My Sewing Space

I was quite taken with Joji Locatelli's Lemongrass when I first saw it. I liked the split sides, the simple cable down the front and the turtleneck. The heavier gauge appealed to me also - faster to knit and a warm, cozy sweater in the end. I went with one of the yarns recommended in the pattern; Malabrigo Yarn Twist in black. I loved this yarn and would like to knit another sweater with it. It is soft and squishy and not at all itchy. Sometimes even soft wool yarns in a scarf or turtleneck start to really bother my neck by the end of the day, but this one doesn't bother me at all. So good. The only modifications I made to the pattern were very simple ones. Length was added to the front and back, but not equally - the back is longer than the front. Since I think loose sleeves on a sweater easily look sloppy, I went down a needle size for the sleeves. I like a substantial turtleneck and I have a long neck, so I added a whole lot to the neck, knitting the first half o...

Whoa! A knit item to blog about! This cowl is what I have to show for many miles traveled during the summer and fall of 2013. I don't knit much anymore, but I do like to have something to take along on road trips. I wanted to try some lacework, but knew that I wasn't going to be able to be a slave to a chart. So, the Hunter St. Cowl seemed like a good choice - some lace work, but nothing too complicated. The combination of yarn and pattern made it a pleasure to knit. I don't have the ball band anymore, so I don't know the exact info about this yarn, but I know it is baby alpaca and I'm pretty sure alpaca is my favorite sort of yarn. It has the best of what wool has to offer without the itch. No road trips in the near future for me, so it'll probably be mostly dishcloths coming off the needles for awhile again. :)

I made this knitting needle case for my mom's birthday. It is intended for double-pointed and circular needles and I really like the zippy pouch to hold all the other knitting tools. It folds up in thirds and ties with a ribbon. It's hardly visible in the picture, but I quilted the outer layer with a large diamond grid. The pattern called for fusible fleece, but I didn't have any on hand. Using regular batting worked pretty well. The pattern is from this book, Everyday Handmade by Cassie Barden and Adrienne Smike , which I picked up at my local quilt shop several months ago. The instructions were good and there are a number of other cute projects that I'd like to try, like this lady bug coin purse... This Weird Science lap quilt is actually what made me want to buy the book. Love it! But, actually, I should probably first make myself one of the knitting needle cases. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I had to pull my dpns and circulars out of ...

It was cold here today (-26C when I took the kids to school this morning- brrrrr!) but I stayed warm inside working in my sewing room. Back in July , I started knitting a cardigan for myself - Rosamund's Cardigan by Andrea Pomerantz from the Fall 2009 issue of Interweave Knits . I finally finished knitting it while we were away for Christmas and today I finished the finishing - refining the shape and sewing on buttons, hooks, and eyes. Now I am happy with it. Before today, I wasn't sure about it. While I was knitting, I knew that I was going to want the sweater to be longer than what the pattern said. But, I added the length at the very bottom (the sweater is knit from the top down) when I should have added it in between the waist decreases and increases. It resulted in a sweater that had a shape very different from my own. Ripping out half of the sweater didn't sound appealing to me (remember that it took me six months to knit this!) so today I decided to try steam...

Several months ago I made a mini sweater . Now that sweater is on our Christmas tree and I really like it there. I decided to look for some other miniature knitted things to put on the tree as well. My search led me to these Mini Mittens . The grey pair were the first ones I made. I like how they turned out, but grey isn't a great color for a Christmas ornament - not very festive and hard to see on the tree. I also wanted them to be even smaller, so I made another pair from multi-colored sock yarn on size 1 needles. These were just what I was hoping for (they're about an inch long). But, they aren't on our tree because I tied them to a Christmas card envelope and gave them away. Now I have to make another set. But, this is fun, fast knitting. I might make a couple more sets.

It's been awhile since I had a post about knitting.  That's because there hasn't been much knitting going on. I did these dishcloths sometime in the spring: Good instant gratification knitting. I did most of them on a trip to visit family and they're all for me. The one that is second from the left was started and half finished during an 80 minute wait at the border crossing into the US.  It was just me and the three kids and it was the only thing that kept me from jumping off the bridge. Knitting is soothing. Then I finished these: I started them last September.  I finished one and had a couple of inches done on the second and completely lost interest. When I needed some mindless knitting for another road trip, I picked it up and am happy that they're finished. There is some serious ladder unattractiveness along the top of the foot, but still, I'm going to be happy with them. The yarn is hand-dyed and the colors are really amazing.  I will enjoy weari...

I know I said that this space would be quiet for while I was working on window treatments, but I sneaked in some quick projects between one shade being done and the next ones being dropped off. For this top, I went back to my well-loved Kwik Sew 2918 .  This is for my five-year-old daughter and I think I've got it modified to a place where I really like it for her - a good, feminine fit. I started with size T3, took it in at the waist, added some length, and scooped out the neck. I've made puffed sleeves for this pattern before, but they were always too long.  This time I think they look much better. The ruffles are 3/4" strips of fabric gathered with a single line of stitching using a long stitch length and high tension down the center of the strip.  I just sewed them onto the shirt following the gathering stitches. It took me awhile to decide on the ruffles.  I was initially hoping for some fabric flowers for embellishment, but didn't really like any...

Bummer.

I finished my Owls sweater and I am so happy with it.  I mentioned before that I've never knit myself a whole sweater before, but after this I think I'll do it again and again and again. I'm happy with the fit.  The right sleeve looks shorter in the picture above, but they are actually the same length.  Knitting in the round does have some disadvantages, but for this project I really liked being able to try it on to check the length both in the body and the sleeves. Blocking really helped with the shaping in the back.  The increases and decreases created some strange lumps and bumps that flattened out nicely.  Blocking also helped smooth out the owls a lot.  I have been frustrated before by yarn that relaxes a lot during blocking - enough to even change the gauge.  This yarn ( Cascade Ecological Wool ) didn't do that at all.  I kind of held my breath during blocking really hoping it would come out the same size.  I was r...

I'm having a great time knitting the owls sweater .  I'm not a fast knitter, but this is coming together quickly and it's encouraging to see progress each time I work on it. It's a lot of stockinette stitch, which many find boring, but I don't.  And most of the sweaters that I really like are mostly stockinette stitch, so that's what I'm doing. The shaping is all at the back, rather than along the sides. The yarn is Cascade Ecological Wool and I love it.  I needed to double the strand to get the right gauge (I'm a tight knitter, I guess). I just have to finish the second sleeve, the join the sleeves to the body and then come the owls.  Hoot!

My favorite felted slippers have been in dire need of replacement for some time now.  I finally got around to it. This is the second time I've used this pattern.  I wish I could give proper credit for the pattern, but it is from a book I checked out of the library more than two years ago.  I copied the pattern so I could mark it up and then kept it after I was finished.  The copy doesn't have any book info on it. Here they are pre-felted: The green yarn is Paton's Classic Wool and the blue is Lamb's Pride Worsted. I made a women's size large, which is probably bigger than I needed, but I like them to be felted as much as possible so they are nice and thick. After two cycles in the washer, they turned out pretty good.  I think one is slightly bigger than the other.  The soles are still damp, so I haven't really tried them on.  They may need another cycle (or partial cycle). My feet are looking forward to wearing them!

Thanks for the compliments on the make-up bag.  I did draft the pattern myself, just using the measurements from the original bag and adjusting them for the requested change.  I find that I really kind of like the process of trying to copy something as closely as possible. Awhile ago I saw someone (on a blog) wrap a tea towel and dish cloth around a wooden spoon and tie it up with a ribbon.  Viola!  A great gift.  I liked this idea and decided to use it this Christmas.  Unfortunately, I can't find the blog where I saw it.  And I've really searched because I can't get mine to look very good tied around the spoon. Anyway, these will be gifts for school and Sunday school teachers, babysitters, etc. Dish cloth pattern: Garter Stitch Lace Facecloth Dish cloth pattern: Lacy Picot Swirl Cloth Dish cloth pattern: Lion Brand Lion Cotton Dish Cloth Dish cloth pattern: Diagonal Knit Dish Cloth Dish cloth pattern: Lace Zig Zag Dishcloth Pat...

The second item that the shop owner wanted is a little bag to hold a bar of soap or soap slivers that is also used like a washcloth.  She mentioned maybe doing them out of terry cloth, but I couldn't find that in the fabric store here.  I thought knitting one would work just as well and maybe better as it could stretch to fit different size bars of soap. The yarn is 100% cotton - not my favorite to knit with, but likely the best for this purpose.  It is worsted weight and I knit it on size 3 needles as I wanted it to start out firm with just a little stretch.  When it is wet, it will stretch more.  I don't get so excited about seaming knits, so this is knit in the round from the top down and the bottom is closed with a three-needle bind off.  I love the way seed stitch looks and thought the texture would be a good thing for this, so that's what I did for the whole bag, except for three rounds.  One round of knit above an eyelet row, then the ey...

These are the first socks that I have knit for someone other than me!  I think my daughter was a good choice.  She's as excited about these socks as I am. I used the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns for these.  My daughter's feet were in between the sizes offered, so I figured out how many stitches to cast on using the gauge that I was knitting at and the number of inches that I wanted.  So, I needed the sock to be 6" in circumference and was knitting at 8sts/inch - that means I needed 48 stitches.  I was still able to use the charts in the book since one of the size/gauge combinations was for a 48 st sock.  I just followed those numbers, and used my own inch measurements when those were needed. I like how the 2 x 2 rib continues down the foot of the sock, but I'm not happy with how it looks where the rib meets the smooth sole stitches.  Before starting the heel flap, I divided the ribs on the edges so that the stitches for the top of the foot h...

I'm really liking this sock. I like the yarn, I like the pattern, I like how it feels on. Too bad that those few loops of yarn on the right is all that is left. Boo. As you can see, the sock is not nearly long enough. I do have another skein, but that should be for the other sock. I could start on that skein to finish this sock, but then the second sock would just barely cover my heel with this yarn. I think I'll probably finish this sock with some other yarn (ideally from stash) and then do the same for the second one. At least they will match then, even though they won't really look great. The different part will be covered up by my shoe most of the time, anyway. This experience makes me want to try knitting socks starting at the toe. This is some interesting yarn. My MIL gave it to me. I love the color and it is wonderfully soft. It is a bit fuzzy, so stitch definition is pretty poor, but I'm still liking how it is turning out. If you can read the ball band, you...