P2 ribbed cuff.
Cast off in Jeny’s Super Stretchy bind off.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

A-Line Skirt DIY

I have been wanting to make an a-line skirt, but not by spending $20 on a pattern!  These basic skirts are a front and back, held up by either zipper or elastic.  How hard can it be to draft one of these!?!?

So I started searching and researching.  I came up with an amazing new favourite post from Frugal and Thriving blog: 48 + Free Skirt Tutorials which features just about any kind of skirt you could ever want to craft!

A-line Skirt Pattern Tutorial by Sew Country Chick, Justine.

Drafting an a-line skirt pattern is so darned easy, I'm drafting them for my friends and sending them patterns now!

So once a skirt is successfully crafted, now what?

I'm am totally in love with the funky skirts  created by an Aussie company Karma East
which feature unusual fabrics paired together in panels on a-line skirts.


Again... how hard can this be?  Especially since currently the company does not carry my size.

So logically all I need to do is amend my current working a-line pattern, right?





 

 So I jotted down lines in Paint for a few concepts.  Eventually I've done some mock ups of the fabric I want to use in Adobe Photoshop and these are two likely candidates.




I like the right side one best though.  So I have marked up the panels on a copy of my a-line pattern.