Reversible box tote

I'm not a big fan of gigantic purses, so sometimes my purse is just too small for my knitting project... I do have a large drawstring project bag, but I don't really like it because it's just too big to carry around.

I did some poking around for a quick, easy, fun tote that didn't have fussy handles or other details, and found the Reversible Box Tote from Very Shannon. It's a free pattern, which is awfully nice.

©Aspiring Threads

After I finished basting Louise's blue dress, I decided to sew up my tote. I had bought some nice, acid green Michael Miller fabric that has charcoal grey luna moths on it some time ago, and had absolutely no idea what to make with it. I also had enough of a coordinating fabric that is destined for our quilt (which I have not started cutting yet), which I used for the lining.

As you can see, it was a lazy Saturday in our home. My husband wore the dog out, then went to have a nap himself. My daughter is creating art in her bedroom, and my son is hanging out with a friend, enjoying the sunshine... so what better time to sew up a knitting bag? After all, my machine was already set up, and nobody needed me.

©Aspiring Threads

Here's the finished knitting bag, in all it's bright green glory! I like how the lining is a perfect match for the exterior of the bag, even though they're not from the same fabric collection.

The luna moth fabric (the whole flora fauna collection, in fact) is discontinued, which is a shame, because I'd love to get some in raspberry, which would actually be very wearable. I have enough of the fabric for a blouse, but I think it would be a bit... loud.

The bag is large enough for a shawl, or a smaller sweater, which is perfect. I don't usually take sweater projects anywhere, and if I do, it's usually in the early stages, before it becomes too unwieldy to travel with.

The best part? I'll never lose my knitting bag, because it would be impossible to miss!

Louise's blue dress

©Aspiring Threads

Just a quick update on the dress progress.

Louise came over to try the new muslin, and we have a game plan. The only adjustment I need to make is to take the dress in at the side seams. There was a little bit of extra fullness above the bust, but the weight of the dress will take care of that, so I don't need to adjust for that.

Louise decided to use the view A yoke, since the view B yoke comes up too high.

What we decided to do is to cut the blue dress first, since the fabric was less expensive. I will baste all of the seams, and we can tweak them if needed when she comes to try it on. Why am I basting? Because Louise didn't want to come back for a third fitting, and I can't blame her. She's busy with her own schedule, just like I am, and it's a bit of a trek for her to come out here.

I'm really hoping to get at least the blue dress finished by the end of the month. I usually sew faster than this, but this past week has been very busy, and I haven't been home much.

Louise's second muslin

I decided to try a different approach on the second muslin for Louise.

Rather than redraft the armholes and bust completely, I decided to start from square one, with the unmodified pattern. On the first muslin, I took 1 1/2" off the top of the shoulders, which caused the fullness of the bust to be in the wrong place. To avoid this problem (and skip redrafting the bust), I did a petite adjustment of 1 1/2", which is the same amount I had originally taken off the straps.

I had originally graded from a size 12 in the bodice to a 16 in the hip, and I suspect that the snug bust in the original dress can be addressed by making the bodice a little bigger. Rather than grading the bodice, I've cut a size 16. If it is too large, I can pin out the excess at the side seams, sew where I've marked it, and have her try it on again, rather than having her come back for a third muslin fitting.

Vogue 2903

On the new muslin, I've also included the inside yoke, to give an idea of how the dress neckline will sit on Louise when the dress is complete. I did not do this on the first muslin. I sewed the muslin with yoke B (the black version), which is a bit less revealing, but can easily switch it out to yoke A (shown in green).

The reason I did this is because shortening the shoulders on the original dress brought the neckline up, and I was concerned that yoke A would be too revealing. I slipped the new muslin over top of the dress though, and yoke B comes up much higher than yoke A, so we'll likely either stick to yoke A, or drop the neckline on yoke B a bit, so we end up somewhere in the middle.

All of this pattern tracing reminds me that I really need pattern weights. I had to raid the cupboard for tuna cans to hold everything still while I traced the pattern, but proper pattern weights would be so much better than tuna cans! Pattern weights can be expensive though, so the next time I'm at the hardware store, I'll pick up some large washers and use them as pattern weights.

Louise's First Fitting

Have I ever mentioned how important dress fittings are? If not, I'm doing it now. Fitting garments using a muslin is crucial if you want a garment that fits properly and is flattering. This is especially true if it is a fitted garment that will be less forgiving than something with more ease, or if you have made changes to the pattern.

I last sewed for Louise a year ago, and this is the same pattern, so you'd think it would fit exactly the same way that it did last year, wouldn't you?

Apparently not. Bodies change over time, and the assumptions we make about body shape are not always correct.

©Aspiring Threads

Here is the bodice muslin, after marking everything that I need to fix. It doesn't look very nice in this photograph, because I didn't press the seams since, after all, it's just a fitting muslin. Also, my dress form is smaller than Louise, so don't use it as a reference for fit. One of these days, my dress form will get her makeover, but not yet.

Louise asked for more room at the bust, so I did a 3/4" FBA at the fullest part of the bust (remember what I said about assumptions about body shape?) Unfortunately, this isn't where she needed the fullness, so I marked with chalk on the muslin where the fullness needs to be (the three horizontal lines). The FBA put the fullness above her bust, which simply isn't going to work, as it made the seams above the bust "tent". This tenting is marked with chalk above the bust. The tightness at the bust also led to the bottom of the bodice pulling upward, which interrupts the nice, smooth lines of the bodice over the tummy. Of course, the weight of the skirt will help keep this area smooth, but we don't want tightness or pulling in the finished dresses!

Also, I thought I'd redrawn the armscye on the pattern tissue, but perhaps I didn't, as I need to drop the armscye about 1 1/4". This is marked on the back of the muslin, which is why it is not visible in this photograph.

None of this is a really big deal, and I expect to be finished the second muslin tomorrow so that Louise can come back for another fitting whenever she's got time this week... but can you imagine what a disaster it would have been if I'd just cut into the fabric she bought without doing fittings first? She'd have ended up with two poorly fitted dresses, and I'd feel terrible!

Always do muslins. Always. Especially if you're sewing something fitted. You won't be sorry if you spend the time to do a fitting and everything is perfect, but you will be if you skip this step and there's something wrong, because you can't always fix it after the fabric has been cut.

Vogue 2903

© Vogue Pattern Company

Louise's dress is view A of Vogue 2903 (the green version). This pattern is a vintage reproduction of a Vogue dress pattern from 1957.

The dress has princess seams, sleeves in two lengths, and an inside yoke with two neckline variations. The skirt has inverted pleats and is mid to lower calf length. This dress has a back zipper... In fact, the only notions required for this dress are thread and the zipper!

The pattern envelope suggests using cotton broadcloth, shantung, faille and piqué. When selecting fabrics for this dress, keep in mind that it is unsuitable for obvious diagonals, plaids or stripes.

Also very important when selecting fabrics is to keep in mind that the dress does not have a waist seam, therefore the pattern pieces are the entire length of the dress. Make sure to buy enough fabric - you will not be able to wiggle the pieces into a smaller yardage of fabric than the envelope calls for, and if you don't have enough, you can't just go back to the store and buy another half meter of fabric... In fact,we made a point of buying extra fabric for this dress because I didn't have enough fabric for the red tulip dress and had to buy more.

©Aspiring Threads

Here's a reference photo of the red tulip dress, which we're further modifying for the new dresses.

Previous Modifications

These are the modifications we made to the original dress. Louise has a petite frame, but doing a standard shortened waist didn't work with this dress, as her torso isn't where the adjustment needed to be. We needed to take up the shoulders of her dress. This involved shortening the shoulders by 1.5". Unfortunately, this led to shallow armscyes, so we had to drop the armscye by 3/4". We graded the pattern to allow for her measurements at her bust and hip.

Because the sleeves on this dress are very slim fitting, Louise and I decided to make the dress sleeveless, so that she can move better while performing. Leaving her arms uncovered also keeps her cooler while on stage.

The Full Bust Adjustment

Louise found the bust on the tulip dress just a touch snug, so we're doing an FBA on future versions of the dress. I never do adjustments on the original pattern pieces, since making future changes is more challenging if you use the original pieces. I traced the bodice sections of the front pattern pieces. This dress does not have a waist seam, so the pattern pieces are the full length of the dress.

An FBA on princess seams isn't much different than a darted FBA. The biggest difference is that you close up the dart you create and rotate the fullness elsewhere, which means drawing a new cutting line. This tutorial from Craftsy is an excellent lesson in doing an FBA on princess seams.

For Louise's dress, I did a 3/4" FBA. Since the FBA is done on 1/2 of the pattern, the adjustment was 3/8". Louise is coming over today for a fitting.

Other Modifications

The last modification will be to add pockets to the dress. I have a pocket template that will allow for pockets roomy enough that Louise will not need to carry a purse, but will not add unwanted bulk. I added pockets to my wedding dress because I did not want to carry a purse.

I'll be posting about the construction of this dress as I go, so please check back for more!

Dress commission

You may remember a while back, when I came back to blogging, that I posted about a dress that I made for the lady who sang at our wedding reception. The post is here, and the relevant part, with a picture of the dress, is at the bottom of the post.

©Wanderlust Photography

I don't have any photos that really show Louise in her tulip dress, but thought I'd post this one anyway.

We ran into Louise and her husband at a friend's wedding recently, and she was wearing her dress! I was really very happy to see that she's still enjoying it. She asked me if I'd be interested in sewing another, in fact, which I said I'd be happy to do for her. I enjoyed making her dress, and it really made me feel good to know that she wanted me to sew for her again.

I met up with Louise earlier this week to shop for fabric. It was fun, because we went to Dressew, which is a truly mad, wonderful, crazy place to shop. They don't have a website, but their Yelp page is full of glowing reviews. Anyway, since we had such great success using quilting cotton on the first dress, we went straight to that section of the store. There are those who think that quilting cottons are only suitable for quilts, and perhaps clothing for babies and toddlers, but I disagree. Quilting cottons are quite versatile, and can make for some lovely garments, depending on the weight of the fabric and the type of garment. Gertie wrote a post about it a while back, and brought up some very good points about the different schools of thought on the matter.

In the case of this particular dress, we chose quilting cotton because it has a bit of body to it, which makes the skirt stand out nicely. It's a full skirt, so you don't want a droopy, drapey fabric. Quilting cotton is also soft enough that the skirt remains "swishy", so the dress moves with her as she performs. Quilting cotton is comfortable - it gets hot under those stage lights. It doesn't chafe like synthetics can, which is a bonus if you're dancing under hot lights. Finally, it's easy to care for. That's a big bonus, especially if you are busy and don't have time to get your dress drycleaned in time for your next show.

Louise and I spent over an hour looking at fabrics. She was drawn to red, but already has a red dress, so we looked at other colours. We had a few criteria in mind... the prints had to be bold, so that they wouldn't disappear on stage, and the fabrics should show up against a curtain. We wanted her to stand out, not blend in with the drapes! The other criteria was that the fabrics should suit the vintage look of the dress. The tulips are a bit modern, but they're still a floral, which worked, because floral prints were common in the era this dress is from.

We had no luck with green, unfortunately, because all of the cooler shades of green were unsuitable prints. The warmer greens were too yellow for her skintone. Anything with large amounts of yellow was out of the question. She's not a big fan of purple, so we didn't really look there. We wanted to avoid black, because we want her to stand out on stage. Same goes for pretty much any dark blue. Finding just the right fabric was more challenging than you'd think, especially in a store that has hundreds of quilting cottons to choose from!

©Aspiring Threads

We ended up narrowing it down to three fabrics. One was a black fabric that had enough of a pattern on it that it wouldn't blend in with the background. I didn't get a photo of it, but I think I liked it better than Louise did, and I'll probably go back and buy some for myself. These are the two fabrics we found. The pink fabric is a Michael Miller fabric, so it was a bit on the expensive side, for a quilting cotton, but it will make a stunning dress. The blue and white was half the cost of the pink floral, so it balanced out. The fabrics are modern, but like the tulip fabric, are very workable for the style of the dress.

My next post will detail the modifications we made to the pattern, and my thoughts on working with this pattern.

Up next!

I've been quiet on the blog for a little while, as I haven't been sewing and knitting is so dreadfully slow... besides, updates on knitting projects that are, well, uneventful, are rather dull. It would be different if I were working on something really challenging that needed explanations on new techniques and such, but that isn't the case here.

I do have something new up my sleeve, however. I've been wanting a nice quilt for our bedroom for some time, but couldn't decide what colours to use. Originally, I thought I'd go with olive and burgundy, as we have dark furniture and an olive green wall behind the bed, but that sounded too dark, and was a bit more masculine than I wanted.

Of course, I didn't think my husband would be terribly keen on a really feminine quilt, either, so that left a lot of fabrics out of the question. No pastels, no girly florals. I didn't want anything really dark, and I didn't want to have to repaint the feature wall, so I decided to start with a pattern, and hope that inspiration struck.

All People Quilt

After a lot of looking, I found the High Light quilt pattern, from All People Quilt. I've turned to them for patterns before, and I like that they have a good selection of modern quilt patterns, as well as more traditional patterns.

What I liked about this pattern is that the blocks are fairly large, which allows me to use bolder prints. There are plenty of options when you use large blocks! My daughter's quilt has large blocks, which meant it went together quickly, and I could use pretty much any fabric I wanted.

I also like the yellow sections used in this quilt, as they add pops of bright colour without being overwhelming.

©Aspiring Threads

The next step was choosing fabric. I had some fabric in my stash that I quite liked, but had no specific plans for. I brought a swatch of it to the fabric store, and came home with this... The aforementioned fabric is the black and green one on the bottom, by the way. The green in the fabric is similar to, but lighter than the feature wall, so it ties everything together nicely.

The other fabrics are a variety of greys, greens and yellows, with a bit of white mixed in for good measure. Normally I'm not a big fan of yellow, but the yellow fabric is a soft, buttery colour and there won't be a lot of it, so I think it will work nicely without being too much for my tastes. I think it'll be a fantastic quilt, and I'm looking forward to starting it. I do still need to plan out my blocks, but they're pretty straightforward, so that shouldn't take long. I do need to modify the quilt a little, since we have a queen sized bed with a king sized duvet on it (queen sized duvets are never big enough for a queen sized bed).

An added bonus is that my sister in law started a long arm quilting business a few months back, so I won't have to struggle with quilting a large piece on my machine. I don't have backing fabric yet, but that's no rush, since I haven't even begun cutting yet.

©Aspiring Threads

Here's the plan for the quilt, since I'm a visual person. As I mentioned, I'm going to have to modify the pattern to make a larger quilt, so I'm adding two extra rows of blocks to make it four blocks long by five blocks wide, instead of three blocks wide. This will give me a quilt that is large enough to cover a king sized duvet.

The border fabric is the green on black floral, which is swatched at the top. The pale yellow floral is the "highlight" fabric. I'm making two different types of blocks, and the fabrics are swatched together. I will need to buy some plain black fabric for the inner borders. This also covers my binding fabric, since I don't want the binding to stand out from the rest of the quilt.

I'm planning to start cutting my blocks on Monday, as this weekend is going to be very busy with guests visiting. Fortunately, large block quilts like this sew up really quickly, so I could potentially be finished the quilt top by the end of the week, unless I get distracted by something else (which happens on a fairly regular basis).

Rainbows...

When we moved into our new home, I promised my daughter that I'd make her a new quilt. She'd outgrown the cute pink and purple one I made when she was in Kindergarten, so she was pretty happy to hear that she'd be getting a new, more grown up quilt.

Daughter had this idea that she wanted her bedroom to be "like a garden", so I bought a tree wall decal, painted her walls robin's egg blue, and got a rug from Ikea that looked like grass. The quilt, which is up in her loft bed, is a rainbow.

Of course, stripes are boring, and I didn't want to spend all that time and money working on a quilt that she wouldn't like in a year, so I picked out some fabrics that are more grown up, and somewhere in between pastel and bold...

©Aspiring Threads

The pattern I chose is called Window to the Soul Gypsy Caravan, and it is by Amy Butler. The pattern is free, which is a bonus!

Unfortunately, the pattern makes more of a square quilt. I really need to get more consistent about reading finished quilt measurements! Lesson learned!

©Aspiring Threads

It's next to impossible to photograph a quilt in a loft bed, so these are the best photos I could get of the finished quilt.

Here's some background on the quilt, which I started quite some time ago...

First post, talking about the planning stages...

Second post, an update and talking about my machine...

Third post, another update...

Fourth post, could it be? Yes, another update...

And the final post on the quilt, the finished pillow sham.

Then nothing. I posted nothing further on the quilt. For shame! Well, I'm remedying that now, aren't I?

©Aspiring Threads

The quilt, as I mentioned, turned out more square and was therefore a little too short, so I cut off the binding on the top and bottom edges, and added a band of another coordinating fabric to both ends.

©Aspiring Threads

How did I add the length? Well, the quilt was already finished, so I had to trim off the binding. Have you ever taken scissors to a quilt? It feels so wrong!!! Anyway, that's what I had to do, and I lived to tell the tale. Thanks to my friend Andrea, I learned about the "quilt as you go" method, which I was able to adapt to this quilt. Basically, I used this version of the method, but more or less in reverse. First, I sewed the green and teal strips together, then I added them to the purple edge, which previously had been the finished edge of the quilt. I trimmed the extra batting, and used a decorative binding stitch to ensure that I caught everything on the underside of the quilt.

I had lots of the light green from the center left, so I used that, as well as some teal that I found I did not need.

Now the quilt is plenty long enough for daughter's bed.

Boyden cardigan

©Aspiring Threads

It's been a while since I posted, but that's because I was a busy bee, working on my new cardigan!

The yarn has been in my stash for a while, and it was just recently that I found the perfect pattern for it.

The pattern is Boyden (although for some reason, I keep calling it Camden). The yarn I used, has, sadly, been discontinued. It is Cepholopod Yarns Traveller in the "Groton" colourway.

©Aspiring Threads

This is a really interesting sweater to knit. It has beautiful Celtic inspired cables, on the right front, left sleeve, and right back. The subtle asymmetry is really appealing, as it prevents the sweater from looking too "busy", which can happen with cabled sweaters, especially in variegated yarn like this.

I did have a few issues with the pattern, but the designer is very available and approachable, and I got my questions answered very quickly. The first issue I had was with the stitch counts. I wanted to make absolutely sure that I had the right number of stitches, but the counts for the right and left fronts were different, and were not listed in the pattern. The extra stitches on the right side were to allow for the cable, so that it wouldn't pull the button band off-centre. I made a note of this on my Ravelry project page as well.

©Aspiring Threads

Another issue I had with the pattern was that you're supposed to end the cable with a certain row, but mine didn't. I don't know if I made a mistake somewhere (if I did, I can't find it) or if there's an error in the pattern, but the front and back cables are supposed to meet up so that when you graft the shoulders, they flow over the shoulder. Mine appears to be off by a stitch or two. I'm not bothered by it, but if I knit this sweater again, I'll be more careful.

One thing that I learned on this sweater was how to do closed loop cables. I'd never done them before, and they're not as hard as they look. I didn't like the instructions provided with the pattern, as it resulted in a big hole at the bottom of the loop, so I used these instructions instead. The loops turned out quite nicely, I think, however I later found this method, which I will use in the future, as the increases are spread out over two rows, so you're even less likely to make a hole where you shouldn't have one.

©Aspiring Threads

I also had issues with the sleeve caps. This particular sweater is knit in one piece for the body, then grafted at the shoulders. You then pick up stitches around the armhole, and knit back and forth across the top of the sleeve. The instructions were slightly unclear on the last row of the sleeve cap, so I've made a note on my pattern to ensure that I don't get stuck again.

All in all, I'm pleased with my sweater. I love the colour, and it is lovely on. The buttons are a perfect match, though the buttonholes are a bit too big, so I'll have to sew them shut a little bit, or perhaps run yarn through them to prevent them from stretching. I usually wear my cardigans open, but I like having the option of wearing them closed.

I think the only thing I would do differently is to make the body longer. I usually prefer my sweaters to be a bit longer than this one turned out, but I was counting on the superwash yarn growing a bit more than it did. I do find that most cardigans are a bit snug at the bust, so I would probably go up one size if I make this one again. I also find the sleeves a little bit snug, but I frequently have issues with sleeves being too tight, whether I'm knitting or sewing. I probably couldn't wear a shirt with sleeves under this cardigan without making the sleeves look lumpy.

I would not recommend this as a travel project, unless you can count on having long periods of uninterrupted knitting time. The cables are complex, but fortunately there's a lot of stockinette once you're done the cable panels, so you can breeze through a lot of the sweater. I usually prefer smaller projects, like socks or hats for travel knitting anyway.

Would I knit this cardigan a second time? More than likely. I enjoyed knitting it, and the finished result is lovely and very wearable.

A little housekeeping

I'm not currently sewing anything (I have jeans to talk about, but haven't bought my pattern yet), and I'm knitting a sweater that I'll post about when it is finished. Rather than letting my blog go quiet, I decided to add a couple of pages of tips, tricks and tutorials.

The first (and so far most useful) page is for sewing information. As I find more useful information on the internet, I'll add to the collection of links.

The second page is for knitting information.

These pages will grow and become more helpful as time goes on, and the links can easily be accessed in the bar under the header on all of the pages of my blog. I don't currently have any tutorials myself, but as I start making them, I'll add them to the relevant pages.

Upcoming knits

My daughter is a huge Harry Potter fan... she's read all of the books several times, including the Hogwarts Library set. She has, of course, seen the movies, but waited until after reading the books. I hate to admit this, but I wasn't all that interested in the movies when they came out... even though so many people I know were practically jumping out of their skin with excitement. I just didn't get the appeal.

I've since seen most of the movies, and they were good, but I didn't really get into them much... then I read the books. I started reading them two weeks ago, and finished Deathly Hallows today. I can't remember the last time I shed so many tears while reading a book!

Daughter has done several sorting hat quizzes online (she's a Hufflepuff) and so have I (I'm a Ravenclaw). She's been begging me for a Hufflepuff scarf, and wants a tie as well, because ties are cool, of course.

I decided to humour her and make her a scarf, so I'll be ordering yarn to make her a year 1-2 Hufflepuff house scarf... I'm using Knit Picks yarn instead of the Cascade 220 called for in the pattern though. This will be the most boring, mindless knit I've done in many, many years, and it is going to take eons... they're long scarves! It'll be worth it when I see her face when it's done though, so I'll soldier on. It'll be a good travel project.

The other thing I am going to knit her, which was my idea, is Of Hallows and Horcruxes. This sweater is based on the one worn in several scenes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It should be a fun knit, not too challenging.

I'm tempted to make one  for myself as well, but I think daughter would find that embarrassing.

Maybe I should make myself one in different colours, so that she won't roll her eyes too hard...

Fortunately, neither of these upcoming projects are surprises... if they were, it would take forever to knit them up, since I wouldn't be able to do them while she's home.

My second Oakridge

©Aspiring Threads

Well, it took me a while to finish it, but here's my second Sewaholic Oakridge! I posted about the first blouse here, and cut out my second a few days later.

The fabric is from Fabricland, and it is a lightweight polyester. I wasn't sure about the floral pattern, since it is a bit  bright & pastel for my liking, but it was on sale, so I bought it and hoped for the best.

Do I like the finished blouse? The jury is out, as I usually wear darker, more muted colours, but it does make a nice blouse, doesn't it?

I didn't make any further adjustments to the pattern after my first Oakridge, as I was happy with the fit of the first one.

I usually sew with heavier, stiffer fabrics (most frequently cotton), so I found that I had to adjust the tension on my sewing machine, which I usually don't find necessary. Because the fabric was so much thinner than cotton, my seams puckered terribly until I lowered the top thread tension. I still find topstitching challenging, mostly when I reach a corner or edge, because the fabric doesn't feed evenly, which leads to imperfect topstitching. I feel like I need to find some tutorials to deal with this problem, because I want perfect topstitching! I did find that using a piece of tissue underneath the corners was helpful, but I'm hoping to find other ways to deal with this problem.

For some reason, I had a mental block about sewing the buttonholes. Usually, the closer I get to finishing a project, the more determined I am to complete it, but this blouse sat for a full week before I finally sewed the buttonholes and put buttons on it.

©Aspiring Threads

I'm glad to be finished the second blouse, so that I can move on to the collarless version. I have a nice rayon to use for the next one, which is more to my taste than this fabric.

I suspect that the print will grow on me, especially once it warms up enough to wear skirts. The weather has been lovely here recently, but the last couple of days have been cold and wet. I think the Oakridge looks great with jeans, but I really want to wear them with pencil skirts.

Speaking of jeans, my next post will be all about my troubles with finding jeans that fit properly. I'm about to embark on an exciting journey, making my own jeans!

Invasion of the robots!

©Aspiring Threads

Please excuse this photo. I know it is lousy, but it's the only one I have of this hat. The pattern is Robot Hat, and I had a lousy camera at the time, so you're just going to have to put up with this bad photo.

I made this hat for my little guy when he was five years old, out of Knit Picks Swish worsted. It's not my favourite yarn, as I find that it grows quite a lot after washing, but it is good for small projects like hats and mittens, because it is nice and soft and comes in a very wide range of colours.

©Aspiring Threads

 This past winter, my son asked if I could make him a scarf and a pair of mittens to match his hat, which he still wears, four (going on five) years later. I'm glad he likes his hat so much!

I decided to make him a cowl instead of a scarf, because honestly, it doesn't get that cold here, and scarves take eons to knit. I hate knitting scarves, to be honest, so he ended up with a cowl. Instead of typing everything out again here, take a look at my project page on Ravelry for the details on the cowl.

©Aspiring Threads

For the mittens, I found a free mitten pattern, then used duplicate stitch to put robots on the mittens. I could have knitted them using stranded colourwork, but I decided to try my hand at duplicate stitch instead, since I'd have to handle the floats all the way around the mitten, and it was going to be a hassle, as the robots are only on the backs of the mittens.

My Ravelry project page has more details.

Sweaters for my folks

©Aspiring Threads
My husband, modeling Dad's sweater

Some time ago, I promised my parents sweaters for the holidays. Dad was recently retired, and asked if I'd be willing to make a turtleneck sweater for him to wear while out on the boat he had purchased.

I decided that I wanted to make sweaters that would go quickly, so I opted to knit with bulky weight yarn. For both sweaters, I chose Berroco Vintage, which is a good quality, affordable, and easy care yarn. I used it a couple of years ago (in DK weight) for sweaters for my grandmother.

©Aspiring Threads

The sweater pattern I chose for Dad is called Hayfield, and it was a quick and easy knit. The cables were simple enough to knit while watching TV, but interesting enough that I didn't get bored while knitting the sweater. There's nothing as dull as miles and miles of stockinette!

My one complaint about this pattern is that the PDF file was protected, so I was not able to make annotations on my tablet. I don't like to print patterns, since they get tattered and it's a waste of paper. I'm still using EZ PDF Reader, and have figured out a few ways to make the app work better for my needs. I tried making a new PDF with the pattern, but had the same problems with being unable to annotate, so I printed it and scribbled all over it so I could get to work on the sweater.

©Aspiring Threads

My mother requested a cardigan, so I looked for patterns that would be quick to knit. She liked the Midwinter Cardigan, so I purchased my supplies and whipped it up. This was a very quick knit, as it only took me 19 days to complete.

Again, this sweater was knit with Berroco Vintage yarn.

My one complaint with this sweater is that the hem curls up, because there's only one row of ribbing. I usually like the look of stockinette, but unless you have a fairly wide border, the hem's going to curl. Fortunately, it doesn't look bad, and if I hadn't pointed it out, it's unlikely anyone would notice. With the braided cables on the front, I don't know that you'd be able to add a wider border or ribbing or garter stitch. I'd be interested to try it, which I might do one day, since it's a really nice sweater and I'd be willing to knit it again. I do have a similar pattern that uses a worsted weight yarn, so I might use that pattern but incorporate the short row shaping at the bottom of this sweater since I like the curved hem.

©Aspiring Threads

This photograph is a pretty accurate representation of the colour of my mum's sweater. It's a lovely heathered plum, and I wanted to keep the yarn for myself!

While knitting this sweater, I needed three row counters, as the cables on the front are mirrored and need to be counted separately, plus another counter is needed to count the rows of the sweater itself, not just the cables.

When you reach the underarms, the stitches are split into the two fronts and the back. Underarm stitches are bound off, then you knit the left side, back, then right side. After that, you knit the sleeves. While the construction of this sweater is a bit complicated, it is not difficult so long as you’re paying attention. This is not a project I would tackle as a travel project!

I visited my parents last month, and brought their sweaters along with me. Hopefully they will get plenty of use out of them!

Random photography

All of these photographs were taken in my neighbourhood, using a Nikon V1 camera.

©Aspiring Threads

©Aspiring Threads

©Aspiring Threads

©Aspiring Threads

©Aspiring Threads

©Aspiring Threads

©Aspiring Threads

Another baby sweater

©Aspiring Threads

I don't often have the opportunity to knit for babies, since most of my friends have kids that are around the same ages as my own children. Because of this, whenever someone I know (even if it is a friend of a friend) has a new baby, I jump on the opportunity to knit tiny things.

My best friend has a very good friend whom she has known most of her life, and I've met him. He's a very cool person, and very generous to boot. Last month, he welcomed his first baby to the world, so I had to knit her a sweater.

©Aspiring Threads

I've knit this pattern before, it's the Maile sweater. My previous sweater was blogged here.

I sent the sweater off yesterday, and he doesn't know it is coming. He also doesn't know about this blog, so I figure it is safe to post about it.

I think this is my go-to baby sweater. It knits up quickly, and is really very cute. I could modify it for a boy if needed, by omitting the lace, or replacing it with cables.

My Ravelry project page is here.

Nineteen Twenty Shrug

©Aspiring Threads

I came across the Nineteen Twenty shrug pattern, by Liisa Nieminen a while back. It looked like a nice, easy project that would be very wearable.

The pattern calls for Sweet Georgia Merino Silk Fine, which is a bit rich for my wallet, so I decided to go with a less costly, but still very nice yarn from Sweet Georgia (BFL Sock, in the Cayenne colourway). I knit the shrug over the course of two months, even though it shouldn't have taken me more than a few weeks to complete. This project was put on the back burner a couple of times, so I could knit sweaters for my mum and dad.

The pattern doesn't come in a very wide range of sizes, but it is pretty simple to size it up or down if you need to. I found the two size options to be rather a bit on the small side, so I'm sure a lot of knitters would need to size it up by adding stitches to the width and length. I decided to live life dangerously, so I didn't do a gauge swatch. My rectangle ended up much wider than it was supposed to... by about 6", in fact. This turned out to be a good thing though, because the finished shrug would have been to small for me otherwise.

©Aspiring Threads

The construction is very simple. Basically, you knit a large rectangle, with the lace panel going up the center, then fold it in half, seam the edge on both sides, leaving the middle open. After that, you pick up stitches on the armholes and in the middle, and knit the edging on.

This is a very wearable shrug; it's almost like wearing a shawl, because your arms are exposed, but it keeps your shoulders nice and warm. You don't have to fuss and adjust it like you do with a shawl though, which is really nice.

I'll be making a second soon. The next one will be bright green, and also in Sweet Georgia BFL Sock. I'll be switching to a different lace motif for the second one however. I'm thinking about a leafy cable, or perhaps something Celtic inspired.

If you're on Ravelry, here's the link to my project page.

Oakridge blouse

©Aspiring Threads

I finally completed my first Oakridge blouse! I did my pattern adjustments a week ago, but didn't actually sit down to sew it until yesterday.

I sewed the size 12, and graded down to a size 10 at the hips. I did a 1" FBA, and made the bicep area of the sleeves wider using this tutorial from the Curvy Sewing Collective. I could actually grade the waist in a little bit more, as this blouse, while similar to the Granville shirt, is actually a bit of a looser fit. I like the way it fits as is though.

It's a good thing I made more room in the bicep area of the sleeves though. I  added 1", and the fit is perfect. If I hadn't adjusted them, the sleeves would have been a touch too snug.

The fabric is a lightweight polyester crepe that I purchased at Fabricland.

©Aspiring Threads

The only part of the instructions that I didn't follow exactly was the collar. The instructions don't include any edgestitching, and this fabric isn't easy to iron. I knew that I'd be constantly pressing the seamed edge of the collar tie, so I decided to edgestitch it, which will solve this problem nicely. The instructions have you hand stitch the collar to the inside, which I also did not do. Because I was already edgestitching the tie, I simply edgestitched across the part of the collar that should have been hand stitched.

All told, I'm very happy with my new blouse, and will be starting my second later today. I have fabric for two more, though I think I will make one of them without the tie.

Granville Shirt 2.0

©Aspiring Threads

I started my second Granville shirt on Thursday, and finished it on Friday. I mentioned in my previous post that this shirt has a tower placket - this is what it looks like after it is sewn up, but before the cuff is attached. This is an awesome placket, which isn't terribly difficult to sew, but does require accuracy and patience. The end result is worth the effort, in my opinion.

©Aspiring Threads

I bought this fabric last week at Dressew, which is an awesome store. They have such an incredible selection of fabrics and notions, however they only carry Burda patterns (which I've never had good results with, personally) and they only take cash and debit, so leave your credit card at home. If you want to read more about Dressew, there's a great post about the store on the Sewaholic blog. I bought all of the fabrics for the wedding there, and spent less than $80 total for three dresses. There are great deals to be had, though every time I walk in the store, I know I'm coming home with things I didn't plan on buying. I may have also bought some awesome rayon for an Oakridge blouse.

This fabric screamed at me, because it needed to be a Granville. Anyone who knows me well knows that I cannot resist purple. I gravitate toward earthy, warm, autumn colours, and this fabric has all of that going for it. I only wish I'd found more cottons appropriate for Granville shirts... Maybe one of these days I'll splurge on some Liberty fabric. I'd rather not use quilting cotton for shirts, as it doesn't drape as nicely as fabrics meant for garments.

I paid around $7 per meter for this fabric, and bought enough to make a nice summer skirt or sleeveless top. Time will tell what the remainder of the fabric will become.

©Aspiring Threads

I absolutely love the fit of this version of the shirt. I decided to grade the hips of the pattern down just on the side seams, to a size 8, which I think is perfect. I took 1" off the bottom of each side on the black floral Granville I made, which was the equivalent of about 1". I'll keep this in mind for future patterns, as I now know I'll need to grade the hips.

Oddly enough, the sleeves on this version feel a little snug, but that could be due to the fact that this fabric feels a little stiffer than the black floral. I didn't prewash the fabric, but I noticed after playing with swatches of it that it does soften considerably after having been wet. If that doesn't help, I'll likely add a little bit to the upper sleeve in future shirts, as it is the bicep that feels a little snug.

Again, this pattern does not disappoint. I promised my sister in law that I'd make her some shirts too, so hopefully you won't get tired of seeing different versions of my Granville shirts!

Free yarn!

In November, 2013, this gorgeous little puppy joined our family. Her name is Stella, and she's a purebred Samoyed. I'll spare you all of the details of how and why she came to join our family, because frankly, this is a craft blog, not a dog-lover's blog...

Of course, if you're interested, just say so and I can go on about her for hours!

Why am I posting about dogs in my craft blog? Partly because she's my constant companion, and I knit a little bit of her into everything I make now, but mostly because she's a big, wooly, 62 pound SHEEP.

Some people I talk to think this is really horribly disgusting, but you can spin dog hair into yarn and knit with it. I've heard of people doing so to memorialize their pets after they pass away... so long as the dog has an undercoat, you can spin it and knit or weave it.

Stella is fully grown now, and I've been saving her shed undercoat ever since she started blowing her coat last summer. Needless to say, I have a lot of fur to spin. Dog hair often is used blended with sheep's wool, because it is a very warm fiber, and blending it with sheep's wool makes a cooler garment. Another benefit of dog hair is that it is water resistant, so it will keep you dry. It makes excellent hats and mittens.

Samoyed fur, in particular, has what we knitters call a "halo" when it has been knitted up. It behaves much like angora or cashmere, with a soft fluffy halo where the wispy ends of the fibers stick out of the knitted fabric.

A friend of mine sent me a couple of spindles to try out, and I discovered that dog hair is pretty easy to spin. I preferred the top whorl drop spindle that she gave me, and after about 45 minutes, had enough yarn that I could legitimately say I'd spun yarn!

It wasn't very much yarn, as you can see here, and it had a real thick and thin weight to it, because let's face it, I'd never spun yarn in my life... but I was happy to know I could do it, and it did look awfully soft and squishy. I really should have blocked the finished yarn, but I was excited to try knitting with it, so I skipped that crucial step, because it was just an experiment and I wasn't actually going to make anything with it.

Would you believe that even though I hadn't blocked the yarn (this step is important because it sets the twist) it only took me 20 minutes to knit up this little swatch? Look at how FUZZY it is! It is really soft, and not the least bit itchy. Did I mention that it is soft?

The only thing I didn't like about knitting with my hand spun Stella yarn is that sometimes, in spots where I had put a lot of twist into the yarn, it tended to loop back on itself... but like I said, I opted not to block the yarn, which sets the twist. Not important if you're just playing with the yarn, but if I had to knit an entire garment like this, it would drive me crazy.

I am pretty happy with my samoyed yarn. It's soft, warm, and unique. I don't particularly care if some people think it is weird or disgusting. Frankly, my dog is cleaner than the average sheep. I washed up the bags of undercoat using dish soap to get it totally squeaky clean, then let it dry for what felt like forever. Next I have to card it and sit down and do some spinning... but probably not for a while yet. There are other projects calling my name, specifically my Oakridge blouses...