Version 2s, or new and improved

Let's face it, like a lot of knitters out there, I am a bit lazy. I really should start by reading the pattern carefully, thinking about any modifications I want to make, drafting them and then starting. Sometimes I read others' comments on Ravelry. Most of the time, I skim the pattern, start knitting and then realise how I could have changed it to make my life easier (its always about making my life easier!).

This is partly why the second time around is always easier. So for my friends' Christmas knits this year I decided to make the modified versions of a few projects I have made in the past year to see if there are any improvements.

First was Almond Comfit. For my version I used a variegated yarn and I made the medium size, which makes it more beret-like because there is a lot more body to the hat. For my friend I opted for the smaller size because her head is, I think, smaller, but after trying it on myself I decided that I would have preferred this one too. It still has an element of slouchiness (so its not quite a beanie) but its more tightly fitted and I think perhaps more flattering. I also used plain colour yarn and so the flower is now far more visible. All in all, I would say an improvement!

Next were the Lush Lace mitts, which I also made earlier this year and I love! But I figured that they can easily be made on the round throughout, and still add the buttons for prettiness. At first I converted all the stitches to knitting on the round (so knit all round for stockinette, purl all round for reverse stockinette and knit on RS/purl on WS for garter). Then I realised that the garter stitch was only there to 'house' the buttons so I decided (around row 6) to switch to reverse stockinette and reduce the number of stitches so that there are only 2, as with the reverse stockinette in the middle of the pattern (in between the two blocks of lace). 

So, to cut a long story short, if you want to convert this one to knit on the round, cast on 30 stitches instead of 32, and do two stitches in reverse stockinette (so purl all rows) in between the two blocks of lace (which should be in knit throughout). I added two buttons but because its made in the round you can get away with just having them plain.

Finally, we have Catching Butterflies, which have become my favourite lightweight mitts. When I first made them I had thought that the body didn't need to be as long, and so that only two (rather than three) repeats before the thumb would work just as well. I had also considered making the top a little longer to increase finger coverage for warmth. For these, I only shortened the body but kept the top the same as I have found that I quite like the length for those not-so-cold days (the yarn is not warm enough anyway when its actually cold). 

These were probably my least successful V2s, mainly due to the yarn choice rather than the modification. The original was made with a merino yarn (Debbie Bliss Rialto 4-ply), which is softer and has better stitch definition than the yarn I used here (I had had it in my stash for ages, I am not 100% sure what it is but I think its Regis wool sock yarn). I also have a feeling that this yarn was a bit finer than the one I used for the originals. 

Regardless, it is clear that they work just as well shorter, so if you are feeling a bit lazy or are short of yarn, then go for it. 

I also messed up the thumb slightly (its in purl rather than knit, or rib, which I think is what the original pattern called for), but we can pretend that this was a design feature ;)

Stitch and story's Aloc jumper, aka fastest jumper ever

I had a bit of crafty weekend (or week even, the joys of being a student!). During the day I sewed my Francoise dress, and in the evening I knitted a jumper. Don't ask me why, for some reason in my head sewing is a daytime activity and knitting is done in the evening in front of the TV.

This is the Aloc jumper from Stitch and Story, which I bumped into at the Knit and Stitch show in October. They lured me in with their squishy, soft merino wool and the promise of a chunky lacy jumper that only needs four skeins of yarn. I was sold. My plans of buying some bulky/super chunky yarn to make the Swizzle Vest from the Domiknitrix book (that's where the Sweetheart jumper is from by the way, don't ask how that is going!) went out of the window.

I even paid £8 for the pattern, which to me is outrageous. I should note here that Stitch and Story is a similar idea to Wool and the Gang, which sell knitting kits, primarily using chunky yarn, and their patterns are similarly outrageously priced. I can't understand the logic behind it other than their target is the beginner knitter, who doesn't know that buying a pdf pattern on Ravelry will cost about £3-5 for most designers. I paid for it though so whatever, I'm easily convinced to part with my money.

Anyway, back to the jumper. Its actually a very basic lace/fishnet design knitted flat (yes, despite my better judgment...) in four pieces (front panel, back panel and two sleeves). And its made using 12mm needles. And its cropped, with short sleeves. It took me 3 days to knit... Yes, 3 days! That must be some kind of record in jumper knitting surely.

Pre-assembly

The final product

BUT... I hated knitting with the 12mm needles. They are so hard to handle, so awkward and uncomfortable. And it probably took me as long to knit half the front panel as it took me to assemble it. On the other hand, 3 days... I can live with the annoyances.

Random action shot of me reading

I did have some issues with the pattern though, in case anyone does decide to buy the kit. I was told I only needed four skeins of yarn (at 100g each) but I run out of yarn (even though I made the small version) and could not make the sleeves long enough. And because the sleeves are meant to gradually increase in stitch count from bottom up to match the number of stitches on the body, I had trouble sewing them on, and they feel a bit weird around the shoulders. I also spotted a couple of mistakes in the written pattern itself: for the front panel, it says to repeat the lace row 12 more times to a total of 48 rows, but that doesn't add up, it should say to repeat 11 more times (or 12 times in total). And for the back panel, the shaping of the left hand side does not match the shaping of the right, it should start with 6 repeats, going down to 4.

Regardless of the pattern, I can thoroughly recommend the yarn, in fact I couldn't stop stroking it every time I put my knitting down. They describe it as "super soft like candy floss" and I would  totally agree with that! It could do with being a bit more twisted (hiding the ends was a right pain), but I guess that's what makes it so soft? Either way, I love it - and I haven't been paid to say this!

Holiday stars with Francoise

A couple of years ago Orla Keily did a line for Uniqlo that featured a really cute 60s-style dress with 3/4 sleeves and collar in a range of pretty Orla Keily prints. Within a few weeks, at least three of us at work turned up wearing it. It became one of those slightly stressful affairs where you really want to wear something but don't because you assume that someone else is going to be wearing the same thing.

Anyway, that was kind of a random comment, but when I saw the Francoise dress by Tilly and the Buttons, I immediately thought of that Orla Keily dress (which I still wear loads). So now I had to have the pattern!  (it helped that Tilly did a little pattern sale at some point in November so I could justify it on top of the Love at First Stitch book).

I thought I'd be a bit more organised and aim for a more successful sewing session by making a toile - this is basically a fake, pre-dress to check if you need to alter the pattern. My duvet cover dress (!) seemed ok other that the waist doing with a bit of taking in; I had combined two different sizes already to accommodate the hips but I couldn't work out how to go down a size at the waist. The sleeves also seemed to be positioned slightly in the wrong place and felt a little tight.

Lovely duvet cover dress

I also wanted to try Tilly's method of tracing the pattern directly onto the fabric. It didn't work, at least not with this fabric. I tried white, yellow, red and blue tracing paper, but you could barely see the marks. I spent hours trying to do this, determined to make it work. In the end, I settled for using the carbon to transfer the pattern onto tracing paper (which was much easier than using a pen).

So without further ado, here is the real thing. I am sooooo happy with it, I couldn't stop staring at it after I finished it late last night (it took some marathon sewing sessions to get it done by the end of the weekend).

Yes, it could be a bit more fitted around the waist (I improved on the toile by taking the back darts in, which were simpler than the the front darts). And yes, it is a little loose around the back shoulder area. But at this point I am happy to have made such a pretty dress that fits me. I am sure that with time and confidence I will learn to make alterations to make the fit even better.

I shortened the sleeves slightly (by 5 cm) from the pattern and also changed the seam allowance to 1cm, which took care of the restriction I experienced with the toile. I'd also seen that Tilly suggested adding ribbon to the Megan dress, and I thought that might work quite well here too.

All in all, I would say this is the most successful project so far, and the one I am going to wear the most. I see many of these dresses, in different fabrics and pattern variations, in the future :)

Sew Over It dressmaking escapades

With knitting, I am completely self-taught (books, youtube!), which was mostly fine although I am sure some things may have been easier if I had had some hands-on  help. I had been debating whether a sewing class might be a good idea (for example, to actually find out the best way to do zips as opposed to the many of ways I discovered online...). And after some deliberation I decided to try out the Intro to dressmaking weekend at Sew Over It, a sewing shop/cafe in London.

I have to note here that I took this course in October, so this is a very very belated review. I kept meaning to take nice pictures of me wearing my makes and absolutely failed, so I decided to just take photos of the clothes - you will just have to imagine me wearing them (I've worn the skirt twice already so you may even remember it).

The shop in Clapham is a lovely space spread over two floors (we were in the basement but there was another course going on upstairs), with very friendly staff and lots of beautiful fabrics to choose from. Wasn't the best location for me, but they have recently opened a second shop which I may need to visit in the future.

The course was spread over a weekend, with the Saturday involving sewing a circle skirt and the Sunday a shift dress. There were only three of us on the Saturday and four on the Sunday, which was great because we had more space to work and more personal attention from the teacher, Laurel Waldron.

I arrived bright and early on the Saturday (so early in fact that I had to wait 20 minutes until they actually opened the shop), with my bunny fabric purchased from the Knitting and Stitching Show, eager to learn. I had been a little paranoid the day before and practiced by making yet another cushion, just to make sure I remembered how to use the sewing machine!

Everything was going smoothly at first: we cut the pattern to our size, learned how to place the pieces on the fabric, and sewed the pieces together. I even had time for a giant slice of chocolate cake!

Now, my memory is a little fuzzy, but I think it went a bit wrong for me after we installed the zipper (which fingers crossed I have now established in my head and will no longer have trouble with in the future). The pattern for this skirt involves hand-stitching the waistband for a more professional finish, at which point I discovered that, like with knitting, black is a terrible colour because you just can't see anything - which is annoying because I love black. So here I fell a little behind everyone else, and the competitive side of me got a bit stressed about being last.

This continued when we were doing the hem, which was sewn with the machine but was a right pain because it took ages of ironing and pinning, this being a giant circle skirt. (Note: I sort of messed it up and so decided to rip it when I got home and hem it again. And did a terrible job of it again. But as Laurel kept saying to me, practice, practice).

Don't the bunnies look a bit like pineapples??

Full circle!

On day 2, dress day, I was determined to do better. Once again, measure, pin, cut, sew pieces together (and useful tips on how to modify pattern to fit my measurements). Then came the overlocker, and things went a bit downhill once again. Using the overlocker on a straight seam was easy and quite fun actually, but when it came to more curved lines it was really hard to control (practice, practice!). I started falling behind once again, and kept getting flustered when things like my bobbin run out (twice...).

Aaaanyway, with Laurel's help I mostly finished it, with just the hem to do at home. Which was a good thing because when I got home the dress was too tight (despite correct measurements and expanding to accommodate the big hips). I attempted to fix this by opening up the seam, which made it marginally better but still did not look particularly flattering (perhaps not the best dress shape for me). 

But all is not wasted, the pattern is drafted to also make a top or tunic, so I decided to cut the dress and make it into a cute little smart top. 

All in all, a great weekend with some useful tips and two semi-wearable garments. I had concluded that I probably wouldn't make the skirt again, but its actually quite fun to wear so it may have a little sibling in the future.

Fairy tale knitting: snakes and foxes

I love knitting for my nephews, as I can go crazy and pick really fun patterns for them. This year I went for scarves to keep their little necks warm (for when it actually gets cold in Greece), focusing on an animal theme.

The first one is the Wiggly Worm scarf, which can be modified to make a snake instead (and let's face it, a snake scarf is way cooler than a worm scarf). This is a very simple thin scarf, intentionally knit in stockinette to make it curl in itself, and with some increases and decreases for shaping. I had to improvise the tongue, and there is no way I can remember exactly what I did other than I used crochet.

 

I'd like to think of this as a psychedelic snake (I do realise that blue is not exactly the most snake-like colour) that is either rather startled or wears glasses - must be the clear buttons! Either way, I think he is rather cute, surprisingly for a snake.

The second is one that I have wanted to make for ages but couldn't justify to make for myself: Mr Fox, by tiny owl knits (from the same book as my lovely fingerless gloves, catching butterflies). This little guy is more of a neck warmer I guess than a long scarf, with the body and tail knit in one piece, the legs added directly to the main body, and the head knit separately, stuffed and then sewn onto the main body.

It was pretty straightforward as a pattern until right at the end, when I couldn't really understand how to attach the head to main body, and I'm still not entirely sure I did it right (a bit more explanation would have been helpful, unless my cold is also making me a bit stupid). I think I could have done a better job, as he looks a bit of a hunchback now.


He is still insanely cute, though, despite his defects (I especially love his white paws and edge of tail).


Both scarves were made using Red Heart Solid, the aran weight for Mr Snake and the 4-ply for Mr Fox. The pattern for Mr Fox offers two options, one for a bigger and chunkier scarf and one knit in 4-ply that is meant to be worn as a stole. I decided to go somewhere in between and use the 4-ply held double (which apparently would give a DK weight yarn) and 5mm needles. If I were to make it again (for myself perhaps?) I would probably go for the bigger fox and hope that I don't look like a crazy lady!

Barter economy with an old favourite, Fetching

I got a knitting commission! Well, actually this is not my first, but it's the first that I actually completed in exchange for something. I call this 'barter economy' because the exchange was with my yoga teacher, and she is paying me in classes :).

Her request was simple: fingerless gloves, in bright pink (thankfully still have lots of the pink Manos yarn), with minimum finger coverage. I personally am not a big fan of the non-thumbed fingerless gloves, so I wasn't really aware of any nice ones that were constructed in the round and did not have a thumb (and as you know, I tend to avoid seams in knitting, so did not want to knit them flat). By browsing trusty Ravelry, I came a cross a few patterns that constructed a thumbhole by including a few rows of knitting back and forth, and so I decided to use that logic to modify an old favourite, Fetching.

At the time of writing, Fetching had 20,314 projects on Ravelry! There's a reason it's so popular: the pattern is well-written, the gloves are simple and fast to knit, yet still look impressive because of the cables, and unless modified to be longer, they use very little yarn. I myself have made them twice already, and have also knitted the popular Fetching-inspired Owlings a couple of times. The benefit of this is that I know that 45 stitches it far too many (especially because they stretch a lot - although now I realise that in the past I cast on 40 stitches but this time I did 35... they still fit though).

Here is what I did to omit the thumb:

- On row 12, start working straight, knitting back and forth. This means that on WS rows you need to purl the knits and knit the purls (ie purl 4, knit 1).
- Continue like this up to the row where the thumb opening is made.
- Knit 1 more row straight in rib pattern, then join back in the round and continue as in original pattern.

One other modification was to omit the first cable in the pattern, but this was mainly because I had started making a different pair of gloves which I didn't like, and didn't want to rip all the way to the start.

A new life, and the Lush Lacy Mitts to go with it

Its been a while, again - I would have thought that being a student again would mean having lots of spare time to do my knitting and sewing projects, but with post-work travels, freelance work and getting to grips with philosophy, I have been pretty busy. However, there is always time for knitting, and with temperatures dropping I decided I needed a new pair of fingerless gloves (a girl can never have enough pairs, clearly my favourite thing to knit!).

These are the Lush Lace Mitts, which I saw on craftsy's facebook feed and immediately had to have. I was drawn to the lace (as usual), as well as the aran-weight yarn, which together make for a pretty and fast knit. The buttons make them look quite dainty as well, they remind me of my Veyla gloves, which have been my favourites for quite some time now but sadly are starting to pile.

I was a little sceptical of knitting them with 5.5mm needles, as most of my fingerless gloves are made with 4mm needles, but I couldn't quite get the gauge so I settled on my 5mm ones and hoped for the best (winging it as usual). In fact I read somewhere that this yarn is quite stretchy after blocking (will come to this in a moment) so I figured it would all even out eventually.

Aside from that, I pretty much followed the pattern, but made them slightly longer at the top by adding 4 rows of stockinette before binding off.

On to the yarn, Drops Big Merino, which I bought from the Nest stall at the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching show; I had in fact planned to take lots of pretty pictures and write a blog post about the show, but as usual I got completely overwhelmed with yarn and fabric joy that I didn't. What can I say, I'm weak! Anyway, the yarn is very soft and and has a lovely springy quality to it which I absolutely love (I suppose this is why others have complained about it getting too stretchy?). And its a bargain at £3.10! (why are Drops yarns so cheap??). I think it did stretch a bit after blocking but they were a little tight initially so I was sort of counting on it. The only issue might be that they might stretch out with wear (I have a hat made with a similar yarn which is so enormous now, its unwearable).

The buttons I had completely forgotten I had, and found them in my sewing box when I was looking for thread, I think I bought them at the knitting show last year? They are bigger than what I had planned to use, but the tiny buttons I used in Veyla keep coming undone so I figured bigger ones might stay put more easily. I should mention that the gloves don't have buttonholes, I just squeezed the buttons through the lace stitch.

So, overall, I love them and I am sure we will be very happy together! (I am wearing them right now in fact) I don't think they will be very useful when it gets very cold (lace, and fingers quite exposed), but they will be an excellent friend for cold-ish weather.

Link to Ravelry project

Sewing disasters, and my first Delphine skirt

So, cushions done, pyjamas done, zipped cushions done - it was time for my next piece of homework, making a proper, going-to-wear-it-in-public skirt. Yikes! The stakes were high, can't walk around with a tattered skirt that holds the risk of falling off any second. But a girl has gotta practice.

I neglected to take step-by-step photos of this expedition, so you will just have to picture it. The first challenge was to re-size the pattern, the Delphine skirt from Love at First Stitch. By now you know about my disproportionate hips versus waist issues, but this pattern allows resizing, hurrah! I wanted the skirt to sit lower than the picture so I measured that part of my waist, then my hips and then combined to draw a new size.

This time I decided to try a new method of cutting as well - I pinned the cut pattern onto my fabric and then cut it directly rather than re-drawing. I definitely saved time and I don't think it was less accurate, so I might stick to it in the future.

It was all going smoothly, sewing the different parts of the main skirt together, fusing the interfacing to the waistband to make it stiffer, all good. Until I got to the dreaded zip. I didn't blog about this last week, but I had a hell of a time trying to understand how to sew a zip on, as different people seem to do it in completely different ways, and my pattern did not explain what you are supposed to do when you get to the head of the zip (to avoid damaging the needle).

But all that practice helped (that was the intention anyway) so I felt ready to tackle the concealed, or invisible, zip. I even bought the special foot (attachment) for my sewing machine. Yet, when I opened the zip pack, I got confused: what I was holding in my hand did not look like what was on the photo (despite the fact that I selected concealed zip on the menu). The zip teeth were meant to be hidden in the front, but on my zip they were hidden in the back....

So, guess what I did? I winged it, again. I guess I could have ordered another concealed zip and done it properly, but I decided to just attach the regular zip and see what happened.

And it sort of worked. I do have a skirt and it doesn't look like it is going to fall apart any second now. My zip is completely misaligned though, I have no idea how, and why, that happened but hopefully not too obvious.

The main problem is that the skirt does not fit me well at all. It does not sit where I intended it to, it sits where the pattern intended it to (ie high up) - I imagine that to get it to sit lower, I should have made the hips one size bigger? But the issue is that because it is high up, it is actually gigantic!

Too big!

And in case it wasn't clear in the previous photo

The funny thing is that the pattern helpful suggests a point where you can try the skirt on (before finishing the waistband) to see if it fits and if it needs any alterations. However, for some reason when I tried it on then it was too tight around the hips so I decided it was not actually going to fit me at all and I should just finish it regardless.

I'm on a roll! Bandana cowl

I've been even more productive, making a second knit in the same week. This is the Bandana Cowl that I knit for a friend (after, once again, spending hours browsing Ravelry for patterns, and also starting and frogging a few).

Don't ask why there's a weird glow on my face, no photo editing could get rid of it! 

I used some of the Colinette Zero I had left over from the Under the Cover of Midnight cowl, and I can now say with some certainty that I don't really like this yarn. Its frizzy (and I have enough of that in my life already), and heavily textured (which means that the thick and thin bits complicate making anything with lace or with any sort of defined border). The colours are beautiful, its nice, snuggly and warm, but its just a pain. 

This was quite a nice little pattern that I might well make again when knitting gifts, pretty fast because of the short rows, which are used to knit the 'point' of the bandana (another yarn issue here, because of the multiple colours and weird thicknesses, I couldn't quite see the wraps so I had to use a marker as a reminder).

Also, if I were to make it again, I would probably opt for a worsted or aran weight yarn. The pattern calls for bulky yarn  but my gauge was way way off - I decided to go for it with the 6mm needle even though it was not quite right because I was worried it would be too dense with a smaller-size needle. 

So I was basically winging it. I followed the pattern until the wraps, then lost track because of the yarn but then got into a bit of a rhythm. When the short rows were done, I did not follow the decreases as written because the cowl was getting a little too long (wrong gauge and all). I only knitted one row in between for the first three decreases and then did three more decreases consecutively. It worked, somehow. I feel that this is a recurring theme in my life!

Link to Ravelry here

Autumn instant gratification: almond comfit

Autumn is definitely here, despite the random rays of sunshine we seem to be getting. And although its not yet warm woolly weather, I really felt like making a hat just to get myself back into knitting mode. I still intend to finish baby corn, I just needed a bit of an instant fix first to get me there.

I have had a skein of Manos de Uruguay wool classica in various shades of purple (surprise surprise) for almost 2 years now, and it was always going to be a hat. I just hadn't made up my mind about which hat. So in search of a pattern I went, browsing through Ravelry for probably hours until I came across Saturday Treat by Ysolda Teague. 

Now, I'm a big Ysolda fan, so I was quite surprised that there was a collection out there I had never noticed before. This was apparently published in January 2012 and must have gone a little under the radar because the knits have few projects on Ravelry. There are six patterns, in the style of Whimsical Little Knits (so hats, gloves etc), designed and published in collaboration with Fyberspates.

I was immediately drawn to Walnut Whip, but the sport-weight yarn is not exactly compatible with instant gratification. Instead, I opted for Almond Comfit, a beret-style hat with a lace flower shape at the front. 

The construction is weird and can be confusing: it is knitted more like a shawl than a hat, starting with the lace flower and gradually increasing in a sort of triangular shape, which is then decreased and finally joined through a kitchener stitch. I guess think of it a bit as a bandana wrapped and tied at the back of your head?

I was prepared, as everyone on Ravelry had already noted that its confusing, and mainly recommended to follow the instructions without thinking about it. And its true, you just need to follow the instructions. And remember that you are NOT knitting on the round and instead knitting back and forth (that's where I went wrong anyway). I didn't bother with the kitchener stitch, I did a three-needle bind-off instead, which I have decided is my favourite kind of bind off.

Once I understood what I was doing, it just flew by, and by the end of the weekend I had a hat. Yay! Of course the next day it was 22 degrees celcius, but no matter, I am sure it will be here soon.

I have to say, its a little slouchier than I expected. I picked the medium size (yes, it comes in three sizes!) and was a little worried it would be too small or beanie-like, but actually its very much a berret, made a tiny bit slouchier because I got confused in the decreases and knitted an additional two rows by mistake.

Here is the back, to admire the pretty colours!

I tried to take a photo of the flower but for some reason it is really out of focus and almost impossible to see the flower because of the colours. Perhaps this would work best with a solid colour instead to ensure that the lace is clearly visible.

Link to Ravelry here

My week in sewing - cushions, and the Margot pyjamas

While I am still knitting my Baby Corn (albeit in a slower than snail-like pace), I have been experimenting further with sewing. Making cushion covers. Lots of cushion covers. The plan is to eventually replace all the sofa cushions with new, hand-made ones. We have thoughts of replacing the sofa cover as well, but I think I should leave re-upholstering to professionals.

After three cushion covers I decided it was all cushioned out and ready to try something a little different and possibly a little scarier. So I went for project number 2 in my Love at First Stitch book - both of my sewing books are arranged as sort of workshops, with projects increasing in difficulty and different skills introduced in each workshop.

Anyway, back to the project, which was the Margot Pyjamas, an actual item of clothing, even if intended to just be worn at home and not seen by the public. I set off, all eager, first ironing my giant piece of fabric (I guess the recommended length is not for shorties like me), then tracing the pattern onto this transparency thing that I picked up at John Lewis and, after cutting the pattern, tracing it again onto the fabric for cutting.

Yes, a lot of faffing was involved, partially I guess due to inexperience. It took me ages to work out what size to pick (damn you small waist and giant hips), and then the various steps of tracing and re-tracing were so time-consuming, makes me wonder whether the tracing method Tilly recommends might be more efficient. At least now I have the pyjama pattern already traced so one step would be cut if I were to make them again in the same size.

The assembly and sewing itself were fairly straight-forward, apart from the fact that I didn't understand how to join the two legs together and ended up sewing them onto each other (this might not make sense but basically was unwearable and needed picking).

I love them because I made them, but there are some issues with the size. They look big - they are pyjamas after all. But I had to pick a bigger size than I needed to fit them through my hips. The ribbon helps them stay on, but I wonder whether a smaller size with an elastic waistband might work better. At least the length I somewhat arbitrarily picked seems right, they are sort of 3/4 to ankle-length, which is what I wanted.

I also can't decided if I like the fabric. I felt a little overwhelmed when I was at John Lewis and everything just seemed incredibly expensive - who pays £30 for pyjamas, especially badly made ones? (perhaps that is not the right frame of mind though). So I picked up one of the few that was on sale and had colours (purple) that I liked. But it is not the snuggly-type affair you would want from your pyjamas, and I don't even know if I like the pattern anyway.

Anyway, I am still happy with my first ever item of clothing - if you can call pyjamas clothing. I am wearing them right now in fact! 

Learning to draw straight lines - sewing the foxy cushion

Yet another abandoned project you ask? The Baby Corn dress has had a bit of a rough summer, first when I tried it on half-way through knitting it, only to realise that it was gigantic and I would probably never wear it. At that point I decided that I should rip it back to the bust and decrease the number of stitches to make it narrower, and then convert it into a top - something a bit like the Petrie shell, which I wear quite a lot. And then I was on holiday for 2 weeks and had to put it down. But I am determined to finish it eventually!

Poor Baby Corn - back to square one

Summer is apparently the month when a lot of knitters I know pick up their sewing. I was in a bit of a confusion as to whether I wanted a loom or a sewing machine for my birthday, so I just didn't decide and the decision was made for me - a sewing machine is now mine!

When I opened the box and took it out, I was terrified - so many buttons and dials, some many bits and pieces that I could break or lose. My friend, a seasoned sewer (or sewist?), reassured me that it is easy once you to grips with it, so when we got back from holiday I decided to brave some sewing.

After the initial terror of not having a clue how to use it, I managed to experiment using cut-offs from a dress that was in my charity bag, learning to sew in a straight line, and hemmed (very badly!) a pair of tracksuit bottoms that I had cut into shorts a while back.

At that point I felt ready to start a real project - I picked an envelope cushion cover from Sewing Machine Basics, the book I bought to teach myself. As the book suggests, this is a good first project because all you need to know is how to sew in a straight line and how to do a double hem.

The cushion is made in three pieces, a complete front piece and two back pieces that overlap to form, as the name suggests, an envelope. After ironing the fabric (advice from the other book I bought, Love at First Stitch), I drew the cushion measurements and cut them up.

That was lesson number one. After I hemmed the pieces and assembled them, I realised what a terrible job I had done in measuring and cutting, as they were nowhere near properly aligned and overlapping! Apparently using a ruler does not guarantee that your lines will be straight. Apparently, also, it might be a good idea to do all of this on a table instead of the floor.

This is where my impatience rises up and makes itself known. Of course what I really wanted is to get the sewing machine and be able to make beautiful dresses and accessories immediately. So clearly I'm not there yet. But no matter, the cover may not be perfect but it still fits the cushion and the dodgy stitching is either hidden inside the cushion or not visible because of the white on white background.

Emerging from silence, and new project - baby corn

Yes, it has been a while! The post dated April 5th has been taunting me for over 2 months now, filling me with guilt about abandoning the blog. But I have been busy, travelling, working, not sure what else but somehow all spare time has gone.

Plus there hasn't really been anything to write about - the sweetheart jumper is still hibernating (one day...). 

Baby Corn, knitted top down

However, I have started, rather ambitiously as usual, a summer dress. It is Baby Corn from the Stitch 'n Bitch Superstar Knitting book, which is aimed at, ahem, advanced knitters. I've already made the Tulip Top from there, which I absolutely love and wear all the time, and have been eyeing a bunch of the summer projects for ages. 

In case you are wondering, the dress is named as such because the designer used corn yarn - yes, corn yarn. As much as this intrigues me, the yarn has been discontinued so I will not have the pleasure of experiencing a corn garment just yet.  

I say 'rather ambitiously' because it is obviously already almost the end of June, so I really need to be done within the next month if I want to wear it as a summer dress. At the moment, about 2.5 weeks into it, I guess I am close if I want to switch it to a top, but there's still a long way to go if I stick to a dress. The problem is that I wanted an easy, no-brainer project and actually I am now bored of doing row after row of stockinette. The only saving grace is that it is knitted on the round, so I don't have to deal with evil purling.

Close-up of the rib,
which forms the bust of the dress

 Also, all sort of weird things have been happening during this knit. The pattern called for sport yarn and 4.5mm needles, but I bought DK yarn and my gauge seemed ok with 4mm needles. As I was working on it I decided it looked a bit big so I switched to my 3.75mm needles, which I somehow managed to break (I am never buying the plastic ones again!), at which point I switched back to the 4mm ones. Then I got worried again so I switched to the 3.5mm needles, but then it seemed to be getting very tight, so back to 4mm needles I went. I probably should have unravelled but it actually looks pretty even miraculously!

Similarly, after finishing the bust part of the dress you are supposed to make a load of stitches, going from 160 to 240. But when I counted mine I somehow had managed to only get to 200 stitches, so I proceeded to randomly making another 40 on the next row. Again, I should have unravelled but I decided to stick to my haphazard ways.

Will I finish this before going on holiday on July 18th? Let's see!

A knitting owlette original - the maymay headband

Since I started knitting, like most people I have followed patterns, seeking inspiration through the many pages on ravelry. I have modified patterns to better suit my tastes or needs, but that's where it ended. But the other day I thought: why not try to design some of my own?

Given my headband obsession, it seemed fitting to start there, and so I present the maymay headband. This cute little accessory (which is a little weather-inappropriate in the UK at the moment) will keep your ears warm and not mess up your hair. It is based on the xoxo honeycomb pattern, surrounded by 3 rows of 2x2 rib to provide elasticity. 

If you are wondering about the name, it is named after the phrase for I love you in Furbish - yes, Furbish (remember Furbies from the late 90s?). Given that the pattern is xoxo (ie hugs and kisses) and that I made it for my friend Kathryn who I used to use the phrase with, it just seemed right! 

Materials

5mm circular needles, cable needle

Yarn: Manos de Uruguay wool classica (or other similar aran-weight yarn)

Gauge

I had some trouble calculating this (first time and all) but the gauge will not be massively important unless you are way off

13 stitches in xoxo honeycomb pattern= 2 inches

Abbreviations

k: knit

p: purl

c4b: place 2 stitches on cable needle and hold to the back, knit the next 2 stitches and then knit the stitches on the cable needle

c4f: place 2 stitches on cable needle and hold to the front, knit the next 2 stitches and then knit the stitches on the cable needle

Pattern

Cast on 90 stitches and join in the round, being careful not to twist

Row 1: *k2 p2*, repeat until last 2 stitches, k2

Rows 2,3: repeat row 1

Rows 4, 5: k across

Row 6: k *c4f c4b c4b c4f* repeat from * until last 5 stitches, c4f c4b k

Rows 7, 8, 9: k across

Row 10: k *c4b c4f c4f c4b* repeat from * until last 5 stitches, c4b c4f k

Row 11: k across

Repeat rows 4-11 once more

Next 3 rows: repeat rows 1-3 once more

Bind off loosely, hide the loose ends and block lightly

That's it! Pretty simple but gives a very interesting cable that looks like XO.

XO or hourglass I guess?

I tried to write everything out as detailed as possible, but I have missed anything please let me know so that I can bear in mind for next time or modify this pattern. I have also added it on ravelry.

A hood obsession

I have developed a slight hood obsession, quite possibly because we had quite the rainy winter here in the UK. Not only rain, but wind too, which usually means that there is no way you can hold an umbrella up.

Yes, hoods are clearly the answer, but not all my coats have hoods, so what is a girl to do? Well, knit one (or two) of course!

The first one is the Under the cover of midnight cowl from the vampire knits book - not really a hood per se, more like a giant cowl that you can pull over a head to cover your hair. I made this over Christmas but have just been too lazy to write about it for some reason.

The yarn is Colinette One Zero, a bulky loveliness that I picked up at the Alexandra Palace knitting show in October. At the time I was torn between this cowl and the Woodland hoodie from the Woodland Knits book (also picked at the Alexandra Palace knitting show), and so I bought 5 skeins, a compromise between the 4 skeins of the midnight cowl and the 6 skeins of the woodland hoodie.

As it turns out, only 3 were necessary, although I have a vague memory that I may have stopped a little short than what the pattern actually called for because I was on holiday away from home with 3 skeins and wanted to finish it before I got back.

Warding off vampires by covering the neck

As a hood

As a capelet

close-up of the cable

The second hood is actually a crochet hood plus scarf combo - is that called a scood? or a harf? No idea. Anyway, I saw this in Mollie Makes issue issue 37, and it is originally from Aran Nordic Fair Isle translated into English from the original Japanese.

For a change I actually bought the recommended yarn, Drops Karisma, which is insanely cheap for 100% wool and fairly decent, although not as soft as what I would normally go for (I bought it online so lacked the tactile element of the buying process, which normally involves me gently rubbing the skein against my face, weird!).

I thought I had checked my gauged properly, but as I was making it I realised that it was much bigger than what the pattern said,  thankfully early enough to not do two pattern repeats at the top/middle bit of the hood. Similarly, I made the scarf ends shorter (instead following the length directions, although one side is shorter because I ran out of yarn). I also added a slit at the start left scarf to pass the other end through, but it's not been incredibly helpful.

close-up

I can't decide if I like it or not, it doesn't quite look like a scarf when worn (I was jokingly called babushka because it looks more like a headscarf), and the scarf bit of it is not especially warm, so a little pointless.