Almost Summer

poppy blooming in front yard

It was spring...and now it's almost summer.  The kids get out of school tomorrow, schedules will change with new activities and adventures.  Knitting has been on the back burner for me lately - final grades for my course were due, we're finalizing mudroom addition plans with our architect, I moved into Co-Chairing our public elementary school PTO (I did what?!), and my husband made partner at his law firm.  It's been a crazy couple of weeks.  But I am moving ahead with Vignette.  I've completed the back, both front panels and 3/4 of one sleeve.  Just a bit more to go before blocking and seaming.  Can't wait to show the results when it's done!

History in my hands

In mid-November I was contacted by a neighbor about making repairs to a few sweaters that she had.  She mentioned that they were a mix of ones she acquired and ones that her Grandmother had knit for her Grandfather before leaving Ireland for the United States.  An old sweater knit in Ireland?!  Could it really be a real fisherman's sweater?  I jumped at the chance.

 

She dropped them off and I spent the next few weeks getting to know them.  The construction was amazing, and so different on each one.  Two raglan sweaters, one saddle-shoulder, and one yoke cardigan from Iceland to round out the set. 

 

But that one on the top of the pile?  It stole my heart the moment I set my eyes on it.

 

 

I must sound a bit strange, going on and on about a sweater (and one that I just met no less!).  But this sweater!  It was made with patience, focus, talent, love and care.  I didn't find a single mistake in the patterning.  The cables and stitch definition are gorgeous.  It is unbelievable.  And it is old.  You can feel the years gone by when you hold this sweater.  It is substantial, measuring a mens XL/T, and probably weights 4 lbs.  That is a lot of wool folks.



 

And like all really good love affairs, I came away from my time with this sweater knowing more about myself (this time myself as a knitter).  I realized that I know my way around sweater construction and repair.  I know my way around bind-offs, cast-ons and sizing.  I know a thing or two about wool and I know that I have the confidence to dive into a project - even one that is not my own - and work with it.

Sadly the wool on the older sweaters is starting to deteriorate.  As with all organic materials they begin to break down over time, and I'm not too sure what can be done to slow or halt that process.  I suppose that you could seal the sweater in a display case and not expose it anymore to the elements.  But I don't think that is the life this sweater was made for.  It was made to be worn.  And worn, and worn, and worn.  This sweater was made to go out into the world and soak it up.

I've fixed up the sweaters, given them all a good (gentle, hand) washing and let them dry.  I wound up a few yards of the repair yarns for the owner to take with her.  I am sad to see them go, but it's time that they head home. 

I've grown as a knitter in the past few weeks and I think I have two old souls to thank: one of an Irish gentleman and the other his wife.

FO: Cap Sleeve Spring Shirt

Another little-ish knit for my 4 yo. 




















This is the girl's cap sleeved spring shirt, by Shellee Floyd, size 6.  It's knit up in a soft, cuddly alpaca/wool blend  which makes about the cutest spring layer in my girls' wardrobe.  I love the way this fits, wears and looks when layered with a long sleeve tee and pants.  Simple, feminine and bold all-in-one.  It does violate one of my own preferences for kid knits though - it's not machine washable.

An interesting note on construction for this tee is that I started out the yoke with a size 6 needle, but changed to an 8 about about 6 inches, and then to a 10 at about 11 inches.  I like that it created a slight flare without having to figure out increasing stitch counts.  The pattern did not call for this much needle changing, but I am happy with the result.




















The baby liked the soft alpaca yarn too!

I am really excited to start on a(nother) cardigan for myself - but am having a hard time committing to a pattern.  I feel a little overwhelmed by all the knitting pattern goodness out there.  Ravelry can be a huge help, however, and I find myself analyzing photos of individual projects - once there's a pattern that catches my eye - to see if I can find one that looks like one I'd knit (color, sizing, etc.).  It's quite helpful for searching out yarn alternatives too.  You'll have to stay tuned to what I pick out for myself next...

In the meantime I've started on Versa, the tunic style, for the older girls and plan to use yarn from the stash.  I have a true rainbow of yarn left overs and there's no better way to use them then in a yoke or as trim!

Re-Cap: kcwc

In my last moments of kcwc I managed to squeak out this skirt. I picked it up at a clothing swap (free!) knowing full well it didn't fit me, but it held promise as a skirt that could be re-fitted for the younger set. I cut out the zipper from the back, resewed it together, and then shortened the skirt by 4 inches from the top. With an elastic casing waistband the project came together rather quickly on Saturday morning.

I had grand hopes of making a skirt from this pattern, but it will have to wait for another day (solid pink and peace fabric). Here are my leftovers, staring at me longingly after a good week of sewing. They will get their day to shine soon. Not sure what will become of the blue floral - maybe outdoor dining napkins for the summer?



I gained back a bit of sewing mojo this past week. I look forward to keeping it up, and the fact I got Scandinavian Stitches at the library yesterday will help! I am going to take some time to plan out a few special projects for the fall challenge, I think that I am ready for something a bit more complicated (oliver + s, Leila & Ben, and Carefree Clothes for Girls are some possibilities...) The challenge also added a new filter to my brain for when I go to the thrift store/garage sales - if something is too small for me, could it be re-fitted for my girls?

Mid-week report: kcwc

As we approached the middle of the week I accomplished two more items for my younger girls. First up is a pair of baby leggings. They are really the simplest of projects; I'm embarrassed that I didn't make other pairs for my older girls when they were itty-bitty. It will be a few months before the baby is big enough for these, but they should be perfect for covering her delicate knees in the fall and following spring.

I've seen project tutorials for these around the blogosphere for awhile, but I didn't rely on any particular one for these. My directions were: Take a pair of unused thrifted women's knee high socks, cut the feet off, and hem the bottom edges. Done and done.



The second project is a pair of cropped pants for my 3.5 yo. I tried making something like this earlier in the week with some scrap cotton that I had in my stash. I failed miserably. First I took a pair of jersey cotton pants that fit her tush perfectly and did what many others have done: traced, cut and sew. But they did not turn out at all. They were too small (narrow) and had no give at all. So I decided to put those pants, unfinished, aside and instead sought out advice from an expert.

Heather Ross came to my rescue. I pulled my copy of Weekend Sewing off the shelf and found the pattern for the Huck Finn pants. I followed the pattern for the 2T, but added an extra 3.5 inches to the length of the pants. And what do you know? They fit her!

The material is from an upcycled linen skirt that I had set aside, and to punch them up (c'mon, what little girl is excited about brown pants?) I added a faux knee patch featuring her favorite character: Scooby Doo. We don't normally go for commercial characters or name brands, but Scooby just makes her, so...well, happy. Thankfully she l-o-v-e-s these pants. And they look darn cute on her too.

Last on the sewing list for this week are two skirts. One twirly, one upcycled.

Progress report: kcwc

skirts for older girls


chicken skirt

In my first progress report for kcwc I am happy to show you three skirts. They were accomplished in about 3 hours, including shopping for, and laundering, the fabric, and sewing time. I worked from the lazy days skirt pattern, generously offered up free by Oliver + S. I have made this skirt quite a few times before, but why mess with something good, right? Especially if I only have a precious few hours - I need results, and fast! [There was also a first (botched) attempt at some pants for my 3yo You'll hear more about that later this week.]

My girls are very happy today, wearing their new duds. I carefully picked out fabric for each of them: dogs (doing yoga no less) for my dog-lover, flowers for my care-free spirit, and chickens for my ever-present helper and budding chicken farmer. Each of these skirts was made from newly purchased materials, but the rest of the projects I am working on for the week are from up-cycled clothes or other fabric from my stash.

By the end of the photo shoot with my 3yo the chickens had become quite interested in what we were doing next to their coop (that's Sandra looking on, with Betty on the stoop). Little do they know that her skirt was made in their honor!


curious chickens

Kids Clothes Week Challenge (kcwc)

I'm jumping back into post-birth blogging with this challenge. Head on over and join in if you are so inclined. My grand plans include a set of six skirts - two for each older girl for this summer. I'll report back with my progress. This is my first time participating in this week-long challenge and I'm pretty excited. I'm tackling something familiar and easy, with hopes that next year I might be able to branch out into something new and different (garment sewing is decidedly not my comfort zone).

I also have some recent knitting adventures to share. More soon!

Valentines Hearts

In honor of Valentine's Day my youngest and I put together a small decoration for the dining room, the place we gather everyday as a family. I free-cut the hearts while she chose the contrasting fabrics, their placement and the order I sewed it together.

This is quite possibly the first heart-themed craft I have ever completed and while I am not totally sold or inspired to do something like it again it did fulfill February's Rumpelstiltskin Challenge: Red. We are not big into this 'Hallmark holiday,' but having these little hearts in the heart of our home is a nice reminder of how much love passes through here everyday.

Holiday Knitting (a.k.a. why I should weigh my yarn, or knit socks from the toe-up)

I am knitting a pair of bright, self-striping socks for my SIL for Christmas. We have a big-ish family and draw names for gift giving. This year I was lucky to get DH's younger sister. She is fresh out of college, just moved to our town, is writing a novel, has a steady job at a bookstore and has just entered adulthood. What a cool stage of life to be in! (Ok, maybe that is just my mid-30's, kid-raising mind rambling some BS. I think I also remember that stage of life being plenty full of longing, uncertainty and confusion too.) Regardless, I think that she'll like the socks. I think they are suited for a 20-something.

The thing that I didn't account for before starting the socks was her foot size. She wears a shoe that is 3 sizes larger than mine and I didn't make any changes to my pattern to accommodate. Yikes. And how many days until Christmas again?

There are a couple of things that I could have done to make this error easier to deal with, before I even started knitting. First, I could have split my skein into two balls and weighed them, thus ensuring that I had equal amounts for yarn to work with for each sock. I would have very quickly realized I was running low on yarn on the first sock before finishing it and could have made changes then. Secondly, I could have knit these socks from the toe-up. This makes adjusting the leg length much easier technically speaking. Since you are assured of having the proper foot length you just knit the leg until you run out of yarn.

But instead I am doing some magical knitting wizardry.

The leg of the finished sock on the left was WAY TOO tall if my yarn was going to accommodate the length of the foot. I realized this when I got half-way down the leg of the second sock and started running out of yarn.

So I had to do some emergency sock surgery to steal yarn from the finished sock for the unfinished one. This caused me to stop for 2 days and really think about the most efficient way to go about this. Here are my steps:

First, I snipped a stitch just below the ribbed cuff and unraveled the leg a couple inches. Then I unraveled the cuff and wound the yarn into a mini-ball. [You can't unravel a ribbed cuff from the top-down. It just doesn't work.]



Secondly, I re-knit the cuff on the finished sock, going up the leg this time, and bound off.



This allowed me to take 3 inches off the leg of the first sock - theoretically freeing up 3 inches of yarn for the foot of the second sock.

It's not the most elegant of solutions, but it works and it got me back on the road to finishing the socks on-time. [The cuffs on the socks won't match exactly since one has a cast-on edge for the cuff, and the other has a cast-off edge, but I don't think she'll notice.] I also debated on just ordering more sock yarn in the same colorway, but given my stash challenge I diligently encouraged myself to find a different solution.

Here was my stopping point last night. The returns are still out, but I am feeling pretty confident that I have enough yarn to finish off the second sock, albeit with a much shorter leg length.



Once the socks are done I will take pictures in the daylight. The colors remind me of a winter sunrise in WI - how the pinks and oranges in the sky above blend into the white and gray of the snow below.

Dissertation Vacation

[Blueberries from Appleberry Farm]

I am at the last stage of working on my dissertation.

I have my data, I have my analysis strategy and I have set up a couple uninterrupted blocks of time to write.

Postings will likely cease for awhile - I'm trying to quiet any and all distractions over the next six weeks - but I'm sure that I will still find time here and there to craft, knit and sew.

And I will let you know all about it when I'm ready to return to this space. Until then...cheers.

Sneak Peak

A sneak peak of what I've been working on. Another baby gift - but this one is for someone that reads this blog so I can't show much of it here. She's also on ravelry so I can't divulge any details just yet.

I've also hit a strange stumbling block with the vest. I'm scared to sew in the zipper. There, I said it. I am scared. I've read more than I care to repeat about sewing in zippers for knitted garments, and I should just sit down and start doing it. But something is holding me back. My fear of failure? My fear of ruining something so beautiful? Maybe it's that I love the yarn and I don't want to let it go...once that zipper is in it's gotta be sent to it's rightful owner.

Maybe now that I've written it down - confessed if you will - I can go in the other room, pick it up and start dealing with my zipper issues.

Deep in the Forest Mittens: The saga continues

Remember this post? Well, here is my progress. I decided to forgo the thumb for the moment and just cast on for the second mitten. They are so lovely and I'm excited to see them develop. I can finally see the forest for the trees. You, however, can find the pattern for these mittens here.

What worked? I found my magic combination: size 1 needles, with worsted weight yarn (Cascade 220 for these). For whatever reason, I needed something more substantial to do stranded color work properly. Fingering weight just wasn't cutting it for me. Luckily they are not coming out too big - a worry with thicker yarn and hence more sts/inch - and with a wee bit of felting in the sink they should fit well enough. I didn't wind up modifying the pattern at all, with the exception of the cuff. I added a picot edge, which I fell in love with here. Although the mittens are not lined, the underside of the cuff is a lovely heather purple.

I hope to finish them before fall comes. Funny to be saying that when it's only May (hence spring in my neck of the woods), but the pattern does require a lot of attention to detail and that is hard to come by in our household. Especially during the summer months when we want to be outside and digging in the dirt, not inside reading a knitting chart. On that note, I've been busy outside. In addition to our usual vegetable and herb gardens, we added blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and cranberries to our yard this spring! Combined with the established apple tree, sour cherry tree and rhubarb we've got quite an operation going.

Bad Sewing Machine

After completing my spring wall hanging I was totally excited to do more sewing. One of my goals for this spring/summer was to try out making some clothing for the girls. I've never sewn a garment that was meant to be worn for real, (I've done Halloween outfits) and I thought this year I would give it a go. So I started with the Oliver + S lazy days skirt. Another goal is to finally figure out how to sew in a zipper. Sadly, I won't be accomplishing either of these things in the near future.

About half way through the first skirt my machine stopped working. The thread was breaking before making even one stitch. It did this over, and over, and over again. Likely a problem with the tension disk, but after taking the machine apart I wasn't able to see anything to fix. So I packed it up and put it away.

My husband surprised me with this machine as a gift about 2 years ago. A very generous a and kind gift to be sure. But, him getting me a sewing machine is sort of like me purchasing him a table saw. Neither of us know enough about each others craft to really make an informed purchase.

Aside from it not being the machine I would picked out for myself, I've always had trouble with it. The tension/stitching never worked properly and has given me constant headaches.
After a call to the two local machine repair shops, it seems the cost of maintenance or repair to this one would be at least half the original purchase price - so I'd rather put my money towards a new machine. About a year ago we started a small savings fund to get a new machine, born from the proceeds of my husband selling an underused drill press. The other thing I don't like about this machine is the amount of plastic on it. It just doesn't feel like a sturdy, durable machine.

For now I can borrow my mom's machine to get me through the skirts and another dress I have planned. There is a lot of web research to sort through before I decide on a new machine. There are also a lot of blog posts that discuss this very journey. [If you have a story to share, please let me know and leave a comment - I would love to hear about your experiences and why you use the machine you do!]

So it will probably be awhile until I am up and running again with the sewing. Oh well, there's no better excuse to keep knitting or explore some fun hand sewing.

Can't see the forest for the trees (Deep in the Forest Mittens)

We are back up to speed with the semester underway.  I have found my study time, my writing time, my mommy time, my wife time, and my knitting time.  [Like how I laid those out there like they are separate things with affiliated hours of the day?  The truth is I am always all those things all the time - just a little more one thing and then the other from minute to minute.]  So here's a status report on one of my current projects: frustration.

I can't seem to get this two-color stranded knitting thing down. I purchased this pattern awhile back. I HAD to have it. It's incredible - striking, complex and lovely all in one.  People seem to be knitting them like crazy on ravelry and I even heard the pattern mentioned in a podcast this past week.  I scrolled through ravelry for yarn ideas and settled on this. I immediately tried knitting the first mitten and it came out all puckered.

I frogged it.

I tried again on larger needles - and I was cautious to leave more trailing yarn than I thought I needed to. It came out too big, and didn't look right with the yarn I was using.

I frogged it.

Now I am back to my original size needles, leaving WAY more yarn that I think I need to and it is still puckering.

I need to frog it.  But...

my ego hurts.

My patience left me days ago.

I so want these mittens.

Any advice from seasoned knitters out there?  I was able to chat with a wonderful local knitter who encouraged me to try to get the knitting to lay flat (i.e. no puckering at all) because the puckering won't really be undone during the blocking process.  

Maybe I need different yarn?  Maybe I try a different pair of mittens first?  Maybe I should just stick with it and try again?  HELP!!

On a related note, I celebrated candlemas with friends this past Monday.  During our time together I drew a Native American medicine card - the dog.  Loyalty.  Huh.  Maybe this explains why I can't let this project go. 

Fall Quilt

Finished just in time for winter! This was the biggest, most massive project I've ever worked on. I felt like I was wrestling with a crocodile to get the darn thing through my machine. I knew I was working with something big when I had to move the living room rug out of the way just to make the sandwich. Boy, was that an ordeal! The girls were wonderful, however, and very respectful: always careful to step around the quilt and not run all over it.

Now that it is finished and I am taking pictures of it I am coming to fully appreciate how bit it actually is. The photos are taken with the quilt on our queen-size bed. And it still spills over the bottom of the bed. I can't believe it. I wanted to make a twin-size quilt, I started out making a twin-size, and am pretty sure that I followed the directions for a twin size, but it came out more like a full or queen. (Note to self: I won't EVER undertake anything this big again - too difficult for a beginner like me to handle. Lap quilts are perfect.) I thought this might go in our living room as an extra blanket for the winter, but maybe this will become a guest blanket. It really is too big and heavy to manage in the living room. Oh well, more excuses to quilt and sew? I can't complain. But any new projects are on hold until after the holidays.

In the meantime I have to quickly learn about piping and putting in a zipper. My mom's handmade holiday gift depends on it!! Yikes!

Deer hunting in South Beach and other mistakes

So while waxing poetic in the previous post about finding my style/stride with knitting, I come full-circle to show you these two mistakes (or as I like to think of them: growth opportunities).


First, the socks. I really like the pattern and the design is easily memorized for maximum portability. The project gets an A+. My choice of yarn? C (can't give it anything lower because I love green, and yes, there is green in there). To my Wisconsin eyes this sock looks like a deer hunter landed in South Beach. On the other hand, the name of they yarn is 'frogprince' which pretty much sums it all up. The camo colors are reminicient of a frog, with strands of princely blue/turquoise running throughout.

Aside from the color, the yarn, a nylon/wool blend, knit up like a dream. One sock is complete and the second is on the needles so I am required to finish them - plus they are a part of my handmade holiday pledge so they must be knit and gifted. They really are lovely socks and the soft yarn feels great against my skin. Luckily my recent knitpicks order arrived with three sets of solid color essential sock yarn: grass, pumpkin and dusk. I can now re-knit this pattern, and the embossed leaves pattern, with pride and cross two more handmade holiday gifts off my list.


This second photo is of the very first sweater I ever completed. Have I ever worn it? Once - the day I finished it. Will I ever wear it again? Nope. So I am mustering the courage to frog it. I need to - the yarn is too nice to waste away on a closet shelf, making me feel guilty. The buttons are too nice to be hidden away. When I was learning how to knit I got impulsive and tried a rowan pattern - 'Slate' - which was too advanced for me. I got in over my head and never looked back, until last night. I think I will try to dig up the pattern and re-make it - it has all the components of a lovely cardigan, but my problem was the gauge, yarn, needle combination. It is too drapey (is that a word?) to wear - it needs more structure and substance. So, I have resolved to pick a night, in the not too distant future, to frog the entire thing.


Any advice on what to do then? Do I need to wash/soak the yarn before re-using it? Is this a hopeless project? Should I just save the buttons and move on?

Oilcloth

I feel sort of funny typing the words "oil" and "cloth" together in the same sentence, and the same word. But consider me converted, I love this stuff! I purchased two yards of it the other week at the local fabric shop and have fell in love with it. I can't wait to sew up a little coin purse with it! But, first things first. I purchased it to make some mats for the newly recovered dining room chairs. But, that is as far as I have gotten. I am not sure exactly how to do this. I have cut out two pieces, slightly larger than your standard placemat, which cover the seat nicely, but they slide off the chairs all the time and don't really stay in place. So, here is where all of you come in - what can I do to make them stay on the chairs, but still let's them be removable (to take outside or put on the floor for crafts, etc.)? I haven't really cut into the fabric very much, so there is plenty of extra cloth to work with, but maybe it is just as simple as attaching an elastic band? Your thoughts?


Also, isn't that print just the coolest? I can't wait for the day when the girls realize there are skulls and skeletons riding bikes amongst the flowers.

Dining room chairs

Dan and I finished up the dining room chairs! We are so happy with the results. In the photos you can see the small plywood base he added to the seats to give them some extra support. Then it was on to recovering them. All told it only took about 90 minutes to get the fabric on the seats and the seats back on the chairs. The most difficult thing about the entire process was trying to find the right size staples for the staple gun (yes, three trips to Ace Hardware to get this one right). The actual stapling of the fabric to the seat was a very simple, very easy process. I didn't do any fancy corners and also covered over the piping from the original chair. I don't mind the lack of detail that much.

The family has already broken them in with blueberry pancakes (and matching blueberry stains), but that's exactly why we got this table and chair set, right? I was a bit peeved at first, but them remembered that it was a garage sale table and chair set and sale fabric from JoAnn's; I can always go and get more if need be. These chairs are made for sitting (and spilling on). Incidentially, the fabric held up pretty well to my scrubbing at the stain so I think this fabric will stick around for awhile. But, I also started thinking about some cute oilcloth seat covers for the girls...just something like a placemat we could set over the seat while they eat. Maybe a matching one to go under the highchair too? Hmmm...more ideas!

Doll Clothes Disaster

I've decided that some crafts are best left to others. Doll clothes for example. The girls and I went to a local park yesterday and on our way home we spied some dolls on the curbside. They had been well loved one day in the past and we picked them up, took them home and gave them a good bath. The only problem? They were naked and were in need of some clothes. I thought that using some of the left over vintage pillowcase fabric from the swap was the perfect idea and so I set about trying to make some clothes while the girls were napping. I used one of the dresses from the curbside as a pattern (it was too moldy to keep and use) but have since failed to make anything that I actually like. I think I am making the whole thing too complicated. I will give it one more try and if I am not happy I will be on the lookout for doll clothes at this weekends garage sales.

New Challenge

If you can believe it, my husband and I picked up this table and chair set at a garage sale last weekend. It is an Ethan Allen, solid cherry set that seats up to 12. The set came with six chairs, two of which have arms. The set fits beautifully in our dining room. The set was sold by a family that now has grown children - so the best part is that the table chairs are all 'kid-tested' and gently used. This means that I won't ever worry about the inevitable spills or normal childhood wear and tear (i.e. scratches, permanent markers, tape, paint, etc.) The only hitch is that the table is a little tall for our taste and the fabric on the chairs is not our style (plus the previous owners had cats and Dan is VERY allergic to cats). So, my new challenge is recovering, and firming up, the seats.

It all seems very straightforward at the moment. Buy some fabric, get my husband to make some plywood seats and cut down the legs of the table by an inch, recover the seats with the aid of a staple gun, and I'm done. I am sure that I am in for more of a challenge than that, however. The upside at the moment is that JoAnn is having a 50% off sale on all their home decor and upholstery fabrics so at least I should be able to find a great print that we like.