Warming up

Many people who are playing Tour de Fleece seem to do a lot of fibre preparation.  Me?  I am not quite ready for that though I will get there before days end.  If you happen to be a reader like my sisters, who knows not of the Tour de Fleece, google it.  It explains it with way fewer words than I ever could.

As I mentioned the other day, I found a few small bags of fibre.

They were still going to be a thing to play with, though I suppose it is all play when you get down to it but the play is complicated by this.

This is a giant ziploc filled with prepped fibre from the fleece, a Southdown Dorset or a border Leicester cross (I will know once I remeasure the locks) I washed a few years ago. I had kind of forgotten, maybe blocked is a better word, this bag.   There is a lot more of that fleece that needs carding but that is otherwise washed and ready to go.  I had been spinning it on the Vic woollen spun so it is right up there with what I wanted to do during this challenge. Should I work first with this fibre to get it our of the way?  I have to make that decision soon.

Along with fibre I forgot to remember, I found another bobbin for the S51.  So I have four!  this is really thrilling news because it means that I can use three for spinning and one for plying.  Not that I am ready to make a three ply yet, but soon.  It means I can use only the S51 for the Tour if I want.

This morning with my coffee, I am reading.  And remembering things people have said as they talked about their spinning.  I have another book or two in my library but these came to hand quickly.

I am trying to pay particular attention to The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs because it is the newest of my spinning books purchased only a short while before the world shut down.  It came highly recommended and seems to have easy to find answers to some of my really newbie questions.  Even after all this time of knowing the basics, I still feel I am a beginner. Just a newbie.  If I get to consistency, or reasonably consistent, I might think about feeling like a newbie who makes yarn.  

Anyway, lots to do, lots of interesting things on the pile to play with and a couple wheels to wake from their long sleep.  Time to get moving along.

Note!!  One more exciting thing.  When I purchased some loom stuff w while ago, I picked up some storage bobbins from Leclerc. They are not huge but are twice the size of the standard weaving bobbin and makes a great storage device for spun singles.  The down side was that they were not compatible with the Louet kates.  The kate shaft was a bit too big.  However, these sweet little Clampykates fit the storage bobbins perfectly.  I will be able to ply straight from them.  Woo hooo  

So About the Tour De Fleece

Yes, I am going to try my hand to help a team at Tour de Fleece.

It all goes back to sewing in a way.  The more sewing felt good and natural to fit in my days and the more garments I completed, the more I knew that if I could still knit all afternoon and still get plenty of things completed, enough to keep me warm at least, then I would be knitting enough for my soul.  There were days when it felt like suddenly, I had a much more balanced life.  I wasn't consumed by knitting.  I love knitting beyond anything, but it can feel like I am consumed by the need to knit and that is not healthy.  Suddenly I had found that there were other things that I fit into a daily routine that gave me a huge sense of satisfaction and pleasure and fulfillment in the same way that knitting did.  

I have not been spinning regularly since before the pandemic and I was really starting to miss it.  Sometimes I would pick it up and play a bit with the parts and repairs that my S51 wheel needed and I would dream of all the pretty braids of roving that the dyers out there seem to make.  But I just never got going.  

I was also running out of bobbins.  I only have three bobbins for my little Victoria wheel and the S 51 came with one.  I had been planning to order more bobbins from Akerworks for a long time.  When I sat down to order the Vic bobbins,  Akerworks had just announced that they were putting out a new kind of Kate system, a portable one that could be mounted to anywhere and anything.  I have never been happy with my kate situation.  I had two kinds and found they would fall over or slip and slide on my floors.  That lack of stability made me even more tense doing something that made me tense to start with.  

I decided to wait till Akerworks had this cool new Kate ready.  Such things always take a while but I kept watching and waiting and thinking about it.  The only thing I did not do was spin.  And then one day, Akerworks released the Clampy Kates for sale.  I was going to order but right about then, they announced that they were sending out their Irish tension bobbins for Louet wheels like my S 51 for testing.  I was floored.  I thought they were never going to get there!  But I made the choice to wait again.  

I like the blue.  I love the yellow.  Seriously love it.  These are the big bobbins for the S51 and I now have a fleet of three big bobbins.  i decided that with the new fleet of bobbins for a wheel I prefer to ply on, I really ought to try working with just the three bobbins for the Victoria.  The plan is to be able to ply off and keep the Victoria bobbins empty so they are always ready for spinning.

Two Clampy Kates!  My original intention was to purchase one of the beautiful AkerKates  But these will work so much better for me.  I can attach them to any of my many bookcases and they will be still!  Plus, the little tensi tamer they come with will ensure that the bobbins remain on the Kate with only minimal bouncing around as fibre unwinds.  

I am really looking forward to trying all my pretty new things out.

And then along comes changes in the world and all most of the local ladies who have been zooming with me are going back to meet ups at libraries and coffee shops as the worlds steps back from its Covid responses and starts to treat the beastie as more of an endemic sort of creature.  I am not really interested in driving to the city all the time to meet them.  Its a wonderful group and I miss them all but the cost to drive in would take all of my fun money.  There would be no picking up supper from the local food places, no fancy deserts once in a while from the grocery here (which carries M&M products).  There couldn't be the odd bottle of Baileys.  And there surely wouldn't be anything I could save up to get the odd bit of really special yarn.

I went looking for other groups of Zoom knitter's on Ravelry and got in contact with one of them, the IVKN group, The International Virtual Knit Nights group, and have been knitting with them the last few weeks.  They are a subscription sort of group but it yearly and less then the cost of a trip to the city.  I have no problem with this at all.  It doesn't break my budget at all.  I have really enjoyed meeting them and knitting and chatting with people from all around the world.  And not having to go out and buy a fancy coffee, I can just have my own?  Kind of priceless.

They asked right away if I was a spinner.  With Tour De Fleece coming up, they are madly prepping to be ready for the start of it on July 1 and there is a lot of spinning talk.  I've been a bit energised by this and when the call was put out to put your name in or hold your peace, I put my name in.  

I would really like to get through some of the very large stash of rovings I have.  Eventually, I want to get through my fleeces, but with the layer of carding they need to prep it, I didn't feel ready.  So bags of ready prepped rovings it is.  I would like to get at least one bag done.  It feels like a really good starting goal to me.  I can see the single bags end.

The whole shebang of the fibre stash. On the bottom, two giant tubs of fleeces, one partially filled with prepped rovings.  The first blue lidded tub from the bottom is al prepared rovings.  The top one is more of a mixed bag.  It is all prepared fibre but it comes from several sources and a bit is dyed as you can see here.

The only dyed fibre I have at the moment.  All the rest of it is plain sheep colours.

I pulled out these carded preps for now.  It is just a plain bit of fibre from a local mill. I will use them as a warm up, to get the S 51 wheel working and to get a feel for spinning back into my hands and feet.  And then, at the start of the tour,  I am going to get a start on one of the other bags of roving.  So many kinds.  Such good stuff to play with.

I have never done this before and I am going to have to read up on the rules and ways and means of the competition. I am generally not a MKal joiner but this fits in so neatly with my plans anyway and it will be fun to learn a bit more about all the lovely people in this new group.  Focussing and getting ready is going to keep my busy the rest of the week.

Monogamous knitting

I have been surprisingly monogamous to the project.  Which one you should ask because there are so many things to do right now.

The project is of course the two Eltons.  The green is a wonderful knit and is getting a really good workout when I am zoom knitting (social knitting for the 2020's)  It easy to track and quick to move along because all the yarn is exactly the same.  It is only the colourway that changes.  After the weekend of fairly steady work on it, I am now six inches, almost seven from the underarm.  

At the beginning of the project, I confess that I was a bit worried about the two colours being too close to each other, that there was too much of a couple particular shades of green in it to be good for stripes.  But Twitchy Hands, the new home of my ever so often viewed Colorsong Yarns, advised that the Tempest cardigan looked best if there was some of  the main tonal colour choice in the multi colour yarn.  I think that even though my stripes on the Elton Cardigan are smaller than those on the Tempset Cardigan, you can see the wisdom of that advice.  I think it is looking marvelous.  I can't wait to wear it!

Elton number two is also coming along nicely.  This is a slower go.  I am being very careful to be sure and catch every strand, every loop of the airy mohair as I work. It is very deliberate careful work.  It is also on wooden needle tips which is just automatically slower.  I knit on this one when it is just me watching TV or reading a book.  It's only two inches below the armscye but believe me, it feels great to be here.  

This is also probably the truest photo I have yet of what these yarns look like.  It was taken at days end with blinds and curtains open and full light.  I am writing that down so I remember what it was like when I took it.  

I love stipes.  I could knit a whole world of stripes.  Sigh.  I am sseriously consdering Utkiek for my next project.  I thought about Douglas cardi but I like the crisp way the edges are done on Utkiek better.  So stripes, but wider.  

Knitting is good but today will have less knitting.  Today is more of a house errand day and that is already well begun begun.  And when I do have time later, I must pull out my rovings and fleeces.  Because I am going to compete in Tour de Fleece this year!  More about that tomorrow though.  Time to head of and do some chores.

The Beauty and the Beast

I felt like sewing yesterday.  I went in and did my wee bit of patching and another bit of ironing and then kept working on the yellow blouse.  When I paused I had all the picky bits, the bits with interfacing done.  It was time to get to the main assembly.

The back yoke was attached without any problems and the burrito roll was just as fun as the first time I did it.  After the very finished look of the hidden seams from burrito rolling, I put the collar on and I swear to you it was utterly flawless.  I mean really perfect.  The marks all matched.  The ends of the two piece collar just fitted ever so perfectly.  It takes just one small wrong move to get a fold stuck into the seam and I had none of it.  I sewed down the inside of the collar and it was just as perfect as you could hope for.  It went so smoothly.

Then I put on the sleeves.  Well one sleeve.  There is always a bit of ease required for a sleeve and just went perfectly.  No folds, no puckers, no little blips of excess showed.  It just all lay perfectly flat when it was done.  I could hardly believe this was me sewing because it was so right, so cleanly good.  That is my failing you see, that lack of perfection that effortless sewers and quilt top piecers have.  But it was just so right, so utterly right.  I finished the edges on the seam with great care.  By this time, I did not want to mess anything up.  I turned to the ironing board with a very full heart, to give it a good press before completing the  long side seam, laid it all out nice and straight and saw this.

My beautiful sleeve seam is attaching the right side of the sleeve to the wrong side of the front. I just backed away, turned off the sewing machine, unplugged the iron.  I just couldn't.  I only stopped to take a picture so I could look at it in a few minutes again and show myself that yes, this is really how it is.

This is a fabric with no right side that I can figure out.  It has been a bit of a struggle all along.  It is possible that my shirt fronts are attached to the wrong sides.  I wouldn't really know.  

The saving grace might be the particular construction of this shirt.  It is possible that if I just redo the darts and make the right side this side that I won't need to recut and redo the whole sleeve.  Before I can decide if I can get away with this cheat, I need to look at the front button plackets.  I sewed them a bit differently than the pattern called for due to the nature of my all sides are good fabric but that may save me here.  My two plackets match exactly.

If that is done well, then I think I might just do the quick fix.  It will make only place you can really tell rights from wrongs by the difference in the way the collar is attached on the 'inside' and the 'outside'.  Who knows which are which, except for that bit of sewing that will show at the back of my neck.  And if I unpicked that bit, and did a wee bit of hand sewing, would make it look exactly the same. 

That will be this afternoons job.   I will be ready then to face the beauty and the beast of it all.

A good Time to go through the socks.

I am glad I took the time to write of my quandary.  It always helps to write things down.  I am a crappy writer but a decent editor and writing, then editing clarifies everything for me.  Writing my way through the choices for yesterday, made it easy to pick and easier to avoid the ones I really did not.  It clarified all the reasons why and why not in my mind. Boring to read but an important process to go through and not so easy unless I do it the way that works with my brain.  I needed to think more honestly about what I should sew next  and what is needed next rather than feed a nameless need and that applies to yarn too.  So WIPS it was.

I dug out socks.  All of them. I really like the dirt cheap bags I found to keep them in.  a very nice and secure option.  They are just a string pull bag, but I wrap the long string around the top of the bags.  They are perhaps more secure in these than the plastic.  The hard part of this change over has been that you cannot see through these nice cotton bags.   They will be labeled before they go back into the bin this time.  

The social knitting socks.  I am pretty sure these are going to be plain socks.  If they are anything more they will only be ribbed.  I need a couple plain pair for social knitting.

The spare pair.  These are supposed to be for when I cannot fine the other plain ones for social knitting.  Usually can't find this one either.

This pair, the Gentleman's Shooting Socks.  It's a nice pattern for the days when I need something and don't want to follow a book.

A Drawer Full from the Knitmore Girl's Operation Sock Drawer book.  I've never done colourwork socks before.  I have always wanted to, but just never gotten there.  So, we shall see how I like how they feel and how they fit.  That fit is the much more important part though.  It will be nice to know and to understand.  

This pair is taken off the very dainty Baby Bootkin sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.  This one makes me laugh because this is exactly the pattern I was looking for an explanation to when I was knitting my Shetland Shawl's border.  I knew it was out there and I knew it was not what the Lewis book advised.  Here it is and I am enjoying it.

And these.  This is of socks where I felt I could improve the design of the striping by adding just a wee bit more well placed dark colour. Though I wish I had dug a bit deeper for a real black alternate yarn, this gray is very pleasing.  I meant to do a short row heel by now in the solid gray but I lost my little measuring thing and I am past the point where a short row heel ought to go.  Not much past.  I may yet pull it back and put the heel in properly.  

There you have it.  Warm toes for winter.  

No. Wait.  I have one more!  I need to keep the book at hand for these.  I keep losing my place in the pattern for the honey comb but it is a very fun and engaging knit.

And that is my round up on all things sock. I feel better and more settled.

What to do

I am having a bit of a time stopping the fabric thing.  It is so easy to see all the pretties and to imagine them as various clothes but the danger is having too many that I have no where to put them.  

Sigh.  It is the season where all the pretties for summer go on sale in the buy 1 get three bins.  The fiscal danger remains relatively low, but the spiritual and imaginitive creative danger is high, very very high.

It's that way with yarn right now too. Midknit Cravings I am looking at you.  RCY.  You too.  Your yarns are not off the list of things I dream of.  Sigh.

It may help if I work on getting some things done to give myself the freedom to start more.  That is quite possible.  My general comfort level is usually about 12 to 15 things on the go.  I have 12 right now and that feels a tad low.  I could start something but I am really enjoying everything i am working on.  Starting ought to wait till i feel tetchy and antsy.

I am going to dig in my WIP bin and organize it a bit.  Last week I was looking for an easy knit and had trouble finding any of the socks.  There are at least 6 ongoing at the moment.  I kept finding the sme two as I was digging.  I love the new bags I am using but I really need bag tags.  

So start something new, or tidy the WIP bin or buy fabric or yarn?  What to do, what to do.  

Step by Step

It was a lovely weekend in so many ways and a sort of miserable one in others.   My knitting was king.   This is where the F1 blanket was at the start of the weekend

and this is where it is after the Canadian Grand Prix which was this past weekend.  It was a fantastic race and I swear I knit my heart out on the blankie but

It kind of looks the same.  I know that I put on at least 7 or 8 rows Which is pretty good.  F1 takes a break in August but I think for me that is going to mean that it has to be knit on heavily in their break period if I want to meet my goal, which is to have it complete by the end of the season.

Can I tell you a bit of a secret though?  I still love knitting this stupid pattern.  It's just like that year when Kay from Modern Daily Knitting went nuts over the honeycomb stitch Plus, I would love to see

 what this looks like in deep forest green or in the darkest claret.  I would love to play with a bright yellow too, a really strong fierce eye popping yellow, but I think that would mean changing out the red rows for another colour.  But yeah.  There will probably be another of these blankets in my life in the not too far off future.  You would think seven would be enough, but no, not at all.

Keeping with the theme of exciting knits, I present this.

This is Luda's Elton all joined together at the armscye.  Whoooooooohoooo.

Even if it is just by one row.

The rows will be longer now, but this means the whole sweater is about a third done, a bit more in the case of the Eltons.  Elton has a dropped shoulder so you are knitting much more of the garment that an average yoke.  You are also knitting the top third of the sleeves.

I think I have the yoke part of my Sundog variation thought out.  I don't want to start it just yet.  I really want to go froward on the Eltons first before I fly off the handle and wander in the land of my favourite Midknit Cravings Pesto.  

Rainy days

It is raining here this morning, a nice drenching rain but not pounding.  It is the kind that will make things thrive and grow green and good.  We have had a few of these the last week or so.  And it was so very very needed.

It could rain like this every day all summer before our sloughs and ponds and groundwaters would be filled and up to par.  

Meantime I will listen to this oldie.  The bells in the background, xylophone maybe, sound like pinging drops. 

Where to Begin?

I did not knit yesterday at all.  Or did I?  I hardly recall.  All I know is that the afternoon was a nap.  From about 2 till just before 5, I slept.  It was a warm cozy nap rather than a deep sleep but it was better than average.  It often turns out that way when I throw out this

So it covers from nose to toes.  It may be light in weight, airy almost, but it is so warm.  It really is the perfect thing for summer, all warmth and no weight.  Whatever it is, I sleep cozy under it.  Sadly though, I am still not feeling very well.  I am supposed to go to play with Marcus today but I really am not sure if I am up to it.   A sleep would be better for my general health but what would be better for Marcus general health??

I am looking hard at how I should start the not round yoke version of my Sundog sweater.  I have taken it completely apart and I really want to start it again.  I love working with the yarn and I can't wait to wear it.

The issue is how to do the neckline.  The original Sundogs has a lovely open neckline but even when I was going to knit to the pattern, I had plans to add a collar to the neckline.  That's just my usual upper back chills and that still is an issue.  

I have thought about knitting a turtleneck to match the bottom on this sweater in the green I have reserved for this.  What I am not sure of is just how high the neckline of the probable raglan yoke will be.  V neck or henley type opening?  Or perhaps, considering what the turtleneck adds to it all a simple boatneck and a simultaneous knit sleeve? If I had another skein of Mid Knit Cravings Kelp Forest , I would do a wide open neck as the original design has.  I only have one skein of Kelp Forest and I would like to do sleeve cuffs and hem in the plain colour.  I think I am already over the limit with my collar plan.

I want to sort this out today while I watch the first day of the F1 Canadian Grand Prix.  I have the F1 blanket to knit for the time when the cars are on track and have the complex problem of picking a starting point for the sweater for the rest of the day.  

Or should that be Starting Point?  No.  No.  That is not today's project and we are not going to talk about it.  Not at all.

Thursday morning

I had a busy morning so far, booking some appointments and getting callbacks and general stuff.  And no, I did not sleep in.  It just took this long for my regular routine to get going.  Next task to do today, I will make my lunch.

As I said last night, I am aiming to sew, and I have made a good start but I might hold it off for another day.  My head isn't clear enough for sewing.  Wee bit of a headache as the storms we have had the last few days move out and a period of more stable sunny weather comes in. Still it was good to have a look.  Just looking at it, moving it around, feeling it in my hands and I feel more like sewing.

I went in to assess exactly where I was and what comes next.

Darts have been sewn.  Button bands are done on both fronts.

The two piece collar is done.  My next step is a fun one.

This next bit is where I sew the back yoke, play with the back pleat and then get to goof off doing the burrito roll.  It is after that bit that it get harder again but only for a wee bit.  The collar has to go on once the shoulders are completed, and of everything, the collar is the hardest part.  Not hard for really good sewers but incredibly fussy when I am not, so it kind of ends up being hard.  Maybe painful is a better way to describe how I feel about this.  I already decided that next time, this shirt will have a single piece collar. 

After the collar trauma comes sleeves sideseams and hemming.  It sounds like a lot but it really isn't.  Still, it will take a healthy morning or good part of an afternoon.  

A note about the colour:  The pretty yellow, which seems to get prettier every time I look at it, is somewhere between these three pictures.  I think the last is closest.  Its a good strong yellow, but not leaning to orange.  

I had a good sleep in today. 

I wrote that earlier today and then just never got to post a blog post.  that is okay.  I didn't really have much to write.  There are lots of things that some up during the day but nothing that seems to take me to the computer.  And yes, it is a computer thing.  I think better sitting at the laptop at a desk.

I didn't do much of anything yesterday nor today.  Really the only thing of huge significance was the sleeping in part.  And that felt so good that it may happen again in the morning.  I hope not though.  That would mean that I have not had a good nights sleep for the last two nights. That is not in my plans.

I have been knitting so the front of the blue Elton is just two striped rows away from where you join under the arms.  After that, it will be one day blue, one day green and they won't take long.  The stripes make it so.  

What I haven't been doing is sewing. I seem to be avoiding the pretty yellow.  But tomorrow that is going to stop.  There are a couple more summer tops that I really would like to have ready for wearing in the heat of summer.  And I am so very ready to have some sewing fun rather than the work sewing to make enough clothes to have things to wear.

Anyway, it is time for a nap a long over night one, and I am so ready for it.

Pie!

I did nothing but knit yesterday.  Well, that is what I did till my hands gave out.  It has been a long time since I knit till my hands gave out.  Many, many weeks ago.

And then I made pie.  I have been trying to get to pie for more than a week.  As my very old casserole dishes have cracked and bit the dust  in various ways, I was suddenly in need of some open medium sized baking dishes.  And then I saw this pair of deep dish ceramic pie dishes in a deep warm rich yellow.  I always wanted to have a proper deep dish pie pan and they will be perfect for open roasting small roasts and chicken breasts  and the like.  And the big deep pie pan will be great for shepherd's pie and a cornbread topped casserole I make from leftover taco makings.  And pie.  Deep lovely mounds of apple or rhubarb or cherry.  

Today's pie was yams.  It's one of my favorite pies and is easy to make custom.  It's also a good pie when you have no idea how much filling or crust you need for new pie pans. My recipe for pumpkin pie is large and since I knew how much filling it made in my big bowl, it was a great match for testing. I ended up with three pans thes two and a wee individual size pan.

The crusts were perfect because they were so flaky.  If I recall right, the recipe I used was probably my crust that I used back in the day when the boys ate anything that wasn't  nailed down and I took pride in my ability to make flaky crusts.  The dough was a wee bit soft so edges kept breaking as I put them into the pan but a few flaws are fine with me.  It tastes great and that is what I hoped for.

It's looking like a good day for potato soup.  It is also a good day for socks and winter sweaters.  It's cold and rainy and beastly windy so it is also a good day for knitting all day.  That isn't what I am going to do though.  I am going to finish the yellow shirt today and have a knitting thing this afternoon.  Time to be getting along.

Stuff

There has not been much to write about this last week.  There was plenty of doing but not a lot of stuff that was worth writing about.  There was also knitting and sewing and you did read about that.  

I don't have a ton to say today either.  I did knit quite a bit, doing something brand new and yet comfortably old and familiar.  No it isn't a new project, though that is an enticing thought.  But I don't know enough yet to speak about it yet.  It was fun and interesting and prepping for it mentally took two whole days more or less. 

Today I could go a dozen ways.  I know I would like to finish the bright yellow blouse so I can move forward and make to other more intriguing idea to wear with it.  

I have a small part of the weekend project to finish in my living room (I am once again moving furniture because I really hated the way I moved it a few weeks ago.  Plus we made time to repair my loveseat.  The arm is once again attached to the rest of the structure!  Cheers all around for that.  But this last bit is going to get done. Period.

And then I must attack the kitchen.  I was after Keith to do the things he needed to in there and he did some.  But that some means my stuff is difficult or futile to do.  That means attack because I am done with waiting.  Room mate frustrations.  He also buggered my supper plan by taking the leftover chili he made for lunch today.  Normally he doesn't take leftovers.  Sigh.  Supper might be cereal.  

And I have an outside errand to do today.  I have no idea how long it will take so it is entirely possible that nothing will actually get done today.  

In the mean time and to record it for posterity, here is the ongoing F1 blanket.  I knly knit during race events so it isn't a speed project but it is a regular routine project.  And it is moving along at a really good pace.  There are F1 races till late November so at the pace I am going, Those 4 to 8 rows on a race weekend, which isn't a lot of knitting for the race hours, is making impressive progress.  

About a quarter of the blue marled/ragg look part is done.  

But that is it for today.  My sum total of plans is to do something I guess.  I'm good with that.  

Back to the Sewing Room

I did sit down and knit all day Tuesday.  This particular Elton has been my go to project for several days now.

It is starting to look more sweater like with a front nearing completion.  It's longer than it is here at the moment, I want to say just one stripe from the length needed, but suspecting it is two stripes.  Either way, it isn't far and that bodes well for my plan to try and keep the two Eltons close to each so that Luda and I will both have sweaters at the same time.

When I woke yesterday, I really felt like sewing so I decided not to write a blog post and just got down to it.  Both pairs of 'bike' shorts or narrow legged shorts are ready to wear.  That means that only my yellow blouse is waiting sewing and that is hitting the machine today.    Waiting is  is the Tarawi shirt from Muna and Broad and is the first go at this pattern.  I cut one size above the base of the armsyce and another below.  That is pretty standard for me on something that is more fitted on top.  The Torrens and the Waikere were full cut to the largest size because the relaxed fit meant it would work.  This shirt is quite different, more traditional sewing, but still a good easy pattern.  

I have gone a few laundry rounds with my more fully fleshed out sewn wardrobe and I can tell I still need a few things.  There are a couple pieces of rayon that are meant to be cut similarly to the top I designed from an old favourite a few years ago that I really could use and just a few more shirts.  A couple more of the Torrens Boy Top and a few more shirts of either kind.

Then is when the adventure really starts.  I have a couple pairs of overalls to sew, using the Otis pattern from Sew Liberated.  Just for fun.  I have a knit fabric just waiting to be Munda and Broads' Hexham dress, and in the deeper stash is this really nice piece of light weight denim to make a Sydney Dress from Style Arc. The Hexham I am sure of, in part because I know their fit but also because it is a relaxed sort of style but the Otis Overalls, and the Sydney Dress bend my mind and stretch my wearing and sewing boundaries in a couple different ways.  

Once the rush of the sewing is done, I really really hope I can put some time in at spinning again and can really get doing on my lovely loom.  they sit and I am a wee bit ashamed that I do not adress their lack of use. I really want to keep some diversity in my day and to feel good, really good about getting to ALL the things.

Anyway, time to get moving.  I have sewing to do today and I am going to make a yam pie in my new deep dish pie pan.  Add the biscotti that I did not get to the other day and I have a busy day ahead.    

A heart that wants to knit.

I'm in the middle of a special project right now.  I don't want to talk about it just yet but it will get blogged when the time is right.  But it is taking up all my thinking time and a fair bit of my actual time.

Otherwise life continues apace.  Laundry and dishes need doing.  Actually not too many dishes, which is really surprising, but only a few.  Laundry as ever.  The floor needs scrubbing.  The house needs work.  

And I feel a tad unmotivated.  What I really want is to just be knitting sitting in a nice warm corner somewhere out of the sun.  But it is gray outside and a bit cool, even damp, though we had very little of the rain other locations close to us have had. It feels like the kind of weather you curl up in front of the fire with a cup of tea and put on a good book and just knit.  

In that perfect dream in front of the fireplace scenario, I would have some biscotti at hand and would be dipping them in my tea.  I have most of the things to make this all happen, lacking only biscotti. I have recipes.  I know this because I spent the last few days looking for recipes for biscotti in my cookbooks.  I have also been looking at the recipes online for biscotti.  

But that is neither here nor there.  I should sew and I might but the heart wants to knit.

Adventure is Out There

I knit my heart out this weekend.  

After identifying the two Elton problem, I sat down and decided to fix it.  A lot of effort wnet to getting the blue sweater up to snuff.  The back portion is complete and I am about halfway down front one.

This view might show it better.

I am at the place where the increases go on more rapidly to get to the half width the fronts are.  On this particular Elton, there is a little fancy footwork going on.  As I have said, This sweater is going to go to Luda.  She is an apple type figure so her front needs to be broader than her back pieces so in this case, the fronts are going to be the largest size.  The fit relies on a good amount of ease and I think this will get the right fit for her.

Plus, I worked enough on the green to get my own version of this pattern to just below the arms.  It is more or less straight knitting from here on for this sweater, but it is the ever changing stripes that keep you engaged.

The green is an easier knit but the mohair and Adam and Eve sweater is really just to die for.  It is so delicate and soft.  I had quite forgotten how delicious it is.  

Both of these Eltons are going to be winners.  I can see it in how they are at the necklines and on the shoulders.  I already have another sweater in mind using a single colour though, a tonal, but just one colour.  It is just such a good basic shape.

It is time to get back to the sewing room today.  After last weeks general miasma, it is time.  I have to do a different finishing on a couple of the tops already sewn to start.  It seems some of the interfacing fabric combinations have left me with things I would need to iron all the time before wearing.  That is just not on the cards so I have a little bit of a change to the facing finishes planned that ought to make it better.  

And then on to my bright yellow Tarawi shirt.  That is the one with a more fitted sleeve.  I am kind of looking forward to it to see which shirt pattern my winter flannelettes will be made into.  And Biker shorts, pairs two and three are in the works.  I am kind of looking forward to the sewing room again and I am glad of it.  

Adventure is Out there!

Comfortable

I am up early this morning.  I am dressed, hair combed, etc all completed.  Still need coffee so there is work to be done.

I just wanted to say that my goal in life has been met and indeed exceeded.  

I am in one of my new dresses.  I have my Ursa sweater on, which is wide and cropped and suited perfectly to wear with my dresses.  I have pair one of my new biker shorts/chubbrubb for protection from any posterior flashing.  By all that is right, I ought to look fashionable, nay even possibly cool.  

Each piece of what I am wearing is pretty cool.  Each one had and has its own level of excitement, from making it, to putting it on and simply wearing it this morning.  But as I left my room to go make said coffee, I caught a glance in the mirror.  

Yup I still look like a three year old who picked all their favourite things and they are getting dressed all by themselves.  Fashion escapes me completely.  I will never have a look.

But I am comfortable.

Not Stopping. Never Going to.

It is a good thing to take a look, a serious look at everything you are knitting and take an assessment of it.  Wip piles ought to be checked over.  Will you still wear it?  Why aren't you knitting it?  Was it a flash in the pan?  Is it good?  The questions can have all sorts of answers and if you go through all your Wips every so often, the job doesn't overwhelm you.  I is very freeing to unload things that you know you have fallen out of love with.

At the same time, there are the things you still love, and love deeply but aren't knitting for other reasons Like the very pretty River blue version of the Elton cardigan. Mohair takes effort and for a long time I did not have the right needles.  I got the right ones just before it sort of got pushed to the side when winter arrived.  Like I said, all kinds of reasons for it to still be sitting there.

I looked at my 4 Jahreszeiten Herbst (Four Seasons Shawl Autumn) and knew that I really didn't want it to be a shawl for occasional wear.  I wanted a sweater for regular wear with those marvelous colours and that simple little design playing too.  It was easy to frog and it is just waiting for me to cast on again.

Which brings me to round yoke sweaters. I was tired of round yokes last fall and had decided that I was going to avoid them, and then I ended up with the Agate Cove sweater, the Sun Dogs sweater, and the Breezeway Tee .  These are all great patterns with very similar modified round yokes.  Seriously.  I love how they look but in all three I have had trouble finding a size where it works for me.  

Don't get me wrong, I love the Agate Cove.  But the size isn't quite right.  I should have gone with a much smaller size for the colourwork part and done more of my usual shaping on the bottom.  I did that more or less but the top is a little big.  

The top of the Sun Dogs sweater is a little big.  I have a photo of that from the last try on, 

And you see how loose it is over the upper back?  It is the same on the front and of all the many versions of this top that have been made, I really do not like it when it doesn't fit smoothly over the body of the wearer.  So, once again, I picked the wrong size.  This one is a real shame because I really really want this sweater.  I love the details of it.  That simple bit of garter stitch just blows me away.  

The Breezeway T is exactly the same.  It is too wide on the top.  On each of these we have taken into account that the yoke does create the top of the sleeves thanks to a handy helper, but a too wide yoke is just too wide.  

So, one of my tasks today is to take apart both of these pretty sweaters, the Breezeway and the Sun Dogs, that is.  Agate Cove is complete and though it kind of bugs me, it is nice and long and has the feel and look of a tunic plus it is warm and a pretty colour to boot.  But the others will be re knit.  The wonderful Pesto yarn from Midknit Cravings is going to be knit into a variation of Sun Dogs, I think, with a more average raglan yoke.  And the pretty mash up of colours of the Fleece Artist Sock yarns will still be a top but I don't have a pattern in mind.

It feels sort of nice not to have to carry the less than successful knits.  Please know this isn't the fault of the designers.  It is just that my shoulders belong in another country's size from the rest of my body, mostly my hips.  There is no way to get past that, and sometimes, needing to follow the pattern defeats me.  Accepting that is okay?  It feels like a win.  I can go forward now and get what I want from both of these really nice yarns.  It didn't work out.  Not stopping though.  Never going to.

Things to do

I accomplished the sum of nothing yesterday.  I was not feeling very well and the only thing I can seem to do when I feel like that is sleep.  And since sleep is the best thing for it, that is what I will do. I feel much better this morning but I am still going to stick to the sleep plan today.  It will, I hope seal the deal on feeling better.

I have been looking at and thinking about my burgeoning wardrobe.  There still are a few key things it lacks but it is getting so much better.  This is most of what I made this May and I hope June is close to as product filled.

 I could use a few more shirts and a couple more of the nifty Torrens tops but it is so much better than it was.  I feel as if I have enough clothes to go out if I wanted to.  There are bike shorts cut out and waiting for sewing.  

There is a shirt there too, a bright yellow one, my favourite colour. Or very close to it.  I am looking forward to wearing it because I have the perfect fabric sitting around for something to go with it.  Insert funky weird clothing idea that my mom would be appalled by but I would dance for joy over.  Don't get me wrong.  I love my mom, but her approach to fashion isn't really mine.  Her style is quite lovely for her.  I am not sure if the funky thing will be my next foray into garments, but it might be.  And I am not sure just what the funky thing will be.  Depends how much yardage there is when all is laid out, and put together.  But it is going to be a tad different and yet not different at all if you go by what the fabric stores show off.

Anyway, I don't think there will be much sewing today.  I have been thinking a lot about other things lately, things like spinning and weaving too.  The just not quite getting round to it tasks, deserve to be experienced.  I managed to get sewing into my day in a major way and if I could do that, I can do these things too. I need to think about how to make those first steps again, not of the doing of it, but of the fitting it into each week.

 I think it will be a day for reading and pondering just what is next. I might read my pastry cookbooks or make a pie.  I may just spend the day playing with my library and dusting the books and paging through each slowly and gently, reading when something catches my eye.  I might take up my ereader and finish Have His Carcass by Dorothy Sayer, because spending a whole day reading a good book isn't something I do very often, though I should.  I might just listen to the nest Arnuldur Indriason book I have to see what is going on in his mythical policing world set in real life Reykjavik.  

I love that I have a world within the walls of my house.  I love that I have the freedom to explore.  I love that I have so may wonderful things to do.  Time to get busy.

Failing...Again

When you are good at something, keep doing it.  I am very good at failing.  It's a small fail and was semi repeated, but it was most assuredly a fail.

This is side two of the front on my green Elton.

This is side one.  You may notice that right where the second colour is a slight increase and an even further increasing just below that in the green zone.  If you look at part two again  you will see a beautifully straight edge.

It would bug me so much except that I already knit the last four rows in plain green before I remembered I was supposed to start the second colour.  It's a bit frustrating that now the colours are right and I have knit two rows of the plain green for the next stripe that I should realize that there is perhaps too much straight edge. 

I even had a nap.  Oh well, it is a short pull back and not such a bad thing really.  Maybe.  It is a wee bit frustrating but I will get over it.  

Being good at failing means one other thing.  When you are good at failing and when you fail repeatedly, it surely means you are willing to try again and again.  I haven't always been this way, but I am getting better at understanding that the trying again part is much much more important than the good at failing part. 

And there you have it.