Pathfinder Vest in Boiled Wool

I've finished my Pathfinder Vest by Twig + Tale using the gifted boiled wool and cotton elastane from For Fabric Sake and I'm in love! The pattern is wonderful with great instructions and the fabric is perfect for it. Boiled wool is lovely to work with, because it's a stretch knit it's very forgiving and being wool adds extra forgiveness, it doesn't need prewashing and won't fray either. Only thing to be aware of is when pressing be sure to use a press cloth or else it will go shiny; this is normal for wool, however that's a small price to pay when you consider how well it reacts to pressing in the first place; unlike polyester it plays very nicely with heat.

Pixie hood!  And embroidery :)

It's beautifully warm and it's going to be a staple in my wardrobe this year. The colour in the worn photos is more accurate.

You can get an idea of the lining here; unfortunately my phone didn't want to focus properly for some reason

I do love how the hood sits when it's down

See, embroidery!

And the lining is peeking, so pretty.

I made a couple of adjustments to the pattern, the main one was dropping the bust point due to Mother Nature attatching my breasts a little lower than pattern companies design for and I also graded between sizes since I'm best described as non-standard.  I have to do these adjustments with almost every pattern I use.  I top stitched around the hem and fronts so that the lining can't roll around; it wasn't actually trying to, as I said wool takes pressing very well but I don't like to take chances and I love how topstitching looks so...


In the interests of full disclosure I was given the fabric for this project by For Fabric Sake, I bought the pattern a while ago. Although I was gifted the fabric my opinions are not swayed by that in any way. If making the same outfit yourself I'd probably go with a slightly heavier weight lining or else use a woven fabric as a lightweight knit can be a little tricky unless you're used to them, but in this case the print went so well with the wool that I'm glad I put the effort in.

Sewing and knitting

I've got stuff cut out, but the weather has now turned cold and it's all summer stuff; it'll now be put on hold till next spring in the hopes that I'll be feeling healthier and that the fit will be better too due to my new diet I've lost a little weight.

I have done some sewing though and some knitting, I've finished 2 pairs of socks for Sock Madness and cast on a 3rd, and I've made Dh some undies.  Unfortunately the pattern doesn't suit him well, the cuffs are too tight (tree trunk legs from judo) and the top band isn't firm enough and rolls down.  This was the SUAT Mens Boxerwear pattern, I'm going to try a Jalie one next.  Much as I love SUAT's women's undies, my shape is rather different from DH's and not all pattern companies work for all body types.

Excuse the wrinkles, they'd been stuffed in a drawer; he won't be photographed in them so this is the best I could do.

On the knitting front here's the socks so far.

Smock Madness for Ian's enormous feet.

Demogorgon's Lair (fraternal socks for me)

Echoes with help from Ray