Interesting Things

Lots of disparate things happening on the textile front around here. Fabric and yarn have been arriving from various points,and there's been knitting and even some sewing done. And for a finale, I fixed my washing machine's water level knob. That was highly satisfactory.

I got some Canapone hemp yarn from elann.com the other day, and am doing a remake of a pattern I really like. It's Louet's Lily shell, and I made it in Louet's Euroflax. This is a much more economical choice, and the feel seems to be just about the same. It's on size 0 (2mm) needles, in the round, and I'm about an inch and a half in.

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I also got some Filatura di Crosa Esotico from them.

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I finished the body on Alex's cabled sweater and now need to begin the sleeves, but I think I will have no trouble finishing before Christmas.
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I've ordered fabric from several places lately, and although I'm not doing anything with them yet, I have plans (of course) for them. First was the Indigo Floral and Taupe Modern Gab from Fashion Sewing Group.
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I'm planning a tunic with the floral, and pants with the gabardine.

Elliott Berman's is having a sale, and I snagged a lovely piece of rayon blend Chiffon. I'm always an easy mark for plaids, and I like this very much. I will probably become a blouse or even a dress since I have plenty.
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And finally, here's my progress on the Marfy 1949 Skirt.

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I think the fabric color shown is fairly true, at least on my monitor. I like the piping on the edge of the pocket, carried on to the waist seam. The waistband is only basted on, and nothing is really pressed yet. You can see the silk organza underlining showing at the hem edge. The basting stitches show the hemline. I'm really pleased with how this is turning out, but I'm not going to rush. It's been a fun project so far.

Knitting Magazines

The new Vogue Knitting came the other day, and I have to say it's the best one I've seen for a while. Several of the patterns really appeal to me and may even get knitted by me.

These photos are from the VK site, and only shown in a group. The first two, the coat and jumper are both nicely shaped, and seem very wearable. The jumper I like especially, and I suppose it's the cables that caught my eye.


I like the bobble cardigan (3rd photo) too, and the cardigan with the horizontal cable (5th photo) is pretty cute, too.

I ordered a couple magazines from elann with a yarn order. They're both Burda publications. Anna is a varied craft magazine, but almost all needlework. I got a few issues quite a few years ago and then I think they weren't available here anymore. Now they're touting their NEW magazine, so I'm hoping it's going to be similar since I decided to subscribe. They always had much nicer, more professional looking patterns and projects than similar US magazines.


The other magazine is Verena, a knitting publication. I'm not subscribing, although I would if I didn't already have so many coming. Maybe it will replace another one someday.

Both magazines offer both printed and online subscriptions. I wonder if this is a coming trend? I hope they don't quit the physical magazines, as there's just nothing nicer than having it come in the mail and being able to pick it up and take it with you. They do include quite a few extra patterns and features online that you can get whichever way you get the regular magazine, and I'm not complaining about that. More is always better.

Vanilla Meringue Set

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I've not been doing much sewing lately, more knitting, and fabric and yarn buying, but I finally decided I wanted a light-colored bra, and I wanted it to be lightweight and cool, so I thought I'd try it without powernet lining in the lower cup pieces. I used the Panache pattern for this, with non-stretch lace yardage over tricot for the cups, and lace over powernet for the band. I started with white tricot, cream lace, pink straps and all the other bra findings white, and dyed them all slightly with Taupe Rit dye. I added a little Rose to the Taupe for the lace. As usual, the elastics take the dye most quickly, and I like the counterpoint of the slightly darker elastic with the pale lace and tricot. As always, if you click on the photo links, you can get a much more detailed look at the photos.

I've gotten to really like having lingerie sets, and I made 2 pair of panties to match this bra. They're different, and this one's my favorite.
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Both the ruffled stretch lace on the legs and the plain at the waist on these are from my Fabric Depot 'grab bag' of lace. They're both really soft.

Here's a close-up of the bra.
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