April | 2016 | liz-o-matic

I present to you the second make in the ‘Winter is Coming’ wardrobe! [FYI the first one was this] Yes..just in time for Spring, I finished up the State Street Cowl. This was my first Quince & Co. pattern (although I didn’t use their yarn) and it did not disappoint.

This was a great straight forward knit and would’ve been real simple had I not unknowing dropped a stitch! Curses!! *shakes fist at the heavens* This turned out to be the cause of all the difficulties I had been having up to the point of discovery. After I frogged half of it (grumble, grumble) and started re-knitting it was smooth sailing! Even with the re-kniting it was very fast…and therefore wins the potential gift pattern seal of approval!

I used beautiful and squishy Alpaca yarn from Juniper Moon Farm in Navy. It’s a bulky weight- which probably contributed to the speed. It was purchased from my new LYS- Yarntiques!

My only issue is it won’t fit over my shoulders- if you peruse the Ravelry gallery you can see what I’m talking about. This is either to do with the fact that I didn’t gauge (#rebel) or the fact I have fat shoulders…. I’m gonna go out on a limb say it’s probably a combination of both

However, I can do this:

😛

The husband and I will be moving into our new digs here soon…so posting may be sparse- try to spot the difference 😉

Helllooooo dear reader! I’ve got another finished garment to share with y’all….

That’s right ANOTHER Grail t-shirt for you! You will recall She tried to thwart me…but I prevailed!

There’s not much more to say about the Grail pattern. I still LOVE it and it is quickly becoming a TNT pattern. I made the same shoulder adjustment here- which continues to seem to help.

I was nervous about the sleeves being too long, but they’re actually perfect! Which probably means they’ll be too short for others, because I am fairly petite… you have been forewarned

The sleeves themselves were SUPER tight…. like seriously, my arms felt like sausages! I was thinking I maybe cut the wrong size or got off grain, but more and more I think it’s just the fabric. [Apologies for the lint on it- I couldn’t find a lint roller.*]

In retrospect, the Cranberry Ponte is probably too stable for this pattern or at the very least the size I’m using (remember I’m going one size down from the recommended sizing)- hence sausage arms.

However, that being said it is a beautiful piece of fabric. The color doesn’t come across as well here, but it’s super dark and rich! I purchased it from Mulberry Silks. It really is beautiful- so much so that when I bought it the other woman at the cutting table promptly added the bolt to her pile when I was done 😀

So, there you have it! Finally starting to fill out my need for long-sleeved shirts….but less so keeping up with the sew new patterns thing. I’ve already started on my next version

Also, the skirt is made by me too! (ignore the creases…stupid linen) You can see it way back here on one of my first posts.

[*That’s a lie I didn’t care enough to find a lint roller! Deal with it!]