Me Made May '16

May has snuck up on me and I am so excited that it is time for Me-Made-May already!

I have decided to increase my pledge to 6 days a week, up from 5 days in 2015. I am sure I could go for the full 7 days, but I would rather keep it back so that I can continue to increase my pledge year on year.

So, here is my pledge:

I, Cathy of Cathy Makes, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '16. I endeavour to wear an item of me-made clothing six days a week with one day each week in an entire outfit of me-mades for the duration of May 2016.

Plus, as an extra twist, and a bit of fun, the children are going to participate, in Mummy-Made-May! Their pledge is to wear Mummy-Made clothes as often as possible during May (but not to school)!

I you would like to sign up too, there is lots more information on Zoe's blog, here.

To make it a good deal easier to expand my pledge, there are quite a few things I have made for myself since last year's Me-Made-May:

Pin Dot Peony Dress
I don't actually love this, I am going to try shortening the hem to see if I like it more.
Ashton Shawlette
I love this and I wear it all the time, it is my favourite scarf.
Sashiko Birds Dress
I am very happy with this and can wear it to work as well as at home. 
Yellow Spot Shirt
Despite the wonky collar, I will wear this as a work blouse too.
Navy Linen Dress
I live in this in the summer. It goes with every single one of my cardigans too. Collar is terribly wonky so I don't think it can have an outing to the office, unless the weather gives us a heatwave in May.  A shorter length will make it a proper summer frock.
Megan Dress
A staple in my wardrobe, I have to stop myself from wearing it every week. I wish I was brave enough to tackle a matching jacket.
Infinity Cowl
I wore this daily in Winter, but it is now washed and packed away with the Winter woolies.
Liberty Coco
I lived in this at the end of the Winter. I will probably get enough chilly day in early May to pull this out and wear quite often.
Cashmere Delphine
Love this! If I had to describe my signature style, this would be one of my choices.
Stride Socks
Hmmm. Does wearing around the house count as MMM?
I have also altered my Ruby Tuesday Cardigan to carry the buttons all the way down the front. It looks much nicer, and is far more wearable.

A few items in my handmade wardrobe could do with some alterations to increase their likability:
Black & White Skirt has had the lining removed. The cotton lining wasn't working and I took it for doll's clothes. I have new lining fabric, but I haven't put it in yet. 
White Dress needs dying, test swatch pending and I am still trying to decide on a colour. Turquoise, navy, magenta?
Cambie Dress, needs to be shorter.
Pin Dot Dress, ditto, as discussed above.
Linen Dress, probably would be better shorter too. Maybe I am just getting tartier in my old age...

Finally, the next thing in my sewing queue, which will probably take all month to make, is a Spring Coat. This will solve my MMM pledge in one garment!

Stride Socks

My first sock project, this comes from a knitting magazine to which I recently subscribed, The Knitter. I was so impressed with this issue, number 95. There are about 5 projects that I have added to my Ravelry queue. I started with these socks because I had the yarn on hand and knew it would be a portable project for a week away in the countryside.

The yarn was from Tiger, of all places, and it is 100% wool. Amazing considering it was £1. It is not terribly scratchy and I do love the colours. It is a combination of teal, black, blue, navy and khaki. The colour changes happen really quickly, about 3 stitches for each colour. The right sock has come out very flecked, but the left sock has managed to pool the colours in wonderful ways, causing a wavy line of khaki to run up the top of the foot!

I struggled to get the cast on stitches to fit over my foot. Even with a Twisted German Cast On. I upsized the needle and the pattern size to do so. The sizing of the rest of the sock is consequently much too large. After I finished the right sock, I tried to compensate in the left by knitting a smaller heel flap, hoping that a smaller foot size would be the result, but actually, I ended up with a smaller sock overall, including in height. It is quite funny really. The fit on the left foot is actually very good for me. I decreased the toes unevenly on the left, and much prefer the shape.

I confess that I stopped bothering with the slip stitches on the left by the time I got into the foot. I kept going with the rib though. I stopped the rib at both the toes, preferring a smooth stocking stitch in that area.

I do find them quite uncomfortable to wear. I don't know if this would be true of all socks, but when I wore them with shoes, as opposed to around the house, they hurt by the end of the day and I had to change them for something softer and smoother on my delicate feet.

My foot model is not the same size as me, but she is showing them off beautifully. I couldn't manage to photograph my own feet, and I didn't have a suitable background. We got photo-bombed by a jealous foot.

Maile Baby Cardigan

A baby gift made from my stashed-for-girl-babies-yarn. I used the pattern Maile Sweater, because I like the lace on the raglan and the sweet flowers around the hem. It only comes in one size, so I just went ahead and knitted that. My DK weight yarn, Rowan Pure Wool, had it come out at least a 6 month size. That suits me just perfectly since I only cast on after the girl was born.