Foray into knitting: Sarah Hatton pattern, Kaffe Fassett yarn

Last summer, I was in the big John Lewis, Oxford street store at opening time.  I think I was exchanging children's shoes.  I was on my own!  No small children to ride herd on.  Children's shoes and haberdashery are on the same floor.  So I scooted over for a look.  There was a huge clearance of yarn.  Pretty yarn, expensive yarn, tempting yarn.  I had first pick!  I'm not a knitter, but I do love buying pretty fibres.  (I know I am not alone in this.)  

Soon the tables were buzzing with knitters sighing, moaning, groaning and generally lamenting their stashes as they proceeded to buy lots more yarn on the basis that wool prices were rising.  Saving money then, you see.

I decided I should buy a few skeins of Kaffe Fassett's Colourscape Chunky yarn.  It was so pretty and made in Britain too.  I found a Sarah Hattan pattern for a simple vest and thought it was a great novice pattern.  Six months, yes months, later I have this:

The vest.  It looks a bit wonky and shapeless.

 I ended up re-knitting half the back because I got the length wrong.  Then, when I was ready to assemble the garment, I realised that I had two left front sides and no right front side.  Again, unravel and re-knit.  After all this fuss.  I ended up with a pretty but rather shapeless piece of wool to drape over myself.  I was a little disappointed.  Wearing it made me feel like an ageing art teacher.  Sigh.

You can see that it is boxy and shapeless on my dress maker's dummy.  I am somebody who needs waist definition, or I look very dumpy.

The vest on my dummy. Still not very promising.

My husband on the other hand, though it was lovely and showed much more enthusiasm for it than anything I had sewn.  Well, at least it was warm.  I'd try wearing it a little, and see how it was.

Layered up as part of a winter ensemble I actually love it!  Instead of being a garment, it seems more like an additional scarf adding extra warmth, texture and a little zing of colour.  It doesn't work the way that I was expecting, but it works!  And I am pleased to have it.

I like to wear it like this with my dark skinny jeans tucked into these boots.

Now I like it!

I have a whole skein of this left, but don't know what I could do with it.  It is very rustic.  It's scratchy and the thickness of it varies.  I don't think a scarf would be a good idea because it would be too scratchy on the neck.

Thinking about sewing, I am feeling tempted by Lori's sewing basics sew along.  I wasn't planning on buying anymore fabric or patterns for a while.  Buying a pattern on short notice in the UK is pretty pricy.  But I have to admit that I feel very, very tempted.  Who couldn't use skinny, black, ponte knit pants?  They would definitely fill a hole in my wardrobe, as would the rest of her list.  Here is a link to Lori's blog, Girls in the Garden.   I think Lynn at Wonderfully Made, is also pitching in with a lot of support for this sew along.