My first cabling projects, Phildar hat and cowl

I figured it was time to try something new to improve my knitting skills... So I went to my LYS (they are soo super grumpy there, I wish there was another store nearby..) and noticed two super cute projects with cabling in Phildar's magazine.

These patterns are from the Phildar magazine nr. 98 (autumn/winter 2013-2014). The hat is pattern 46 and is knitted with their Partner 6 yarn on size 6 needles. I made a swatch first to try and practice my cables, but it looked like crap. So I just decided to start and see how it went. After a row or 6 it started to look like cables, so I'm glad I just decided to start.

I love the colour of this wool, somewhere between grey and purple! They call it Bruyere. I made the hat shorter then they suggested, instead of 54 rows I knitted around 42, because I prefer my hats more snuggly at the top.

In the store they only had thinner wool than suggested for the pom pom, which is the reason that it is not super nice and round, since I got tired of winding the wool and decided this was enough wool for the pom pom. Cutting it to make it rounder only made it look weirder..

The cowl (or snood) is pattern number 50. I had to take a good look at the pattern to try and decipher it. It is knitted on size 4 needles and wasn't as nice and fast as the hat! I really liked the wool, which is the zephyr line combined with the partner 3.5 (that is the pink colour). 

I'm loving my cables!

I did find an error in the pattern, they ask you to put the stitch on the cable needle and then bring it in front of your work, well, that doesn't look good! You have to move the stitch to the back of your work and then knit the other stitches. 

When I finished it I thought that the cowl was a bit too big to wear it without wrapping, but too small to wrap it twice around my neck. Now that I've worn it for a couple of days I'm really happy with it. When I wear it with my Minoru jacket I just fold it up a bit and it is super nice and warm. 

Are you working on any knitting projects? I've almost finished my Happy Triangles sweater and I'm starting with The Crash sweater soon, knitting along with the Holla Knits Knit-a-long!

Milo also really likes my cowl, he just jumped right in!

Plaid Archer sisters

I've made two more Archers! 

When my sister travelled to The States this september I knew it was the perfect chance for me to order some Mood fabrics :) So I ordered some of their gorgeous flannels, since it's almost impossible for me to find nice flannels over here. The only thing was that she made me promise to sew her a shirt with one of the fabrics.. I was hoping that my Archer would fit her too, since it would save me having to tape together another one.. Luckily it fitted her perfectly! 

After sewing my first Archer the construction went way faster and now it only takes me about 2 days of relaxed sewing here and there to finish one, yay! I used Lladybird's tutorial for plaid matching, which is super easy to follow and then it's even fun to do.. I did cut the inside yoke on grain, to prevent any stretching that might occur.. 

After making two plaid shirts I'm noticing mismatching plaids everywhere! Sunday at the movies (Wolf of Wall Street, great movie) there was a girl with a shirt whose plaids were so mismatched, it wasn't even funny anymore! 

Anyone else checking all the rtw plaid shirts for plaid mismatching or is it just me?

Nicely lined up.. 

I got really angry when I managed to fuse the interfacing to the right side of my collar twice, and then only noticing it after I've started sewing it, twice! Hmm maybe I need more sleep? So this is me taking it out on an innocent collar..  

  I ordered metal snaps from Cowgirl Snaps on Etsy. The snaps are really cute and the colours are great! The only issue was that they were being held captive at the Dutch customs office, (no idea why), so it took me about 4 weeks before they finally arrived.. All that time my Archer was just lying there, waiting to be finished. I actually checked with my bf if it was ok to wear a shirt without buttons, but he just looked at me strangely, so I decided it was a no-go..

 I had to think twice when I sewed the cuffs and plackets, to make sure I didn't end up with two left sleeves again :)

My sister is really happy with her shirt, I also made her another sweater for her christmas, so she is happy with me sewing at her desk and making a general mess of it.. Well, I did clean out my left over fabric stash and donated two big bags of scraps to Goodwill :) Now there's just the rest of the mess... 

 On another note, saturday there is a big sewist meet-up in Antwerp! So if anyone wants to join, just let Anneke from Annette Tirette know! I'm already looking forward to it!