It’s finished in time for Finished Object Friday!
Pattern: Fluff It by @doraexplored
Yarn: Lowther Lace - hand dyed baby alpaca/silk; 3 x 50g skeins each of two colours
Hook: 8mm, yarn held double
Size: Large, with extra rounds added to the hem
Mods: Added a row of double crochet around the neck edge, embroidered along the top sleeve/shoulder seams, lengthened body.
I’m sooooo chuffed with this! It is light, cosy, cuddly, and breathable. 😍😍😍
I chose this project because I had a hankering to crochet a fluffy boxy sweater, and when I saw this pattern by Dora Does pop up it instantly called to me. Plus I like to support indie designers.
In all honesty I did have a moment of uncertainty as this sweater is crocheted sideways in two pieces, and towards the end of the first piece I laid it out and the proportions looked quite odd. It looked really cropped and really wide. I wondered if this whole thing would just not work for me and if I should give up and find another pattern. Thank goodness I didn't! I pressed on as I was committed by that point and I did really want it to work.
Once the two pieces were done I was still feeling a bit trepidatious, plus it needed seaming so it obviously sat on the kitchen table for a few days waiting for that to happen. I actually love seaming but I was busy and didn't have the headspace for it. I used mattress stitch as suggested in the pattern and it worked really well, not only that but the structure it added seemed to make the proportions of the sweater look better.
I couldn't wait to try it on after seaming - I was so curious as to how it would look on me. Some of you will have seen my posts on social media about it. It fitted way better than I expected - it wasn't as cropped on me as it looked when laid flat, and it draped nicely so that the boxy width was actually great on me too.
Here it is in the initial 'finished' stage. I know it ostensibly looks fine, but I knew I'd find myself pulling at the hem if I didn't extend it.
However, I am a bit funny about wearing cropped garments. Everyone tells me I suit them and I know that I sort of do, but I am also quite self conscious of my hips and generally like to cover them (plus it keeps my back warm if I do that!). So with that in mind I decided to add a few rows around the bottom hem to lengthen the jumper. This worked really well, I actually think the change of direction in the rows looks great as a design element, plus if I ever change my mind about the length I could always easily rip the hem back.
There are a couple of other little mods I made too, just finishing touches. I added a round of double crochet around the neckline to finish it off, and I used an embroidery technique along the shoulder seams to add a line of stitches. It makes the seam neater but also I think it helps to disguise or draw the eye away from the fact that I failed to line up the stitch pattern lines properly on the shoulders (I did try but they got out of sync and I couldn't persuade the fabric to behave!).
So there we go. This is what I love about making my own clothes - I get to modify them in a way that suits me! This project is on Ravelry if you want to go have a nosey, I'm VMagnus over there.
PS. I know I could style this better! Here I'm wearing it for work, so I've got comfy trackies and a t-shirt on (crew neck, which isn't the best for a V-neck jumper!).
