Lately, life has been a cycle of job hunting, working on my data collection for an upcoming website, food preparation, chores and walks. I would probably be enjoying life if money wasn't an issue and I could enjoy this time off...however, the other day, I realised that I love dresses. In the summer, I live in dresses but never really thought about dresses all year round...however, as I grow older, comfort is a big factor in my wardrobe. I have to be comfortable in what I wear and I find I dislike some items of clothing more and more as I grow older.
Things I've discovered about myself...I dislike things around the waist, Just no. I feel boxed in, suffocated, bloated so no. I like something that I can slip and not have much more effort in wearing clothes. Shoes have to be comfortable. I have to look the feel and the look of the fabric.
That said, I made another dress for the slightly warmer weather. I have a feeling that I will live in this dress soon. I'm pleased with the results.
I have many reasons for making my own clothes. For starters, I was so disappointed in the lack of variety, poor quality material and fabric...it actually started to depress me going into clothing stores. I wanted better, my own style, natural fabrics so I started to make my own clothes. Granted some of my earlier clothing is still in great shape but my tastes have changed. I feel like it has been a voyage for me, learning who I am again and what I like. I've discovered that I am not a fan of trousers, that I love dresses, I love patterned tights, I love coloured shoes, that I love cotton...and more importantly that I love to sew and knit and I'm not bad at it either.
I have also discovered on my voyage of making my own clothes that my skills have improved, along with this, the quality of my own clothing has improved. I am able to modify and adapt patterns to fit me now, I add french seams to my tops and dresses so I have no messy frayed edges inside, I have an overlocker that makes me feel like I have a finished, tidy object.
For my knitting, I am understanding more about lace knitting, I am able to look at a pattern, dissect it and reassemble it into something that I love and this has been a wonderful thing. I still feel like I'm growing older but happy with my new identity, my new look. I've forgotten that I'm not defined by boundaries that other people put in place, that I am still me, I am still that individual that never fit in at 18 and now that I'm 50, why should that be any different?
This dress is for sell in my Etsy shop on special order. I love the fabric and hope I can find it again as it is a beautiful cotton needlecord. I wear it all the time and it has never faded or lost it's shape. It is my favourite dress in my wardrobe at present and I plan to make more.
After I knitted my cardigan, the feedback I got was that it was beautiful but some of my friends found the idea of knitting a cardigan quite daunting. They requested that I make something more simple that they could knit for themselves.
I thought about this and remember how I began knitting and how I made scarves. I found scarves allowed me to experiment with different textures and designs without having to worry about tension and blocking. I used to have a large collection of hand knitted scarves, but gradually over time, some of them have been donated to charity and gifted to friends. I remember one Autumn, I made four scarves as Christmas presents to some of my closest friends. However, I wanted to design something a little different from just a plain scarf, so I decided upon a cowl.
I wanted a cowl with texture. Originally, I was going to do a mock cable cowl but upon research, there was several already out there with that same idea. In the end, I did something that I made up on the spot, the includes a moss stitch and a basket weave.
This was the end result:
I'm quite pleased with this and the pattern is available to purchase here. I hope that people will buy, especially those that requested something more simple and manageable. I think it is pretty and versatile for someone with some experience with knitting.
I will put it up for a competition at some point as well.
One of my great ambitions (ha!) this year was to bite the bullet and actually design and publish a knitting pattern myself. However, when I was working full-time and then some, progress was slow and I found it took way longer than I ever anticipated. For a time, I thought it wouldn't happen and then something amazing happened. I quit my job.
It was liberating after months and months of being stressed, anxious and deeply depressed. Yes, I still have a long way to go, I need to think about my future and what happens next and how I can move forward but I'm out of such an unhealthy environment that I could actually focus on my passion of finishing my cardigan and writing up the pattern. I've had some interest in it and really, I would like to generate more.
This is the final project:
I was in a cold classroom for the winter, there was only heat from the computers and the students. At the start of the day, it would be freezing but it would gradually warm as the day progressed. However, when you have like 8 billion emails to answer in a 10 minute gap before meeting and your day of teaching actually beginning, it isn't the best start to the day. Of course, I never finished this in time to show it off at work...I was gone when that happened.
The link to buy my pattern is here. It is also available on Etsy.
I hope it generates more interest. It is really a lovely cardigan. You don't have to be advanced knitter to knit but have some experience with knit, purl, yarn over needles, slip stitches and decreases. If you can do that, yes, you can do that. It is an oversized cardigan deliberately to keep you warm and cosy. Enjoy!
