A snow day Cabin

Here in New England, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were engulfed in a blizzard.

This was a big one! It is rare to have a blizzard that cancels not one, but TWO days of school, work, etc.

This was our first big snowstorm out in the country and while our previous (long) driveway wasn't a walk in the park to shovel, we had the help of our fantastic downstairs neighbors.

In our new place, there was a lot more shoveling to be done. Tuesday still felt like a work day to us...we spent the greater half of the day digging out our house and driveway (and roof) and afterwards were too exhausted to relax properly. Wednesday, however, an unexpected 2nd snow day was lovely. We watched movies and read in front of the woodstove. I baked bread and cookies. And I had time for some kitchen table sewing!

In case you're curious, the barn is now the home of our old (but working) pellet stove! With a little foresight, I can heat up the barn to a toasty 75 for a full workday for the cost of a fancy coffee drink. In fact, I've been working there every day off since it was installed on Thursday and believe me, it is for the best. I'd been struggling without proper access to my workspace, though it did inspire some other creative endeavors.

For example, I finished a sweater in a matter of weeks. It's Cedarwood by Alicia Plummer from Wool People 8. I've knit another one of her sweaters before and I'm pretty pleased with how both turned out. It was also a super fun knit. I used Malabrigo Rios, which gets a bit pilly but is super cozy and squishy. This is the first sweater I've knit for myself in a long time and it was overdue.

According to the pattern, this sweater is inspired by a cabin in Maine. Sort of fitting, no?

Earlier in the week I cut out a Cabin top using some awesome Ikat fabric I picked up at Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver. Since I knew matching the square pattern in the back would yield less than ideal results, I thought I would create a contrasting yoke to break up the pattern, inspired by some of the Cabins I'd seen folks make.

I found some chartreuse silky rayon fabric in my stash...small pieces are great for contrast yokes! Since it was a bit on the sheer side, I underlined it with a light washed muslin, which matched the natural tone of the ikat.

I did a couple different things with this version. I used french seams on the yoke rather than flat felled seams (regular on the shoulders and a faux french seam on the slightly curved yoke piece). Since I didn't want any stitching on the yoke to take away from the lovely silky yoke I opted to hand stitch the neckline and sleeve facing along the yoke. The facings are stitched by machine where they attach to the main fabric, since the stitching blends in nicely.

I also decided to do an SBA, since I fall into that category. It makes a pretty big difference in terms of the overall fit at the bust for me. Since I make a lot of my personal patterns from my own block, I rarely do SBA's but this reminds me that I should make it a priority on future makes from other patterns.

Overall I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. This is going to be a great summer top. Due to the weight of the fabric (It's decidedly a bit heavy for a blouse) it gets a bit bulky under layers but I just tell myself it's for extra warmth.

Did any of you catch up on some projects during the blizzard?