Wool and the Gang: my Stripy Coco Mariniere sweater

Hi guys!

Thanks for all the super sweet comments on my bikini post, it felt really strange putting photo's of me in my bikini up on the internet, but I'm happy I did it. 

I've still got enough pics that I made my bf take while we were in Bali for two more posts.. Let's pretend it isn't freezing here in The Netherlands right now.. 

 I finished my second knitted sweater! The pattern is from Wool and the Gang and it's the Stripy Coco Mariniere top. When I fist spotted it on their website they also had a picture with sleeves. So I really wanted to make it. After buying the pattern, there were no sleeves included! So I emailed them and got a super quick reply with a sleeve pattern.. The only thing they didn't include were the stripes, so I had to do some math before I could begin..

It is knit in cotton, so that's why I don't look like I'm about to melt in these pictures.. Since I already had the feeling that it might turn out too big, I reduced the number of stitches. It's still pretty big/wide, but nothing too bad. The only part I don't really like is the sleeves, which are too long.. Even for me with my long arms, I get a whole bunch of bunching up around my hands..

When I did all the sleeve math I tried to calculate it so that the stripes would line up nicely with the bodice, only I forgot that the sleeve also had to be attached to the body.. Smart me. Rather then taking the whole sleeve apart I figured I should learn to live with it.. Overall the stripes line up quite well, so I'm still kinda happy.

 When we were in Ubud we visited Threads of Life, a fairtrade business which works with people in rural Indonesia to make textiles and baskets using local materials, local techniques and natural dyes. I really loved seeing all these gorgeous textiles and in my next post I'll show you what I bought. I couldn't afford the gorgeous ikat sarongs, but I can always look at the pictures again..

I love the bottom one.. 

Beautiful indigo table cloth 

This fabric was absolutely gorgeous! It was quite heavy and woven in this amazing pattern, I believe it was about 300 dollars, which is out of my price range, but look how beautiful it is!

Have you been knitting recently? And what do you prefer, wool or cotton? I think I prefer wool, but for summer I've already got yarn for two more cotton sweaters..

Next up will be another sewing project, I promise! And more fabric pics :)