Knitting Takes the Lead

Once again I've gotten to the point in the sewing cycle when I have enough for the current season, and absolutely no motivation to sew for the season to come. It's OK, it happens -- I'll machine knit instead.

I started a cardigan last winter and then decided it wasn't what I wanted. Instead of unraveling right then and there and starting something different, I put it aside. That's normally the kiss of death for any of my projects, but I came across it this year and decided I liked the yarn too much to let it just sit. So I headed over to Knit It Now  and created a simple raglan pullover by putting in my gauge to a pattern template called Flirt. It's a nice benefit of membership -- there are many patterns which can be tailored to your size and gauge. I changed the pattern very slightly by ignoring the waist shaping, since I was after a boxier silhouette. And here it is:

The yarn is "Northfield" by Valley Yarns, 70%merino/20%baby alpaca/10%silk.

I used my plastic bed mid-gauge LK-150 for the knitting. The machine has no ribber, so the sleeve and hem ribbing was formed by re-latching stitches, and the neckband was knit by hand. People often ask "how long did it take?", and although I will probably never be organized enough to actually time myself, I can say I usually knit one piece of the garment per day and spend (at least) one day on sewing up and other finishing details. So, 5 days for this simple sweater. Not too bad -- it's an easy, no-stress pace, and for sure I couldn't hand knit it in that amount of time.

And here's a close up look at the neckline:

I also got a few pairs of socks done for Mr. Minglingyarn.  I use the Erlbacher Gearhart "Speedster" circular sock knitting machine for those. Although there is a ribbing attachment and various ribber dials available for this machine I use a simple hung hem for the top edge of the socks. When I first ordered the machine I thought I would first get proficient using it without the ribber and then invest in the additional pieces. That never happened as we discovered that hemmed socks work just fine for us. Made the correct size for the calf they stay up nicely. Since I don't knit them for sale I decided why not save that money spent on a ribber for yarn?  Works for me! 

He ended up with four pairs, but here's what one pair looks like:

And hand knitting was in the mix too. I finished up a previously shown Hitchhiker Beyond, and knocked out a Peu de Pluie Neckwarmer knit from yak hair.  No way I was getting a good photo of dark yarn on a dark, snowy day, but here's my attempt: 

I wanted a deeper neck than the amount of yarn I had would have allowed using the smaller size. So I fudged around with number of repeats for the various sections. My apologies to the designer, Anne Hanson, but needs must.

So, all in all a productive time. And perhaps in a few days I'll feel like doing some Spring sewing. I may have bought a few yards of fabric for just that very thing. 😀

Need a lift? Make a hat!

 Well, is there anyone out there that doesn't need a lift after the week (month, year, 4 long years) we've had here in the US? I know I definitely did -- so I escaped to my sewing room and attempted something light-hearted and fun.

My go-to for fun is always going to be a hat, and so I looked to a tried and true pattern - Vogue 9082, a collection of styles by Patricia Underwood. It's sadly OOP, but worth searching for if you too like hats that are easy to wear and very well drafted. 

I went with view B, small upturned brim.  Although the pattern recommends using velvet or velveteen for this style I went with a wool blend double-knit that I happened to have a large scrap of that needed using.  It's a stable knit with not much stretch, so it worked out just fine. It has a smooth side, and the reverse is just a bit more wooly looking, so I went with the reverse.

Although it looks somewhat navy in the photo, it's a dark grey. And while I like the 3 pink felted balls as trim I'm not entirely sure about using the white felt pinked circle as a base. That may get changed out. Sometimes though you need to go with what you have on hand.

I may have also engaged in a bit of retail therapy too -- also hat related. I'm always on the lookout for nice trims for hats -- those I make or those I buy -- and tried a few things from an Etsy vendor I haven't purchased from before -- Pink Swan Millinery  I was quite pleased with my order -- the items were nice (and as described) and even with pandemic shipping it arrived very quickly. 

Pictured are a bunch of red silk roses, a grey silk velvet rose, and a bunch of holly berries. I hope to use the roses on a summer straw (not as yet purchased) but as yet have no plans for the berries or grey rose.

And while it's not exactly a hat, I also took some time and used up another large scrap that was laying around to make a shower cap. I think that I originally ordered some PUL waterproof fabric to use as a backing for bibs. My youngest grandson is now a strapping almost 5-year old, so who can remember? In any event, just enough for a shower cap! There are plenty of tutorials on line, but I pretty much looked at them to get an estimate for how large a circle I needed to use to make a nice roomy cap. Ultimately I went with a radius of 11.5 inches which in retrospect could have been less. Although I don't have a lot of hair, I apparently do have a slightly larger head, and I hate tight or skimpy things around my head. So, one large circle cut from PUL, edges turned up to form a casing for elastic and voila -- a shower cap! I am leaving out all the naughty words I said while sewing the PUL and concentrating on my nice, new cap. Many thanks to past me for buying a Teflon foot for my machine though -- it was not the nicest stuff to stitch through. I didn't line it -- 1) the PUL was soft and smooth on the inner layer and 2) are you crazy?!

 

What's Your Point?

 Continuing on with stash diving for small projects to knit. The latest on the needles is Hitchhiker Beyond by Martina Behm. The yarn is a lovely hand-dyed from Hand Maiden -- Sea Silk (70% silk/30% Seacell) in the colorway Autumn. It's been marinating for quite a while, and I'm not even sure the yarn is being produced anymore. It's lovely stuff though, and just perfect for an accessory weight (ie not for warmth) scarf.

One thing that has become apparent from working on these small projects from many different types of yarn is how important (to me) the right needle for the job is. 

I learned to knit at the knee of my Scottish step-granny and she was a straight needle gal who tucked the right-hand needle firmly under her right arm and knit like the wind. So, that's what I learned (except the knitting like the wind part). Many years later, I discovered that circulars lent themselves to knitting while on the go, or in any group setting. Circulars are my preference today, and I have representatives of many different types and brands in the collection. They all have their place, but more and more I find myself reaching for one particular style -- sharp pointed metal with pliable cords. As my eyesight gets less sharp I appreciate that the sharper points mean less fumbling with stitch maneuvers like decreases or knitting in the back of the stitch. And who wants to fight with the needle cord, regardless of your needle type? 

My first sharp-pointed circular purchase was a Signature stiletto point. I hadn't heard of them until attending a fiber festival and seeing long lines at their booth. Not going to lie, I gasped at the price ($40US if I remember correctly). This was for one size, in one cord length. Oh my goodness though -- that stiletto point -- it was love. I bought a few as finances allowed, hoping to eventually get a set in my preferred cord length. And then, Signature smashed my dreams by discontinuing fixed length circulars and going to all interchangeable. Now, there's nothing wrong with interchangeable circulars and I can totally understand why they made that decision, but I have never been able to use screw in interchangeable needles without having them unscrew midway through my project. The tragedy!

And then (cue heavenly beam of light and music) I found ChiaGoo Red Lace circulars. They are made from stainless steel, not the pretty colored aluminum of Signature, but oh those points! 

 In the photo the Signature is on the left, and the ChiaGoo on the right. 

As an added incentive, the price is quite reasonable. It varies by needle size and cord length of course, but as an example: a size 4.00 mm (US6) with a 32" cord can be had for under $12US. 

The cords are not as "bendy" as the Signature, but are easy to use and I have yet to have one kink up on me. 

So, unless (until?) Signature goes back to making fixed length circular needles I think I have found my new best friend needle for "most" of my projects. Isn't it wonderful to have choices?

And here's the completed Miami Cuban Mitts:

So soft, so warm -- cashmere I love you! 

To all of you who celebrate anything at all this holiday season -- peace and joy! And may we all look forward to a bright and better 2021.

Addi Flexiflips -- or flops?

 Continuing with my plan to knit smaller projects (and use up some stash) I started a new cap for Mr. Minglingyarn. I've knit it before, and it's a particular favorite for its excellent ear warming capabilities -- the 1898 Hat by Kristine Byrnes. I had an unidentified ball of shades of red hand-dyed, and to make sure I had enough yarn I decided to use Bare Naked Wools Friesian DK for a contrast top. All was going fine until I got to the point of needing double pointed needles to finish off the top. 

I've been knitting a good few years, so I have quite a collection of various needles -- often multiples. But could I find the size double-points I needed to finish the hat? That would be a resounding no. In fact, most of the canvas pencil bags I use to store my dpns were empty -- uh oh, someone's been lazy about putting things back in their proper places. Luckily I remembered that I had bought some Addi Flexiflips back when they were a somewhat new thing and they might just be the size I needed. Also luckily, I had just run across them in a bag of circulars, so no running around looking for anything -- that can be postponed 'til the next knitting crisis.

Without bothering to read anything at all about them, I immediately put my hat stitches on the three needles -- hmmm, that doesn't look right. D'oh, of course! Your work goes on two needles and you knit with the third. Someone could use a remedial knitting course. Basically, the Addi Flexiflips are very short circular needles -- with 3.5" tips and a 1" cord. Also, if I had bothered to do any research on them at all, I would have known that there are two different tips on each needle. One end is the regular Addi turbo tip and the other is a (slightly) pointier Addi Rocket tip. Having grown accustomed to the stiletto-like tips of my lace Chia Goos I would have appreciated the sharper point when making my decreases. So, double d'oh!?

Despite the fact that I was blundering around like an idiot, the Addi Flexiflips worked well for the job I needed them to do. My personal preference would be to have both tips be pointier, but others might not and it's good to have a choice. One thing that did concern me was whether it would be a problem of having enough room on the needles if I had been using a yarn thicker than the DK weight I was using. I hate having to worry about stitches falling off the ends of these (or double-points too) as I merrily knit around.  Another sticking point -- the cost. These seem to run about $24US per size. Now I know why I just bought one pack to try. This isn't to say they're not worth the price, especially if you are an Addi fan, but that will certainly keep me from investing in multiple sizes of them.  Just going to have to go look for all those missing dpns! 

So, thank you past me for investing in just the size Addi Flexiflips I needed to finish up this hat. Now, where did you leave all those dpns?

And currently on the needles: Miami Cuban Mitts by Anne Hanson. 

I'm using a hank of Jade Sapphire cashmere 4-ply that had somehow made its way into the stash -- probably was going to be a gift hat for someone -- but now it will keep a certain someone from constantly complaining about my cold hands. He's right though -- they do stay icy.  😀

Around the block

 I have worked on the fit of my two Connie Crawford bodice slopers, and made up a basic shirt from each, but now it's time to try to replicate a slightly different design using my basic block. I like to give myself every chance to succeed, so I picked something I thought would be an easy make -- and also something I wanted to wear.

Like a lot of folks, I get catalogs from lots of retailers. One of the ones I get is from a clothing company called Poetry. Have never shopped from the catalog, and I expect I'm not their targeted demographic. While not high fashion, their clothing has simple, clean lines which appeals to me. As a side note, they also seem to offer more natural fiber items than a lot of others in their price range. One of their shirts from the Fall catalog caught my eye, and I decided I'd like to do an interpretation of that. Here's a pic from the catalog page in case the link disappears:

As you can see, it's a fairly simple shirt - loose fitting, with gathers in the back and a deep yoke, uneven hemlines, 3/4 length sleeves. It is listed as collarless, but it appears to have a shallow collar band.

The block I used had a darted front, one piece back with shoulder darts, and short sleeves. So, the changes I needed to make were: divide the back for a yoke and add width to the back 'skirt' to allow for gathered fullness. Add length to both front and back pattern pieces and add extra to the back for an uneven hemline. Add length to the sleeves to make them full length rather than the 3/4 length of the inspiration garment. I used the collar stand from Butterick 5678 to make the band collar.

The back yoke appears deeper than a standard shirt yoke. I went with a finished depth of 7.5" (19 cm). The one measurement of the original garment I had was a finished length of 29.5" (75 cm) so it was easy to lengthen the back skirt to reflect that, and then 6" (15 cm) was added for additional width.  The front was lengthened to finish at 2.5" (6 cm) shorter than the back.  I went with 3" (7.5 cm) for the hem turn up on fronts, back and sleeves.  All depth measurements (other than finished back length)  -- yoke, difference between front & back, hem turn ups -- were guesses. Hopefully educated guesses, but if I do something like this again I will probably go full on math and measure proportions from the photo.

And here's what I ended up with:

The fabric is a brushed cotton flannel from fabric.com (Kaufman Shetland Flannel Net Pepper) and the buttons were rushed to me (seriously, I got them the day after ordering without any additional payment!) from Wawak -- Mussel Shell Buttons, Dark Smoke color.

So, I am happy with the finished product. I learned a few things, and definitely could have done some things better, but I feel it's a pretty good first effort. I'll definitely be trying this again, and hopefully will have the confidence to up the difficulty level. 

Winter is coming

 Although the weather here is still quite balmy, it's guaranteed that eventually cold weather will be arriving. So, in an effort to avoid endless exposure to "you-know-what" on social media and the news I've been doing a fair bit of knitting.

How about a cozy cap? I've knit this pattern before, but this version is for me. It's the Orvieto Hat by Nina Machlin Dayton and I knit it in Cascade 220. I prefer a looser fit in a knitted hat (all the better to not mash the hairdo down) and this pattern fits the bill.

The next piece holds more meaning (to me) than simply keeping warm. It's the Dissent Cowl by Carissa Browning. The designer was inspired by the collar worn by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (US Supreme Court) when she dissented from a court decision. It just seemed fitting to be working on this while momentous decisions about the future of our country were being made. A further attraction was the designer's decision to donate  to the American Civil Liberties Union in RBG's honor - I believe the total donation was over $41,000 US - excellent!

But beyond that, I was knitting it with a yarn from very deep stash. A yarn purchased at Stitches East (now defunct) when it was held in Valley Forge, PA -- so, a very long time ago. It is a 4-ply cashmere from Cashmere America - now also not in existence. Why it took me so long to get around to knitting with it I do not know -- perhaps I have too much yarn? No, that can't be it. At any rate, it was a nice reminder of a time long past when knitting expos were a new-ish thing and folks got together and had good times without regard to anything other than the joy of our craft. 

The Cashmere America yarn is the lighter (undyed) color -- the other yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy with cashmere. It has variations in the (mostly) dark green color, but that doesn't show up too well in the photo -- or in real life actually. It was my first attempt at working anything in mosaic slip stitch, and didn't take too long to get into a nice working rhythm. The Dream in Color yarn was a bit lighter weight than the 4-ply cashmere, but didn't pose a problem. 

Here's a closer look at the stitch pattern -- 

And next it's off to the sewing room to attempt to replicate a design from RTW using my shirt block-- wish me luck!

WHAT?! Another coatigan?

 Yup, but hold on -- there's a good reason for yet another coatigan. For one thing, the climate here is well suited to a light-weight coat or jacket and it could see wear far into December, then again as Spring approaches. But really, I mostly wanted to use up a length of boiled wool that had been hanging around the stash closet for a while (a couple of years? Maybe). Even though I find cool toned colors more flattering now that my hair is a silver/dark grey combo, I still have a goodly amount of warmer colors in nice fabrics from before -- and what better use than an outerwear garment that can go over the more flattering colors and then be removed when you go inside? See, reasons!

So, once more -- McCall's 7476 in view D, a nice shawl collar (a favorite of mine) and patch pockets for those necessary items when out for a brisk walk in the autumn air. Which is pretty much my only reason for leaving the house these days. 

The pockets were upsized just a bit, and given a slightly slanted top. Instead of a raw edged finish on the sleeve and bottom hems I did three rows of top stitching on a turned up hem. The collar also has the same topstitching, as does the top edge of the pockets. Shoulder and side seams were sewn conventionally, not lapped, and were topstitched on either side of the seam in order to hold down the seam allowances. Only one row on either side of the seam though, not the triplicate of the hems. By some feat of serendipity I found a vintage button in my collection that nicely matched the color of the boiled wool, and instead of a buttonhole I made a simple thread chain to loop around it.

There was some pants sewing also, but not pictured. Nothing much to be seen from navy pants on a hanger. The pattern used was Vogue 8909, an athletic style pant for woven fabrics. So -- sweatpants with pretentions. The fabric used was a Tencel twill from Stylemaker Fabrics. As you would expect, it frayed fairly easily, but was pleasant to sew. 

I'm a bit "meh" about them. They fit, and will get worn, but they won't be a favorite reached for again and again. I made view B, which has self-fabric elasticated cuffs and I knew sewing them up that they were slightly cropped (i.e. above ankle length) but I was hoping to step outside my comfort zone and try something new. Umm, no. That length just doesn't feel as comfortable in this style of pant (to me). Well, live and learn. 

Still hoping to get started on the slacks block pattern from Connie Crawford, but I keep putting it off for other things. I think because I know this block/sloper pattern will require much more work than the two shirt patterns of hers that I just made up.