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Wow, I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I unearthed Woolsthorpe - I'm much further along than I had thought. Back, left front, right front, one sleeve - done! And it's half seamed already as well. I seem to have gotten stalled on going upstairs to grab a pair of 3.25mm knitting needles with which to cast on for the second sleeve's cuff. I had thought that I had stalled half-way through the shoulder shaping on one of the fronts - I really dislike that when you have to figure out where you are up to and is it the same as the other side and did you make any changes that you have now completely forgotten about?I'll be casting on the next sleeve for this pronto. Then there will be the button band, the buttonhole band, collar and one more pocket band. Plus the rest of the seaming. I have also allayed my fears about fit - I was already pregnant when I started knitting this and so chose the size based upon my Wallingford which is from the same pattern book. I'm still pretty buxom but the fit is good and I'm sure that it will button up nicely, ah, sometime in the future. So assessment - doable, in the near future.And speaking of Wallingford (actually officially called Wallington)- hooray! My project is illustrating the page for this pattern in Ravelry.
I'm particularly delighted about this because a) I was pipped at the post to be the first person to complete this pattern, and b) it is knit from a recycled yarn and I love to promote that.Next up for review and assessment: a knitted veil in Peruvian wool.
I'm still a bit stuck on 2009. I realised that I had one more finished object, you see - the apron that I made for Di's son, C. You can see him putting it to good use here.
Excitingly, this was made predominantly from stash. The fabric that I used also features in my vintage fabrics quilt. And I have actually used it in two further sewing projects already this year (details to come). Pretty good mileage for one shower curtain. The pattern came from Better Homes and Gardens 167 Things to Make for Children.
So, including my recent appendix, this brings my 2009 tally to:
projects: 36
knitting: 18, sewing: 17, other: 1
recycled/refashioned/upcycled: 26
made from stash: 8
2009 was also significant in terms of what I made, particularly what I knit - garments! adult garments! three adult garments! I don't think that I expressly stated that this was an aim for the year, probably for fear off jinxing myself. But I did it - Sunrise Circle, Wallingford and the Pimlico Snug. I am going to dare say it for 2010 - I would like to knit an adult garment for someone else, namely Tim.
And I also completed my first ever piece of knitted lace - the swallowtail shawl - which is pretty much the reason why I started knitting.
On other matters of repeating - Clapotis is going well. I agonised quite a bit about how large to make it, about how large I could make it, about how to maximise how large I could make it given the amount of yarn that I had. I only did one increase more in section 2 than the pattern directs but am up to 15-odd of the section 3 repeats. I think that I could do as many as 30! The pooling is still happening but never mind. I'm having fun dropping the stitches and helping them to ladder down - it's so contrary to normal knitting practice. Each one is deliciously transgressive. So, I've done about 15 repeats now ... oops, repeating myself.
I have had a couple of queries lately about knitting with recycled yarn. May I begin by saying that I cannot recommend this practice enough - you can get great yarn (cashmere, silk, angora, camel, merino, you name it) that no-one else is knitting with, knit an entire garment for under $10, keep garments out of landfill, recycle and get a completely unique knitted item.
There are several excellent resources on-line regarding re-/up-cycling yarn. I started with the tutorial over at Neauveau Fiber Arts and have written up some notes of my own. I also highly recommend the UnRavelers group on Ravelry for information, support, sharing and inspiration.
There are a few common concerns about knitting with recycled yarn, one of which is the kinkiness of it, that is, the kinks in the unravelled yarn. I have rarely found this to be a problem. Usually I just unravel from the garment straight onto my ball winder, perhaps winding it twice, keeping the tension pretty tight. And then knit with it and that's fine. On occasion I have found that the residual kinks have affected the knit-ability of the yarn (namely with the yarn that I used for my Sunrise Circle Jacket and the Columbia Beret). With that I did go to the trouble of winding it into a hank, soaking the hank for a while in warm water, then letting it dry. I'm the first to concede that this is laborious but I find rarely necessary. 
And of course one of the major bonuses of knitting with recycled yarn is that you can often knit an entire garment piece - sleeve, even the back - all with one strand of yarn. Yes, that's right, many less ends to weave in!
Eeeeeek, I am so incredibly excited - my first complete adult garment!! Finished this very day. Hooray, I finally did it. I can't produce much further ado so here are the details:
The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Wallington by Martin Storey from Rowan Classic Book 28 - Vintage, purchased at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island.
Size: medium
Yarn: 100 per cent wool recycled from a J Crew men's sweater that I purchased at Goodwill in the U District.
Needles: 3.25mm, 3.75mm and 4mm straights.
Start to finish: 4 April 2009 to 29 September 2009.
Comments: I was very motivated with knitting this garment as I thought that I was the only person who was working on it (only person on ravelry - that's all that counts, isn't it?) and that mine would be the very first Wallington to be completed. Little did I know that someone else was working on it in secret and didn't log it until they had finished. That took the wind out of my sails a bit, and after very successfully finishing most of the knitting within five weeks it then took me a further four months to sew the blasted thing up - oh well.
This was also my first attempt at knitting an adult garment using recycled yarn which produced the inevitable 'will-there-be-enough?' anxiety. As it turned out, there was enough. I did substitute in a similar yarn (also recycled J Crew) in burgundy for the facings inside the body and sleeves and for the central portion of the belt. As it turned out though, I chose not to use the belt and wrist straps that I knit - I felt that it would have made the garment just too bulky, so I instead bought some lovely grosgrain ribbon from the ribbon room at Nancy's Sewing Basket which I can tie in nice big floppy bows. This also obviated the need to find three matching buckles for the belt and straps.
I also knit the facings in stocking stitch instead of rib because basically, why bother, they're on the inside and that would have made the garment bulkier still. Yes, 8ply (or dk weight) yarn in my opinion produces bulky.
Verdict: Much ado, much ado. I am, actually to my surprise, really happy with this project. I had all sorts of fears about it not fitting well, not suiting me, not being big/long/wide enough or short/fitted/shapely enough - take your pick. But it's great and I feel immensely proud when I am wearing it. There are still two more patterns that I want to knit from this book, Woolsthorpe (for which I have some more recycled J Crew yarn in a lovely blue just waiting) and Souter (although I'm not sure what to do about the fluted peplum which I don't much like). Sunrise Circle must be finished first though!
Better a week late than never, finally a knitting post. I'm talking about matters of size here, of course. I am reasonably tall, generally an Australian size 12 (which is a US size 10), so a medium to large let's say. And Trinny and Susannah would probably call me a vase (a vaaz, not a vayz - phew). What Trinny and Susannah would not call me is an extra-small.
Which brings us to Joy. I have been wanting to knit this cardigan forever. Vintage Style was the first time that I got Rowan suckered; that is, so in love with the models and the styling that I wanted to knit everything in there and bought the book immediately. Ok, so there's only a couple of things that I actually want to knit in there but Joy is number one.
So, please observe the photo: I think that this model is definitely an extra-small. And there is not a lot of ease in the garment's fit, that is, it's not baggy or loose and those are not bell sleeves. Gauge is 26 stitches to 10 centimetres, using a 3.25mm needle. By my calculations, casting on 61 stitches should give a sleeve cuff that measures about 23.5 centimetres in width.
Ok, I'm going on and on about this because I am knitting my first sleeve of Joy in size extra-small and on 3mm needles. My cuff measures about 22 centimetres in width which would easily block out a bit but I don't know that I would even want to.
These two photos show how incredibly different the colour of this yarn is in different light. I can't decide whether it is brown or russet or purple. It's recycled from a Talbots twin set, 80 per cent wool 20 percent cashmere. A further note: while I am following the chevron pattern chart I am not achieving the effect by slipping a stitch with one of 5,300 tiny beads on in. No thank you. I am instead purling the stitch on the right side and knitting it on the wrong side. Because while sometimes nuts I am not crazy. 
And those little clippy things holding the sleeve together in the photo on the right? Miniature hairclips. These things are an absolute must for anyone who has not mastered the whole seamless knitting in the round picking up stitches thing. They hold your knitted garment's seams together perfectly, grip tight, one stitch in, don't allow slippage and I could not seam without them. Why then is my Wallingford still languishing in want of a side seam? Well, I never said that I seam with them either.
I seem to have inadvertently taken a blogging break. What have I been busy doing? Umm, well ... I'm sure that I've been busy, what else could I have been? Maybe just forgetful. Anyway, I love that phrase, 'make do and mend'.
Do you notice a small colour variation in the belt at left? That's the 'make do' bit - making do with what I have. Given that I am knitting Wallingford from recycled yarn, there was really no choice in the matter. I always had anxieties about whether or not I would have enough yarn and always had a contingency plan in place. The centre of the belt will never be on display as it will be contained within the belt casing, hence the portion knit in another colour to save on my main red yarn. Likewise the casings have all been knit from the burgundy as they are on the inside of the garment and will rarely be seen.
All the knitting is finished on this now - hooray - there is just the seaming, finishing to go and the matter of finding three identical, preferably vintage, buckles for the belt and wrist straps. Could be a while yet!
Further, when you can't be bothered mending you have to make do with what you've got in your wardrobe. I was very pleasantly surprised when I went to said wardrobe a few days ago to find that my mending had been taken care of. Yes, the trousers in question no longer actually fit me so there is no longer any need to take them in at the waist. I might spend the time exercising instead ... ha ha, or knitting.
ps - I've been pipped at the post in the Ravelry stakes. Someone recently put up their fully finished garment - no warning whatsoever.
Truly I do. Every day in fact, which is probably why I don't have time to read quilting books but anyway ...
this is a random knitting update post:
Baudelaire socks - I cannot remember the last time that I didn't look at these. I know that I got over the trauma of the dropped stitches and started on the leg. Ah, that's right - the dilemma of how do I know when I have enough yarn left to complete twelve rows of ribbing (and a bind-off)? My good friend Heidi (who is merchgirl on Ravelry - check out her astounding Laminaria) suggested test knitting a row of ribbing, then frogging it and measuring how much yarn it required. Measure out twelve times as much yarn from the wrong end of the ball (and some more for the bind-off I imagine) and then just knit to that point. Such a good idea, I'll try it someday.
Faux Prussian Stole - I completed one of the five-and-a-half 81-stitch-by-96-row repeats and collapsed from exhaustion. That in itself was such a feat that I have not yet quite recovered enough to start on the next repeat. I did, however, purchase an Addi Nature circular needle (bamboo tips) which I think will hold the yarn better. It was very slippery knitting on the Addi Turbos that I was using.
Diamond mittens - Going well but haven't picked them up for a while. All I have to go on the left mitten is the individual fingers (which get tucked in underneath the mitten top) and the thumb. On the right mitten I have started the ribbing thereby hoping to avoid second mitten syndrome.
So what have I been knitting everyday?? Wallingford! Which is actually a pattern called Wallington but as I go to a knit night in Wallingford on Mondays it was too much to have two such similar words milling around in my brain. Rather than rename the neighbourhood I thought it easier to rename my project (ah, yeah). Besides, I like the word Wallingford better. This is my first adult-sized garment project and I am knitting it from recycled wool. So far I have completed the two sleeves, the back to just beyond the armhole shaping and one front about as far as the waist. This leaves: the rest of the back, the rest of one front, all of the second front, the collar and front bands, the wrist straps and the belt and the wrist and waist casings.
Hmmm, will I make it? I think so. It won't matter too much if the casings are knit from a different yarn as they are on the inside of the garment and I imagine that even a portion of the wrist straps could be in a different yarn too as that portion will always be concealed inside the casing. The belt is a bit more of a challenge in the potential substitute stakes - where the belt would sit inside the casing depends whether I want to wear it buckled up or tied. This is likely to make it more difficult to conceal a portion knit in a different yarn. Regardless, this is all down the track - I have to complete the garment pieces first before I do the finishing (although I predict that I will be seaming with a different yarn: just. in. case.)
I like J Crew. Particularly, I like J Crew woollen knits - 100 per cent lambswool, lovely colours. I also love the fact that 100 per cent lambswool J Crew knits in lovely colours are very easy to find at the thrift store. And they unravel really well.
I have an ongoing anxiety about not having enough recycled yarn to complete the project that I'm working on. Sometimes it's ok; yes, one adult sweater will definitely yield a pair of mittens or a child's cardigan. But what about an adult cardigan, an adult cardigan for me? Like the one that I cast on for on the weekend, totally outside the strictures of my knit list. More about that in a moment.
So the J Crew sweaters - I have decided to start a collection of them. Eventually, surely, I will find some duplicates that will allow me to cast on for the Sunrise Circle Jacket or Wallington without any niggling fears. Surely. Or else I'll just have to keep knitting children's garments, but that's ok too. I think that the benefit of restricting myself to a particular brand is that I can be more confident about finding the same colours and weights. Also, it will prevent the closet from overflowing too much.
As it is, I have cast on for Wallington in some 8ply/dk claret recycled J Crew lambswool. It comes from a men's extra large but still I'm not sure - differences in gauge between the machine knit and my hand knit?? So I have started on a sleeve - we'll see how it goes.
ps - they also machine wash really well, despite what the tag says!
Wow, I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I unearthed Woolsthorpe - I'm much further along than I had thought. Back, left front, right front, one sleeve - done! And it's half seamed already as well. I seem to have gotten stalled on going upstairs to grab a pair of 3.25mm knitting needles with which to cast on for the second sleeve's cuff. I had thought that I had stalled half-way through the shoulder shaping on one of the fronts - I really dislike that when you have to figure out where you are up to and is it the same as the other side and did you make any changes that you have now completely forgotten about?
I'm particularly delighted about this because a) I was pipped at the post to be the first person to complete this pattern, and b) it is knit from a recycled yarn and I love to promote that.
