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.