more progress

feeling pretty good about this!

after the interminable picking-up of stitches and short-row shaping, i am finally on the straightaway for the first sleeve on the maple leaf forever cardigan.

but before i even got there, i had to re-think the shoulder seam. i was going to do something similar to what i did for the argylette cardigan - fronts & backs the same, three-needle bind-off to join. but! because the shape of the fronts was dictated by the width of the maple leaf pattern, that wouldn't work. so i had to rip out some of the back, and re-do it in a style often seen in commercial machine knits, where all the shoulder decreases are worked on the back, and the front piece wraps around to the back.

i've done that on top-down sweaters before, but not on a bottom-up. so this was a first for me, and involved seaming (which is annoying, but whatever), but it worked!

can't wait to get this done and blocked. goal is to get this done by the end of march. i don't think i've ever knit a full-size sweater in fingering in such a short time - well, maybe the kid's cobain sweater? i got that done in three weeks... would be hard-pressed to beat that record. anyway, i'm feeling pretty good about how quickly this is going. just hope i haven't jinxed myself by being too cocky.

the maple leaf forever!

i am pleased with my progress on this cardigan! the other day, a non-knitting neighbour was over, and i, excited, said, "look, you can see the pattern now! can you tell what it's supposed to be?" and he said,

"um, ah, oh, it's - it's a maple leaf! you are a knitting sorceress!"

which was pretty nice.

i've just joined the third skein of alpaca (the second one had a million breaks, hope this one is solid like the first) and finished the third leaf. about to start the neckline shaping and then the armscye shaping. i'm really quite surprised at how quickly this is going. when i was at the endless swatching and charting stage, it seemed like it would never get done. but now that i'm doing the actual knitting, it's pretty smooth sailing. and since i've got two other fingering-weight cardigans under my belt, it doesn't seem as daunting.

stashdown progress!

in keeping with this year's resolution of buying no new yarn & finishing off old projects, i've cast on with some yarn i've had for close to 20 years. i got it with the intention of making a twinset. i got as far as knitting a turtleneck shell, which i loved and wore to death. but i never cast on for the cardigan - until now.

that ribbing took forever! the idea is to have two panels of maple leaves going up the front. i thought i'd find a lace panel charted up eons ago for that - there are loads of antique lace panels floating around the internet, surely i'd find my maple leaves? strangely, it seems no one has ever done maples before, probably because they're a bit more complex (i.e. annoying) than the standard elm. anyway, i was on my own charting the leaves.

it took a few tries, but i think i've got it?

i used up most of a partial skein of patons dk superwash on the swatch. each leaf is a little different. i also toyed with purling the wrong-side rows, vs. reverse stockinette for the background.

after much futzing about and numerous obscurely-coded spreadsheets, i got back to real knitting. half-a-leaf done, not sure how many more to go.

ta-dah!

argylette cardigan!

i set myself a goal for february: finishing off two sweaters that had been languishing in single-sleeve purgatory. one was a sweater that was an xmas present for my husband back in 2010 (eep!) the other was the argylette sweater i'd started for myself back in november and set aside over the holidays. both of these goals fit with my bigger goal for the year, which is not to buy yarn! or at least, not to buy yarn until we get closer to xmas gift season again.

(n.b.: please ignore the messy room. refinishing that vanity & replacing the mirror are also items on my eternal to-do list, which i hope to get to someday... along with removing the cheesey wallpaper border and painting the walls... sigh)

so pleased with this sweater!

i was getting antsy about fit, because i like things tailored, and then i worry that it will be too small (especially when people kept asking if it was for a child!), and i have been known to over compensate and make things a bit too big, and then be unhappy. so i am really glad this fits perfectly and looks just as i'd hoped!

here's a close-up of the pattern. will chart this up properly, i think. i love argyle!

i used 2-and-a-bit skeins of mad tosh merino light, in tart. i had a crush on this yarn for so very long, i treated myself last fall when i was in a slightly drug-induced post-op pity party. have 1-and-some left, to make a shell so i can have a twinset. yay.

and here's the sweater i finished up for my husband, a simple garter-rib pattern in briggs & little tuffy, which i also love, and which is kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum from madeline tosh! it only took a few days to finish that ruddy sleeve, and rip and re-knit the neckband which wasn't sitting properly. this pic was taken pre-blocking, which is why the sleeves look so different.

for comparison's sake, my cardigan dried overnight on the blocking boards, tg's has been there for days longer and is still a bit damp in the armpits!

february challenge accomplished!

my big resolution this year is to work from my stash instead of buying new stuff that i really do not need. harder than it sounds! but i seriously have loads of fabric (and loads of yarn, and... and... and...) and i even have loads of fabric that has been cut and pinned and bundled neatly together with the required notions. all i need is time and motivation!

i had the day off work yesterday to do some volunteering at the kiddo's school, so i decided to spend the morning on something i'd wanted to do for ages. a couple of years ago i found a great deal on a lightweight wool in a classic prince-of-wales check. for only two dollars a yard! how to resist? i bought the six remaining yards they had in stock.

now, i had a lot of ideas for this fabric, and one of those ideas was to try my hand at dying, seeing as i had lots of fabric to play with, don't really need multiple identical skirts, and wool is an excellent fibre for dying.

so yesterday was the day. i followed all the instructions carefully. weigh the fabric, wash it, leave damp, dissolve dye in 500 ml warm water, dissolve salt in 6 litres warm water, stir dye into salt water. wearing rubber gloves, add fabric and stir for 15 minutes continually, then let steep for another 45 minutes stirring frequently.

what i didn't realise?

one of my rubber gloves had a hole in it.

i took that pic after washing and scrubbing my hand with a pumice. my son says it's great zombie makeup.

anyway, i got the fabric nicely dyed! in the past i've had issues with blotchiness when dying. it's a long long time since i've even tried, for that very reason. i think that this time worked better in part because, being cold water dye, i was able to work the fabric with my hands to make sure the dye was evenly distributed. also, i cut out the fabric before dying, so i didn't waste any dye on fabric that would just end up as scraps anyway.

here's a before pic to compare:

i also got skirts made! well, almost.

this one still needs to be hemmed:

but this one is done and i'm wearing it today!

it's fully faced in cotton voile, to give the fabric a bit more structure (i think a pencil skirt needs to look fairly "tailored") and so that i can wear it in the summer without a slip. love all-season wool! i tried (and failed repeatedly) to take a pic of the skirt in action; this, sadly, is the best i could do:

the february challenge on the ravelry vintage sewing machine group is to make something from scraps or stash. so excited to have completed the challenge before the month is even half over! maybe i'll get some shirts made, too.

resolution time: get organised

gah!!

today i started on a big task: organising the stash. i have way too much stuff. it's crazy. most of it tucks away in the bay window seat, which looks innocent enough when closed...

but when opened, reveals a horrible mess!

i have a bad habit of starting projects and not finishing them. i cut and pin fabric, and then put it away. mostly this is because it is difficult to find the space & time to work with fabric and pins and scissors and machines with a 6-year-old boy in the house. i get as much done as i can, and then get interrupted and put it all away. because of this, i tend to cut out multiples, say, four shirts at once, and then get one sewn if i'm lucky. but with extras cut out, i am theoretically read to go at any time! theoretically. here we have four shirts, three or four skirts, and cushion covers.

ideally, by the end of this endeavour, all the uncut fabric will be measured, packed, and labelled like this:

instead of giant bags of mixed-up misery, like this yarn:

i got my "projects on the go" down to one bag from two. and i did manage to fill a whole bag of scraps and leftovers to get rid of. embarrasing, really.

and, i managed to cram it all back in - plus all my sewing patterns as well. i have another box of sewing notions that need sorting, and knitting patterns that need to get in there, too.

it all looks remarkably civilised when the lid is closed!