Another Jalie Drop Pocket Cardigan

Back in September of 2015 I made myself a Jalie Drop Pocket Cardigan. I really liked that cardigan. It was a neutral gray, so it went with most of my wardrobe. It was fairly slim fitting but also long, so it managed to feel trim and slouchy at the same time. Plus it had those nice, deep pockets.

Then I left it hanging on the back of a chair in the Pearl Bakery in Portland, Oregon. I didn't realize that I must have done that until we were on the train, heading home. Goodby, beloved cardigan.

It's not like I don't have other cardigans. Between knitting and sewing, I have plenty of toppers to keep me warm. Still, none of them really filled that tender, empty spot inside left by my Jalie 3248.

So I made another one.

Front view

 I used a marled, navy blue sweater knit that I got while browsing the aisles at Hart's. They still have this fabric in some other colors, including a nice cranberry. It's light but warm, and it washed up nicely too. Into the washer and dryer with no special handling and it came out looking just like it did when I bought it.

The pattern is kind of a fabric hog because the front is cut double; one outer layer and one lining layer. The construction is nice. You can have some fun with different fabrics for the lining, which would show on the pockets, and you end up with a clean finish on the inside. The sewing is pretty much a breeze. Except for those pockets.

Close up of pocket

They kick my butt every time. Even though I've made the darn pattern before, I still sewed one pocket backwards. And when I did get the first pocket put together correctly, it took me another 20 minutes to puzzle through how to set up the second pocket.

The instructions are good. It's my spacial perception that's at fault. It's worth the trouble, though, because I do love these pockets so.

The fit is pretty slim, though the cardigan is cut fairly long. Especially for someone who is 5'3", like me.

The sleeves are slim fitting. Jalie says: "The sleeve is fitted and designed to be worn over a sleeveless top or dress." It works for me over a short sleeve tee shirt, but I wouldn't want to wear anything more bulky than that underneath.

Here on the Central Coast it's just what's needed for most of our weather. We consider anything below 65 degrees to be downright nippy.

Jalie 3248 has 18 reviews on Pattern.Review.com and most of us give it a lot of love. My review is here.

Best Cardigan Ever

In my last minute sewing frenzy before leaving on our road trip, I made up Jalie 3248, the Drop Pocket Cardigan.

I'm not sure what "Drop Pocket" really means. The pockets are made by kind of folding back the bottom front of the cardigan into the side seam, like so:

Can you see the construction at all from this shot?

There is a knitting pattern that's been very popular on Ravelry, called Goodale, which has pockets made this way. I always liked that cardigan, but Wow! is it ever faster to sew a cardigan than it is to knit one!

I used a poly-cotton knit that I found at Hart's. It's a marled gray and sort of mid-weight. Once I pre-washed it it snugged up into a very skooshy, comfy sweatshirt sort of weight. I think this might be it; very reasonably priced too.

I rushed to finish this cardigan before we left on our trip, and I'm glad I did. It was the perfect light layer. I could throw it in the backseat and it didn't wrinkle. The pockets were just the right size to hold my car keys or a claim check or a chile relleno.

The cardigan is a pretty slim in fit, but the below-hip length gives it a nice, slouchy, boyfriend vibe. The sleeves are cut fairly narrow; Jalie says they expect you'll wear this over sleeveless tops or dresses. They're just long enough to drape a bit over my hands, and the cuffs are snug, so that I can pull them up and they stay put while I do dishes or brush the dog.

I never needed to wear this puppy outside while we were traveling. Temps were pretty warm, even in the evening. It sure came in handy when I was spending time in those air conditioned rooms though.

The front of the cardigan is two layers, which makes the finish is nice and clean. The instructions, which include very helpful illustrations, were good. I did have to scratch my head a few times though. There's a certain amount of inside-out and backwards fabric manipulation involved. Even so, it only took me a couple of hours to sew the thing together and I only had to unpick one seam. That's pretty much a record for me.

I like the pattern a lot, and I could see myself making a few more. There are some cute sweater knits around these days that would probably just suit!

My pattern review is on PatternReview.com here.

A Minimalist Cardigan

A rare event: a knitting FO! And it only took me 2 months. The burst of speed is due to the fact that this is the project I took along for my train trip to the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Pullayup. There's nothing like 44 hours of train time to kick your knitting productivity up a notch.

I took the sweater for a test drive today and it worked well. Comfortable and warm. The 3/4 sleeves are long enough to keep my arms cozy but short enough not to get wet while I'm doing dishes.

This is Ruthie Nussbaum's Minimalist Cardigan from the August 2007 issue of Interweave Knits - with a few changes. The pattern has you do the body of the cardigan in moss stitch and the collar in stockinette. Ruthie Nussbaum used a merino/alpaca blend that is probably very smooth and drapey.

The photo that sold me on this sweater, snatched from Ravelry

I made this cardigan once before, from a variegated 100% wool yarn that I was in love with. The moss stitch body turned out to be great for a variegated yarn, because the texture of the stitch kept the colors from pooling. Sadly, the springy-ness of the wool meant that the stockinette collar rolled up like a garden hose. I did everything I could think of to relax that collar, with no success. Otherwise, I really liked the shape and fit of the cardigan.

This yarn is also 100% wool from stash, so I switched things out and did the body of the cardigan in stockinette and the collar in moss stitch. Success! The collar lays flat and hugs the back of my neck just right.

Back view - under my hair the collar is doing just what a collar should do

The pattern is designed so that you knit the sweater in pieces and seam them up at the end. Out of laziness I knit the body in one piece from the bottom up and divided for the sleeves. I didn't want to have to mess with making sure all my pieces were the same length when knitting while traveling.

I also added a little shaping by reducing 4 stitches every inch or so three times above the waist and adding those stitches back in at the hips.

Once everything was finished and blocked, I remembered the downside of knitting sweaters in pieces. Someone has to seam them together at the end. Theoretically, I know how to do this, but for the past 10 years I've only knitted top down, one piece sweaters. My seaming skills have degraded. A lot.

I asked The Man if he would think I was a big baby if I asked my friend Jessica, the Knitting Sensei, to seam up the sweater for me. He said No, he would not. So I did.

Now I owe Jessica my first born child.

Oldest Stashed Fabric, Busted!

This is my entry in the Oldest Fabric category for the February Stashbusting Challenge.  I toyed with entering it under the Ugliest Fabric category, but I have to admit, it's been growing on me.

I'm not 100% sure which is the absolute oldest piece in my stash. I recently used one of the true ancients for this jacket. That piece had been folded up in my closet for so long that it had begun to fray along one of the creases. From this I learned that you can't keep stash forever.

This fabric is definitely up in the senior cohort though. I bought it probably 5 or so years ago at Findings in Carmel. Gosh, I still tear up when I remember going to their closing sale.

In the early days of my sewing renaissance I would find myself attracted to a fabric because of the color, or because of an interesting texture. With reckless abandon, I'd call out to the fabric lady to cut me two yards; no, wait, make that three! I'd buy like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Especially when fabric shopping with my friend Jessica.

Then I'd get the plunder home and realize that, while I did like the fabric as an object, I had no idea what to do with it. Like, for example, this hunk of green sweater-y knit with tweedy flecks all over it. So it sat in the lower levels of the stash for year after year. Every so often, I'd pull it out and heft it, then slide it back in the closet. No inspiration.

Then I discovered McCall's 6844. I had no idea that you could sew a cardigan! I though you had to start with yarn and spend 3 years knitting the darn thing, only to find that it made you look like Mr. Rogers.

In contrast, this cardigan took me about 4 hours from start to finish.

McCall's 6844 was a Sewing Pattern Review pattern of the year in 2013. With good reason too. It's easy to put together and includes a couple of cute variations. I made View A, the shorter version without the peplum.

I would have cut a medium if I followed the measurements on the pattern envelope. Because I'd checked out the reviews on Pattern Review, I cut a small. Good move. Otherwise I made it up exactly as instructed, including using interfacing on the collar. I'm glad I did - it seemed odd for a knit cardigan, but it gives the collar a bit of structure, which is nice.

You know, I like it. It's light but warm, it fits pretty well and I like the shawl collar. I can see myself making a few more of these. In fact, I have another ancient piece of knit fabric that may finally be seeing the sun as the longer, peplum-less version.

She Knits Too!

My Miette

I used to engage in a variety of crafty hobbies when I was younger. Knitting, crochet, sewing, beading, macrame (am I dating myself?), lost-wax casting, stained glass, leather work, furniture building. I actually considered taking an arc welding class at one point. Then I had my son and I decided there was no time for any of that nonsense until he grew up and went away to college.

That day actually came to pass about 10 years ago. I waved him off, dried my eyes and began dragging out my boxes of supplies.

Good cropped length for high-waisted pants. I added an extra pattern repeat or it would be even shorter.

I became enchanted with sewing a couple of years ago. Before that I was on a real knitting jag. I spent tremendous amounts of time wandering around yarn shops, squeezing the skeins. I went to knitting conventions and knitting retreats. I made a bunch of fabulous yarn-y friends that I still love to hang out with. I even completed a few sweaters and a bunch of socks. I still have a pretty beefy yarn stash, and probably 5 sweaters in various states of almost-doneness.

I went to a knitting retreat last January and, rather than taking along one of my many WIPs, I cast on the Miette cardigan by Andi Satterlund. This baby was so quick to do that I had almost finished it by the end of the weekend. Then it sat for a year waiting for those final touches - button bands and buttons. Just a couple of weeks ago I had an attack of finish-itis and took care of those last bits.

I used some forest green Cascade 220 from the nether regions of the stash. It's a color I'll get a lot of wear out of, even though it's so dark I can't figure out how to photograph the sweater so that you can see the cute eyelet details around the edges.

If I had it to do over again, I'd make the next size up. I usually make a size down from where my measurements would put me because I'm a loose knitter, but in this case that was a mistake. Even after some pretty aggressive blocking this cardigan wants to pull at the buttons. I suppose, since it's knitting, I could do it over again by frogging and beginning anew. But I'd rather slit my wrists.

If you're in the market for a cropped cardigan, I highly recommend the pattern (which is free, by the way!). It's top-down so there's minimal finishing. Otherwise it would probably have languished for another two years in my almost-done pile. It knits up quickly and there's just enough eyelet happening to wake you up after the rows of stockinette. Plus it looks cute on everyone who's tried it.

I'm saving Zoe's hair to try spinning it up for a white version...NOT!