Don’t you just love it…

…when people spontaneously get together and do something kind for other people? I am overwhelmed by response of knitting community to recent tragedy in Haiti.  If you haven’t yet, you can still donate by purchasing patterns on Ravelry. Many designers pledged to donate a percentage of their profit to Haiti relief. Now is the chance to stock up on the patterns you have been eyeing up.

Ysolda has now decided to donate a huge 80% of the price of her patterns – a chunk which will no doubt massively boost the £4000 she donated already. You have time until the end of the month to make the most of this offer.

Coraline – one of my favourites by Ysolda (http://ysolda.com)

Don’t wait until later!

Couldn’t have timed it better

I have allowed myself to buy one nice luxurious ball of Rowan Cocoon, thinking that I could really do with a hat – a hat with a huge bobble. I sensed cold winter coming and had to prepare for it!

Classic Elite Yarns Webletter no 71 – Ariosa Pom-Pom hat

Maybe it’s a bit childish, but I love the size of this pom pom – it’s almost as big as her head! Of course I had to have it. I only thought that I would run out of yarn, so decided to make it slightly shorter.

My problem with hats is that they are usually too tight making my hair flatter than a pancake, or they are too long, ending up in my eyes when they cover my ears comfortably. Now this one, let me tell you, is just right. It took only one evening to make, and not before time! On the very next day it got so cold and snowy, I had no choice but to omit blocking and wear it immediately (as if I didn’t have another warm hat, being a knitter! – no actually, I didn’t, how did that happen?).

Come to think of it, the pom pom is a bit small compared to the size of the hat and my head, but I don’t know when I will have the chance to redo it, or whether this amount of yarn will be enough:

I love it though, so soft and warm, the pom pom is not quite as important as trapped body heat right now.

My new Knitmaster Twinmatic

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my new knitting machine. I say new, but what I mean is that it’s from the sixties, and a very kind lady has given it to me via freecycle. This is the third time I was son the receiving end of freecycle kindness. Fist time I needed a bicycle, and I was given a bicycle of my dreams, with basket and everything. This time I wanted to learn a new skill on any old machine, and got a very fancy double bed one, able to take on wide range of yarn weights, and able to to circular knitting! Not only that. The wonderful lady also gave me a lift home, and promised to send me some pattern books as soon as she finds them. I am so happy. Don’t you just love other people?

The instruction manual is quite difficult to understand for somebody who has never used it before, I also found it quite hard to find tutorials for this specific model on the interweb. Diana Sullivan, however, has many lesson on using a ribber in general. Hers is a different machine, but the principle is the same. I watched her video on circular cast on used for flat pieces of knitting. This worked a lot better that flat cast on suggester by my manual – not dropping stitches was too much of a challenge – or maybe I just didn’t understand instructions very well. Also, without circular cast on on the double bed, it would have been impossible to hang the casting comb my machine comes with – it doesn’t have hooks, but small holes that you thread wire through instead. One thing I learnt already, is that it’s really a lot harder to figure out than hand knitting, takes a lot of skill and patience, but is definitely faster once you know what you’re doing. It took me all Saturday to figure out how to set everything up, cast on and hang weights. This morning it took me less than ten minutes to set up properly and knit a successful sample.

I still intend to hand knit with aran, dk and chunky weight yarns, but this will hopefully enable me to venture into the world of homemade fine knits. I’m off now to learn how to cast off…

Autumn coat

A little overdue, but there you go.

Towards the beginning of September  I looked everywhere for a lightweight coat suitable for Autumn. I looked in all the shops. Nothing would suit or fit me. I looked in ALL the charity shops (it took a day). Nothing that I would like or in my size.

I decided to make my own, but couldn’t find a pattern that I had in my head. I wanted hip length, Peter Pan collar, large pockets on the outside, slightly A–line and a box pleat at the back (that’s a must!). I wanted it to be as simple as possible. I didn’t have a clue how to draft a coat pattern, how much ease one needs in sleeves and how much in body. I needed a starting point.

Talea coat from burdastyle looks a long shot from what I wanted, with its princess seams and lots of detailing, but hey, it’s free!

I cut out all the pattern pieces and arranged the princess seams next to each other. I could immediately see that they touch around bust area and at the bottom, leaving a gap that will form waist shaping when sewn. I didn’t want waist shaping, so the easiest thing to do was to glue the pieces together and disregard the hole in the middle. That still leaves the gap at the top of the princess seam, which forms the  curve in the yoke. I left it, but used it as a dart marking – which gave me lovely fit at the top, but no waist shaping. I did the same with the back, but added some width in the middle for my box pleat. I ended up with one piece for the back, and two front pieces (instead of four and four respectively).

I changed the collar as well, lined the pockets and put in lining. I didn’t know how to do it, but somehow managed to figure it out.

I spent a little bit more on the fabric, because I figured I’d wear it a lot, so it made sense to put some extra effort into making this a quality garment.

I bought nice, large wood buttons, which are stitched not onto the coat, but smaller shell buttons on the other side (to prevent fabric pulling). The biggest challenge though was making bound buttonholes, which I have never done before, and got it completely wrong  – started from the wrong side – and had to unpick it all and fix the holes I made in the process… Let me tell you, there were tears. But once fixed – they look great, so I think I will do them again on something.

It took me almost 4 days to make, including fiddling with the pattern, but it was worth it – I did indeed wear it a lot. Until it got colder and I found almost exactly the same coat, but heavier and longer, in local charity shop for £1. That’s another story though…

Long time, no see

Sometimes life just takes over for a while. My university course is intense, leaving precious little time for anything else. It doesn’t mean I haven’t been knitting or sewing, just didn’t get a chance to blog. So to sum up:

• I have finally finished the waistcoat for my lovely, and managed to do that before it got cold. It has been worn almost all the time, so it doesn’t look so lovely and new on these photos. It has diagonal pockets lined with wool twill and is very light. (rav link)

• I finished Saint Denis Cardigan – it is a tiny bit too big, but does a great job as an outer layer, it’s lovely, soft and comfortable. I omitted short rows in the collar, really prefer it flat. I tried to to as much as possible in one piece and I may have decreased for v-neck in a wrong place. You can’t tell though, can you? (rav link)

Looking forward to having some time off for Christmas (when I say off, I mean that I have to write essays, but I can do it from home and sneak in some knitting time) and putting my feet up for a bit.

Stylish dress book 2

I am a proud owner of the second book in this series. I’ve been lusting over it for a good while now. Which one should I make first?

I got mine from here!

The doily dress (and a few tops)

Do you remember Pochee magazine I’ve shown you a while ago? Well, I’ve finally pulled myself together I made that dress you can see on the cover. I used heavy linen form Fabric Land and a vintage doily from Snooper’s Paradise (great flea market in Brighton). I slip-stitched it on top just before sewing on the neckline facings. It looks quite professional if you don’t notice that little bit of wonkiness (is that even a word accepted by Oxford Dictionary?). The only modification to the pattern was rounding the corners of the neckline – only slightly though. It’s a little too long to look flattering over jeans, but I’m sure it will be great with wooly tights.

I like slightly A-line tops, and I love the neckline in this dress, so I decided to make a few tops based on it. I took the bust part of the dress, extended it and made it an inch wider towards the bottom, then did the same with the back. The result, as you can see below, is an easy and quick basic top pattern, that can be easily altered so it’s not so boring.

Green top was the first one I made. In the original pattern facings on the neckline didn’t require interfacing, so I decided to try it like that. On the neckline it wasn’t a problem really, but I didn’t put the sleeves in, and sewn on facings instead. The sleeves facings really need to be interfaced, they look messy after a wash, and sometimes they stick out. So in the rest of the tops I interfaced all the facings, just to be sure. They look a lot better. I have now plenty of ideas how to spice up that basic pattern. Perhaps with some embroidery?

New header from Rio

My niece Rio has drawn a new header for my blog. I hope you’ll like it as much as I do!

L is for lavender

I am a crazy lavender lover, I must admit. There is nothing better than a bit of lavender oil in your bath to help unwind after a long day. It is also my friend and companion in a fight against evil moths. I have one of my plants on a windowsill, and any bigger gust of wind fills the room with the most wonderful, dreamy scent.

My plants are too small still for a big harvest (in their first year you’re supposed to go easy on them), so I bought some very inexpensive (£1.70/25g) dried lavender from Neal’s Yard Remedies. I had in my mind some lavender bags, which I could use inside pillows and in the wardrobe.

I sketched the pattern directly onto some calico, since I didn’t need them to be exactly the same size, so I didn’t have to be very precise. I wanted to construct them like some of the pillowcases, with a flap, for ease of making.

I gave embroidery another go. I didn’t enjoy using cotton floss, it was too fine, flimsy, and took so long, it almost put me off – but every time I visit tiny happy blog or shop I wish I wasn’t so rubbish at it. Thick wool seemed like a much better resource to work with for somebody so impatient and desperate for immediate results. I managed to embroider 6 sachets in about an hour and I was really rather pleased with the appearance of wool. I will definitely embroider some more things in the future.

Some of the sachets were intended to hang in the wardrobe, so I added a small loop at the back flap, for the hangers to go through.

Each was then filled with a large spoonful of dried lavender wrapped in some muslin cloth. I am certain I will be making more – it seems like some shelves in a wardrobe were left out.

Devil is in the detail

Recently, whilst shopping in Lidl, I came across a stamp with interchangeable rubber letters, with ink that was intended for paper and textiles. I immediately thought my handmade clothing would benefit greatly from having some labels. Being able to change the text means I could personalise them for every recipient (should I wish to give any of them away). If they ever end up in a charity shop, somebody else would be able to appreciate the time I spent making it (hopefully).

I finished my Garter Yoke Cardigan a while ago now, but it took some time to properly block it and sew the label in. I love it – it is comfortable, in a very nice colour, and it should be warm enough to keep me happy in the winter.

Troon Tweed gets softer with wash and wear, so that’s a great incentive to wear it lots. It’s a little too hot now though, I should be probably sewing some swimwear instead!