More Yarn!

My niece asked for a mermaid blanket for Christmas.  Now, she's not some little 3 year old.  She's 18.  And not little. In our family, we pretty much stop giving gifts when kids turn 18. But I've slacked off on gifts the last couple years because we haven't really been doing a big family Christmas anyway, so I thought, fine.  Also, I never made her sunhat that I promised her.

I needed some yarn for a Christmas stocking so I took a look at mermaid blanket yarns. She wants thick and cozy.

And red and purple.

What?! Red and purple do not place nice together.  I just can't do stripes. I did find a yarn with a mix of red and purple with some pink to soften it, as well as  a mainly purple mix in the same yarn line. But does she mean solid red body and purple tail?!  Better find out.  And I better find out what her younger sister wants.

So, I got five balls of Loops & Threads "Country Loom", $6.99/ball but the cashier said she had a 30% off coupon I could use, even though I was also using a 50% off one item coupon! I also got one ball of white Impeccable (127.5gr.  Really.  We're now using half gram weights for yarn?!).

I'm heading out this afternoon to pick up more yarn!  This time some wool from another crafty mom who is clearing out some of her stash. It'll be great for the mitts for the kindie kids.  Need to get started on that--the Farmer's Almanac says it's going to be a cold winter!

Yarn In: 897gr + 2478gr = 3375gr

Yarn Out:  4914gr
Balance:  1539gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $30.28 + $105.45= $135.73/271 days = $0.50/day

In the Buff!

We were planning an epic camping road trip this summer and between that and our new boat, we did a lot of shopping at a large chain outdoors store.  Near the cash, there was a display of "Buffs". I thought it was a clever use of a bit of fabric.  But the price?! $25Cdn, aprox. Sure, it's a "high tech fabric" and seamless, but really...I could probably make one, right?  Especially since I have a serger!  I've been using wide headbands (almost like a bandana shape but the back is elastic, not a big knot) to protect my head from the sun (and cover up on bad hair days LOL). But a multi-purpose item would be even better!

Pinterest to the rescue to find the sizes, and see if others have actually done this.  Sure they have!! This was my starting point.
I dug through my knit fabric stash and found some I bought for a shirt but then found some holes in it.  It wasn't a big piece to start with so I wasn't sure I'd be able to cut a shirt around those holes.  But I didn't care if the holes ended up in the buff, so I went ahead. Cut, cut, serge. I didn't finish the ends.

 Here it is as a hat.  This was very useful at night, for sleeping, when it got a bit chilly. I also found that if I left it just folded in half, it made a good sleep mask AND helped hold my earplugs/earphones in!

 It was quite windy on the whale watching boat, so I wore it as a balaclava for a few minutes, but my kids hate that look, LOL.  Here I am channeling my inner-Ukranian.

 Inside the whale watching boat it filled the gap at my neck.

This one was made from a men's athletic shirt.  I made it a bit shorter as I didn't think I'd need it as a balaclava or hat since it's more of a hot weather thing.  Here, I wore it for inner tubing down a river in Quebec.  Fast drying!

Here's another one from a men's athletic shirt.  This is the balaclava look. My glasses do get a little steamed up, but they are large glasses, so maybe with my older ones it'd be fine. I might make one a bit longer and see if I can fold it around my forehead like you do for around the nose/mouth.  Around my neck is a triangle shaped headband I made, but I never finished off the threads so it didn't get worn. I also made a couple wide headbands from bathing suit material for at the water park and white water rafting. It was awkward with the thick floaty strap I have for my glasses.  And I find if I make the headband tight enough to really feel secure, I end up with a headache very quickly--even with the stretchy elastic.

I made one from the left over fabric from a dress for Lucy.  I wear this one a lot too.  I really like them when I'm driving. I can wear it as a wide headband, but then if I have to open the windows (I have no AC), I can stretch it out so it really contains my hair and stops it from blowing in my face. Also, at work (supervising kindergarten kids outside at lunch--I get to do the whole hour outside now!), it works so much better than a hat!! Although I loved sewing the hats (well...more on that later), these just seem so much more practical for my lifestyle!

Hello There!

I had hoped to write a post before I went away, to schedule to post while I was away.  And I thought I might be able to find some downtime to write a post and then publish when we got to wifi.  Well, it wasn't that kind of vacation! We were either driving, doing an activity, or doing the things that make camping...camping (set up, cooking, organizing, etc).

Before I left I bought yarn for another Christmas stocking order.  I've started the fourth and last stocking, and I WAY over bought.  Good news is, I have another order that I can use it for, though I'll still have lots left probably.  I needed red and white.  The original stocking is not white-white though, more of a soft cream.  I found a comparable yarn but as I was checking out, I thought "I wonder if she did want it white-white though?".  When I got home I emailed her and sure enough, "white-white" was her preferred choice.  So back to the store! I ended up with 7 balls of "Impeccable".

I noticed yesterday that the yarn label doesn't have a suggest gauge!  It just says "Medium 4" and the free project needs 6mm needles.  This is a real disservice to knitters. There is too much variability with the "Medium" classification. And if you're trying to substitute for a yarn that you do know the gauge of, you can't just rely on the label! I know rarely do we knit to the suggested gauge, but it's a starting point to find out how the yarn wants to be worked for best results.

Anyway. Onwards, especially since I have to go buy more yarn.

Yarn In: 1586gr + 892gr =2478gr

Yarn Out:  4914gr
Balance:  2436gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $30.58 + $74.87= $105.45/258 days = $0.41/day

Details

I love learning new things, though sometimes I wonder about my ability to do so.  Sometimes I get tripped up by what seems to be a simple thing. Like a certain detail in this project.

I saw this project on Pinterest and mentally filed it under "Some Day That Would be Nice to Sew".  We're getting ready for an epic two week camping road trip, and my husband and I got camp cots.  We've just had too many bad experiences with air mattresses--even more expensive, brand name ones. I realized that this little ditty bag (she calls it a "diddy" bag, I think.  I'm not sure which is right!) would be perfect to hang off the cot for our glasses, flashlight, ear plugs, cell phone, etc. I'd just need to use a snap instead of sewing the loop handle!

Can you see the adorable frog snap?

I got digging in the fabrics and thought this wildlife print would be appropriate!
I also had some brown cord and some brown twill, but not enough to do two in either. 

One bag was supposed to be in one, and one in the other, but I goofed when cutting the curved pieces.  I was also getting overwhelmed because I was using a different fabric for the inside (MUST have light coloured insides of bags!), and I wasn't doing the hidden zipper. Towards the final assembly, I just set one group of fabric aside and worked on one bag until nearly done.

I used this foil backed foam I had laying around. It came as a big sheet, like a windshield sun protector, but I think it was advertised as "material" for home sewing of insulated items (bought it from Jysk and they often have strange things you wouldn't expect).  It was very noisy when working with it, and perhaps not as flexible as just fusible foam interfacing.  It also melts when touches the over-wattage light bulb in the sewing machine. Just so you know :)

I was confused about sewing the front to the back.  Well, first I was confused about cutting the front curved pieces.  I didn't see in the picture how she did step 2 in the Preparation--cut into the fold for an inch.  Wouldn't that mean the bottom of the curve is a 2" straight section? When you sew it together, the back is straight across, and the curve is starting IN the seam allowance, so I didn't know how to go from the straight part, to the curve which was less than the 3/8" seam allowance away from the straight part.  So I started sewing the curve in the straight part, when I got to where the edge of the curve would be 3/8" seam allowance.  It seems in the pictures that was the right thing to do, but I thought at first the curve was supposed to be only the front piece.

And then the boxed corners.

I've never boxed corners before! I hadn't been too careful when cutting that 1" box out. So sewing it wasn't precise. Then I went back to the instructions and couldn't figure out how to pinch it and whatever. I googled for a bit and found these instructions that clearly show you DON'T sew around the box!!! Of course, I had also forgotten to leave an opening in the liner/inside bag LOL.

From there, it went much better and I was AMAZED at my boxed corners!!  Like, I went around showing everyone in my family how awesome it was.  They didn't care! 

I'm pretty happy with the finished bags. I think/hope they will be really useful in the tent.  I'm testing one in my truck, LOL.  I might just need to make another one!

While we're away, my parents are going to look after our dog (they have his brother and live on 80 acres with a pond for them!).  As a thank you, I decided to sew one for them.  I had cleaned their truck last time I was up and figured this had to  be an improvement over a Subway bag around the shifter for garbage! Knowing they would still want a garbage bag, I wanted to laminate the inside fabric.
 I had bought what I thought was iron on clear laminate.  Well.  Turns out it was fusible webbing with a clear plastic oversheet so you could be precise with your appliques.  Or something.  I thought "What if I fuse it to my fabric, but leave the plastic on?  Well, it's very crinkly noisy.  Then I thought, what if I iron it to my fabric, peel the plastic off, and place some clear adhesive plastic on? I had a roll of what I thought was plastic with adhesive, you know--peel and stick laminating with no heat machine needed. There was no adhesive on the plastic and seemed to be two layers that were starting to come unlaminated in places.   I tried ironing it to the exposed fusible glue, but it didn't take evenly and wasn't all that nice looking. Then I thought, what if I could fuse the PUL film I have to the fabric. I couldn't find the PUL film. So, at the end of my rope, I just left the other inside piece with the glue webbing exposed.  After having tried ironing the different plastics to it, the glue webbing had sort of melted and hardened.  It's not "laminate" fabric, and it will probably chip off, especially if this needs to go in the washing machine, but at least it's a bit of protection.

The boxed corners went much quicker this time.  I was also not using the foam interfacing, but just heavy iron on interfacing. I worried it wouldn't be stiff enough, but since it's laying against the transmission hump, it's not a problem.  I topstitched a pen slot in the outer pocket but sadly, I measured from the basting line, instead of the final seam line, so it's a bit tighter than it should be.

I was really pleased that the stripes on the strap fabric lined up when I went to sew it together. Totally unplanned!!

I hope they like it and it's actually useful, not just something you think is going to be useful, but ends up just a bit small, or a bit awkward, etc.

Slip Up

In nice weather, I hang my clothes outside to dry.  My husband refuses to put up a clothes line or "umbrella" so I use a curtain rod he put up when he redid the deck and we thought a curtain would keep the sun out of the covered portion.  I have noticed while my dresses were drying in the sun, that they're a little ....see through.  Not really transparent, but just allowing a little more to be seen than probably should. No thongs for me, but still.

I've wanted to make a slip for awhile.  My old white one is bleh.  Dingy, dead elastic, and from about 25lb ago.  Cheap nylon.  I was sure I could do better.  I went searching and found some fabrics to choose from.  I did some burn tests, and while my white fabrics did appear to be cotton (the new polyester dresses I've made are horrible for static so I wanted a natural fiber slip), I went with this gold fabric that appeared to be a silk taffeta.  It was in a big bag of fabrics from my brother in law, off cuts and remnants from his work in movie and TV props/set design.

Burn test for silk--smells like burning feathers.

How am I supposed to know what that smells like?!

At first, I was going to not have the elastic waist, and do something that closed with a snap.  Because I have snap pliers and am not afraid to use them. I did go with the elastic because had it, and thought that for my first attempt I should stick with the pattern and it would give me a good practice run for lingerie elastic if I ever get around to making some underwear or bras.  Which I can't now because I have no lingerie elastic.

I was going to sew in a power mesh panel across the front.  But a) I couldn't find the power mesh until after I finished and b) I sort of didn't read the directions and had only one side seam.


 I read to have 3" of ease over your hip measurement. This created quite a bit of gathering in this slightly stiff silk.  I pulled the elastic so it felt snug around my waist, but when sewing it on, I just couldn't stretch it enough to reach my first quarter mark.  So I unpicked it and added another length to the elastic.  It is rather pouffy around the waist, too much for my slimmer dresses, but okay for the new polyester dresses.

For the bottom I just decided to go with what the fabric was telling me. I had no lace, I thought a hem would be boring, so I just went with the fringed selvege edge.  Why not?  I zig zagged across it and trimmed anything loose.

If I wanted to, I could actually wear this as a skirt.  I'm not a skirt person though.  And then I'd need a slip under it LOL.

One Step Forward...

I'm having a second week of "one step forward, two steps back" sewing.  Everything easy is suddenly hard, seams need to be ripped out frequently, and I have pretty much used up all my odd coloured bobbins while basting.  Hopefully the end results are worth it!!

It's Still Hot Here

At the start of the summer, I need a mindless project, something for car rides and concerts in the park. I usually have a pair of socks on the go, but wanted something more. I found this yarn in my stash and knew it was time.  It's listed just as "Grand River Yarns" 100% Rayon.  GRY is an interesting yarn business.  Check out her website! I'm a bit worried though.  The last time I used a 100% rayon yarn from GRY, it lost all the dye when I washed it!  However, the rayon I worked with before, and rayon fabric, have all been very drapey and slippery.  This yarn had a "dry" feel, and more body.  It felt almost like a silk.  And it has a nice sheen.

I started early June, not sure when except that I was working on the yoke, past the increases, on Father's Day weekend when I was at a party.  I finished it two Thursdays ago, at a "Brass on the Grass" concert, but after trying it on at home, I ripped back the sleeves to loosen them.

 As usual, when I went to put it on last night, I found a yarn end that hadn't been woven in!  I had promised the other ladies at the |"Brass On the Grass Concert" two weeks ago that I would wear it next time (which was last night).

I made this sweater once before.  Back then, I wasn't really happy with the way the front top opening rolled and how it was pouffy around the top.  I thought it was just my poor crocheting skills.  This time, I tried super hard to follow the pattern, and it still happened.  When it came time to separate it, I worked the numbers a bit differently so the back would be a bit smaller than the front.  It actually feels a smidge snug across the back when I lift my arms.  And small around the waist.  I did a few rows of crochet around the opening to give a bit more width, but I guess it could have used more.  I also had an issue when I went back to do the sleeves.  The first sleeve, the pattern worked out perfectly. The second sleeve, somehow it didn't work out and I was half a repeat off.  Much fudging happened on that sleeve!

I love the colour.  Everyone that sees it loves the colour.  It's a bit more turquoise than is showing on my screen.  Very deep, like Caribbean beaches past the shallow area.  Sigh.  I miss those beaches.  I have a skein and a half or so left (150gr). 

Yarn In: 1586gr

Yarn Out:  315gr + 4599gr= 4914gr
Balance:  3328gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/218 days = $0.34/day

Hot Summer!

After an on-again, off-again winter, and a spring that never happened, summer finally came to Ontario in a BIG way.  This has been an exceptionally hot and dry and humid July.  Recently I had to go to Fabricland (our version of Joanne's, I guess) for thread and red satin cord (for that Santa stocking I posted last time).  I got the thread, forgot the cord, and walked out with 1.5m of fiery hot smocked polyester.

My idea was simple.  To recreate this dress.  Four years ago?! I love this dress still, and get lots of compliments.  I figured once I cut the length down, that portion will be enough for the top part.  I started with that--cutting the bottom length off.  Then I decided to use the free Sorbetto pattern by Colette. I printed it out, taped it together and got it cut out.  As I was laying it on my fabric, I thought...mmm...I chose the size for my 44" bust, but really, that's not 22"+22", it's more like 20" + 24", I wonder if the front piece is going to fit me! I measured the pattern piece, and with the pleat not folded in, the front piece measured 25" (I think).  I opted to not sew the pleat!  I also took a little wedge out of the front strap, shortening the armhole by about 1/2".  I cut it out, sewed it together and to the smocked portion of the fabric and tried it on.

For larger pictures, just click on one, and it should take you to the Blogger picture viewer.

 
It wasn't right.  Somehow, the front was not really long enough, and the smocked portion was too long, and since it was a smidge smaller than it should have been, it clung to my muffin top.  I pulled up the bottom to a better fit, and marked it.  I decided to make the darts a bit shorter and narrower to get a bit more length in the top portion, and use a narrower seam allowance. I also unpicked the first row of smocking--where I was joining the top and smocking--to reduce the gathering  and hope it blended in with the top better.  I think I also unpicked the first row that showed.  The fabric still gathers into the seam, but it's not as dramatic so it's still smoother under my bust.

The fit isn't perfect still.  Now there is a bit of gaping on the armholes, and it rides up a bit under my bust, but I just keep tugging it down.  I'm not going to get all fussy with it.  Maybe try a different bra next time.  It's longer and less full than the original inspiration, but that's okay.  The big issue is that it's polyester, and clings to me!! 

I did a rolled edge for the bottom of the skirt, and it was fun playing with the colours in the serger to get it just right.  It's done in orange and looks great.  I toyed with doing that around the neck and arms too, but felt it might look a little unfinished.  Instead, I took my scrap from cutting the top pieces, found the bias in a section that still had the bottom selvage, started making 1" lines from the widest portion.  My rotary cutter is dull, my scissors were pretty dull, so this process was aggravating!  Then I sewed all the pieces together, alternating shorter and longer pieces. 

Then, it was time to use my bias binding tool and iron.  Well.  It didn't take long to conclude that was a waste of time.  I ditched the iron and just started sewing the binding on, as per the Sorbetto instructions.  It actually went a lot better than I expected, though I wish it was a bit wider.  I was worried about not having enough of the binding, but it was amazing how much it made just from the left over piece!!  And, I was even able to plan out each edge so that the seams of the tape were at the start or shoulder seam spots, with having just a little bit of waste from doing so.

Now, all I need is a little cotton slip.  And time to make the next one, in blues.....with a different top design....

Five Months Until Christmas

Yesterday I had a sweet lady pick up another Christmas stocking, to match the other four I made last summer.  It's for her daughter-in-law, the last of the adults to get one.  Hopefully they will want more for the kids! 

 If the picture is too large for your screen, you can click on it and look via the Picture Viewer.

I got started on this earlier this spring once my wrist was healed and was making good time.  But something was nagging me.  I still had the charts, though there were a few spots where I wasn't sure (I had erased one colour and gone over with another and I couldn't tell which was the "real" colour), and I didn't have much info for between the charts, or the heel/toe.  So I emailed Jason, the original client, and asked if it was possible to get one of his so I could make sure I had all the info.  He was happy to drop it off and immediately I knew I was in trouble.

It was knit at a smaller gauge!  Melissa's looked sloppy and loose all of a sudden.  So...early July...I ripped it back to the top of the Merry Christmas banner!  Ugh.  I then focused all my attention on it and got it done in record time.

 Here is the new one side by side with one from last summer. 

 The beards are slightly different because I wasn't following the chart too closely, LOL, and anyway, I think a little bit of uniqueness for each one is good.

Hi Santa!  Several times I started knitting your nose in white, only to realize it was supposed to be red.   I need to update the chart and make that clearer!

Connor's used 76gr and Melissa's used 74gr.  I think Connor's had one more row in the red top edge.  I couldn't get any of them to match the original cast on exactly.

Yarn In: 1586gr

Yarn Out:  4519gr + 80gr = 4599gr
Balance:  3013gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/197 days = $0.36/day

Functional

I needed new dishcloths.  I don't know what happened, but the pretty ones I crocheted up this spring (or maybe it was last spring actually), they got moldy and stained :( That never happens with my knitted ones!  I grabbed a bin that had what I thought was some ends of cones of cotton yarns, but it had only a green and a white, I think size 10 Handicrafter Cotton.  I wanted to do the circular one I usually do, on the LK150, and thought it would be cool to plate it (plait).  That's putting one colour in feeder 1 and one in feeder 2, so the knit side shows one colour and the purl side shows the other.  They do both show on both sides, but one is much more prominent.

I struggled with tension.  I struggled with just getting the carriage to move.  I dusted, I lubed, I upped the tension.  And after doing six wedges it was not going to be a circle like it should.  I decided on a couple more wedges.  Then I realized I had cast on twice as many stitches as needed.  Ooops.  Picture on Instagram!

Started up again, and it went a lot better, even though at this point, all I changed was the number of stitches.  I should have listened to my machine earlier on!  I did a second one, reversing the yarns in the feeder.  Then I opted for a rectangular one in tuck but it gave me headaches too, so half way thru I changed it to single strand.

Then I decided to move to the standard gauge and try single strand and some punch cards.  A few issues, but I just wanted dishcloths, so I just did what ever necessary to get the yarn used up.  Ended up with more green than white.  Whatever.  A few are nice enough for when company comes.

This one was supposed to be a slipped stitch pattern, with the card locked on row 1.  It didn't work.  It worked when the card wasn't locked, but of course, made a different design.

I weighed them with the waste yarn because it was truly waste yarn this time.

This was another one, I think card 3 (Singer), that was to have the card locked on row 1 to create vertical columns of tucking.  I use card 3 a lot, it's so versatile.  I liked the vertical look to it, but again, it didn't work.  The card was not rotating, it was definitely locked.  So I don't know what the issue was.

Yarn In: 1586gr

Yarn Out: 159gr + 4360gr = 4519gr
Balance:  2933gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/197 days = $0.38/day

Quick Knit?

I've talked before about listening to your yarn and your project.  Knowing when to keep going and when to throw in the towel.  It's not easy to decide sometimes.

I waited so long to get a ribber for my bulky SK155 knitting machine.  I imagined knitting up lots of projects with my hand knitting yarns in my stash.  Going through all my KnitWords and other machine knitting magazines though, I could find only ONE pattern that really used the ribber to it's full potential.  Most used it just for the ribbing edges.  And there were no patterns for knitting circularly.  I know I can adapt hand knitting patterns, but I just don't want to sometimes.

I tried a yarn for that one pattern, and it didn't meet gauge close enough to even consider and due to the unusual construction, it would take a bit of paper work to figure it out.  So I shelved it, and thought perhaps a baby pattern would be a good place to start.  I found one in Machine Knitting Monthly that used a very similar weight yarn to one I had.  I didn't even swatch.  I just plunged in.

And started scratching my head.  The pattern is written with so many "Repeat from * as for sweater" (I was doing the cardigan) and "Follow chart for your size" but there were so many charts for the different pieces of the sweater and cardigan, different sizes had different charts....so many abbreviations.  The cast on was different than anything I've done before so I ditched it and then found out the pattern uses the ribber for only FOUR rows of ribbing.  The texture in the sweater was done by converting stitches.

I decided I wasn't going to convert all those stitches (especially ones on the edges), and opted to keep the ribber in use.  However, every TWO rows, I had to transfer stitches back and forth between beds.  And keep track of shaping, button holes, etc.   I got the back done (with a few holes), and both fronts.  It was NOT fun. I got busy with other things while I pondered how badly I wanted the texture on the sleeves.  Maybe they could be just stockinette.

My oldest daughter's teacher's wife had a baby boy towards the end of school.  She didn't really like the teacher (though because of his high standards she really had to push herself--she's quite capable but has been coasting along for a few years, getting away with minimal work for decent marks.  Because of this I think she's going to be much better prepared for high school next fall!), and we hadn't really planned to get him a year end gift, but she thought something for his baby would be a good idea and not make her look ....ungrateful?  I thought maybe I could finish up this sweater.  But when I looked at the pattern again, and the machine...I just knew I couldn't finish.

I opted for the "All in One" pattern.  I've made it before. I used the gauge I had gotten on the first sweater attempt and got going.  The nice thing about this pattern is that the way it's done, the lower part is all one piece so striping yarns end up matching at the opening.  The two thing most people don't like is the seaming across the chest (I kitchener stitched and you can't see it at all--casted on and off with waste yarn instead of e wraps), and the width/shortness of the sleeves.

 I tried a couple things to finish off the sleeves.  I wasn't thrilled with any of them, although my final attempt was okay.  This one seemed really long and narrow in the body, and very short and wide sleeves.  I suspect my gauge ratio was just not a good one for this pattern.  I steamed the sleeves to pull them longer.  The bottom is 2x2 ribbing.

I knew I had to finish off the neck somehow.  I picked up around the neck, and down to almost the first button hole.  Then I did short rows, taking up the length of the straight section.  I think I started with knitting three stitches more (at the top of the button band), twice on each side, then doing one more stitch each row, each side since it wasn't growing fast enough.  Then a row or two over all stitches to finish it off.  Amazingly, it worked on the very first attempt, though I highly doubt I can ever recreate it!!
The buttons are from my button bin.  They were on a very old looking card and luckily weren't "too red".

The shoes are a hybrid of http://thatssewnina.blogspot.ca/2013/10/cloth-baby-shoe-tutorial.html and http://stardustshoes.blogspot.ca/2006/10/cloth-shoe-pattern.html.  I had made the Stardust ones before, and didn't like how the back is folded over to make the casing.  The other pattern, I didn't like the pattern pieces but liked how she did the heel.  I did heavy iron on interfacing for the back piece (one side only) because I thought that would make them easier to get on, but wasn't necessary.  And medium weight on the toe portions.  I don't think I did any on the sole, they're just two layers of thick twill.  I did use the serger, but next time, I would stitch the toe and heels on with the sewing machine and then go around the whole piece with the serger.  I didnt' want any fraying on the inside to catch on toes.  I had a hard time finding boy fabrics in my stash.  At least, boy fabrics that went with this sweater and make it look like a set.  I even tried a couple different attempts at doing a hat, but time was running out.  That's why the pictures are a little dull--I took them after we came home from Lucy's grade 8 grad ceremony LOL.

My kids have grown up on this blog.  It'll be 10 years this August.  I didn't have too many pictures of Lucy and Hugh in the early months though, and my computer just froze up so I won't try to find one. But here she is on grad night:

So pretty!

Yarn In: 1586gr

Yarn Out: 160gr +  4470gr = 4360gr
Balance:  2774gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/190 days = $0.39/day

Slippers are Still Needed in the Summer!

I've had a good 18 month span with my slippers that my mom gave me, so it's been probably two years since I've knit slippers.  But it was time.

 

The tops looked fine, though a bit matted.

But the bottoms?

So, I got out my bags of felting wool and selected some.  I ended up with "Sean's Sheep" Armitage and Lopi.  I had originally thought they'd need more yarn and I'd have to turn to scraps for the cuff or "bumper".  I ended up not doing the bumper and I finished the soles with barely anything to spare.

I posted the before picture on Instagram, early June, if you want to see.  www.instagram.com/tracykmdesigns :)

It's the same FiberTrends felted clog pattern I make all the time.  I made the largest of the lady's sizes, but my needles are only 8mm.  At least....that's what I think I did.  I've already put away the pattern.  Maybe I made the medium size.  Whateves.  After a month of wearing them, they weigh in at 229gr, but I know there was a lot of fuzz during the felting, so I'm going to be generous and say 240gr.

Yarn In: 1586gr

Yarn Out:  240gr + 4230gr = 4470gr
Balance:  2884gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/186 days = $0.40/day

Get Baking!

Our wonderful school has a "Spring Fling" every June.  The highlight, for me, is always the raffle table.  For $5, you get 20 tickets.  There are usually baskets put together by classes, and LOTS of miscellaneous items--the types of things you re-gift to a raffle.  But awesome stuff that other people would love.  I've even put things in, like the year I did the red and white basket with my water bottle holders and a few other items. These past two years, I haven't won anything (but I make up for it at other contests!), but in the past I've gotten a lot of great stuff that I've been able to gift to others!  This year though, every class did a theme basket and there were only a few other items.  I'm not sure why, though last year (or maybe the year before?), they had a LOT of items, and then right at the start of the fling, it started to pour rain so it all had to be moved inside quickly.  And, well, last year, there was a group of moms from the parent committee who had been involved for a long, long time and their kids all graduated.  Anyway.

My older daughter's class got "Baking".  What could I contribute?  What could I create?  What could TracyKM Designs create?  I thought about an apron.  A bit boring, but necessary.  Then, I remembered I had a couple "Snowbird" patches I had bought from the previous conductor of our community band, who is involved with Air Cadets, and one squadron is called the Snowbirds--named after the Canadian Air Force Snowbirds, an acrobatic team.  Our school is named after one Snowbird member from our town who was killed in a crash.  I knew him in high school, and am so proud my kids go to "his" school.  I found a large piece of plain white twill (what the heck did I plan to do with 2m of white twill?!).  I even found some adequately sized red bias tape.  I have a scary looking old apron that is just a piece of twill with bias tape for the straps and tie.  I copied the shape onto the twill, cut, hemmed the sides and bottom and put the bias tape on.

Wow.  Pretty darn quick!  I had to stop myself from making one for myself!

I sewed the patch on, and it was ready to go!

I was disappointed at the fling, when I saw the basket, it was folded in such a way you couldn't see the patch.  Oh well.  The winner ended up standing next to me, so I let her know.

I can totally see making more of these aprons.  I have one more patch, I think, but now I know an embroider who happens to live across the field from the school and her oldest is starting JK in the fall, so I'm sure she'll be motivated to get the image digitized!!

Cinch Sack and Grip Bag

My youngest, has a good friend who is a competitive gymnast.  For her birthday gift, Megan really wanted to make her a "grip bag".  I knew what the wrist grips were, but my daughter's skills at describing a grip bag left a lot to my imagination.  I couldn't figure out why you'd need a specialized bag and how I could sew one.  Finally I looked it up.   All it is, is an aprox. 9x11" bag with a drawstring.  Okey-dokey.  I could sew that.

Of course, I wanted it to be reversible, or at least, lined.  No exposed seams to get covered in chalk dust. I couldn't find a pattern that had the drawstring at the top but since it was pretty much like the cinch sacks, I just went with that.  A message to my embroidery lady and an image was found and wham! a quick (and affordable) gift.  Two fat quarters!  The embroidery cost more than the rest of the supplies.

 I loved the fabric Megan picked for the inside, though I really wanted it on the outside since it matched the fabrics she picked for the backpack.  I did sneak it into the design of the water bottle holder.  I simply used the scraps from trimming the fat quarters down to size.  They were perfect.  Originally, I thought the pocket was going on the outside, so I put the solid grey on the edge, to set it apart from the zig zag pattern.

 But no, Megan said the bottle holder had to be on the inside so no matter which way she wore it, the pocket could still be used.  Smart!

 A sort of faded zig zag pattern.

The outside is the same zig zag I used for my niece's back pack, a few posts ago.  I was hesitant.  Megan originally said one side would be solid grey, but I told her that was boring.  I thought the two zig zag patterns were very close in colour and style that there wasn't any need to have a reversible bag.  But it was a gift for Megan to give, so she got final say.

I hope it gets lots of use!

The Little Things

The nice thing about crafting your own items is you can make it how you want it.  Got longer legs?  Doesn't matter! Prefer side-thumbs instead of palm-thumbs on your mitts?  No problem!  Thick arches? Do more stitches for the heel!

Sometimes though, it's easy to say "Why bother?" when it comes to tweaking a pattern.  But why not?  Often, it doesn't take much (if any) more time, material, or expense.  And the results can be stunning.

I've recently made three sunhats from a free pattern.  It came in one size, yet each of my hats were slightly different sizes.  Most of them (there's really two "hats" per hat, as they're reversible) had some assembly issues.  I wasn't sure how to fix these problems.  Hats are circles, and circle math is complicated.

Yesterday I was going through my bookmarked patterns again, trying to decide which hat pattern to do this time for an order.   She wanted a flat top hat, rather than the "beach ball" style I had been doing.  I found Martha Stewarts' pattern for a reversible bucket hat, though I thought the brim was a bit narrow and angled down quite a bit, so I kept looking.  I kept thinking about a hat drafting tutorial I had saved.

It looked so complicated!  So much math and drawing!  I was considering just doing the Martha Stewart one, but thinking maybe I could use the brim of the one I had already done.  Then I started reading the comments, since there weren't too many.  One caught my eye:  "Thank you for acknowledging that heads aren't circular shaped, and the tapered side panels makes the hat look more professionally made." 

Wait! What!  Heads aren't circular, didn't I know that?  I mean, I knit hats that are "circular" though earflaps are always off center.  Mmmm.  Cowboy hats, and fedoras, and Tilley hats aren't circular!  Why was I sewing circular sun hats?  And why would Martha endorse this fallacy?  I mean, it says right on her site--take time every day to learn something new!  Martha!  News flash!  Heads aren't perfectly round!  Knitted fabric can shape to the head, but woven fabric doesn't!  Maybe this is why my sun hats flew off too easily!  Slipped around!  Even though they should technically fit!

(It's the same thing with sizing knit sweaters.  Designers just take the chest circumference and divide by two.  Look at your self in the mirror.  See something sticking out on your chest that isn't there on your back?  Is your front width the same as your back width?  Unlikely!  If it's a small difference, the knit fabric can stretch, but more than a few inches and you end up with a sweater that sags in the back and is too tight across the chest!  But it's the "right" size!  Really?).

I'm all for the little details that make my items unique and "better" than others.  I don't like the word "better".  I'd prefer, "enlightened".  Why make a hat a circle when it should really be an oval?

Okay, got the crown figured out, next came the side pieces.  Melly Sews shapes them, so the top is slightly smaller than the bottom.  I wouldn't know how much smaller to do this.  In fact, the template for the crown piece confused me--if I was doing this on my own, I would have just drawn a circle with the head circumference plus seam allowance, then squished it to an oval.  But this would result in a very boxy look. Think of a pill box hat.  Very straight sides.  It was a bit of work to do the side pieces, but actually, not a whole lot.  It turns out though that my piece is too big for a fat quarter (unless done on the bias), so I split it in two, and even remembered to add seam allowances!

The brim....how do you draw that?!  Can't use a compass, since heads aren't circular!  I just made many, many marks at the length I wanted.  Though I'm a little confused since the crown template is a bit smaller than the bottom of the side band....I'm just going to follow the instructions.  I cut a little pie slice out, then realized that I will lose another 1/2" on each side for the seam allowance.  Keep this in mind.  I also can not figure out how, if you cut the wedge all the way through the width, it will fit with the side piece.  You've made the seam line smaller by what ever you take out with the wedge.  Don't you need to keep this seam line the same as before?  Uh oh.  Just keep working...

I`ve got all my pieces cut out, and we`ll see how it goes!  I have realized that although it took a while to draft this, sewing it will be quicker because there won`t be all the crown pieces (six wedges) to sew togther and topstitch.  So once the template is done, making multiple hats will be so quick!  Put a little more into prep, and reap the benefits in the assembly and the finished results!

Sweet Vintage

We were heading out for a day, and there was a 45 minute drive, so I needed something easy to work on.  Keeping with the vintage feel of the Baby Surprise Jacket, I thought I'd whip up another "5 Hour Sweater".  Looking at the pattern though, it didn't really work with my  yarn, so I went with "Quick Baby Sweater" by Lorriane Major.  This is an oldie but goodie that I've done before.  The date on my print out is February 19, 2002.  Just days before I would have found out I was pregnant with Lucy!  On the back of the pattern is a doodle, by Rob, of how he pictured the awkward corner in our basement that he was renovating at that time.  I've made this sweater before and remember having a few issues with keeping track of right side/wrong side, and that happened again.  I also used smaller needles, I think 6mm with worsted weight yarn (on the smaller side of today's worsted).  I think the 6.5mm makes it just a little too loosey-goosey.  I've used this yarn for lots of other baby items, and I think I still have some left!!

I really don't have much to say, except the pink doesn't show up too well in the picture.  I made the seamless version.  There's no instructions for button holes, so I crocheted two ties (4 chains) and made bows.  This will go in the "In Stock" box as apparently my extended family is popping out boys only.

According to the first post written about this yarn, I had 70gr left.  Yet this one took 89gr, and there's the cat Lucy made, which took 20gr.  This truly is one of those never ending balls of yarn!!

Yarn In: 1586gr

Yarn Out:  4141gr + 89gr = 4230gr
Balance:  2644gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/162days = $0.46/day

Still Knitting!

Yes, I'm still knitting!  While letting the wrist heal, I was doing a lot more sewing, but I still snuck in short blocks of knitting--can't really take the sewing machine in the truck!  I had the urge to get back to basics and do some baby items (and then found out there are babies coming in the family!  Since then though, they found out they're having boys).  First up, a Baby Surprise Jacket!

 Not much to say.  I started with no plan, except to use up the purple.  Which I did--had barely a few yards left over.  I stuck with the pattern, but did my decreases and increases so they'd be more decorative.

I ran out of the purple earlier than I thought I would.  If I had realized, then I would have done more grey sooner, or did a waste yarn cast on--which makes for nicer sewing up too.  I think the purple was "Vanna's Choice" or "Impeccable".  The grey I think was left over from the Rude Robot hat and the purple from the mermaid blankets.  All together, it weighs in at 184gr, and I used either 5mm or 5.5mm needles.  I have a bit of purple fabric from that first hobo bag  and I might make a little pair of baby shoes.  Trouble is, figuring what size to make.  I think this is about a size six months-12months, but most baby shoe patterns only come in newborn.

I even created a little slideshow to explain how to fold this sweater.  I know, there are other videos and tutorials out there, but I can't resist. 

Yarn In: 1586gr
Yarn Out:  184gr + 3957gr = 4141gr
Balance:  2555gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/160days = $0.47/day

Silent Auction!

I decided to make another drawstring backpack to donate to the silent auction at the big fundraiser dinner for the jazz bands my daughter is in.  I wasn't going to do red satin again though LOL!

I had some of this texture-striped black, just enough to do the outer bag.  I had this fun musical instrument fabric, but it wasn't quite enough for the inside.  I also had some black twill--not really enough for the entire bag either.  I've really been using up fabric lately!!  So, I pieced the black twill onto the bottom of the instrument fabric--very pleased with  myself for remembering to add the seam allowance to each piece to make it the right length.  I placed the pocket so one side is in the side seam and one side was sewn down.  However, due to the elastic around the top, it kind of pulls the side of the inner bag inwards.  I think from now on, the water bottle pocket goes dead centre.  Either inside or outside. 

This is the bag that gave a concussion on Victoria Day (May 23).  I thought I'd try do photos in my basement, since there was some natural light, and a pot light directly overhead, and I could sit on the stairs, and lean over the stairs (no railing).  I was coming back up the stairs after laying it out, and went to lean out over the side of the stairs.  I hadn't gone high enough, and headbutted the I-beam in the ceiling.  Full throttle.  My scalp is still a little tender to the touch, but I'm not getting the headaches and nausea anymore.  That was a rough long weekend for injuries, but since then, I seem to be doing okay!

Another Hat!

I wanted to make another sunhat and this time really pay attention to how I laid the pieces on the fabric to cut out.  I was at Michaels and saw their fat quarters.  I was drawn to reds.  I looked at one but felt it had too much white and the black I intended for the other side would show through.  I looked at another one but it was "too" red.  I settled on a red with small white polka dots.  Cute, but not "baby".  I had some black with beige flower embroidery on it for the other side.

I carefully laid out the pieces of the crown so the "stretch" would be going across.  One piece of the red fat quarter seemed a little stretchier than the other.  The black had less stretch because of the embroidery.  I also cut the interfacing in two pieces, with a small overlap.  I wanted to see if this worked on my own hat before doing it on one for someone else!  I totally think it worked.

 

I sewed the red brim on first.  I had pinned the 1/4 marks, and it went fine until the last 1/4 section.  I ended up with more than an inch extra brim.  Instead of panicking and ripping it out immediately, I set it aside and sewed the black brim on.  It went on almost entirely perfect, maybe 1/2" brim left over.  So I ripped off the red brimmed and tried again, had to try a few times and I think in the end I did have to take in the brim seam a little bit--1/4" from each side of the brim seam? (I left the outer edge the same, but tapered the seam towards the crown).  The brim looks a little pulled in a few places.  I didn't have a red thread that matched close enough, so I used white. 

 I did the first round of brim top stitching really close to the edge to make it easier to close the gap I left for turning.  I also clipped the seam in that opening to make it lay flatter while I top stitched.  I think I trimmed the entire brim edge seam before I turned it.  When I went to do the second row of top stitching, I couldn't find a marking on my machine at the right distance, so the distance from the edge to the 2nd row is the same as between the 2nd and 3rd, and 3rd and 4th, etc, but the edge top stitching in between the edge and 2nd row.  If that makes sense.  I opted to top stitch on the crown this time instead of the brim.  I thought this might look a bit smoother and prevent any tiny pleating if the brims were slightly off size.  I think it looks fine.  I think this might also be contributing to the smaller size.  Then I remembered to add a ribbon, so I had to unpick a bit and hand stitch it in, etc.  Whatever.  It's done.

During the process, a few people mentioned it looks like Minnie Mouse.  Then, when it was finished...I realized that I also have a red nightgown with white polka dots.  Yup.  My sun hat matches my nightgown.

Seven Months Till Christmas!

How about some knitting content for a change?  The overuse injury to my wrist in mid-March took much longer than I thought it would to fully resolve.  The discomfort with using it disappeared fairly quickly, but I was still finding that if I knit for the evening, the next day my wrist felt irritated.  It's feeling much better now, though there is still a lump, so I just try to vary what I'm doing.

I've been working on this stocking for awhile.  It started off well enough.  A bit of time with Google and Ravelry lead me to the pattern at Mary Maxim.  Yay!  I wouldn't have to chart it all out!  I waited for one of their weekly sales, and bought their four pack of stocking pattern books for $20Cdn.  This gives me a little over 50 Christmas stocking patterns!!  I had already gone yarn shopping and found great matches--especially the green.  The red is a bit off, but luckily, because they're done in "reverse", it's not a big issue.  I got started, knitting happily away with the chart.

Once I got to the kitty's eyes, I wanted to check something, so I looked at the original stocking.  Wait a minute!  It didn't match what I was knitting!  I looked at the chart and what I knitted--they matched.  I looked at the tiny picture on the back cover of the book, and it matched the original stocking, but not the chart!  WTF?!  There was a chunk of white missing on the right side of the hat!!

I emailed Mary Maxim and explained the issue.  My thinking was that the chart had been re-done when they entered the digital age but the pictures hadn't been updated.  But why would they use a different chart?  The answer came back--she didn't see any difference between the chart and the picture, and perhaps I was doing the knit rows from left to right instead of right to left.

I exhaled.  This customer service rep doesn't know me from Adam.  That is the number one issue new knitters make with charts.  However, that wouldn't result in a totally different picture, it would just be a mirror image.

I wrote back explaining that I had over 20 years experience knitting from charts, and also charting my own designs.  This was not a mirror image problem, but a totally different chart.  She wrote back saying she still didn't see a problem.

Ummm.  Okay.  I took a iPad photo of the chart, and used a colouring app to colour it in the correct colours.  Then I took a picture of the picture of the stocking on the back of the book, and I put the two in an email for customer service.  I heard back from someone different, who did confirm that the chart was changed after the first printing and I must have the newer printing.  Well, fat lot of good that does me, paying $20+ for something that isn't as advertised.  How many other charts don't match the pictures?  There was never any mention of say, a gift certificate or a refund for my troubles.  Not even a free box of mystery sock yarn.  I would have gladly taken a free box of mystery sock yarn, though that would through my "Yarn In" totals quite high.

See that white band above the right ear?  Missing from the chart!

I had to rip it back to the bottom of the off-white band, and knit from the original stocking.  It wasn't the greatest knitting, with twisted stitches and some wonky tension making it hard to count rows and stitches were the intarsia was.  I got past what I thought was the issue area and moved back to the charts.  Once done, I did see a couple of wayward stitches that I duplicate stitched over.

At some point in all of this, I took a break and mended all my handknit socks, and ended up with the wrist injury and had to stop knitting for a bit, then gradually work my way back up to long stretches.  I wanted to make sure this injury healed properly, not like my toes after I dropped the weight on them and then ignored the pain and swelling for several weeks.

Can you spot the couple stitches (on the right kitty) that I duplicate stitched over?

I finally got the stocking finished, and had to hunt for a pom pom.   I couldn't find any the right size so I went bigger, and replaced the original too, trimming them both down quite a bit.  I gave it some steam to smooth it out, arranged a pick up time for the next evening, and brought the two together to take a look.

And whoa. The new one was quite a bit shorter!!  I had had some tensions issues and had been alternating needle sizes to try to match, and sometimes it's hard to tell the final size before seaming, washing and blocking, but there was no denying.  They did not match.  Panic.  Exhale.  I am Tracy, and this is just the way these things are.  It's the True Tracy Way.  I would have to do surgery, as I didn't think I had time to reknit the lower leg, ankle, and entire foot.

I did not take any photos.  I know many knitters find images of cut apart knitting to be too graphic.  I undid the back seam above the ankle, snipped a stitch at the edge, and proceeded to try to pick out a row.  Apparently, I had been knitting from two ends since after finishing the picture, I wanted to use up the small amounts of the red that I had been already using for the background.  It was kind of messy, trying to get it ripped back to one row, and get the ankle side cleaned up to one row to be ready to be grafted back.

I had already put the needles away, thought I had the right size, knit for a while when my daughter was doing her skating tests, ripped it all out, picked out bigger needles, knit for a bit, then knit a few more rows, then grafted it to the original piece.  The new section was obviously bigger and looser, along the seamed edge.  I ended up tightening up stitches one by one, getting some slack, bringing it to the back, and knotting it tight.

I also cut open the toe, ripped back the toe and added some more rows.  It took me several tries to get the toe decreases right and the grafting.  I was grafting starting in the middle of the row like with real socks, but it was wrong, I needed to graft from the end....hard to explain, it's only been a week but I don't really remember exactly.

In the end, it was much improved.  I got a few photos, the customer came and was thrilled.  She doesn't need to know about all the issues.  She did give me a nice tip though, which was much appreciated since the original quote was on the lower end even if there hadn't been any issues.

This is something that is nice about doing custom work.  Every project has a story.  Not just who ordered it, and why, but rarely do the orders go entirely smoothly.  Usually I'm trying to copy something, or "wing it" or working with limited supplies or questionable measurements.  It keeps it interesting.  I don't know that I could crochet 20 owl hats for a craft show.  It might be less stress, but then what if they don't sell.  What if someone wanted blue eyes instead of pink?  What if...

Yarn In: 1586gr
Yarn Out:  3850gr + 107gr = 3957gr
Balance:  2371gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/102days = $0.73/day