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!

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!

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.

It's a Cool Koolhaas

What's that you say? It's 90 degrees and I'm wearing a hat?

Well, it is made out of wool and SILK, silk, which is cool right?

As you can see I'm knitting out of season but, man I have been wanting to knit this hat for ages and I had all this yarn leftover from my buttercup shirt and I've been wanting get over the hump over doing a cabled pattern. Perfect! Let's knit a hat in the heat (and I mean HEAT) of the summer.

Can you tell that this is not me?

The Low Down

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood

Yarn: Silky Wool by Elsebeth Lavold

I love this yarn! It is soft and light and pretty. It's also a joy for me to knit with. I highly recommend trying it if you haven't already.

The way this hat decreases and keeps the pattern is so wonderful. I really liked making this hat, but I'm not sure I like all the fiddlyness of handling a cable needle. I think I'm going to have to learn to do it without a needle. I like to keep things as simple (and lazy) as possible. Although I did like working with the wooden brittany cable needle. It had a nice feel to it and it didn't slip out too easy, plus it looks nice.

Loving Purple Right Now

Hum, is it creepy to have a headless picture? This was the best close up.

The Low Down

Pattern: Buttercup by Heidi Kirrmaier

Yarn: Silky Wool by Elsebeth Lavold in Lt. Purple and Dk purple

Modifications: Clearly I used a different color to edge the bottom and the sleeves. I also only did 4 A-line increases instead of 6 because it was already looking rather wide.

Strike a pose! It really feels weird to take pictures of yourself

First off, I love, love the yarn. It is a joy to knit with and I'm already plotting what I can make next with it. Second, I love this pattern but am not super happy with how it looks on me.

The top is a bit big . I knit the size XS and it's still big. Also I must have done something wrong with the sleeves because instead of being a cute princess style they just look too big and long. I also think I could have gone a tad longer to have a more tunic look. Maybe, just maybe, I should have gone ahead and done all the increases to have a true A-line shape and then it might be more flattering on me.

I already cast on with a different yarn to make a second one with all kinds of modifications. Will see how it goes.

Something Old, Something New.

This sweater is not actually that old. I started knitting it in January and finished weaving in ends about two weeks ago. I wouldn't call it finished because man, I can not figure out how to close this sucker. This was also the hardest thing to photograph, granted I am almost always shooting the pictures myself and that makes it even harder, but for some reason this was really hard. I just finally gave up.

Me looking dreamy. Close up of the collar

The low down

Pattern: I made this up. After searching Ravelry for patterns that matched my yarn/gauge I used several as guides but ultimately knit til it fit, divided for sleeves and body and then as I went shaped it just so in the middle so the fronts would meet. When all was said and done I didn't like it so I added a ruffle. For some reason this sweater reminds me of a Frilled Neck Lizard, so I'm calling this the Frilled Neck Cadi.

Yarn: Noro Taiyo

Gauge: 4 stitches = 1 inch

I did not put any buttonholes and now I have no idea what to do about how to have the cardigan close. Any Ideas?

Out of desperation I enlisted the help of my 4 year old. Can you tell?

I have no idea whats going on with my hands here but this one one of the "best" shots of the sweater.

On to the something new!! As I mentioned in my previous post I finished everything I had on needles and was waiting for yarn for my next project.

Light purple silky wool

It came last week and I jumped for joy when I opened the package.This yarn was better than expected! I love the pale lavender color and it's going to make one great summer top. Stay tuned.

TA DA! Shalom!

This is another post where you may want to sit before reading because of the possibility of fainting from absolute disbelief. Brace yourself: This post is not about anything baby related. No, seriously it's not. I know very hard to believe.

I actually made something for myself and I did it in about a months time (another shocker!)

It all started with a post from Soule Mama in which there was a sweater that I loved. It linked back to Ravelry which is where the magic began . If you don't know about ravelry and you are a knitter or crocheter then please check it out right after you read this post.  After looking at the pattern and decideing that I had to make this sweater I used the yarn suggestions tab to see what had been used and Ravelry told me I already had a yarn in my stash that would work. Ahhh? WOW! It turned out I had the perfect amount required for this project. I cast on that very day and here are the results!

Shalom by Megan McFarlane

(With Modifications that can be found on Ravelry)

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay color Wildflowers (113)

and a tiny bit of yarn I spun (the dk purple cuffs)

Needles: 10 1/2 Addi turbos

Different shirt and flash

I have to mention the buttons because, well, it's kinda like someone saw my sweater and then made these buttons for it. The teaser from a few posts ago is a close up of a the button. I searched for about a half hour , was just about to settle, when I bent down to pick something that had fallen to the ground and there they were. Perfect wouldn't you say?