Love Story: How a Knitter Fell for Hand Sewing

I'm still kicking myself for not discovering Alabama Chanin sooner. Seriously? Where have I been? Why did I not know about this? I remember when the first book was released and how I was drawn to the name and the cover but because it was sewing by hand promptly put it back on the self.  To think I was so close to meeting my new love.

The title could also read "Sewing For Knitters" because I have found a true companion to complement my deep deep adoration for knitting. Don't get me wrong there will be nothing that can replace the soothing sounds of needle tips clicking together as mere wisps of string are looped and caught to magically transform into a garment (highly romanticised but true.) I am always in awe of knitting. I look down to watch my piece grow and marvel at how amazing it is every time.

What does this have to do with sewing and how is it that someone who will avoid seams in a knit garment at all costs as to avoid sewing can now be so in love with it?

The idea of crafting a garment completely by hand, at first, terrified me. All the steps before you get to the actual sewing are very much the same as for machine sewing, although as I went to sleep last night I realized that cutting out the fabric is very much akin to winding a skein of yarn. The similarities to knitting keep coming. Once your fabric is cut out in pattern the project is totally portable, just like knitting. There might be a little set up such as testing what embroidery stitch to use, like swatching a knit. Pinning items together and "loving" your thread are like casting on.

Are you still with me?

The Low Down

Pattern: Alabama Chanin tank top from Alabama studio Sewing + Design size XS

Fabric: A thrifted XXL mens t-shirt

I used a thrifted shirt so that I could just dive in. I have a terrible tendency to hoard fabric and find it too precious to cut. Not so with some dudes giant purple t-shirt. The shirt turned out to be a super awesome find. It's a really lovely thin 100% cotton that's soft and has tiny purple and light purple stripes.

Let's talk about the sewing, oh the sewing. I love how it feels to be hand stitching the seams together. Felling them is my preferred look and I really love the whole embroidery bit. I even like testing it out to decided what would look best.  I went with the feather stitch because it was one I could actually figure out and make look good. I have a lot to learn about embroidery stitches.

One of my littles was about to sneak in the shot

Overall I'm really pleased with how it turned out but I did have to make some modifications. After I was all done sewing the binding in place I tried it on only to find that I really should have done so BEFORE I worked so hard on the embroidery (hand to forehead, doh.) The armholes gaped something fierce and there was no way to remedy the problem without taking off some portion of the binding. 

I only had to remove the slightest bit near the shoulder seams. I seam ripped and took in the shoulders quite a bit. I'm still left with a bit off a gap but nothing that screams "redo" or at least not to me.

More to come! I already stared another tank with thrifted shirts but this time with applique and I've order actual Alabama Chanin fabric to make a dress . Yippee! Hurray for Hand Sewing!

New Obsession and Love

Just buzzing by with a quick peek at what I've got in my hands and on my mind.

Thanks Alabama Chanin for a new way to spend my evenings.

Hot Dye!

This week it has been HOT here in the mitten and we spent most of our time either getting wet outside or staying dry and cool in the AC.

By the end of the week I was all swum out and it really was too hot to just play outside (we're talking over 100 degrees!) but we were starting to feeling cooped up in our house. What did we do to beat the heat? Well naturally it's tie dye time!

Loki got a tie dye kit for his birthday and I figured what better way to spend our time outside but to strip down to undies (the boys, not me) and dye some things crazy bright colors. Unfortunately I have no pictures from the actual dye session because my hands got messy fast and corralling squeeze bottle toting tots with a camera was out of the question. Much fun was had and we all ending up with very colorful shirts and hands and even feet.

The ends results are quite wonderful and even more so because both kids really did all the dyeing of their shirts on their own with no help. I only stepped in to keep Astas from emptying the entire contents of every bottle of color onto one shirt. We also made shirts for their cousins and me, by we I mean me, can you tell which ones I did?

The hardest part for the kids was waiting. After the shirts where all colored they had to be wrapped up in plastic and left alone for 24hrs. Twenty Four hours!! A day in kid time feels like a year. It was as if we were on a long trip except for "Are we there yet?" was replaced with "Are they done yet?"  I didn't wait the exact amount of time recommended to rinse and wash them because there is only so much a Mama can do to keep anxious kids at bay. I did all the rinsing, washing and drying so I could surprise the kids after siesta time.  They were so happy and proud that they wore the shirts to bed and are still wearing them as I write this.

Proud Artists

 Goofy artists

 Firetruck sighting

 Closer view of the firetruck.

Trying to keep an eye on the firetruck parked across the street.

And She Sews in to the Wee Hours

My little guy turned 3, THREE, this past week.  We have been talking about birthdays with him for a while because it's kinda been a birthday season that started in March . We asked what he wanted for his birthday and he said "Strawberry cake and presents."  I had the cake covered thanks to pinterest.

This was the best picture I could get because he kept dancing around (and my camera is crummy)

The "and presents" not so much. I was racking my brain and remembered "oh, yeah...the quilt....." I bought the fabric for it waaaay back in 2009 and even posted about it to keep me motivated. Clearly that didn't work. The day before his birthday, or that night before, I set out to finish the stinkin quilt. All I had left was to bind it all up. Piece of cake, right?

Somehow my brain was so fried that I could not wrap my head around how to do those mitered edges and I think I spent about a 1/2 hour struggling with the logistics. Luckily my brain kicked it into high gear and I got the machine sewing done. I then spent the better part of the evening hand stitching the miters into place with the injured thumb to prove it. The end result isn't perfect but when he went to bed after his birthday dinner he said "I need a blanket." I covered him with a gauze one he has been using since it got hot. "NO" he said "my new blanket, it's my favorite." Heart melting and gleeful smiling on the part of this Mama.

Frolic by Wendy Slotbloom with some other randoms to round it out.

Seriously could not have asked for a better end to the day or project.

A Year in the Making

I have written this post in my head for, well, almost a year now.

I say "I really need to blog about this, but I have to block it first. I'll do it tomorrow." Tomorrow comes and I never feel like blocking. I knit a new thing, I weave in ends on another thing, I sew a little something. Summer turns to Fall, Fall turns to Winter, Winter turns to Spring and $!@&;^%$ it's Summer AGAIN??!

I have been saying " I really should block this." about once a week and somehow I never do it. I think
"I kinda want to wear it" as I lay trying to fall asleep. Tomorrow...

Tomorrow came and I did it!!!Maybe all this foot dragging is due to the fact that this was my second Buttercup tunic and so it wasn't a thrill to knit or finish. I made another one because I wasn't really that happy with how the first one turned out and I had to make some modifications.

The Low Down
Pattern: Buttercup by Heidi Kirrmaier
Yarn: Jaeger Trinity
Modifications: There are a ton and since I finished knitting this almost a year ago and didn't take good notes I'm making some grand guesses as to how exactly I modified my top. First off I omitted the gathering at the back neck to result in a more overall fitted look. According to my notes I did this "body, knit until measures 10 cm from underarm. after marker ssk knit until 2 st before next marker k2tog sm ssk knit until 2 stitches before marker k2tog"  I assume this was to take it in a bit so it fit better.   I knit the sleeve much shorter. In fact I only did a couple rounds after picking up the stitches for the sleeves then I bound off loosely and I didn't do the "puff" sleeve so I could get a tighter trimmer fit.

My overall goal was a more fitted top and I am so much happier with this version then I am with my first attempt.

Notice the red bracelet?

Here's a close up

It was a birthday gift from my friend Christy who has a wonderful line of jewelry over at B-side Metalworks. It's a wish bracelet that is so sweet in it's concept and look that I couldn't resist tell you about it. The idea behind it is to make a wish when putting it on and when the bracelet falls off your wish will come true. So cute!

Summertime

It's really not news that the weather has been in the 80-90 degree range in the Mid West with an occasional chilly dip into the 70's for some time now, but I only just now feel ready to welcome the summer with open arms.

Earlier in the year I ordered myself a new pair of sandals to take on vacation. They arrived a day before we left, so I though I'd better skip it and the potential blisters.

Fast forward to today when I wore them walking around farmers market and to the grocery store. I am in LOVE with them. They are so comfy it's what prompted this post, not to mention cute.

So what are these glorious sandals? They are Sseko's! Not only are they ridiculously comfy they can be styled in a million different ways with all kinds of colors of interchangeable straps. I'm still figuring out all the ways. Just type in Sseko to YouTube and you will have more tying styles then you have time.

Beyond the stylish exterior lies a company doing really good work in Uganda.

  

Click HERE to read the whole story.

How Cute is this strap?

Just in TIme...

Oh, wait...maybe not.
Even though it's not quite as warm as it has been I think I've missed the weather boat with this one.

I actually started this sweater waaay back in September thinking I'd knock it out in a month or two, it being all nearly seamless and semi-bulky.

Well, me being me, I made some modifications. In my mind they were going to be totally minor and not at all a big deal.

WRONG! I forgot that converting a pattern from flat to in the round can sometimes be tricky. So tricky that even after you figure it all out it messes with the way the rest of the pattern goes too and then you have to figure that part out as well. So I put this sweater down in favor of many, many, many other things.

After much procrastination I made myself finish this project in hopes I'd wear it while we were on vacation, but the weather was just too warm.

I put it on today for the first time to take pictures and will probably not wear it again until the fall.

The Low Down;
Pattern: August Pullover by Veera Valimaki
Yarn: Cascade Eco + in Amethyst Heather
Modifications: OK, here we go
I really wanted the sleeves a bit less wide which other people of done by knitting a few more rounds of the twisted rib before separating for the sleeves front and back. Easy. Not for me because I didn't really like the look of having more ribbing, so I set out to knit the twisted rib as written then change to  herringbone pattern in the round  until I got to the point I wanted. Piece of cake??? NO, no and no.

After trying very hard to wrap my brain around converting a pattern from flat to in the round I went in search of someone who had already done it. I searched and searched and finally found a lovely pattern by Lauren Osborn called Herringbone Cowl. Thankfully she had figured it out and even charted it. So all is good right? 

WRONG.

The herringbone patterns are just ever so slightly different and I had to figure out how. I thought I did but then after knitting 18 rounds figured out I figured out an 18 row repeat instead of a 20 row one. I went with it because I thought it was minor, NOPE.

I used an ancient method of cutting a pasting paper to rework the chart.

OK it wasn't THAT big a deal. I only had to figure out how it changed the sleeve count,the neck shaping and how you cast on for the back of the sweater, no biggie. 

So you can see why it took me so long. Ton's of stopping,starting and brain wracking. Now that it's done I'm not even sure it's something I will really wear. Oh well...Le Sigh.

In Full Spring!

Almost everyday we go for a walk and are lucky enough to live by a paved path that does a nice loop around a river and over a dam. Along the walk are parks, crew boathouse, and a little pond teaming with frogs and turtles.

The other day we set out with nets in hand to catch frogs. On the way we got caught in a rainstorm that passed just as we pulled up to the pond (so no pics of our adventure). A bit soggy we got right to work and I caught two frogs. Both boys loved it. After that the frogs got wise and I set about randomly swooping the net though the water. Much to my surprise I got a huge tadpole. I have never ever seen one in real life. It was the size of a small lime with a fishy looking tail and frog eyes.

Why am I telling you all this? Well when we got home Loki asked him I could please knit him a "tagpole". So I did.

Thank goodness for scrap yarn!

Have Bag, Will Travel.

This past week (and a half) we went on a little tag a long trip with my husband to Monterey and San Francisco, California. I mean if he's going for work we might as well too, right?

Us being super touristy. I think this is the only picture of me in the whole bunch.

Of course what that said to me was, totally need to make a new bag! Did I do this months or even weeks in advance? Ugh? NO, why make things too easy?

On top of packing for me and the littles I set out to make this bag about fours days before we were leaving. I didn't actually really get to it until two days before and finished it at around midnight the night before. Worth it? Yes!

The Low Down
Pattern: The Showoff Bag from my dear friend Made By Rae
Fabric: Amy Butler Lotus I think? Lithuanian linen my Mom got for me when she went there in 2009, some quilt weight cotton left over from Loki's quilt.

Close up of the contrast lining

A peek inside

Bag on vacation lounging poolside (pool not pictured) I love this chair. It goes so well with my bag.

The one thing that happened because I was in a rush to make this bag, and you may have noticed if you have seen it before, is that when I carefully laid out my fabric I cut out the pattern for the lining instead of the main bag. It really wasn't a problem I had time to fix so I just skipped the pleats.

Maybe I'll leave more time to make my second one.

Happy Easter!

Nothing says easter like a tiny robot bug with ears!

Egg dying is serious business.

So hard to get a good picture of two kids actually looking at the camera at the same time.