Waving Goodbye to 2013

Eastern Shore of Lake Superior

It was a very interesting year in many ways. As I mentioned last post, it was the first full year with Thom retired and we’re still shifting into a New Normal. Yes, I’m going to use his real name finally! After 8.5 years of T-Man or just T, I think it’s time that he be allowed to show his true colours. Or something like that. Heh! I’ve given up being coy, though I think I’ll still use the nicknames for my grandbeasties. They are yet too young to give their permission to be “out there” on the interwebs. Adult persons are fair game though. Heh.

I definitely learned a few things this year. Or let’s just say that my suspicions were confirmed – there’s a LOT of land between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans! Places I’ve only heard about all my life now have actual mental pictures to go with them. Often they weren’t quite what I had imagined. The prairies aren’t really as flat as you’d think but there’s an incredible amount of grain (and other things) growing there. Manitoba has great lakes too that look as big as the ones they actually call the Great Lakes. Late summer in southern Ontario is horrible! Heat, humidity and bugs – blech. Niagara Falls is spectacular. And loud! But not as high as I would have thought. Forests of mostly hardwoods look very different from our usual conifers and there are many trees and shrubs in the east that I don’t recognise at all. For some reason that makes me uncomfortable. Weird, I know. New Hampshire and Vermont have a lot of those unidentifiable trees but not a lot of people. There is a ridiculous amount of trucks on the freeways in Michigan and Illinois. There is a ridiculous amount of corn and soy growing in Minnesota. South Dakota’s Badlands may be “bad” but they are very beautiful. Watching geysers blow never gets old and being kissed by one is hot. I still trust old-fashioned maps over GPS and Google Earth. In the end we couldn’t see everything, go everywhere or do everything we would have liked but it was still the trip of a lifetime. And the biggest lesson I learned from The Great Cross-Continental Trek is that there really is no place like home! Of course I kind of suspected that before we started.

After that amazing adventure we aren’t sure where we’ll travel this year. Our poor VW Westphalia, who is turning 25 years old this coming year, needs some TLC before we go anywhere again. She’s got a bad whine in the transmission now though it’s not actually broken. Yet. A bearing perhaps? And the gas tank needs to be replaced. We already have the part ready to go in. It was leaking just below the filler cap the whole time we were away which meant that Thom couldn’t fill the tank up to the very top or we smelled gas for the next several hours. Dangerous! The good news is that he finally fixed the speedometer which broke partway through the trip and incidentally also fixed the odometer which has been broken for years. Yay. Now we’ll find out how far we go in future. A bit late for the big one though. We only guessed at the 14,000 kilometres – it was probably more than that all told.

But I digress. I’ve already talked about my makes for this year in the last post. For 2014 I’d like to carry on making garments that work for my lifestyle. At the same time I need to clear out or refashion anything that doesn’t work. I know I keep saying that but this time I’m serious. Really serious. I’m tired of fishing though stacks of worn-out or ill-fitting items to find something better. You have no idea how old some of this stuff is! Wishful thinking is not going to improve them in any way. Most are not even good enough to donate to salvage. What do I do with rags that is the most environmentally sound? Do I just let the salvage figure it out? Or does it just end up in landfill somewhere anyway? This is the biggest reason that I hang onto things too long! Green guilt.

Oh, before I forget, I have a Finished Object, last one of 2013:

Retro Rib Socks

Begun:  October 25, 2013
Completed:  December 29, 2013

Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints, 75% merino/25% nylon, Colourway 9931 (browns), 400m = 100g. Used most of one skein. (Less than 30g left.)

Pattern:  Retro Rib Socks by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Knits, Winter 2004. Errata PDF here.

Mods:  Because I always use smaller needles my gauge is tighter so I knit the legs with more repeats to make them about 8.5” before beginning the heel flap.

Comments:  This is my first experience with the Cascade Heritage yarn and I quite like it. Nice twist, extra nylon content but still soft. This pattern works well with variegated yarns because the ribs are definite enough not to be obscured by the colours.

I made the smaller size. Loved how the pattern moved neatly from one section to the next. Very elegant! However, the rib pattern never really became automatic so I made many mistakes. Especially in dim light! These socks took me much longer than socks usually do to complete. I’m very happy with the results though so it was worth persevering.

All in all, it was an OK year, 2013. Health good, spirits good, production good, family good, travel amazing. Can’t really ask for much more, can we? Except for another year like it! Moving right along.

Stop the presses! Whoo-hoo! I just got a prezzie in the post from a dear blogger buddy! (Thanks so much, Heather!) I’ll unwrap and show you later. Right now I’m going to kick the backside of 2013 and see you in 2014!

Tally Ho!

It’s that time of year when, like everyone else, I just couldn’t resist counting up the year’s makes. I’ve already blogged nearly everything here but can’t be arsed to link it all. Anyway the results are pretty interesting. At least to me! It’s nice to know I’m moving forward – at least some of the time.

Knitting:

• socks – 10 (+1 more pair not quite finished!)
• hats - 3
• mitts/gloves – 2
• scarves/shawls – 7 (+1 half-finished)
• sweaters/tunics – 4
• other knits - 3

Sewing:

• vests/jackets - 4
• dresses/jumpers - 3
• skirts - 1
• pants/shorts - 6
• bras/panties - 6
• other sewn items – 3 (bags), 1 (bug curtain)
• refashions - 2

Miscellaneous Items:

• kumihimo bookmark – 1
• eco-dyed scarves – 3

Total Makes for 2013 – 59

Conclusions:

Whew! The knit items somewhat outnumbered the sewn items. While we were driving cross-country for 2 months all I could do was knit. Otherwise the sewn items might possibly have dominated. I’m always amazed by how many pairs of socks I can finish in a year. Obviously they are my go-to portable projects. Most were plain but I did expand my toe-up skills on 3 pairs. The hats all used the same pattern: Sockhead. Definitely a hit. I’d like to make more sweaters, particularly cardigans since I get a lot of wear out of them especially in the winter months. If I’m going to continue to make scarves and shawls I’m going to have to start giving some of them away! They’re getting hard to store neatly. Heh.

This fall I also began test knitting/tech editing for Sanjo. They are redeveloping their pattern/yarn kits using some of their new delicious yarns. Here’s the first one I worked on. I think that’s my version in the photo (although the big leaf is showing its purl side.) I’ve just finished a second project for them that luckily was much easier than the first one. Even though I had to pull most of it out – twice! This is a collar/neck warmer using a strand of fine kid mohair/silk held together with a thicker silk single. Yum. To Dye For!

I’m really quite pleased with the improvement in my fitting and sewing skills this year. I feel like my wardrobe is beginning to reflect the “real me” and the way I prefer to dress. I wear me-mades every day, even if nobody but me ever notices. I’ve learned not to make too many dressier garments because I don’t really have much of an opportunity to wear them. Tunics are great layering pieces that make me feel both comfortable and feminine and I tend to prefer them over skirts or dresses. I’ve also learned that my preferred sleeve length is between wrist and elbow where my arms are somewhat covered but I’m not pushing them up constantly. Unsurprisingly I prefer garments that fit closely in the shoulders and upper arms but looser in the lower body. Boxy wide shoulders and droopy batwings are not for me. Neither are waistbands that aren’t at least half-elasticised. Asymmetrical shapes still please me very much – whether or not they are still considered to be in style.

This year I found myself drawn to ever more muted colours and farther away from prints. I’ve been trying to sew with the better fabrics but still using up stash. Favourite fibres are naturals and natural/blends and though I still love knits a lot, I’ve been sewing more wovens. I want to get confident enough in my skills to be able to sew comfortably with the really pricey fabrics. For instance, my own handwovens! Yes, I know I have to actually weave something first.

Of course I’m also working on using up stash for knitting. Though I did buy a few skeins this year, they were all sock yarn which gives a lot of knitting time for the buck. I find I’m preferring much finer yarns over the chunky stuff anyhow. Regular knitting worsted even seems too thick to me these days. I keep saying this but I think I’m going to have to get spinning up some of that fibre stash for the sweaters I want to knit this coming year. My default spinning is somewhere between sock yarn and DK. Is that sport weight? I’ve hardly spun at all this year. Sad really.

So this has been the first full year with T-Man retired. We had lots of plans to clean, refurbish, purge and generally re-order our home but…although we made a start and a few things got done, we’ve kind of slacked off rather sadly. The month or so before the Big Cross-Continental Trek was the busiest. After that we were gone for 2 months. We came back to a garden desperately needing attention which kept us occupied until all the fall leaves were raked up. However we both seemed to need a holiday from the holiday, if you know what I mean. So we’ve been reading a lot, puttering around, getting out for the occasional walk (weather permitting) but not working/creating with the intensity that we used to. Maybe it’s the dark and dreary season? Maybe we’re just having a creative time in our heads? I dunno. Hopefully we snap out of it very soon. I’m all for a work/leisure balance but when the bed starts to show permanent body indents, you know somebody needs to get moving. Oh. That would be me.

Big hugs to all my Loyal Readers for another fabulous year just past and I hope 2014 is going to be a happy, healthy, peaceful, and productive year for us all!

More anon. It’s nearly 2pm. I need to get up, get dressed and go do something useful.

After-Mas

That’s my nearly-40-year-old schefflera doing its duty substituting for a Christmas tree. The thing is already taking up most of the corner of my dining room and I have to keep pruning it back from the ceiling so it might as well contribute to the holiday decor. We can’t really put lights on though or poor Scheff will drop leaves everywhere. But the rare winter sunshine did a nice job of lighting it up, doncha think? The only real drawback is that I miss the smell of a fir tree in the house. Oh well. Can’t have everything I suppose.

Hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely Christmas! Ours started with our annual Solstice dinner at Milady Daughter’s featuring our immediate family plus Nana. That’s a respectable 10 people right there! We had a lovely evening, the kids all got presents and had a blast playing with each other. Yummy dinner, a plethora of desserts and good company – really, what more could one ask?

Well, MORE! Christmas dinner at T’s brother’s was an amazing 27 people crammed into their tiny house featuring (like ours) only one bathroom. Unsurprisingly there were no arguments, drunken acts or other mayhem. Instead there was much merriment and yummy food. The fresh turkey was delish! A few presents were exchanged, mostly for the kids. The adults have finally had it with trying to give a gift to everyone in our rapidly expanding family. Whew! Now I don’t feel so much like Mrs. Scrooge anymore. Everyone seems content just to get together.

While other people (who obviously haven’t had enough of the shopping frenzy yet) wasted time queuing up for Boxing Day/Week sales, we puttered around home instead. Turns out we should have gone for a walk in the relatively nice weather yesterday though because today it’s dumping rain and very dark and dreary. Oh well.

There’s at least one more big family get-together on New Year’s Day at my nephew’s MIL’s. We tend to kind of overdose on the visiting this time of year! Not complaining at all though since it’s apparently rare for most families to live close by these days. Yes, we are lucky and I am grateful.

So I’ll be back soon with some kind of year-end review post. I need to clear out the cobwebs and take stock before the New Year begins.

More anon!

Happy Axial Tilt!

Winter Solstice (for us in the Northern Hemisphere) happened at 9:11 PST this morning. It’s feeling rather winter-ish around here especially after it snowed yesterday:

Not unusual for the rest of Canada but for the Vancouver Lower Mainland, it’s either a treat or a nightmare! One’s enjoyment – or not – is usually dictated by one’s age. The kids dash out to sled and make snow angels and snowmen quickly before it all disappears. Grownups complain about having to shovel the sidewalks and travel anywhere. We are not good in snow here. Streets and walks don’t get cleaned properly and nobody knows how to drive on slippery streets. Mostly folks just hope it’ll go away soon. And it usually does. 

Backing up a little, on Tuesday we brought a fresh tree to our son The Ninja’s house. His poor abused back was feeling a little better. (He somehow managed to put it out with a sneeze! Yikes!) Everyone got into the decorating including Princess Silver Fang who had more fun decorating herself with lights and tinsel garlands. Too funny! Her little brother Stargazer was very excited and started hanging things on before the tree was even secured in its stand. He was quite concerned that Santa wouldn’t know where to put the gifts if they didn’t have a Christmas tree for him. Glad we could help.

Thursday was our annual weavers & spinners guild Christmas party. We had a yummy potluck featuring sweet and savoury finger foods. I brought salmon lox to try to provide a nice protein contrast to all the pastries and shortbread offerings. Of course I ate some of those as well! We also had our usual show-and-tell and then a fun gift exchange. My eco-printed scarf went to a new and very enthusiastic guild member and in exchange I got this lovely temari ball in its own little box and gift bag:

It has a string too so I can hang it up to be admired. Perfect sunny colours for Solstice, doncha think?

Haven’t really done anything else exciting. Yesterday I spent some quiet time reading. Then went to work in the studio for some sewing. It was extra dark in there because the snow covered my two small skylights! I had to turn every light in the room on to see what I was doing. I did figure out how to hem my sleeveless jacket/vest thing. All it took was a fresh brain. But I don’t have a photo of my solution yet. See above comment on – you-know – dark and all. Tilton, that thing has a lot of pieces to it! I’m still only about half finished now. So many seams to join and finish. Love the results though so it’s definitely worth it. You really have to enjoy the process as much as the Finished Object.

Our Solstice Dinner isn’t until tomorrow at Milady Daughter’s house. Then Christmas Dinner at T’s younger brother’s. I used to call him The Coach but since he’s retired from soccer coaching now I’m going to have to find him a new moniker. “Baby Bro” just makes him cranky!

Even though it’s melting now, here’s some more snow to get you in the Holiday mood. Poor rhododendrons!

More, as usual, anon.

Speed Post

Oh hello! Unlike most people this time of year, it hasn’t been particularly busy in Damselfly’s Pond. I just haven’t had anything very interesting to report! I figured that I’d better say something though or you might think I’ve gone AWOL. So here in no particular order are my items du jour.

I’ve been working a little in the studio sewing my vest/tunic version of Marcy Tilton’s V8876 in taupe wool/lycra. It’s coming along quite nicely but I’m having difficulty figuring out how to hem it without it looking tacky. The original version has a huge hem band and facing but mine leaves that off. The fabric is a little too thick to turn up smoothly where the fabric is doubled at the front facings. I’ll figure it out somehow. I just have to be fresh before I tackle it again.

As always, I’m knitting socks. Two pairs are on the go this time and I’m squeaking down the feet on the Retro Ribs. As long as I can see what I’m doing they’re going much better than the top parts. Only the instep is in pattern so I can cruise in stockinette on the soles.

The second pair is just a plain pair for T. I’ve noticed that my Blackthorn carbon fibre dpns are now much less “skritchy” than they used to be. I’ve knit quite a few pairs with them and it seems to have smoothed out the surface. However using them has also blunted the nice sharp points. See for yourself:

I prefer pointy points but the more rounded ones seem to be working fine for plain knitting. I really wouldn’t have thought that they would reshape themselves so dramatically with use! Just a head’s up if you were considering these rather pricey sticks. They certainly don’t bend or break easily so they are very durable in that sense. I could sharpen them up again but I think I’ll just leave them alone for now. Unless they get too blunt.

What else? Oh yeah, I had to get a new power cord/adapter/charger thingie for my poor little netbook computer, Bluet. The old one has been flaky for at least a year as a wire was breaking right near the plug that goes into the jack. It finally kicked the proverbial bucket and I was forced to find a universal system to replace my old one. It included 13 different tips out of which I (of course!) only needed one. At least it works and now I’m back in business. And I’m hanging on to the other tips since I can pretty much guarantee that it will last longer than the elderly computer it’s plugged into.

Then yesterday we walked downtown and went to see the Hobbit movie. Excellent as expected! Smaug was particularly awesome. However I do get a little annoyed when the action veers off into crazy videogame territory. I prefer it when at least some of the natural laws like gravity, temperature and speed aren’t so blatantly ignored in favour of upping the excitement level. I do like a tad more verisimilitude even in my fantasies. On the other hand I have no problem with changes in the story line from the book. Adding a kickass elf maiden was a welcome idea. Tolkien was very remiss in the strong female character department. Go Tauriel! Now I’m just sad that I have to wait Another Whole Year for the rest of the story. Pooh.

The weather is lovely today, sunny and not very cold at all. We’ll be going for another walk. I’m desperate for a haircut! Then it’s off to find a Christmas tree for the Larger Grandbeasties. Their daddy has been ill and their mom doesn’t drive so they still don’t have one. It’ll be fun to help set it up. Apart from putting up lights we never got around to decorating here. I think it takes a few excited kids to get into the Holiday mood, doncha think?

More anon.

Deck The Malls

Yesterday we took an extended public transit ride in the snow to the mall. Not just any mall either but the largest one locally. I usually have a good sense of direction. After navigating us across the continent and back one would think so! But I absolutely get lost and disoriented every time I step into it which is probably why I haven’t gone there in a couple of years. However we had procrastinated ourselves out of purchasing the only set of gifts we actually give this season – jammies for the grandbeasties. No hope for it then. The Mall at Excessmas. Yikes.

On a Monday mid-morning it thankfully wasn’t particularly busy. At least not crazy-busy! After much hunting around we managed to find what we hope will be suitable. Just guessing on the fit because child sizes mean nothing to me these days. While we were at it we also found a replacement floor attachment for our elderly vacuum cleaner.  The current one has no bristles left on it. Apparently the design of the connection hasn’t changed which is a miracle really in this day of planned obsolescence. We also had a yummy lamb souvlaki lunch which was definitely the highlight of the trip.

I shop so little these days (apart from groceries and craft supplies) that I was quite overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff for sale. Holey-Moley! Such a lot of it was Holiday Hideous! Does anyone really wear floor length dresses covered in cheap sparkly bits and frilly chiffon layers? And extra high platform spike heels to go with? Or perhaps I should ask do they actually wear them in public? Apart from the toddler/kindergarten set dressed in their princess play costumes, I thought most women would grow out of that mega-frou-frou phase. Or am I missing out on all the right parties? And I’m sure she was just dying to change into the adult-sized onesie with a giant British flag afterwards. Nevermind.

OK, I know! I’m definitely not the right Target Demographic! (Thankyouverymuch.) One good thing I noticed was that the girls clothing department was finally trending away from All Pink All The Time. Black, red and a smattering of other options. However, just try to find something without a licensed commercial image on it! Disney, Hello Kitty, Angry Birds, Spider Man…you pay to advertise for the corporations. And the kids are happy to wear recognisable “friends”. Guess this is just the logical extension of the Mickey Mouse ears that I used to wear while watching the TV show as a kid?

Yes, of course I could have sewed the Beasties’ jammies myself. And probably should have too. But I don’t have any of the right supplies nor their current measurements on hand so that would have meant thinking ahead! Didn’t happen. Maybe next year. Or not. Christmas is not a huge deal for me anyhow aside from spending precious extra time with family. I don’t enjoy the constant marketing hype, the shopping and decorating, the huge expectations and the inevitable letdown afterward. I know I’ve said this before but it’s gotten completely out of hand as a holiday, religious or secular. I’d rather ignore as much as possible and just pick out the parts that I can live with. The rest can go jump in a sleigh and fly away! Life is too short to worry and stress. I already have what I need to be happy. Santa doesn’t have to bring me anything more.

Annual Seasonal Rant Over! Moving right along. It’s currently snowing in Vancouver for the second day in a row. Yeah, unusual, huh? Tee-tiny snowflakes which don’t amount to much. It’s been warming up from the arctic chill we’ve had for the last week or so but still hovering somewhere around freezing. The fascinating sculptural ice build-up in the water garden is starting to melt:

It’s relatively warm enough now to take the blanket off my rosemary. Hope we haven’t lost any plants but we likely won’t know spring. Stay warm! Or cool, depending on where you are. More anon.

Baby It’s Cold Outside

We had our coldest night in years last night. I know – as compared to some places it doesn’t really count as particularly cold but –8C is very chilly for Vancouver. Especially this early in the season. And there was a wind-chill factor on top of that. The water garden, which we never got around to putting away, is frozen an inch deep or so, with a little open area where the pumped water hits:

I took this pic through the window in the kitchen door so as not to disturb the little chickadee who was finding it a useful source of water when everything else is solid. Also note the broken spigot thanks to the raccoons – again! They left their footprints all over the porch this morning as evidence of their mischief. I guess the critters are happy we didn’t take the water garden down. Even if T will probably have to build a new spigot again next year. I’ve lost count how many he’s made and every one is different. At least he removed the rest of the glass bubbles (the ones the raccoons haven’t broken yet) before they froze. The plants that were in there are toast but they never last through frost anyhow.

As well, we’ve been covering the rosemary that I moved into the greenhouse with a blanket at night in an attempt to keep it from expiring. There are so many flower buds and I was hoping to get another year with gorgeous blue blooms like last year’s which were spectacular. At least the temp in the greenhouse gets up to a reasonable 15C or so in the sunshine during the day. But it’s the big dips at night that are so hard on rosemary. They can’t take anything lower than –10C and it was pretty close to that last night. It’s a tossup whether the big ceramic pot I’ve planted it in is an advantage in that I can move it into the (unheated) greenhouse in winter or a disadvantage in that the roots aren’t as protected from cold as they would be deep in the garden soil. It all depends on the weather, doesn’t it? And you never know. Guess we’ll find out later what else we might have lost to freezing.

So anyway, I have another Finished Object today. And lots of photos. Interestingly only one actually comes close to the real colour of the fabric and the rest are all different. A side effect of the light (or lack of it) this time of year. At least it allows you to see the details on an otherwise very dark garment.

Dark Chocolate Jacket

Completed:  December 6, 2013

Pattern:  Butterick 5819, Katherine Tilton, View C/D top.

Mods:  Many, mostly fitting related (size 8 neck, shoulder and armhole to between 12 and 14 for body; shave 5/8” off shoulder length; slope front shoulder 1/4”, raise armhole 1/2”, lengthen body 1”, shorten sleeve 1-1/4”, bump out the princess seam a little at the bust point for a demi-FBA).

Fabric:  Brushed cotton twill, dark brown, thick and fairly drapey, 2 yards of 60” wide, purchased in 2012 at Mill End Retail Fabric Store, Portland OR.

Notions:  inserted weft fusible interfacing, 3 large brown wooden buttons and 1 small square wooden button, #20 black crochet cotton.

Comments:  For once I went with a careful with-nap layout when cutting out. I sewed this pretty much as directed except the pockets were stitched the way I usually do them with a 3/8” seam. This puts the fold away from the seam which is then inside out of view and it didn’t need any tack stitching to hold it. I also tucked the bottom of the pocket into the hem to keep it from shifting and poking out. One PR reviewer said that the pocket bags were too long anyway but when I lengthened the body they fit properly.

I had never used this inserted weft interfacing before and I quite like it. It seems very soft but definitely gives just a little body and a lot of stabilization to the jacket fronts without being at all stiff. Good choice.

This thick fabric was very prone to fraying:

(BTW this is the closest to the real colour!) I tried a 4-thread overlock with brown threads in the 2 needles and black wooly nylon in the loopers (because I didn’t have brown). It made a lovely smooth seam finish:

No chance of any further fraying now.

I’m really happy with my new jacket. I love the wavy hem:

Shorter in front, longer in back, and gentle points at the sides. (Don’t tell me if they’ve gone out of style. I adore them anyhow.) I also love the Usual Tilton Sisters’ Creative Collar:

Note that there’s an error in the stitching directions for the collar. They tell you to use a gathering stitch to draw in a curved hem but instead it needs a little clipping to lie flat. They got their innies and outies mixed up!

Another long-unused skill had me making actual corded buttonholes. I’m kind of dissatisfied with the results but my machine has only semi-automatic buttonholes (not at all like newer machines) and I can’t get the tension quite right. They are passable, just don’t look too closely. The old wooden buttons have been waiting in my stash for decades for just the right project. This was it. Done.

On to the next thing!

In knitting news, I’ve worn my slinky navy silk knitted tunic from the last post and gotten lots of compliments. Success. I’m finally up to the heel flaps on the Retro Rib Socks. Halfway there. I was knitting in good light while watching Tom Knisely’s Loom Owner’s Companion video from my guild library. (Lots of excellent hints and tips but nothing really new for an old hand like me.) I love knitting during how-to videos because you don’t need to look at the screen constantly. Otherwise I can’t stand how-to videos at all! I keep wanting to fast-forward to the good bits and skip most of it. I can’t touch the controls if my hands are busy knitting so I semi-watch the whole thing. Works for me anyhow. Heh.

I also broke down and started another pair of plain gray socks for T who’s drawer-full of hand knit socks are mostly getting a little threadbare. This particular yarn was mostly chosen because I had it already wound into two balls ready to go. This one is my mindless TV project for now. And I haven’t even looked at my poor languishing Autumn Echo Flower Shawl recently. Poor neglected dear. Not to worry. I’ll get to it eventually. I’ve promised myself I can’t start another shawl without finishing this one first. And I have red yarn that’s calling me for another shawl that I can’t start yet. Dilemma, yes? I’m so mean to me.

A Finished Knit

Whoo-hoo! I actually finished something for a change. Here’s a really bad selfie of my not-quite finished and definitely-not-blocked-yet Buonasera Tunic:

See why I don’t normally indulge in mirror selfies? My mirror is in 3 sections creating lines plus there isn’t much natural light. I was testing to see if I really wanted sleeves and decided that I liked it a lot without. So then I quickly knitted garter bands on the armholes and called it a day. Here she is so you can see the shape:

Buonasera Tunic

Begun:  October 24, 2013
Completed:  December 2, 2013

Pattern:  Rosa’s Sleeveless Cardi-Jumper by Emma Fassio, free pattern on Ravelry. Many mods by me.

Yarn:  Italian noil silk cone yarn, approx fingering weight, deep navy blue.

Needles:  Addi Lace Clicks, 3.25mm & 3.75mm; Clover Takumi bamboo dpns, 3mm.

Gauge:  21 sts and 28 rows = 4” on 3.75mm

Comments:  This yarn was discovered lurking in the stash. I adapted the original pattern to match my size and gauge. Neck and armholes were knit in garter stitch on smaller needles. Skirt increases were carried on until there were enough stitches for the lace edging: (14 + 1 + 1 corner stitch) x 2. I had to fudge the 1 extra stitch to make it come out right. The lace pattern was a simple Estonian edge that I expanded to a larger repeat. I based it on Nancy Bush’s charted version with corners in her book Knitted Lace of Estonia. I finished with the usual Estonian doubled yarn and k2tog bind-off.

Armhole & Hem Details

This was actually an easy TV knit since it’s mostly plain. I used stitch markers to remind me when to increase and just kept at it until it was done. The knitting looked pretty rough until I washed and blocked it. Since this yarn was literally spun from industrial floor sweepings (aka throwster’s waste) I used Unicorn Fibre Wash in the first bath:

Eew, right? Several subsequent rinses and it was still showing brown:

 

It took a few more rinses still before I was at all happy. I think a lot of that was fugitive dye runoff more than actual dirt. The washing and subsequent blocking made the stitches flatten and even out and the handle is now slinky and drapey. It’s going to take a few days to dry on the blocking mats and I’m not going to touch it until I’m sure it’s thoroughly dry.

Now I can find a new knitting project to start. Even though I still have 2 more projects on the go (socks and a lace shawl) neither of them are TV knitting. I keep making mistakes on the socks (Evelyn Clark’s Retro Ribs) which may or may not send me back to plain ones. I started these the day after I started the above tunic, if that tells you anything! I’m liking the effect but there isn’t enough light for me to see what I’m doing this time of year.

Our weather has become much colder in the last day or so. The sun is shining which is always nice to see this time of year but it gets dark very early. The leaves are mostly off the trees now. No snow. Yet. Not that we usually get much anyway but you never know.

December Already

The year is slipping away so very quickly! Tomorrow is the littlest grandbeastie Rosebud’s third birthday. Already! She is a happy little darling with a great sense of humour and such fun to play with. We’re heading over to her house today for her party since tomorrow is a work day. Just a small family gathering while they can still avoid the crazy child-filled ones that will be demanded once she’s old enough to know the difference. Yes, we broke down and bought a toy. Which reminds me – I have to wrap it still.

Mostly I’ve been spending quality time in the studio playing with patterns and cutting out fabrics. So far I’ve cut out 3 garments and finished tracing and adjusting the pattern for a 4th one. The piles are building up ready to sew:

The one on the right, the vest version of the V8876 Marcy Tilton dress didn’t go off without a small hitch as you can see by the visible seam showing on the top of the pile. I forgot to cut the front pattern pieces out twice to create facings. Oops. Because I only had small scraps left I had to piece the facings making sure not to have seams anywhere that interferes with the buttons and buttonholes. At least they will be hidden on the inside. One crisis averted.

The pile on the left is the B5891 Katherine Tilton View C/D (which are identical as far as I can tell so why the double view numbers?). The pattern calls it a top but in my heavy but very soft and drapey brushed cotton twill it will definitely be more like an unlined jacket. I was more careful when doing my fit adjustments and figured out that the shoulders weren’t quite as oversized as I had first thought. I shaved off a 5/8” off the size 8 armscye at the shoulder and raised the armhole 1/2”, sloped the front shoulder 1/4” and morphed the size 8 out to the 14 at the underarm. Of course the sleeve had to be adjusted similarly. I also lengthened the body pieces by 1” though it’s actually much longer on me than the model on the envelope. (I so wish they would use more normally-proportioned models!) I like that there’s pretty much no ease in the sleeve cap which you don’t need with a slightly dropped shoulder. This fitting process sounds complicated but it really is getting much easier now that I’ve had more practice! I had plenty of fabric to cut it out but this time I nearly forgot to cut the second set of pockets. Sheesh.

While I had my home-printed pattern sheets out and flat I decided to carry on and trace the pieces for View A/B (which differ only in the use of contrasting fabrics for View A). There are an amazing 15 pattern pieces for this top! Ya gotta love the asymmetry, doncha? Took ages to trace but the fit adjustments were similar to the other view. Of course I had the fabrics all picked out already so I started cutting this one out too even though it probably isn’t seasonally appropriate. For the main body of the top I used the indigo batik left over from my Minoru Jacket lining:

I had plenty and there are still pieces left over (leftover-leftovers) for something home-dec-y. The contrast pieces (I chose the peplums and the collar for the contrast) were originally planned for a warm red quilt fabric scrap but I realised that the reverse side was not attractive and that it would probably show too much. So I scouted the stash and came up with a vintage blue-black tablecloth (gifted to me years ago by T’s very elderly auntie) for my contrast. I think it’s cotton and it has a very nice well-washed texture. It’ll probably be a more wearable colour as well as a better weight and drape for the peplum. Like several others who’ve made this top, I cut out the collar pieces double to self-line them.

I was hoping to get this skirt from the book Shape Shape 2 out of the remainder of the tablecloth:

It’s convertible from a skirt to harem pants with buttons and I think it’s very cute in that Japanese minimalist sort of way. I’ve traced off the pattern and had to grade up from size L slightly to be able to get it over my hips. However, I sadly don’t think it’s going to work on the tablecloth fabric and I’ll have to hunt for something else appropriate for this pattern. I already suspect that any of my Marcy Tilton pants will also take up too much fabric. In which case I’ll try instead to create something Tilton-esque: a pair of loose pants with either tucks or pleating at the cuffs. I’m thinking of using the perfect easy pattern that I’ve already used for my Pettipants (aka bifurcated slip) from the Simple Modern Sewing book. This will be perhaps the 4th garment out of this book which is a definite keeper!

So I’ve got plenty more in the pipeline. I started to look at yet another Tilton, this one the now-out-of-print V8752:

I got as far as ironing and separating all the gazillion pattern pieces for this thing. Maybe you can see it all better in the line drawing:

Everything is asymmetrical and pieced. I think I have the 3 different fabrics: main, contrast (for hood lining and front facings) and lining – though it might be a squeeze to cut them out. There are 4 huge pockets, 3 of them with gussets, and a hood. And I will need to do all my usual fitting adjustments: narrow sloping shoulders, narrow upper chest and wider body, and short arms. Right about there I kind of blanked out and put the pieces aside. Perhaps I should actually sew something together first?

More anon. Must go wrap present…