Eleven Stitches

Finishing out 2010

I had a hard time putting this post together because I had a couple of unblogged items to show you.  I really wanted them included in the final mosaic (these things are important), so that means I needed to take some photos. 

So let's start with sewing 2010.

I finished up the year with a couple of skirts.  They're both Simplicity 2410, which I've made before.  The first is made with quilting flannel.

I really adore the print.

The second one is made from brown corduroy.  I wear it all the time!

I've made these skirts so many times now that it's really easy to put them together.  And they're so easy to wear as well.  Love.

And that rounds out my sewing for 2010.

  

The final tally is

• 2 e-reader cozies 
• 7 dresses (3 woven, 4 knit-- 1 woven not shown)
• 2 shirts
• 6 skirts (3, not shown, were made for a friend)

I'm really happy with what I made last year, and I'm happy that I've finally managed to make some cold-weather sewn clothes!  I can definitely see an improvement with fit and style over what I've made in previous years, and I know I still have some room to improve :)

And my final unblogged sweater of 2010 is this striped one, also pictured above.

It was made with sock yarn in an attempt to knit down my stash a little bit.  The pattern is my own, although the striping was based on the idea of Tempest.

These are my knits of 2010.

I made:

• 8 pairs of socks
• 2 pairs of mittens
• 6 cowls (one not pictured)
• 5 hats
• 3 sweaters
• 1 skirt
• 1 dress
• many tiny things / christmas ornaments

I think my knitting might not have been as prolific as the previous year?  I wasn't so sharply focused on knitting last year as I had a lot of sewing and reading (!) that I did as well. 

So, I'm happy to now say goodbye to 2010.  And as for 2011... my plan is to enjoy it!  I'm going to make what I want and appreciate it once it's made :)  Happy New Year!

Eleven!

Happy New Year!  Like a few others, I'm so glad to see 2010 end.  Between being sick and some grueling teacher training, it was a year that I just was hardly ever able to feel like myself.  But now that I've had surgery to fix some health problems (I'm still recovering, slowly but steadily) and I'm no longer in training, I have high hopes for 2011.  Plus, it has the number 11 in it, which is my favorite number!

While I was recovering from surgery I knit quite a few Christmas gifts, which I can finally show you here. I knit a hat for my mom.

Pattern: Laurel by Jared Flood
Yarn: Araucania Toconao in 513, 1 skein
Needles: US 4 and 7

As you can see, I ran out of yarn with just six rows to go.  I used another yarn that I had, and the match is a little closer in person.  Mom said that she didn't mind.  This was a fun knit!

I knit two Koolhaas hats for my brother and my dad.

 

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood
Yarn: Rowan Lima in grey and Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Black
         Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Hunter Green
Needles: US 6 and 8

And then I knit my dad a cowl with the same pattern to match his hat.  I got to use some of my vintage buttons, which made me happy.

For my aunt and my grandma, I made them some cowls.  They were knit up quickly with Berroco Peruvia Quick and Malabrigo held doubled.

And then finally, I made quite a few Christmas ornaments.  These were a lot of fun, and I worked on them while we were visiting David's mother in San Francisco.

This penguin is from a kit from Knitpicks that David got my for Christmas.  I did intarsia for the first time on the wings, and it was really easy.  Next time I might try intarsia on the body as well, because it kind of bothers me to see the black yarn peeping behind the white. 

This panda ornament I made for a friend who loves pandas.  It was my second time to use intarsia :) 

I love these little knights, which I made up after seeing a crocheted versioni of them on Ravelry.  The little shield-shaped buttons were a great find at Imagiknit.  These guys took less than 30 minutes to make, so they were a great little gift.

And finally, some vegetables.

These are both from Amigurumi Knits.  The patterns are quick and well written, and I know I will make more patterns from this book.  And probably a garlic and tomato that I can keep for myself :)

Whew!  So that's eleven projects to show at the beginning of 2011!  I'll be back with a knitting and sewing retrospective soon.  In the meantime, have a happy new year!

 

Fraternal Twins, Sisters, and Cousins

This is the time of year for family.  Here is a family of socks that I finished up over the fall.

First, the twins.

These socks used some very old stash yarn, Sundara Sport in Chocolate over Cotton Candy. I originally knit a single Snicket Sock with them, but I never liked the sock enough to actually knit a mate for it.  Finally, I thought it was crazy to leave such a nice yarn unknit that I ripped out the old sock and remade it into simple stockinette.  They're cozy and warm, and I find it comforting to wear them.

Of course, these twins have one noticeable difference.  I ran out of yarn with six rows left in the toe.  I substituted in some other scraps of Sundara Sport that I happened to have.

The sister socks are wildly colored.

The yarn is from Creatively Dyed, and it's a riot of purples and yellows and how those two colors interact in different ways.  I love how the colors look all knitted up.  I made a garter stitch leg, heel, and toe on these socks, and let the bottom of the foot be stockinette with the top remaining in garter.

And finally, the cousins.  It might be hard to tell that they're from the same family.

This yarn is Unisono from Zitron.  The color runs are very long, so I broke them up by striping in yarn from the outside of the yarn ball. This pair has grown on me a lot, and I really like them now.  At first, it was quite strange that the first sock (the one on the right) had no warm colors, and then the second one was almost exclusively warm. I'm glad that the blue made a reappearance on the foot to help tie them together.

 

 

 

Kirigami

I finished knitting Kirigami about a week ago. 

Pattern: Kirigami by Kate Gilbert, in the Winter 2009 Twist Collective
Yarn: Maple Creek Farm Omaha in Berry and Emerald
Needles: US 7
Time to Knit:  October 18 to November 6, 2010
Modifications: I shortened the sleeves, and allowed some of the purple trim to show on the hemmed edge.

This sweater was fun to knit.  The sweater construction on the yoke was interesting with afterthought shoulders.  The sweater is in reverse stockinette, but the pattern suggests turning the sweater inside out when knitting the body so that it's all knit stitches instead of all purl.

I also got to use some of my vintage buttons on this sweater.  They're mismatched (I love this), and I like how they look with the stripes.

I made this sweater short-sleeved because long-sleeved worsted sweaters just tend to be too hot to wear to work.   It's also nice because then I don't have to knit sleeves :)  I wore this to work last week when the temperature was in the 60s outside and I wasn't too hot. 

There's also another FO in the above pictures.  Let me give you a better view of it.

I liked that green Jalie top so much that I made another one.  It only takes a couple of hours to sew it up, and it's a great shirt.  This time I made the bands around the neckline about twice as wide. Oh, and since several people have asked, I don't have a serger.  I sew all of my knits on my standard sewing machine.  Jalies suggests using a zigzag and a straight stitch on each seam, and this is what I do. 

Knit fabric is pretty forgiving to sew, and if you're thinking about trying it, you really should.

The fabric for this shirt is left over from the brown dress I made this summer.  And since I didn't have quite enough of it, I used a different fabric in the back.  It's left over from my purple dress, and I really didn't have much of it.  I put a seam up the back of the shirt to make it work.

I like the two colors in this shirt.  It's just a regular brown shirt when worn under cardigans or vests, but it's got something special when worn on its own.

Since my sweater is finished I was able to start my skirt for KriKnitSkiMo.  More on that soon!

Two Conversations

Scene: A bus to New York City on a Saturday afternoon, about a week ago.  David is solving puzzles, Kristy is knitting away on the body of her Kirigami sweater.

Kristy: Originally, I had a goal of finishing this sweater in time to begin that skirt I want to knit on this bus trip. But now my new goal is to finish it by tomorrow night so I could start the skirt on Monday.

David: Oh, yeah?  Why is that?

Kristy: Well, Monday is November 1...

David: Oh, and then you could knit it for NaKniSweMo.

Aside: Even though David doesn't knit himself, he knows the lingo.

Kristy: Exactly.  NaKniSkiMo, maybe.

David: But wait, do they count skirts as part of it?

Kristy: Well, I don't know if "they" do or not, but that's what I want to do.

David: But then it wouldn't be national, would it?  It would just be you.  So it would really be KriKniSkiMo.

 

Scene: The living room at David and Kristy's house. David is reading blog posts, and Kristy is putting the buttons on a cowl she just finished knitting.  The Kirigami sweater sits sleevelessly next to Kristy's chair.

Kristy: My original goal was to finish the sweater so I could start the skirt, but I changed that a little.

David: Oh yeah?  Why is that?

Kristy:  Well, I had to knit a cowl for the new coat I just got. 

David: OK.  I see.

Kristy: So I'll start my skirt a little later.  But that's OK.  KriKniSkiMo allows for things like that.

 

Pattern: Chevron Neck Warmer by Veronik Avery
Yarn: Juniper Moon Farm Cormo, worsted weight
Needle: US 5
Time to Knit: November 2- 4
Modifications: I messed up the first four rows of the pattern, and I didn't rip back to fix it.  And I did a decrease bind off instead of a sewn bind off.

I really love this little cowl.  It hugs my neck, and it has enough body to stand up on its own.  It also can be pulled up to cover my nose.  And I got to use some buttons that I've had in my stash, which is fun.

Catching Up on Sewing

There are a couple of finished sewing items that I photographed a while ago and never put up on the blog.  I'm a little cold looking at the photos now, but it was much warmer when I took them!

I made this skirt at the end of the summer, and I wore it as much as I could after that.  It's made with linen and lined.  It's comfortable and swingy and flattering: it's the perfect skirt.  I want to make a winter version in corduory. The pattern is Simplicity 2410. 

This dress I finished in time to wear to Back to School night at my school, which was at the beginning of October.  I think it's my favorite dress that I've sewn so far.

This is Vogue 8667.  It's fully lined, and the first time I've made a fully lined dress.  The fit is great, and I love the collar.  It's hard to see the detail on the fabric, but it's got a little bit of texture to it.

One of the parents (who knows me well), said to me "You didn't make that, did you?"  She exclaimed over the dress when she found out that I did.  Another parent overheard the conversation, and went and told his wife that I had sewn my dress.  Her reply was "You mean the one with the collar that I've been staring at all night?", and she asked another teacher to introduce us.  It made my whole week!

 

 

32 (plus 1 day)

Yesterday, it was my birthday!  I meant to post, but I was too busy out enjoying the day :)

I woke up and opened some awesome gifts, including three knitting books that I am excited to use.

The book on the left is the one that has a project I already bought yarn for at Rhinebeck.  It was, appropriately, given to me by my friend C, who was at Rhinebeck with me.

I arrived at school and the children had made me a lot of cards.  It was really sweet.

After school, David and I went out for Ethiopian food, which I love and don't get to have very often. And then we had some cake that another teacher had baked for me.  See?  Awesome day.

In my last post, I had pictures of my knit dress, and here's a picture of the shirt that I wore underneath it. It's my first knit shirt to sew, and after all my experience with sewn knit dresses, it was super quick.

The pattern is Jalie Sweetheart Top.  This was my first time using a Jalie pattern.  The pattern pieces were a little dizzying-- they sized from a little girl up to sizes a lot larger than me.  I got through that by highlighting the line I needed to cut, and cutting out the entire piece alone before I cut the fabric. (I usually cut them together.) I love the shirt, and I expect I'll sew a lot more like this one soon.

 

Rhinebeck

Once again, I had a great time at Rhinebeck this year.  My friend C and I drove up on Friday and stayed at a great little place near some fantastic restaurants.  It was really chilly on Saturday morning when we got to the festival, but it warmed up a little bit when we were walking around. 

I saw Caro and Stitchy, the authors of the book my dress is from, about 10 minutes after we walked into the gate.  It was so fun to see them!  I also got my book signed in the afternoon during their scheduled signing time.

We avoided the long deep-fried artichokes line because we got them around 10:00, when the booth first opened.  I think that was the way to do it.  I can't believe I waited an hour last year!

Pam was one of the first people I saw at the meetup, and I was so excited to show her the dress she designed!

The color was a little off in this photo.  Here are some better photos of my Rhinebeck dress.

Pattern: Rally!  by Pamela Wynne from Knitting It Old School I knit the 10 degree angle for the skirt.
Yarn: Ella Rae Classic Solids, 4 skeins of brown, 2 of cream, and 1 of green.
Needles: US 8 and 9
Time to Knit: August 26 - October 9

Yay, what a great dress :) I love the skirt. The torso stretched out longer than I expected because of the weight of the dress, but I think the waist looks good in this position. I think the sleeves are a little big, and I might re-do them with some green ribbing.

I had a fun time at the meetup, especially because I got to meet in person several people I'd only known online before.  I think it's a little strange to see someone you've only known through pictures before.  I kind of don't know what to say.  But I still like it :)

C and I were pretty much done with the festival around 2.  It's an exhausting experience.  There's such a sensory overload with the yarn, the food, the smells, and all the handknits.  And there are so many people that it's hard to get anywhere.  We hung out in our hotel room and knit with some of the yarn we'd bought that day.

This is what I got.  I'm really happy with my purchases.  I got enough to feel satisfied, but I showed a lot more restraint than I have in years past.  There were a couple of times where I was in line to buy something and then changed my mind, and I'm glad that I did.

The top grey yarn is Brooks Farm Mas Acero in a great charcoal color.  I'm going to use it to knit a skirt from this book, which I do not yet own.  However, it is on my wish list and my birthday is on Wednesday.  My friend C has guaranteed that I'll get it one way or another :)  The skirt pattern isn't in Ravelry yet.  Perhaps I'll add it soon!

Also on the top row is a kit to make a hedgehog puppet.  I thought it would be great for school, and also my husband loves hedgehogs.  Maybe I'll make two.  I also got a kit to make a sheep marionette, but it isn't pictured because I already knit it up.  More on that in another post.

The green and the purple yarns are from Maple Creek Farms.  I'm already using them to knit Kirigami.  The bottom is a skein of Creatively Dyed sock yarn.  I really like the yarn and her dyeing process.

C and I went back to the festival on Sunday.  We picked up some soap from GotSoap.com (I get it every year and I love it), and I got a broom from a man who makes them by hand.  It's really awesome.

So that was Rhinebeck.  I was tired, but happy and full of food.  I can't wait 'til next year :)

 

 

More Knit Dresses

I'm finding that being busy does not cut down dramatically on my crafting time.  I need to craft to stay sane, so I find a way to work it in.  Busyness does prevent me from taking photos of my crafted items, which of course affects my blogging.  I finally made it outside to take some photos of two dresses I finished.

Both dresses are Vogue 8553.  I'm finding it nice to make a pattern twice in a row, because the second time the dress comes together so much more quickly.

 

The fabric is a cotton-blend knit that I bought online, but it seems that I no longer have a record of where I got it from.  The dress came together easily.  It has some details to it, such as gathering in the front and back and pleats along the skirt.  I was afraid that it might be difficult to put in the front and neck bands, but they went together easily.

The dress is comfortable and swingy.  (Swingy is a plus in my book.)  It made me brave enough to cut out the pattern in some purple knit fabric I had been saving for almost a year.

This fabric is from Mood, of Project Runway fame.  The store was really fun and they had so much fabric!  This dark purple fabric is soft and slinky, and I was saving it for something that I knew would be a success.

Several co-workers complimented me on the dress this week, and were surprised to hear that I had made it.  I took that as a big compliment, since they all know that I sew. 

So yay, two more very wearable dresses.  I'm feeling a chill in the air now, and I think fall will be here soon.  Perhaps this year I will overcome my cool-weather sewing slump and make some dresses with sleeves!

A Skirt!

I've been wanting to knit a skirt for years.  And I finally did it!  I'm not sure why I waited for so long, but this skirt (Ravelry link) finally put me over the edge.

Pattern: Drops 118-14 Skirt with Lace Pattern
Needles: US 6
Yarn: Rowan Lenpur Linen in Ignite, 8 skeins
Time to Knit: July 7 - August 21

The pattern was pretty straightforward and easy to execute, except that the charted lace drove me a little bit crazy.  The decreases were not symmetrical (they were all k2togs or p2togs) and on one row the placement of the decreases was not symmetrical when it could have been.  I should have looked at this from the start and fixed it, but I knit one repeat before I realized what was going on, and then I didn't want to rip it out or have it look too different from the others.  So I compensated a little (symmetric decreases using some ssk's and ssp's), and gritted my teeth through the badly placed decreases on that one row.
Other than that the pattern was fine.  The elastic was easy to put into the waist, and the skirt fit the way I expected it to.

The yarn was interesting to use.  It's 25% linen and 75% lenpur, which is made from wood pulp.  It's soft, kind of splitty, and seems to make a good fabric for the skirt.  I think the skirt has stretched somewhat lengthwise since I put it on this morning, but not to a horrible degree.  The label says that the yarn should be handwashed, but I put one of my swatches through the washer and dryer and liked it better than the hand-washed swatch.

 

The skirt is swingy and fun to wear.  It doesn't cling to my hips, and I feel like it's flattering. I did line the skirt because the lace section does go up pretty far.  I used some knit fabric that I had in my stash and traced the skirt's outline to make a simple pattern.

 

I'm so pleased with how it came out.  I'm definitely encouraged to knit more skirts, and I think I'm ready to also tackle a knit dress.  Maybe in time for Rhinebeck?