Knit News

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing the progress of my current (main) knitting project today, the St Catherine’s Cardigan by a Kate Davies. I’ve been knitting this garment for a few weeks and it’s going well. It’s quite a quick knit, I’ve been quite surprised at the progress I’ve made to date. Look back here for my introduction post on the St Catherine’s knit.

              

The pattern is split into various sections of the garment and each element adds shape to it. I’ve chosen to knit various bits out of sequence to try and get the right fit. At some points, I could not decide where the design was going eg getting the bottom length didn’t seem possible ? However, I had faith with Kate Davies and just went with it ! The sleeves also caused me to think ! I’ve decided to keep the sleeves ‘live’ until the end with an option to lengthen. I want to make sure the whole piece works with a longer sleeve. Kate’s version has cropped sleeves. You can just see the wool balls tucked into the sleeves in my photo (top image), ready to knit more rows if necessary. I’m knitting the neck section at the moment, then it’s the bottom band. I think, Im quite close to finishing. I love my cardigan already. I’m hoping to finish over the next week.

The only other thing on my needles is a pair of socks. I’ve not added much knitting to these socks for a few weeks. I’m hoping I can move them on next week and share the progress here.

Thanks for calling in today. Have a lovely weekend. I’ll be back on Monday with more Making news.

Making Frame Purses

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing a project, started earlier this week in one of our local Making Workshops. This project is all about creating printed fabric and making a frame purse from the fabric. I have a couple of samples, prepared specifically for the workshop but I’ve also started a purse for myself. I’m using some meMade fabric from an earlier workshop and have a grain of an idea to prepare some quilting for my purse. I like the idea of using the story within my printed fabric to inform how the quilting will develop. I’m going to use my sewing machine to quilt a series of lines around the images on my fabric. I may also introduce a few beads in strategic places ?

Here’s a quick look at the frame purse samples as well as the new purse ‘to be’:

                       

All the purses use a similar ‘sewn in’ frame but each has a different size and shape of the actual purse bit. My new purse fabric (bottom right) has lots of images around travel over/ in the sea. I’d like to reflect the sewing machine lines as wave like ripples. It’s a nice idea but probably quite difficult to achieve. I’m happy to develop something which is symbolic ! We will wait and see what happens, I’ll go with whatever looks good. I’ll share some details of the project as I work and the final purse over the next week or so.

Thanks for calling in today.

LB #5

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing my latest LB Pullover - this is version #5 !

                  

My photo isn’t showing the real shape (I’m sitting down) as well as it could ! My fabric is quite a chunky jersey and it works really well, accentuating the square shape. I’ve cropped the length a little on this version, and have added a narrow rib cuff. The ribbing is a silver sparkly fabric. I’ve also chosen to make a narrow neckband rather than my usual roll neck. It’s a very cosy and easy to wear garment - just right for everyday.

I’m wearing the pullover with my blue flower necklace, I love this necklace and wear it at every opportunity. It’s a perfect fit for this LB. There’s not much more to say about my pullover. As usual it was a very easy make. However, I did had a tussle at one point - wether to add a narrow rib bottom hem in the silver ? I did cut and attach such a hem but decided to take it off. The ribbing is quite thick and I felt it too bulky for the very wide, boxy shape. The silver rib would not lie flat and made the bottom of the pullover stick out. This idea would work with a finer fabric. I’ll be giving it a go with another LB. I’ve decided, the LB is the pullover/sweatshirt of choice and I’ll just go with it ! This won’t be my final version !

Thanks for calling in today.

Mending Matters

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing yet another book today. This time, its a belated Christmas present ! The book is called Mending Matters by Katrina Rodabaugh. I’ve been looking forward to receiving this book for several months and yesterday, it finally arrived ! I believe, the reason for the delay is all about the book selling out of several print runs. 

                      

After getting over the fact that the book had actually arrived, I spent lots of time yesterday, reading the initial chapters and considering how to apply the very interesting projects to my wardrobe. I love everything about the idea of making my own wardrobe and mending, seems to be a natural development of this concept. I’m trying to consider each item, I decide to include in my wardrobe. The point of having a range of clothing which works with each other and that will last, is part of my plan. Making clothes does take quite a bit of time, so making the right choice and looking after clothes is important. 

The Mending Matters book includes lots of ideas around mending but also introduces techniques which are more like embroidery and includes the handmade wardrobe approach using natural fabrics. One other characteristic of the book is lots of  blue things ! This is, of course, very appealing to me.

The cover of the book, uses jeans which have been beautifully repaired using visible mending techniques. I love this idea. I’m very keen to adapt a pair of my own jeans in this way. I do have several pairs of jeans which would lend themselves to such a makeover. I guess, in my case, the makeover would be a bit indulgent- I don’t have a pair of jeans which would require such a huge repair !  However, I’m rather taken with visible mending and have also  introduced the Shashiko and Boro stitching technique before on the blog (check out my reference here). The jeans project would be perfect for the job.

I’ve also got an idea for a project bag, with lots of the mending techniques included. I have several pieces of denim and will practice, joining the pieces using Shashiko and Boro sewing techniques. 

I feel a huge connection with this book. Katrina talks about her initial pledge, not to buy clothes for a year (in her case, several years ago). This kickstarted her approach to clothing. I’ve done this too. I have a wardrobe full of stuff (some handmade but mostly shop bought) and have decided to make any new clothes from scratch. I’m now also planning on remaking and restyling items in my wardrobe, most of which have been bought.  Somehow, this reworking idea is incredibly attractive to me. 

Generally, I’m thrilled with my Mending Matters book. I’m keeping it close and dipping into the chapters when I have a quiet moment.

Thanks for calling in today.

Everything Indigo

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing one of my lovely birthday gifts today - a book all about Indigo. I’ve dabbled with Indigo before and am a huge fan. I love all things blue. This book, Indigo by Kerstin Neumuller and Douglas Luhanko, is a practical and inspirationional look at Indigo, from plant to pigment. There are several dye recipes in the book as well as ideas on how to create beautiful patterns with fabric and a few projects. There’s also a look at Shashiko ( Japanese embroidery technique) and Boro (patching and mending garments) - I love all this stuff !

                      

I’m not entirely sure about how and when I’ll be testing out some of the ideas yet ? I’m hoping to come up with a plan over the next few weeks. I’d like to dye some yarn (hand spun) and also some wool fibre (for spinning) alongside fabrics - all very exciting ! I need to read the whole book several times and really try and understand the theory of dying with Indigo. There’s so much to take in and like all skills, experience is important. I have a huge need to get to grips with this one, and am especially motivated to learn.

I’ll be revisiting this subject many times over the next few months and I’ll share my experiences here on the blog. My first task is to come up with a plan and a series of little experiments. I have a small garden shed with the idea of creating a dye shed, something I’ve talked about for a year or so. My thinking is to develop a plan and action the dying when the weather improves. I’ll be sharing my plans ove the next month or so.

Thanks for calling in today.