Stephanie's Boobholder

I needed a warm cardi or jacket to wear out last saturday night ... it was only saturday morning that I realised I didn't have anything in my wardrobe to match the rest of my outfit. I had some stash yarn that was the right colour and was thick enough to knit up fast, but even so, I thought it was abit much to think that I could complete it in an afternoon! (but of course, I had to give it a shot :D) ... so, armed with my 2 balls of Katia Himalaya, Stephanie Japel's Boobholder pattern, a cup of tea (several actually!), and some old Taggart re-runs on TV, I set about knitting :D

Ta-daa! ... five, non-stop knitting hours later, it was finished (I even had a perfect button in my stash!). I wore it on saturday night, over a black long sleeved skivvy ... it fits great and feels great, and kept me nice and toasty warm on a cold Adelaide night :)

(The only changes that I made to Stephanie's pattern were to eliminate the puffy sleeves, and to decide, by trying it on, when to divide for the body and sleeves)

That 70's Skirt

Browsing through some old sewing patterns at the op shop, I found a little book dating from about the 70's, containing heaps of miniature dressmaking patterns. Not knowing what it was, I did a quick Google search, and discovered the world of Lutterloh :) It seems like such a cool, clever idea ... you take just two body measurements (bust and hips), and using the Lutterloh measuring scale, draft out the patterns from the miniature schematics. The book I bought was Supplement number 135, and didn't come with the scale ... however, I ordered the current Lutterloh complete system(which includes the patterns, instructions and more importantly, the scale tape) :)....so here we have skirt pattern number 105 (from supplement 135)... the illustration was a bit vague so I wasn't totally sure how it would look (or whether it would fit!), but unbelievably, using only my hip measurement, it turned out great and was really easy to draft :) I can't wait to make more!

Sweater vest weather

I thought that it was about time to make some more winter warmies :)

....so... my first attempt at a sweater vest for the littley of the family came out 'a tad' too big, lol (I think that it can be
packed away until at least next year...forward planning don't ya know ;D). I took the measurements from my 16 month old grandson's shop-bought vest, did all of the calculations, and used the instructions from Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top. It was a really easy, seamless knit, think my mistake was not allowing for the huge amount of ease in stocking stitched knits ... ah well, least I know that for next time :)

For the second attempt, I used my Knitware software to be sure of a better fit ... success!...it does fit better, but it also has hilariously funny armholes that make him look like he's wearing shoulder pads :D

...and just to finish off the green-ensemble...a pair of Sucky Thumbs from Marianne's awesome pattern (fast, easy, and they fit! ... thanks Marianne :))