Some Free-style Summer Knitting

If you live in the midwest part of the country, you are well aware of our unusually sloooooow start to summer.  By this time in June we are normally trying to figure out if our air conditioners will 'go to eleven.'  I finally put sandals on today just because I refuse to wash socks again until sometime in mid October. (I really would like to have them on :/ )  Given the situation, my internal, seasonal clock is quite confused...and that means my sewing rhythm is discombobulated as well.  I can't decide if I want to be making lovely light linen-y things, or cozy wooly stuff.  So mostly I don't make anything!!! 

What I have done is finish up some of my knitting projects.  I like to knit when I travel, but at a certain point the projects either get too big or too fussy to do in the car or crammed into an airplane seat.  At that point I usually pile them up and forget about them for, well, too long.  I had two projects that I thought, if it ever decides to be summer, I would like to have them finished so I can wear them. 

The first one is a really pretty linen/cotton blend with gorgeous colors. (IMHO, you know, mud colors!)  I started out thinking I would do my normal knit two squares and make a tankish top.  But when I got to the end of the first ball of yarn I realized that the variegation would get really funky if I just stared another ball of yarn.  Hmmmmm???  The square was too short even for a cropped top so I had to think of another plan.  I ended up working the second square so that it continued up over the shoulders with a 'v' opening in the center.  What happens is I get a V-neck sweater one way and a square neck sweater if I turn it around.  I like both.

I added a garter stitched panel at the hem to get a bit more length and garter stitched sleeves.  You can see in the first picture below that I used a triple needle bind off to connect the "shoulders" which are either dropped to the front or the back depending on which way round I wear it! 

          

The second sweater was knit with a two stranded yarn, one strand of matte grey cotton and the other of a shiny grey rayon.  The affect was a bit of a tweedy pattern.  The yarn was a bit heavier so I wanted to make more of an open airy stitch.  I liked the openness of the fabric that I got knitting on size 10 needles.  Again, the plan was to make my two squares and hook them together, but the size 10 needles meant that the bottom of the sweater would be very loose and stretchy and probably catch on every corner and knob I walked past.  It also ended up giving about 18" of ease at the waist!  Not ideal!  Hmmmmm??  What I needed was a way to have a tighter knit at the hem/waist and a more open knit at the top/shoulders.  Here's what I did...

          

I started on size 6 interchangeable knitting needles.  I knit for a few inches and changed one of the needles to a size 8.  I knit a few more inches on a 6/8 combination.  I then went to both 8's, then 8/10 and finally completed the square with 10's on both ends of my cable.  (it's hard to see but in the picture one needle is a 6 and the other is a 10.  Not a combination I used, but easier to see the difference, kind of!)  The result was a 'trapezoid' that started out about 20" wide at the hem and ended up to be about 28" at the shoulders!  Bingo!  Just what I wanted, and I didn't add a stitch!

          

The hem snugs in a bit at hip level and the top is open and airy.  I did the same sequence of needle swaps on the sleeves.  I picked up along the shoulder with size 10's, did one pass with 10/10, and one each of 8/10, 8/8, 8/6 and finished and bound off with 6/6.   Again, the top of the sleeve is airy and the hem snugs in around my arm.  I have no idea if this is something that is actually 'done' by people who really know how to knit, but it worked out well for what I was trying to do.  

I was getting on so well with my knitting that I pulled out another UFO that got it's start on the beach this January in Key West.  I might just have it ready for NEXT January!

P.S.  I think I'm getting a little better at the selfie thing!👍

Sewing Lessons

As I sit outside enjoying the warm breeze and gorgeous sunshine of Key West, I am thinking about next week when I will be plunged back into the reality of Michigan winter😫....the saving grace is that I will have plenty of studio time!  

One of the things that I have enjoyed about keeping my blog is that I have a record of my sewing projects and can look back over the year and evaluate what has been successful and what was...well...not all that great.  As I have been wanting to be more intentional about sewing things that I actually enjoy wearing, I have found this review to be very helpful.  So what have I learned in 2017....

My fascination with bags continues...







I really enjoy figuring out all the pockets and the straps and hunting down the notions that go into making bags.  The broken needles and pins imbedded into my fingers are not so much fun, but part of the process working with heavier fabrics and sewing over 8 layers at a time!!!  Even with all of the different bags I have played around with, what do I take when I go traveling?  Yep, the ratty ol' nylon, fold up backpack!!  Hmmmm...a lesson?

Knitting has also been more part of my creating in the past few years.  I think as I have been traveling more often and spending weeks at a time away from my sewing studio, I have found the portability of knitting a great asset.  I do have to spend time 'finishing' when I am at home.  As projects near completion it is more difficult to take them along, so I seem to end up with several almost finished projects at some point in the year.

I am getting better at figuring out how to read a pattern and actually alter it to fit me...but I think my most successful (measured by how often they come out of the closet) knitted garments are those that I make with my own patterns.  And often the ones that start in one direction and take several twists and turns along the way...like my current project, which has morphed at least twice since I started it. 


I think the biggest "wake up call" this year was realizing that, just because I can doesn't mean I should!  Working with Carol Lee Shanks in Ashland this past spring I found myself working on a project that felt comfortable and familiar to me and ended up being exactly what I didn't want to be doing!  Carol's intriguingly simple shapes out of luscious fabrics really captured my imagination and sent me in a new direction...I am still trying to figure out where Carol ends and Becky begins and how to blend the ideas into an authentic voice.  I am planning another DOL adventure in Taos this summer and will have another chance to work with Carol.  Hmmmm....more lessons?

One of my favorite garments this past summer was the simple striped cotton dress that I made using Carol's ideas.  I wear it often and always feel just right when I have it on.  I think there will be more exploration in this neighborhood in 2018.

When I look at travel photos I realize that what I am most often wearing is a Smartwool 1/4 zip, long sleeved shirt, or some version of a "T" shaped garment!  These are my 'go-to' garments.  So it's no surprise that two of my favorite garments of 2017 are the boiled wool vest and the 1/4 zip dress.  

Hmmmm....more lessons?



As I bid goodbye to lovely Key West and make the transition back to winter I am looking forward to incorporating some of the lessons from 2017...

- More bags...maybe in nylon!
- Keep on knitting!
- K.I.S.S.  (keep it simple, stupid!)

Thanks for indulging my habit and sending your thoughts.  Let's see what we can create in 2018!!!

Sweater Weather

...so I have tried taking moody, arty  photos...the kind where the model is looking off into the distance, or scowling at something off camera.  Or having only half the body in the picture frame...but they always look contrived and self conscious.  I think I would need to be a photographer or something to be able to take those kind of pictures.  So for now, you will have to suffer through with my corny, 'self-portraits' standing in the back yard or my very poorly lit dress form in front of a blank wall.  I may put 'taking better pictures' on my list of things to do, or not....

Anyway, here is a collection of non-photographer photos of some of the knitting projects I have been finishing up this fall.  

I like to have a knitting project when I travel.  But there comes a time in every project that requires counting, or fiddly work that just doesn't happen on an airplane.  Or they get so big that it is hard to shove them into my carry-on bag.  Instead of finishing the project I just start another one and at some point I end up with several mostly knitted sweaters.  As I was trolling around for yet another project to take on some up coming trips, I stumble on three nearly finished sweaters.  Fortunately I had worked on them in the relatively recent past so I knew what I needed to do to wrap them up.  

The vest was a very quick project.  Big fluffy yarn, size humongous needles, and no sleeves!!!
It's chunky and cozy and will be great this fall and winter.

The yarn was a purchase at the West Michigan Fiber Fest several years ago.  I really liked the earthy colors and the way the spinner had made the yarn tightly twisted in some places and left almost no twist in other places.

My cardigan is actually a pattern called "Order of the Garter."  I don't often use patterns because it is difficult to add and change them for my vertical challenges, and I spend more time trying to figure out the abbreviations than actually knitting!!!  But I wanted to try a 'top-down' pattern and thought working in only knit stitches would take at least one element out of the equation.  I did have to add to the sleeve length but that was fairly easy.  

I am very pleased with the result!  Not sure if it will encourage me to try more patterns, but this one was relatively drama free and I finished it!!

















The last 'unfinished object' is a self designed pattern knitted with a tweedy cotton yarn called Tetra Cotton by Rowan.  I really wanted the unusual yarn to be the star of the sweater so the style is very simple.  A boxy top with drop shoulders and long sleeves.


           

So I have an empty knitting basket but three lovely sweaters finished just in time for fall!

And I can cast on another project, guilt-free!