White jacket project

I think I only just figured out that you can't sew the lining to the sleeve hems unless the lining armhole seam has not been done yet. Or perhaps the side seams?

Because of how you have to encase the outer sleeve with the lining sleeve, that's why. Duh!

I really thought I'd be able to sew this with only the jacket hem still to be sewn - I didn't realise that the machine needle and foot has to go somewhere and the more sleeve hem you sew the less space you leave for the machine parts as named.

Aha.

Well, I'm glad I learnt this today - you live and you learn. So I am hand sewing the lining to the sleeves - I also attached the lining to the jacket bottom, after ripping open some of the lining side seam. Gotta turn it inside out at the end!


I am making more progress: I cannot begin to express how wonderful a feeling this is.  To have picked up an old WIP and to get somewhere with it.  Despite discarding most of the design features that make this design. Oh well, it's better to do than to hesitate and ponder and to then put it all off again...

In other news: it feels like I will never have to buy more white sewing thread, I have tons of it.  I will need more once this lots becomes old and brittle, but we're not there yet.  Black thread on the other hand I seem to misplace and search for all the time. I obviously don't have enough of that.

But then again I have about seven measure tapes and can often find just the one, if I'm lucky. I started leaving one in a specific spot on my sewing table - but I do lug it around quite a bit so that spot doesn't always yield a tape.

UFO progress!

I am delighted. I was able to pick up The White Jacket again which had been a most aggravating unfinished object for several years.  I started numbering my projects when I began to seriously sew again a few years back.  This is project number S9!  That's how long ago this is.

This is how far I got today after some pressing and general fiddling about:

I 'only' need to do body and sleeve hems now

The photo below showed (half of) the stage I was at which gave me so much trouble.  I had followed the pattern quite faithfully and found that the shoulders are much too wide on me.  I thought it was going to be such a long-winded and time-consuming endeavour to unpick the sleeveheads and move them inwards by a good centimeter.

Until I started the first one. I took the shoulder on the left in and the right shoulder is the 'before' picture. Isn't that a huge difference?  The sleeve just dips off the shoulder on the right and makes the jacket look very home made. That one centimeter (or so) pulls the whole jacket off whack.

I literally cannot believe how little time it took to remedy the situation.  That should be a lesson to me to stop putting things off for so very long!

I had some other concerns that caused the delay. The jacket was supposed to have a lovely contrast material overlay of lace or similar on the lapels. See pattern:

I had decided against the mock pocket opening fairly early on - I didn't think that they would look good on my bigger figure and wouldn't add that much anyway.

But I was quite keen on those lapels.  They are the reason why I picked this pattern.  Even though I didn't want to include the other design feature (those black pocket borders) and also lengthened the sleeves.  These three quarter sleeves just look odd to me.

 

I had such a tough time trying to decide what contrast material to use.  None of the lace I either had or looked to buy was right.  Then I considered various ribbons and braids, some of these I bought (see the photo above), I just couldn't get all that enthusiastic about any of them.

I think I wanted a lace very close to that on the pattern envelope (how unimaginative is that?) but couldn't find it.

Encouraged by our upcoming UFO planning sewalong I was thinking about the whole project early in the morning when I had lots of time and no pressure to be anywhere.  It's very freeing: you know that you don't have to jump up and act on any sewing decision then and there, and it's just a lovely, relaxing time to think things through.

Not for the first time, this turned out to be a very useful exercise for me.  I visualised the steps I would carry out to get the lapels looking the way I want: to cut the lower layer smaller than the upper so the stitching line would not show up. Same thing for attaching the lapels to the front side seams: I would need to pay attention to the turn of cloth space needed and it all felt like a lot of fiddling around.

Plus I hadn't even washed my sample with the ribbon sewn on!  I would have been extremely annoyed with myself if any of the black colour had come off onto the lovely white jacket if I hadn't washed it.

So I finally had a very clear thought: I have masses of sewing projects that I started, it will feel incredibly good to get some of them completed and I have to admit to myself that I will not be able to finish this jacket any time soon if I have to faff about with it for much longer.  Plus: how much do I like these lapels when I think about the bother of getting them done?

Answer: not all that much.

So leave them off.  What a relief!  It was the best decision I could have made.  If I do ever want a jacket that has lapel lace overlays then I can start another project as soon as I have a lace I want to use.  And then maybe I won't use this odd pattern that has lapels as separate pieces.

I might write about this element of the pattern another time because it seems odd to me for lapels to be separate to the front jacket pieces. The whole stitching technique described in the instructions doesn't feel very promising - there is a lot that could go wrong.  But as I said I might write about this another time and can then include a photo of the instructions that make it clearer what they are asking for.


In danger of this post becoming too long yet again.  I can't help myself, I just attached straps to a tote bag that is taking much, much longer than I had hoped.  Here it is:

I "just" need to add lining to the inside so the black bottom doesn't catch too much dust and debris. The corner seams would just be dust traps.

End of year report

I can't believe it's close to the end of year, time has flown by too quickly and I am looking forward to catching my breath during the break over Christmas and New Year's.

Everybody have a good one too!


What kinds of crafts projects am I ending the year with?

I am very pleased that I did lots of top-stitching on my black tunic with the patchwork panels attached to the front and back hems. There was a lot of swivelling and up and down-ing of the sewing machine foot involved!

The garment itself is a bit unflattering: a very simple A-line shape with sleeves attached but no darts.  A sewing friend suggested those steep angle French darts that go low down into the side seams. That's an idea.

My pinstripe grey and dark red stashbusting skirt has seen a little progress: I attached the lining and tried it on properly for the first time.  Unfortunately I now realise that the dividing line between the two fabrics sits rather high: if I wear a long top over this it will cover up the grey yoke almost completely. That's not how it was supposed to look.  I am thinking of adding a ribbon in black or grey at perhaps 4cm below the dividing line to balance the colour blocking a little better.

In terms of knitting I picked up or started quite a few projects. 

I finished the main body of my light blue Storm Mountain jacket (design by Heidi Kirrmaier) with the beautiful swing back and had to realise that neither the roll-down collar nor the reverse stockinette lapels that result from the front top corners folding down look very good. This top part of the garment is too flimsy for the weight of the jacket that pulls it all down.

To solve this issue I picked up stitches all along the top edge and knitting down on the inside. I already did the depth needed to change the roll-down/curl-up collar into a funnel shape collar that stands up straight - this part of things looks quite good actually, so I am pleased I did that.  I haven't yet finished knitting the lapel facings.  They are supposed to go from the bit where I stopped knitting the back collar facing and then descend diagonally below the fold-back line of the lapels.  Fingers crossed this works.

I also started new projects: my huge pink round doily, the five-leafed Rose of England that I called Cinq Feuille Rose. I am getting on well with it.  It came about because I ordered a single skein of Wollmeise Pure. I just couldn't help myself!  I looked at Ignorant Bliss's blog again and she used this yarn a lot.  Her stuff just looks so lovely!

So I checked several online shops as well as Wollmeise's themselves and then went for it. Imagine my shock when this one precious skein in Tutu Dark arrived... and I only realised then that I had bought the exact same shade before and made a shawl from it!  That was my plan for this skein - I don't need nor want two shawls in the exact same colour, same brand, same everything!  What was I thinking?

So if in doubt: make a feature out of a bug.  I went back online and ordered the light and the medium shade of Tutu as well.  Then I started this round shawl graduating from light in the centre to that dark shade on the outside.  Problem sorted!  I thoroughly enjoy this knit too.

The yarn is a bit splitty so you have to pay attention but it's wonderfully springy and sort of spongy. Unfortunately I also bought a skein in dark grey, in dark brown, and one in natural (to maybe dye myself? Don't know yet) - they might not be available going forward!  Or so I told myself...

I bought more yarn (I know, terrible!) like lovely, gorgeous, wonderful one ply Madelinetosh Prairie in three colours: dark red (Dahlia), grey (Ink) and pink (Posy).  I am using the dark red/pink to make a summer top with a lacy back and probably a smooth stockinette front, sleeveless.

I saw another great, big shawl on Ignorant Bliss's blog called Nuvem - it sounds like a brilliant stashbuster when you are left with a large quantity of yarn you don't know what to do with.  So I started what I now call my Big Blue Sail, ahem.

It is much bigger than this by now.  The yarn is thick and thin, by Texere.

And at last but not at least a few people at a knitting group I go to some times decided to do the Block Stitch cowl as a knit-along.  Again, great for stash busting - I am using a blue and grey sock yarn, but had to buy a second blue yarn because my light grey sock yarn was a bit too light and bright.  The photo shows just one of the patterns, there are another two.

I even managed to finish a project recently.  Luckily it's a Christmas present for my dad - ribbed socks: I so hope they'll fit!

Sorry about the photos, I want to take nicer ones but it's better to show some photos, even bad ones, than none at all.

I am pretty sure that I was busy with other projects recently too, but these are the ones I can think of.  Plenty there, I would say.

I see now that I seem to have had the theme of blue, pink and grey this year!  Am I ever using any other colours?  Oops.  And: I've done a heck of a lot of  ...realising... once I got a bit into a project.  This might reflect the organic process I seem to follow, or just scatterbrainedness... Either.

How has your crafting year been?

Vitamin D

I haven't blogged about this shrug yet. I finished it in the early days of summer and then never got round to blocking it properly.

That's why it still looks a little bedraggled on the hanger in the photo at the top.

It is called Vitamin D and the pattern is by Heidi Kirrmaier. She has some really, really great designs on Ravelry!  Check her out. I was smitten by them. (I am also making the Snow Mountain swing jacket, in a light blue linen yarn! And I bought another four patterns, whoops... All utterly fabulous and I couldn't pass them by)

I like the yarn-over detailing at the back of the nape and the bottom of the hem. 

I don't think that I chose a suitable yarn.  This is a bog standard black sock yarn and it's just a bit too firm for this pattern.  The centre front edges curl in and they still do all this time later.

I like the general shape of this and I am quite surprised that I haven't worn it yet.  To my defense I have to say that I did have to flat-hunt and then move house since I made this - which explains the lack of blocking and wearing.

Hopefully soon.

I will try and get a photo of me wearing it, that should show it a little better.

I was really good fun to knit: I kept storming through the different sections of the pattern (Ravelry link here) and can very easily see myself making this again - in a totally different yarn and very likely a different colour too.

FBA! Oh yeah, baby: FBA!

Teehee, forgive the exuberant title, but still.

I just did my first FBA!

Another technique for my sewing and dressmaking toolkit.  Utterly delighted that it worked.  Well, actually, I don't know for certain that it worked but I did hold the edges of all the relevant pieces against each other and I think I made the adjustments where needed.

Yeah.

So, FBA.  What is it?

FBA is short for Full Bust Adjustment.  Commercial patterns are made for women up to B cup size but they don't work great for anyone with a bit more up top.

So a full bust adjustment allows for both more width across the body as well as more length in the other dimension.

Here's a photo of one of my cut up and reassembled pattern piece, the upper front:

The technique involves finding the bust apex (the blue cross a little below the original bust point that looks like a cross hair symbol), cutting to it from the hem parallel to the grain line. Continuing the cut towards the arm hole, I picked the sewing mark to cut towards - but stopping short at the seam allowance.

This last bit then acts as a hinge that keeps the pieces together. [**] Then cut from the side seam towards the bust point but leave a hinge at that point (the apex).

You then pull the lower piece (the one nearer the side seam) away from the other main piece keeping the vertical edges parallel (those running from the apex down to the hem): move them right and left apart from each other by the measure that the pattern piece was too short by.

Put a strip of tissue paper underneath and tape down. (I did this in two steps: I taped one edge onto the tissue strip, then I marked the width where the other edge needs to be, drew a line down and then taped the other edge down up to that drawn line.  It can get quite fiddly)

Now you can then move the dart back to where it was.  The dart is just a bit wider than before to create a more rounded shape and larger cup size over the bust.

I checked the side seam against the front side seam and found that the above dart I drew in the thick blue line was a bit too deep, so I decreased this by a good centimeter in total.

You also need to adjust your piece that's closer to the front centre. Here that wasn't a problem because this piece ended in a point so I didn't strictly need to move the central piece down to come to the same hemline.

I also checked the lower front piece and the contrast fabric piece against all the new seamlines and extended them.

I had a bit of a hairy moment when the lower front did not seem to be wide enough at all.  It turned out that I forgot that both upper front pieces need to be sewn together first and the combined width would therefore lose the two seam allowances of the separate pieces. Makes sense once you think of it. Uh.

All's well that ends well.

Now I just have to cut out some fabric to see if the adjustment really worked. I might go the muslin route before I cut into my expensive wool fabric!

**Correction: I listed two steps in the wrong order before. Apologies, I now corrected this.

Jacket Sew Along - part I

 

 

 

I am taking part in a jacket sew along.  I was going to carry on with my white jacket but it doesn't seem fair to pick a project that is pretty far along when others are only just starting theirs.

On the other hand I am still not that fit to do anything because of an operation I had in the last two weeks and then there's the added problem that I'm stuck in trying to decide what kind of contrast fabric to use on the lapels of said white jacket.  I bought all sorts of materials (both fabrics and also ribbons) but nothing jumped out at me shouting: 'Pick me! I'll look just great!'  I might be expecting too much.

Still, both those reasons made me reconsider.  So I picked Vogue V1264 instead, which I also want to do in black (see the photo right at the top of this post. As if you hadn't guessed).

I had the contrast fabric for a while (Halleluja! Good start) and bought a really nice 100% wool fabric that was priced at the higher end of what I usually spend.  So I'm hoping not to mess up.  Bit nervous about that.

The contrast fabric is a kind of rubbery material that might be best described as faux leather. It is very synthetic but I reckon it would look good for this design.  I may have to use a leather sewing machine needle on it, I still have to try that out.  I just hope that I will be able to sew this material well. I have plenty of fabric to experiment with and I am planning on quite a few sample scraps to have a go with.

I will need to check that the size 18 I cut out is suitable.  I lost some weight recently and as per the measurements given, this is the correct size.  But I I am nowhere near cup size B that I believe most commercial patterns are designed for.  This jacket is supposed to have a loose, relaxed fit but it might not relax as much as fitting me across the bust.  Which would rather obviously be a really awkward problem.  So the next step is to pin the main paper pattern pieces together and try it on.  The plan is to do this today, it is Saturday after all.

Right now, I am about two weeks into the sew along which was set for two months in total. That means that I still have plenty of time, thankfully.

Fingers crossed!
 

State of play mini knitting update

Just to ruminate about where my knitting is at these days.  Here's a mini update on the two works in progress that I'm the most excited about (and let's just leave the other 16 or so aside for now, shall we? ...oh lovely. Glad you feel the same way).

I bought this German knitting magazine, called Rebecca.  It has a long-sleeved wrap (with long strips that tie at the back) in it that literally made me gasp when I saw it: I want to make that!  This edition of the magazine uses only GGH yarn (not sure about any other editions) - this one looks great and the fibre composition sounded even better.  Only problem: could not be got anywhere in the UK, and I only found two places in Germany that were anywhere near where I was, which was still too far away for a quick trip during my jealously guarded holiday time.  So I won't be using this yarn.  I also prefer using a yarn that won't be discontinued this time next year, just in case.

I felt the need to go visit my local yarn shop: Nest in Weston Park, London.  I can only recommend this shop, it is wonderful!  Near Finsbury Park in case you were wondering (if you're anywhere near North London and haven't been yet: go. Take it as an instruction, not a suggestion).

And would you know I found some absolutely lovely, gorgeous JC Rennie yarn in the most yummy, intense, sumptuous, delightful, sigh-inducing dark purple that I've ever come across.  The photo makes it look lighter and bluer: imagine the colour of dark cherry jam, only a touch more blue.  That colour.

I hesitate to say the next bit: they had an offer going on this yarn! (that was in December, sorry) and I got the 16 balls (of 25 grams each) at a much better price.  I am just so darn lucky - thank you Nest! (needless to say: I will be back.  This yarn comes in lots more wonderful colours)

So I immediately got started: the back is knit from the bottom up and I can only say that I enjoyed this so mcuh, I actually finished the piece in three days!  -Including!- blocking!  My goodness, I must have been feeling a bit funny, I've never blocked anything this quickly in my life.  Still: you live and you learn.  Apparently, wow.

Then I started the front which is knit from the top down!  Love that.  Really intriguing construction.  I am having to convert the number of stitches because my yarn is much finer.  No problem, calculator in hand, tension square in front of me: converted number of stitches were arrived at in no time! As I said: not a problem, love it.  Bit of a maths person, you see.

Except the pattern wouldn't play ball as nicely as I'd hoped.

The front piece is started in stockinette and then has a K2 P2 ribbing come in from the sides and meet in a nice V shape in the centre a bit further down. The increases within the ribbing are knit to the right and left of a specific line which should run across the bust to achieve the right fit.  (You can see the front piece laid on top of the back in the photo.)

Ahem, mine didn't.  It's still not a problem, just a bit of a hurdle.  I'm not terribly terrific at getting my second wind once I got a bit stuck.  The version 1 front piece sits pinned to my tailor's dummy right now and I've gone onto the sleeves until I get my mojo back for progressing to version 2.

The sleeves were a story in themselves. I seem to be knitting three of them. Yup.  Silly of me.  I didn't realise that switching to different needles (albeit of the same size) might result in a fabric that's just not the same.  And I would quite like to get both sleeves to be as similar to each other as I can.  I'm funny like that.  So I started a third sleeve with the exact same needles and the result is a bit better.  Same number of stitches but strangely enough a little wider that sleeve No 1.  I'll have to make sure that I'm doing the same number of rows, or otherwise (if I'm knitting a touch looser this time) fudge it that way, we'll see.  Can't fudge things too much, but just a tiny, itty-bitty little bit?  Might work.

Getting on well with the sleeves.  Not completely sure that they are wide enough at the top, will have to wait and see.  Next stop: cast on for front piece No 2.  At this rate I'm really puzzled that I managed the back piece on the first attempt!

Oh well.  I'll get there in the end.

I'll blog my other pet project WIP in a separate post.

My pink Elizabeth Zimmermann Cardigan

An end to a long labour.

This project is finally finished. Which is a minor miracle, seeing how long it took me.

Yarn	Mirasol Qina
Needles	5 mm
Pattern	Elizabeth Zimmermann's Green Sweater
from	Schoolhouse Press

 
I just looked back at previous blog posts about this cardigan and I am flabbergasted to find that it is the project I mentioned the most: in a massive five posts!

Not that you would want to look at them but just to show that I'm not exaggerating:

My first steeks!
Steek update
An inspirational pattern (all about The Green Sweater story!)
Something has to be done
My crafty state of play

I learned a lot from this project (also see my Ravelry project page).  I was aware that this incorporates quite a few things that were new to me like steeking, gauntlet cuffs, dolman sleeve shaping or the square neckline band. Oh, and phony seams!

It was huge fun to do these things, one at a time.

I learned that it's a good idea to do the phony seams before turning the hem up: ladder the rows of your "seam" stitch right back down to the bottom stitch (careful to keep the bottom stitch or it gets very fiddly!) and hook them back up with a crochet hook: pull through the two strands from the bottom two rows, then one strand from the third, and carry on like this (2, 1, 2, 1...).  It gives a very nicely defined pseudo seam up the sides!

If you do the hem first you may find that you sewed up the stitch you're meant to be laddering, which is precisly what I did. Ahem.

Steeks are not scary.  Amazing as it is: as long as you machine stitch at least a couple of lines either side of where you'll cut, you're not going to run into any problems of cut ends unravelling.  I have not tried crocheting instead of machine stitching.

What hasn't turned out so well:

The body of this cardigan is way too short.  It looks a bit ridiculous on me to be honest.  An unhappy discovery.  I suppose I could try to lengthen this but there is another problem: I disovered only now after the jacket had been hanging up for some time that the yarn is too heavy for this pattern.  What used to be quite a reticent square neckline to start with is getting bigger and bigger.  The shoulders threaten so slip off the hanger and I will definitely store this folded instead.

The applied i-cord (are you meant to do the button loops this way? I couldn't quite figure it out from the pattern) is a bit bulky although it stabilises the centre front edge very well.  Unfortunately it does not hide the gaping gaps in said centre opening because I think that I didn't get the measurement across my boobs right.

If I wear this cardigan unbottoned then that won't show up.

The sleeves turned out a little long (I thought I'd tried it on and determined the right length? But this could be down to the 'getting longer' in the shoulders problem that I mentioned above).  That's just about okay.

I may have to think of sewing in a staying band under the shoulders, that might improve things a touch.  So grafting the shoulders may not be such a good idea: seams would have made this more rigid.

In summary: I loved the techniques involved, I really enjoyed making this (even though it took so long), I may wear this every so often (I hope) but all in all I am thinking of making this again to incorporate what I learned.  Next time in a yarn that won't be too heavy to sit and drape lots better, and I would lengthen the body by about 2-3 inches.

The pattern mentions a variation of slimmer sleeves: that sounds very intriguing and I think I would go with that.

I am thinking of Jamieson's Shetland wool: there is a 2 ply which is called a jumper weight, there are some really lovely colours!  Keeping my stash in mind, I won't be buying any more wool any time soon though...

.

My crafty state of play

Part II.  It's November and I still have as many works in progress projects as I did in June.  Some of them still the same ones, some of them are new.

My aqua Malabrigo shawl is finished as is my heathered blue Niebling shawl.  The Alpaca shawl in dark red is also done - do I detect a pattern here that I managed to finish the three shawls out of these five projects and left the two garments incompleted?  I'm not even wearing any of these three shawls very often - and I would get more use out of these:

My EZ 'Green' Sweater

The Debbie Bliss Prima halterneck summer top

The Dolman Sleeve cardigan (otherwise knows as the Elizabeth Zimmermann Green Sweater) just needs some buttons and button loops adding, and the Halterneck Summer Top needs straps.

It might help if I picked out some buttons, maybe that would motivate me?  For the Summer Top I need an idea of what pattern I want to use to make nice broad straps.  They should hide the bra straps and could be in quite a fancy pattern, I'd love something like a square with four leaves in the round, and adding as many squares as are needed to get the length of the straps.

Some of my other 'almost there' projects are these:

Also Debbie Bliss Prima



Trachtentuch B by Engeln

 

Bamboo summer top


The green Prima top has wing sleeves, they are not attached all the way round.  I need to neaten up the raw edges of the arm scye, they look awful just now.

The Trachtentuch needs to be cast off and then I want to dye this.  It is undyed sock yarn from Violet Green - I haven't made my mind up yet what colour I want this to be.  I am toying with either a rosé (a muted pink) or a brown that's in between a rich chocolatey to a dark cocoa bean brown?

And the Bamboo summer top needs some flower petals adding to the stalks (my gauge was out by so much that I didn't want to insert bobbles only to find later that I didn't like their placement) and then I want to dye this as well.  The chalky blue colour doesn't do anything for my complexion (I look a bit ill in it) so I'd like this to be a darker blue.

And these are just some of my items that are close to completion but languishing in WIP hell for now!

My first steeks!

I am terribly excited: I started an Elizabeth Zimmermann cardigan using steeking for the sleeves, front parting and the neckline.  These are my first steeks!

This picture shows the cardigan with the neck steek sewn down and cut and also the left sleeve steek (from the perspective of the person wearing it). I hadn't sewn the other two steeks yet but I had picked up the sleeve stitches and knitted the couple of inches you can see in the photo.

If you haven't come across the technique before: steeking is a way of knitting a garment in the round, even across 'openings' like the armholes, centre parting or the neckline (you cast on a number of so called 'steek stitches' which will later form facings on either side of the cut to be turned inwards and sewn down) and then fixing the column of stitches with a sewn line to prevent the edges fraying, - then you cut the garment open between the sewn stitch lines.  It sounds quite scary, doesn't it!

There are two methods of stopping the thread ends fraying: you can crochet across a column of stitches - this is good with wool which will "stick" together but not at all satisfactory for any other yarn which will slip out from underneath crocheted loops. The other method is to use a sewing machine: reduce the stitch length a bit, then sew in a straight line up or down a row of steek stitches on either side of the line which is to be cut, about half a stitch's width from the cutting line.  It's a good idea to pick a colour that's not too much of a contrast to your yarn but it doesn't have to match a hundred percent either - these machine sewn stitching lines will be on the inside of the garment.

I chose to sew four lines in place of just two: the garment will be cut between the centre two lines.  Should the thread ends slip past the first, the second line of defence will definitely catch them!  I think that's a really good idea: the second stitching line does not show up in the finished garment and it provides a lot of peace of mind no matter how much wear the garment will get during its lifetime!

I was wary that machine stitching might distort my knitted fabric - it didn't.  I guess the trick is to allow the sewing machine to feed the fabric through by itself and not be tempted to start pulling or pushing.

Then it came time to make the first cut into my beautiful knitted cardie!  I thought I'd be more nervous, but I just wanted to get this done so I could start knitting the first sleeve!

My tip would be to only cut when you are able to fully concentrate on the task at hand.  I got distracted at some point and found that I had cut across my first sewn line!  Couldn't believe I'd done that.  Only for a little bit, but still.  That second sewn line I'd decided to put in came into its own there!  Good thing.

There is a disadvantage to steeking: your garment won't look anything like the finished article before you cut the steeks and that means that you can't try it on as you make it.  Holding the garment flat against you to check for size only works when you remember that you need to discount the steek stitches: the width of those will be become the two facings that get turned inside and sewn down, i.e. either side of the cut.

Norwegian jumpers and garments with a lot of colourwork or Fair Isle patterns are often steeked - for example if you wish to insert a zipper at the neck opening.  When knitting garments with lots of colours then using steeking means that you are able to knit the whole thing in the round: no purling involved!  It does make knitting a lot easier when you can see what you are doing on the right, stockinette side without getting confused by the strands of yarn carried on the purl side.

PS: I just thought of another advantage to using steeks: in three places my tension had been too loose - the stitches very much showed up for being way too big*.  The photograph still shows one of those lines (about two inches below the neck opening) and also two loops where I pulled the stitches into the right size while gradually transferring the excess to the centre of the garment.  I did the same to the loose row - then when I machine sewed the four lines down the centre, I made sure to leave the loops between the two middle lines.  When it gets time to cut the centre open I will be able to cut the excess thread off and no-one will ever know that my tension wasn't perfect in those three places!  I'm rather chuffed with my repair work here.

* Note: I just found a very insightful article by TechKnitting on the cause of uneven knitting: referred to here as 'rowing out'. I may have simply let my tension get much looser than at other times. If the loose stitches occur across just a few stitches then this may be due to taking too long to move your hands along while knitting off too many stitches. This is the most likely cause for these loose rows of stitches that show up way too clearly in the photo above. I can only recommend TechKnitting's blog - if you want to know why something works then this blog is wonderful. If you run into a problem that no amount of wondering and pondering can sort out, then checking this blog might just provide the answer and cause a positive leap forward in your progress as a knitter, if I can put it that way.
This is one of the things I like about knitting: there is always something new to learn no matter how much you know already. And picking up new tidbits of knowledge has got to be a very satisfying thing indeed.

Wave crest pattern Cardie

This is not finished yet, and therefore my first blog on a work in progress, or WIP.

I was going to only blog about completed projects but could not resist it - I am really happy with the pattern (from a German knitting magazine called 'Verena', the Winter 2009 edition, model 10), the wave pattern is lovely! I am managing to get a fairly smooth fabric too, I must be putting the right amount of tension on the thread when I carry it at the back.

I must say though that I am heavily adapting the cardigan. I am using six colours: three greys and two pinks with aubergine as the third colour. The magazine uses four, one of them a very bright turquoise. I do like this colour combination but I was looking for a pattern to use for my six colours, the yarn came first!  I am really pleased with this:

My adaptation involves four plain knitted rows between each of the three colour work patterns rows instead of two as per the pattern. Much easier to knit (and quicker) and it makes the finished article look less busy, not as fussy! I prefer that.

I started following the pattern instruction, casting on the back piece. Then I started changing things by using a hollow hem as for the black Fern tank top - it is very useful if you might need an elastic and you can use one even if you don't strictly need it, just to weigh the hem down. I like how these hems look: the purl row at the hem is very nice and neat. I love the simpleness of it. And it doesn't curl up as much as plain stocking stitch does (the hem still stubbornly turns up though, I need to block this soon, it's driving me crazy. I already hang it up by the hem and hope that the increasing weight will straighten this out but that hasn't happened just yet).

Then I started the colour work. The first row, a right side knitted row, was absolutely fine: three stitches in mid grey, three stitches in aubergine. Easy. Then I turned the work to do the purl row: one grey, one aubergine, two grey, two aubergine and so on... Oh-oh! Hang on, where was I? I only got terribly mixed up about what, when, where... You just can't see what you are doing on a wrong side, those threads you carry at the back tend to block the view!

I didn't even finish the row because I got seriously fed up and decided that I'd lose the will to live before I ever finished the project. So I knitted back, cast on one of the front pieces on the same circular needle (a very loud cheer for circ needles!), knitted that to the same point in the pattern (I had to re-feed it to the correct place on the needle in the process), cast on the second front piece (managing to get the placement right, wahey!), knitted that up to the same row and then with all three pieces (in the correct orientation) still on the circular needle, I just carried on knitting round as if it was all one piece - going round and round.  So much easier, what a huge relief!

What I also did once I finished the hemming part of each front, was to cast on six stitches each (twelve stitches at centre front). I want to use the steek technique to make this cardigan: I will use a sewing machine to put a double seam each down the middle and then cut through the fabric between those stitch lines. Scary stuff! Each of the six stitches will then turn into an inner facing.

That's the plan anyway, wish me luck.

I'm looking forward to finding out how I'll do, I've never used steeks before.