Christmas present reveal

 Back when I made teddy bears, I gradually accumulated a big pile of mohair scraps; too big to throw away, too small to make a bear out of.  This Christmas, stuck for a present for my sister and her family, I thought I'd try putting the scraps together to make a quilt.  It actually turned out interesting (a little crazy, but not in a bad way), although it's probably more of a lap blanket than a quilt.  These are the photos she sent me - with appreciative recipient.  He does look a little grumpy in the first photo, but I think he takes it all back in the second!

I backed it with beautiful yellow fleece from Fabworks.  I didn't use any interfacing or batting - which was probably a mistake because the mohair itself is woven into quite a thick, firm backing fabric, and the seams - where the patches are sewn together - are fairly prominent.  You can clearly feel them through the fleece.  But it was plenty warm, even without the batting.  I edged it in a piece of dark purple duchess satin that we've had for ages.  It was the first time I'd edged a blanket, or mitred a corner.  The mitring went alright, but actually sewing the edging was a pain in the rear end - it just slipped all over the place; I had no control over it all.  I'm hoping my sister does look too closely at the edging...

Anyway, for Christmas, my mother got me another big piece of the yellow fleece, and the Linden sweater pattern from Grainline Studio.

I looked at the reviews online, and added an extra three inches onto the length.  I think I would have made the neckline a little higher too, but I wasn't particularly sure what I was doing: I wanted to make it once to see what it was like, before I changed too much.

The results are shown below.  I was actually really chuffed with it - particularly the cuffs and the hem, which I've never tried before.  I'll definitely make it again.  Probably with a higher neckline, and I feel like those diagonal seams which goes across from armpit to neckline (it's got raglan sleeves) could be altered slightly - it feels like there is a lot of fabric there - but I don't know.  I wouldn't want to alter the loose, slouchy feel of it.