Me Made May: Week 3 (and a sewing FO)

Another week, another cardigan:

This week I've mostly been wearing my Shetland Shorty cardigan. I love this style of cardigan in the summer and I still plan to knit another.

Also me made this week is my first 'dressmaking' project. A Tilly and the Buttons Bridgitte scarf. More of my summer dresses are yellow than any other colour so I picked out this bright yellow spotted cotton. The fabric was shorter than the width called for (115mm) but works well enough for keeping hair off my face.

Me Made May: Week 2

Last week was all about my grey striped Paulie. This week it's my "Hey Tech" cardigan, which has so far been paired each day with my Primark skirt plus a pair of leggings to keep it decent.

WIP Wednesday: Charade Socks

It's been a while since I started anything new and likewise since I knitted any socks.

Two birds, one stone... this week's work-in-progress Wednesday.

Socks for Mr Me in a cotton sock yarn (and some knitting elastic in the cuffs also).

Soon we'll all be able to say "bless his little cotton socks".

FO: Paulie

Well, I dragged this one out for a bit but it's finally finished, buttons and all!

Whenever I finally make it to the end of a garment I tend to come to the conclusion that 1) this really shouldn't take as long as I make it; and 2) I really should knit more garments, they're awesome.

There's a lot to like about this one. I like the colours and the fact that it's a thin 4ply-based fabric (I'm into thin sweaters at the moment). It was also pretty cheap yarn so I like that it's not a £100 cardigan and that it seems to look pretty great actually (I've not washed it yet, so I hope that I'm not speaking too soon here).

Buttons and yarn were both from my local indoor market stall come local haberdashery. Total cost of the buttons was about 40p and they fit well with the yellow of the stripes/i-cord. They're also the absolute perfect size to squeeze through the button holes without sneaking back out again.

The delay on this was primarily caused by the decision to add a hood without any real idea about how to go about doing so so I'm particularly pleased that after several revisions I seem to have a hood-shaped hood that looks pretty good both up and down.

Pattern: paulie by Isabell Kraemer
Yarn: Stylecraft Life 4 ply (75% acrylic, 25% wool) in colours Cobalt (grey) and Zing (yellow/green).
Mods: Added a hood (see Ravelry notes).
Project: online on Ravelry.

Me Made May

I've been reading more sewing blogs than I used to and over time I've seen more than a few mentions of 'Me Made May'.

Well, today is the first day of May and, perhaps overly enthused by the recent finishing of my Paulie (more tomorrow) I figured I could take a tentative step into the Me Made Madness. I've been meaning to get on and actually sew things so perhaps this will give me the kick I needed... and if not I'll be piling on the knitwear regardless of temperature ;)

Pledge - I sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear a handmade garment (even if it's just socks) at least once each week for the duration of May 2014.'

Now, here's my starter for ten:

May 1 - Hand knit socks made in September 2011 and Paulie - now with added buttons.

Almost done

After a long day away from computers, housework and distractions, I recently finished the knitting, seaming and end-weaving of my Paulie cardigan.

I swatched for this in June 2012 and started knitting in September 2013... I'd wanted to add a hood to it and that's really what ate all the time up. I must have knit 3 or 4 hoods before I found something I was happy with.

And the almost? I haven't actually sewn the buttons on :)

Getting Over Excited

I love to plan things for myself to do. My expectations often seem to go beyond what I'm likely to achieve, but in my mind I'm a whirlwind of activity bouncing from one thing to the next.

Here's what's on my mental projects list right now...


Geocaching

• Get out and find some things -- aim to beat current number of consecutive days caching.

Knitting (and other fibre-related activity)

• Fix the hood on my Paulie so I can finish that garment.
• Start a Pippin
• Gradually progress the Riff scarf I've started.
• Crochet a ripple blanket
• Spin up that sample I planned to finish in January
• Weave a scarf

Sewing

Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee (I loved the first series), I've been making a gradual move towards learning to sew. Of course I don't want to start with cushions and aprons so I've been plotting an assortment of (mostly) garments and now have a mini stash of fabric for the following.

• Circle headphone bag. The only thing I have lined up that's not clothing. I've bought a few blue fat quarters and a matching zip to give this a go.
• PJ shorts (started in the summer). My first draft barely fit over my bum so need some modification. Once I've figured that out I have the nicer fabric I bought to sort a good set. Perfect for February... or not :)
• Miette skirt. I have a lovely pink linen blend for this, plus some purple bias binding to have a go at some details like those on this version. Again a summer plan largely forgotten until now.
• Wrap round trousers. I have a pair of these that I bought in London and are perfect for the very rare warm days we get here in the UK. The pair I have aren't a great colour though, so I've bought some practically coloured brown linen to have a go at crafting my own. By the time I get round to them it's bound to be a summer again, right?
• Another skirt. I'd forgotten about this one :(
• After resisting for a while I then bought another Tilly pattern, Coco and last week ordered fabric for two such tops. Every autumn/winter I somehow have a desperate lack of long sleeved tops and so I've convinced myself that these purchases will help me stay warm.
• Trixie Lixie knickers. Eskimimi featured these on her blog last week and so I ended up with a kit to make my own spotty undies.

Phew!

Reading

• 7 databases in 7 weeks
• 7 [programming] languages in 7 weeks

Life

• Make my house presentable. I should totally do this.
• Make my own lunches. This used to be the default but recently I've been too lazy/busy and things have slipped.
• Do my German homework each week, starting today.
• Think about learning to play the Ukelele some more... this always leads to me thinking about joining a Choir again or getting some singing lessons or something.

Where should I start?

Travel Project

Working on some big knitting projects is great but doesn't fit so well with a few days of travel. So just last weekend I treated myself to some new yarn especially for knitting on a trip I was making this week.

I planned for one skein of either 4ply or laceweight yarn for either socks or a shawl. After some deliberation I went with this.

One Schoppel-Wolle Lace Ball.

After some deliberation I settled on the Rill Scarf as the perfect combination of mindless knitting (for the very early start) with a little sprinkling of interest.

Progress has been slow and the early start definitely resulted in more tinking than should have been needed so far. I'm still on my first colour but the pattern is starting to emerge.

Looking forward to seeing this progress but tonight it's back to the cardigan I think.

Tackling a Big Project

Now that work is easing up a bit and I'm allowing myself some free time, I've finally found the mental energy to resume a project previously abandoned.

This is Paulie. It's been nearly done for a while.

Swatched in June 2012, I finally started knitting over a year later in September 2013 and progressed well until I got to the hood.

There's no hood in the pattern and I wasn't happy with the shape of my first attempt. so I put it aside until this weekend. Fingers crossed that this time I get a shape I'm happy with so I can finish this one off (and weave in all those ends).

FO Friday: Maudie Socks

Finished my Maudie socks just in time for the SKA deadline:

These socks are really nicely fitted and feature a simple cable pattern down both the front and back of the leg -- the front pattern continues all the way down the the heel and the back cables all the way down the heel. Sadly, neither are captured well in these pictures.

The pattern is perfect mindless knitting, with attention only needed at the heel and toe. The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug and is a lovely round yarn, perfect for showing off the cables. Sadly I ran out with just a few toe rounds to go. The skein size is now bigger than when I bought the first one, so having ordered an extra one a week or so ago I now have more of this yarn than when I started!

Another pair of socks to start soon...? I think so.

FO Friday: Smaug Socks

One final pair of finished socks from last year's radio silence.

These are Smaug socks. They had the potential to be beautiful but they just don't fit well at all. Waaay too big in the leg for me (particularly at the ankle).

The yarn is madelinetosh tosh sock and it's kind of wasted on these. I can't decide whether to try adding elastic to pull in the ankle a bit (easy but probably not the best fix ever) or to rip them back, or to just ignore the poor fit and wear them anyway.

Pattern: Smaug Socks by Claire Ellen
Yarn: madelinetosh tosh sock in colourway Saffron
Project: on Ravelry

Saving For Best

In recent years I've noticed that I have a tendency to save new clothes for 'best' and continue wearing items that make me feel less good about myself.

Here's another previously unreported pair of socks from 2013.

These are 'Brienne', knit for June's Sock Knitters Anonymous `literary characters' challenge. Around the time that I started these I ordered the first book from the A Song of Ice and Fire series that inspired the designer of these socks. I probably didn't start actually reading the book until late July, and it's a long read so the socks were done well before the book was.

The yarn is Yarn Addict BFL sock and is a club yarn from November 2010. I seem to recall it bled slightly as I knit it, but blues often do. I've not yet worn and washed them so I'm yet to find out how much the colour bleeds in the wash.

I'm a fan of twisted stitches on socks and am very pleased with how these have come out. Since I finished them in July they didn't immediately make it onto my feet and since the weather has turned colder I've kept them at the back of my sock drawer with a few other pairs I'm "saving for best".

Can you have best socks?



On Ravelry: Saffie's Brienne

FO Friday: Sideswipe Socks

As I work away on finishing up my Maudie socks I thought I'd show off a few of the FOs that snuck by unannounced during 2013.

At the end of 2012 I learnt to knit continental style. When I first started knitting, I learnt to knit 'English style' in which you hold the yarn in your right hand -- in continental knitting you instead hold the yarn in your left hand. Knitting continental style can offer a few benefits -- it typically results in less movement of the hands which can reduce RSI and speed things up a bit.

Learning continental had been on my curiosity list for a while, so when I spotted a class at Baa Ram Ewe I jumped in and gave it a go. This class was really great -- the pace seemed about right and enough time to really get to grips with the technique (for example, spending plenty of time in the morning learning a traditional purl -- and then, once we'd got that down, learning a Norwegian purl in the afternoon). The class included a ball of yarn and a cowl pattern, the cowl covered a wide variety of techniques (cables, lace) and was the perfect project. (Also, the class was held in a lovely cafe/restaurant and the resulting lunch was really good).


Once I got home I plugged away at the cowl for a while but in the back of my mind there was a niggle about the (not-so) softness of the yarn. It was a lovely yarn, but after a while I was pretty sure I would never wear it next to my face. I ripped the cowl out and looked for a new project.

I finally spotted the perfect project when Twist Collective posted a picture of Sideswipe in their twitter feed.

This pattern is knit flat, toe up, and gave plenty of opportunities with perfecting both knits and purls. My gauge was way off the pattern gauge at 37st/4” so after I'd knit enough to count as a swatch I did the maths to adjust the size and restarted with new stitch count. Apart from that I made no pattern modifications.

I love the finished socks. The yarn comes in a variety of non-garish colourways -- most of them grey with a splash of colour (purple/green/pink/blue). I could easily I have bought a few more balls.

Mostly a mindless knit, for 90% of the time you're just plugging away at simple stockinette. If you're not into picking up stitches (and I admit it's not my favourite thing in the world) then these socks should probably come with some sort of warning and there's also a long chunk of grafting to close the sock at the end BUT I think they were worth it.

Only thing is, I've not knit anything continental style since... I'm not sure I'm ready to make this my primary knitting method (anything other than a bog standard knit or purl is still somewhat clunky) but I do want to carry on experimenting and improving my technique, so... what's next?

Life Resumes

I'm the kind of person who likes to fill their time with as many things as possible, but part way through last year I realised that I had maybe taken this to an extreme. As a result, I made a conscious decision not to blog until I'd made it to a particularly important work/life deadline.

I made it.

So, now I'm picking up the fun stuff again. Starting with knitting.

In 2013 I finished nine projects (for comparison, I finished twenty-two in 2012). By the tail end of 2013 I had no knitting and was definitely noticing it's absence. So, on Christmas day I cast on for the first sock in months:

This is Maudie, a second sock.

The pattern is free and features a four row cable pattern, a new-to-me heel flap construction, and a patterned toe. I'm knitting it in Colinette Jitterbug in colourway velvet leaf, a really rich green colour. The photo is subject to the usual winter light problems, but the yarn somehow always looks at its best when I'm knitting in the car.

Not Feeling It

I've been feeling a bit bogged down recently. Everything seems to be moving slowly (except time).

This last week I've been working away on this:

A colourwork sock (Senta by Caoua Coffee). Not fast moving and clearly not the right project for right now. Tonight I took another look at it and then ripped it all back out -- gone!

One weight lifted.

What next?

Time

Knitting minutes have been few and far between this last week. We had a long drive on Saturday but I slept through most of the bits I didn't drive.

Still, my current favourite knitting project -- a pair of Smaug socks -- is progressing slowly:

I hope for more knitting time in the next few days.

WIP Wednesday: Glittens

I have a large but unknown number of projects on the go. This is just one:

This is a 'glitten'. Not quite a glove (not enough fingers), not quite a mitten (too many fingers) it is a curious concept.

I wore through some gloves in January. As the hole grew I swore I'd start these. I bought the pattern. I bought the yarn. And then finally I gave up and bought new gloves.

THEN I finally started these.

The first was super quick really. DK yarn and an interesting pattern meant the first quickly moved from cuff to 'fingers' on waste yarn to done!

I still haven't started the second one.

I really should.

And so peaceful until...

The blog has been quiet because my life has not been :)

No disasters, just constant piles of work. My work-in-progress is all about words and not stitches.

I've been away quite a bit this month (again, work):

But at least there's been travel knitting to keep me sane:

WIP: Wildflower Socks

I'm knitting what might be the most perfect socks simply because they fit in that niche between ugly and too beautiful to wear.

My winter photography probably needs some work, but the socks are pretty simple. The pattern is a toe-up adaptation of Fawn Pea's Wildflower Socks and the yarn is a Flamboyance Yarns Splendour in HotHouse Flowers, a club colour from last year (or even perhaps 2011?)

I love the flashes of colour on the green background and I think these socks will get a lot of wear.

Now I just have to knit them!

FO Angostura

If you knit enough projects there will always be some that don't work out. This project was one of those. I first swatched for this in 2011 and, over that Christmas break, I knit the back. It was too big.

A year later I redid my swatching and restarted, this time the back looked about perfect when blocked and so it was on to the front. I finished up the seaming over the 2012 Christmas break, and here it is:

I don't yet seem to have found the perfect items to layer underneath it but I'm pretty happy nonetheless.

The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and I spent a LOT of time worrying that the slight fuzziness meant that the stitch pattern wouldn't show -- I'm pleased to be proved wrong.

Pattern: Angostura by Ysolda Teague.
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in colorway Grass.
Mods: None.
Project: online at Ravelry.