Stash Avalanche

Sewing for other people

You may now turn over your paper.

Here's the thing:  call me fussy, posessive or whatever, but I generally only make things for people who I know are going to appreciate what I made. If I know that my gift is going to get stomped on and left out in the mud, I don't give it. I put love into the things I make and I suppose I expect people to respect that. 

This includes food by the way, but we're talking crafting here today.

Conversely, giving hand made things to people I hardly know can be an eye opener in terms of whether they are my kind of person or not. Give them something I made with love and see what they do - a distracted "that's nice" and forget about it, or actually appreciate my time and effort, and be grateful for my thoughtfulness.

Outside the cozy bubble that is handmade blog and crafting land, making things by hand still seems, to some people at least, to be the cheap way out, with a nice box with Gap or whatever on the front being the preferred option. Strange that spending time and making an effort takes a lower place than buying something made by a machine or a poorly paid worker half way round the world.

I'm not sure if I'm taking things too personally (after all, once I give it it's theirs to do as they wish with it) or whether I have the right to expect respect. I think mostly think the latter.

Discuss.

Little heather jumper

Oh dear. here's one of those posts which I wrote 99% of three weeks ago then never had time to find one vital bit of information and so it stagnated in my drafts folder...

You have to hand it to Lidl. They do have some great finds if you're prepared to go on a regular basis or subscribe to their newsletters. We shop there pretty frequently because they do a lot of German food which, of course, keeps Mr G happy.

About twice or three times a year they do knitting yarn. You have to be selective because some of it can be 100% acrylic but they often have cottons and wool mix yarns too, and these are clearly very popular as they're often nearly all sold out by the end of the first day. I am terrible; I buy loads and then it sits in my cupboard until I can think of something to do with it.

Which is how this little jumper came into being. I got a pack (6 x 50g balls) of this yarn a good while ago. It's called Monte Carlo and it's 74% polyacrylic, 10% alpaca, 10% wool and 6% viscose, which is not my ideal choice but the colouur was too pretty to pass over. I'd already made a little cardigan from it and I found that once it's washed it becomes really soft and snuggly, perfect for baby knitting, so I thought I'd make Stashlet a jumper for this winter (although at the moment it's more like the tropics here) and make it big enough so that it will hopefully fir him next winter too.

Because my knitting tension frequently tends to be nowhere near what it says on the ballband (in this case the ball band says 14 stitches and 18 rows on 7mm needles and my tension came out at 16 stitches and 23 rows on 5mm needles), I knitted a little swatch and then drew up the pattern using some knitting graph paper I printed (I use this site the most).

The body was knitted in the round and the sleeves separately and then sewn in. I've never 'designed' a set-in sleeve before but I thought that, if I measured how tall the arm opening was and converted that into a triangle of decreasing rows, I'd get a reasonable sleeve top. Somehow, though, this didn't work (too many rows) and I ended up winging it on the basis that the yarn knits up quickly so I could always pull out a few rows and try again when it didn't work.

This is the kind of knitter I am, I'll carefully work out tension and size, and then not pay any attention to the details: I have no idea how many stitches I picked up round the neck but it worked out nicely to create a little polo neck effect. I put one button hole in the shoulder, and one in the neck itself, and with the colour of the yarn, it had to be mother-of-peal buttons.

The fit is big, as I expected, with few inches of growing room in the arms. I'm not sure how it will fare lengthways, as Stashlet seems to get taller and taller by the minute, but I have a little bit of yarn left over so I could always lengthen the ribbing at the bottom if necessary.

I have to say, I'm really pleased with it, and am all set to do another one. The Lidl stash needs using up, you know!

Idea failure

Remember how I was enthusing about that ripple knitting? Remember how I thought it might made a great jumper for Stashlet?

Cue big unhappy face.

It's not that it didn't work, but the more I knitted, the more lacy it got. I didn't realise what a difference knitting in stocking stitch would make. The k2tog s1k1psso combo (to get the 'valley' of the ripple) develops a little gap even when I try to knit really tightly and the more I knitted (I've done about another 10 rows since I took that photo) the more girlie the whole thing seemed to feel.

So I'm going to pull it all out. I might... just might... try knitting it again in garter stitch but I feel kind of wounded by the fact that it didn't come out how I expected so I'm feeling a bit delicate about the whole experience at the moment. I shall sit on it for a while and see what I think.

So there. You live and learn. Go forth, you mothers of girls and knit a lacy ripple jumper, because I think it will look really pretty. Just not so suitable for a toddler of the male persuasion.

Oh, and let me know how you sort the sleeves out, will you?

Knitted ripple

We have a water filter that sits on the kitchen counter next to the kettle. And for years it has sat on a rather unappetising looking folded J-Cloth, which I have always meant to sew together (my grandmother always sewed her J-Cloths in half) and never got round to.

I've been looking at it lately and thinking things have got to change.

At the same time, I've also been thinking about knitting ripples. So at some stage - probably around 4am - I had a mild brainwave, put the two together, and decided to knit a J-Cloth. Does that sound odd?

So I hunted around on Ravelry and found that there are quite a few patterns which produce varying results. Some are curved waves, some are very angular, some are very lacy. I wanted to end up with a tight, angular fabric so I went for this one. The pattern (knitted in multiples of 11 stitches) is very easy to remember:

Row 1:  k2tog, k3, k3 into next stitch (into the front, into the back and into the front again), k3, slip1 k1 pass the slipstitch over

Row 2: purl if you want a stocking stitch finish (or knit if you want a garter stitch finish)

Here's the J-Cloth...

That's 33 stitches knitted in DK on 3.25mm needles. I knitted every row so the result is a nice firm garter stitch ripple, and the swatch ended up about 3½" wide and 5" long. The yarn is Patons 100% cotton.

So now we have a fancy cloth for our water filter to sit on.

While I was knitting it, I realised that, because this pattern has no 'extra' stitches (as in "cast on multiples of 13 plus 8" etc... ) , I could knit it in the round. And I could knit stocking stitch with 'stripes' of garter stitch to emphasise the ripple. So now, I have a ripple jumper on the go for Stashlet. Adding the sleeves is going to prove an interesting exercise...

 

A trio of trousers

Well, I finally got my act together and finished the knitted trousers I started all the way back in October.

At first they seemed to take ages to show any progress and then suddenly it was a case of oh blimey, I'd better cast off! I tried knitting them in the round (as the original pattern intends) but three colours of yarn on 5 dpns was just too much fiddle - needles falling out, yarns all tangled... So I knitted the whole thing flat and sewed it together afterwards with no regrets.

The yarn is Sidar Recycled which is a lovely soft cotton DK. I used Clay, Demin Wash and Canvas, and all the colours are slightly muted and washed out looking which really goes with the softness of the yarn.

Had I realised however, I would have used something more mercerised because I don't know how much crawling on one knee they will take before they wear thin (the green ones my mother  has knitted seem to be much more robust). It is a lovely yarn though- although it tends to split a bit - and I will definitely be using it for other projects, just not ones that involve knees sliding on the floor.

These were made just after Christmas and are from Butterick 5092 (which looks like it's been discontinued). They're a pretty baggy fit even with a cloth nappy but I suppose that's better than being too tight to wriggle in. The beige outer fabric is from Ikea and the same stuff I used to make these trousers, and the lining (which doesn't come as part of the pattern) is a white flannelette which I dyed with Dylon Tulip Red. Unfortunately it came out more of a dark pink than the red I was after, but as will only show on the turn-up I can live with it.

I did a bit of zigzag embroidery on a back pocket for bottom interest.

And finally another pair of overalls from the Jackie Clarke pattern, made with a lining for the first time.

The lining is more of the red/dark pink dyed flannelette, and I used an remnant of Ikea's Berta Ruta fabric that waved at me the last time I was there. I find with trousers you can get away without a popper crotch fastening for nappy changing, but with overalls it is just too much fuss taking them on and off completely so I put in some of the snaps I got last year. The pattern calls for poppers that come ready attached to a tape which you just sew in, but I have only found this stuff with poppers about 6" apart (so useless for baby clothes) and about €15 per metre which is astoundingly expensive.

Oh and remember how I said I would definitely be making a Charlie tunic for KCWC? Well, I finished that last night (talk about catching up) so I'll take some photos of it and try to post them later in the week.

Giveaway winner

Weh hey! There were comments! Thank you so much! We have a winner!Congratulations Lorraine, who said...

Look out for an email from me, Lorraine.

Thanks again to everyone who commented. There will be more books to giveaway, but probably not until after Xmas because I don't trust the post not to lose things at this time of year!

Ah, but hopefully there will be an SMS Giveaway soon. More on that in a few days if I'm organised.

Giveaway reminder

Don't forget the giveaway ends tomorrow at 9pm (UK/Irish time)!

Random sunny day giveaway #2

We had a faaaaaaaaabulously sunny day today and I am feeling bullishly optimistic, so here's another random sunny day giveaway.

Top of the pile this time is Simple Knits with a Twist by Erica Knight, which is a lovely knitting book for a new knitter or someone who knows the basics but wants to knit something a bit more interesting or unusual. Some of the patterns use knitting for items you wouldn't generally expect to find made from knitting, some use non-standard 'yarns', and some are just plain quirky.

I'm happy to post internationally so leave me a comment with your email address, and I'll ask Random.org to pick a winner.

My plan is to leave this giveaway open until 9pm next Tuesday night (that's UK/Irish time), but it may be a bit before or a bit after depending on when Stashlet gets to bed, so don't leave it til the last minute to comment! The only rule is no email address, no book, so if I can't contact you, you won't go into the virtual Random.org hat.

Happy Tuesday!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR COMMENTING.

 

KCWC achievements

Well, it's been a very mixed week as far as the Kids Clothing Week Challenge goes. I was really hoping to have at least one thing finished but things conspired against me, so I am feeling a bit grumpy with the world.

Anyway...

First up is a little fleece jacket.

As with most of the tops I've made for Baby Stash so far, this one is based on Jackie Clark's Cute as a Button Baby Jacket. I'm not a fan of the sleeve-body all in one construction though so I cut a raglan sleeve and turned the rather large neck hole into a funnel neck.

I'm going to put in a chunky zip - this is my holdup because I can't seem to get one here that's short enough. I have one newly discovered habadashery shop in central Dublin to try, but they don't seem to answer the phone so if they're not in tomorrow, I'll be off to eBay. Once that's in I can turn back the navy bindings and finish the hem.

Second is a pair of overalls.

The colour is far too bright in this photo but I was in a bit of a hurry to get this posted. A more accurate colour next time hopefully.

These are based on another Jackie Clark pattern, this time her Baby Overalls. I've made them before (can't remember if I've blogged about them though) and they're nice and simple to make. I don't line them so they need facings, and this time I made leg seam facings too (previously I've put on a placket). They still need hemming  (something somewhere has gone wrong with the leg length so I'll need to fiddle about with them a bit) and the poppers putting on.

The fabric is red Vendela velvet from Ikea and the facing is a navy gingham. I've also got some in brown but I can't decide whether to make another pair of overalls or a pair of trousers with that.

And thirdly, a pair of knitted trousers.

These were my what-if-I-can't-see-to-sew-after-the-op standby. They're based on these Kanoko trousers which Stashlet already has a pair of knitted in green cotton by his grandma (which you can see here). The yarn is Sidar Recycled which is a cotton DK. My guage comes out slightly differently to the one on the ball band so I rejigged the pattern a bit to get the right number of stitches.

I knitted the waistband while I was waiting to go in to surgery, and then realised that I'd forgotten to take a circular needle with me (you knit the waistband 'open' and then the body in the round) so I had to stop there. But when I got home and tried the circular needle it was too long, then I tried double pointed needles but despit using five, the sitiches kept falling off so I was back to normal needles and not knitting it in the round. This will probably work out better because the colour changes will be less obvious than if I was knitting, in effect, in a spiral.

Because I'm knitting in stripes, I'm just working in stocking stitch rather than the moss stitch and garter stitch pattern of the original. I think the pattern would be somewhat lost in the colours. My mother said this took her longer than expected so I'm looking at this as a medium term, in-front-of--the-telly project.

As for the Charlie Tunic that I was dying to make... well, that got as far as tracing the pattern and then I got all engrosed in working out the neck for the fleece jacket and forgot about it!

Anyway, more on all these projects as they get done. Bedtime for me now.

Cable hoodie

After the make-it-up-as-I-go-along dressing gown/cardi disaster (ok, well it wasn't a disaster, but I wasn't happy with it), here is something that I am actually happy with.

Another make-it-up-as-I-go-along cardi, this time it's a zipped, petrol blue, hooded cardigan with cabling on the front and sleeves...

... and rib on the back.

Knitted with two strands of some DK cotton I got from Lidl. I did pretty much what I did with the last one, ie. the body is knitted all on one from the back upwards, and then I picked up stitches off the shoulders for the sleeves. The button zip band was knitted separately and sewn on, and the hood was a bit of trial and error getting the shaping right. In the end I did a bit of k2tog and k3tog, and a bit of what I think is probably short row shaping (but I've never actually paid much attention to the concept of short row shaping - being a bit of a kamikaze knitter - so I don't exactly know what it is). Anyway, it came together really quickly and was fun to knit. I had forgotten how easy cabling is and how fancy you can make a garment look just by throwing in a few twisty details.

In other news... Kids Clothing Week Challenge starts tomorrow over at Elsie Marley. In retrospect, I think I was a bit ambitious signing up for this as I stupidly forgot that I have a cataract operation on Thursday (I have to be at the hospital at 7.30 am - double blear) so I really don't know if I'll be able to do anything after that, but I'm going to line up a bit of semi-mindless knitting so if I can't see to sew at least I'll be able to twiddle some knitting needles.