Crafting and Copycats

Busy busy and trying not to be busy…

Bump’s due any day now so my version of nesting involves hiring a cleaner to blitz the house and busying myself with sewing, knitting and crochet projects instead.

This is my Victory Jumper, an attempt to use 9 balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply in one pattern… Desperately hoping I don’t run out of yarn as this is supposed to be stash-busting rather than stash-swapping.

 

This is my last-ditch effort to challenge my husband’s tolerance and mental wellbeing. Needless to say, he is not impressed but I LOVE it! Lovely pattern from the Royal Sisters blog here.

 

Pretty top for post-baby tummy hiding, with fabric from the gorgeous Flo-Jo Boutique in Bristol and run up quickly one day from a now-discontinued McCalls pattern 5388.

Finally, a speedy sew-up job to duplicate the below Boden skirt in a denim ticking fabric I’ve had in my stash for years. Duplicated the pleats onto a facing and put in a metal side zipper. I won’t know if I look like a pitchable-tent until post-baby as this doesn’t come close to closing around my midriff at the moment.

I’ve also be dying yarn and playing with cable patterns on a pretty hat in the hope of getting my stash down even more before little man arrives. As it’s actually his due-date today, I’m not holding out lots of hope,but at least it’s keeping my hands busy while my abdomen remains resolutely inert.

Hey ho! Back to the craft room…

2013 – IntSweMoDoDec in review…

Last year I vowed to join and complete the IntSweMoDo challenge… that is, to knit or crochet 12 adult jumpers/sweaters/cardigans in 12 months to a wearable state… aka; The International Sweater a Month DoDecathalon.

Happily, I can say that, despite a rather horrid 6 weeks of inactivity due to pregnancy-induced RSI, I completed the challenge and now have a lovely wooly wardrobe full of hand-stitched delights that I look forward to wearing once my bump has dissipated later this year!

I thought I would bring all my stitchy work together in one place to bask in my knitty brilliance!! So… here goes…

Sweater Number 1: Harris Gaia by Kristen TenDyke

 

3 skeins of Harris Tweed yarn gifted to me by a lovely friend = no cost

Sweater Number 2: The Jan Sweater by Susan Crawford

7 balls of Rowan Wool Cotton = £34.50

Sweater 3: Pineapple Cotton Jumper for Mum

6 balls of King Cole Bamboo Cotton = Mum purchased so no cost to me… but cost £34

Sweater 4: Kingfisher Buttercup

9 balls of Stylecraft Merino Wool = £3.50 x 9 = £31.50

Sweater 5: Holl

13 skeins of Jamieson & Sons Aran = £27.50

Sweater 6: FairIsle Yoke

5 skeins of Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumper weight (@£2.75) and 4 skeins of Supreme Jumper Weight (@ £8.26) = £46.79

Sweater 7: Peggy Sue

One cone of charity shop wool yarn @ £2

Sweater 8: Tea with Jam & Bread

11 skeins of Jamieson’s Shetland Heather Aran = £48.40

Sweater 9: Owls

 

7 balls of Artesano British Wool = £29.50

Sweater 10: Simple Lace Shrug

3 balls of Filitaly Lab-Sirio = £15.00

Sweater 11: Safire

6 balls of Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller @ free from yarn swap

Sweater 12: Maui Shrug (with attendant bump in the bottom left of the shot!)

4 skeins of Rowan Alpaca Soft and one ball of Austermann Palia @ £3.99 + £4.99= £8.98

The Statistics:

Total Cost: £278.27, (but £244.27 to me) which averages out at £20 per sweater…

Yardage: 11,000 yards of yarn knitted or crocheted (6.25 miles or 10km of yarn)

Hours: Oh hundreds…

Pleasure: Immeasurable…

Smug-factor: High

Something tells me that were I to attempt this another time I may just have to get rather better at photographing my knitwear as well as making it. This seems to be a roundup of rather fuzzy phone pictures with little visible attempt at styling… Though I promise I TRIED!!