Purple Gingham

Two more items I made recently, out of purple gingham fabric I was gifted. Both of these were made for Gaby, but she is not very enthused about the color and the fabric, so they might turn to be only muslins for more wearable clothes next summer.

The first is a free peasant blouse pattern - Gypsy Top by www.lovesewingmag.co.uk
I made the smallest size - 8-10, the instructions are very clear  and easy to follow, so it was an easy project. However, the resulting blouse was very, very wide and formless. To make it at least somewhat wearable I added the elasticated waist and now it is quite pleasing in front, but still too balloony at the back. All in all, I do not recommend the pattern.

I turned the rest of the fabric into another button down dress. The pattern is again from the Russian site Shkatulka, WD240418. They offer size 40 (xs) for free, plus a video tutorial. I changed the pattern, turning it into a button down dress at the front, eliminating the zipper at the back. I also reduced a bit the length and the width of the skirt, as I didn't have enough fabric for the whole dress as designed. But I had big enough cuts to add pockets to the dress and I am so satisfied with them :)

The dress is supposed to be size XS and height 168 cm, but it fits me - size S and height 156 cm, so bear that in mind. It is just a tiny bit tight at the bust area (I was making it for Gaby), but I intend to make another dress for myself, following the pattern and I'll be adding just a couple of cm to the width.

Next time I'll make the dress as is designed, with a hidden zipper at the back and without the button placket at the front.

Overdyeing Drops Muskat

While visiting a yarn shop downtown I found that it had a sale of a limited quantity of Drops Muskat yarn.I've knitted with Drops Muskat before and it is truly a very high quality cotton yarn, with luster and durability. However, the colors they had available in the sale were so not my colors. I bought some other yarn that I had planned to buy and left somewhat regretful. And then it occurred to me - why not purchase Muskat in a color I don't like and overdye it, the price of the yarn was quite tempting. I returned to the shop and grabbed 8 balls in this hot pink:

With the help of my umbrella swift I wound the yarn into skeins and then dyed them one by one into a solution of black dye. The resulting color is dark purple with very subtle variations:

After I dyed all of the skeins, I washed them and then put them into the washing machine, using my hand wash cycle and washed them again. I wanted to be sure that the color was fixed. Cotton is a sturdy yarn and it took all of these manipulations quite well, I'm as pleased as a punch :)

While shopping downtown I grabbed some 100% cotton ranforce for bedding and I sewed two pillow cases and a fitted sheet. This is the first time I've sewed a fitted sheet for our bed, adding an elastic. It turned perfect!

And just a strange coincidence - my new purple cotton yarn and the purple part of my Dotted Rays shawl are the exact same color, though I arrived at these colors via absolutely different paths, one on 100% cotton and the other on 100% wool. Curious, right!

Cobalt in Purple

Pattern: Cobalt by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Alize Sunny 220 g and YarnArt  Violet 140 g, held together
Needle: 3 mm moss stitch rib and neckline, 3.5 mm body
Time to knit: three weeks with pauses, hesitation and a dye job

I said it before and I'll say it again - this is one of the most enjoyable patterns I've knitted. The diamonds chart is easy to remember and addictive to knit, the construction is simple and elegant classic Kim that I like so much. I'll would knit it again with pleasure if a friend or a family member would like me too.

I'm pretty happy with my dye job too - aubergine is so much more my color and who knew it would go so well with light green. And BTW I dyed my hair in aubergine last month too, so - it goes well with my hair now :)))

And a few photos to break the monotony of my boring standard poses. A few days ago Gail posted a link to Rachel's vlog on posing when presenting your finished work, which I found very interesting and took mental notes to have her tips in mind when shooting this cardigan. And of course, when in front of the camera, I was again the same old me with the same old stances and facial expressions and the few pictures where I tried to be interesting look pretty silly:

Linked to Tami's Amis FO Friday and Natural Suburbia Creative Friday!

Purple Flower

Pattern: DROPS Basque Hat 123-20
Needle: 3.5 mm rib, 4 mm body
Yarn: Alize Lanagold Solids 100 g (reused from a previous hat)
Time to knit: two days

I've finally got my knitting mojo back. I did miss it all summer ...
I think I lost it somewhere in the middle of my (n-th) summer cardigan - I do have now too many of these, which is probably the reason why I lost momentum and stopped knitting it.
Until, at the end of August a whiff of fall is kind of felt in the air and wooly winter hats do not seem that much ridiculous to knit.

The pattern is fine and makes for a beautiful slouchy beret,
I'd definitely recommend it!

Joining Natural Suburbia and Tami's Amis FO Friday