Ghastly fitting issues

Argh!  Sometimes fitting issues can really drive you round the bend, utterly, stark raving bonkers mad!

Why won't this body block fit better on me?  How comes I keep changing the slope of the shoulder when they clearly don't fit well, and the change is even more wrong than before?

Ah!  There is an answer in store.

Here's a photo, of me in a jumper I knitted:

I saw this and thought to myself: oh, rounded upper back...

Did that sink in?  Did that mean anything to me?  Did that lead me to any kind of 'Oh my gosh, that's it!' insight?

No, of course not.

It should have done.

I have a lovely body block drawn to my very own measurements.  There are small darts at about the mid shoulder in the back piece.  To my utter shame I have to admit that I kept looking at that itty bitty tiny little dart and decided: oh, I don't need that!

And off it went. Suppressed, removed from each and every single pattern I draw from this body block and unfortunately also suppressed from my consciousness.

Well!

It really ought to have told me something when changing the slope of the shoulder just doesn't produce the desired result (because it takes from both back and front, probably in equal measure).  A dart starting at the middle of the back shoulder and going down sits at 90 degrees angle to that alteration - of course it's going to produce a different outome!

Duh. Now why didn't I think of this earlier?  This whole threedimensionality business that bodies are subject to seems to be a really complicated affair.

There really is nothing better than having a friend take lots of photos of you in the offending garment: from the front, from the back, about three snapshots from the side: the side of a garment can sometimes not be clearly seen with the arm hanging down (1), so arm forward (2) gives a different view than arm back (3). So that's five pics.

You might want some more detailed shots that are closer up.

Pinching excessive fabric out and photographing the before and after can also be very helpful.

Get yourself those photos (making sure the lighting is suitable), study them!  And think about where the fitting issues might come from.  Some of the time my first inclination (change the shoulder slope) only serves to complicate the issue because it tries to solve a problem that wasn't there (like sloping shoulders. I hope we can agree that my shoulders do not slope to a pronounced extent?).

I would love to hear about insights you might have had that turned out really useful. Has something like this happened to you?  At least hard-won insights do tend to stick around longer, that's an advantage!

My new year's resolution at work!

Look at that!  What a thing of beauty.  And so very useful too...

















The huge number of sewing, knitting and quilting WIPs that I have lying around is sapping my craft mojo.  When the pile of things I started gets too big (metaphorically speaking) then my practical crafting slows down.  It is just all too overwhelming.

I tried all kinds of things, all sorts of strategies - specifically with my sewing project (knitting is taking care of itself). What does help is knowing that other people have very similar problems.  So I scheduled an event in my meetup sewing group and found it a real boost.

I called it 'Pick up a Project': pulling out any project and looking it over. Then make a list of bullet points about what still needs to be done, or which items need to be assembled.  Basically putting yourself into a position where you know what's what.

It worked beautifully!  I did the bullet points for four projects and very quickly finished one of them.  I am so chuffed.  The others will take a bit longer, but hey...

Then I scheduled another event: Stich up a Project - grab the project from above and get on with the next step.

Then I thought that I would like a handy spreadsheet that shows me what the major projects are that I want to get on with (very important: not all of them, just the ones that I like best) which also gives me an opportunity to jot down notes: thoughts on what I was trying to achieve, ideas of fabric and design choice, considerations about possible fitting issues... anything that comes to mind.  Where it's nice to re-read later when you forgot half of what occurred to you.

This spreadsheet is the result.

The best column is the 'Next Step' one - what exactly do I want to do as the very next thing? And do I always get stuck at the same thing? Like perhaps: insert the zipper, or find so-and-so... or totally different things?

I haven't figured that one out yet but it is really great for getting a better feel of what I am doing and how it's going.

I put this list onto Google Sheets. This is part of Google Drive (you can also have documents on there, but the sheets are quite similar to Excel).  It is accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection and I can just use the one version to update.

I also have a second sheet of project ideas and which fabrics I want to use. Again, I am only listing some.

I'll let you know some of those major projects and the other strategic ideas this kicked off in my head.

I am feeling so much more optimistic about my sewing now!

Coarse woven tweed skirt

I actually think of this skirt as my crazy fraying fabric skirt, I had such a hard time when I cut into this fabric: as soon as you do all the newly cut thread ends loosen and the fabric edge becomes distorted.

It is pretty much impossible to sew with non-existing edges like that.

In order to get around that I hacked out the pattern pieces in big chunks, then basted along the cutting line to mark it - and then, here's the piece de la resistance!, - then I put it through the overlocker: overlocking and cutting in one go. It worked great!

You only have to beware corners.  Because the overlocker knife cuts ahead and you can't turn a corner that hasn't been cut yet - the only way you could get around that is to run the overlocker off your rough fabric piece and start new.  But failing that: just cut an inch or so into the cutting line past the corner as you approach it with the overlocker, then you can easily turn at the corner, line up the knife with the already cut bit and go!

I think I matched the pattern pretty well across the centre back seam  and the side seams too. 

The fabric was £1 a metre from a Walthamstow fabric shop bordering the market. I liked the look of the fabric and could not resist buying it.  Bargain!

Unfortunately I forgot that I would have to spend time sewing something out of this fabric and I didn't really think whether I wanted a skirt like this.  I am not sure that it is me.

This was a bit aspirational - as in: this would look good on a elegant lady with a cute and very expensive handbag, someone who suits wearing pearls. I am not that person.

The skirt is okay and I am glad I had this experience with the fabric fraying.  I now know that I can wrestle this issue into submission!  There might be other fabrics that need the same treatment out there that I might want to sew with one day.

Oh hang on: I've already got one in my stash!  It is a light coloured coarse woven tweedy fabric that also looks very elegant, in a more understated and less bright way.  It would make the cutest mini skirt!


PS: This is dreadful, but I've since found yet another fabric very like these two. So I bought three at different occasions and didn't even remember the other purchases.  Why am I doing this to myself?  I must keep a proper record, like the Android app Clothio that seems to work pretty well.

Pick a project or how I learned to like preparation

A blog post that spent time as a draft for too long.  Here goes:

Too many projects on the go, too many things started but just lying around.  Why do I do that to myself?

It is obviously so much more exciting to start a project than to carry on when the initial spark faded and the first tricky bits start to bite.

I think I might have found a way to get myself into the right head space: organise a group activity by my sewing group so we support each other in order to get one of those old, boring WIPs back into ship shape.
 
Thinking about it, you need to ponder a few things when you try to revive an abandoned sewing project:

You want to know that you have all the bits and pieces you need. Starting with all the paper pattern pieces and instructions, the fabrics or already cut pieces, and all the other supplies needed.

Just the act of pulling an old WIP back out from whatever dark corner it was lurking is a rather good feeling.  But only if you feel you can get somewhere with it.

The support of the others is just invaluable.  Somehow you don't feel quite so stuck, if that makes sense.

I am really looking forward to sharing with them what I am doing so I get back to the point where I can start the final sewing stage and complete a garment.

It almost feels like luxury to think that I might soon have a project less to worry about!


I did decide which one I wanted to look at: my stash-busting skirt in grey and wine red.  I was able to look over it and feel quite encouraged: I had closed the side seams already!

And I retrieved a piece of black lining fabric that's suitable. Yes, I even have enough of it!

Getting my head around what I need to do as the next steps and how I am going to cut out the lining will be a bit of a challenge. This project does not have instructions because I' not using a pattern!

The obstacle I got stuck at was the waist. I drew up a pattern to my own measurements but I left it open about how high I would make the waist.  I don't want to use a waistband but just darts to shape the top of the skirt.  I think I may need a friend's help to make sure I don't cut this wonky or at the wrong height. 

Or maybe it won't even be as difficult as my prevarication makes it seem?

I no longer have the paper pattern to hand so I will need to cut the lining free-hand. It's a good thing that the lining has to be a bit loose anyway, that makes this job easier.

I am quite sure though that my sewing excitement will return once I get stuck back in! I want to wear this and it will be a good challenge to meet.

It'll be interesting!

A quick teaser

I have to post a very quick teaser.

I started on a project which is quite a challenge - and I think I can get a really good blog post out of it too  (Promises, promises!).

I saw the general technique somewhere: how to develop a dressmaking pattern to get a piece that curves and drapes and generally behaves in a relatively unpredictable three-dimensional manner - the technique is all about how to tame this apparently chaotic and wild appearance so you arrive at a useable pattern piece.  It's not even that difficult to do!

It sounds quite intriguing, doesn't it?

Well, I am completely in seven heaven with this.  This is just the sort of thing I absolutely love: -

Pattern construction, turning something 3D into a 2D pattern piece - figuring out what kinds of curves and angles work out how... I absolutely love that.

I saw a photo of a pretty special collar.  And I also saw a technique of how to sketch a ruffle that falls in a sort of waterfall pattern - and how you turn the sketch of that ruffle into a pattern piece. So therefore...

This blog post made a lot of sense.

I did try it with my collar and I think I got somewhere!  Like I said, this is just a quick teaser - I will write the blog post proper soon and hopefully take a good photo or two to illustrate the concept, pattern and technique.

Slippery pink stuff, blurgh

This is a rhetorical question: why did I ever think that working with slippery pink satin for my toile for the V8721 shrug was a good idea?

Oh yeah, I remember: I want this to be a wearable toile in case it works out. I'm absolutely sure that I'm not going to wear a toile made from faded, floppy sheeting but I can see myself wear something made out of this lovely pink fabric.

But oh boy, is it horrid to work with!

I had to re-cut one of the two big pieces because the lower layer of fabric slipped under the top layer.  The lesson from this is: use pins and not fabric weights on really slippery fabric - I had no idea how much a fabric like this can slide around while you're busy cutting it out.

And in case of any doubt: use at least twice the amount of pins you think you'll need!  If not more...

Horrid stuff.

But such a lovely colour!  And the sheen!

I might sing a different tune once I get this done, but for now I'm just not looking forward to the sewing part.  I can't help myself: I feel a headache coming on!

 

I bought this great book on garment construction.  The Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey are selling an interesting collection of fashion design and pattern books.  I already own a few they sell so I didn't think I would be spending money when I went on Saturday.  Then I leafed through this one.  Must investigate further but it looks really good.  And useful!

We saw this exhibition at the FTM:

 

It was wonderful.  Very inspiring.

 

The first room, the Royal Room, was reserved for clothes made for and worn by royalty, in particular Princess Diana.  I was surprised to the see the apricot coloured Going Away dress she wore after her wedding.  I didn't like it very much, the chiffony bits were a bit much.

 

But right next to it was an aubergine evening gown that's utterly gorgeous! It had a very interesting folded and wound 'thing' going on at the bodice/neckline area.  I would have loved to see this better but the light was kept dimmed to protect the clothes.  Quite rightly.  This gown was my favourite in the room.

 

It was nice to see the sketches and then the dresses IRL.  Intriguing.

 

We were able to take pictures of the rest of the exhibit.  There were quite a few dresses in a very romantic vein - not really my cup of tea.  Some of the construction or embellishment techniques were interesting.  My favourites were the satin dresses that had pleating and folding: such wonderful shapes!

 

I was very intrigued by some of the seam lines on other dresses.  I must do a separate post on all those.

 

Loved it.

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.

Trial quilt block

So much fabric, so little time.  I need to make inroads into my stash.

I keep pulling out fabrics to try and decide which other fabric they go with.  I decided I might as well indulge in my usual process: just get started and see where it leads me.  So much more organic, isn't it!

Oh okay, I admit it: I suffer from startitis and an inability to finish (most) things.  But if I try something out then I know if I'll like it, and if I want to carry on with it? Don't I.  But if I don't give something a trial run, then I won't know.

So I pulled out these three fabrics, all from the same range (darned if I remember which one, or where I got it from) - so at least I can be assured that they do indeed go with each other.  Great.

I've been obsessive in looking at quilt block patterns recently.  I couldn't stop!

I found one that I very much like, so I gave that a go.  Here it is:

One block made up of four of these units, with some sashing in the same black fabric.  I find the layout very pleasing and love the way it looks.

But do you know?  I didn't actually enjoy making this particular block pattern.  I'm not sure quite sure why that is.  I just couldn't get the points to come out at a quarter inch from the edges. 

The outside edges of this will unfortunately have to be sewn very skinny.  It ran into that problem from the very start.  I did okay with the first side-by-side triangle units, the navy and black fabric.  But they came out smaller than I wanted (I keep doing that), so I cut the light blue fabric rhomboids very generously to make sure that I wouldn't run into problems there as well.

I had to trim them down a lot, but the navy/black triangles were a right pain to sew onto the second side of the rhomboids: they ended up in the wrong place horizontally.  I had to rip and re-do so many times that I lost all patience. 

I am definitely not going to sew this one again.  This block will remain a one-off!  So there.

If I ever make a big quilt with this block, it will have to be a sampler type quilt with all sorts of different blocks.  I think that I might combine these three colours with grey and also a couple of suitable pinks.

But I am still pretty annoyed with how difficult this was to put together.  It was probably not a good idea to do pretty skinny seams because they must have made the problem worse with each new seam.

Next time I need to make a template to measure the completed units against.  Or do this paper pieced and not the traditional assembly way.  That might save me a whole lot of cursing.

x - x - x

There was one good thing about sewing this block: I figured out how to cut the squares the easiest way.

Initially I cut the assembly-line pieced squares through the centre of the two seams, like you would do for half square triangles (HSTs) before cutting the other way.  Doing that unfortunately makes it necessary to lay the triangle just so, so you can cut into two equal pieces: you can't aim for the other corner because that side is obviously already been cut away.  Duh.

Lots of faffing around.  Too annoying for words.

Instead I first cut the diagonal without the seams.  I hope the two seams (horizontal orientation) aren't too difficult to see:

It is then much easier to just slice through the centre of the parallel seams - no faffing around needed.  I will remember that next time!

Coarsewoven patchwork - how to put it together

This turned into a bit of a tutorial - based on all the drawings I came up with.  I thought that I could easily demonstrate how to sew this coarse woven block together with the help of a couple of pictures but that would have fallen short.

So here goes.

Chose three fabrics, cut them into a few strips of equal width. Pick the fabric to use for the vertical strips and cut these into lengths of four times their width.

You may want to cut a couple of squares off the other two strips (one of one colour and two of the other if you're making one block to try this out).  Sew these three squares to a vertical strip each, like so:

Always make sure to press seams open before sewing over them (if you never tried patchwork before: pressing seams open makes a huge difference. You'll be glad you bothered. Honestly)

Put the two strips aside and work with the single strip and square unit.

Attach two vertical strips to either side - but not for the entire length. This is where the partial seams come in - and it's these partial seams that makes this block come together so smoothly.

Start at the top and sew down about three quarters. You want to leave the stepped end open with enough room so you can easily sew another fabric against the end of what are, for now, the outer strips. That's for later though. For now just sew down about three quarters. Or two thirds if you prefer, it doesn't make much of a difference.

I drew in a light grey line where my partial seams end. The broken lines mean seams.

The graphics show the outer strips bent outwards, that's meant to show those ends being loose and not sewn against the inner, central strip yet. Not sure if this makes sense.

Next, sew the strip of the upper colour (bolded in the graphics) against the top of the three strips. I didn't bother cutting the horizontal strips to the right lengths but daisy-chained all my four motifs onto the continuous horizontal strip and then rotary cut them on the mat after that.

Then sew another two vertical strips against the outer sides, again with a partial seam.

Continue in this way (alternating vertical strips and horizontal strips working with the first two colour fabrics only) until you added four horizontal strips.

The next step gets a bit more interesting. This time attach one of the two strips with the square of the third fabric already attached. You no longer have to do a partial seam, you finally get to sew an entire seam in one go!

If you would like to make more than one block/motif at the same time you will want to attach the second block to the side of the first.  The broken line on the right is meant to show that this is a horizontal strip that is really longer than the square I drew.

Now flip the whole thing over so your first horizontal (bolded) strips are at the bottom and the side with your third fabric horizontals are at the top (the ones in purple/blue). You want to sew the third colour strip against the top of the three vertical strips.  I am showing one of the three vertical strips with a round edge, that's just meant to show that this side has not yet been sewn to the neighbouring vertical strip.


The next bit you get to do, finally!, is to close the partial seam where I drew the red rectangle in. I should have really done another graphic but I'm sure you get the idea. You need to close the first partial seam all the way down once you attached the second purple strip. Once that partial is fully closed you can attach the next purple/blue strip*, close the next partial seam and so on until you are done.

*: I am saying purple/blue strip because the colour looks purple on one monitor, but blue on another. Go figure.

Please let me know if the drawings and my description makes sense.

I loved sewing this. It was so much fun.

When I make enough progress with this project I will post about what it is going to be. Fingers crossed it pans out the way I imagine and hope.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

Craftsy online class

Look what I just found on that clever thing called the Internet!

Craftsy do online classes, more specifically sewing classes!  And I enrolled myself in a particularly clever one called 'Jean-ius' or how to reverse engineer your favourite jeans!

Woohoo!  I'm so excited. This is brilliant! I've wanted to do a trousers sewing class for ages but found that they're pretty expensive, or even that the one I could have done didn't have enough people interested and therefore got cancelled.  Such a disappointment.

But here we go: can't do it physically?  Do an online class!

Those good folk at Craftsy deserve a mention:

I learned something new!

I am delighted: I learned something new.

A technique to kind of twist two stitches without changing them around as you would when knitting a cable pattern.  Most intriguing!

This technique can be used to "twist" two stitches though not any more than that.  It involves knitting two stitches together and then knitting one of them again - it will look as if you had parked one stitch on a cable needle, knit off the second stitch and then knit the first stitch from the cable needle.

I had not come across this technique before - I am delighted to learn something new!

The intriguing thing is that the outcome is slightly different for the Right Twist [* no it's not] (knit 2 together without slipping them off the left needle, knit the first stitch again and then slip both stitches off) than it is for the Left Twist (knit the second stitch through the back loop, then knit both stitches through the back loop and only then slip both stitches off the left needle).

The Left Twist (LT) results in the working thread slipping back out of the second stitch when you knit both stitches through the back loop.  I can't see how to avoid that.  The good thing is that this is not noticeable on the right side of the work.

The Right Twist* (RT) does not have the same problem because you knit both stitches together first, then the working thread goes into the first stitch without slipping back out of the second stitch.  If you get me.

I tried it different ways but as I said I can't see how to avoid this.

I also tried the LT as knitting the second stitch through the front loop (not worth the effort) as well as changing the first stitch's needle mount first and so keeping that first stitch open (as opposed to twisted) but again it doesn't make enough noticeable difference and may even look a touch more wonky.  Strangely enough!

This all is most intriguing.  I love little itty-bitty details like that.  Very glad I came across the technique.

The book (a Barbara Walker Knitting Treasury book) also suggested that some cable patterns can be adapted to be knit this way so you don't have to use a cable needle.  Not sure yet if I want to try that but there are plenty of Twisted Stitches patterns in Ms Walker's Treasury books.


Update: * Okay for completeness sake I need to correct my false statement above: the exact same happens with the Right Twist as with the Left Twist.  I'm an idiot.  I just didn't look at it properly - the working thread does slip when this is worked in either direction.  I'm really rather silly for not realising.
Still, at least I figured it out in the end.

Wahey! Version 2

And... voila!  Version 2

In pink this time.  Loads better than the blue one, still not as good as I'd like so I won't be making another one exactly like it.  It needs further refinement before I can use this as a template.

There is some diagonal pulling going on from the bust point downwards.  To be honest: I'm not really sure what causes that nor how to fix it.  I'll need to pop this on my tailor's dummy and investigate.  Maybe the bust darts need to be a bit deeper?

I am still glad how this falls from the shoulders, so that's a good starting point.  I'm happy with that.

I find the side picture the most interesting: I can see that the angle of the dart is rather too steep, I will raise the starting point.  The armhole is pretty baggy towards the top, that needs tightening up by taking the side seam in a bit more, both front (quite a bit more) and back (not nearly as much)

A spontaneous improvement on version 1: I used facings to sew behind the hems too - I did curve the front hem and wouldn't like any creasing from turning the hem just over.  I would have needed to steam the life out of it to get it to lie flat.

I am going to add a fastener at the top corners, just not got round to it yet.

The shoulders are definitely still too broad and I didn't cut the slimmer version rounded enough, I need to go in towards the middle a bit more because this bulges out a bit.  The centre back could do with a touch more cinching in than I did too.  Not sure if this will take care of the bunching up at the back of the waist - there is too much fullness there still.

All in all: quite happy with the improvement.  It was really interesting to work with a much stiffer less drapey fabric: much easier to sew but not as nice to wear.

I will have another try, again with a wearable muslin because I need to use up my stash fabrics.  I wonder what other material I have?  This one was a sort of quilt quality of cotton, it's a little on the stiff side for this type of top.

What I did hate about this are all the facings that need to go in.  I naively thought that this consisted of only two pieces: front and back, but when you count every single facing as well there are actually 12.  I must find out if there is something else I can use to prevent raw edges near the edges of the garment.  I don't want piping (don't like the look) but isn't there some kind of ribbon or braid that you can sew onto the inside to hide the overlocked edges turned inside?

I was even tempted to try rolled hems but that wouldn't be suitable.  I supposed I could just line the whole thing - I would grudgingly do facings for the neckline to make that sit better, but the rest?  Just bung in some lining in the right sort of colour on the inside.  I didn't mind the hem facings so much, they do improve the look of the garment no end and were much easier to deal with than turning the hem over twice but I did hate doing the armhole facings.  Just never-ending!

Maybe I should have a break from this top and start on my simple skirt template next?

Thick and thin blue summer top

I finished this in January 2011 but actually forgot to blog up. Here's the Ravelry link for anyone interested in the yarny details etc: Blue summer top.

Another project that finally made it from 95% to all done:

I tightened up the thread a bit more on the left hand side then the other when I sewed it up.  I will do that as well with a bit of spare thread to even things out on the other side.  When I get round to it...

Closer-up shots of the details:

If you don't have access to Ravelry, the yarn is a thick and thin acrylic by Texere called New Fancy.  It is a good price and I like that it looks quite glossy.

But I felt a bit of a fool for ordering one cone for evalution, liked what I saw and ordered more before knitting up a tension square.  How silly of me!  I would have realised that it is thick and thin - just from looking at it that fact hadn't jumped out at me.  Uh-oh.

I do like the effect of this in the resulting fabric. I just would have preferred this to be a smooth yarn.

I had to do some fancy foot work on the hem and the armhole facings.  Neither of those would lie flat: both kept flicking over.  Acrylic has that annoying characteristic of not blocking well.  The hem was initially only half the height - I picked up stitches and knitted downwards, repeating the same yarnover pattern, finishing with a purled turning ridge row and knit up an inside stocking stitch facing that I sewed up.

The armholes started out with a three stitch wide garter stitch that I worked in while knitting this.  The result was that they kept turning to the inside.  So again I picked up stitches and even though the orientation is different to the garter band, I just knit out a K1 P1 rib.  That seems to do the trick and stay in place where it's needed.

Phew.

I still have some of this yarn left. Ponderations...

Sock Sisterrs, guy knitters welcome - Dates & Details

Here is a summary of the Sock Sisterrs dates and how you can access further details about the monthly sock knitting group, - meeting in central London, UK.

Dates:
Mon 12 December 2011
Mon 9 January 2012
Thu 9 February 2012 - Royal Festival Hall
Thu 15 March 2012 - Caffe Nero, 83/84 Long Acre
...
Thu 21 Feb 2013 - Royal Festival Hall
Thu 21 March 2013 - Caffe Nero, 83/84 Long Acre

Check out the following for more info:

Meetup group - you can set your RSVP here and also find out about any last minute changes
Ravelry group - this is great for sharing pictures of projects. Discussion board available.
Google+ page - sharing sock related G+ posts from around the net
Blog Page - I will update the summary on this blog page

There is also a Facebook group (please access via the Blog Page link above).  I will not be able to update this on a regular basis so the links above are much more helpful.

Let me know if you have any questions!  You can email me via the Meetup group, or message me on Ravelry.  It would be lovely if you would let me know that you're coming along (short notice is absolutely fine).

This is a social get-together to sit, chat and knit. Unfortunately I will not be able to teach anyone to knit.  Feel free to pick my brain if you're stuck on your instructions or any other question - that's what the group is there for: exchange of ideas, tips, advice and being able to admire what socks other people are making.

Life lessons in knitting matters

Two's company, three's a crowd

Guess what this is! Yes indeed, it is three sleeves (for my wrap top from the Rebecca magazine).

How did that happen?  Well, here's where the lessons in knitting come in:

Once you knit sleeve number 1 with specific needles, then do go ahead and knit sleeve number 2 with the exact self same needles!  It will save time and effort.  It will!

This is because:

1. Even though short DPNs and long DPNs say that they are the same size does not mean they are
2. Putting both needles through a needle gauge at the same size don't mean nuthin.
3. When you find that one sleeve is way bigger than the other on the self same number of stitches: stop and think
4. Instead of ripping back to the cuff and re-knitting the whole lot with less stitches: do check the cuff size against each other too.  This might just be a really good idea!
5. Yes: when a sleeve is a different size with the same number of stitches as another sleeve, then the cuff with the same number of stitches as the other cuff is also a different size!
6. And no: do not think that it'll be all right because a different number of stitches does indeed mean that you get a different result, only imagine!  What a surprise.
7. And with all of the above having been said: do check the actual fabric you're getting by comparing what it feels like when you actually touch both sleeves!  You know: rub them a bit between your fingers - do the tactile thing.  Yes: the fabric you get with less stitches is lots thinner and even awfully more floppy than the fabric you get with more stitches!  D'uh!!

Longer DPNs on the left, shorter DPNs on the right

Yikes!

How could I?  I just kept on knitting, thinking: I am getting the same size now that I'm not increasing, I am, aren't I?  Surely it'll be all right?

Nooooo! It won't!!!  Don't be so daft.

I realised that I was getting knitted fabric where the stitches felt more 'spaced' out for want of a better word, and still: I kept on going!  I just don't believe myself.

Now, I am not convinced that those two kinds of needles really are slightly different in size - they are both supposed to be 2.5mm and seeing as the needle gauge also says they're 2.5mm I do tend to believe that they are.

But very obviously I am getting different results and the lesson has sunk in now: if you use short DPNs the first time round, then for God's sake: use the blasted things for the second sleeve as well!  What was I thinking?  Oh yeah: longer DPNs will mean that the stitches won't slip off the needles as easily as happened on the first sleeve.

Instead it might be a good idea to just use more of those shorter DPNs, I do have them after all (I like knitting two socks at the same time so I have two sets of most size sock needles). I wonder if the problem lies in stitches spacing out a bit more on longer needles?  Or the longer ones are indeed just a touch bigger?  At this thinness it could make a difference.  Regardless: I won't be making this mistake again.  I hope.

This is particularly galling because the front piece did not work out yet either.  I will blog this separately but I will have to rip this down quite a bit, or best yet like here: start over and keep comparing to the first version so I don't repeat my errors.

I am lucky that I have a tailor dummy in my measurements so I can pin a piece to it to check for fit.  No use for sleeves, but at least the re-doing of the front won't be a huge pain.

Having motored through the back in three days flat (including blocking! Wahey!) did set me up to think that this knit would be an absolute breeze.  Famous last words!

My 'further reading' is on its way!

I went to Franklin Habit's wonderful class at Knit Nation called 'Photographing your fibre' and it was a great workshop.

I finally learnt the basics of photography - that's where all those seemingly tricky settings on your photo camera come in!  And surprise, surprise: they don't seem all that tricky, or certainly not difficult at all, when someone explains them to you in connection with the results you're hoping to achieve. Hah!

Like taking pretty pics for my Ravelry projects page.  Or even this here blog thingy.  Probably more the blog than the Ravelry page but my new found knowledge will, I feel entitled to hope, contribute to both!

Franklin recommended the National Geographic Guide to Photography, by: the Editors thereof.  So I had a mooch around the various online sites that get most of my book buying custom these days, and that's when things got a touch confusing.

It turns out that National Geographic has not just published one book on photography, but there's a whole series of them!

Yikes!

Now I was quite sure that I wanted the sort of beginners book that would explain the basics just like Franklin's class did so well. I wanted to go over all those settings again, and I was also very intrigued by Franklin mentioning that the guide goes into what to do with the digital snapshots on the computer with something like Photoshop. Fabulous!

So guides for photo film cameras as well as black and white photography were immediately out.  I also have no need (just yet, but give me time!) to get the one about landscape photography (I don't think my knitted projects have anything particularly panoramic to them...) nor the action shot photography that I almost dumped in my shopping basket before I realised that there's more than one (right at the very beginning before aforesaid confusion set in).

I almost got the one where the customer reviews describe their delight in having various Nat Geo photographers describe their tips, when I wondered if they'd ever taken pictures of knitting and came to the conclusion that, sadly, they probably hadn't.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel quite certain in that little bit of crystal ball divining...

I briefly considered the 'People and Portraits' version (seeing as models come under people, and portraits might have to do with things being close up) but was put off by the fact that there are named authors and not 'the editors' that Franklin mentioned.  I could at least make the attempt to get the one he described!  No matter how difficult and time-consuming this endeavour was turning out!  No: perseverance, girl, that's what you need, I told myself...

So after a fairly lengthy process of eliminating all those that I felt weren't the most ideal first buy, I was still left with two books that I couldn't make my mind up between!

Here are their covers:

   

They are both called the National Geographic Field Guide to Photography, - the first one has the subtitle: Digital (I reckon that's a good one if I wish to sidestep all those tips that might apply to the old-fashioned photo film cameras and associated techniques) and the second one says: Secrets to Taking Great Pictures.

Well, I'm sorry! But I was sold on the second one!
I have no idea if this is a good one to get, but come on! The promise of learning secrets - I mean that's what gossip is based on, isn't it?  The allure of finding out something that not everybody knows, basically the definition of a secret. Though at least one customer review said that though they appreciated what they learnt, they were still left confused about just what those secrets were meant to be...

So you've already guessed the outcome: of course I got both. Duh. (This is me we're talking about: Ms Overenthusiastic!)

But only (that's my justification) because I went for the used option and got both of them on the cheap.  I'm sure the words in them are just the same as in a new book and should this copy ever fall apart I'll be able to re-buy the one that I preferred.  I don't mean to boast but including postage I got both for under a tenner (in Great British Pounds, or Sterling, that is) - none too shabby!

I'm very pleased with my shopping spree and I am even more delighted to be advised that both books were despatched already as well.

I shall keep you updated on what they are like and if I like them.

Wasn't it lovely

Knit Nation 2011 was lovely!  I thoroughly enjoyed the market place and bought way too much yarn (definitely not a surprise, I knew I would and everyone who knows me knew I would as well.)

And Franklin Habit's class 'Photographing Your Fibre' was brilliant!

I tend to cycle through my hobbies.  Knitting has been the thing for the last two and half year when it was other things before.  Photography is one of them.

So I've been wanting to get better at taking photos for quite a while.  The Knit Nation class sounded great: combining two of my interests in a class given by someone who's blog I read and like a lot.  Brilliant combination!

It was fantastic.  I finally know what a f-stop is and what it does!  Hurrah!  It's about depth of field!
So if you've got your lovely model wearing a fantastic jumper you knit and want to showcase then an interesting backdrop is not a bad idea.  If however said background is so very busy that it crowds out the model let alone the great jumper, then that ain't such a great thing...

So if you set your f-stop setting to a measure that will reduce the dept of field so that the background is no longer in sharp focus but gets blurred out a little, then that's much better!

I learnt so much - about the types and sources of light.  I found out that trying to take photographs on a sunny, cloudless day is not the best way to go about it, and that a bit of cloud cover is much better because it diffuses that direct sunlight a bit.  Or you can have your model in a deep porch with the sun to one side.

Another very good thing to remember: keep the sun over your shoulder (if you're the photographer, ahem) to make sure that the sunlight lights up your model's face instead of framing a perfect silhouette if the sun is behind your model.

I really liked the fact that Franklin made the technical information about the settings on a photo camera so accessible and letting me connect them in my head with what I am trying to achieve.  The whole photography subject just doesn't seem quite so complicated any more!

Isn't that fab?

Now the only 'problem' is that I need a new camera... Not just want but need. My old one has been getting increasingly dodgy and I now know that it only boasts some preset settings (macro, portrait, mid distance and landscape, I think) and doesn't allow any further choice. Not something I can practice my newly won skills with!

I saw someone else's camera that allows you to display the settings you used to take a picture.  Now that sounds like an eminently sensible function to have!  I didn't know of this, I was already considering whether I needed to write up little cards with setting notes to include in the photo - while I'm practising. This is much better!

Yes, I do believe that I -need- a new camera...

Photos of the yarns I got are to follow.

The dreaded sewing up bit...

I'm sure you've been there: you were enthusiastically knitting, crocheting, dressmaking, whatever... - it was all going so well!  You got very close to the finish line: you cast off your knitting, did the last bit of crochet, machine stitched the last hem... and nothing.

Dead stop in the water.

Those pesky finishing touches!  Loose threads to weave in, seams to sew or crochet up, buttons to sew on... I'm sure you know the exact type of thing I'm talking about.  Aren't they just horrendous to accomplish?

It's as if you were filled with all the joys of spring: boundless energy to motor through the bulk of your project, and just as soon as you get to within the last 5%, it all just peters out and you feel about as energetic as a depleted bouncy castle. Lacklustre and unenthusiastic doesn't even begin to cover it!

I think I might have had a good idea.  And boy is it paying off!  Do it the easy way!

That is if you're in the habit of meeting up with friends for crafty endeavours.  Or maybe even when you're not doing that already, maybe this is the start of a beautiful leisure pursuit!

Anyway, before I get waxing too lyrically: I had the rather utterly fantastic idea to propose a 'sewing-up' meeting of my knitting group (as one of our odd ones).  We had sock meetings, crochet get-togethers, evenings for tapestry and needlework - why not theme one as the encouragement to finish those pesky WIPs off?

And do you know what?  It's worked before it even happened.  Because 'The event' is taking place tonight and because I didn't want to run around the house like a panicked blue-bottomed fly, I actually collected a few projects in advance and stuck them into a carrier bag which, even better!, I then managed to take with me for tonight!  Now if that's not success in the making, I don't know what is.

Wait!  It got even better.

At lunchtime I -actually- (woo! Surprising myself here) managed to sit and start on one of those four projects that I took along.  Two smaller, two bigger ones.  I mended a hole in a favourite cardigan (major success! I've been wanting to wear said cardie for simply ages) and a hole in a sock (how do you get a huge hole in the back of a sock heel on only wearing it twice? I don't get that at all) - and I even started on whip-stitching the binding for a quilted pot holder, a project that's been lying around for about a year and lots and lots-of-time-I-don't-really-care-to-add-up-right-now... {cough}.

The one project I was hoping to be getting on with is the one I haven't started yet.  But it's only lunchtimes, the day is still young... so I could conceivably dedicate myself to that one as my main task of the evening?  Here's hoping...

It's my plum-coloured leightweight top that I knit from the back hem up, increasing into the sleeves and then down the front to the front hem.  With lots of holding against myself for measuring.  It's 1 ply held double and I already crocheted one of the side seams.  It took an entire evening!  Not happy.  Not looking forward to the second one, really need to get motivated here...

Keep your fingers crossed!  Any progress shall be joyfully reported forthwith!

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.

Garter stitch in the round without purling - a link

I have just found a blog post about the most genius way of knitting garter stitch in the round without purling or wrapping a stitch when turning the work for another knit row when going the other way.

Here is the link:

http://fleeglesblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/modestly-named-fleegle-corner-trick.html

This is utterly brilliant and Fleegle is an out and out genius for coming up with this! Like someone said in the comments: I would have never thought of this. Not in a million years.

I just had to share this. This is something I will definitely try very soon!

Brilliant.