The name's Bond...

Once upon a time I owned a cardigan that - as far as I was concerned - was perfect. It was peacock blue, alpaca, warm, versatile and would bask in the compliments it received. It was many things, so why I chose to shrink it in a warm wash is one of those questions that will remain unanswered for eternity. We enjoyed one special year together before the shrinkage led to it finding a new home with a seven year old who didn't mind wearing felted cardigans.
When I learned to knit more than rectangles, what I most wanted to do was produce things in colours and fibres that I chose, rather than depending on what was available in shops. After the alpaca cardigan disaster, top of my list was a cardigan in the same shade of blue as the one I had ruined. Finding the yarn I wanted to use wasn't too hard, I found Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in shade 19 which I thought was beautiful even if it didn't come off the back of a peacock blue alpaca. I couldn't find a similar pattern but did like the Blue Daisy for its lines and different textures - it looked like something I could wear with anything.

So it took me months to knit Blue Daisy.  I had to unravel sections and redo them because of a tiny mistake 20 rows ago. Joining the sleeves and body seamlessly was a test in human endurance but the part I was most proud of.

I wonder if you can see what I hated about the finished cardigan? Apart from the fact that I felt like a giant baby in it, when I put that cardigan on, the two front sections conspired to separate and hang in such a way as to create a giant arrow that pointed (sorry to be indelicate) right at my crotch. I tried to ignore it but the more I tried, the more pointy the arrow became. I decided I must have got the 'bramble stitch' tension wrong and decided to live with my mistake but to hide it from public view and potential ridicule. A short while after that I thought it better to unravel it and use the yarn for something else.

looking bemused at finding myself in a shaft of light

This time, rather than being over-ambitious and trying out new techniques, I went for the plainest pattern I could find, namely Bond, another one of the free patterns on the Rowan website. This also took ages and seemed to take forever to grow which was ultimately quite boring. In the end though, I set a deadline of the end of January which I over-shot by two days. On February 2nd, I finished stitching up my Bond and was pleasantly surprised with how it looks on. The colour is - for me - perfect. I'm not sure it shows up accurately but in real life it's less blue than is showing on my screen, more of a dark teal. The yarn drapes well and the length is good on me - I added about an inch to the body. One of the problems I have buying tops is that they are often too short  - there is no back draught with this one so it's been getting lots of wear in the current cold weather.

My post-Bond knitting plans were to make something a little more challenging - this one is definitely on the cards and possibly this one at some point. Those plans are being delayed for now as my dad was taken into hospital suddenly on the 5th and is still there. Sitting around in the hospital and the anxiety that follows me home is made somewhat easier by mindlessly producing endless rows of stocking stitch. Yes, I started another Bond - turns out I'm not yet ready for a challenge that will tax my powers of concentration. This time in a happy hot pink alpaca that came very cheaply on a no-name cone. Once things settle down I may start Florence as a parallel project, but at present fluster-free knitting is on the menu for the near future!

Mia helped block the sleeves

 

Latest Bond!



Finished and Finishing.

I've got some things to show! But not a 1970s coat yet - that project has pride of place on the back burner at the moment.

First, the finished items. One Beignet skirt made from two pairs of jeans that were both ripped in the same place and beyond repairing. I don't often find jeans that fit well so when I do I usually buy two pairs. That was quite lucky when it came to making this skirt as it has eight panels - I got two panels out of each leg so I was able to match faded patches and avoid the parts where the denim split. It would have been a no-cost make had I not messed up one of the poppers - I had to get some more of those after wrestling the damaged one out of the denim. I tried doing buttonholes on a denim scrap but they seemed determined to fray, hence the poppers. I started this skirt in summer 2010 but didn't do the waist facing or hem for some reason, then it didn't fit so I put it away and forgot about it. I found it and finished it off after realising it did now fit. Overall, I'm happy with it but mustn't ever wear it again on the bike - the poppers have a tendency to pop open!

I also knitted up 3 skeins of Rowan Drift that were a Christmas present to me from someone who knows how much I love all things green. For the hat I used the free downloadable Rowan Smarty pattern which I've made several times before - I know, so adventurous! I've worked out how to do it on circular needles which makes things nice and quick - not much purling and no stitching up bulky seams. I was going to make a scarf, but decided to do a snood instead as they seem to be taking over the world  and I like the idea of no scarf ends flapping about. For my version, I cast on 100 stitches (seemed like a nice round number) and knitted until there was hardly any yarn left - also on circular needles. I just tried to count the number of rows, there are about 25. It wraps round my neck twice, is very cosy and most of it was done during the end of season special of Downton Abbey. It was a very serene knit.
I wore the hat to work last week which caused some mirth. My Chinese students told me that it's unlucky to see a person wearing a green hat - apparently it signifies someone is being unfaithful!

The next item is under construction. Between March and August, I worked on a slightly over-ambitious cardigan pattern - Blue Daisy. I think I realised in June or July that it might not be wearable (I'll explain another time!) but finished it anyway. The completed cardigan lasted a couple of weeks before I decided that I was never, ever going to wear it out of the house. I showed my mum who looked past all its faults and praised it to the skies, then shocked her by telling her it was going to be unravelled. Once the yarn was safely back in balls, I decided a nice, easy pattern that was absolutely not double breasted was called for. Again, Rowan free patterns offered a solution with the Bond pattern. I'm making the 3/4 sleeve, slash neck version which I started in September-ish. I've just finished the body and started the sleeves but have given myself a deadline to complete it by the end of the month. I have to finish it - even when I stash it away I know it's there and it's like being in knitting purgatory.  It's a lovely colour but quite dull to knit. Blue Daisy was tough but far more engaging.

Last thing is a skirt that I also seem to have run out of enthusiasm for too which is odd as it's from one of my favourite patterns that I made a couple of dresses from last year. It was meant to be a Rooibos dress in a red corduroy that I've had for so long it started growing barnacles. I didn't have enough fabric in the end so decided to make a go of it in skirt form but again, am procrastinating on the waist facing and hem and have been for the past month. It should take me about an hour once I pull my finger out so I think I'll sort that out this weekend. Whatever I start next has to be absorbing and challenging - maybe it's time to get started on that coat even if I don't get to wear it until next winter.

Fabric barnacles!

Better late than never...

This is the first item of clothing I've sewn from start to finish for a man. I've mended jeans, sewn buttons on coats and generally obliged when it comes to doing things that people should really be able to do themselves but when it comes to making from scratch, I've just never bothered.

In September 2010, I promised my boyfriend a shirt for his birthday. He picked a pattern and the fabric and then nothing happened. He has been out of the country for most of the time since then but whenever I mentioned sewing, he'd always ask 'How's my shirt?' knowing full well I hadn't given it a second thought. 

Anyway, while he was here this Christmas I finally got going on the shirt. The pattern I used was the Negroni shirt by Colette Patterns and I'm very glad I did. The instructions were really clear and I didn't feel like I was winging it once. Adnan wanted the long sleeved version but I refused as that style plus the colour choice would have been a little too Kim Jong Il for my taste. Also the plackets scared me a bit. Maybe next time.

On a human

I only managed to cut out the pattern pieces and sew the pockets before he had to leave again so he'll have to wait until his next visit to see if it fits! It fits me but I feel like I should be painting a wall in a shirt this size.

Even though it wasn't for me, I really enjoyed making the shirt and with the exception of a bit of tipsy top-stitching, made a real effort to make sure it turned out neatly. The fabric is 100% linen and was a little bulky for sharp points on the collar but looks good after a little gentle rumpling. I'm also happy that it's finally done as now I can get on with some much-needed guilt-free sewing for me.

More to come on that... meantime... Happy New Year - hope 2012 is the best yet!



Mia prefers my paper patterns to her Wicker Man scratching post

Vogue 9005 - Coat Plans

When I was a child in the 1970s I had no awareness that it was the 1970s. I do remember brown crimpeline, trousers with impossible creases (see above), and running away to the field at the bottom of the garden because I was forced to wear a pink paisley dress with a giant collar. I also remember - in the 1980s - almost choking from laughing too hard at some relative's wedding photos from the seventies. How misguided I was! Now, I'm a huge fan of that decade and while some of the styles and fabrics are too much for a head to toe look for me, I no longer have an aversion to huge collars. Or flares, as long as they aren't in crimpeline.
I picked the Vogue pattern up on ebay during the summer, sure that I'd have some suitable coating for view B. As it turned out, I didn't. Yesterday, I visited my most local fabric seller and on impulse bought a printed voile. I also saw a tweedy wool mix fabric which I really wanted but resisted as I couldn't think of a use for it and like to balance my fabric vices with the occasional virtue. Anyway, after pulling out my 'imminent makes' pattern box for something else, I rediscovered the pre-cut Vogue pattern which isn't my size but shouldn't be too hard to grade up. I hope, because I really want to make it in the tweed.
Much as I love unwrapping an uncut pattern, pre-cut ones are great as sometimes this happens...

Whatever you do, don't wear this coat over a jacket!

Anyway, I'm going back to the stall on Thursday and am crossing my fingers that the fabric won't sell out between now and then. In the meantime I'll be resisting the irrepressible urges I've been having to wear a coat over a jacket, as well as trying to focus on planning an observed lesson with a brand new class for Wednesday.

Lastly, by special request is the incorrigible Mia, who featured heavily on my last, abandoned blog. She loves nothing more than getting involved with human activities, particularly ones that require tissue paper, fabric and thread!

Little Owls

When I discovered that I could knit more than just squares and rectangles last year, one of the first things I made was the Owls sweater by Kate Davies. When I discovered the version for children I then gave myself RSI and made myself popular by knitting up the Owlet for several babies and small children. This year those babies are slightly larger and need new jumpers. Luckily they don't take too long but I'm less inclined to knit the same pattern over and over, even if it is adorable. Having said that, my nephew lives in the coldest place so he was first in this year's shortened queue and here's his 2011 Little Owls sweater.
I started off using a wool blend aran in a light brown but as I knitted up the body, the skein seemed to become possessed by one of those poltergeists that manifest themselves as bad smells. It was like knitting up a jumper of cowpat mixed with parmesan. I gave up and exorcised the yarn from my house. I have another skein which doesn't smell - yet - but I'm wary of it now, so started again on a mystery wool / acrylic mix from the local knitting shop. Not the best quality but soft and hopefully easy to wash. I love my nephew but I can't face stitching 28 buttons on for the eyes. I'm sure if he - or my sister for that matter - ever starts knitting, they'll understand.

Black Peony

Peonies are one of my favourite flowers and as far as I know they don't come in black.
When I bought my Peony from Colette Patterns, I loved  the bateau neckline and the simplicity of the shape. I wasn't sure it'd suit me but decided to try it out.  Then I saw a lovely one under construction (which is now finished) at Stitch and Witter and this beautiful version at Did You Make That? which pushed me to get going.
I started it on Sunday and finished the handstitching on the hem yesterday so it was quick. I didn't make a muslin as the fabric I used one I bought many metres of a few years ago. With my Rooibos and Parfait dresses I cut a 12 in the skirt and 8-10 on top but cut 12 all the way down this time, expecting to make adjustments. The only adjustment I made pre-cutting was to lengthen the bodice and the skirt. I fitted the bodice by pinning and re-pinning and the only significant alteration was to the centre back - I took off maybe 4+cm each side, tapering down to about 1cm at the waist. It doesn't seem to have thrown the darts out and I'm really happy with the fit. Once that was done, the dress came together very easily that I'm thinking about making another one this week, maybe in a print or a happier colour.

Having said that, I'm really pleased I made my Peony in black. It's so plain but so wearable and easy to accessorise. It's the kind of dress I wouldn't look twice at on a shop rail, but now I've had it a whole 24 hours, I've had a lot of fun trying out different possibilities - mainly with shoes, tights, belts and necklaces but as the photoshoot is my least favourite part of the blog-writing process (and the fact that it's free-zing), here are just a couple of pics. I wanted to include one of my tomato-coloured tights which really cheer up the whole look but they have been mislaid in the giant jumble of clothes to my left that has been cropped out. I made a cummerbund (horrible word, sorry anyone who likes it) in the same black fabric but it's bulky and I don't like the feel of it across my middle so have tied long silk scarves on these photos.

Karen made a very valid point re fabric choice in her Peony post, about how you don't want anything too stiff as it'll make the dress stand away from the body. The fabric I used has some stretch in it and is quite drapey which means the darts aren't too pointy and also that the skirts lays closer to my hips and thighs instead of sticking out in a big tent effect. It also stretches nicely across my back when I move. The dress has passed the 'moving heavy boxes upstairs' test - i.e. none of the seams split, so that's a bonus. I'm not sure these photos do the dress justice - I'm far happier with the dress than I am with the photos - typical - but I can wholeheartedly recommend the pattern and am looking forward to making more Peonies, seeing other people's versions and also planting some next spring.



Friday Night Sew-in - Results

I'd promised a simple jersey top for my sister while she was here visiting but hadn't yet followed through with the promise. I'm not sure if she was expecting me to but I feel like a nice sister now and am pleased that I accomplished something instead of just half-watching Friday night TV.
This was a very quick make. I made a striped version of this a while back which my sister borrowed while she was here and loved. I couldn't part with my version but it was simple enough to copy and there aren't many parts to fit together. I'd like to say it's from a 'self-drafted pattern' but I came up with the original shape by drawing around a body I liked then drawing round some sleeves I liked on existing tops. Nothing remotely technical! The photos don't show very clearly that the sleeves are quite wide and drapey, 3/4 length and slightly gathered at the cuff.
I used about a metre of some mystery jersey fabric which feels like a poly viscose mix and drapes really nicely. It comes from a market stall in Leicester where you have to rummage through hundreds of random offcuts from local factories. Everything costs £1 a metre or less so this was a very cheap make. Now I've got the machines out, I don't think it'd hurt to make a couple more of these this weekend. I'm really into the idea of Friday Night Sew-ins but will try to be more organised for my next one. Now it's time for a caffeine-fuelled Saturday Morning Tidy-up.