A dress for Ed

I bought a dress for myself but quickly learned that it looked far better on my tall, slender husband than it did on my short stocky peasant body. The only problem? Its bright greens and pinks did not suit him one bit. I set out to copy the dress in a more subdued and Ed-appropriate black-with-red-accents color scheme.

The fabric I chose was, like the original dress, a very soft and slightly stretchy woven cotton. The red has a slightly shinier sheen than the black. I found the fabric at (you guessed it) Stone Mountain and Daughter.

Ed
Ed in his natural habitat. Photo by Morley.

This was by far the most ambitious sewing project I’ve undertaken, even more so than Hairy Larvae. Though it looked obvious how the dress had been constructed, once I started drafting a pattern from it it became quickly evident that there was a lot going on! Sewing the pieces together was no small feat, either. There were a lot of curved seams, most onerous of which were the curved godets in the skirt. I have since learned the correct way to sew a curved seam (stay-stitching, notching) thanks to Alice over at heteronormative lovefest, but at the time it drove me crazy trying to get everything lined up without bunching.

Edlite
Details in the neckline. Photo by Joachim Pedersen, some rights reserved

In the end, it was worth it. Ed gets a ton of compliments whenever he wears the dress, and I think it looks fabulous on him.

Ed and Heather
Ed and me. Photo by Neil Girling, some rights reserved

Matching hat and gloves for Ed

Because I loved how my Berroco Jasper/Karabella hat turned out, I made one for (my then-boyfriend, now-husband) Ed. He is fond of blacks and dark greys so the charcoal color I picked out was perfect for him.

Ed's hat

I decided to make matching fingerless gloves for him, since he spends a lot of time outside and is always cold.

Knitted fingerless glove for Ed

The pattern I went with was Dashing from Knitty (by Cheryl Niamath) and the yarn is Berroco Jasper again. It knitted up a little larger than expected. I started making the “larger” size but it was too big so I decreased to the “smaller” size. The finished size came out somewhere between the pattern’s “smaller” and “larger” sizes. They’re maybe a touch big on me, which is perfect for Ed. If I ever make these for myself, I’ll be using the same yarn but smaller needles.

Knitted fingerless glove for Ed

Armwarmers for Ed, finally done

A hat for Ed

When my husband and I started dating, one of my first gifts to him was a hand-knit hat.

I made it out of a super-soft alpaca/merino blend yarn from Lang Yarns called “Naima”. I got it at Article Pract in Oakland. If you’ve never been to Article Pract, I highly recommend it: their staff is wonderful and their yarns are luxurious.

The pattern is called “Hot Head”, from Stitch ‘n’ Bitch. I made a few modifications to account for gauge difference.

Hat I knitted for Ed for his birthday

Here’s me, taking it for a spin:

Day 012: A hat for the Rabbit.

The final product is very light as it has a fairly loose knit, but because it’s alpaca/merino it’s still incredibly warm.