The leaves are on the ground here in Portland, OR, and my fall makes are well underway. After living in Arizona and California for nearly 20 years, I’m so excited to be back in a climate where fall brings a crisp bite to the air. For me, this means one thing: turtlenecks!

One of my favorite pattern companies, Itch To Stitch, had an anniversary pattern sale a few weeks ago. I went a little nuts and bought five patterns at 25% off. I just knew they would get made and fit great, as is always the case with my Itch To Stitch patterns.

This Hepburn turtleneck had to be the first one made because it will keep me warm and look great with cardigan or jacket.

As always, I made the size 14 and lengthened the sleeves by 2″. According to the measurements, I should have made a 10, but that would have had 3″ of negative ease — too much for my taste. She calls for 100% 2-way or 4-way stretch in the fabric, which my fabric did not have. Good to know that I have a pattern now for super-stretchy knits. I’ve ordered several knits online that were much stretchier than anticipated and now I know what to do with them.

The fabric is a delightfully soft knit from my neighborhood fabric store, Bolt. It’s an Oeko-Tex certified Art Gallery cotton-spandex designed by Sharon Holland. The whole spirited line is really lovely.

This turtleneck was such a breeze to whip up. The only thing that gave me trouble (always!) was my serger. I messed with the tension a dozen times but my threads were still so loose!

It didn’t help that I didn’t have matching serger thread, so the natural-colored thread is very visible. For the neck piece I ended up sewing it again on the sewing machine to hide these loose stitches. But now I’m really having to pull it open to get it over my head — the whole time wondering when I’m going to pop the first stitch.

Also, I went back to tracing the pieces onto the fabric, now that I finally have a fabric pen that works. These Leonis Water Erasable pens from Japan are the best!

I hadn’t exactly planned it, but this shirt is going to be my entry for the Once Upon a Corgi #pumpkinmal2020 on Instagram, which ends Nov. 27. It’s a fun hashtag to browse because it includes knitting, sewing and all kinds of other making. Of course, all pumpkin-themed.

I’ve already purchased some deep golden waffle (ha – golden waffle!) sweater knit for another Hepburn. Now I just need to find the perfect cardigan to go over them. -rp