Eleven Stitches

So Good I Did It Again

For those of you keeping track, this is my last float in my FO parade!  I liked the dove shirt I made so much that I decided to make another one (but not with doves).

Pattern: Neue Mode J22717
Fabric: Amy Butler's Midwest Modern 2 Martini in Pink Dahlia/grey
Time to Sew: March 22 - 23

The second go-round of this shirt was super simple. I managed to lose temporarily misplace the directions, but I had no problem putting the pieces together after doing it the first time.  I wanted to make the sleeves a little shorter, and that was fortunate because these were as long as I could get with two yards of fabric!

This is the second time I've used this fabric design (in different colors) to sew a garment,  (This dress being the first) and I'm so impressed with how nicely both garments came out.  I think the modern print and the slimming vertical lines are a winning combination.

I think the modern print is really great in this pattern, as well.  The dove fabric in the first shirt was sweet, but I think this is a really winning fabric + pattern combination.  And it's fun to have a pretty necklace peeping out from this collar.

A little girl in my glass asked me today if I sewed this shirt, and it makes me really happy that she noticed!  I try to share my enthusiasm for knitting and sewing with the children in my classroom, and I love when when they show they're paying attention.

Dessert First

If I had not promised a parade of FOs, I might have held off on these photos.  Since that is not the case, I'll give them to you now!  Last weekend I finally dyed my yarn with fusticwood, and I love the results. I know that spinners often point out that a (handspun) skein of yarn is a FO in itself, and I'm going to claim this yarn a FO because I turned it this color.

As you might recall, I was hoping to dye the yarn with blackberries.  After several attempts, I just couldn't find something that excited me, and well, I think the color of the yarn should excite me. I didn't get to dye yarn with food products or things one might find if one had a big backyard, but the dye is all natural.

I liked the color so much (from my test dye) that I threw in some leftover white Dale Baby Ull as well. It came out a little bit darker.

I took pictures of the whole process and I'll post about it next week once my FO parade comes to an end!

Sewn Shirts

Next in the FO parade is two sewn shirts.  I bought the fabric for both of these when I was in Berkeley, at a great shop called Stone Mountain and Daughter Fabrics.

The pattern is Neue Mode J22717 in size 42 (German sizing).  I found this pattern on sale at the Berkeley store, and I'm so glad I did.  I did have to add the seam allowance onto the pattern, which was a tad annoying, but I'll just make this shirt a few times to make up for that!

I like the way this shirt fits, and it was simple to put together. I cut the sleeves for the correct length to add a cuff, but then I got lazy and didn't put on the cuff.  So the sleeves are in an awkward too-long-for-3/4-length and too-short-for-long-sleeves place.  This is solved by rolling them up, and I have done that quite often! I added several lines of topstitching to secure the facings on the collar and fronts, and also because I think it looks good.

The second shirt is from Simplicity 4149.

I love the fabric I used to make this, and the tunic came together really, really quickly.  I think, however, that it is not so flattering.  I need something that has a defined waist, and this does not. Perhaps I should look for a darted tunic, or I could try adding my own darts to this shirt.  I do still wear it, though, because the fabric is so pretty!

David's Sweater

And now the FO you've been waiting for-- David's sweater!

Pattern: Based on EZ's Seamless Hybrid
Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8 in 2, 16, 36, 38, 40, 41, 61, and 286
Needles: US 8 circs and DPNs
Time to Knit: January 31 - March 18

After we decided on the striping pattern, we had to calculate how wide each stripe needed to be.  It looked like the sweater needed to be about 21 inches long, so we divided that by the 7 colors and had three inches for each stripe.  The top "stripe" is actually the saddle for the shoulder and the back shaping, but visually it fits in to be about the right size.

The hems, collar, and button band are all hemmed.  I think it's a nice edging for this sweater, and I kept the details from Whitney's Andrew's sweater in mind when I was making it.  We also added some vintage buttons recovered from old train engineers' uniforms. 

I have to say that I'm not a fan of this yarn after knitting this sweater.  It's superwash and soft, which is great when knitting for a non-knitter, but the superwash qualities of this yarn made it slippery.  My tight decreases and woven-in ends were always sliding out of place.  This is especially annoying when striping yarn and adding in different colors on a regular basis!  I'm going to stick to some nice non-superwash for my next few projects.

Of course, David does appreciate how soft the sweater is, and he loves the colors!  It fits him well, and it fits what he asked me to make.

Yay!

Red Red Red Vest

I've been a very busy person lately, but a lazy blogger.  Sorry about that!  This past week was my spring break, and I spent so much of it checking things off a big to-do list.  Maybe I should have put blogging on my list?  Anyway, to make up for it, I'm promising you a parade of knitting and sewing FOs, starting with this vest.

Pattern: My own, based on my measurements with no ease
Yarn: Araucania Toconao in 502, 2 skeins; Berroco Inca Gold in Rojo, 2 skeins; Karabella Aurora 8 in 38, 1 skein; Patons Classis Wool in Bright Red, a tiny bit
Needles: US 7 circulars
TIme to Knit: February 22 - March 18

As I mentioned in a previous post, I striped several different shades of red together to make this vest.  This allowed me to use up my leftovers and also get a really rich shade of red. This did make my gauge vary slightly between rows, but the fabric felt pretty consistent overall.  I used a 1x1 twisted ribbing for the bottom 6 inches of the vest, and as edging on the neck and sleeves.

 

A few technical details so I can remember them: I started the V a few inches before I divided the vest for the armholes.  I decreased one stitch on each side every 3 rows.  For the armholes I bound off an inch at each side twice, and then 12 times every other row for the front and 4 times for the back.

I'm pretty happy with how this vest came out, although next time I'd follow Elinor's advice and have negative ease around the bust.  I have a little extra fabric under my arms that I don't really need!

I've been wanting a simple red vest for a while now, and I'm glad that I could improvise something that works so well.  Now that I know what works for me, I'll be able to adjust or create some lovely vests to wear next fall!

This is my March entry for NaKniSweMoDo (Rav link), which makes me three for three.  (Not yet blogged is David's sweater, which was my February entry.  We're taking pictures of that sweater this weekend!)

Steek and Re-steek

A while ago, I used the sewing machine to reinforce the steek of David's sweater.  It's superwash yarn, so a sewing machine reinforcement was necessary.

I let David cut the steek, but he only cut for a few seconds before being too freaked out to continue.

So I cut the rest of the steek with little difficulty. 

After I knit the collar and picked up stitches for the button band, I took a second look at those steeked edges.  I had allowed 6 stitches for the steek, and the extra fabric looked a little messy to me.

I decided that a re-steek was necessary!  To make sure I sewed a straight line this time (the first one was not so straight), I ran a yarn in contrasting color up through the stitches I wanted to reinforce.  You can see the green yarn in the picture above.

The re-steeking gave me a much cleaner look.

The only things that remain before I declare this sweater finished are a blocking, a buttoning, and a photo shoot!

Violette-le-duc

I finished Violette a while ago now, and I wasn't sure about how much I liked it.  So it sat in a laundry basket for a long time, until Jeannine sent me a very nice note yesterday asking me if I could share any more pictures.  A little sheepishly I tried it on again, and I discovered that I think I do like the sweater after all.

Pattern: Violette-le-duc from Norah Gaughan Vol. 3
Yarn: Berroco Inca Gold in Rojo, 8 skeins  and Briar Rose Abundance, a small quantity
Needles: US 4 and US 7
Time to Knit: January 4 - February 16
Modifications: None

I think the big ribbed collar is what has me unsure about the fit.  One one hand, big ribbed collars are awesome.  On the other, this collar can sometimes flop around funny.  I also don't really like the way the sweater looks fastened-- there's too much obvious stretching going on. 

I'm not sure why my sweater has short sleeves.  It looks like other finished sweaters have longer sleeves, but I also feel like I followed the directions and the schematics in the pattern.  I also have two more skeins than I needed.... 'tis a mystery.  Fortunately, I think short-sleeved sweaters are great for my work (long sleeved ones are often too hot), so I'm happy.

I do like the silhouette this sweater gives.  I think it's flattering on me.  I adore the yarn. Seriously, I really love it and I think you should try it!  It's soft and springy like a superwash, but it doesn't have some of those annoying qualities of superwash yarn (more on that another day). It's got a vibrarnt color, and the silk gives it just a small amount of sheen. 

I like the substitution I made on the edging yarn as well.  I looked at some of the Berroco Lumina colors, but I am just not a shimmery yarn kind of girl.  Even for edging.

And finally, for those of you who are curious about wearing the sweater like it is pictured in the booklet, I have to say that's a solid no.  I have no idea why they left it styled that way.  It's totally misleading for how the sweater actually looks (which is cute) and I feel certain that the model would have looked silly wearing it upside down if she moved at all.  In fact, you can see a big fold of fabric if you look closely at the pattern picture.

It's a wearable and cute sweater, but just not as advertised.