Knitting in the New Year (2016)

Season’s greetings! It may not be snowing in these parts just yet (not complaining), but it is snowing on my blog. I wish WordPress would let me keep that feature through the whole of winter. Makes things feel festive, you know?

Speaking of festive things, I’ve been thinking a lot about winter sewing and knitting. I really like the 3 Season Wardrobe Challenge (#3seasonwardrobechallenge) that Tasha of By Gum By Golly dreamt up this past fall. Her post really resonated with me, even though our winter has been pretty mild so far. Let’s see if that lasts…

In any case, I like that she didn’t set a deadline for herself; the challenge is more of a guide. That works for me. Knowing me I’ll definitely be sewing summer clothes. The humidity of a New York summer just doesn’t inspire me to sew with wool (!).

That challenge idea transitions well into the main focus of this post: knitting plans for 2016! Obviously, knitting is a much slower process than sewing, and I know I’ll never get through all of these projects in a year (or two or maybe even three). But I’m not sure what I’ll want to knit and when, so I’m highlighting some of the cold-weather patterns I’ve added to my “favorites” on Ravelry. Also, I love seeing what other bloggers find – gives me ideas!

Click on the image or the link below to go to the pattern page. All the pattern photos are from the designers and are credited.

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A Top When A Dress Won’t Do

Sometimes you sew something and it doesn’t work out the way you thought it would. That’s what happened to me when I first tried on my Oreo Cookie wrap dress and realized the skirt pieces didn’t overlap properly! I had used Vogue 8379 for the top, but winged the bottom since I didn’t want the full skirt that came with the pattern. Mistake.

I thought I could save it by adding a snap-on-a-string contraption, but that really didn’t do anything to prevent the top skirt piece from staying in place (especially when I sat down). While I did wear the dress with tights to the office a few times, I just never felt truly comfortable in it.

And so it sat in my closet, largely unworn.

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M6885 Goes to Washington

How do! Last week, I headed down to Washington, D.C. for a work conference and brought a number of me-made items with me. In fact, I wore handmade all but one day while I was there. Hey, only the best for our nation’s capital. ;)

One brand new piece I brought (along with the M6886 dress from my previous post) was McCall 6885, which I finished in early October. (Just realized these two patterns follow each other in pattern numbering. Guess I really liked McCall’s offerings in that section of their website!)

The first few photos in this post were taken at the top of the Washington Monument, which is the center piece of the National Mall and built in tribute to our first president, George Washington.

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M6886 Dress in Blue Floral Knit

A quick make to usher in the fall, and what a nice fall it’s been! Bare legs on a November day? I’ll take that. Apologies in advance for the same smile in every photo. I’ll figure out variety one of these days…

This is McCall’s 6886, a simple pullover dress that I picked up last month during one of the McCall sales. It’s getting harder and harder to shell out more than a few bucks on a pattern! This one also comes with v-neck and higher neckline options; sleeveless, short sleeve, three-quarter, and full sleeve variations; and about three different hem lengths, from above the knee to maxi. That’s a lotta bang for your buck!

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Striped Parisian Dress (Sewaholic Renfrew)

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Well, I’ll just start by saying that I really love this fabric, and the top half of the dress came out as I had planned. The bottom half, however, proved to be a bit of a headache! Chalk it up to poor decisions on my part. More on that in a bit…

For this creation, I took the Sewaholic Renfrew pattern and extended it to make a dress. Pretty straightforward. The fabric is a favorite purchase from when I was in Paris in October 2013, and it’s just occurred to me that I bought it exactly two years ago today!

And then I made this dress about a year ago today.

And then I finally wore it out of my apartment a couple of weeks ago. For this photo shoot. The only time I’ve ever worn it. Oy.
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