Giant t-shirt to sleeveless top

I've been hoarding a few massive t-shirts for a while now.  They're all sentimental in some way, shirts I wore when I had my first boyfriend, or friends left behind when they moved away.  They're all baggy and old and in need of a revamp to turn them from something languishing in my fabric box to something I would actually wear out and about, but they all remind me fondly of a certain time in my life.  Ah, nostalgia.



This was a large boxy t-shirt I inherited when a friend emigrated at the end of vet school.  She's originally from Washington State so I pulled this one out of the charity bags she gave me to rifle through because it reminded me of her and the fun times we had together at uni. I should have taken a before picture, but imagine large boxy t-shirt.  You can do it.



I'm still practising sewing with jersey and I'm still struggling with the basics.  My seams never seem to be straight and quite often go weirdly ripply.  Although I pinned around So Zo's t-shirt to vest pattern to get the basic body right on this remake, the armhole openings still came out too big, despite the fact that they fit fine on my other makes with this pattern.  I guess it's because I made proper wide straps rather than using elastic, clearly I got the sizing wrong because they give me a slightly baggy-trucker look I think.  Also, looking at this photos I feel like I should have ironed this top, but then who seriously irons t-shirts?!





All in, not perfect but definitely wearable.  I've been wearing this a lot as a vest under my scrub top at work, for the warmth.  I can imagine in the summer it will be nice for beach walks with the dog, the kind of outdoor activity where I invariably end up in the sea so it's good to wear something you're not too attached to.  Definitely room for improvement, B- must try harder.

Finished Owls sweater

January has so far been the long and depressing month it normally is.  My rota at work has changed, meaning I've worked the past 2 weekends in a row, leaving little time for crafts and blogging.  I'm thoroughly enjoying my first day off in 19 days - walking the dog, slow cooker stew, knitting in front of Dexter with hot chocolate...it's been a good day so far.  And I finally found time during daylight hours to take some photos for the blog!



This is the much anticipated (by myself mostly) Kate Davies Owls sweater.  This is the third one I've made, the first being for Victoria and the second for Mum.  I knitted it in some lovely New Lanark Chunky yarn I thrifted via Victoria, it's a gorgeous deep green colour and suits me perfectly, even if I do say so myself.  I love green, it brings out the touch of red in my hair.  I used to be a ginger kid and it's faded to a dull brown as I've got older but the sun and green clothes sometimes bring it out again.  My hair icon would definitely Scully.



The buttons were all in my stash, I used 'pearly white' as a theme as I didn't have enough for them to all be matching.  I love their mismatched look though, not all owls have exactly the same eyes, right?  And it suits my 2014 craft resolution to stash bust!



Front action



Back action - check out those severe increases and decreases



This sweater is super warm and cosy, I've worn it so much since finishing it a few weeks back.  Between the awful weather and my nocturnal time-off, it's taken me this long to get some photos taken of this little number.











































Boob action 

Overall I'm really pleased with the result.  For some reason the knit seems looser than the two I've made previously, meaning when I bend my elbows or stretch forwards, the knit opens right up, making it look like I've got holes in my jumper.  I don't know if this is my knitting (I'm not aware of my gauge becoming looser WINK) or the wool?  Also, I need to learn stretchy bind-on and cast-off - the bottom hem is a little tight because my cast-on row is tighter than the ribbing, meaning it rides up a bit as I walk.  I'm sure it'll stretch the more I wear it and the ribbing rows themselves fit fine, it's the cast-on row that's holding everything tighter than it should.  New skill to learn for next time!

Work in progress

Happy New Year everybuddy!  Hope everyone had a lovely festive season.  I'm back to work now but secretly quite enjoying being back to a normal routine after all the festive over-indulgence.  I've got lots of exciting crafting plans for 2014 as well so keen to get cracking!

I finished my Owls sweater by Kate Davies over the holidays.  Although the owls part is interesting, knitting the sleeves and body are pretty boring (especially the third time round!) so it was nice to be able to plough through dozens of rows of stocking stitch whilst chatting with my Mum over a gin.  I tried to photograph it today but it was too dark and gloomy to get good photos so I had to abandon that plan and go with works in progress instead!



I'm in the middle of making a belated Christmas present for my cousin out of some stash yarn.  It's going to be a cushion, using Blooming Granny crochet square pattern.  I'm going to back the roses on green felt I think and chose some contrasting fabric for the back, before stuffing it and sewing it up.  She's got a dog and 2 cats so it needs to be hard wearing!



I was given this amazing little bundle of craft by Victoria for Christmas.  The wool is a gorgeous Studio Donegal yarn and the magazine is Pompom quarterly (love that name!).  I'm knitting a hat for myself with cables from Pompom, it suggests a Toft alpaca bobble for the top which I just may splash out on because it would be the most adorable thing EVER.  Though may look sad once it got wet in the rain...hmm...

Other craft plans for this year:

• Finally finish the box I rescued from the bin.  The base is still grubby pink and needs painting white to match the lid
• Finally finish the New House Blanket.  The one I was making 2 years ago when we were planning on moving house.  Never did move, never finished the blanket.  Figures :/
• Attempt to start from scratch with sewing clothes.  I'm still in a sewing funk after my pre-Christmas failures so I'm leaving this one for a while.  But I do plan to come back to it soon!  You can read more about my clothes sewing plans over here but they include more Sorbettos, more refashions and I'd like to attempt some Clover trousers.  And a Hollyburn.  So many projects, so little time...
• Stash bust!  I was pretty good with this in 2013, making several things from stash fabric but I need to carry on this trend before my stash implodes under it's own weight.  

Can't wait to read all about your 2014 craft plans!