I've been wanting to move my blog away from Blogspot for a while but could never be bothered to actually do it. This week was the tipping point though, and I've now fully migrated over to https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . The blogspot address will remain here but all new posts will only appear at https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . There are lots of reasons for the move but my biggest one is how hard Blogger has made it for people to subscribe to receive new posts via email. It's such a basic requirement but apparently, they think it's too much to offer. I'm basing this purely on how I myself prefer to consume this stuff. I can't be arsed with feed readers anymore and emails are easy and convenient. When I receive one, if I fancy reading it, I will click through to it and, if not, I'll just delete it. Another reason is the spat between Google (owners of Blogger) and Instagram/Facebook/Meta. I don't even know if this is still the case anymore ...
My Flanders Bay pullover is finally ready - now that winter seems to have finished! Yay for sucky timing. I'm not all that bothered because that means I'll have a new jumper to bring out once it starts getting cold again.
So, I love it! I love it a lot. Therefore, I have eleventy billion pictures of it even though the worst part for me is having the pictures taken. I feel like a complete idiot, standing around and trying to pretend I'm totally comfortable with it but not knowing what to do with myself. It's no surprise that all my favourite shots are the ones from which my face is missing.
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| Nope, could never have been a model... |
I started kitting it around September last year (blogged here, here and here) with a view to taking it on holiday with us when we went to Philadelphia at Christmas - hence "Christmas in Philly". Clearly, that didn't happen. I had to put it on the back burner to work on the hats and other things instead. Not only that but these sleeves were the most humongous sleeves ever knitted. EVER!
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| Most ginormous sleeves EVER blocking |
See? I said they were big. They seem to be bigger than the body! So naturally, they took a *very* long time to get finished. (excuse the bad photo, it was taken with my phone, in very poor lighting)
The yarn I chose to use was the Wensleydale Longwool Aran which is a finer aran. More like a worsted weight really. It has a lovely sheen to it but it never loses its "woolliness". It's quite fuzzy and it sheds a lot as you're working but I don't mind any of that.
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| Showing off the knitting while knitting |
I don't know if it was the yarn I used or what but I only used about HALF of the yardage specified in the pattern. I have LOADS of wool left and now I have to decide what to do with it. Oh, well, it's a tough job but someone has to do it.
The pattern was great. I followed this copy from the Interweave Knits Fall 2011 issue. My only modification was making the body quite a bit shorter as I wanted an almost cropped jumper for a change. I am very pleased with the fit. It's a perfect figure-hugging-but-flattering-at-the-same-time jumper.
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| Awkward strikes again. I swear both my eyes are the same size in real life... |
The body is knitted in the round but the sleeves are knitted flat and then set-in and seamed. I was dreading it. I always dread any kind of sewing up. Though I have to admit two things:
a) - seaming does seem to give the garment a little more structure and sturdiness and
b) - it wasn't half as hard as I expected it to be. The stripes REALLY helped to line up all the pieces. So much so I had to take a picture of my sleeve!
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| PERFECTLY set-in sleeves |
Though I should also admit that while the first sleeve was done in one attempt I had to rip out the second no fewer than 3 times. I kid you not it was a total nightmare! But look at that now. It's a beauty! Totally worth the trouble.