The Autumn Playground Miette

Oh my gosh, GUESS WHAT?!?!? I KNITTED SOMETHING!!!!!

Seriously folks, this is like MAJOR for me. I’ve always been kinda scared of knitting – fearing it would take ages (coz it does) and I’d get bored and give up not far through (I didn’t!) and that it’d be far faster and more satisfying to just whip something up with the sewing machine. (And possibly also a little bit intimidated – my mother is a rather amazing knitter, and churns out stunning 1940’s cardigans in 4ply crazy fast with intricate details.)

But after seeing so many super cute Miette cardigans all over it place, it seemed like it was time. Time to actually give this knitting lark a try.

So, I did!

And, I made a Miette!!!

(If you haven’t heard of the Miette before, it’s a free (!) pattern from Andi Satterlund. Who makes all sorts of cute patterns, most of which are now on my things-I-want-to-make list.)

Now, let’s face it. This is my first actual knitted-by-me garment. And I’m not the most patient person in the world. So there’s mistakes in it. I learnt a lot, there’s things I’d do differently next time, but either way, I’m pretty darn happy with this. It’s cute, it fits, it’s got pretty lace type details, and it’s gonna go well with dresses. Plus, it’s pure wool so it’s warm and snuggly, while not being too warm – perfect for autumn and winter in an office.

Those of you who have seen a few Miette’s out there may notice there are a few differences in my one. It all started with my yarn choice. The pattern calls for 10 ply yarn, and there isn’t all that much of it around here to be found. Instead, I found some pretty 8 ply dove grey 100% wool yarn, and couldn’t quite go past it. I was assured by the lovely Jo that it would be fine, and I’d just need to adjust my sizing to make it work. Which it was, I just made a slightly wrong call about size right at the start, and have only myself to blame for that!

I did my tension swatch like a good little girl, and knit this up in a size 38″ bust rather than the 34″ bust I would normally have gone for.

In hindsight, I should have gone up another size, as it wasn’t quite big enough so I ended up making extra-wide button bands to get the added width I needed. I’m calling it a design feature. 😉

I also should have added some to the length between the underarm and the start of the bust shaping, as the cardigan was too short. (Yeah, I went up a size, but completely didn’t think that of course it would be shorter when using a smaller ply yarn and smaller needed. Duh! Yep, I’m a knitting novice. Lesson learned.) I only thought about the length issue when I got to the end of the ribbing at the waist and discovered (surprise, surprise) that it was too short. So, I just extended the ribbing until it was the right length. 😉

Since the button bands and waist ribbing were both wider than designed, I also widened the neck band so it didn’t look too unbalanced, and put a button and button hole on the neck band.

Overall, even with all of those ‘design features’ I reckon it works ok.

(Admittedly, I may be slightly biased, since I’m just so darn proud of myself for sticking it out and actually knitting a garment!!)

The buttons are from Made Marion – soft grey ovals that dip down in the middle. The yarn is Natural Grey 100% ool 8 ply (double knit) from Skeinz (their own name brand). It smells a little bit like sheep, which I like.

Even with the alterations, it was still a tiny bit too small and too short, so I blocked it out (look at me, knowing knitting terms and all! Woo!) and stretched it a bit while blocking, so now it fits well. Yay!

(And yes, I admit it. I am now working on becoming a ‘knitter’. Turns out it’s a great hobby for when hanging out with people or travelling, as you don’t have as much to carry with you and you can knit and talk at the same time. Win.)

And I’d like to give a huge shout-out to my wonderful mother, and my wonderful kinda-mother-in-law (what do you call your partner’s mother? I have no idea?), both of whom are wonderful knitters and helped me out a lot when I couldn’t understand the terminology or made mistakes (both of which happened quite a bit!). Thanks! 🙂

I’ve already started work on another Andi Satterlund pattern – the cropped sweater for winter. This time, in the recommended 10 ply yarn to see how it goes.

We wandered out late afternoon to a nearby playground for photos, and to give the Little Guy a run around. It’s rained every day for the past two weeks here, so any break in the weather for outdoor adventures is good! Rather cold though, hence the several layers, haha!

Little Guy found a scooter another child had left behind, and despite it being far too big for him he was determined to ride it. Big grins as we circled around for ages!