Striped Halifax Hoodie

"Thank you for the presents, I really like my emo jacket, Auntie Meg!"

Flannel Style Arc Kennedy Hooded Top

Peak foliage, peak cozy!

Chat Chocolat Josie Hoodie

Put a bird on it!

Organic French Terry Jasper Sweater

I sewed fluffy, snugly, green hoodie!

Perfect for hiding in until the election is over and I can unclench my jaw and sleep again...

Funnel Neck Halifax

My sister liked the striped Hey June Halifax Hoodie I made for myself a few months ago, so much so that she actually commented on one of my posts (shock and awe! older sister guilt tripping!)! I knew a comment from her meant it was true love, so I decided to make her one for her birthday.

Stripey Halifax Hoodie

I sewed a sweatshirt! A non-hoodie version of the Hey June Halifax Hoodie, to be exact...

Happy Homemade Sew-along: Pull-over Parka

When I read that elsiemarley and you&mie were doing a sew-along for one of patterns in the Japanese sewing book, Happy Homemade: Sew Chic Kids, I was pumped because I had purchased this book months ago on a whim but hadn't worked up the nerve to sew anything in it. When I read that the pattern they chose to sew was the pull-over parka, I was doubly pumped, because that was my favorite!

Why was I too intimidated to try one of these patterns?  Because, even though I purchased the English version of the book, the language doesn't matter much since the instructions are pretty much the sewing equivalent of Ikea instructions... all diagrams and arrows and craziness with very little in the way of text directions. In the end the parka really wasn't very hard to put together, but I am super grateful for the hand-holding from the sew-along!

I made Miss Z parka using some quilting weight cotton I bought at Belleboo here in Bangkok... when I bought it, I thought to myself, "Oh, cute alphabet/animal fabric. Score!" But when I got it home, I discovered its quirk: it is not the full alphabet, by any means, but inexplicably only the letters B, E, F, L and G, repeated over and over.  Ha!  I went back to the store and took a closer look at their fabrics... pretty much anything with words on it had a typo or translation issue of some variety or another.  I'll keep that in mind for the future ;-)  The fabric is cute anyway, so I am not too worried about the limited letters.

I decided to break up the print a little bit with some hot pink piping on the raglan sleeve seams. I love how it looks and was thinking I should have used more, but it did make things a bit fiddly when binding the hood/neckline seam. 

The hoodie/parka came out pretty cute!  Can't wait to see it on Zoe...

Faux Cable Hoodie

While on the road with Martha in Singapore and Indonesia, I worked on knitting this tiny faux-cable hoodie for Baby Anna. 

I used the "Mock Cable Cardigan" pattern by Jeannine LaRoche, from same Knit Hoodies booklet that I used for Zoe's pullover hoodie earlier this year. 

The yarn is Fibranatura Sensational yarn (which looks like it's been discontinued), a bouncy superwash merino that I picked up at Webs' massive Christmas sale when back in Massachusetts.

I think the faux cable design on this cardigan is easy and cute.  I like the hood a lot and love how the cables form the buttonholes, but I will say that the way the cardigan is constructed drove me crazy.  It's knit in 4 separate pieces need to be seamed together at the end (and the sleeves are not knit in the round, so they needed to be seamed as well), which I hate.  It's a raglan style cardigan, though, and could have been knit top down, seamlessly in one piece (plus the hood), like some of the other sweaters I have knitted.  That is, it could have been were I savvy enough to know how to modify a pattern to make it that way.  Someday...  

Hoodie

When I was back in the States, I picked up this pattern book of cute children's knit hoodies since it was on clearance for $1.97.  Cheap is good.  Cute is good, too.

With plenty of beachside knitting time last weekend on Bali and Gili Air, I was able to knit up this little hoodie for Zoe pretty quickly.  I like the hem details- it actually has you knit a long hem on the hood, sleeves and bottom, then you turn it under and whipstitch just like a sewn garment.  The edge is really professional and sturdy.  In comparison, though, the placket neck seems a little flimsy.  Oh well.
 

The hoodie in the booklet is knit up for a little boy in a camouflage colored yarn.  The only time my version, knit in Lily Sugar n' Cream "Crown Jewels Ombre", would camouflage Zoe is if she wore it while standing in her great-grandmother Theresa's old dining and living room with their deep purple and green walls.