bollewangenhaptoet

back to the present

2012-02-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

My knitting is all over the place at the moment. After desperately trying to finish things and reduce the number of works in progress, I indulgence cast on for a pile of things. This is one of them, Andrea's Shawl by Kristin Kapur of Through the Loops.

I really liked this shawl as soon as I saw it quite some time ago, the way the edging sits, the stripes, the embossed leaves but I was put off by its triangular shape. Every now and then I look at the project galleries in Ravelry for designs that I like or have queued up to knit and I saw a lovely example of this shawl knit in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, of which I just happened to have six balls in stash just waiting for a project. Aha, inspiration moment!

Many have remarked that this shawl comes out very small so I am making the largest size, in a dk- instead of sport-weight yarn and on 4.5mm needles to boot. As shown above, I've started on the striping and am really happy with how it is looking.

I am going to endeavour to modify the triangular-ness of it somewhat, though, and to this end did some test knits as to how decreases affect shawl shape. I did them in some spare candy floss pink yarn and show them here not for your viewing pleasure but to share my new found knowledge with the world at large. (These are all shown with the cast on edge at the bottom of the picture.)

These are typical triangular shawl decreases - a centred double decrease and paired edge decreases (ssk and k2tog) worked every other row. Interestingly, it doesn't actually give a very flat edge across the top, that comes with blocking.

If you only work the centred double decrease every other row you get this shape above.

And this if you worked only the paired edge decreases.

This shape is produced by knitting the centred double decrease on every row and the paired edge decreases every other row. As you can see, it produces an even pointier triangle (and I could not work out how to do a cdd on the purl side).

And when you work the centred double decrease every other row and the paired edge decreases on every row, which is something more of the shape that I would like to achieve, a shallower triangle.

2011 reflections

2012-01-31T09:13:00.001-08:00

So, I was a bit disappointed the other day when I tallied up what I had produced in 2011 - it wasn't as much as in 2010. But then it's not a competition and I certainly worked on a whole lot more than I actually got finished.

And there were some real highlights:

Creating beautiful things from recycled materials which absolutely express my design and craft aesthetic.

Completing something which, at a few points, I truly feared that I would not be able to.

And doing some knitting that I never thought I would tolerate (namely stranded colourwork), as well as working with my own sense of colour, trusting that and being really pleased with the results. That was a big leap of faith in myself and such a reward.

And finally doing some screen printing again.

So, a very good year.

january reading

2012-01-30T17:11:00.000-08:00

The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin and The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch. Great and good read respectively. I'm just sorry that so many people have to be (fictionally) murdered for my reading enjoyment.

2011 revisited

2012-01-29T20:43:00.000-08:00

Here's what I made:

These were my aims for 2011:

Twenty-eight completed projects, of which 18 were knit, four crochet, and three sewing; and I managed some jewellery and printmaking this year.

I made seven hats, nine shawls/cowls/scarves, two adult garments (that's twice as many as last year!) and six baby/child garments. Thirteen things were for me (although I subsequently gave a few away), four things for my children, two for my husband, seven items were given away and three were for good causes. Stash/recycle content was included in ten items (I do wish it had been more).

Here is what I had intended for 2011:

- read at least one book each month
- complete knit projects that are more than one year old: diamond mittens, faux prussian stole, baudelaire socks
- complete sewing projects that are more than one year old: doily quilt
- a garment for Tim
- craft from stash and use recycled materials

How did I go? I didn't actually manage to read at least a book per month although I did manage to read 18 books altogether. I dealt with those terribly old knitting projects by: frogging, finishing and ignoring respectively. The quilt got pinned together ready for quilting and Tim got his first garment. Not nearly as much was made from stash or recycled materials as I would have liked but there's always 2012 ...

november and december reading

2012-01-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

You know, like those magazines that publish a December/January issue ...

Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids by Julie Salamon - ok, so I didn't actually read a book in November, this one dragged on into December. And yeah, it dragged. It was an impulse grab off the shelf and once I'd started of course I had to finish and ... whatever. I need to avoid books written by journalists.

And then within a matter of days I polished off The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb. I have really been enjoying these Ballad novels, this one was good but I think that She Walks These Hills has been my favourite so far.

backlog

2012-01-27T20:08:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, time has really gotten away from me. What started as just a few days break has stretched out to a month. And it's not for lack of something to say or show, rather the opposite and a very busy brain.

Just to start, I must address:

- November and December reading
- a 2011 overview (what. you say everyone did that three weeks ago?)
- a 2012 manifesto
- knitting updates, there is always knitting here

happy new year!

2012-01-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

We, of course, were in bed and asleep way before any fireworks. These ones are from a 1961 publication, The Dragon Who Liked to Spit Fire by Judy Varga. Awesome illustrations, entirely in black and white, purple and orange.

going loopy

2011-12-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

Looped picot bind off on my Cladonia shawl - it's pretty tedious. There's the casting on and the casting off and more casting on and more casting off. More casting on, even more casting off and you are four stitches along. Over the course of 310 stitches you can see how this could get a tad brain numbing.

My problem with it really is that once I've done a dozen or so of these picot-adorned loops, I decide that I'm not actually happy with the previous rows and rip it all out. My first problem was with knitting the eyelet bands and lace border in two different colours. It didn't work and I didn't like the grey-brown (Truffle Hunt) next to the lavender (Blanket Fort).

I didn't even make it to the looped picot bind off that time. I frogged all the way back to the stripes and knit the eyelet bands and lace all in the lavender. Then, to hold the whole thing together I knit an extra garter stitch band in dark blue before starting the edging in lavender.

And knit about a dozen of the bind off loops before deciding, no, not right, and ripped it. No photo. Then I repeated this, knitting instead two extra stocking stitch rows in the dark blue so that they would recede between the garter stitch rows. Made it through about half a dozen picoted loops and, no, not right, it's the dark blue, too obtrusive. Ripped that back.

So yes, now I'm considering knitting that extra two rows of stocking stitch in the grey-brown (even though I'm not fond of it next to the lavender it may be the subtlety that's required) and then proceeding with the looped picot bind off. If you happen to have persevered in reading this far, any opinions?

brooklyn tam

2011-12-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Autumn Tam by Sandy Blue from Simply Shetland.
Size: One size.
Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Loft in colourways Truffle Hunt, Stormcloud, Nest, Pumpernickel, Meteorite, Barn Owl, Blanket Fort and Old World. There is really good meterage in this yarn - from 50 gram skins after using just a little bit, I still had 51 grams left ...
Needles: 2.75mm and 3mm.
Start to finish: 7 to 16 December 2011.
Stash/recycle content: Ah no, none whatsoever.

Comments: So much to say. First of all, the most wonderful thing that happened to me today with this hat. I went to Churchmouse Yarns and Tea on Bainbridge Island where I bought the yarn and the pattern a few weeks ago. I was delighted to be able to show my finished version to the employee there who had helped me and she proceeded to show it off to the other staff. It was very well received. Then, just as I was getting ready to leave another woman told me how much she liked my colour choice and that woman turned out to be Sandy Blue, the hat's designer! Extremely gratifying and lovely to meet the creator of such a wonderful design.

I was never really attracted to Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter, perhaps because it is worsted weight. But when this fingering weight version came out, with extra colourways, I was intrigued and made my way to Churchmouse to buy some, some eight skeins. I had been thinking about doing some stranded colourwork in browns and this yarn was just the thing. I hadn't actually decided on a pattern until I got there and saw the lovely Autumn Tam exemplar and pattern.

The Autumn Tam actually asks for ten different shades and I only used eight so there was a bit of substitution (detailed on Ravelry) and shuffling and ripping back when I just got it wrong. When I looked at the other projects for this design on ravelry I saw that someone had taken a year to knit it which I thought to be perfectly reasonable - it's complex. Well, once I got going on this, I could not put it down. Stranded colourwork would seem to be my metier at the moment; the thrill of seeing how every next row comes out, how the colours will work, how they will develop. And a tam is the perfect size to do this. Thrilling knitting!

Verdict: Wonderful and so warm. Also a surprisingly quick knit which really gives me occasion to think about my languishing projects. I clearly am able to power knit my way through something when I want to!

naruhodo

2011-12-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

I knit my hado from Noro, a Noro hado, naruhodo (Japanese for 'of course').

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Hado Slouch by Olga Buraya-Kefelian.
Size: I knit the 23" ribbing. There are two smaller ribbing sizes but note that the crown is the same size for all three versions. I've been wearing it for a bit now and could probably have done a smaller measurement for the ribbing.
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock in in S233; 0.55 skeins. Is it possible to be in love with a skein of yarn? I am in love with this yarn, specifically in this colourway. Just love it. Want to swathe myself in it. I used it in my Daybreak shawl as well and had/have some other plans for it as well. As with so many Noro colourways, there is a shade or two in there that I either don't like or feel doesn't fit well; but as soon as it's knit up, the colour genius is unmistakeable.
Needles: 2.75mm and 3.25mm needles.
Stash/recycle content: Yes, I had this in stash. I have a few balls of this in stash ...
Start to finish: 28 November to 3 December 2011.

Comments: This hat is designed to be knit in stripes of four different colours, breaking the yarn every three rows and weaving in the ends to make the hat reversible. Stripes in four different colours? Ha ha, that’s what Noro is for. I don't know that the effect was as, well, effective but I do like the finished product. I didn't account for the shorter rows when I did the crown decreases so the dark section there is very wide. Design feature. Oh, and I actually blocked my hat out on a dinner plate for some extra slouch.

Verdict: Fun to knit and to great effect. If I were to do this again, I'm not sure that I would bother with the reverse stocking stitch welts and would just do the whole thing in stocking stitch.

i wrapped a hula hoop

2011-12-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

Miss bear made the gingerbread house.

two (part two)

2011-12-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

Sunday was 'goggie'.

finally five

2011-12-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

Miss bear's fifth birthday coincided with the end of preschool and the beginning of elementary school (that is, it was three months ago). We had a mini-party at preschool, we had cupcakes at school, we had cupcakes at home. But we never had a family-shared birthday cake that I had made.

And then baby b turned two and I couldn't make a cake for him when I hadn't made one for her and I had to make one for him because that time of the year is fast approaching and I didn't want his birthday celebration to blend into those festivities and ... last weekend we ate cake:

Saturday was flamingo.

black walnut clemence

2011-12-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

I actually finished this one before reclemence.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Clémence by Katya Frankel, available for free through Ravelry.
Size: cast on 90 stitches.
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica in an unknown colourway; 0.8 skeins.
Needles: 4.5mm.
Stash/recycle content: 100 per cent; I purchased this yarn at Value Village in Redmond. It had no ball band.
Start to finish: 24th to 26th of November 2011.
Comments: This was one of those burning-a-hole in my cupboard skeins of yarn, just needing to be used. So I did. I'm not sure if that forced approach to pairing a yarn with its destiny is ever really a good idea. My problem is mostly with the yarn - there are some beautiful shades in it but it's all so patchy that the beauty is lost. Ever heard that about variegated yarns before? Ever heard that here before? Yup.
Verdict: Stay away from variegated yarn, even if it is a super cheap steal of a thrifting find.

that time of the year

2011-12-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

When priorities go awry, weekends are overbooked, schedules are chock full, appointments are unavailable, tempers are fraying, drivers are impatient, et cetera et cetera. And all because it's 'that time of the year'.

Don't worry, knitting continues unabated.

reclemence

2011-11-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

I recently ripped out the Clemence cowl that I knit in June last year. It was really sad to do this because I loved it but it was even sadder that I wasn't wearing it because it was too loose. So I reknit it with one less repeat width-wise and on a smaller needle.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Clémence by Katya Frankel, available for free through Ravelry.
Size: I cast on 63 stitches as I was using a heavier yarn than that which the pattern calls for.
Yarn: Noro Transitions in shade 21 purchased at Lake City Way Value Village.
Needles: 6.5mm.
Start to finish: 26 to 27 November 2011 and then wove the ends in the next day.
Stash/recycle content: Yes!
Comments: Great pattern, easily memorised, great for a self-striping yarn as the combination of increases and decreases every row really breaks up the chunks of colour.
Verdict: It is lovely again. Actually, hard to discern from the original but I hope that I'll wear this more often.

loft

2011-11-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

It's a full week ago, but allow me to report on my trip to Bainbridge Island to buy some of the new Brooklyn Tweed yarn, Loft. It really is lucky to have one of the only ten or so brick-and-mortar stores that stock the stuff right here in the neighbourhood because it is so lovely to look at all the colours together and touch them and hold them against each other in different combinations.

I purchased (clockwise from top left): blanket fort, barn owl, pumpernickel, storm cloud, truffle hunt, nest, meteorite and old world. Just one skein of each, yes 'just' as I have many plans for them. I want to knit a striped version of Cladonia in truffle hunt (possibly my favourite shade) and old world, using blanket fort (which is actually a light purple) as a contrast in the lace.

I also want to knit a stranded colour-work tam in all the brown/grey shades, using blanket fort and old world as the highlights. I'm considering the Autumn Tam pattern which actually calls for ten shades (I only have eight) so that will take either some working out or two more skeins ...

And then I'm wondering if I were to hold the yarn four strands together whether I could use it to make a very earthy pair of Little Duffers for my baby b whose birthday is rapidly approaching. He's getting a big kid bed so that would fit nicely with the bedtime theme.

riding the wave

2011-11-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

So now that I have some screen printing under my belt I'm gung-ho to do it all over the place. Miss bear was not prepared to wear this blue fine wool t-shirt when it was 'clear' (her term for plain), she wanted it fancy so we printed the waves/clouds patterns onto it in silver. It came out reasonably well. She is yet to wear it but hey, I made the effort. The t-shirt is a thrift store purchase.

handprinted: catching the wave

2011-11-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well phew, I didn't drown! Actually, these look more like clouds don't they? I have been thinking of them as crashing waves, like really rough surf. perhaps because I had a pretty rough time getting these done.

I was so inspired when I became aware of this fabric swap - oh and an apology to my swap partners or Leslie the organiser if they happen to be reading this, the responsibility for taking this on was completely my own and I was delighted to participate but do have to be honest about the process - and jumped right in without really thinking what it would be like for me to have a deadline. Now I know - not good.

When it's up to me I work furiously on things for a few days, or even weeks if I'm lucky, then let them lie fallow until the creative spirit moves me again. This can take a long time. I also make my stuff at home, by myself, no requiring any technical assistance which is why it can also take a long time if there's a thread colour I need, or a type of ink. Needless to say, this style of making stuff is not really compatible with a deadline and a screenprinting project that was really beyond my at-home resources.

First of all, I had to burn the screen, that is use a light-sensitive photo emulsion to create the screen image ready for printing. No, first I had to buy the screen, a big one to make a fat quarter size print. And for that I went trekking across town, kids in tow, to an industrial screenprinting place that sold me a used one for $15, once I found them in an old building in Interbay, down a flight of stairs and through a door, and down a hallway. Actually, that bit was quite fun - I enjoy exploring.

Then I bought the photo emulsion and a pouring device and the light bulb for the exposing and then decided that I just couldn't face it and booked in some time at the Vera Project's silk screening studio. That didn't turn out so well - apologies now to the Vera Project in general because I think they have a great facility and programs going there - but the day that I went in the guy 'helping out' in the silkscreening studio was a total ... if I used the same language that was in the music that he had playing in the studio, I would have to rate this post 18+.

I mean, the screen got burned fine (although not large enough so I didn't manage to print fat quarters) but I found the whole experience incredibly demoralising. Perhaps it was just my own self-consciousness about being there (which was sky high), that I wanted to ask them to turn off the insulting music but didn't dare and then was frustrated with myself, didn't really know what I was doing and wasn't getting any help - whatever. Anyway, I felt really old.

But, I got four pieces of re/upcycled linen printed with the image of a block print that I made, taking the design from the end papers of an old book. They are not great - the printing is not great, they are not large enough - but they are done and I am happy with the visual effect and I stayed true to my values by using recycled fabric. I particularly like the slightly offset version where I used the black and silver. And I got awesome swap fabrics in return (more on those next time).

turn a square

2011-11-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes unique names for my projects come to me, and sometimes they don't.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Turn A Square by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed; available for free through Ravelry.
Size: Just the one size.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in Walnut and Plymouth Boku in 5 Plum Forest.
Needles: 4 and 4.5mm.
Start to finish: 7 November to 8 November 2011.
Stash/recycle content: All from stash; the Cascade 220 was leftover from Jarrett and the Boku from a very scary crochet project.
Comments: It was fun to learn the jogless stripe technique and reassuring that there is something to be done with self-striping yarns (sometimes I do despair).
Verdict: Great knit, quick, easy, fun to see how the colours emerge in the stripes and great to use up leftover worsted-weight yarn.

putting it all together

2011-11-04T16:40:00.001-07:00

I have started to seam together squares for the Babette blanket. It's going well and not nearly as onerous as I expected. Just like the crocheting of the squares themselves, it's exciting to see which squares end up where, which colours end up against each other.

I have been using mattress stitch through the back loops of the edge stitches which is giving a very satisfactory result. Once this stage of the project is finished, I'll have to start thinking about the border - which yarn/s to use, how deep to make it. I'm afraid that the finished product is not going to be as large as I had hoped for, so a good border may be in order. Once it is all pieced together I expect that I'll have a better idea of whether the blanket needs anchoring with a darker border or a lift with a brighter border.

handprinted

2011-11-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

A while back, quite some time ago, ok about three years ago I did some screen printing - a quick afternoon class at Pratt Fine Arts Center, an introductory course at the Vera Project. And my silk screen equipment has gathered dust in the basement ever since.

But the spark of interest didn't go away and flared up again when I saw this intriguing button on Di's blog - 'handprinted: a fabric swap'. Ah, just what I need, I thought, to give me reason to get back to it. Yes, just what I need - juggling baby sitters and open studio session times, feverish child, frantic thrift store visits for fabric to print on, frantic art supply store visits, cancelled studio sessions and a deadline.

Yes, I'm really having fun.

october reading

2011-11-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

The September Society by Charles Finch - This is the book that I originally picked up that lead me to this author; but then I had to read the first book first, of course. I enjoyed this one more. Finch writes very lovingly of Oxford and the plot has some good twists.

Inspector Singh Investigates: a most peculiar Malaysian murder by Shamini Flint - I just love the title of this book although I'm not sure if it's the murder that is peculiar and it also happens to be Malaysian or whether it's a peculiar, a murder most peculiar by Malaysian murder standards. Anyway, fun to read, a bit of a genre buster and interesting cultural slants.

[hershey's] kiss of death

2011-10-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

Ah, Hallowe'en. Lots of people in the US have told me that it is their favourite holiday (quick aside, I do love the way that Americans use the word holiday in its original sense to mean 'holy-day' and vacation to mean that they are having time off or going away somewhere; of course, for Australians any day off is holy but anyway ...) and it is certainly the one that gets miss bear all excited.

Is it the excitement of getting dressed up? Is it the anticipation of going out, at night, for trick or treating? Is it the frisson of fear at the ghoulish decorations appearing in people's yards?

Or, is it just mass hysteria induced by the prospect of a poor quality compound-chocolate high-fructose-corn-syrup-saturated high? I can't stop eating these dreadful things, I'm all snogged out.

micro-tidying

2011-10-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

So yeah, what would the world look like if everything got used and re-used and mended until it had totally exhausted its usefulness?

I can begin to see what this would look like for consumption because this is what I am already trying to do myself: it looks like a t-shirt that gets a patch on it, rather than being thrown away; knitwear made from other knitwear; clothes made from other clothes; recycled buttons and zippers; and last but not least, an extra $56.00 to spend on ... um, groceries? And to me, that looks great. How far can it go though? Is there a future where there is more respect for the eco-consciousness of a patched business suit, for instance, than for brand new attire?

And what would it look like for production? If demand for newly manufactured items decreases, what sort of shift will there be in the labour market? I recently attempted to sew myself a t-shirt because I'm not entirely comfortable with the cheap made-in-Sri Lanka ones that I'm currently wearing. I don't know what sort of working conditions they were manufactured under, what sort of emissions the factory made, what carbon cost there was in transporting them to the US; and I care about these things. I also care about the welfare of women in Sri Lanka: one less t-shirt purchased by me may not make a huge difference but if everyone stopped buying them ...

I'm also aware that in order for me to re-use something it has to be manufactured and bought new by someone else in the first place. But what is the tipping point? If everything that already existed were to be re-used to the end of its usefulness, how much would need to be manufactured anew? I have no idea but I find it fascinating to consider.

Anyway, to get around to the point - I made an attempt to tidy up my craft space recently. Tim always gets so frustrated with my efforts at tidying because I micro-tidy, I look at each thing, consider it and deal with it. His version of tidying is to put all the offending mess and paperwork in a drawer (and then wonder why the electricity bill didn't get paid). The other day I got no further in my efforts than some sweater pieces that I cut out goodness knows how long ago (I truly don't remember) that have been sitting there on the table ever since, waiting to be tidied up. So tidy them up I did by sewing the actual sweater.

It's for baby b, recycled from a men's sweater that I bought at the thrift store, 100 per cent wool. I had to cut the front out in two pieces because the sweater had holes in it, so I put on some decorative red stitching; it's never a mistake, it's a design feature. I also cut the pieces to take advantage of the existing hems and cuffs so the only binding that was needed was around the neck. This is a great fit for him right now, a perfect transitional layer, but I can't for the life of me remember what pattern I cut it out from (it's been that long). And one of the great things about upcycling clothing is that you get children's clothes in colours and textures that you just can't find otherwise.

thriftonomics (still rambling)

2011-10-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

So back to those snipped-off buttons: why the (perceived) disdain from an older generation that I am doing by choice something that they perhaps once had to do by necessity? It seems that at one point brand new and shiny became cheap and accessible and also preferable.

I had never much thought about economics as anything much beyond "the economy" until I did that Health Economics subjects. And “the economy” has always been something monolithic that I am all too aware that I don't understand well and am therefore hesitant to write much about. But with wikipedia everyone's an expert so here goes: economics is "the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services." I like to think of it in terms of flow, the flow of money in and out, the flow of goods production and disposal. I also like to think of it as a closed system, to recognise the finite nature of our resources.

And I do think that there is a finite number of zippers in our world and in our future; to throw away a worn out garment with a perfectly serviceable zipper still attached, to let it rot and rust, is unconscionable.

I’m sure that I have written before about the amazing mother lode of goods that are available at thrift stores here in the US (well, here in the Seattle area certainly but I’ve visited some pretty huge ones in San Francisco, Chicago, Salt Lake City and Georgia now too). I often wonder when I am there, what if everything here in this store were utilised straight away, if everything reusable were indeed reused, instead of something new being manufactured and purchased?

Please consider the Primigi girls shoes above. One pair was purchased online for $60.00 and has been worn for a couple of weeks. The other pair is the next size up and was purchased at Value Village for $3.99. They are in roughly equivalent condition. That's $56.00 to spend on ... ah, groceries?

off the hook

2011-10-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

I have completed all of the squares for my Babette Blanket. It was quite a slog but enjoyable, especially seeing how all of the different colours turn out in combination with each other. While I so hoped that this project would use up lots of stashed yarn I actually only used up, in the sense of have nothing left of, a couple of the yarns. So I now still have less of lots of yarns.

I have also woven in the ends on most of the squares and steam blocked them using my iron. The next task will of course be to start seaming them together. This is a big project but indeed one that can be worked on nicely bit by bit. A few quick notes about the colour schematic

each square consists of at least two colours;
the same colour combination square only happens once or twice;
yarns A and B feature strongly in all the ten- and twelve- round squares, and;
there are no squares where the same colour is repeated (as in, you may have two or three rows of the same colour but once you've done those rows, the colour will not be repeated again in that square).

I've made a photo set of them over at flickr if you'd like to take a look: Babette's feast [of colour] - it's giving me a tummy ache.

mulbermot

2011-10-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

Finally ...

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Bergamot by Marie Wallin from Rowan Purelife - The Organic Wool Collection.
Size: medium for the body and small for the sleeve.
Yarn: Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool (100 per cent wool) in Mulberry; 18.5 skeins.
Hook: 4mm.
Start to finish: 26 May 2010 to 28 September 2011. Stash/recycle content: No, I purchased this wool new at Little Knits in Seattle specifically for this project.
Comments: Oh the hubris! This is the first project where I have really made my own alterations for better fit. I chose to do it on a crochet garment because crochet is so much faster than knitting and so much easier to rip out. Well, rip out I did, over and over again. I swear that I have crocheted this garment three or four times over in the 16 months that it took me to get this thing done. Sixteen months!

I worked waist shaping, decreasing by one bobble on both the second and fifth rows, increasing by one bobble on both the seventh and ninth rows. I also worked the body in size medium and the sleeve in size small so that necessitated changes to the stitch count for the upper back and fronts

Verdict: I have been wearing this and it's working for me. I was initially apprehensive about wearing so much crochet but I think that it suits in this garment. Despite being so open it also keeps me reasonably warm so it's great over a t-shirt for when that chill is just starting to set in.

A note on the wonderful antler toggles: they were sent to me from Melbourne by the equally wonderful Di of Clementine's Shoes. I just hadn't been able to find the right thing here in Seattle, or online and the Rowan toggles used in the book are no longer available. Di went to The Button Shop and selected some possibilities for me, then bought and posted them to me. Thank you so much Di! They really are perfect for the jacket and I'm so happy with them, not to mention thinking about their provenance every time I wear this.

mulberet

2011-10-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

We interrupt this ramble for a quick assurance that home-grown, grass-roots crafting is still taking place.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Vintage Beret by Sarah Hatton from Rowan 44.
Size: Just the one size and it turned out small. I didn't, ahem, check my gauge so am unsure whether it is supposed to be this size.
Yarn: Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool in Mulberry; 1.2 skeins.
Needles: 3.25 and 4mm (I think, I didn't make a note but that's what I usually use with dk wool).
Start to finish: 29th of September to 3rd of October 2011. Quick knit!
Stash/recycle content: Well, the yarn is leftover from my Bergamot jacket (which means yes, I have also finished the Bergamot jacket!) so I guess that it could be called stash.
Comments: I was utterly confounded by this pattern. It is written to be knit flat and seamed but I really cannot see the point of doing that so knit it in the round instead (as many others have done). Except I had so much trouble adapting the written instructions to knitting in the round; I actually ended up charting it myself from others' examples on ravelry (thank you ravelry!)
Verdict: It came out nicely and is a great fit for miss bear who is very happy to have a new hat. And this colour is quite sophisticated for a child, she looks adorable.

ramble continued

2011-10-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

So, on the topic of returning to roots - where did it all go astray in the first place? I was certainly born in a time when handmade was already a faint(ish) memory. My grandmother knit sweaters (by hand and by machine) for us but already that was an anachronism. And here I am now, knitting sweaters by hand for my own family.

Roy's Jeans - Video by Self Edge from Self Edge on Vimeo.

Reading United States of Americana has got me thinking about so much, about what was once, and could again, be handmade; about the loss of skills to indeed make things yourself (and their blessed revival); about the greater quality but also cost of things like handmade shoes (for example). A weakness of Reighley's book is that it doesn't consider the greater context of people's lives back in 'better times' when they wore handmade shoes. I suspect that if you were wearing a pair of handmade shoes that they were just that one pair that you owned and wore every single day, for every occasion until they were worn into the ground. Yes, it's nice today to eulogise a return to that sort of quality but I doubt that many now would be happy with a single pair of shoes for every single day.

I was often slightly bemused reading Wardrobe Refashion (now sadly defunct but which I absolutely loved and loved the principle behind) when participants were alarmed about whether they could buy new socks and underwear. This concern seemed to belie the fact that socks and underwear are indeed made, somewhere, by someone. They can also be made by you or me, perhaps not to the manufacturing standards that we are accustomed to, but made nevertheless. Fine gauge dress socks, yes, you would have trouble producing those at home, but socks can be knit, undies can be sewn. (Says she, who has been knitting the same pair of socks for some two-and-a-half years now; yes, I concede that time is also a huge cost to be factored in here.)

I remember the first time a friend made tira misu for me (thanks Tamar!), I was devastated. Tira misu was food from the gods, it just miraculously existed; I didn’t want it to be demystified and revealed as the work of human hands. Sometimes it seems that socks and undies are the tira misu of self-sufficient crafting.

Lastly, please do enjoy the wonderful video above about how Roy makes jeans that reminds and inspires me that everything is made, somewhere, by someone, and (given the chance) that someone could be me.

september reading (and a ramble)

2011-09-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

United States of Americana: Backyard Chickens, Burlesque Beauties, and Handmade Bitters: A Field Guide to the New American Roots Movement by Kurt Reighley - This is an interesting book that covers a number of aspects of current American life and culture that are harkening back to 'roots', things like home canning, straight razor shaving, bluegrass, knitting, taxidermy and speakeasies. Reighley is Seattle based so I enjoyed it that there was a lot in here that is local to me.

I enjoyed this book and it really got me thinking about 'old times' and the return to doing things in a deliberate, hands-on, 'old-fashioned' way. Back in 2oo8 when I attended the Stitches and Craft Show in Melbourne, I was actually a little disconcerted by some of the older women who looked at my recycled yarns and garments and, umm, scoffed (no, that's too harsh but a lighter shade thereof) that they used to do the same "way back when".

Yes, I save buttons and zippers off worn-out garments, in fact I save worn-out garments, with the hope that I will one day get around to using them to make something else. And yes, I do realise that I am not the first to be doing so, but I do feel that I am part of doing things that way again. And whereas this sort of thrift in the past was probably a necessity (Tim suggests also a manifestation of Protestant values) today for me it is about an ethical choice for sustainability (and yes also for saving money but I just seem to spend that on more craft supplies!).

Further, recently the Modern Quilt Guild called for submissions of 'modern quilts' to be part of an online exhibition. I had hoped to submit something - maybe the turbulent river baby quilt or the Franco-Australian wagga - but I found myself a bit stuck on the prompt "what, in your opinion, makes it modern." What is modern about my quilting? Certainly not the colours that I use, not the shapes, not the techniques - just that I do it in a really old-fashioned way. Which seems to be new all over again.

colour sense

2011-09-25T16:57:00.001-07:00

One of the things that I really love about the folk skirt of my dreams is the colour combination of the green of the skirt and the blue in the braid trim; all of it anchored by the black. That blue and green together, it's not quite right, slightly off kilter and the impact of that is part of what makes the skirt.

Anyway, I've got some braid, I've got a sewing pattern to work with (New Look 6981), now what colour to make the skirt? I was thinking a dusty pink, reasoning that red is next to orange on the colour wheel (as blue is next to green) but wanting to mute it down a bit. That's actually coral there above and some other combinations that fell out of my fabric cupboard when I opened it are below. But hmm, what about lavender?

progress

2011-09-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

I love it when you come across a knitting project and all you want to do is work on it.

And it's a pleasure to work on it. You pick it up without even deliberating between this and the dozen or so other things that are on the needles. And lo and behold, things actually go pretty quickly when you work exclusively on one thing - I've divided for the sleeves already. This yarn - Karabella Aurora 8 - is knitting up beautifully. The cables are so squishy. That's my project - the cables are so squishy.

must. cast. on.

2011-09-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

This book, Contemporary Irish Knits by Carol Feller, arrived in the mail today - hooray! I don't often buy books for patterns, preferring to borrow them from the library or wait until they turn up second hand.

But autumn weather is upon us here in Seattle (gorgeous weather, crisp morning, warm sunny day, cool evening) and miss bear is going to need something warm soon. She has, sadly, outgrown her tomten and I fell in knit-love with Rossbeg as soon as I saw it.

I also had yarn all set to go - nine skeins of Karabella Aurora 8 in colourway 5 'crimson', purchased at Capitol Hill Value Village for about $1 per ball *. Yes, I decided that what I had saved on yarn I could spend on the pattern book.

* That was an amazing thrift day: I also got four skeins of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend, five skeins of Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Chunky, two skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and three skeins of Karabella Gossamer. All for one dollar each.

routine search

2011-09-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

That is, the search for routine.

Miss bear has turned five and started school, baby B has returned to toddler group and I now have four whole hours a week (count 'em) alone, to my self, solo.

And there is afternoon nap time all to myself as well, five days a week now. Until school pick-up time, which is right in the middle of nap time.

Routine: we'll get there eventually.

So far I've managed to catch up with a couple of old friends - my Alabama Chanin dress and Tibetan Clouds (un)Beaded Stole. I completed stitching on two more of the large dark blue spirals and finished the eighth repeat on the stole. I'll get there eventually.

sculptural knits

2011-09-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

"Antje Pugnat graduated from the Royal College of Art in London in 2005 with a Master’s degree in fashion design knitwear. One year later, she founded her own label in Berlin.

... A second and more recent phase of production moves now into the realm of thicker and more voluminous handknits.

Driving Pugnat is a vision of knitwear that is sophisticated, beautiful, and unpredictable. In stylistic terms, she plays with idiosyncratic color, with transparency and lightness, but at the same time with sculptural, monochromatic, and organic structures. Her distinctly romantic approach features experimental finishes, and she explores materials in unexpected ways in order to propel her knitwear towards sensuality and luxury. Inspiring her designs is a search for the kind of individualized techniques which lead simultaneously toward heightened delicacy and fragility, and toward greater voluminosity and sculptural shape."

Ooh, that was a lot of quotation but I just love these Pugnat knits and the idea of "heightened delicacy and fragility, ... greater voluminosity and sculptural shape." Oh how I want to knit one of these garments. Why are there no knitting patterns around for things like this? This is what I want to knit.

And yes, I would like someone to provide me with a pattern. Even more so, I would also like to sit for days and weeks and swatch all sorts of increases and decreases to use as a little reference library to create my own. Realistically, it is more likely that someone else will provide a suitable pattern than it is that I will find the time to swatch.

In the meantime, I'm considering Teva Durham's Diagonal Twist Princess-Seam Jacket from Loop-d-loop which shares some of the design elements. Maybe I'll experiment with the collar and cuffs and shoulder shaping ...

a matter of graves importance

2011-09-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

Tea. My morning cup of tea is indeed a matter of grave importance. I like Twinings Irish Breakfast, medium strong, no milk or sugar in a white Ikea 365+ mug (I don't like mugs that are not white, at least on the inside, because how can you see how strong your tea is?). Also of grave importance in the matter of making tea is boiling water. Piping hot, roiling boil boiling water, poured directly onto the tea bag in the mug.

Tea drinking does not seem to be of such grave importance generally here in the US and boiling water can be hard to come by. It's all espresso makers, mr coffee and drive-through Starbucks. Anyway, we have been through a couple of electric kettles since we arrived in Seattle. The first was turning itself off before the water was truly roiling and the second just stopped heating all together. Tim, of the quaint old-fashioned notion that things should really last forever, insisted that we not get another electric kettle but instead a stove top version.

So, I took the opportunity to procure an item a that I have long admired - the Alessi whistling bird kettle (thank you ebay), designed by American architect Michael Graves. I'm not sure when I became aware of this kettle (it was introduced in 1985) but probably sometime while I was working at a department store in my university years (a decade later). I always loved its sense of humour and I'm delighted to have finally bought one in my own sweet time (ages down the track) and my own sweet fashion (second hand).

(ooh, and here's something that I bought at an estate sale recently and something that I did not buy because it was too small (thankfully)).

braid

2011-09-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

My folk skirt - yes, remember the skirt that I so wanted from a few weeks back? that I saw on the table of contents page of a knitting book? that I emailed the author and photographer about to see if they knew where it was from? Yes, that one there on the left.

Alas, all of my research came up with nowt so I took matters into my own hands and started to collect images and details of suitable jacquard ribbons (you can see the collection at Pinterest). Imagine my delight when I checked the web page for Esther's Fabrics (go on, take a look too) while organising our trip to Bainbridge Island and saw one of the ribbons!

The photo must have been taken a while ago because they only had one colourway still available in said ribbon, a blue/orange/bronze combination. I'm not sure whether I would have chosen this one (over the garnet/fuschia/black or pink/cream/green alternatives) but I am delighted to have some in my hot little hands.

And to think that I can now actually start making my own folk skirt. I'm going to look for some poplin in cotton and experiment a bit with how to get the look of those lace appliqués: draw them on with a fabric pen or (Alabama-Chanin style) just with a Sharpie? freehand or make a stencil? or then actually go to the trouble of screenprinting? And of course, what colour fabric for the skirt??

bainbridge bounty

2011-09-06T09:28:00.001-07:00

We made a last hurrah of summer trip to Bainbridge Island this past weekend. the trip was ostensibly to eat ice cream from Mora Iced Creamery but I did have a couple of ulterior destinations in mind: Churchmouse Yarns and Teas and Esther's Fabrics.

I was looking mainly for toggles to finish mulbermot. It has been a really long time coming but I have almost completed it, again and again and some three or four times over. Yes, I have crocheted and ripped out this garment so many times as I fine tuned the waist shaping and the sleeves. Really, I could have completed it three times over by now. And the toggles - Rowan appears to have discontinued their button range and of course I have my heart set on the horn toggles featured on the garment. they are button number 00411 in case anyone has half a dozen sitting around needing a new home.

Anyway, no toggle luck at Churchmouse but I did take a deep breath and got a little buzzed on the yarn fumes. Then in a slightly altered mental state I went and spent up big at Esther's; yes, toggles (made of antler, stiull not sure about them though and waiting for word from Di in Melbourne on some other options) and also two Oliver + S sewing patterns, Sewn with Love by Fiona Bell, two lengths of ribbon trim, some Anna Maria Horner cotton voile from the Loulouthi range, and a Leisure Arts pamphlet called Simple Pleasures in Redwork by Kathy Schmitz. Then at the book shop I bought Growing up Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee (new), and Felted Knits by Bev Galeskas , Knitting Circles Around Socks by Antje Gillingham and Heartfelt by Teresa Searle (all second hand).

Umm, like I needed any more inspiration/projects/ideas. But at least now I can maybe finish mulbermot and perhaps get started on my folk skirt.

let's go to florida!

2011-09-02T08:39:00.002-07:00

I tell you, despite being no advocate of heat, sun bathing, surf or sand, I would go to Florida in a heart beat if I thought I could get hold of this vintage pattern. It's Vogue 8617, a "sightseeing dress of cucumber-green linen".

In fact, it has become my life's new mission (on the sewing front at least) to track down and acquire this pattern. I have saved a search for it on ebay, trawled google, searched vintage sewing pattern sites. Short of actually going to Florida (school starts next week you know), any other suggestions?

august reading

2011-09-02T08:39:00.001-07:00

Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson - Lots of fun to read. Dandy is a great character and the mystery is good. This book also addresses the class divide between aristocrats and their servants. There is a wonderful moment when Dandy, posing as a lady's maid, is upon questioning tongue tied as to what her fictional first name is, as if it had never occurred to her that lady's maid would actually have a first name. This gives her cause to ponder what her own maid's first name might be. Sadly, this is the most recent Dandy Gilver book so I shall be waiting for the next volume and then waiting for the library to get a copy.

A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch - also a period mystery (although somewhat earlier), also with aristocracy, servants and murder. Not as good as Dandy Gilver but thankfully the first in a series of four.

violent voile

2011-08-31T16:11:00.001-07:00

This is the absolute cheapest, not to mention most horrendous, voile that I could find in Seattle. I bought it at a certain 'big box' store (as they are called in these parts). When I paid, the dear cashier commented what a great print it was and I couldn't help but tell her exactly, well, that it was horrendous and the cheapest that I could find.

I am ready to make a toile of Vogue 1573 in the actual weight fabric that I intend to use. May I stress, this is not the fabric that I intend to use for the final version. No way. I'm just serious about making sure that when I do cut into that beautiful Italian cotton voile that what I make is going to be something that I will wear. Surely there is no quicker way to put yourself off home dressmaking than to rush through it and produce a ... significant waste of funds. Experience is always invaluable.

And to that end I am prepared to sew with this violent voile. Maybe I'll use the wrong side instead.

slide and pivot

2011-08-30T22:58:00.001-07:00

Sewing has continued apace here as well. That pace has been slow, almost glacial: my sewing progresses incrementally, one small task by one small task. After attempting a chiropractic full bust adjustment on the Vogue 1573, I decided to go a gentler method with 'slide and pivot', following the directions in Nancy Zieman's Pattern Fitting with Confidence.

In (very) short, her method involves sliding the pattern piece along whichever dimension you are altering and then pivoting at the relevant intersection of sewing lines. For example, I wanted the shoulder to be a half inch narrower so I traced the pattern, then slid it a half inch along to the right, thereby narrowing the shoulder.

Next step was to place a pin at the point where the sewing lines for the shoulder and armscye intersect and pivot the printed pattern sheet to the left until the printed bodice side seam and my traced bodice side seam met each other. Then I traced the new armscye. This did have the effect of apparently raising the underarm but Nancy promises that this will be ok. I also did an adjustment to add a half inch to the bust. You can see above where the various iterations of the underarm have been.

I really like this book and Nancy's style of presentation. It's quite easy to follow and very reassuring. The great benefit of this method is that it does not change the shape of the armscye at all so there is no need to alter the sleeve cap. At right is my initial (yellow) full bust adjustment laid on top of the 'slide-and-pivot' version. Slide and pivot does give more room which is what I was needing. Next up, another toile!

jarrett

2011-08-24T12:46:00.001-07:00

Hooray!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Jarrett by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan's Vintage Style.
Size: Medium with extra length in the arms.
Yarn: Cascade 220 in shade Walnut Heather; almost eight skeins.
Needles: 4mm and 4.5mm.

Stash/recycle content: Just a little bit. I added elbow patches that I cut out of a rather ugly suede skirt purchased at Bellevue Goodwill. I actually bought the skirt to cut out elbow patches to mend a friend's husband's sweater but the suede turned out to be just the right shade for this project too.
Start to finish: 15 March to 13 August 2011 - five months, not bad.

Comments: I put a lot of effort into this knit! I learned and used the long-tail tubular cast-on for hems and cuffs, cast off the neck in similar fashion (not sure where the link is for that one but it involved Kitchener stitch), lovingly knitted the button and buttonhole bands until they fit when gently stretched, single-row buttonholes, a row of slip stitch crochet to reinforce the neckline, and quite a lot of stocking stitch.

I did knit the moss stitch elbow patches and shoulder flaps, I even crocheted around the edges to try and neaten them up but they just didn't work for me. Instead I sewed on very professorial leather elbow patches and dispensed with the shoulder flaps altogether.

The buttons we purchased together at my beloved The Button Shop in Melbourne when we were there in April.

Verdict: Pretty happy. Tim is over the moon that I have finally knit a garment for him (this was my first men's garment!) The fit is good in terms of the size I chose and the sleeve length but still I think the design itself is a bit roomy in the upper sleeves.

Oh and that old-fashioned knit-the-button-band-separately construction is such a pain. And so outdated. Knitting this has made me really curious to take a closer look at the seamless knits that are around. Sometimes it seems as though new designs are just the same old cardigan or sock with a different lace stitch plugged in but seamless construction, top-down set-in sleeves - it's exciting that there is still room for innovation in knitting. Speaking of which, next up for Tim is Brownstone in brown; ok, 'espresso'.

summer snowballs

2011-08-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

After a reasonably calm June and July, summer has just started to snowball in August. Friends from San Francisco to stay, a weekend in San Francisco for miss bear and I, a visit from my mum, an upcoming visit from relatives of Tim, and all sorts of getting ready for school activities. That's right, miss bear is off to school on 7th of September. Unbelievable.

And a visit to the snow, truly, in the middle of summer. We visited the absolutely incredible Big Four Ice Caves: "Formed from cascading water and warm winds hollowing out heaps of avalanche-deposited snow, the caves usually appear by midsummer."

The ceiling, so to speak, of these hollowed out caves has an amazing texture, formed I gather by the droplets of water. No stalactites but this concave baffled effect. The picture is hazy because there is icy water vapour pouring out of the caves the whole time.

It was a great walk on a beautiful day and I really felt like I could be nowhere more beautiful in that very moment. Strongly recommended for anyone who lives in or is visiting the Seattle area. And because they are naturally formed, or rather re-formed, every year, every year they are different. I can't wait to go again.

the sincerest form of flattery

2011-08-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

As someone who likes to make things, I often find myself in the diy dilemma or the crafter's conundrum - when I see something lovely, my first thought is, 'how could I make that myself?' This thought often keeps me from actually making purchases (not a bad thing) but I frequently don't get around to actually making the item in question myself.

And then, sometimes I do, like this time. I saw this wonderful necklace by cursive design on Elly's garment house blog. And because I liked it so much, and because I wanted one for my very own, and because that self same day I found the perfect twig when I was out walking; because of all this, I did it. I made my own.

Besides than the free twig, other materials that I used were a length of sterling silver wire (about 20 gauge I think), a Czech glass bead, a sterling silver chain and some round nose pliers, all of which I purchased at Fusion Beads. The yarn that I used was some leftover laceweight Habu (I think) that was given to me by a friend when she moved to New York (and she initially received it as leftover from someone else).

I threaded the wire through the bead and then wrapped the thread along the twig, holding the wire in place, to both ends where I made little loops to hold the chain. I used some Elmer's glue to secure the yarn. In all it took me about a week to gather all the materials and complete it in fits and starts

A couple of other things that I would make in a flash if I had the time and materials. Where does one find amazing eyelet fabric like that and the patience to do all of that smocking?? Designers are Isabel Marant and Bottega Veneta respectively.

vintage sewing patterns

2011-08-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, I have a bit of a new obsession - vintage sewing patterns. And the internet makes it so easy (although not easy on the bank balance, they can be really pricey!)

I am loving the lines of the designs from the 1930s. I bought this one on the left but sadly missed out on the one on the right.

I do have a number of questions though about these vintage patterns - firstly about size. How do the vintage sizes compare with current sizes? I am confident that I am a modern 14 but I know that these old patterns were drafted very differently. And the brands - my internet travels have come up with Hollywood, du Barry, and Advance as well as the familiar Simplicity, McCalls and Vogue. Any opinions?

in my head

2011-08-08T15:00:00.001-07:00

Of course, the perfect place to find rocks.

Things do feel a bit hectic in my head at the moment. Suddenly it is August and everything has become really busy. We had house guests this past weekend, my mother arrives tomorrow afternoon to stay for ten days, there is some travel planned (west coast), more house guests, a birthday and then it's back to school.

I have also enrolled myself in a class at the local community college which will start in late September. It's not finalised yet but when it is, I'll be very excited to tell all about it. Then there is more travel (east coast) and a week alone with my littlies. So much to look forward to!

Everything here continues apace and new things are added every day. I'm making some jewellery, planning to draft up a toile specific to my measurements which were taken by a friend last weekend, then I will draft the swimsuit. And rocks, adding to my rock collection.

my pet rock

2011-08-04T08:21:00.001-07:00

I oiled the squeaky hinges of our bedroom door with the unintended side effect that it will no longer stand open. Time for a pet rock.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: I have registered this concept on my journeys around the (internet) traps but never really took note. Some post hoc searching leads me to think that they may have originated with Beata of Fly Along. I took motif 128 from Sasha Kagan's Crochet Inspiration and after completing the triangular motif winged the rest.
Yarn: DMC coton perle 5 I'm guessing.
Hook: 1.75mm steel hook.
Start to finish: I made it today.
Stash/recycle content: Hooray, thread from the stash! Rock from the park.

Comments: This was actually a pain to make! Well, the first motif part was easy but getting it to fit around the rock - ugh. And too much thinking: is the rock the right shape? is the thread the right shade? is it the right weight? is the motif the right shape? the right density? Too much thinking and it's hard to just get on with it.

Verdict: It will do the trick. And the endless possible combinations of rock and thread and motif could keep me busy with more of these for a long long time. Bit of an ethical quandary about rock sourcing though. I asked some children that we were with to help me find a suitable rock as a way of inducing them to continue upon the path towards home but I insisted that the rocks not come from private gardens. We ended up picking one up on the path that cuts down from the road to the park. Which I guess is ok but if everyone took a rock the hillside would possibly collapse. I could buy one at a garden supply store I suppose but that would kind of defeat the purpose ...

sticky little fingers

2011-08-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

I seem to end up with all sorts of greasy stains on my t-shirts. I like to think that it comes from constant pawing by sticky little fingers (ok, and maybe also because when I drop food it doesn't land in my lap). So, in order to avoid prematurely retiring a stained red t-shirt, I have been pondering some embellishment options.

Embellishment - hmm, just the word gives me the shivers, redolent as it is of bedazzled connotations (I would like to note that blogger's spell check does not even register bedazzled). Anyway, I have this fine, wide grosgrain ribbon which I think is quite refined, not even remotely dazzling, and am considering how I could drape it across the t-shirt in question. Of course, I would need to iron it, and it would sit flat, and it would probably be better to model the options in 3-D; nevertheless, any opinions? I quite like the ends tucked in to the neckline (so that I don't need to finish them) but also don't want it to look as though the t-shirt chest is spewing ribbon.

And I would only gently baste it down as another greasy mark is sure to appear somewhere else sometime soon. And then I will either have to rearrange the ribbon or think of something else.

july reading

2011-08-02T09:27:00.001-07:00

The Complaints by Ian Rankin - Good. Complicated. Perhaps a bit too complicated. Perhaps compensating for a new character and development thereof. I do miss Rebus.

The Quilter’s Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini - Much better than expected. And just as well because there are 16 more books in the series and, well, I love a series.

and for my next trick ...

2011-07-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

Can I sew a bathing suit? Well gee whiz, I'd like to. And if it's a question of what is possible, then yes of course I can. I do have to keep reminding myself that commercial garments too are sewn by somebody. Ok, somebody very proficient on industrial equipment (and possibly in dismal conditions) but, nevertheless, they are sewn.

I'm taking my inspiration from this Marimekko for H&M swimsuit that was on the market about five years ago. I actually tried it on and, of course, fit was an issue. Interestingly, this swimsuit was 100 per cent cotton - a cotton weave on the outside and a very fine cotton jersey lining with elastic at the legs. I ended up buying a black and red bikini version of which I mostly wear the bottoms with a plain black swim tank. Well, wore - my further inspiration for sewing a new swimsuit is that I seem to have lost the two of them.

So, a cotton swimsuit? Of course people used to knit woollen swimsuits in the 1930s. A quick look on ebay shows that swimsuits from the 1940s and 50s were often 100 per cent cotton with a whole lot of shirring and oftentimes a zipper. And let's not forget (as much as one might like to) the crochet bikinis of the 1970s.

Anyway, my point is, I would like to sew myself a vintage-styled swimsuit from something other than swimsuit material. Really, it seems to be a matter of styling more than fabric that makes something a swimsuit. I would probably use something with a bit of stretch (I love this floral from Mood fabrics) and maybe even a zipper, but that's ok with me, I wouldn't mind a zipper in my swimsuit. Just to clarify, I will not actually be swimming in it. Getting wet yes, taking my children to the wading pool yes, maybe even a parent-tot swim class but this swimsuit will not be seeing any athletic action.

So, this floral is a medium weight cotton sateen, 97 per cent cotton, 3 per cent spandex. Any ideas out there, dear readers (apart from something to help with my delusions)?

fba

2011-07-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

This makes me think of chiropractics for dressmaking - a full bust adjustment. Lo and behold, over at Sew, Mama, Sew! there is a tutorial about altering the Amy Butler Lotus Dress for a full bust (thanks Regan for the tip!)

Work has continued on my Marimekko version of the dress, I have only to complete the binding on one sleeve and work out the hemline. (Initially I thought that I would need to add extra fabric to achieve a good length but that doesn't seem now to be necessary - thankfully).

But I tell you, opening a sewing pattern has turned out to be the equivalent of opening a can of worms, and all because of one issue - fit. It turns out that commercial sewing patterns are designed with a B cup bust in mind, so if you're a size or two larger (unh, or three or four larger) buying the pattern that matches your bust measurement will give you a garment designed for a very large person with a small bust. And that doesn't fit.

I was really lucky this past weekend that a friend's mother was visiting and shared some of her dressmaking and fitting expertise with me on this toile. It's the DKNY Vogue 1573 dress, made up in some scrap fabric that I have had lying around forever. (Actually, I got this fabric for free at a yard sale; the same one where I bought the fabric for my roses quilt. It came in dozens of strips which I sewed together into sheets of fabric; hence my toiles have seams all over the place. Not to mention that sometimes I get confused when sewing and put the seams on the outside (observe under the bust).)

Susanne made some great alteration suggestions which I'm really excited to try out when time permits. I've also borrowed and requested a few books from the library and even found a couple of gems on my own shelves. I pick books up at the thrift store all the time if they are on a topic that interests me and then find them again six months later when I need them.

Getting immersed in all these fit and alteration issues has my head spinning a bit. Do you know that great sensation when you can feel your brain stretching to understand something and integrate that knowledge? It's really exciting and interesting and challenging but a bit of a distraction from the actual sewing. All for the better though if I can just get a dress that blasted well fits.

bread

2011-07-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

So, miss bear came home from preschool asking "Can we bake bread mama?" Sure, of course we can, but only because I had seen reference to a no-knead bread recipe. The instant yeast was a bit hard to come by, I ended up buying it online but that was about the most difficult aspect of this recipe. It really is four ingredients mixed up and let it sit for quite a while. Then wrap the dough up in a teatowel and let it rise for a bit. Then bake it for 45 minutes all up.

I've been quite elastic with the first two timeframes, once I let it rise overnight. No discernible difference. I've also been experimenting with using all whole wheat flour, all unbleached all-purpose flour and a mixture of both. And I added a tablespoon of sesame seeds to one loaf which came out fine.

The next thing miss bear asked if we could do together was wash the dishes. Uh, no, that's what we have a dishwasher for.

kashmir

2011-07-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Nine Lives by Kieran Foley of knit/lab.
Yarn: Recycled red heathered wool and burgundy heathered wool from an Old Navy vest and a J Crew sweater respectively (thrift store purchases), supplemented with Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in Eau de Nil, Vintage and Gerbera.
Needles: 3.75mm.
Start to finish: 6 June to 17 July 2011.
Stash/recycle content: Mostly. I purchased the Pure Wool 4ply in Vintage for this project, the Eau de Nil I had from a while ago and the Gerbera came from another raveller. I also purchased the matte silver beads.
Comments: This was my second attempt at this design, the first colour scheme not being to my liking. I changed around the colour progressions too and knit only two instead of three garter stitch ridges. This was my first project that incorporated beads; it was slow but fun to do. I'm really glad that I found matte silver beads (Fusion Beads in Seattle, wonderful place).

Verdict: Knit/lab patterns are fantastic and if you feel like knitting some wonderful lace, elegant stranded colourwork or a combination of both, I highly recommend a look at the available designs. I'm going to have fun wearing this.

wanted: this skirt

2011-07-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I love this skirt. Oh, how I want this skirt. Oh, how I am already plotting making this skirt. I've been researching floral jacquard ribbons for the hem and am considering silkscreen printing what looks like lace appliques. Unless someone can tell me where to buy it; oh, please do!

making the grade

2011-07-06T08:58:00.001-07:00

At about the same time that I did my dressmaking course I also did a pattern drafting course. It focussed on taking some basic pattern blocks, drafting to fit your size and how to make changes to the block for different styles.

What I know about pattern grading is that which appears to be self explanatory from a multi-sized pattern: a size 10 is not just an allover reduction of a size 12 (although I guess for some very simple patterns pieces it may be, like pockets). And the 'everything-must-be-more-complicated-than-it-appears' voice in my head says that the interval between sizes would probably not be constant but rather proportional to changes in frame that accompany changes in size. And I'm sure that there is some arcane pattern drafting knowledge about these things (can I find it at the library?) and expert pattern drafters who know all of these things.

Having said all of that, I graded the size 14 bodice pattern down to a size 12 by just following the intervals and putting lines in what looked like the right places. Why did I have to do this? because the size range in my packet was 14-16-18 and there is no 8-10-12 on the market at the moment (besides which, I don't want to pay for it again).

* A-ha, thanks wikipedia; yes, there's an algorithm for it. *

voile

2011-07-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Ooh, my pattern arrived in the mail. And I jumped the gun a bit and went out and bought fabric. So it turns out, upon receiving the pattern and closely reading the fine print on the back, that the recommended fabrics for this design are chiffon, georgette or crêpe de chine: basically, a lot of drape. And not so often made from natural fibres (although you can get silk chiffon or wool crêpe).

After consultation with a very helpful sales assistant at Nancy's Sewing Basket, I've decided to try out some Italian cotton voile. It's hard to tell from the photo but this is actually an extremely dark blue and there are two bands of the floral across the bottom of the yardage (which will be the bottom of the skirt).

I will also need to line the dress and am considering using Kaufman Radiance, a cotton/silk blend. Anyone had experience with this? or with sewing voile? or pronouncing it? and will I have to make french seams?

a decade in the making

2011-07-03T10:07:00.001-07:00

This sewing pattern dates my dressmaking aspirations.

I took my first (and so far only) dressmaking course at the CAE when I was twenty-four. Then, as now, I was inspired by wanting to have clothes in my wardrobe that fit.

This pattern is dated 1995 and is one that I had in mind way back when and decided to look it up again. I remembered that it was DKNY and that the dress pictured was in a coin-spot print. Thank you internet - Vogue 1573. Thank you ebay, it's on its way in the post.

It's a bit hard to tell from here whether options A and B are the same shape-wise, just from different fabric. And while I can't see myself making a lace dress, perhaps an eyelet cotton of some sort which would require a slip underneath.

Anyway, I've taken a bit of a gamble here - the only size available online was this 14-16-18 and I'm not sure whether the 14 will be too big. I'll be doing another toile (or two).

june reading

2011-07-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Rosewood Casket by Sharyn McCrumb - More in the 'Ballad Series'. I started this one a while ago and couldn't get into it. But as it is a series, of course I have to read each book, in order. Second time around I got into it and enjoyed it. It is prefaced by a wonderful poem about small farms disappearing, only to be found on microfiche or in a "land-developer's safe deposit box".

The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri - Drivel; sappy, predictable, boring. But it had such a nice doily on the cover ...

faux prussian stole

2011-06-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

I did it!!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Faux Russian Stole by Katie Nagorney and Ann Swanson from A Gathering of Lace.
Size: I only did four-and-a-half of the lace panel repeats instead of five and a half. The finished stole measures 56 by 178 centimetres (22" by 70").
Yarn: Recycled!! Cotton/linen/silk blend from an RL Polo top purchased at Value Village in Redmond.
Needles: 4mm Addi Lace.
Start to finish: 22 March 2009 to June 22 2011; 27 months.
Recycle/stash content: 100 per cent, so lovely. This stole cost about $6.00.
Comments: Well, clearly this took me a really long time to knit. It was a slog, two years and three months. The lace repeat for this design is 81 stitches wide and 96 rows deep which means that you have to keep looking at the chart all the time, and counting all the time. There are both k2tog and ssk decreases, depending on what direction the eyelets are running, and I often had to move my markers around in order to make the decreases which initially drove me nuts.

I did one less of the central lace repeats and am very happy with the length that the stole blocked out to. Had I done that one more it would have been too long.

Verdict: Stunning! I'm very happy with this and delighted that it has turned out so well. Two years ago when I blithely cast on for it, I don't think that I had such a good understanding of yarn/pattern compatibility but this has worked out really well.

invisible beauty

2011-06-26T12:09:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it's the things that you can't see ...

An invisible zipper! Installing zippers and sewing buttonholes are two things that I have long had a mental block about. For, as it turns out, no reason at all. It was really simple to do, does require a special foot, but just involves pinning the zipper on and sewing down the edges. The groove in the foot guides it over the coils of the zipper and the result is fantastic, and invisible.

So the Marimekko lotus dress is proceeding. Despite my greatest efforts and practice toiles, I have still managed to muck it up in places, mostly in the matching of the fabric panels in order to get enough length. I think that the fit is going to be good, I still need to work out where to put the back darts though (lower than the pattern directs I think) and get to work on the lining.

Oh, and I've bought some Echino Etsuko Furuya fabric for the next one ...

silver slippers

2011-06-21T10:05:00.001-07:00

Did you know that Dorothy does not really wear ruby slippers? It's true, devastating but true. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum our girl from Kansas actually wears silver slippers. Then along came Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the advent of Technicolor and, well, the rest is cinematic history.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is very popular at our house, the book not the movie because that's still a tad scary for miss bear. But she loves acting out scenes from the book and in our thrift store trawling we are always on the lookout for silver shoes which are possible to find in children's sizes. Not so much in adult sizes so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

One pair of Keds skimmers from Goodwill (brand new, $6.99) and a can of silver spray paint and I'm half-way to Oz.

franken|pattern

2011-06-20T18:40:00.001-07:00

I seem to have some unusual momentum for this project - usually I start something and then put it aside to dwell on it awhile but I worked on this for the fourth day in a row.

I made my third toile of a blended size medium/large bodice. With a little tweaking I am happy enough with the fit so have stuck it together with the size medium skirt and am ready to cut from my fabric. I will first have to actually sew the fabric together; hmm, must go see about that.

double toile and trouble

2011-06-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

Oh so long ago, I complained a bit about Amy Butler's Midwest Modern: A fresh design spirit for the modern lifestyle because it was all show and no free patterns. Almost three years later, I caved and bought the pattern for the Lotus Cami and Tunic (which also includes a dress option).

Now usually I would consider making a toile to be just twice the work but, following the very good example of my friend Nichola, I have so far made two for this dress: the full dress in size medium and just the bodice in size large.

Why two? Because, of course, the size medium was too small across the bust, but fine everywhere else. The size large bodice fits across the bust, but gapes under the arms and at the centre back so I am going to need to do some blending there (and make another toile).

So, is making a toile twice the trouble? Well, it's certainly a lot more effort but I think that might just be an effect of expectations. I want everything done so quickly, out of the box, snap it together, quick quick quick. Sewing this dress well is going to take time, mainly to get the size right, and I do want it done well.

If I had just plunged in and made the size medium from my fabric then it would have been a complete failure already - too small and fabric all gone. Yes, to add to the fun of it all I have limited fabric to work with: I'm planning to use my Marimekko Lumimarja that I bought at Value Village (two-and-a-half years ago).

Which brings me to my next design dilemma:

Unlike in the picture above, I don't have a continuous length of fabric to work with, rather a number of pieces, none of them large enough for a full length pattern piece. I'm going to have to sew some pieces together and have a couple of options. (A few notes: the fabric will be turned on its side, there are princess seams and the middle panel will have as much red as possible as this will be closest to my face, and there will be cap sleeves but I'll think about them later.)

A) Only one horizontal seam at about the top of the hips. Above this seam there would be the branch print and below there would be solid red that continues into the print. Would this be putting a horizontal seam at an unflattering point? Well actually, the seam will be here regardless to maximise use of the fabric, but is it a good idea to highlight it with a change from print to solid red?

B) Two horizontal seams and the dress will be all print below the waist, albeit with two transitions.

Your opinions, please!

string theory

2011-06-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Just how long is a piece of string?

Or rather, how long should it be? I am still struggling to determine the perfect size for a stole. I have an Oilily woven woollen stole that I love, it's just the right width but not quite long enough. The Vionnet stole that I knit last is a good size, perhaps still not quite long enough, but turned out to be too heavy. I know that I like a scarf to be at least as long as I am tall so that it can be doubled around my neck but is this necessary for a stole that I like to wear across my back, one end hanging over my left shoulder and the other end over the shoulder?

Point is, I am three-and-three-quarter repeats through my Faux Russian Stole. The pattern calls for five-and-a-half repeats and I am deliberating about doing only four and a half. This is causing me some measure of anxiety! What if that is not long enough? How will I know that the five and a half is not the right length, the length that it should be if I don't actually knit it that long? But would it be annoying to have too much extra stole floating around? And being knit from a recycled cotton/linen/silk blend, it is already getting quite heavy. Oh, questions, questions!

But of the most significance is, am I sixty-seven per cent of the way through it or eighty-three??

second life

2011-06-12T14:05:00.001-07:00

I have cast on again for Nine Lives using some burgundy lambswool recycled from a J Crew sweater. So far I have the set up section and Chart A done; now it's time for the first colourwork chart and I really don't feel up to it. I have been working really hard on my Faux Russian Stole (21 out of 34 edge repeats complete) which is so attention-intensive that I all I really want at the moment is stocking stitch, long stretches of stocking stitch.

I also can't remember whether I decided to use pink, blue or yellow as my contrast colours. Maybe all of them? Anyway, going to hibernate this for a while while I consider. It will live to see another day.

ps. Ha, ha - just checked my last post on this; I had decided on the pink and blue as contrast colours. Thank goodness I write these things down, somewhere.

vionnet

2011-06-10T09:47:00.001-07:00

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: A rectangular stole knit on the bias in garter stitch with a row of eyelets every now and then; that is, I made it up.
Yarn: My obsession with Noro Yuzen (56 percent wool, 34 per cent silk, 10 per cent mohair) in shade 3 continues into its seventeenth ball; this took about 8.7 skeins judging by its weight (435 grams or about a pound).
Needles: 4.5mm.
Start to finish: 1 May to 1 June 2011; I took a few days break to knit Nessie.
Stash/recycle content: Nope.

Comments: Hmm. Hmm-mm. I love this yarn. I love this colourway. I love it in garter stitch. But I don't love this stole. I think that I have said before that designing something is really difficult (I'm sure that many have said that before, and long before me). How to achieve that perfect marriage between shape, yarn, texture, drape, all of those essential elements that just make something work.

I wanted something really big with this yarn in order to see lots of it but this big is too big, too heavy, unwieldy. I wanted it in garter stitch and did it on the bias to make it a bit more interesting but the stripes are too narrow for my liking. (They're a bit wider in one section because I had one ball from a different dyelot that I spliced in colour by colour.) I also managed to run out of yarn (despite having weighed the work after finishing the set-up section) and as a result had to cast off a good few rows before finishing the final corner.

Verdict: Hmm, not sure. I don't think that this works in its current form. Do I want to rip it out and use the yarn for something else? I do actually have an idea for something to do with some self-striping yarn but it has all been spit spliced together and with that whole other ball spliced in ... really not sure. Perhaps I'll just wear it around the house for a bit, although it's warming up here now so that might not be anytime soon. Hmm, it has a reprieve for now.

what-or-will

2011-06-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

I am still thinking about Whippoorwill and about the Filatura di Crosa Gioiello. I've swatched here with the Gioiello on 3.75mm and then 3.5mm needles and have added in a bit of 'feather and fan' stitch to give it some curve. Then I have switched to Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in 'eau de nil' to test as the contrast. Even though the yarns are listed as the same weight and recommend the same size needle, the Rowan seems much heavier; too heavy perhaps?

The Gioiello certainly blocks out more loosely and I wonder if I were to knit it on 3.25mm needles and the Rowan on 3.5mm or even 3.75mm needles, whether they would balance out a bit. I would also make the first row of the Rowan yarn a garter stitch ridge to firm up the transition.

To knit this would be a bit of a gamble for me. The colour scheme is certainly a departure but I figure that if I am going to keep knitting shawls (which I think I am: ooh, I just bought two skeins of Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga! in Oak Timberworm with which to make Cladonia, but I digress) then I do have to make them a bit different, branch out, try new things. Gioiello and Rowan - will I or won't I?

may reading

2011-06-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

I heard about both of these titles on the radio when there was a guest recommending books with a common theme, I think that it was justice. Anyway, I put them on hold and they arrived soon after each other so I ended up reading them in close succession.

Damage by John Lescroart - After a couple of disappointments I'm a bit wary of New York Times bestselling authors. This one wasn't great writing but also wasn't bad; the storyline wasn't particularly subtle but it was involved enough to hold your attention. A bit of a page-turner which isn't always a bad thing. Yes, no, yes, no - could I be any more ambivalent? I enjoyed reading it but wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino - This book was much more nuanced. Again, like with The Sleeping Dragon, I wasn't sure whether there were some cultural subtleties that were not chiming for me. Suspect X has covered up a murder and his devotion to the inadvertant murderess is treated as a virtue and is a focus of admiration, despite what it becomes clear he has done to the corpse in the process. But there's even more to it than that ... yes, I recommend this one.

If you happen to have read or subsequently read any of the books that I have, please do let me know what you thought of them.

loch nessie

2011-05-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Nessie by Julia Zahle, available free - thank you Julia!
Yarn: Noro Yuzen (56 percent wool, 34 per cent silk, 10 per cent mohair) in shade 3; 3.4 skeins.
Needles: 4.5mm.
Start to finish: 17th to 22nd of May, 2011. Yes, a quick knit. I wanted to know how much yarn I would have left for another project so had to knit this up quick smart.
Stash/recycle content: Sadly, none.
Comments: I knit this exactly as the pattern directed, omitting the bobbles and leaving the yarnovers open on the increase row (instead of knitting into the back loop and closing the eyelets up).

Verdict: I like this, it's a fun knit and I love the Yuzen yarn and watching the colour changes come about and seeing what colour ends up next to another. The shaping is all done with short rows so you get ever changing colour sequences. I Particularly like the centre part of the shawl, where it is widest, and the way that the flat section segues into the ruffle. I wasn't so keen upon finishing it about the way that the tails curled but after a wash and block these have relaxed a bit.

that one sweet promenade

2011-05-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

I want to see the sun go down from St Kilda Esplanade
Where the beach needs reconstruction, where the palm trees have it hard
I'd give you all of Sydney Harbour, all that land and all that water
For that one sweet promenade

We are sufficiently recovered from our trip to Melbourne that I can actually stop and reflect on it a bit. I love Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly's work and particularly this song, From St Kilda to King's Cross. Maybe it's that Melbourne-Sydney rivalry thing but ah, that one sweet promenade ...

This is actually a song that Tim plays on his guitar and sings, so this last trip when I caught the tram with miss bear along St Kilda Esplanade, I pointed out the palm trees to her and reminded her of the song. She recently saw a picture of somewhere and said 'look, it's Australia'.

It really is true, my past is a foreign country.

a question of suitability

2011-05-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

I bought this very cute vintage sewing pattern from a friend's garage sale yesterday.

I think the coat particularly is adorable and I'm (almost) always delighted by the copy on vintage patterns but really, "not suitable for chubby girls"? 1966 must have a harsh year to grow up.

yū|zen knitting

2011-05-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

I don't think that I have ever really fallen in love with a yarn before. Sure, I've knit with stuff that I've liked and planned to go back to but never before have I had the desire to stash as much of something as possible, just for the sake of having it there, should I ever have the whim to make something from it.

The fact that the yarn has been discontinued undoubtedly plays a part in this urge. I'm talking about Noro Yuzen by the way, 56 per cent wool, 34 per cent silk and 10 per cent mohair. It's what I knit the Olearia cardigan from and am currently knitting a bias garter stitch stole (I'm calling it Vionnet) and Nessie from.

I love the texture of this yarn - a bit rustic - and the colour saturation is just wonderful. I'm not one particularly for shiny so silk-blend yarns often don't appeal but in the Yuzen I think that it is a raw silk and it takes the colour particularly well. And it looks great in garter stitch. If there is any knitting wisdom that I may ever pass down it is to knit self-striping and variegated yarns in garter stitch.

My only reservation about it is that it seems to be a bit rough on the hands; my fingers are a bit dry and chafed. Hard to tell whether it's the weather or the yarn. Nevertheless, I want to get my hands on as much of this as possible and in as many of the colourways as possible. I see a whole lot of garter stitch in my future (and hand cream).

resolute

2011-05-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

It's almost half way through the year (yes, really), so a good moment to stop and check up on my new year's resolutions.

Reading - yes, not as much as last year but at least one book each month. I dealt with one of my old projects by frogging it (farewell diamond mittens); the quilt and socks I haven't even thought about yet. Jarrett for Tim is coming along well but I have hit that strange 'almost finished, best stop working on it for a while' hiccough. Stash and recycled crafting are going strong but I have also bought quite a bit of yarn for projects so far this year too.

What's really coming along well is my Faux Russian Stole. This is one of only two projects that I took with me to Australia in order to force myself to work on it, being deprived of any distractions. Last mention of any progress on this was February 2010 and my notes in Ravelry are similarly sparse. So, sometime in April this year I was working on edge repeat number 10; within a month, I have now finished edge repeat 17 which makes me half-way through. Half-way through!! (And a bit further even than in the photo).

What is interesting is how this has become quite easy knitting for me; or rather, it is nowhere near the challenge that it was when I started it. Having to move the stitch markers, pay close attention constantly to the chart, count carefully every other row, alternate between k2tog and ssk decreases all over the place, none of this really bothers me now. I can sit and knit a dozen or so rows of this in one go without too much ill effect. So there we have it, one advantage of leaving a project for so long, ahem, that is, coming back to a long-left project, is that you get to experience your development as a knitter.

la waggá

2011-05-08T23:20:00.000-07:00

French friends of ours whom we met in Australia, who also live here in Seattle, recently had their first child. What better opportunity to produce the world's first (I'm guessing) Gallo-Australo-American wagga?

The patchwork woollen blanket was actually sewn up about a year ago from pieces cut from a blazer that I bought at the op shop. As the baby's mother is allergic to wool, and even though I'm not sure whether that is a heritable condition, I wanted to encase the blanket in cotton as much as possible. I acquired a good amount of red cotton jersey courtesy of a Tommy Hilfiger sheet set that I bought at a thrift store here in Seattle and used that to mostly encase the blanket. I also figured that this would be softer against the baby's skin.

One of the things that has struck me living and driving here in Washington state is the wonderful graphic of George Washington's profile that is used on the road signs for the state routes. It reminds me of the Queen's profile on English postage stamps (although as someone here quite annoyedly pointed out to me, Washington was not the king of the United States; ah, yes).

Anyway, as our friends are also from elsewhere, living here, for decoration on the quilt I wanted to combine some cultural graphic icons so I chose Washington's profile and also that of the Marianne, the national emblem of France. The profiles are done in reverse appliqué - I placed the cotton jersey onto the woollen blanket and machine stitched around the image with a ball-point needle and tiny stitches, then carefully cut away the fabric inside.

The rest of the space on the quilt needed something so I transferred the outlines of both France and the United States to the top and used running stitch to further quilt the layers together. I stitched around twice, so there are no gaps between the stitches.

I must admit, I'm really happy with this quilt and also excited by it. Happy because it turned out so well, because I love the old-fashioned feel of the deep red against the cream, with the witty imagery (if I may say so myself).

Excited because finally, after probably about four or five years of thought, I finally realised a modern wagga as I have had in mind all that time. And because it is done completely from recycled materials - even the embroidery thread was from an unravelled cotton sweater. Yes, there is also the one that I started for my own baby boy, who at one and a half is hardly a baby any more. And yes, I'm still working on it, stitch by stitch.

knitter's prize

2011-05-06T11:28:00.001-07:00

Blocking lace truly is the knitter's prize for all of that hard work. I needed a lift today so I did a quick steam and stretch block of the Tibetan Clouds (un)Beaded Stole. Aaaaah.

I also bought myself a book - Loop-d-loop Lace: more than 30 novel lace designs for knitters. More on that next time.

from here to infinity

2011-05-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

One of the pitfalls I find of the knitting life is that sometimes you want to make something just for the experience of making it. The construction fascinates you, the look of something intrigues you, whatever it is - a certain design is something that you want to have made.

Sometimes you go ahead and make it. Sometimes, you don't realise this was why you were making it until you've very almost finished ...

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Infinity Wrap by Kristin Omdahl.
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Boku in colourway 5; 12.2 skeins.
Hook: 5mm.
Size: This wrap is HUGE. Being tall, I thought that I may be able to carry it but at 56 x 224cm (22" x 88") it really is too big.
Stash/recycle content: None.
Start to Finish: 1 December 2010 to 2 May 2011.

Comments: This is an intriguingly constructed pattern: five separately completed motifs which are then joined together with a border above and below, then an edging all around. I made a few modifications: as described previously I created a more rectilinear wrap by filling some dips with a crochet version of short rows. For the mesh edging I made the spaces only one chain stitch wide instead of two and I left off the bobbles altogether because by this point I had realised that this wrap was not for me and that it was time to just finish it.

Verdict: I can't say that I don't like this stole because the shapes in it and the colours still appeal to me but I certainly don't like it for me.

april reading

2011-05-02T22:47:00.000-07:00

I didn't manage to read an entire book in April. I did, however, get through not only the introduction but also the first two chapters of this fascinating book - The Natural History of the Traditional Quilt by John Forrest and Deborah Blincoe.

From the BookDepository site:

"Traditional quilts serve many purposes over the course of a useful life. Beginning as a beautiful bed covering, a quilt may later function as a ground cover at picnics until years of wear relegate it to someone's ragbag for scrap uses.Observing this life cycle led authors John Forrest and Deborah Blincoe to the idea that quilts, like living things, have a natural history that can be studied scientifically. They explore that natural history through an examination of the taxonomy, morphology, behavior, and ecology of quilts in their native environment--the homes of humans who make, use, keep, and bestow them.The taxonomy proposed by Forrest and Blincoe is rooted in the mechanics of replicating quilts so that it can be used to understand evolutionary and genetic relationships between quilt types. The morphology section anatomizes normal and abnormal physical features of quilts, while the section on conception and birth in the life cycle discusses how the underlying processes of replication intersect with environmental factors to produce tangible objects.This methodology is applicable to many kinds of crafts and will be of wide interest to students of folklore, anthropology, and art history. Case studies of traditional quilts and their makers in the Catskills and Appalachia add a warm, human dimension to the book."

The book is fascinating not only because it is about quilts but the application of such a methodology to a needlework/textile product is great. I was particularly struck by an observation at the end of Chapter One: "Seam lines are also junctures at which variation (intentional or unintentional) can occur, and as such are instrumental in the analysis of creativity, reinterpretation, and irregularity in quilt design." (page 48) I really like the idea that it is at the junctures, even the decision-making junctures, that unintentional variation can occur and something new can be created; I love that potential.

I highly recommend this book and hope to report that I have finished it in May's reading report.

this too shall pass

2011-04-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

Jet lag - 24 hours straight without sleep; one child wakes as soon as the other falls asleep; waking up from an hour and a half of sleep feeling strangely deeply rested and for that split second not having any idea where I am; both children asleep, both adults awake, all in the same bed at 2:00am.

After the hecticness of being away I have come desperate for some routine and discipline, determined to just take things slowly, be measured with time and energy. I only took two knitting projects with me to Melbourne (Jarrett and the Faux Russian Stole) and have come home to a whole slew of projects that three weeks had managed to erase from my knit-consciousness - the infinity wrap (oooh), the tibetan clouds (unbeaded) stole (aaah), the babette blanket (oooh), must seam the tomten, must work on everything at once, must cast on for new projects. Must calm down.

So far, I've worked the crochet equivalent of short rows into the dips between the infinity motifs in the aptly named Infinity Wrap. This is my modification; as the pattern is written, I'm not keen on the way the mesh edging pulls in the dips. My wrap will have straight(er) edges, then the mesh-and-bobble edging (although I'm doubting the bobbles).

home sweet home

2011-04-24T17:41:00.001-07:00

It's all been a bit erratic around here lately, mostly because our spring break actually took us to Australia for three weeks. Now we're back home, from home. It's all a bit confusing really and that's not just because of the time difference (which is playing havoc with sleeping routines; we got up at 3pm today).

The flights were long (and I did the one there by myself with the two children as Tim was already in Australia for other matters - you can fit one adult, one child and one toddler into an airplane bathroom), our time there was hectic and wonderful and bittersweet. I caught up with old friends, met new friends (hi Leonie!), caught up with family, spent quality hours and hours at the US consulate, watched my children play with my childhood friends' children; they were supposed to grow up together, that was bittersweet.

And I went op shopping - hooray! One precious Friday afternoon solo stroll down Chapel Street, Windsor and various other opportunist stops in the course of our trip. In all it yielded:

MECWA Windsor - Dr Suess ABC game, one ball of Heirloom Alpaca
Sacred Heart Mission, Windsor - Ojay blouse to be refashioned into a dress, Country Road blouse for the lovely material, silver shoes for miss bear and this Nicola Cerini bag for $5
Salvation Army, Windsor - Rainbow Fish card game, a vintage framed story book page with a dear rabbit picture
Salvation Army, St Kilda - princess dress-up dress, Aquascutum coat, card game, Anna Sui blouse, Immune skirt
Yarraville - Miffy book
Glenhuntly - baby toys, children's Birkenstocks ($1!)
And various books from all over.

What I love about Melbourne op shopping is that it really is a case of finding the gem, as opposed to Seattle-area thrift stores which are like huge supermarkets of barely used goods. More details of some of the clothes purchases to come.

ultra-smart

2011-04-21T05:45:00.001-07:00

'Ten ultra-smart garments' - oh how I love these old knitting pattern books, if only for the wonderful presentation. I recently received a whole package of them to add to my collection of, hmm, many many dozens.

I'm not sure where to start, with the fetching Maberley there on the left (although I may give the pom-poms a miss) or the very glamorous Judith on the right. Actually, I wouldn't know where to start because so many of these old patterns seem to be written exclusively for a 34 inch bust. I don't need to even convert that to centimetres to know that there's not a chance in Holofernes that this would fit me.

What were you supposed to do back in 1936 if you were in a similar situation? Were all knitters simply expected (required) to know how to size something up or down? I suppose that these days something like Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns would indeed come in handy for working out how many stitches to cast on or increase for larger sizes and I guess that you would just follow some of the design elements or stitch patterns along the way.

Maybe this is why books like Rowan's Vintage Knits are so appealing - half a dozen sizes, contemporary yarns and ssk instead of slkpsso (even if you don't speak knitting, you can see that the former is simpler than the latter). Now that is smart. Which brings me around to Jarrett, Tim's great garment of 2011 (TGG11): it is almost finished, although I have taken no photographs to prove this. I have one elbow patch, button and buttonhole bands and collar to go. Oh, and all the seaming but never mind that.

zippety-doo-da?

2011-04-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

It is all a bit of a tangle at the moment but I have completed the knitting on baby b's tomten. This whole jacket is made from Icelandic Lopi that I bought from the op shop (St Vincent de Paul's in Malvern - before they moved) and the thrift store (Crown Hill Value Village).

The body is all in burgundy and blue with random stripes and the sleeves in bright teal, burgundy and light teal. Yes, two shades of teal - one purchased in Melbourne, the other years later in Seattle. Although not evident in this photo, the teal right up there in the first row of the sleeve will hopefully make the most of the tomten's distinctive structure.

My only question now is what to about fastening(s)? In my mind I envisioned a two-way separating zip, plastic moulded in dark blue, burgundy or any shade of teal. Alas, no such thing exists (or at least not at this length) and so thwarted I am left in a bind. Should I just use the dark blue one-way separating plastic moulded zip that I have already bought (which is not the zip that I wanted and this will probably weigh heavily upon me forever)? Or do some more knitting - button band, buttonhole band and buttons to choose to boot?

(These aren't really the only questions that I have about life but I am content right now that these are the most pressing).

middlemarch

2011-04-14T04:24:00.001-07:00

All through uni I had the best intentions of catching up on those novels that I hadn't managed to read for my various English courses (as in English Literature, not English the language; I studied English when I was an exchange student in Amsterdam too, again literature, not the language). Anyway, Middlemarch by George Eliot was possibly the only one that I did read after the fact. And how fortunate that I did. Oh, Dorothea.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Dorothea Wraplet by Lion Brand Yarn, a semi-circular crochet wrap.
Yarn: Noro Kochoran (50 per cent wool, 30 per cent angora, 20 per cent silk) in shade 17; just over 1.5 balls. This yarn has good yardage but lots of knots.
Hook: 8mm - Kochoran actually calls for a smaller needle/hook size but this was all I had to hand.
Start to finish: 2 to 7 April 2011 - crochet is quick.
Stash/recycle content: Oh dear, more yarn from Australia. I bought this from Woolbaa in Albert Park shortly after I finished baby bear's tomten, adamant that I was going to cast on straight away for the next one. Yep, that was three years ago. I haven't used it all so will have to think of something for the bit that I have left.
Comments: I love Noro, even when it is full of knots. I love to see the colours unfold, even when you are splicing in the next length of yarn after the knot. The wonderful texture (which has nothing to do with knots). Quick, simple, free pattern. I modified the edging somewhat and just did double crochet (English terms) along the straight edge, And certainly, do not break the yarn when you finish the wrap and transition to the edging; there's no need to.
Verdict: I made this to give away to someone who has given away far greater things (I just hope they remember to handwash it).

march reading

2011-04-13T06:48:00.001-07:00

No, I didn't forget (although the book was pretty forgettable) - The Sleeping Dragon by Miyuki Miyabe. Touted on the cover as Japan's number one bestselling crime writer, I was hopeful about this but am clearly not at one with the greater Japanese crime fiction-reading population. Oh well.

Tomorrow I'll show you what I've been working on during my days off.

spring break

2011-04-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

I seem to have taken an inadvertent spring break. I'm enjoying it - be back in a week or so.

opal

2011-03-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

I acquired this Opal self-striping sock yarn in the form of a matching baby jacket and cap at an op shop in Benalla, a country town about two-hours' drive outside Melbourne. I'm not sure when I bought it but certainly before we came to the US.

I was delighted to be buying an item at the op shop made from identifiable commercial yarn (I still dream of a major Noro haul in just this fashion). The items weren't very well made so I unravelled them and now I am finally using it - it is yarn B in my Babette blanket (rounds three and four in square 8-3).

the feast goes on

2011-03-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

I have been working sporadically on the Babette crochet blanket. Like self-striping yarns, these squares are quite addictive - what colour combination will come up next? All of the yarns for this are from my stash, some of them thrifted, some of them carted across the Pacific, some of them bought at the op shop (and therefore also carted across the Pacific).

I'm not sure about some of the colour combinations and I'm hoping that those darker blocks will be balanced out in the larger scheme of things. I also chose a self-striping yarn deliberately to make up some of the larger areas in the largest square. I'm not sure that this was a great idea as self-striping yarns really don't achieve the same effect with crochet.

So yes, all of these squares contain at least one round of the same yarn. In some squares it is mottled, in others there is just the dark brown, in some you get the pink. A project bag with 17 separate balls of yarn in it is quite cumbersome, so I am working all of the squares with yarn A in them first, then I'll do all with yarn B and so on. When I have a dozen or so more squares, I'll start to lay them out on a sheet to get an idea of the overall effect. I'm not going to seam as I go because I want to have the flexibility to swap some squares around.

sequoia

2011-03-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

All five vowels in one seven-letter word!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Molly by Erin Ruth, available for free.
Size: Only one size available. Be aware that this hat is deep, that is, very long from ribbing to crown, almost too long perhaps. It would take a little thinking to cut some length out in terms of co-ordinating the placement of the cables with the decreases and that's why I didn't do it.
Yarn: Madeline Tosh Merino in colourway 'sequoia' bought from westknits' destash. I was curious to try this yarn out and it is very lovely, so soft.
Needles: 4mm and 4.5mm.
Start to finish: 3 to 13 March 2011.
Stash/recycle content: Yes, knit from stash.
Comments: I didn't make any modifications although I did have to fudge the number of rows in order to get the cable pattern and the knit/purl pattern to align. Just by one row though. I'm hesitant to block it out into a tam shape as this was unsuccessful with Ripley and I don't want a repeat of that. There are no mistakes, just design choices and I'm choosing to wear this as a long beanie. Perhaps some more slouch will appear with wearing ....
Verdict: Very happy. I wore it for the first time and received a compliment.

swatch and learn

2011-03-11T22:55:00.000-08:00

This was actually supposed to be a number of swatches, testing out every possible combination of the red, burgundy and assorted brights that I have in my stash but once I got knitting it all sort of morphed into the one swatch. So, with respect to my Kashmir-shawl inspired Nine Lives, the above swatch contains (from the bottom up):
- a band of burgundy
- a band of burgundy and red vertical stripes (very difficult to distinguish)
- another band of burgundy
- burgundy and yellow vertical stripes, followed by red and yellow vertical stripes
- burgundy
- a band of red with a stranded colourwork zig-zag in eau de nil
- a band of burgundy with the matte silver beads placed on it
- red and light grey vertical stripes
- pink and red vertical stripes
- purple and red vertical stripes

I have learned a lot from this exercise: I don't like the yellow at all, the purple is too harsh and there is not enough contrast, I love the red and pale blue together, the light grey is too cold, the red and burgundy look best against each other in blocks of colour.

Right now I'm liking the pale pink as the second contrast colour. And I'm really liking the whole effect achieved by placing different colours against each other. Oh dear, Fair Isle here I come ...

And here on the right we have another swatch, this time for Jarrett. Yes, it may look like the greater part of a sleeve, replete with tubular cast-on and increases but it's not, it's a swatch because the gauge is wrong. ::sigh::

i learned a new cast-on for you

2011-03-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

I wonder if Sinéad O'Connor knits?

For Tim's Great Garment of 2011, I have mastered the long-tail tubular cast-on. I love this cast on and expect to use it again and again in the future. I do recommend using a smaller needle size; I used 3.75mm for the cast-on and first two rows and then knit the rib on 4.5mm needles.

ishka

2011-03-07T10:27:00.001-08:00

Bring back any memories? In my early teenage years, the store Ishka was a (literal) treasure trove of silver jewellery and incense burners (and loads of other stuff too but they are the things that stick in my mind). Those silver rings, inlaid with semiprecious stones or yin-yang symbols, were all the rage and I must have spent hours loitering in there, pouring over the display case, trying to choose how to invest my $12. This was a big deal, it was 1987 and my funds were limited.

I never did buy one, I could just never choose, and even back then, as now, 'ethnic' clothing and jewellery were not my thing. We have an alphabet book about 'exotic animals' and of course it makes me laugh that they include kangaroos - yeah exotic, depending on where you come from in the first place. Similarly, I find the word 'ethnic' uncomfortable because again, ethnic compared to what? One of the dictionary definitions is indeed "characteristic of or belonging to a non-Western cultural tradition", another is "relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition" which seems to equate the Western cultural tradition and the dominant group.

Anyway, I'm still thinking about Nine Lives. I particularly love the way that the colour scheme and patterning were inspired by the cover of a book about India but as we have just established, that is not my thing. I do, however, want to do something similar in choosing my yarns. There is actually a long history of the Western cultural tradition adopting elements of ethnic cultures, think the adoption of Japanese and African elements in modern art and the import of floral printed cottons and Kashmiri shawls to England in the nineteenth century. Ah, Kashmiri shawls - here's what the V&A has to say about them:

"The shawl became a popular fashion item in the nineteenth century with its migration from the foothills of the Himalayas to the salons of early nineteenth-century Europe."

'... the salons of early nineteenth-century Europe' - now that's somewhere that I can imagine myself. So, looking to the salons for inspiration and also the V&A website I am considering the following:

Either the red or burgundy will be the main colour, I really wanted to use the eau de nil that I had originally chosen and the yellow will be a good contrast with that. I hope that using the red and burgundy together will give the tonal effect that I had in mind. Ok, now that I have resolved the colourscheme I will put this aside for knitting in another lifetime.

cast on|away

2011-03-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

I recently became very fed up with all of the yarn in my cupboard. Fed up with all the little bits and bobs of balls that might one day indeed be very useful for something. So I got rid of all the bits and bobs. If I do ever need a few metres of blue cotton dk then I will beg, borrow or buy some; I won't hold on to it for years.

My next cleansing step was to decide on projects for as much of the other yarn as I could. No more sweater's worth of yarn sitting there waiting for a sweater. No, everything was going to be designated. I've done a pretty good job, it's much clearer now what will become of what is left. All the more clearer because of course I've gotten a little carried away with casting on for all of these newly decided projects.

And here is one of them:

Elizabeth Zimmerman's tomten jacket, a pattern that I have actually knit before and have wanted to again ever since. It has taken, indeed, almost three years to get around to it. I have several balls of Lopi, bought at both an op shop in Melbourne and at a thrift store in Seattle. I've made a few accessories with it but decided that I wanted it used up so a new tomten was born.

I have been working in dark blue and burgundy and am part way through the hood and will introduce some teal into the sleeves to highlight the construction. At this stage I am actually hoping that I will have enough yarn! Oh it will be funny if I have to buy another ball to finish it.

water lilies

2011-03-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Olearia by Georgie Hallam.
Size: six years.
Yarn: Noro Yuzen (56 per cent wool, 34 per cent silk, 10 per cent mohair) in colourway 3; 5 skeins.
Needles: 3.75, 4 and 4.5mm.
Start to finish: 16 to 28 February 2011 - that's stellar performance for me and explains why I blinked and missed mentioning it before! This was just so easy and a joy to knit, I even managed to read in the plain stocking stitch portions which was very satisfying.
Stash/recycle content: Yes, this yarn was in my stash. I bought it last September I think at Little Knits here in Seattle with the intention of knitting something for miss bear. I loved the yarn so much though and the resulting fabric that I just want to stock up on more of it for something for me.

Comments: This a great design because there are so many different ways that you can knit it: as a shrug, as a cardigan, all ruched or partly ruched, cap or short or long sleeves, a gathered cuff or a garter stitch cuff. Fabulous! I did elbow-length ruched sleeves on a long cardigan, working in stocking stitch after the basic bodice was completed.

A few modifications: I worked a Vogue single-row buttonhole across two stitches instead of doing a yo k2tog which I don't like at all. I also worked less ruching in that, instead of knitting kfb in each stitch on the increase row, I kfb on only every other stitch (and decreased accordingly). I did this because I think that the yarn that I used has a bit less drape than those suggested and I didn't want it to look corrugated.

This was the first time I have used Noro Yuzen (in fact, when I bought it was the first time I encountered it). I'm not sure if it is the cold here at the moment or the rustic texture of the yarn (or a combination thereof) but my fingers got really chafed knitting this garment. All worth it though because I love the texture, the colourway (reminds me of water lilies), the colour transitions. I want to make something out of it for for myself (and it has been discontinued, so must grab it while I can).

This was also my first knitted top-down garment (I think). The rows get quite long quite soon but all of a sudden you are up to the armholes. It was also a great choice for using up as much of the yarn on hand that I could (I used five of my six balls).

Finally, the buttons. I spent ages deliberating over the buttons at Nancy's Sewing Basket. There were so many choices but I was aware that this was a rather sophisticated yarn choice for a four-year old and that I needed to keep it whimsical. Finally, I looked at the children's buttons and there they were - irregularly shaped resin buttons in three perfect colours.

Verdict: Love love love - the design, the yarn, the finished product. I am so happy with this and my daughter looks adorable in it. I perhaps didn't do such a great job with the buttonholes, they're a bit fiddly to get the button through, but I'm hopeful that a couple of times opened and closed will loosen them up. The buttonhole band may also need to be stabilised at some point with a ribbon lining, I'll keep an eye on it.

I'm not much of one for knitting a pattern over and over again, but if I were to, this would be it. I would love to make a completely ruched shrug and experiment with the different long sleeves. The design is sized up to an eight so there may be time yet.

rhubarb pie liza

2011-03-01T22:41:00.000-08:00

I am a sucker for anything vintage, or anything with 'vintage' in the title. Kristen Rengren's Vintage Baby Knits, however, had never really charmed me.

I would actually say that I never liked the Liza Sideways Sacque, in all it's bright yellow and white reminding me of a broken egg, until I saw Alicia Paulson's version which she named Lemon Meringue Liza. Well, there you go - with some thoughtful colour choices and some modifications it could be a real success.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Liza Sideways Sacque from Kristen Rengren's Vintage Baby Knits. A sacque is apparently an open cardigan and I would strongly recommend against the profusion of ribbon shown in the book version for fastening it at the neck. Not baby safe.
Size: 12 to 18 months.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Solid in Manzanita, one skein and Grignasco Bambi in shade 416.
Needles: 2.5, 2.75 and 3.25mm.
Start to finish: 12 January to 7 February 2011 - not bad. The friend's baby for whom I made this was hinting at a premature arrival so I really had to get working on it. She was actually born at 37 weeks, all safe and sound. (You can tell that you knit too much when your first response to news of a baby's imminent arrival is 'but I haven't finished knitting for her yet'. I didn't say it out loud.)
Stash/recycle content: That Grignasco Bambi came from Australia - simultaneous shudder and hooray. It's a fabulous yarn, wonderful texture and lovely to work with. I previously crocheted a cute little baby hat from it. The Lorna's Laces I bought recently to complete my In the Pink stole. It was, of course, a different dyelot and anther reason why that project got scrapped. Also a lovely yarn to work with. I still have my two original skeins and one more in this dyelot. And the button was salvaged from a cardigan that miss bear once wore. (I did, however, purchase yarn for this project that I didn't end up using so I'm guessing that it would rate as stash neutral).

Comments: Oh how I love items made with fingering-weight yarn/4ply; yes, it's onerous to knit and takes ages but they are so lovely when finished. I modified the yoke on this design after reading that others who have knit it found the neckline too wide (without the ribbons - sensible). Details are on Ravelry (or if you don't use that, I can email them to you).

Verdict: I am so delighted with this garment. Seeing Alicia Paulson's version really opened my eyes to how a change in colours and styling could make such a huge difference. Yellow is not my favourite colour so it's hard for me to look closely at anything made from it but I'm really glad that I did. I think that the trick here is to choose two colours that are ... I'm not sure what the correct terms are ... close in value (?); that is, don't contrast too harshly.

february reading

2011-03-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell - again, ludicrous but better than the previous one.

The Winter Ground by Catriona McPherson - oh I really enjoyed this A very enjoyable read and a really great sense of post-WWI Britain; I loved all the details about class in this volume with phrases such as 'people like us' and 'our sort'. The Dandy Gilver character is wonderful fun.

As is probably clear by now, I like to read crime/mystery fiction and I like to read series, in order, from beginning to end. This is partly because I came to PD James' Inspector Adam Dalgleish books in a haphazard fashion and it always bothered me. I think there's only one more Dandy Gilver mystery available and then I'll be adding this to my list of 'waiting for the next installment'. Speaking of which, where is 'V is for ...'?

rinse and repeat

2011-02-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

I'm still working away at my Tibetan Clouds (un)Beaded Stole. I just pick it up every now and then when I feel like some lace knitting. As I knit it I find myself scheming and calculating - 'Ok, I'm going to 10 repeats of E on either side of the central panel and I can knit half a repeat quite easily in a day so with fifteen and a half repeats to go, that would be a month's worth of knitting, assuming that I actually did knit half a repeat every day ...' And then I shrug my shoulders and try to just enjoy the knitting, I'll get there when I get there and I don't want to be compelled to knit half a repeat every day.

Now that I have parted way with the diamond mittens, I need to consider the other two projects that I have lingering from 2008 (yes '08 - ouch): the Baudelaire socks and the Faux Prussian Stole. I think that I'll address the socks first (one of them is practically done) and then there will be a serious lace knitting push for that stole.

I think that I've mentioned before that the lace repeat there is 81 stitches wide and 96 rows deep so I certainly won't be getting half a repeat done each day on that one. And again on that I have the dilemma of needing to execute k2tog or ssk over a marker (same issue that I had with the Knitted Veil) and the clumsiness of that is a real mental block for me. Perhaps I'll just use threads instead of stitch markers and then I'll be off and knitting ...

broken engagement

2011-02-21T18:48:00.001-08:00

Well thank goodness we're actually married because I have admitted defeat and given up on the Second Engagement Diamond Mittens that I was knitting for Tim. The mittens were one of my three projects dating from the year before last and I had chosen them as the first that I would complete. Here it is mid-February and I had knit only a couple of rounds and finally realised that I just did not want to make them anymore.

I have committed instead (and anew) to Tim's Great Garment of 2011 (the one that I was supposed to make last year but just didn't get around to). I'm planning to knit Jarrett by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan's Vintage Knits in Cascade 220, shade Walnut Heather. Lots of soothing stocking stitch, I'm looking forward to the yarn arriving.

Now I just have to work out whether I can face those socks and that stole.

details

2011-02-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

This sleep suit wasn't very comfortable for baby b because the snaps along the inner leg were spaced too far apart and he always ended up with his foot sticking out about half-way down. So I put in some extra snaps using a gadget and a hammer. And I'm very pleased with myself.

saroyan

2011-02-18T15:17:00.001-08:00

I had wanted to knit this design for a while and then the right opportunity presented itself:

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Saroyan by Liz Abinante, available for free.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in shade CW365 Peridot. I was initially fascinated by the 80 per cent wool/10 per cent cotton blend of this yarn and bought a skein many moons back just to try it out. It is much easier on the hands to knit with than straight cotton and it would be great if it retained some of the properties of wool - keeping better shape for one. It's worsted weight and they also make it in a fingering-weight version, which if held double could pass for dk, a good alternative perhaps to straight cotton for warmer weather garments.
Needles: I used my 5mm Lantern Moon straights because they are such lovely needles. The fabric could perhaps have benefited from a little more body but then I wouldn't have been able to use the needles.
Start to finish: 8 February to 13 February 2011.
Stash/recycle content: Yes - the yarn came from the cupboard.
Comments: I worked four increase sections, nine straight sections and four decrease sections as my yardage allowed. The instructions for this pattern are great, the lace edging is both written and charted, and there's a diagram to show what percentage of yarn to use for each section. I also put a button on so that it could be done up snugly around the neck.

Verdict: This is a great pattern, not least because you can tailor it so well to suit whatever you have available to knit with. The leaves on the edging are straightforward enough but the mixture of stocking stitch, reverse stocking stitch and garter stitch surrounding them was hard to keep track of and prevented the edging from becoming intuitive knitting for me. I am very happy with the result though.