Soulemama's fabric hoops

fabric hoops
Originally uploaded by SouleMama

The past couple of days, I have mostly been inspired by Soulemama. She took the idea of the framed fabrics from The Purl Bee, who has a fabulous display of Liberty fabrics in wooden embroidery hoops.

I've been working in the shed for a whole year now and the walls are still bare, even though every other available surface is covered with fabric.

I don't know yet whether I'm going to go for embroidery hoops or old photo frames, but whichever I decide, I'm really looking forward to choosing the different fabrics to go inside them, and making a little display on my wall.

Soulemama also introduced me to Superbuzzy, which has the most amazing selection of novelty-print fabrics.

Later this afternoon I'm going to be placing an order with Superbuzzy, and another with Cia's Palette. Cia also has the most fantastic range of fabrics which simply aren't available in the UK. She's also really helpful, and replies to her emails personally. I like that kind of service, especially when I'm buying from such a long way away.

The fabrics will take a couple of weeks to get here, but as soon as they do I'll be making a little flurry of simple tote bags. Watch this space...

It seems I owe Nicky Epstein an apology.

In the greatest tradition of these things, it's not her, it's me.

I did say that I was mathematically challenged, when I was complaining about this cardigan pattern being all wrong. As it turns out, I am also challenged in the department of being able to read a knitting pattern. Oops.

What I was trying to do was:
k12 sl1 k1 psso k1 k2tog, k12 sl1 k1 psso k1 k2tog, k12 sl1 k1 psso k1 k2tog...

and what I should I have been doing was this:

k12 sl1 k1 psso k1 k2tog k12, k12 sl1 k1 psso k1 k2tog k12, k12 sl1 k1 psso k1 k2tog k12...

Spot the extra "k12" in the second line, which makes all the difference.


Anyway, I have now finished the back, and aside from my own stupidity, it was extremely easy to knit.

The waist shaping at the back is achieved entirely by the cables pulling the knitting in - there's no shaping in the back at all, apart from the armholes.

The last photo is probably the most accurate in terms of the colour. The wool is Rowanspun Chunky, which I bought in the sale at Cucumberpatch

The only change I've made so far is that I'm knitting it on 7.5mm needles instead of 8mm. The smallest size given in the pattern was 38" and I wanted mine to be a little tighter than that, so hopefully the slightly smaller gauge will make just enough difference.

(You watch the damn thing turn out too small now!)

Simplicity in "Pattern Fits First Time" Shocker!

Actually, that title is a) uncharitable, and b) not entirely true. ;)

I can usually rely on Simplicity patterns, in that a size 14 is usually pretty much my size. A bit big in the bust, a bit tight in the waist, but nothing that a little fiddling about with can't sort out. This pattern conforms exactly to my expectations - all I need to do is let out the darts a little bit in the front.

I'm talking about Simplicity 6373, which I bought the other week, and have been slowly putting together a toile for myself in between other work.

I'm making view C, with the wider skirt.
(I cut the skirt on a fold though, because I didn't like the seam down the front.)

The darts fit absolutely perfectly in the back, mostly because my back is very curved, and therefore the right shape for a 1950s pattern. Unfortunately my front is also curved, hence my needing to let out the darts a little bit! It's probably only a matter of an inch and a half though, divided across all six darts, and that should also give me enough room to fit a long sleeved t-shirt underneath in the winter.

I'm very pleasantly surprised that this dress has been such a joy to put together. I've bought any number of 1950s reproduction patterns, mostly from Butterick and Vogue, and every time the pattern sizing has been completely wrong for a modern figure. It looks as though this Simplicity pattern has been re-graded, which pleases me greatly. It's very demoralising to have to take out twelve inches from the bust of a Vintage Vogue pattern to get it to fit you.

Simplicity 3673 is also pretty frugal with its fabric requirements, expecially for a 1950s style. View C only uses 2.6 metres in my size, so it's going to be an affordable dress to make, as well as a practical one. I just need to add pockets into the side seams, and it's pretty much perfect!

I rather like quite a few of Simplicity's Retro patterns (type "retro" into the keyword search and ignore the costumes!), so I very much hope that it's a trend they're going to continue.

One down, four to go...

Recently I have been mostly making itty bitty things for my sister's wedding, which is rapidly approaching. I say "itty bitty" in the sense that these things are not enormous great bridesmaids' dresses, but I swear it would have been quicker to make a bunch of dresses than these cravats!

They need such a lot of hand-sewing that they take a really long time to put together. I'm really pleased with the way this first one looks though - now I just need to add the knots to the remaining four. (And make five matching pocket hankies. And get them back to my sister.)

I've also been helping out with some jewellery and hair accessories. The little green chiffon flowers were originally brooches. Two of them are now on snappy hair clips (as modelled!), and one is on an elastic bobble.

The diamante bracelet just needed a new clasp, and the little sparkly petal bracelet had to be shortened to make it fit a four-year-old.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be making the alterations to my bridesmaid's dress (it's this one, but I'll be adding spaghetti straps), and then we'll be good to go!

Nicky Epstein's Cardigan with Cabled Points

Has anybody ever successfully knit Nicky Epstein's Cardigan with Cabled Points?

The pattern is in a supplement with this month's Knitting magazine (UK). I find it suspicious that I've just trawled through fifty-four pages of Google images and the whole of Flickr, and I can't find a single photograph of the finished garment. (I'd try Ravelry, but I'm still 31,783rd in the queue to join!)

I'm asking because I spent the whole of yesterday afternoon unravelling the damn thing. I am amazed at how utterly wrong a pattern can be, and still make it through to publication!

I was making the smallest size, for which the instructions are:

Cast on 116.
Row 1: K12, skp, k1, k2tog, k12 - rep to end.

Except that first row only adds up to 114 stitches.

I decided to persevere, pulling the two extra stitches off the needle, carefully unpicking the slip knot and unravelling them, in order not to have to unravel the entire thing straight away.

Row 2: p. Not much that can go wrong there.

Row 3: k11, skp, k1, k2tog, k11 - rep to end.

Uh-oh. These decreases don't line up neatly with the ones below. (Which is what we want if we're making points.) I persevere, and reach the end of my last k11 with a mere seven stitches left over.

This is not going well.

I break out the calculator.

Anyone who knows me will be aware that my maths skills are pretty much non-existent, so there may have been a certain amount of swearing involved at this point. I carefully work out the new repeats, unravel the whole thing, and start again with 114 stitches. Unfortunately my carefully worked out maths is completely wrong, and I have to unravel the first three rows and start again for the third time.

Third time lucky - I put in lots and lots of stitch markers where I want the decreases for the points to be. It's like knitting a porcupine, but at least I now have clues as to what I'm supposed to be doing. I decrease away happily.

Unfortunately, by row 9 I already have fewer stitches than I'm supposed to have at the end of row 13, and my points aren't coming out the right shape (according to the picture) at all. I've checked the internet for corrections, and all I can find is something relating to the numbering of rows on the sleeves. Nothing at all which mentions the maths for the points is all wrong.

It's at this point that I give up, unravel the entire thing again, and start knitting a nice simple cardigan from Simply Knitting March 2007. I'm adding some shaping to the back to make it a bit less like a giant rectangle with two cables down the front, but so far it's knitting up beautifully and I can't fault the pattern at all.



I'd be quite interested to know whether anybody at Knitting actually had to knit the cardigan that's shown in the picture, or whether it was a stock photo from one of Nicky Epstein's books. Either way, I'd be interested to know how a pattern which is so completely wrong can make it through to publication without anybody apparently having knitted it! The mistakes are obvious by the second row, so you'd be aware of the problem straight away.



If anybody does actually have a list of errata for this pattern, I'd really like to see it. I really want to knit it, as it's a beautiful cardigan, but I'm damned if I can figure out how to fix the pattern by myself!

Coats and Dresses...

Today I am mostly being inspired by these patterns:

I love coats and jackets, and I particularly love oversized ones with giant buttons or enormous collars. I'd like to make the green one with the asymmetric collar with one truly GIGANTIC button at the neck. (I probably wouldn't go for Kermit-green though.) I have a particular liking for dolman sleeves, mostly because you don't have to fiddle about getting the sleeve head to fit nicely into the armscye. Also, when you're a person who waves their hands about a lot, you get a good range of arm movement. ;)

The second coat, which is from a 1952 pattern, I love because of the great big pockets, and the oversized style. Think how soft and comfortable this would be in a nice warm fleece. (Yes, I know polyester fleece is hardly a 1952-appropriate fabric, but that sort of thing's never bothered me.) You could make a fabulous evening version in velvet, or in a heavy matte satin, with velvet cuffs and facings. I'd probably go for polar fleece with skulls on, but that's just me...




This first dress is yet another 1950s reproduction pattern. I keep hoping that by some miracle I will actually develop a waist, and then be the right shape to fit into these styles of dress, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon. I particularly like the middle version though, with the fuller skirt. If you click through to the front & back illustration, you can see that the fullness is brought in under the bust with lots of darts. I have a theory that it should be possible to let the darts out to fit me without completely ruining the shape of the dress, so I think I might buy this pattern and give it a try. I'd quite like to make it with the bodice in a contrasting colour, although I think this dress might be a good candidate for my flamingo broadcloth.

The second dress I like for the same reason - the shape is made using lots and lots of tucks, and I love the effect that this produces in this gingham! I love the striped section round the waist, and I'd love to give this pattern a go in a smaller gingham, even though that would probably mean making double the number of tucks. I'd probably leave out the lace trim around the bottom though - or I'd apply it on the top of the fabric rather than having a cut-out. Nobody really needs to see my knees, these days!



It's been three weeks since I've had a chance to get out into the Shed and sew, and I really miss it.