personal blog of Kris Howard
Craft projects of mine
Robot Skirt
I forgot to mention that I finished my third skirt! This is the same A-line pattern that I used for the previous two. (It’s the one from the class I did at the Sewing Room last year.) The fabric is a thick cotton drill I got when I was visiting my Mom in the U.S. last year. Fun!
The shoes are new Converse “re-issues” I got last weekend from Platypus. Only $39!
Olivia’s Rainbow Blanket and BSJ
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that the first two projects shown on my knitting round-up below haven’t actually been blogged yet! That’s because I only just finished them yesterday. First up is an actual, honest-to-god CROCHETED item: Olivia’s Rainbow Baby Blanket. This is a project that I basically made up myself. My Mom had sent me 5 balls of “Sugar and Cream” cotton last year and I’d idly started crocheting squares based on this pattern. When my niece was born a couple weeks ago, it inspired me to join them all up into a blanket for her. I did 12 multi-colour squares (rotating the stripes each time so the squares are all different) along with 4 solid squares. I joined them all together with Cream, then crocheted a Cream border all around. Then I did a scalloped border in a different colour on each side. I’m really happy with how it turned out! I was debating on whether to back it with some fleece or flannel, but I think I like it the way it is.
Next is yet another Baby Surprise Jacket. I used some Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed that was leftover from my St. Brigid. It came out quite big, but I figure she’ll grow into it. The buttons are made out of coconut. 🙂
I sewed another skirt!
Saturday I finally decided it was time to start sewing some of the skirts I’d planned. I’d bought a couple different fabrics over the past months, and last weekend I prepped them (basted the edges, pre-washed and dried, and ironed) and cleaned out my sewing machine. So I dug out the pattern from my class a few months ago and got stuck in.
This is the one that I managed to finish (since it’s the only one I had a zipper for). The fabric is a very fine wale corduroy (light blue with dark blue paisley) that I got on Clearance at Lincraft. It was so cheap that I didn’t have high expectations for the finished product, but I figured it would be good for practice. To my surprise, it squared up nicely and didn’t give me any trouble at all. I laid out all my pattern pieces and remembered to make sure the nap all ran the same direction. The sewing was fairly straightforward, though I did have to refer back to my old skirt a few times just to double-check the order of operations. Sewing in the zipper was probably the scariest bit, and I played around with several different techniques (including sticky tape!) before settling on basting it in by hand just to make sure it didn’t shift around. I only made one tiny mistake in the whole project, when I forgot to leave a seam allowance to turn back at the opening of the facing near the zipper. (That’s the final step – to turn back the raw edge and tack it down on the underside of the zipper. I managed to get it to work, but it may fray a bit at the top edge. I might put some clear nail polish on it.) Here’s a bigger picture so you can see the true colour a bit better.
I wore the skirt to the barbecue on Sunday, and needless to say I’m THRILLED with it. The cord feels very soft and lovely to wear. My only disappointment is that the waistband seemed to bunch up by the end of the day. I had the same problem with the original skirt though too, so it may be a fit issue. Any sewers want to advise me? Or do you think I need thicker interfacing for the facing pieces?
Sam Socks
While these turned out great in the end, I always seem to have terrible issues with Cookie A patterns. I bought Sock Innovations last year and this was my first project knitted from it. I discovered pretty quickly that there were major errors in the printed pattern. It completely omits the ribbing at the top of the leg, and it also tells you an incorrect number of leg repeats. (If you plan to knit anything from this book, I highly recommend you check the errata. There’s a LOT of it.)
I knitted these on two 2.75mm circular needles. I could tell they were going to be tight around the ankle, so I cast on extra stitches so that I’d have a full extra pattern repeat around the leg. I knitted the heel exactly as written and just left the extra pattern repeat on the top of the foot. I usually like to knit my socks two-at-a-time, but that’s basically impossible with this pattern because you are constantly shifting the starting point of each round. So I was forced to knit each leg separately down to the heel, after which I knitted both socks together down towards the toes.
The wool is a single skein of Yarntini Mint Fizz Stripe that I received in a swap from Dancingman. It was lovely to knit with. The third photo (heel detail) is closest to the actual colours: spring green, aqua, and purplish-grey stripes. I had about 1.5m left over when I finished, which was perfect. I’m very happy with how these turned out! (More details and photos are on Ravelry.)
Maile Sweater and Swirl Hat
Hey, I knitted something! It’s been months and months, actually. But last week my friend Kevin’s first child was born, and such a thing demands commemoration. I picked the pattern and the yarn before the birth, assuming that the combination would work for either gender. It helps that the father is Irish. 🙂
The cardigan is the Maile Sweater. It’s knitted from the bottom up in one piece. I actually knitted it twice: the first time on 3.5mm needle as per the pattern, and the second time on 3.75mm needles. (I thought it looked a little small so I frogged it and started over.) On the first attempt, I followed the pattern exactly including knitting the sleeves flat and joining them with no cast-off stitches. I wasn’t thrilled with it though, and the underarms had a few stitches that looked very stretched. So when I frogged and reknitted, I took the opportunity to experiment. The sleeves were knitted this time in the round via Magic Loop. When I joined them, I set aside 4 live stitches on the body and 4 live stitches on the underarm of the sleeve on waste wool. I later grafted these together (a la Elizabeth Zimmerman). It makes for a very nice finish, and it definitely made those first few rows after joining easier.
The wool is “Merino Chubby Sock” in Barleygrass by the Knittery. One skein was plenty to knit the jumper, and I had so much left over that I actually made a matching hat. The pattern is the “Swirl Hat” from Sheepy Time Knits. And I still have wool left over! This stuff goes a long way.
As usual, there are more photos and details over on Ravelry: Maile Sweater / Swirl Hat. Now I just have to wait to get a photo of the baby actually wearing them!
Miller’s Hat for Snook
It’s been pretty chilly around here lately, so I finally convinced the Snook to let me knit him a hat. This is tricky business. He doesn’t like things that make his head itchy. He’s hated every woollen beanie I ever put on him. I’d have to get creative. While surfing Ravelry one day, I came across this photo of a guy wearing the unusual Miller’s Hat. Hey, I thought. That looks neat! So I bought the pattern. I decided to go with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% wool) for the project, despite all the drawbacks. (Cotton isn’t as warm; knitting cables in cotton kills your hands; cotton tends to be a stiffer fabric than wool.) The main selling point was that I knew it definitely wouldn’t make his head “itch.” I ended up having to restart the hat a couple times because I kept stuffing up the herringbone stitch around the band. It’s not hard once you get the hang of it (i.e. read the chart symbols properly), and it looks really cool. I ended up adding quite a few stitches – a whole extra cable repeat’s worth – to make it looser and to compensate for my famously tight tension. I did the whole thing on a 5mm needle, not bothering to change for the cabled bit. I also skipped a couple of the plain rows towards the end, not wanting it to be too slouchy at the top. As for the edging, I just picked up a zillion stitches around the edge, not really caring about the number. (Basically, I winged the whole thing.) It looks… interesting, huh? He likes it. I think he looks like a damn hipster, but it’s unusual and slouchy and keeps his ears warm. That makes us both happy.
More details and photos over on Ravelry…
Zipper Bag
Tonight was my second sewing class over at The Sewing Room. It was great! Zippers are kind of my nemesis, so it was good to get to focus on them. We started by doing a sample piece on calico showing how to place a trouser zipper (like for jeans). Then we started in on our project for the night: this handy bag/pencil case. It’s got a front zipper with a pouch inside, and a size zipper for the main pouch. Once again I was the Hermione of the bunch, zooming ahead and finishing early. It turned out pretty well! My sewing is a little wobbling around the zips, but good for a first attempt. And hey, I only managed to shatter one sewing needle! (I ran over the metal stop at the top of the zipper.) Good times.
Absinthe Socks
I think I’m finally tired of knitting socks. Each pair is taking me longer and longer to finish. I started these on January 2nd! They’re pretty though, right? These are Absinthe from Knitty, a toe-up swirl of Art Nouveau cables and lace. It’s an absolutely perfect match for the yarn: Knitabulous Merino Sock in “Salwar Kameez” (from her Indian Summer yarn club). It’s the most intense blue-green, from teal to emerald to even kelly green.
I knitted both socks at the same time on two 2.75mm circular needles. Unfortunately my first attempt at the feet was too small, both in length and diameter. So I frogged them back from the heels all the way to the toes. Then I added in some more increases (eight extra stitches) and lengthened the bit before I started the pattern. That did the trick! When I got to the leg, I finished the five lace repeats and then knitted 2×2 ribbing until I got to the end of the wool. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off to finish. (Details also on Ravelry.)
Sewing Class: Remember how I told you I booked in for a sewing class? Well, Thursday night was my first one! After work I walked over to the Sewing Room in Surry Hills to learn how to make a sling bag. The room was cheerfully crammed full of interesting things like mannequins and overlockers and boxes of trims. When I got there, a student was working on her HSC project: a chocolate brown ball gown that she’s embroidering on the theme of Aboriginal history. (Needless to say, it was gorgeous. Why don’t American high school kids get to do amazing things like that?!) Anyway, there were three other young women in the class, all of whom were total beginners. I know how to use a sewing machine for the most part, but I’ve never really sewn a garment from a pattern all on my own. (So yeah, I was the Hermione of the group a little bit.) The pattern was really basic and easy to follow, and the Bernina machine wasn’t too different from my Janome at home. I snapped a photo during mid-construction. Our teacher Penny was fantastic, answering all our questions and giving everybody hands-on help. (She taught me a new way to turn narrow tubes inside out that will save loads of time on my next sock monkey.) The three hours flew by, and in fact, I didn’t finish my bag til closer to 10pm. Isn’t it cute? The fabric is just some cheap cotton I picked up at Lincraft. All I need to do now is sew on a button for the closure. Before I left, I took Penny’s advice and used some scrap paper to trace around the pattern pieces so I can reproduce it at home. It’d be great for gifts, huh?
Next Thursday I’m booked in for Zippers, Casings, and Buttonholes. This is venturing into uncharted territory for me, which will be fun. After that, it’s on to making an actual skirt! If you’re interested in sewing in Sydney, I suggest you bookmark the Sewing Room blog. They have loads of classes to attend, and they also have nights where you can come and get help with whatever pattern you want to make.
Easter Show Knitting
The other big thing that happened last week was that I finally finished my Easter Show knitting. I had two entries this year: “St. Brigid” in the aran category and “Albert the Magic Pudding” in the knitted toys. I think they turned out pretty well!
St. Brigid is from Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting, a book which is sadly out-of-print. (Used copies go for $300! No joke!) Luckily I know someone with a copy who was generous enough to share. This is my second Starmore after last year’s Na Craga. The wool is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in colour 127 Posie. It’s a very pretty pinky red with little flecks through it. Starmore’s patterns are famously huge with lots of ease, so I had to play to get the right size. I actually used 4mm needles to get gauge and lengthened the body by an extra repeat. I also lengthened the arms quite a bit. The original version had fringe around the bottom (ew) and a mock turtleneck (ew ew), so I left both of those off. This is a very warm jumper, and I’ll probably only get to wear it a few times a year. But it’s beautiful and I made it and I love it. (More pictures on Flickr and more details on Ravelry.)
And then there’s the Magic Pudding. (No, Mom, he’s not an octopus!) He’s from a famous Australian children’s book by Norman Lindsay. The Snook read me this book, and I absolutely loved it. It’s a shame that kids in America don’t know it! I based my original design off a postcard with a watercolour of the Pudding by Lindsay himself. I was really tickled when the RAS volunteer who was taking my entries recognised him immediately. Maybe next year I’ll have to do Bunyip Bluegum? (More details on Ravelry.)
