Year-end round-up

Just a December catch-up since I haven't been posting much:

Finally finished the dreaded stripey linen sweater! Decades-old yarn that was thrifted, decoloured, dyed, tangled, unravelled, knit, frogged, reknit:

Striped linen sweater done at last!

And of course xmas pyjamas (only got the kid's done, mine are still on the machine):

Pattern matching too ditsy to notice 

And currently working on a sweater I fell in love with about a year ago, and got the yarn for last spring:

Starting the Montmartre sweater 

Plus the usual xmas baking:

Pecan coffee cake 

Happy new year, let's hope it's a good one 

I’m in love!

How did I not know that Mary Maxim has a ton of vintage knitting patterns currently on sale for $2.99! 

I can’t resist the capes. Especially when I’ve been on a houndstooth kick lately, after falling down an Alexander McQueen rabbit hole and landing in the Horn of Plenty. Who could resist this houndstooth cape:

I already have too many things on the needles but this is definitely going to happen soon...

Funny enough, before I got on my A McQ kick, I had stumbled upon a Reddit post about a cape pattern... which someone made in houndstooth... and I completely forgot until just now, when I saved photos of this vintage pattern (Simplicity 9669) to my computer for reference, and found I had already saved the exact same pic last January ago...

Simplicity 9669 cape pattern with diagram

I mean I guess it’s the universe telling me I will never outgrow the desire for a houndstooth cape, so I need to make one by hook or by crook...

Knitting poppies for peace

Did you know Remembrance Day used to be called Armistice Day? Because it was to honour the end of war, and celebrate peace? Somehow that got lost in the shuffle…

Anyway, I decided to knit a white poppy for peace, a longstanding tradition back to 1936. 

White Poppy for Peace

And here’s a free pattern for anyone who wants it and believes in peace!

Another thing finished!

Can never have too many sundresses! This is just freestyled from a 1¾ yards × 45” remnant I got at King Textiles. Zero waste because I barely had enough fabric as it was! 

Black gingham sundress 

Decided to do a different style from what I usually gravitate to. Instead of tailoring details and buttons and topstitching, I went super basic elastic pull-on. I like the final effect, but the elastic was kind of annoying to sew. And I probably ended up spending as much on elastic as I spent on fabric.

I started by figuring out the top front, based on my bust measurement and one dart. The back is a straight rectangle wide enough that once sewn into a tube, I could slide it on an off without needing fasteners. I used 1” wide, non-rolling elastic at the top edge (cased), underbust, and waist for stability. The remaining elastic is ¼” wide regular elastic. All elastic was just triple-zigzagged on. 

For the skirt, I took the remaining fabric, about a yard and a quarter (wish there was just a bit more!) and divided it into four equal strips. One strip I measured into thirds, so I had three strips 45” wide, one 15”, and one 30”. I joined one width with the 15” strip and the other two with the 30” strip, so I had two long pieces—one about 60” and one about 120”. I gathered the longer one onto the shorter one, and the shorter one onto the top. Voila!

Trying and failing to demonstrate the fullness of the skirt while using the camera on timer

Will I wear this a lot? Yes! Will I make another like it? Noooooo 

Finished!

Finished the Argil tank! Very happy with it! Great pattern all around—well-written, interesting construction, a nice balance of mindless and interesting, and easy to see progress by the stripes. 100% would make again!

I really like the yarn as well, Mandarin Petit from Sadnes Garn. 

My clematis is a hit in the backyard too!

Subway knitting returns

Back to the office means back to knitting in public! At least on rainy days when I'm not keen to ride my bicycle. 

Currently on the needles: the Argil top in cotton, I can see getting a lot of wear out of this over the summer!

All my commuter gear 

The Sound of Music!

Finally got to see the costumes in action! 

It may be cold outside, but...

It's sunny, so I'm wearing a sundress!

Piecing, hemming, and gathering the bias for the bottom ruffle felt endless, but it's all done and I'm so happy. Just need the weather to cooperate. At least the frost warning was lifted...

Cutest dress ever?

A silly corner of my brain thinks all my problems will be solved if I can just find a cute enough dress. Could this be it? Femme-ier than usual for me but I am just in love with this fabric. The pattern is actually reminiscent of a jersey print I got from the Queen of Suburbia destash a couple of years ago. That one was a bit pinkier, flowers and splotches where this is cherries and polka dots. 

Started with laying out the pieces I drafted:

Bias cut so I can wriggle in (it's all ties, no zips or buttons) and the rectangles at the top are just to give me an idea if I have enough for a bottom ruffle (think I'm okay). It will be cut on the bias as well. All the scraps will be wrangled into ties and loops.

The top has just enough coverage and structure to go without underpinnings (I hope): 

The lower edge is curved to my ribcage, centre seam so the parts that need it are mainly straight grain, ruched to pull  it all together. I decided to cut an extra ruffle from scraps and finish with a bow:

Will this dress finally be the one cute enough to solve all of life's problems? Only time can tell...

I know I said...

I wasn't going to buy more fabric until I finished all the projects already started... but last week was difficult and my birthday so I got a couple of yards of this for a sundress:

Cherry polka dot poplin 

It makes me so happy! I am already planning summer picnics and secretly delighted that it has little black-on-white polka dots in addition to the cherries being red-polka-dot-adjacent, and the green leaves tie it together with the green of my bicycle and picnic blanket. Dorky? Yes. But I don't care!

Speaking of picnics, I am finally getting around to another project-in-waiting—a tote designed to fit my bicycle basket exactly, made from heavy twill leftover from the Helltaker costume. Which I realize now I never posted. Maybe I'll do that. Anyway I am hoping to be picnic-ready by the time the weather is nice for real!

Progress is indeed slow

This dress was hanging there untouched for three months! But is now done except for buttons!

Got set aside due to The Sound of Music and Astolfo. With all of that out of the way, I actually get to do things for myself again!

What a week!

On top of everything else, I have been dealing with dental misery—tooth broke twice and I am about ready to accept a gummy future (not really).

But 6 out of 8 Sound of Music playsuits are complete. I always like to imagine that there won't be any hand sewing but there always is. No floppy facings! The boys’ and Frida’s shorts were from patterns I had on hand, Liesl was altered from a Vogue pattern, and everything else was drafted from scratch.

Here they are (both boys have the same lederhosen style, so I only took one photo):

And the photo of the originals I’ve been working from:

Next, finishing touches on the Gretls (the role is split between two actors) and then I can put the Von Trapps out of my thoughts forever! 

The Warner Sister Dot

So a couple of years ago I started a Hallowe'en costume that I never entirely finished! I was taking notes as I improvised and intended to publish the Toon Hands pattern eventually, but who knows where those notes ended up.

Anyway, I was thisclose to finishing the head - just had one ear to go - but then it was Hallowe'en and I went out in plain clothes and abandoned it.

Well, while working on the Spiritron Dress with the kid, I asked, what should I dress as for ComiCon? Generic mum in jeans and sweater? Or the Warner Sister Dot? They voted Dot, so I finished my lid, hemmed an old pink skirt, and here we go. I might make a bigger flower; it was all very last minute. But overall pleased with the finished product, and three people asked to take my photo!

Liesl is done!

And Kurt is done too, just needs a couple of buttons sewn on!

Astolfo: the sequel

After last Hallowe'en's Third Ascension cosplay was a hit, the kid asked for the Memories of Trifas Spiritron Dress. This time, I said they have to do the work! 

It's been a great project to work on together - planning, figuring out all the pieces, going  on excursions to vintage clothing stores and fabric shops, and working together to assemble. 

A little panicked because ComiCon is tomorrow, but got the hoodie pretty much done yesterday and that's the biggest part! We worked together to draft the hoodie pattern based on one they already had, and traced the ears from the previous Saber Astolfo cosplay. I made them lay out the pattern, do all the pinning and cutting, and I'm doing the sewing. 

Currently I'm sewing the skirt while they paint stripes on a t-shirt. I think we'll make it!

How do you solve a problem...

Like playsuits made from curtains?

A while ago I volunteered to work on the costume crew for a local production of The Sound of Music. Turns out, I'm the only sewer on the crew, and the playsuits Maria makes out of her curtains all need to be made from scratch!

There was a bit of confusion about getting the fabric, but after a long anxious wait it is finally here, and I am finally sewing! And my collection of random vintage kids' sewing patterns is finally proving its worth!

Of course nothing is exactly right, but at least I have starting points for things in kids' sizes I'm not in the habit of working with.

Liesl, at 16 going on 17, is basically a grown up, so I dipped into my for-me pattern stash for that.

Like I said, lots of alteration...

I'm just kind of freestyling it. Crossing fingers it all works! 

Banya hat

I thought I posted about this before but I guess I’m mistaken!

Last year I started going to a Russian sauna/bath house, aka banya, with a friend of mine. One of the traditions of banya is to wear a wool hat to keep your head from getting too hot. With my friend’s birthday coming up, I decided to knit and felt a hat!

It did not work!

I mean it kinda worked, but not really. Shape right, size wrong. I had modified a pattern, and also substituted the yarn as I couldn't find the one they recommended, and after all of that it turned out waaay too big.

So I decided to start again (this is why I bought extra yarn!) and I think I’ve got it!

I completely altered literally everything from the original pattern I started with, so here it is, my banya hat pattern:

Banya Hat instructions

Using 2 balls of Istex Alafos Lopi and 9 mm circular needle

Cast on 84 sts. Join to work in round.

Work in stockinette (knit every stitch). Place markers every 21 sts.

Brim shaping: 

Row 4: *Knit to marker, sl m, k1, k2tog* repeat 4 times across row (80 sts on needle)

Row 8: *Knit to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sl m* repeat 4 times across row (76 sts on needle)

Continue working in stockinette.

Crown shaping:

Row 38: *Knit to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sl m, k1, k2tog* repeat 4 times across row 

Continue working in stockinette repeating row 38 until you have 4 sts on needle.

Next row: k1, k2tog, k1. Slide sts to other end of needle. 

Work these 3 sts as i-cord (sliding to other end of circ or dpn to work in same direction, rather than in the round) until the i-cord is 6” long. Fold over, break yarn leaving long tail, and graft to top of hat near base of i-cord, closing any gaps at top of hat.

Felt. I find by hand is more successful than by washing machine, even if it is kinda miserable.

I have a double kitchen sink, so what I do is fill one side with hot water (and a squeeze of dish soap) and the other with cold. Keep a kettle and ice cubes on hand to keep the hot hot and the cold cold as necessary.

Wearing rubber gloves, put the hat in the hot water and go at it like a puppy with a chew toy. Agitate, agitate, agitate. Imagine you are Lady MacBeth crying, “Out, damned spot,” as you go postal on your handwashing. Then squeeze it out and plunge it in the cold water. Agitate, squeeze, and return to the hot.

Keep going back and forth like this, adding boiling water (pour it right on the cold hat!) and ice cubes as needed to keep your water temperatures extreme.

Also keep a ruler handy so you can measure your progress. I find it takes about half an hour of back-and-forth to get ’er done. About 10” across the bottom is what you’re aiming for.

Use your hands to shape/sculpt the wet hat until it looks about right. Let air dry for a bit so it retains its shape—I put it over a milk bottle (to keep it upright) on a floor vent (for airflow). Stuff loosely with a hand towel, zip into a mesh lingerie bag, and finish in a hot dryer. Put a dry bath towel in with it to help get the moisture out.

Progress is slow

I have been slowly, slowly working on a dress. It was supposed to be for my holiday party! Or at least the Panto! Whoops.

Thing is, my Elna Supermatic hates this fabric. I kinda don't blame it. It's cute, but it's nylon. But sheer black with silver polka dots? How could I say no?

Meanwhile I picked up a shirt I had cut out and pinned years ago, and that's almost done. Just need to find the grey buttons I know I have somewhere...