Rosmerta – a new shawl pattern!
I sort of sneaked a new shawl pattern up onto Ravelry Friday morning.
It’s a crescent shaped shawl with a mesh lattice work pattern, and knit with one skein of Julie Asselin’s “Merletto,” which is 800 yards of a beautifully plump lace weight yarn.
Hand dyed yarn and complex stitch patterns usually fight with each other, and can play epic games of tug-and-war if you let them. What do you look at first? The yarn or the stitch work?
With this pattern I’m calling a cease fire.
The strong diamond & mesh pattern creates lace work that shines, while smooth expanses of stockinette allow the gorgeous yarn & colors to take center stage.
Here’s the pattern on Ravelry.
I started this pattern way back in August, and am so excited to have the pattern out to you.
The name “Rosmerta” was initially inspired by the last name of everyone’s favorite Hogsmeade pub proprietress. After a little digging it also turns out to be the name of the Gaulish goddess of abundance & fertility.
And (maybe most importantly) it fills “R” in my (slightly strange) quest to name shawls after every letter of the alphabet.
This is also my 40th(!) pattern on Ravelry. When did that happen?!?!
You can see them all here.
All the important pattern details.
Materials: 800 yards (740 meters), lace weight
Sample Shown in: Julie Asselin, “Merletto”
1 skein, 800 yards (740 meters)/skein, colorway ‘Anémone’
75% merino wool, 15% cashmere, 10% silk
Needles: US size 3 (3.25 mm) 40 inch circular needle
use needles needed to obtain gauge
Notions:
stitch markers (8)
extra stitch markers for internal reps (36)
it helps if these two sets of stitch markers are different
tapestry or yarn needle
Gauge: 26 sts and 40 rows = 4 in (10 cm) in washed and blocked St st
Blocked Dimensions: 18 inches (45.5 cm) down center back, blocked
exact dimensions may vary depending on how aggressively the piece is blocked
Note: This pattern only includes charts for the stitch repeats.
The pattern is available on Ravelry, now.
sweater amnesia, cold weather & a new shawl pattern – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 24
The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s sort of a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels.
DAY 162 – JANUARY 9th
Versio Sweater
Black Scarf
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
How do you guys store your sweaters?
Prior to this wardrobe project, I didn’t knit sweaters, so I didn’t need to have a storage system. My sweaters currently live in half of a drawer in my dresser, there are two problems with this 1) they no longer fit in half of a drawer, and 2) some sweaters end up at the bottom of the drawer, and then I forget about them.
The obvious solution is to rearrange my dresser so the sweaters get a full drawer, however I’m not sure that’s going to prevent sweater amnesia. Anyone have a better way of storing their sweaters, and avoiding sweater amnesia?
DAY 163 – JANUARY 10th
Moonstruck Cardigan
Boring Black Sweater
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Tights
Brown Boots
This is one of those sweaters that got stuck at the bottom of my sweater drawer for awhile.
DAY 164 – JANUARY 11th
Hand Knit Sweater Dress
Basic Black Tank
Black Tights
Various Rings
This is the outfit I wear when I don’t have to leave the apartment, and would have preferred staying pjs to getting dressed. Like on Sunday, I spent the day hiding from the cold, knitting, and cutting fabric.
DAY 165 – JANUARY 12th
Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
The First of Many Archers
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Long Spinny Necklace
Various Rings
I added the buttons to my first Archer button up shirt last week, and posted a full post about it yesterday! You can read the saga of the mismatched center fronts.
I love this pattern, and am already working on my second Archer. Though, next time (for my 3rd) I’m not doing a plaid. I love a good plaid, but I want to sew a shirt that involves no pattern matching.
DAY 166 – JANUARY 13th
Deconstructed Black Sweater
Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
Basic Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
When I was designing this Not-So-Straighforward Basic Purple Sweater, I wanted a sweater that would work on it’s own, over a shirt, or under another sweater, and I’m delighted to say this sweater does all three wonderfully.
DAY 167 – JANUARY 14th
Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
Black Tank Top
Black Scarf
Khaki Scarf
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
And the purple sweater has ended up at the top of my sweater drawer, so I’m wearing it all the time. As for the bi-color scarf, I just took two scarves and twisted them together, I like the contrast against the purple sweater, and love the idea for adding more scarf variety.
DAY 168 – JANUARY 15th
Deconstructed Black Sweater
Basic Black Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Pocket Watch Necklace
Various Rings
Surprisingly enough I didn’t freeze when I stepped out the door in this. It’s always a tricky balance between not boiling in my overheated NYC apartment (with heat don’t control), and not being cold the minute I step outside my building, and not freezing when walking around on streets that quickly turn into wind tunnels. A tricky balance indeed.
PS. Rosmerta is now available on Ravelry! Rosmerta is a new shawl pattern that I designed, with a mesh & diamond trellis type pattern. It’s knit using Julie Asselin’s lovely Merletto.
I’ll also have hard copy patterns of it at VKLive in NYC this weekend. I’ll be at the Knitty City Booth (#710) Saturday morning at 11am. If you’re in the NYC area, and planning to go, I hope to see you there!
The First of Many Archers
I’ve been planning on making at least one button up shirt since the very beginning of this self-made wardrobe project. The Archer pattern from Grainline Studios was perfect, and after this one I plan on making at least two more, (one of them in a solid so I don’t need to do any pattern matching).
Materials
– 3.5 yards (45″ wide) of a very lightweight basic plaid cotton that I got at Elegant Fabrics in NYC
– 10 1/2 inch “la petite” buttons with a fake metallic looking finish (they say “not recommended for washing or dry cleaning,” which I didn’t notice when I was buying them – so we’ll see how the hold up in the wash)
– lightweight black fusible interfacing
– basic black thread
Pattern
“Archer” from Grainline Studio – Jen did a great sew a long on the Grainline Studio blog, which I followed for some of the steps, since the instructions included with the pattern are concise
Modifications
I cut a size 4, then added about 5 inches (12.7 cm) of length to the body, because I like my button up shirts long.
I also added 1 inch (2.5 cm) of length to the sleeves, which makes the sleeves a smidge too long when the sleeves are rolled down, but the absolute perfect length when they’re rolled up (which is how I always wear them.)
I made view A, and did an inverted box pleat at the center back.
What Worked Well
Most things.
I love the fabric, I love the pattern, I love the fit, I love the length, and I’ve been wearing it basically nonstop since I finished it (and even before it had buttons). Now that it’s winter, the heat is cranked up, and since I don’t have control over my heat, it makes the perfect light indoor layer.
When it came to attaching the yoke, I used the “rolled up burrito” method that Jen wrote about during the sew-a-long, and loved it. I hadn’t done it before and it’s so much easier than anything else.
What I’d Do Differently
I placed the center of the box pleat at the center back, on one of the white plaid stripes, and I really wish I had centered it on the yellow stripe that’s less than an inch to the left. It’s hard to see in the photos, but feels a little off kilter in person.
There isn’t much I’d actually do differently, I’d just pay much more attention when cutting because there was a fabric and/or pattern piece wibble, which led to the left front being off grain, which means the center front stripes don’t match up.
To be fair, I do my pattern cutting on the floor of my living room, which involves sometimes stepping on my fabric to get to the other side to move pieces around. I’ve been doing this for years without a hiccup, so I was probably long overdue for a mishap.
Lets Talk Pattern Matching
(in sewing pattern matching is where you cut your fabric so that the fabric matches across a seam – kind of like in knitting when you increase/decrease within a stitch pattern, the goal is to create shaping without interrupting the patterning – it can sometimes get a tad crazy making.)
I laid my pieces so that the body of the shirt would match (side seams & center front). I’m not super concerned about the sleeves matching the fronts, or the cuffs matching the sleeves.
I cut the yoke, and the right front button band are cut on the bias, so no stripe matching necessary there.
(for the people who don’t sew: when talking about woven fabric, “on the bias” means” at a 45 degree angle from the warp, vertical threads, and weft, horizontal threads – since, in this fabric, the stripes are made with the warp and weft, cutting on the bias gives you a piece with diagonal stripes – more about warp & weft here.)
So I pattern matched the sides and center fronts, but then something happened to my left front that caused it to slip (probably me stepping on the fabric), this caused the center fronts to no longer line up, and it also means that I cut the left center front off grain (not quite parallel to the warp, vertical threads). Sad panda.
Unfortunately I didn’t notice it until I was attaching the pockets, and didn’t have enough fabric to recut the piece. Super sad panda.
Want to see exactly how far off it is?
And the most annoying part?
Look at how well that side seam matches!!!! You can barely find the damn seam! Grrrr!!!
Ah well. If I wore my button up shirts closed it would be one thing, and I’d figure out how to make the misalignment less noticeable (probably by adding a wide bias button band to the left front to help fool your eye).
However since I never close my button up shirts – unless it’s stupidly cold (in which case I don’t care about much and hopefully wouldn’t be wearing this shirt), or I’m taking photos to show you how far off the stripe matching is, – I decided it’s something I can live with.
At least the not-matching-ness at the center front isn’t noticeable while the shirt is open.
I did however, get a touch of totally unintentional pattern matching on my right sleeve cuff. Maybe it was a consolation prize.
