Textured Hoodie for girls: ELLE Monet

RECOGNISE THIS AT ALL????





This was one of those projects that started without a need:
I saw a picture just like the one on the left on the back of CROCHET !magazine: January 2007 issue and thought: I HAVE to make that for my daughter, it's her to a tee...
At first the free pattern advertised wasn't on the internet at all.
Then many e-mails later it did appear, thank you NY Yarns!!!
Then I contacted BOTH UK dsitributors listed but they no longer were in existence or they could no longer supply the NY Yarn.....
I tried to order direct on the internet, but no it was for the USA only....
Then I considered contacting a friend who has just moved to Charlottesville, Virginia but they have only just moved so it seemed a little presumptuous to ask her and then there was postage and taxes and importing: could I really go through all of that?

Luckily I found a very similar yarn on Thame market one day and then the only problem was: which colourway????My daughter chose this one, though to be honest she only had a choice of 3 and much later possibly better ones came along, but that's another story...

I have made this from a free pattern on the site: www.nyyarns.com.
You find it under free patterns- duh- and theirs is made in a yarn called MARBLE.
MARBLE IS 66 % ACRYLIC,30% WOOL,4% Nylon , there's 75m on a 50g ball , you use a 8mm hook and it's $5.80 a ball.
( The pattern asks for 9 balls)
I used ELLE MONET: it's 53% acrylic,47% polyamide , 87m to a 100g ball, you use a 6.5mm hook and I paid £3.50 a ball
I used shade 279 which includes greens,sunshine yellow,purple,sky blues.
My tension with the 6mm hook from the patternn directions was pretty similar and I drew out the pattern pieces: the back,front and sleeve on brown paper to scale so I could check how I was going.( like sewing pattern pieces)

I made it in the biggest size: for a 9-10 year old.
I used 7 balls of 100g and the finished garment weighs 690 g.

It's a super simple pattern stitch , which renders the fabric very textured and ''bobbly'' although there are no crocheted bobbles as such.
Wonderful to do whilst watching TV and minimal shaping too.
I had never made a hooded cardigan and was amazed how easy it is to add a hood!!!
So I learned quite a few new things.
I think you can still get ELLE MONET and details were in a recent Knit Today magazine ( a British magazine).

The best bit was that it was fun to make with all the texture and all the colourchanges in the yarn and now it's completed my daughter LOVES it, AND I finished it in time - 1 day before....- for her Birthday!!!!( not planned as such but a useful extra present!!!)

Now we need some really COLD weather please so she can wear it a lot.....
Mind you hubbie turned off the heating completely for a few days as he overheats when stressed and he's very stressed right now, so the whole family froze but at least the hoodie came in very useful .

A different view with the Birthday balloons included!

The texture showing in detail: I chose purple buttons and she preferred green so we compromised with alternate purple and green buttons.

Saying goodbye and still smiling with pleasure over her new cardigan.


WATCH this space- but a new post- as my youngest wants one too now and she has chosen an amazingly bright colourway with lime greens,

fuchsia,magents,lilac and turquoise: it's shade 276.

I am going to make myself a Chanel style jacket with black trims in the whites/greys with a few bits of black colourway when I get the time...

And remaining in my stash for now but possibly a baby blanket one day soon is the 278 colourway which is soft pale grassy greens with beige and cream and some greyed blues with pale pinks.

It excudes elegance and ''Spring''.It was a colourway I liked but my daughter preferred the one above.