Monday, September 30, 2013

Week Eighty Eight

Lots of craft activity to report:

I sewed the ruffles on to Flo and it is now so close to the finish line. I'm still not happy with my button choice so I will go shopping tomorrow and see if I can do better.



To recap earlier posts, the pattern is Flo by Kim Hargreaves. The yarn is Madelinetosh Pashmina in the colour ink. I struggled to finish this when I ran short of yarn in week sixty four and the additional skein I purchased was much too dark. The replacement skein from Eat.Sleep.Knit saved the day!




I started a new cardigan in Sundara Aran Silky merino. The colour is Green Tea, a limited edition colour from several years ago. I will be knitting another Twigs and Willows. This is for a KAL ("Knitalong") in the Sundara Group of Ravelry.




I was hoping to make good progress this weekend, but I accidentally left it in the city this weekend.
So I cast on another sweater for my daughter. This is in Rowan All Seasons Cotton in Framboise with scarlet contrast.

It will be a simple raglan sweater, using the Sundara Aran merino one I've just finished as a size match.

The motif from the baby suit is in fingering gauge but I think that if I use the chart and knit in the aran gauge of the Rowan yarn it will be a perfect sized motif. My daughter can choose some buttons as crown 'jewels".



A long time ago I had an ambition to make a blanket (or at least a sofa throw). I lost motivation after only a few knitted squares.

On a stash cleaning excercise I decided I wouldn't finish this as I planned so I destashed all the wool. Most of which was Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed remnants from my kids sweaters. I had eight squares complete and out of them I was able to find a "good" front, and at least enough for a back.

Because puppy claws pull stitches from knit fabric, after assembly I felted the whole cushion cover in the washing machine. It took two heavy-duty cycles on hot with dishwashing detergent.

The colours have brightened and I'm very happy with it. It was a good stashbusting excercise after all!



Here are the squares, assembled. I blocked them lightly before sewing them together (and before felting).


Here is the fabric after the felting process.


I hand sewed a zip into the horizontal line of the back.



As promised last week:-

Final button photographs of my daughter's Sundara Aran merino sweater.





And last of all a very small crafting experiment.
A friend loaned me some Dutch craft books. 

I made a greetings card with gold coloured (sewing machine) thread. The books have charts to copy, I punched the holes in and followed the schematic to make a star. I don't speak Dutch but the diagrams were easy to understand.


I don't plan on doing very many, this took quite a while. But I might enlarge the chart on the photocopier to allow for regular yarn and set it up for my daughter to make some cards and decorations.









Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Week Eighty Seven

It is school holidays again.
I'm out of the city, no Internet  (save for a smartphone). So this post is just a brief list of this past weeks crafting progress.

Next week I hope will be heavy with pictures. Two weeks worth!

So the list:

I finished the Sundara sweater for my daughter. Found the perfect buttons from an outgrown hand knit sweater. Ravelry members can see some progress pictures here.

I have almost finished Flo, the cardigan in Madelinetosh Pashmina with the kidsilk haze ruffles. I just need to sew on buttons.

I have redirected a lingering blanket wip into a cushion. It uses Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed.
I stalled on the blanket (or sofa throw more likely) as my gauge was a bit iffy.

Back next week!













Monday, September 16, 2013

Week Eighty Six

Here is the finished Fair Isle Yoke cardigan.


Its a good fit, I certainly wouldn't have wanted it any smaller and since I used up almost all my dark charcoal yarn colour. Its just as well i knit this up this season.

My daughter is only eight but the tallest girl in her class. I knit the age 7-8 size for width and the 9-10 (and a bit more) for lengths.

The yarn is beautifully soft and the stitch definition fantastic for colour work. Its was nice and springy to knit. Unfortunately, it snagged on its first wearing (you can see the pulled threads) but that is due to an excitable little puppy jumping up and I can crochet hook threads back in.

If I were to knit this cardigan again, apart from going up a size or two I would increase the depth of the ribbed edge. She was wearing this cardigan for some hours before I thought to take a photograph. But the ribbing has a tendency to flip up and did so even shortly after blocking.



Its a pretty yoke.



My colours weren't exactly as specified in the book. I don't know how this happened, I obviously just misordered.

The first "substitution" was the lighter grey. The pattern shows it as a stronger steel grey. Mine is a pale fawn grey. As it happens I like this grey better. I think it sits more comfortably with the pastel colours.

The second substitution is the pale pink. My pink is too pale compared with the rose specified. In real life it looks fine but it doesn't photograph with very much definition.

Still overall I'm very happy now that this is complete and being worn. My daughter likes it too!

Next week:
I have been knitting the yoke of the pink Sundara Aran sweater. The one I hope to finish for my daughters school camp and the one that is similar to my son's. I'm on to the yoke. Very close. I hope to have that finished by next post.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Week Eighty Five

I achieved a lot on the Debbie Bliss Fairisle Yoke cardigan.
I finished the colour work section and one button band. 


There are a lot of ends to sew in. The buttons came from stash. I had previously bought them for the Starry cardigan but the cream wasn't a very good match.



The pattern is designed to have two pom poms on the cord which threads through the yoke. I tried making pompoms with what materials I could find about me on a Sunday afternoon. 

  


But I wasn't very happy with them. They are not as tight or as plump as I'd like them to be. Plus, I think they're distracting on the cardigan front.

The stash had some ceramic beads which I think will be a lot better. 



Whilst in the button/bead stash box I found some pretty pink and purple buttons which will be perfect for the raglan seam of my daughters sweater. I haven't decided which I like best, or if a combination would be interesting.



I have done no sewing since before our overseas trip in July. But I have shopped for patterns and this new Vogue pattern V1351  looks like a good summer dress. This lightweight wool crepe has been in stash for a long time too.









Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Week Eighty Four

The little Debbie Bliss cardigan from last week is at the point of matching everything up to do the colour work yoke. I'm waiting on some clear weekend time.

I cast on another two projects.

The first is the sweater that I was intending when I went looking for yarn. 
It's Sundara Worsted Merino in Flower Studies #163.



















I am making a very simple raglan sweater. With one seam left open for buttons. It is going to be very similar to the brown Sundara merino sweater I knitted for my son in Week Sixty Seven. That sweater was knit top down, this is bottom up. No particular reason why Ive done it differently and the end result will be the same.


I received some lovely Sport Merino Two yarn from Sundara Yarns this week. The limited edition colour is called Delicate Blossom over Cool Mint. I have cast on a sleeve for a cardigan. I'm using my numbers  from recent Emelie cardigans. It may have the lace front panels (or not, I may choose something different from a stitch dictionary).