Sydney is in the midst of a spate of really hot Spring weather, and something’s triggered a terrible allergy attack. I spent most of the long weekend lying on the couch moaning. Amazingly, I did manage to get some sewing done in spite of my streaming eyes and nose, mostly because I’d wisely booked in some friends to come over for a “crafternoon.” Behold the Lark Tee. Yes, it’s a v-neck t-shirt. I put in a lot more time, effort, and money than I would have to simply buy a similar shirt from Target. But dammit, I made it! And it’s not too bad. The fabric is some beautiful teal jersey I bought at The Fabric Store a while back, and I spent a long time hand-basting a line down a single rib so I could make sure I wasn’t cutting off-grain. (That’s why cheaply made shirts tend to twist on you.) The cutting took a lot longer than the actual sewing, to be honest. I stitched most of it together on my overlocker, only using my normal machine for the neckline and hems. Many thanks to Donna for her advice and moral support on the day–though it didn’t help that she was wearing her own (much nicer) version!
As you would’ve seen from the Instagram I posted this morning, I finished my Dangling Conversation scarf! It’s knitted out of a single skein of Manos del Uruguay Fino in “Sealing Wax,” a bright orangey-red. I bought the yarn in the last Morris & Sons sale, drawn to its gorgeous deep colour and its exquisite smooshiness. (It’s 70% superfine merino and 30% silk.) The pattern choice was inspired by a guest at an Inner City Knitters Guild meeting earlier in the year, who showed off her version in a variegated yarn. I casted mine on at Camp on August 28 and finished it this past Sunday, so it took me 23 days from start to finish. I knitted it on 4mm needles, which is a fair bit tighter than most of the other folks on Ravelry. To compensate, I added a lot of extra repeats to make it bigger and use up the entire skein. Oh, and I left off the beads. I’m not insane. 🙂
As you may have gathered from my Twitter or Instagram accounts this past weekend, I attended the 2015 Knitters Guild NSW Camp at Stanwell Tops. When I registered for the Camp earlier in the year, the confirmation message invited me to enter the Mystery Scarf Competition. The details were very vague–basically, you were supposed to knit a scarf of a certain size out of black and either white or cream. Inspired by my Ignite talk, I thought it would be fun to try to knit an actual mystery into the scarf. So I started doing research, and I came up with several interesting possibilities:
The Beale Ciphers – Very National Treasure, right?! And they could literally point you to an actual horde of gold!
The Kryptos Sculpture – Bonus points because it actually looks kind of like a scarf.
The Phaistos Disc – This would look better as a circular shawl, right?
Rongorongo – I feel like this would be neat as fairisle motifs.
In the end I settled on the Wow! Signal. This was a strong narrowband radio signal detected by Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, while he was working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope of The Ohio State University. When he saw the spike on the printout, Ehman circled it and wrote “Wow!” in red pen in the margins. The signal lasted for 72 seconds. It came from globular cluster M55 in the constellation Sagittarius. It looks pretty much exactly like what we’d expect an interstellar transmission to look like. It’s never been repeated, and we don’t know what it means. I like to think it’s an alien civilisation saying “Hello!”. So I knitted it into a scarf.
The scarf is knitted as a tube out of Morris Norway 10 ply in Cream using a 5mm circular needle. Starting from the left edge of the printout, I incorporated about 15 columns of numbers by duplicate stitching them on as I went. Once the scarf was long enough, I stopped the numbers and knitted in plain white to leave a space for the “Wow!” which I embroidered with red wool. I also embroidered on some additional pen marks, like the circles around the signal itself and some of the other numbers. As a final step, I added some tassles out of the remaining black wool.
I’m really pleased with how it turned out! I didn’t end up winning the contest, but that’s okay. I took the “mystery” aspect more literally than most of the other contestants did. (The winner did an amazing double-knitted scarf with a photo of her cat on it.) My scarf is exceptionally warm and nerdy, and I had a lot of fun making it.
This past Thursday and Friday, Canva held its first ever Hackathon. At first I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do for it. (I work with some really brilliant engineers, and my coding skills aren’t great.) But the sign-up sheet came out and it was clear that non-coding projects were encouraged. Then the organiser Chris Doble (jokingly?) suggested that “someone” could create cushions with commas on them. A-HA!
(The Three Commas thing is a running joke from the show Silicon Valley. As a start-up, we quote that show a lot. We even threw in some references as an Easter Egg in our Canva for Work videos.)
So I knew immediately what I would do: I’d sew up a cushion with the Canva logo and three commas, and then I’d use my LilyPad Arduino to make the commas light up. The end result turned out pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself.
I published this tutorial back in 2004, and it’s been pretty popular! I’ve now ported it over to my new site. You’re welcome to link to it, but please don’t reproduce without my permission.
Everything you need to make a sock monkey: pair of socks, sewing machine, buttons (just two for the eyes), ruler (or straight edge of some kind), pen, scissors, stuffing, pins, needle, and thread. Ready to get started?
Before you start
We start by making the body and legs of the monkey. First, turn one of the socks inside out and flatten it so that the heel is centered (as in the picture above). Use your pen and straight edge to draw a line down the center of the leg. You’re going to sew alongside this to create the monkey’s legs, starting about an inch or so from the heel (his bum). In my case, I’m going to start sewing at the first dark brown stripe below the heel. I’ve already put pins along the sides to hold the sock together. (This is particularly useful when you’ve got a design like stripes that’ll look bad if it doesn’t line up somewhat.)
Step 1 – Marking the legs
Here I’m beginning to sew the first leg. Note: You don’t sew on your pen line; you sew on either side of it (thus creating two legs). The width of your machine’s presser foot – about 1/4 inch – is just right. As I said, start at the top about an inch or so below the heel. Be sure to back up a little to secure your stitches. (For those in the know, you may want to use a ballpoint needle on your machine if you’ve got one. Otherwise, don’t worry about it.) Sew all the way down til you get to the sock’s cuff. Then stop every so often and turn the sock so you round off the foot. You can see this better on the next page. (And yes, I sew over my pins. I’m very naughty.)
Step 2 – Sewing the legs
Here you can see my line of stitching down the sock and the way I’ve turned it to round off the foot. Don’t worry if you can’t get the curve perfect; mine turn out pretty angular actually. Once you’ve finished the foot, take a few backstitches to secure the seam and break the thread. Then go back to the heel and do the same thing again on the other side of your pen line. This next picture shows the end result pretty well.
Step 3 – Round off the foot
Here you can clearly see the seam lines delineating the legs, each ending in a rounded off foot. Now it’s time to separate them! Use your scissors and cut along your pen line up from the cuff towards the heel. Stop where you started sewing. You’ve now got an inside out monkey torso!
Step 4 – Separate the legs
Your inside-out monkey torso has a convenient hole in the crotch through which you can turn him rightside-out. Do this now. You can cut the hole a little bigger if you’re having trouble pulling him through, but try to keep it as small as possible. A chopstick or knitting needle can be helpful for pushing his legs out properly. Here he is, all ready to be stuffed!
Step 5 – Turn him inside out
And here he is in three dimensions! I’ve stuffed him with generic polyester stuffing I got at the craft store. (Note: I’ve tried stuffing monkeys with recycled quilt batting cut up into pieces, but they just come out too lumpy and weird-looking. I wouldn’t advise it.) Yes, you’re stuffing him through the crotch. I think pulling the stuffing into smaller pieces and pushing each one into place results in a nicer look than trying to wedge in big handfuls. Again, a chopstick is useful for pushing the stuffing down into skinny legs. Don’t be afraid to stuff him quite firmly. Nobody likes a floppy monkey!
Step 6 – Stuff the monkey
It’s finally time to sew up that monkey crotch. I just use plain white cotton thread and a sewing needle. Make a fairly large knot (otherwise it’ll pull through) and come up from the inside to secure it. You’re basically going to be pinching the raw edges together and tucking them to the inside. Then just take little stitches across the folded edges as best you can. It always gets a big difficult in the middle, when your sock inevitably stretches a little thin and you’ve got monkey legs flopping about, but just do your best. This really is a very forgiving project. I generally go all the way across the opening and then back again for extra strength. The next photo shows this process a little better.
Step 7 – Sew him up
In this one I’ve got the monkey turned upside-down. You can clearly see that I’ve pinched the raw edges in together and I’m taking each stitch through both folded edges. It’s no use trying to use pins here; the monkey is too puffy and they’ll just get in your way. Try to keep your stitches small and tight and they won’t show so much on the finished toy. When I’m finished, I generally knot the thread two or three times close to the surface and then go back down the last hole and come out somewhere else. Gently pull the knot into the body, cut the thread, and let the tail disappear into the monkey.
Step 7 – Another view
Finished monkey crotch! You’ve now got a faceless sock monkey torso with no arms. Scary, I know. It’s time to make him some limbs…
Step 7 – Finished
Now it’s time for the other sock. We’ll start by making the tail. Turn the sock inside-out and flatten it, but flatten this one in profile (as seen above). I’ve drawn a line from the toe to the cuff that’s one inch in from the edge. You can make the tail wider if you have a bigger sock as long as you don’t get too close to the heel. We’re eventually going to be cutting the heel out in one piece for the monkey’s face, so your tail width is limited by that. I’ve again secured the sock with pins to keep the stripes from shifting around too much.
Step 8 – Mark the tail
We sew the tail just like we did the legs. Start at the toe (but not in the toe itself; we’re just going to throw that away) and sew all the way down to the cuff, rounding off the end again. This time sew on the line.
Step 9 – Sew the tail
Cutting time! Start by cutting off the toe of the sock. You won’t need that anymore. Now we’re going to free the tail. Cut as shown along your sewn seam all the way to the cuff. (Again, I generally try to have a quarter-inch seam allowance, but you can get a little closer if you need to.)
Step 10 – Cut the tail
Turn your tail rightside-out and stuff it. You should end up with this lovely snakey thing and a random piece of sock. We come to that next…
Step 11 – Stuff the tail
We’re going to cut the rest of the sock as shown into three pieces. The short rectangle on the left (from the foot part of the sock) will become the monkey’s ears. The heel in the middle becomes the monkey’s face. And the long rectangle on the right (from the leg of the sock) will become the monkey’s arms.
Step 12 – Cut remaining pieces
Start with the arm piece first. That’s the longer rectangle. We need to cut it up the middle length-wise to make two long skinny pieces. (Your sock already probably has a crease there.) Then fold one of these pieces in half, right sides together, and pin it along the raw edge. Then sew along this edge starting from the non-cuff end. (My seam allowance here is probably less than a quarter-inch, simply because I don’t want the arm to be any skinnier than necessary. Don’t get too close to the edge though or you’ll run into trouble. The raw edge has a tendency to curl and I often have to stop and readjust things below the presser foot.) Round off the cuff end for the hand just as you did the legs and tail. You’re basically just making yet another little tube. Once you’ve done one, make the other just the same.
Step 13 – Sew the arms
Now for the ears. Take your remaining bit of sock and cut it lengthwise as you did with the arms. Then cut each of those bits in half widthwise. We’re basically looking to get four little squares all the same size from this operation, as seen here.
Step 14 – Cut the ears
Take two of the matching squares and stack them with right-sides together. Then pin the heck out of them as shown. I don’t bother trying to make circular ears; these squarish ones look fine. Use your pen to draw on the ear shape. I generally just draw it with a quarter-inch seam allowance and round off the corners. (Once you’ve done a couple, you won’t even need to draw it.) As you can see, one side is left open. We’re now going to sew along the line.
Step 15 – Pin the ears
Here I am sewing along the ear line. Just go slowly and try to keep everything together as best you can. Once you’ve finished one, make the other just the same. You can trim off some of the excess seam allowance (like the square corners) when you’re finished.
Step 16 – Sew the ears
You should now have all the basic pieces of your sock monkey. Turn the arms right-side out and stuff them as you did the tail. Turn the ears as well and stuff them lightly. You’re now done with the sewing machine and everything else will be done by hand.
Step 17 – Stuff the parts
First, a word of warning. Don’t try to make this perfect. There’s no easy way to sew two tubes together at right angles. Just do your best and know you’ll get better with each one. The general idea here is just like it was with the crotch – fold raw edges inside and use small tight stitches to graft everything together. We start with the tail. I knot a length of thread and bring it up from inside the tail near the seam to secure it. Then fold the raw edges inside, pinch a bit of the tail to the body, and start tacking it down with stitches. Try not to stretch the tail “circle” out too far. I try to keep the long tail seam at the bottom to hide it (but sometimes the tail rotates a bit as you sew it). I generally go around the tail twice to make it as strong as possible. Then secure your thread and hide the loose end in the body.
Step 18 – Sew on the tail
Next the arms. Do these exactly like you did the tail. I generally position them about halfway up the body. (It’s useful to have stripey socks for this, because you can use the stripes to line up the arms perfectly.) Again, I tend to sew around each arm twice for strength.
Step 19 – Sew on his arms
Your monkey now has all his limbs! It’s time to give him a face.
Step 19 – Finished
Take a look at the heel before we get started. It probably looks pretty big in comparison to your monkey’s head. That’s good. You see, the trick when you sew it on is not to sew it on flat. We want to leave room to stuff it and have it look three-dimensional. Just keep that in mind.
Step 20 – The face
I start by folding down the top edge of the face and centering it on the monkey’s head. Then I pin through that folded top edge to hold it. (It’s nice to have a heel that’s a different color from the rest of the sock because the color change makes for a good fold line.)
Step 20 – Pinning the face
In this next blurry shot, you can see that I’ve folded and pinned the top edge at each corner as well. You can unpin it and move it if it looks off-center between the arms. Please note that we haven’t touched the bottom edge yet, and there’s still plenty of material bunched up in the center. Don’t try to stretch it flat. We just want our top edge to be a nice curve, almost a half-circle.
Step 20 – More pins
It’s time to start sewing the face. Starting at the left corner (as you’re looking at the monkey; he’s upside-down here) sew along the top just as you did on the arms and tail. You can hide your knot inside the face. Just take tiny stitches catching a bit of the folded face edge and the body behind it. Stop when you get to the opposite corner. Remove your pins.
Step 21 – Sew the face
Now for the bottom of the face. Fold the raw edge in and pin it down in the center as shown. Pin the bottom edge a little higher than your first instinct; we want to leave extra material in the middle to fill with stuffing. (You can see it bunched up here.) Continue sewing from the right corner down to the bottom center. Then stop, because it’s time to stuff!
Step 21 – More sewing
Here you can see me stuffing the face through the opening at the left corner. Just tear your stuffing into small pieces and shove them in. Don’t be afraid to stuff it quite firmly. If you’ve done it right, you should get a nice three-dimensional “lump”. Then just continue sewing around to close the gap. I don’t think it’s necessary to go around the face twice (as the monkey’s owner hopefully won’t be picking it up by the face like they would the arms and tail), but you might want to do it anyway. Secure your thread and hide the loose end in the body.
Step 22 – Stuff the face
Here’s our sock monkey so far! Now we just need a few finishing touches… Ears, eyes, and a smile!
Step 22 – Finished face
Sorry this picture is so crap. Basically, what I’m doing here is my own monkey ear innovation. Before I attach the ear to the monkey, I sew a few big stiches along the edge to give a little ear rim definition. I just think it looks a little nicer. You don’t have to do it though.
Step 23 – Sew ear rim
This extremely blurry shot is supposed to be me sewing on one of the monkey ears. It’s done the same way as everything else, by tucking in the raw edge and tacking the folded edge down to the body. Ears are a little more tricky (in that they’re not a nice circle), but just go round them twice and don’t be afraid to pull them into place. I generally place them in line with the arms just below where the toe of the sock starts. (Again, stripes are nice here for aligning perfectly.) Don’t worry too much if they don’t match exactly. I always end up with one slightly farther back than the other but it’s part of the charm, right?
Step 24 – Sew on ears
Here’s the attached ear so you can see the placement and my little ear
rim stitches…
Step 24 – One ear finished
Now with both ears attached…
Step 24 – Both ears finished
For eyes, I like to use matching buttons. (I’ve also used “googley” eyes in the past but I think they look a little scary.) My buttons came from the bargain bin at my local sewing shop. Just pick out two you like and tack the first one down. I knot this thread a few times and then pull it down into the body to start. Once you’ve secured the button, take the thread down into the body and bring it back up for the second eye. After you’ve secured that, you can bring the thread up in the face to complete the smile. You can choose any embroidery stitch you like. I tend to use a stem stitch, but a backstitch would work well too. It’s up to you! Or you can leave him without a mouth. When you’re done, knot the thread and hide it down in the body.
Finally some finished items to show! Both of these are with wool purchased at the Convent and Chapel Wool Shop in Rylstone a few months back.
First up is the Zig Zag in Zauberball Crazy. I bought the wool without any idea what to do with it-“I just liked the crazy autumn colourway-but then I saw Gemma’s Show Stopper in the Easter Show last April and fell in love! So I asked her to share the link to the pattern, which she kindly did. (It’s here!) It’s a super simple three-row repeat and knits up gratifyingly fast. I basically just knitted until I used up every single bit of it. I love the way the horizontal ribbing lines up with the colour changes, almost like stripes. It’s also really smooshy and squishy and warm. Very satisfying project! You can see a close-up of the stitch pattern here. (Ravelry details.)
Next is the Linen Stitch scarf in Marlyn Alpaca. This stuff is SO SOFT. I originally intended to knit something with long lengthwise stripes, but I saw a sample of linen stitch and I was impressed how classy it looked. I thought it might make a nice “businessman’s”-type scarf for the Snook. So I casted on a bazillion stitches and then started knitting random width stripes of the two colours. Man, linen stitch rows take FOREVER to knit! I basically just knitted until I couldn’t stand it anymore. Then I put some fringe on both ends to finish it off. Very nice! He wore it to work today. You can see a close-up of the stitch pattern here. (Ravelry details.)
I wanted to make a special present for my niece Cali, so I thought that I’d whip up a “Little My” softie. Little My is from the Moomin books, and she’s Cali’s favourite character. (I know because I sent her this Uniqlo t-shirt and she LOVED it.) So I started by downloading a line drawing and printing it out. I decided that I was only going to make a simple “two-dimensional” toy rather than try to translate her into full 3-D. I traced the drawing onto some felt and cut out the pieces. The trickiest bit was embroidering her face.
I used some acrylic yarn for the embroidery. Her features were done in black with a split stitch, and I used orange yarn to backstitch her hair (leaving long strands at the top to form her top-knot). Rather than bother with turning things inside-out, I just used a tight zig-zag stitch around the pieces (with wrong sides together) to sew the her head and body pieces together. For her hair, I actually tucked the long ends back down into her head before sewing her scalp so it couldn’t be pulled undone. It worked really well! I stuffed the head and body parts through the neck opening and then joined the two halves there. Then I zig-zagged across the neck to join and covered the resulting mess up with a cut-out pink bow-tie (tacked on by hand). I also zig-zagged around the arm openings (where her hands are on her hips) and then snipped out the inside bits. I had planned to use black felt for her hands and boots, but honestly I couldn’t be bothered at that point.
The first thing my niece Indie said was, “Her head’s going to fall off I think!” Which may well happen. The whole thing was a bit of a bodge and I doubt it’ll hold up very well – the felt was starting to pill within a day – but I’ve decided to just treat it as a prototype. Cali absolutely loved it, and that’s all that matters! I’m thinking of redoing it in fleece and trying to make her a bit more three-dimensional next time…
Yesterday I picked up my entries from the Sydney Royal Easter Show Arts & Crafts Competition. I entered two projects: a cardigan for me that had been hibernating 90% done for over a year, and a hipster vest requested by the Snook at Christmas. I’m really happy with how both of them turned out. (I didn’t win any ribbons this year, but I’ve given up trying to understand the judging criteria. That way lies madness.) Anyway, the details…
Blackberry Cardigan
This is a cardigan I started knitting for myself back in 2013 but never finished. I love knitting cables, and I wanted something warm and snuggly to wear in winter (and in my freezing cold office). The wool is Filatura di Crosa Zara merino wool, which I’d previously bought from Reecie in a destash. I’d knitted a couplethings out of it previously, and I knew that it would give great stitch definition yet be soft enough to wear directly on my skin. I hate sewing up, so I knitted the body in one piece up to the arm holes. Then I split the piece and worked the back and two fronts separately up to the shoulders before joining them with a three-needle bind-off. I also knitted each sleeve in the round up to the sleeve cap, which I knitted flat. At that point, I lost my knitting mojo and the pieces sat in my craft room for well over a year. When I unearthed them, I realised there wasn’t a great deal left to do. I picked up and the knitted the giant shawl collar (which goes all the way around and includes the button holes for the front), then blocked all the pieces before sewing them together. I found the buttons at Sew Make Create. I’m really, really pleased how it turned out. I’m wearing it right now, in fact! (More details over at Ravelry.)
Argyll Vest
Over Christmas we were having lunch at a cafe in Newtown when the Snook asked if I’d knit him a “hipster sweater vest.” He so rarely asks for knitted things, I got really excited and pulled up Ravelry that minute on my iPhone to start searching for patterns. When I saw katarina’s Argyll Vest, we both knew it was the perfect one. Happily I had the pattern book it’s from already in my collection! We walked straight up to The Granny Square and picked out the wool on the spot. We selected three different “heathered” colours of Morris Empire 4-ply. The only pattern mod I made was to make the body a bit longer, because Rodd has a very long torso. Since the neckline is meant to start at the top of a diamond, I had to decide ahead of time how much length I was going to add (so I could add it on at the bottom above the ribbing). And of course, you can’t knit intarsia in the round so I had to knit the front and back separately. I love the neat geometry of intarsia and had a lot of fun seeing the diamonds emerge. The diagonal lines – which I learned are called rakers – were embroidered on with Swiss darning. Then I just had to block it, sew it up, and knitting on the bands. He really likes it! I think it’s going to get a lot of wear this winter. (More details over at Ravelry.)
Sydney is in the midst of a spate of really hot Spring weather, and something’s triggered a terrible allergy attack. I spent most of the long weekend lying on the couch moaning. Amazingly, I did manage to get some sewing done in spite of my streaming eyes and nose, mostly because I’d wisely booked in some friends to come over for a “crafternoon.” Behold the Lark Tee. Yes, it’s a v-neck t-shirt. I put in a lot more time, effort, and money than I would have to simply buy a similar shirt from Target. But dammit, I made it! And it’s not too bad. The fabric is some beautiful teal jersey I bought at The Fabric Store a while back, and I spent a long time hand-basting a line down a single rib so I could make sure I wasn’t cutting off-grain. (That’s why cheaply made shirts tend to twist on you.) The cutting took a lot longer than the actual sewing, to be honest. I stitched most of it together on my overlocker, only using my normal machine for the neckline and hems. Many thanks to Donna for her advice and moral support on the day–though it didn’t help that she was wearing her own (much nicer) version!
First up is the Zig Zag in Zauberball Crazy. I bought the wool without any idea what to do with it-“I just liked the crazy autumn colourway-but then I saw Gemma’s Show Stopper in the Easter Show last April and fell in love! So I asked her to share the link to the pattern, which she kindly did. (It’s here!) It’s a super simple three-row repeat and knits up gratifyingly fast. I basically just knitted until I used up every single bit of it. I love the way the horizontal ribbing lines up with the colour changes, almost like stripes. It’s also really smooshy and squishy and warm. Very satisfying project! You can see a close-up of the stitch pattern here. (Ravelry details.)
Next is the Linen Stitch scarf in Marlyn Alpaca. This stuff is SO SOFT. I originally intended to knit something with long lengthwise stripes, but I saw a sample of linen stitch and I was impressed how classy it looked. I thought it might make a nice “businessman’s”-type scarf for the Snook. So I casted on a bazillion stitches and then started knitting random width stripes of the two colours. Man, linen stitch rows take FOREVER to knit! I basically just knitted until I couldn’t stand it anymore. Then I put some fringe on both ends to finish it off. Very nice! He wore it to work today. You can see a close-up of the stitch pattern here. (Ravelry details.)
This is a cardigan I started knitting for myself back in 2013 but never finished. I love knitting cables, and I wanted something warm and snuggly to wear in winter (and in my freezing cold office). The wool is Filatura di Crosa Zara merino wool, which I’d previously bought from Reecie in a destash. I’d knitted a couple things out of it previously, and I knew that it would give great stitch definition yet be soft enough to wear directly on my skin. I hate sewing up, so I knitted the body in one piece up to the arm holes. Then I split the piece and worked the back and two fronts separately up to the shoulders before joining them with a three-needle bind-off. I also knitted each sleeve in the round up to the sleeve cap, which I knitted flat. At that point, I lost my knitting mojo and the pieces sat in my craft room for well over a year. When I unearthed them, I realised there wasn’t a great deal left to do. I picked up and the knitted the giant shawl collar (which goes all the way around and includes the button holes for the front), then blocked all the pieces before sewing them together. I found the buttons at Sew Make Create. I’m really, really pleased how it turned out. I’m wearing it right now, in fact! (More details over at Ravelry.)
Over Christmas we were having lunch at a cafe in Newtown when the Snook asked if I’d knit him a “hipster sweater vest.” He so rarely asks for knitted things, I got really excited and pulled up Ravelry that minute on my iPhone to start searching for patterns. When I saw katarina’s Argyll Vest, we both knew it was the perfect one. Happily I had the pattern book it’s from already in my collection! We walked straight up to The Granny Square and picked out the wool on the spot. We selected three different “heathered” colours of Morris Empire 4-ply. The only pattern mod I made was to make the body a bit longer, because Rodd has a very long torso. Since the neckline is meant to start at the top of a diamond, I had to decide ahead of time how much length I was going to add (so I could add it on at the bottom above the ribbing). And of course, you can’t knit intarsia in the round so I had to knit the front and back separately. I love the neat geometry of intarsia and had a lot of fun seeing the diamonds emerge. The diagonal lines – which I learned are called rakers – were embroidered on with Swiss darning. Then I just had to block it, sew it up, and knitting on the bands. He really likes it! I think it’s going to get a lot of wear this winter. (More details over at Ravelry.)
