Knitting: Bow Jumper

Back in January last year, I was whiling away some time in Smiths while I was waiting to catch a train when a little photo on the cover of Knitting magazine (issue 124) caught my eye. It was of a jumper with a colourwork bow on the front, which I thought was just the right level to satisfy my general love of bows, without being twee enough to take it to the point where my sister and mum tell me to step away and leave it alone (which is not an infrequent occurrence!). I bought the magazine, added the jumper to my never-ending list of future knitting projects and little over a year later, here it is!

The jumper is knit flat, and other than the rib at the waistband, wrists and neck, is just all stocking stitch with the bow knitted using intarsia, so it was relatively speedy to knit and was good for evenings in front of the TV when you need something that doesn't require too much concentration. I started it towards the end of October after I finished my polka dot cushion cover, got the back finished fairly quickly, then put the whole thing on hold while I was working on Christmas presents and finished the rest in the first six weeks of this year. That's fairly speedy for me, because I'm not the world's best or quickest knitter. 

However, it does mean that once again I've managed to finish a knitting project just as the season when I want to wear it is coming to an end! Never mind, I've enjoyed wearing it already, spring is only just starting to show its face so I'm sure I'll be wearing it again before the weather warms up more, and it'll be ready and waiting for me next winter. Maybe this year I should try to start winter knits in the middle of summer - but that never seems that appealing! I'm not the only one who suffers from this problem am I?

The jumper is designed to be worn with a bit of positive ease, but I thought I'd prefer a slightly more fitted style so, as my measurements fell between two sizes, I decided to go with the smaller size and I think that worked out fairly well. There's a bit of excess around the waist section, but it's similar to the fit on the model in the magazine so I think that's just the way it's meant to be. At least that's what I'm telling myself, because I'm not confident enough with knitting to start messing around with the shaping of patterns too much. 

I enjoyed knitting the bow section - I really love watching how the pattern gradually emerges as you knit each row. That's not weird is it?! The edges of the different coloured sections aren't entirely faultless, and I did end up with a couple of small holes at the start of the blue sections, but some strategic weaving in of ends soon sorted that out. 

The yarn I used is Hayfield Aran with Wool in shades softmint (741) and navy (995). I saw the navy in a local knitting shop and it felt nice and soft, but was the only shade they had in stock so I switched to an online search. I thought the softmint would be a good match, and I am really happy with how the colours look together, but the softmint doesn't feel quite as nice as the navy. It's not a massive difference, and it's still fine to wear, but it is definitely noticeable. It's interesting how different dyes can have that effect on the same wool. 

Overall, I'm happy with the end result. I do wish I'd managed to get it finished a bit sooner to give me more time to enjoy it this winter, but better late than never! I've already started my next knitting adventure - my first foray into the world of handmade socks. Any tips for me?

How to make a bow fascinator

One of my favourite things about going to a wedding, aside from getting to catch up with friends or family and generally celebrating the happy occasion of course, is the chance to get dressed up - and for me that has to include some kind of head-wear. I don't know whether it's because I have short hair so can't really experiment with different hairstyles for special occasions, or just because I want to be a bit theatrical sometimes, but a wedding outfit just wouldn't be quite right without a fascinator or hat. They tend to be expensive though, so I've taken to making them myself for the last couple of weddings I've been to, and today I thought I'd share with you how I made this pretty bow fascinator/headband for a wedding that I was at on Friday...

There are probably already other tutorials online for making something similar, but sometimes I find it helps to read things written in a different way, so here's my version:

Start out with 3 rectangles of fabric, one for each bow and one for the 'knot' in the middle. 

My large bow piece measured 35 x 15 cm, the small bow measured 22 x 13 cm, and I ended up cutting the 'knot' down after taking this photo, so in the end it was about 4.5 x 10 cm.

Fold the large bow piece in half, right sides together, and sew down one short edge and down the long edge, then turn right sides out. 

Repeat with the other bow piece and the knot piece.

Take the large bow piece, and fold the ends over so that they meet in the middle, with the finished edge on top:

By hand, sew a loose running stitch down where the two ends join...

Then pull the thread through to gather the material up into a bow shape.

Secure the end of the thread, then repeat the whole process with the smaller bow piece.

Place the two bows on top of each other and secure together with a couple of stitches - this is just to hold them together while you add the 'knot'.

Wrap the 'knot' piece around the middle of the two bows, with the two ends meeting at the back with the finished end on top. You will probably need to cut some length off the raw edge - I prefer to have too much and have to cut some off than not have enough!

Sew the ends of the knot together by hand, and that's the bow finished! Ta da!

Now all you need to do is attach some elastic. I find it's best to just tie the elastic to the right length on your head - that way you can work out just how tight you would like it (and I have a massive head, so if I gave you a measurement based on what I used, it would probably be too big for most people!).

Tie the elastic into a knot, and sew the knot onto the back of the knot on the bow. This doesn't need to be too neat (as you can see, mine definitely isn't!) because you're about to cover it up.

Cut a small piece of felt (other fabric would be fine too, just with felt you don't have to worry about edges fraying) to cover the elastic on the knot and glue on (I used Gutermann creativ HT2)

And you're done!

Here's a picture of me wearing mine at my friend's wedding this weekend.

If you make your own versions, I'd love to see them!