Warm Hands

Since I've seen so many patterns for them lately, I've been thinking about making some knitted mitts. I think they'd be perfect for a particular Christmas gift, and I thought I'd better make a test pair to see how they are. They're really fast to do, and fun, kind of like the interesting part of a sock.



The pattern is called Fetching, and is from Knitty.com. I used Peruvian Highland Wool from elann.com, and it only took one ball to make the pair, with a little left over. I used Size 4 needles, though the pattern calls for Size 6. They took me just over a day to knit.

I'm still recuperating from this cold. I seem to have a lot more energy now, but I also have times when I'm suddenly just exhausted, so I suppose it will take a while to get back to normal. Tomorrow is the Mu Phi Fundraiser Boutique, so I'm excited about that, but I wish it was in another week or so instead of tomorrow.

Beading, Slowly

I've had a bad cold ever since Saturday night, and I just haven't felt like sewing or even knitting, really. So, I've been catching up on some reading, (poolside reading, if you know what I mean) looking at magazines and resting a lot. I finally felt like doing something, and decided to finish the beading on the scarves I hemmed for the Mu Phi Epsilon Boutique Fundraiser this Sunday. (About time, I guess.) Then I noticed a couple bracelets that were half-done in my beading things, and thought I'd work on them a little. Well, it went really well, and I finished them both last night! I don't know when I started on them, but it was over a year ago, not that there was any rush.... You can see more photos of them here.

The one you see above is a cuff bracelet with an armature underneath. You can see the edge of it here and there. I used an assortment of various beads and just piled them on. I think it's going to be fun to wear. If I were going to make another, it would definitely be narrower, as there was a lot of beading just to cover this, much less build it up and make it look somewhat interesting.

The one below is what I have seen called a Caterpillar Bracelet, and has a base of narrow cording doubled, stitched and knotted at one end with a loop at the other. It's beaded all over with loops of beads, and has a beaded ball on one end as a button to close with the loop. I'm quite pleased with it, and I can see wearing it quite a lot.

A Beaded Gift

The beautiful beaded stitch markers above are a gift from my sister! It was so exciting to get them. They're so lovely, and something I never would have gotten for myself. (I've been known to cut up McDonald's straws and use those for stitch markers, and they work very well, especially if you need a ton of them, right now. But, a thing of beauty, they're not.) I find myself just gazing at these and all their little details. The largest one is a lampwork bead, handmade by someone.

Coat Photos

Well, as I said, I finished the Marfy #9621 coat on Thursday night, but only got to take photos this afternoon. You'll have to ignore the jeans and fleece top, which although extremely warm, isn't what I'd wear this coat with. I was afraid I'd miss the light again today.

I'm pretty pleased with this. It's very comfy, very warm (I tested it on the way to and from the Pati Palmer seminar today. It was snowing and sleeting!) and roomy enough to wear almost anything under. (In case you're wondering, I did not wear the fleece and jeans to the sewing seminar. I wore my Vogue bamboo print topstitched jacket.) I made full-length sleeves instead of the 3/4 sleeves shown in the illustration. I love 3/4 sleeves, but I also love warm arms, so I decided to be practical, and have warm arms.

As always, a Marfy pattern goes together beautifully. The unusual feature of this coat is the drawstring treatment in the collar. I don't know if I did it the way they had in mind, but I'm kind of pleased with it. It certainly makes for a very warm coat with the collar gathered and the ties tied. I used a fancy twisted cord as the drawstring. I also used it for the button loop. I used a 1 7/8" button covered in the lining fabric.

The plaid fabric is from JoAnn's, and the wool lining fleece is from Wazoodle.

You can see more photos and close ups here.

Coat is Done

Well, no photos yet, as it's late and dark, but I finished the coat tonight! I'm quite pleased with it, and I certainly have worked through some trials and tribulations, not the least of which is that my sewing machine died at about 2am Monday morning. Yes, my dear Elna 7000 just gave up. The flywheel suddenly was very stiff and I couldn't pick up the bobbin thread. I took it in on Monday, and just heard tonight that the hook is what's bound up. The repair guy has had solvent on it and is working it and thinks he might be able to get it loosened up enough to get it apart tomorrow to see whether the hook is okay. I hope so.

I ended up finishing on my good old Kenmore, the faithful backup machine. I'm so glad I've kept it in working order all these years. Every once in a while it's worth its weight in gold, or wool at least. I had no problems sewing, and the fact that I have a walking foot for this machine was a great help I think, as the layers were quite thick. This was because I decided to do a complete lining of the coat with the wool/acrylic bouclé fleece from Wazoodle. I was awfully worried about it at the beginning, but I think it was a fine choice, and the coat is all I'd hoped. It's very drapey, and cut large enough that even with a non-slick lining I have no trouble at all slipping it over other clothing, even sweaters. It's going to be extremely warm too.

I may wear it to the Pati Palmer seminar in Omaha tomorrow. It's supposed to be cold, and even colder for the second day on Saturday.

Welt Pocket Test

This may not look too thrilling, but I'm pretty pleased with how this test pocket is going. The lips aren't actually sewn in yet, but I was going past the scanner, so I just took my chance so that you could see it.

The plaid will be on the straight-of-grain, and the pocket will be angled on the coat. It's the largest welt pocket I've ever made; about 6" long and over 1 1/2" wide so that the contrast fabric really shows up. It's a dark green, no matter what it may look like here. It's quite lofty, and I think it's going to be a great contrast fabric for this. I decided I had better make a sample pocket as I realize it's been quite some time since I actually did welt pockets. They're always kind of fun, though. It's just so exciting to see them begin to emerge during the pressing phase.

I'm going to finish my sample, and then stitch the darts on the coat fronts so that I can do the pockets. The pocket openings must line up exactly with the dart ends. Should be exciting, and I'll find out whether I laid out my fabric exactly symmetrically. It's more exciting than I'd planned, as I had to cut each front and back piece separately since the fabric wasn't quite wide enough to do them with the fabric folded.

Here's the pattern illustration again.

Instant Jacket

Here's my Instant Jacket! I feel like it was almost instant anyway. I fooled around and didn't stitch it together right away, but now it's done. As I said before, the yarn is from Wal-Mart; they're having a collection made for them in Turkey. It seems to be mostly your average discount type yarn, although almost all novelty types, but I fell in love with this. You can see a pretty good representation of the color in the photo below, at least on my monitor. This shows the shoulder seam on the left, and the edge of the garter stitch collar on the right.



I really like this little cardigan. I think because of the tweedy effect of the yarn, it has quite a fashionable look. I was so close to not-enough-yarn-to-finish that it was scary. I used every single scrap to finish up the collar, and ended up sewing up the seams with heavy thread. You're supposed to do a round of single crochet around the whole thing, but forget that; I was lucky to finish at all. I used beautiful gold crested buttons from Pam at Sew Exciting. I think they add quite a bit to it, and it will be fun and easy to change the buttons if I want a different look sometime. The buttonholes are simply enlarged stitches that I stitched around on the inside to keep them the size I wanted them.

The back neckline on this pattern has a tendency to stretch to a width much wider than is flattering. Instead of a stabilizer like twill tape or anything which might show, I used a doubled heavy thread (30wt. cotton) to stitch by hand along the edge to stabilize it and to pull it in to the measurement I wanted. In fact, I almost halved the original length, and it came in beautifully, with no gathers or anything. It's just that it's such large stitches that there's a lot of play in them. I think that sewing the collar on could have done the same thing, but I wanted to get it the right length before I stitched the collar.

I stitched the collar on by hand, with a doubled thread, holding the collar with the right side of the collar facing the inside of the jacket. After stitching, the collar then rolls beautifully to the outside in its proper position, rather than looking rather flat, which is what can happen.

I would recommend this pattern or something similar to anyone with a Bulky weight yarn for which they want a quickie project. Anything that knits at about 2 stitches/inch works, and the more interesting the yarn, the better.

You can see some more photos here.

Coat Fever

Here's the coat that I think may finally move me from the ranks of
Dying to Make a Coat,
to
Made a Coat.

It's Marfy 9621, and I have a lovely deep green woven that is almost like a flat-woven tweed, with bouclé plaid threads in pink, green, gold and a tiny bit of plum metallic. It looks quite loosely woven, but it isn't as loose as I thought, although it has quite a bit of movement to it. I think it will need underlining, and possibly flannel might be a good choice.

I started laying it out and marking it this afternoon, and it quickly became apparent that it was going to be a bigger job than I had thought, since the pattern pieces are large because of the cut-on sleeves. I have to cut out single layer, so that makes the plaid matching a little trickier. I wish there were an easier way to mark than tailor tacks, but I think that's really the best method. I'm just going to have to wait until my back is in a little better shape to do all the bending over.

So, that gives me time to decide what to use for the contrast. I'm actually thinking fleece, or a lofty pile knit that I have in green. I don't want velvet, which is what is called for.

On the knitting front, I have my Instant Jacket almost all sewn together, and the collar almost done, so it is coming along.

It's going to be coat and jacket weather very soon, like maybe tonight! It's 48 right now, and it may snow a little in the next couple days. Oh, joy.

Knitting Again, Instantly

This is what I'm getting from the No Boundaries yarn I got from Wal-Mart. It's a beautifully suéded looking yarn, variegated in soft pinks and dark taupes with a little metallic thrown in. It's a little like a railroad ribbon yarn, but has much more body than most I've seen. I fell in love with it and bought all they had; 10 skeins.

I'm making an Instant Jacket. The pattern is from I'd Rather Be Knitting, and I'm sorry that I can't find a link to them. I've had the pattern for quite some time and used it once before. It makes a nice, simple cardigan, and best of all, it will work with the amount of yarn I have. This knits at 2 stitches/inch, so it goes really fast. I'm hoping I'll have enough yarn to add a collar, which would be cute I think.

End-of-the-Season Garden

 
I thought it would be fun to put up some photos of my garden in its early autumn deshabile. As usual, I should have done more this year, but it looks pretty nice if you don't look too closely. Above and below are the large groupings of asters that take over in the fall. In the morning especially, there are countless Monarch butterflies and bees on them.

 


 
Close up of an evening Monarch still at work.


 
Probably the last waterlily of the season. 

Asian Jacket is Done

Last night I finished the Asian Jacket! What a good feeling. I was so pleased that I sat and knitted for about an hour on a little cardigan.

This jacket is made from Lonni Rossi cotton fabrics, which are designed for quilters, but I really liked these prints. The main problem I had with this was that I planned to line the jacket, and it was not planned to be lined. I just assumed that I could throw in a regular lining, and it started out fine, but I soon realized that the hem was a narrow hem, turned twice and topstitched. Well, that wasn't going to be too great. What I finally did was do the top of the lining as usual, and did the bottom as a facing, and topstitched through the face fabric and the lining at the same time. It worked quite well, and I don't have any problem with lining dropping below the hemline. That was a relief. The jacket is supposed to have side vents, and I did them, but they wanted to stick out kind of funny. I finally stitched them up, as I think it would only have gotten worse after sitting in it, etc.

I wondered if I was going to want a closure for this jacket, even though it isn't meant to have one. I had thought perhaps a sash belt from the chrysanthemum print, but I decided on a very large button from a set I have. I did not want an equally large buttonhole, so I used a very large covered snap. You can see the two halves below.




I used gold Madeira rayon thread for the topstitching, and they had enough colors of gold that I was able to find one that matched the metallic print perfectly. You can see more photos and close ups here.

The Asian Fabrics Are Nice Together (Hooray!)

I finally got to put the jacket body together with the new contrast fabric tonight, and to my great relief, it's very nice. I ought to be able to finish up in a day or two I hope, if nothing unusual crops up.

I've been knitting with some really strange yarn called Samoa, by Austermann that I got from elann.com earlier this year. I bought two colors, one similar to what's in the picture below, and the other is a soft pink. It's 100% nylon, and it's extremely weird to knit with, as the little lumps are kind of like blobs of hosiery fabric and in between is just a medium thickness thread, about like a topstitching thread, so it is quite a difference in feel when knitting, and sometimes the blobs want to hang up on the threads. There is no easy movement of yarn within the stitches as there usually is. It makes a cute fabric though. I'm doing a shell and knitting circularly, as this would be horrible to have to sew.

Sewing Again; Knit Top & Asian Jacket

I've been waiting for the chrysanthemum coordinate I ordered from eQuilter for my Asian jacket, and while I've been waiting, I worked on the jacket up to the point where I could go no further without the fabric.

At this point I thought an instant gratification project was in order. So, I pulled out Simplicity #4020 and decided on View B (the blue one on the envelope) in a very thin knit from JoAnn's. It's a tie-dyed fabric which is then overprinted with a brown/copper opaque ink. It was not quite the instant project I envisioned, but I did finish it in a day. Here's the front view. I like it quite a lot, although it could be a little more fitted. This kind of top is difficult to predict fit on without a muslin, and of course the drape of the fabric is critical, so a muslin may not tell you as much as you'd think, unless your fabric characteristics are identical.

The chrysanthemum fabric did come today. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I immediately began to worry that it wouldn't look right in the jacket. I've prewashed it and pressed it, and I think I'm just going to forge ahead tomorrow and see how it is. I think it might be wonderful, but it's a stretch for me to work with so many patterned fabrics at once.

Progress

Well, I've progressed on several fronts. I've ordered some different contrast fabric for my Lonni Rossi cottons jacket. The original, which you can see in the topstitching photo, is just too boring. The main fabric is in the same colors, with a dark bamboo print, and a few gold leaves and crickets here and there. I have now ordered another Rossi print, which is a large scale chrysanthemum, with a lot more gold in it. You can see it above. I think I will like it a lot better, and it should liven things up a little.



I'm planning to do some decorative topstitching on both sides of the seams. Maybe not all of them, or maybe not all the same. I've been testing threads, and I think I've found the perfect gold that matches the metallic printed gold. It's a Madeira Rayon thread, and is the center line of stitching in the photo. The green thread is a very heavy (12wt.) cotton, from Sulky. I really like the look of it, especially the lightning stitch, which ends up looking a little like a twisted cord. I don't think it's the absolute perfect color however, and so I tried to find a better match today, but the shop was closed by the time I got there. I will try again tomorrow. I want something that's a little more closely matched, and thus more subtle than this. I've used this heavy thread for topstitching before, and I really like how it makes the stitching stand up off the fabric. I've also been testing stitches. I like the little clumpy things, and also the lightning stitch. I think I'll do some of one and some of the other, in groups as shown on the sample. I don't think I will use any of the straight stitch. I like it, but it looks awfully plain compared to the other 2 stitches. I was planning to do this on all the seams, but I'm now thinking just the main ones, or even just between the fronts and sidefronts. This will become clearer as I progress.

I also have made one more Potato Chip scarf, this one a black and white mohair blend. It's really soft, but with enough body to hold this shape very nicely.

Finally Back on Track, I Think

I've been doing more knitting than sewing lately, and mostly of scarves I said I'd make for a fundraiser for my music fraternity, Mu Phi Epsilon. I was afraid I would leave it until the last minute and not get anything done, and actually I've done more than I thought I would, since at the same time I seemed to have trouble getting going on a particular sewing project. I've done 7 knitted scarves and hemmed 2 poly silky ones so far, and have another one on the needles. I've finally been able to knit in the car again, and so it's nice to have a very low concentration project going. This one is a black and white nubby yarn, and fairly soft.

But, I have been able to finally get with it on a jacket I want to make. It's Vogue 2852 and I think it's very similar to a jacket I drafted last year, but with several different features, like princess seams, set-in sleeves, and a different collar style. This is actually a very appealing style to me for every day, easy wear, and I hope it's going to work out. So far, I'm altering the pattern, and I need to do a quickie test of it next.


I believe it would work well as the reversible piece for this year's SWAP contest, (this link will take you to a chat board on Stitcher's Guild with several SWAP topics) in case I decide to join in. I may not, as I'm to do a program on wardrobing for my Sewing Guild in January, and the sewing on the contest pieces isn't to start until January, so if I get a new wardrobe group done for the program, I may not do another for the SWAP. Oh well, I'll just see what happens.

Another Scarf

This is the latest Potato Chip Scarf. I may keep this one myself, as it has an edging which is very pretty I think, but the edging is also pretty loose, and may get snagged rather easily.

What happened is that I didn't bother to check, or even think about gauge on this, and although I changed to a 15 needle, I still used the same number of stitches. So, I ran out of yarn about halfway through the next to last even row. It's an old skein of bargain-brand bouclé which I think is beautiful, but I was sure I couldn't get anymore, and if I could it likely wouldn't match this dye lot very well anyway. I remembered some blue Bendigo fingering yarn that I made socks from, and by chance, it was a lovely match! Well, knitting with fingering yarn on size 15 needles is not exactly the recommended approach, and I think I might do something similar again, but with a crocheted edge, so it would be a little sturdier. I think the colors are beautifully misty, though, and it's light as a cloud.

I found out yesterday that I won the Personal Threads Boutique prize for my Cable/Bobble Sweater at the State Fair! So, that was a very nice surprise, and thank you to Personal Threads!

State Fair Results

We went to the Fair today, and I was very pleased with my showing. I won 1st Prize on Pearle's shirt, and also on my Organza Little Blouse. I was 3rd with my Embellished-Collar Jacket, 2nd on the Cable/Bobble Sweater, and 4th on my Toy Shell. All in all, it was very nice, but the real icing on the cake is that the judge actually commented on 2 of my items. The shirt says "Beautiful job" which is very nice, but.....I almost fell over when I read the comment on the Organza Blouse. It was just one word. "Perfect." I was stunned, but extremely thrilled! So, what a great fair! You can see the 3 sewn garments in both photos.



Just to celebrate, I guess, I decided to head to JoAnn's for the Simplicity pattern sale. I don't think I've bought a Simplicity pattern for more than 20 years, but the girls on Stitcher's Guild were posting about the latest ones out, and a blouse pattern, #4020, really caught my eye.
I purchased it, but naturally had to browse among the fabric as well. They had a lot of clearance fabric at the back of the store, and it was all 50% off the clearance price! I wasn't really in the market for fabric, but I found some real buys. A beautiful deep green plaid boucle that will be a wonderful coat, a geranium graduated polka dot burnout poly/rayon velvet for a scarf, a linen-look print, a tie-dyed overprinted knit, and a couple pieces of wool felt to embellish, but the pièce de résistance is a fine brown wool, which looked pretty nice, and when I opened it up, I saw it had a woven selvedge that said 100% Superfine Cool Wool. I took all they had, which was about 4 7/8 yards, at the very fine price of $2.50/yard. I was quite excited, as I didn't know JoAnn's ever carried anything like that, and I didn't think you could ever find it at a price like that. I really feel that my day is complete!

More Chips

Yes, I'm still making scarves for October, and I finished two more potato chip scarves; one knit and one crocheted. The crocheted one was fun, and quite different to work on, as it began to spiral quite quickly, and the knitted ones do not do so until you bind off. Instant versus Delayed gratification, I guess.

The knit scarf at the top is made with Scheepeswool Vrillée Fine, and the crocheted one below is made with Red Heart Fiesta worsted weight. The detail photo is the crocheted version.

Potato Chip Scarf

Here's a quickie project that I finished last night. (Click on the photo for a larger, more detailed image.) It's called The Potato Chip Scarf, as in you can't have just one, from KnitPicks. It takes about 2 balls of yarn, and just make sure you have a really long circular needle before you begin. I ended up finally using 3 cables from an old Susan Bates modular set, and that worked very well. This will go for the Mu Phi fundraiser. The yarn is a 65%Silk/35%Wool from Tahki called Chelsea. I had it leftover from a cardigan I made quite a few years ago, and I was pleased to find a good use for it.

So Far So Good - Crochet Bag

I finished the shell stitch band for the crocheted bag last night, and this morning I took photos of the pieces pinned out the way they'll fit together. It's looking pretty good, and I want to make sure I put plenty of pockets, etc. in the lining. I haven't decided what to make the lining from, but I may end up making a double lining so I can interface it and not have the interfacing show through any holes in the crochet. It's pretty solid, but if you don't want something to show through, you know it will. Here's a close up of the crochet. I am hoping that if you click on these photos it will take you where you can see larger images if you want to really see the details. We'll see if my link works.

The other exciting news here is that the roofers came this morning, and we're getting a new roof! They're supposed to be done tonight, which would be great. I don't see how they can do it that fast, but there are guys swarming all over the roof. The cat is not pleased, to say the least.

We were also very surprised this morning after looking in the rain gauge and seeing that we only got .12", to find that north of town, where the farms are, they got between 2.75" and 3" of rain! Finally, it's going where we need it.