Late Night DIY: Peplum Sweater with Elbow Patches

I've had this great cable sweater for a long time, but recently it went through the wash on the wrong cycle and shrunk. I've tried to style it a couple of ways, but it always ended up looking too small, so I decided to DIY it and make is something entirely unique.

So I went through my sewing bits and found some great eyelet lace racking that I could trip the sweater with. Pinned on a peplum, cut out some great elbow patches, and hand sewed it all together while watching Doctor Who.

I'm so incredibly happy with how it turned out, It looks so cute and revamped. The eyelet lace really lightens up the sweater and makes it carry on into spring as well as the winter. I can't wait to wear it to school once the snow gets cleared.

On My Needles: TARDIS Blue Tri-Cable Sweater

Right now, I'm working slowly through the front panel of a sweater. This being my first sweater, I certainly could have chosen an easier undertaking pattern-wise, but I wrote this pattern, and I suppose for that reason I want to finish it. When I ordered this yarn, I was under the impression that I was ordering a chunky weight yarn, however it is a worsted weight. Oh well, I just hope that the gauge I calculate works out in the end.

I'm using Lion Brand's Heartland in Olympic, it such a nice color and appears to be almost a TARDIS blue, over all very pretty. It also has a really nice sheen to it and is quite soft.

I've been working this pattern on size 10 needles, and the cable pattern is pretty simple.

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Hannah's Tri-Cable Sweater:

BACK:

CO 58 st.

Work in P2, K6, ending w/ P2

(continue for 12 rows, ending w/ WS row)

Work in stockinette stitch until measuring 12 in from beginning

Armhole shaping:

RS: BO 5 sts at beg of next 2 rows. (48 sts)

WS: Dec 1 st at each end of next 2 rows. (46 sts)

RS: work in stockinette stitch until armhole measures 7 in from beg. of shaping.

Shape shoulders/neck:

RS: BO 10 sts at beg of next 2 rows

place center sts on holder (26 sts)

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FRONT:

CO 58 sts. 

work in P2, K6 ending w/ P2

(continue for 12 rows, ending w/ WS row)

Cable Pattern:

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R13 (1):K16, P2, C6B, P2, C6B, P2, C6B, P2, K16

R14 (2): P16, K2, P6, K2, P6, K2, P6, K2, P16

R15 (3): K16, P2, K6, P2, K6, P2, K6, P2, K16

*repeat rows 14-15 once more*

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Continue in cable pattern until piece measures

12 inches from beg.

Armhole shaping:

Continue as with back, however still in cable pattern until armhole measures 5 inches from beg of shaping. End w/ WS row.

Neck Shaping:

WS: Work in pattern 10 sts, place middle 26 on holder, join a second ball of yarn, and work to end in pattern (last 10 sts)

RS: Working both sides at the same time, BO 2 sts at neck edge of both sides.

Work until armhole measures 7 in.

BO remaining sts.

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SLEEVES (make 2):

CO 26 sts.

Work in K2 P2 for 12 rows. (end WS)

Sleeve Shaping:

RS: inc 1 st each side of this row, then every 8 rows 9 times. (46 sts)

Work in stockinette st until sleeve measures 17 in from beg. (end WS)

Cap shaping:

RS: BO3 sts at beg of 2 rows.

Dec 1 st each end of row 10 times (20 sts)

BO 2 sts at beg of next 4 rows.

BO remaining sts.

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Finishing:

Block pieces to measurements.

Sew right shoulder seam.

Neckband Finishing:

RS facing, pick up and K2, P2 (4, 6 or 8) sts as needed for even distribution. continue K2, P2 pattern for sts on holder, pick up equal number of sts on left, and continue pattern on 26 sts from back holder. 

Work in K2, P2 for 1 more row, and bind off in K.

Finishing cont.:

sew left shoulder seam (as well as neck seam)

Sew sleves and side seams.

Set in sleeves.

On My Head this Winter: Waffle Hat

While working Black Friday, I lost my prized grey knit beanie, this being the calamity of all calamities, there was only one solution. Use the adorable white fuzzy yarn that I had been looking to use since I bought it at Vulcan's Rest in June. I found this pattern for an adorable hat.

The Waffle Hat, is so cute and even though the end product appears to be complex the pattern is incredibly easy to learn. It's basically a rib stitch with yarn wrapped around a set number of stitches in a checkerboard pattern. So incredibly misleading if you ask me. The ribbing give the hat a nice shape, and it can work up with just one skein of Classic Chunky from Universal Yarns.

 

I used a boxy decrease so that it would fit my head, but the pattern's decrease technique is a nice spiral. I also ended up decreasing the number of stitches worked for the hat, because I have a pretty small head. Basically I just took out one of the waffle patterns and ensured that the pattern would still be able to be worked seamlessly.

This little hat worked up in a matter of hours, or would have if I hadn't been so distracted and doing homework all vacation. So warm, and it seems like it will last me a while.

Garter Stitch Infinity Scarf

This was the first infinity scarf I made, that I didn't end up ripping down and reusing the yarn to, the garter stitch works up super quickly with a chunky yarn and size 13 needles.

 I used somewhere around 60 stitches to get my width and then used two skeins of Universal Yarn's classic chunky in a cream color. It's so soft and incredibly warm. The Classic Chunky yarn is definitely one of my favorites, it works up so nicely and doesn't felt too badly over time.

It's worked flat finishing out the two skeins entirely in garter stitch, essentially creating a really large rectangle of fuzziness. Then all that's left is to sew up the seam if you want to make it an infinity scarf, or you could leave it and have a really wide chunky scarf. 

What I'm Reading

Superstorm-Blizzard-Extraordinaire Juno has moved in on our sleepy little side of the state, so I'm cuddled up with my kindle and my knitting working my way through the last quarter or The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's been some slow going, what with fifty percent of the book being the fellowship's travels to Isengard, but it's still been magical, no pun intended. And because I'm an obsessive reader, I'm also reading Looking for Alaska for the billionth time. (Creds for that beautiful picture to "The Oddness of Moving Things" blog. My camera's out of commission while charging.)