8 June - Sewing Fan

I am a fan of sewing. I have been sewing since I was a wee child and I have been on a re-newed kick recently. I remade some things, repaired somethings and re-vamped some other things

I have made or re-made the following items in last couple of months.

From Folkwear:
Prairie Dress in blue and cream calico
Victorian Walking Skirt in dark brown faille and taupe crepe-back satin
Big Sky Skirt - in black crepe and black and grey pinstripe satin
School Mistress' Waist - in burn-out velvet
Edwardian Skirt - in dark brown twill
Prairie Keyhole pocket apron in blue and brown calico
Prairie Keyhole pocket apron in muslin with a pinner bib

From Butterick:
White Linen Chemise - Handkerchief weight
Yellow Cotton Chemise - Calcutta Cloth
Corset (hand sewn eyelets, what was I thinking)-pink and cream satin with
2 layers of canvas

From Simplicity:
Bow tied at the knee knickers - dark brown chenille
Victorian long tailed coat - cream and rusty red satin
Bustle to match the Edwardian Skirt - multi-coloured plaid

From Kannick's Korner:
Women's Linen Caul from 1740s - white handkerchief linen

From no pattern:
Two opened sided skirts (where pockets would be) - green twill, cream
and rose print
Front Split Over Skirt - gold with green and red stripe and cream shields
Lace trimmed linen hankie - white linen
Denim work apron
Ikat cotton apron

#36 of 365 - American Heart

Thanks to Darla, I knew that today was the day to wear red in support of the American Heart Association's Go Red campaign in support of Women's Heart Health.

Here's a random assortment of women I saw today at the Sew Expo, that I went to again today, wearing red, including my friend Lis, who I hadn't seen in quite some time. It was a treat to catch up with her.


I also spend some of the morning with Katte and her Mum, showing them around Ravelry and then off to the Expo as I wanted to purchase Cheryl Oberle's Sweater Book and show her my hand spun and knitted shawlette as she's a knitter and spinner as well. That's Cheryl and her newest shawl and me in my handspun shawlette.















And this is Mercedes, who's trousers were too hard to resist... That's right, it's fake fur insets on the green corduroy flares. Too fun!



...all you need is Love...

Fawkes Socks - Learned Something New

I KNOW I CAN DO THIS...

My readers know I have been struggling with a lace stole name Voyager aka the Shawl from Hell. I have put it down for the time being. It will rise again, maybe it'll be called the Zombie Shawl in the future! It will be resurrected, no, really, it will be...

I haven't talked about it before, but I am also having issues with a new to new knitting stitch called Knit One Below, sigh.

I have cognitive disorders related to chemo and West Nile Virus. I easily get frustrated by not being able to get something the first or second attempt. I mean, I get really, really, really frustrated! Anyway, enough about that.

I decided I was going to learn something new, hell or high water. I decided to cast on a new pair of socks. Socks, you say, but you knit them all the time, what's new about that. Absolutely true, I knit at least pair a month. Now, here's the twist. The directions for this pattern has you cast on on 2 circular needles instead of on DPNs. This is new to me. I haven't used 2 circs to knit in the round before and I don't know anyone who does knit this way. Most of my friends are Magic Loop (see earlier post wherein I learned this trick) or DPN knitters.

Once again, I have Erin's new sock book, How to Knit Socks, Three Methods Made Easy by Edie Eckman to thank for great instructions on getting started in this new, to me, knitting style.

Here's a photo of the yarn I am using for this project. I can't tell you anything about it, as I can't find the ball band at this moment, other than it's superwash sock yarn and merino.



Here's the cuff and one repeat of pattern done.

It's LACE! It's coming out right on the stitch count! I have learned a new knitting style! This all happened in one project! SEE, see, I can do this! I can learn something new and not drive myself (or anyone else, for that matter) mad in the process. It's LACE!, as you can see from the photo above. Knitting lace means yarn overs and K2togs and K3togs and all manner of devilment in the stitch department and count, count, count and use a life line. That said, I am DOING IT and seeing the pattern come right and the whole thing is flying merrily along and... Sigh (this one of relief)! No frogging, no tinking, just knit, knit, knit. What joy, caloo, calay!

Now, the jury's still out as to whether or not I like knitting with 2 circs. I do have a new trick in my knitting arsenal, though. Woot! I also have a "Jeez, maybe it's NOT time for the Ga-Ga Home" sense of profound relief.

Voyager Lace Stole or Why Do I do This to Myself?

also known as What Stole My Sanity...




I am trying to knit this lace stole, it is called Voyager. The pattern is a free one from Elann Yarns. The plan is for me to do this as a KAL (knit along) for the re-read of Voyager by Diana Gabaldon with the Outlander Fans over at Ravelry.

I am trying to knit it with the yarn pictured above. It's lace weight yarn from Spirit Trail called Clotho in the Autumn Harvest Colourway. I love the colourway as it's has got two of my favorite colours in it.

So to the point of this post... I have cast on 99 stitches to start five times already. Today, I got the farthest along, six whole rows of garter stitch and 6 whole rows of pattern (out of 10, sigh). I found a mistake in the number of stitches on the sixth row of pattern (two to many, sigh), realized that I didn't have a lifeline in, yet another sigh. So, now I have to rip it, rip it, rip it (frogging). You just can't tink (knit backwards) a lace pattern without having a lifeline in. If you try to un-knit, you tend to lose the yarn overs that are inherent in lace knitting. Bleh, poopers, caca occurs, meh, and an even bigger sigh! Yes, I am starting YET again. Yes, I will get this. Yes, I can do this. Yes, I have knit lace before. Yes, I am that determined. Yes, more shall be revealed.

However, my Knitpicks Harmony Wood Interchangeables have been a real boon to my lace knitting. At least I stitch better with them. I just can't count better. They have really lovely points for finding the stitches. The wood has enough tooth to hold onto the yarn, yet the needles are pretty slick and let's the stitches slide off when you need them to. I am so glad that Erin gifted me them to my birthday.

Two of My Embellished Tee Shirts

Here are pictures of two tee shirts I have embellished over the years. A friend from the Quilt Art list was asking for suggestions on embellishing some plain shirts she had. I, of course, chimed in about these. I have done more shirts but these are the only two I have kept for myself.

The blue one with the thistle applique is over eight years old and has been WORN A LOT. Which means, it has also been washed a lot. It has held up really well in my opinion. It was done with fusible applique and then the applique was satin stitched in place.



The brown tee was done last year. It's a Vintage Style from Joann Fabrics. The lace was knitted from a vintage Berroco cotton ribbon yarn (left over from the stock of my Mum's store, By Hand in Philly) and then hand stitched to the neck and sleeves of the tee. It has also been worn and washed a lot.

Come Home, Little Stitches, Come Home

Here's an update on my Ravelry.com Dragonfly in Amber (DIA) KAL. (There is a picture of the first cuff, showing the yarn in an earlier post.)

So, I have one sock done on my DIA sock KAL. It's lovely and I want to wear it. I would wear it in a heart beat, if I had any other sock made of the same type of yarn, but nooooo. This was my first venture with sock weight yarn and knitting with same. All of the other socks I have made have been warm woolies as oppose to lacy woolies. I have the other sock cast on and knitted down for about 4 inches. Guess what I didn't do? Put in a lifeline and it's lace! What the Hell was I thinking? Shoot me in the head dead with an axe....

I pulled a needle out of live stitches and lost the YOs, Poo! :-( Gack...

It's been too cold and with some snowy days in there, as well, to sit outside to try and find my lost stitches. There is not enough light in my house even with all the lamps on to try and find them especially with the snow and overcast we had at the beginning of the week...