You can see the whole video on EW here.
Showing posts with label finished objects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finished objects. Show all posts
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Missy Higgins wears Ms Jane...
Well, one of my sweaters knitted for Julia's short film Lily has popped up in Missy Higgins video clip for her new single Hello Hello, also directed by Karsimir Burgess (thanks Julia!).
You can see the whole video on EW here.
You can see the whole video on EW here.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tea and Cables
Teacup from Louisa Harding's Queen of Hearts knitted in Filatura di Crosa Golden Line Superior. This yarn is a beautiful mix of cashmere and silk and held double knits up in this pattern really quickly and is so soft and light (the whole garment without buttons weighs less than 85 grams!
The pattern is very easy and I think I might make a few more, one in orange, one in grey and one in bright blue...is that wrong?
The pattern is very easy and I think I might make a few more, one in orange, one in grey and one in bright blue...is that wrong?
Yes, cotton stripe knit top (Sew U Home Stretch boat neck top by Wendy Mullins) and blue stretch denim skirt (Vogue 8604) are from Tessuti.
Teva Durham's Asymmetrical Cable Pullover looked a daunting project, but was really quite easy. I don't like reverse stocking stitch which the pattern specified for the whole garment, so I knitted regular stocking stitch, leaving one purl either side of each cable. The yarn is a silk/cotton mix called Birch also by Teva Durham; it's great to wear and washes beautifully in the machine. After knitting this I ordered more from kpixie.com for another Louisa Harding project.
Wednesday
Yes, it is and so is this Louisa Harding vest from Blue Monday in Willow Tweed. Sadly it makes me itch, so I'll be giving it away, but it was a really interesting, fun and easy knitting project!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Getting what you knit to fit
Mrs Burris asked me to explain how I adjusted the fit of the two Louisa Harding garments from my last post for my broad shoulders, so here goes...
I have broad shoulders and largish upper arms from work and although I have a bust, my shoulder measurement is greater than my bust, but about the same as my hips. I used to think I was a pear shape (based on my bust/hip ratio), but nothing recommended for a pear shaped figure looked any good on me. When I started sewing my own clothes, I had to pay more attention to fit than I did on my knits (which are pretty forgiving) and I worked out how to adjust for my figure which is somewhere between a hourglass, an inverted triangle and a column. I'm also tall for my size with long arms, a shortish waist and a very broad rib cage (now you know why I make my own clothes), so I always have to fiddle with the length as well as the width.
It's the same as adjusting the fit of a multi-sized sewing pattern, but there is one caveat, you have to have the correct tension/gauge for the pattern, or know how your tension/gauge varies from the pattern, so that you can make the calculations. I generally think there's often a bit too much ease in knitting patterns, and that fitted garments look better on me than loose, but you also need to be aware of how much give - or not - your yarn has.
I use my tension/gauge to measure length, so if I'm knitting a DK with a tension/gauge of 30 rows to 10 cm and I want to knit an arm scythe (arm hole) that is 20 cm I knit 60 rows from the first cast off row.
And I always knit from the bottom up and generally in pieces as I think the seams give you structure (just as in sewing) and stop the garment from twisting too much. I use mattress stitch to sew up all my seams; with practise it's easy and gives a great finish.
Louisa Harding's Breaker (from Ondine)
I take my actual bust size (91cm) as the size I use for the pattern. Working from the pattern schematic diagram I start with the finished size that is the closest to my bust size plus the amount of ease I want (not necessarily what the designer recommends). In the case of Breaker I chose a UK size 10 which is just 1cm smaller than my bust.
I add length to the body (below the underarm) as required. The schematic can help you here also. Deduct the arm scythe measurement for your size from the overall length to calculate the length under the arm and work out where it's going to finish on your body. For my body, finishing somewhere around my hip bone is ideal. If, like me, you need the extra length below your waist (I have a short waist), start your waist shaping later, if you have a long waist, start your waist shaping as directed by the pattern, but put extra rows between the increases.
Once I get to the underarm decreases I reduce the amount I cast off and decrease to blend the garment up a size or two to get the width across the shoulders I need. For Breaker I cast off 3 and then 3 stitches and then did the number of decreases to give me a width across for the next size, UK size 12. I then followed the pattern direction for that size from there, knitting my arm scythe to 20 cm (to fit my upper arms without cutting off the circulation).
NB. If you have a large bust you won't be able to do this as you need the extra material under the arms for your bust. My suggestion would be to do more increases from the waist so that you arrive at the underarm at the larger size.
You need to adjust your sleeve shaping accordingly. Because of my long arms (36 cm comes just over my elbows) I knit extra rows (12 instead of 10) between my sleeve increases to make the sleeves longer (if you have short arms, just knit fewer rows between increases) and if I think the sleeve is going to be tight (work out the width of the sleeve using the pattern tension and the number of stitches after all the increases have been worked) I often add an increase or two (I didn't need to do that for Breaker). I then do the same decreases I did at the underarm on the body and knit the sleeve cap following the pattern for the size that is closest to the the number of stitches I have (usually the largest) to fit my larger sleeve scythe.
For Louisa Harding's Reef (also from Ondine), which is a raglan sleeved as opposed to set in sleeves, I started with a UK size 12, lengthened the body by three rib repeats before the colour change, cast off two less stitches under the arm on each piece and rewrote the decreases to one decrease row every third row, nine times, plus two rows. That brought me to a UK size 14-16 which was great up my shoulders, but no good for the fit around my neck. So I knitted two more repeats of the rib so that it didn't fall of my shoulders, changing to the smaller needles half way through and decreasing twice (k3, p2tog, k3 p2togtbl) to reduce the number of stitches back closer to a UK size 12.
Looking at Reef in the photos, it could have been tighter (as in the pattern photographs), but as 85% of the yarn is cotton which has little give, I didn't want it to be too restricting under the arms, and it's super comfy as it is (I'm wearing it now).
Mrs Burris, I hope this helps...there are details of the alterations I make to most of the patterns I knit on Ravely.
I have broad shoulders and largish upper arms from work and although I have a bust, my shoulder measurement is greater than my bust, but about the same as my hips. I used to think I was a pear shape (based on my bust/hip ratio), but nothing recommended for a pear shaped figure looked any good on me. When I started sewing my own clothes, I had to pay more attention to fit than I did on my knits (which are pretty forgiving) and I worked out how to adjust for my figure which is somewhere between a hourglass, an inverted triangle and a column. I'm also tall for my size with long arms, a shortish waist and a very broad rib cage (now you know why I make my own clothes), so I always have to fiddle with the length as well as the width.
It's the same as adjusting the fit of a multi-sized sewing pattern, but there is one caveat, you have to have the correct tension/gauge for the pattern, or know how your tension/gauge varies from the pattern, so that you can make the calculations. I generally think there's often a bit too much ease in knitting patterns, and that fitted garments look better on me than loose, but you also need to be aware of how much give - or not - your yarn has.
I use my tension/gauge to measure length, so if I'm knitting a DK with a tension/gauge of 30 rows to 10 cm and I want to knit an arm scythe (arm hole) that is 20 cm I knit 60 rows from the first cast off row.
And I always knit from the bottom up and generally in pieces as I think the seams give you structure (just as in sewing) and stop the garment from twisting too much. I use mattress stitch to sew up all my seams; with practise it's easy and gives a great finish.
Louisa Harding's Breaker (from Ondine)
I take my actual bust size (91cm) as the size I use for the pattern. Working from the pattern schematic diagram I start with the finished size that is the closest to my bust size plus the amount of ease I want (not necessarily what the designer recommends). In the case of Breaker I chose a UK size 10 which is just 1cm smaller than my bust.
I add length to the body (below the underarm) as required. The schematic can help you here also. Deduct the arm scythe measurement for your size from the overall length to calculate the length under the arm and work out where it's going to finish on your body. For my body, finishing somewhere around my hip bone is ideal. If, like me, you need the extra length below your waist (I have a short waist), start your waist shaping later, if you have a long waist, start your waist shaping as directed by the pattern, but put extra rows between the increases.
Once I get to the underarm decreases I reduce the amount I cast off and decrease to blend the garment up a size or two to get the width across the shoulders I need. For Breaker I cast off 3 and then 3 stitches and then did the number of decreases to give me a width across for the next size, UK size 12. I then followed the pattern direction for that size from there, knitting my arm scythe to 20 cm (to fit my upper arms without cutting off the circulation).
NB. If you have a large bust you won't be able to do this as you need the extra material under the arms for your bust. My suggestion would be to do more increases from the waist so that you arrive at the underarm at the larger size.
You need to adjust your sleeve shaping accordingly. Because of my long arms (36 cm comes just over my elbows) I knit extra rows (12 instead of 10) between my sleeve increases to make the sleeves longer (if you have short arms, just knit fewer rows between increases) and if I think the sleeve is going to be tight (work out the width of the sleeve using the pattern tension and the number of stitches after all the increases have been worked) I often add an increase or two (I didn't need to do that for Breaker). I then do the same decreases I did at the underarm on the body and knit the sleeve cap following the pattern for the size that is closest to the the number of stitches I have (usually the largest) to fit my larger sleeve scythe.
For Louisa Harding's Reef (also from Ondine), which is a raglan sleeved as opposed to set in sleeves, I started with a UK size 12, lengthened the body by three rib repeats before the colour change, cast off two less stitches under the arm on each piece and rewrote the decreases to one decrease row every third row, nine times, plus two rows. That brought me to a UK size 14-16 which was great up my shoulders, but no good for the fit around my neck. So I knitted two more repeats of the rib so that it didn't fall of my shoulders, changing to the smaller needles half way through and decreasing twice (k3, p2tog, k3 p2togtbl) to reduce the number of stitches back closer to a UK size 12.
Looking at Reef in the photos, it could have been tighter (as in the pattern photographs), but as 85% of the yarn is cotton which has little give, I didn't want it to be too restricting under the arms, and it's super comfy as it is (I'm wearing it now).
Mrs Burris, I hope this helps...there are details of the alterations I make to most of the patterns I knit on Ravely.
Friday, August 5, 2011
More Louisa Harding love
Last off my needles is Louisa Harding's Reef from Ondine. Knitted in Adorn Yarn's Cotton Cashmere DK. This is an easy knit with minimal sewing up as you knit up from the underarm on one circular needle. I did quite a lot of adjustment to the fit, to make it a bit longer and to account for my broad shoulders. I have been calling it my high-vis jumper, and it is a really hard colour to photograph, but it's nice to have something fun and bright to wear on dull days!
I started these ages ago when we went away for the weekend, rashly casting on four garments at once, and now I've finished them all. Previously I finished Breaker, also from Ondine and also knit in Adorn Yarns Cotton Cashmere DK, but I struggled to fin the right buttons. Again I lengthened the body and the sleeves as well as making it broader across the shoulders.
I've just cast on Louisa Harding's Tea Cup from Queen of Hearts, using Filatura di Crosa Golden Line Superior which is a bit of a splurge, but it was on sale at Clegs. Knit with a double strand is making it progress quickly, helping me catch up a bit with my aim of finishing 12 adult garments by the end of the year. Six down; six to go!
I've also got to cast on Michael's birthday jumper (due in 13 days...well maybe not). I'm going to make him Erika Knight's Deep V Sweater from her Classic Knits: 15 Timeless Designs to Knit and Keep Forever, making a few adaptions for the male torso. He's chosen the same Antique Red as the ribbing in my Reef, so we won't be able to wear them at the same time, that would be way too matcy-matchy.
Oh, and yes, I do own a sewing machine and I do buy material all the time (especially in remnant sales), but somehow I'm just not getting anything done...
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Am I insane?
Most probably, yes. I've signed up to IntSweMoDo 2011 (International Sweater-a-Month Dodecathon) in June with only one finished object for the year under my belt. Here are the next two, with two more well underway and plans for five more which takes me up to 10 for the year...yeeks!
First is the most recently finished, an easy knit from Louisa Harding's Blue Monday, the Tuesday tunic. Knitted in Adorn Yarns Silky Merino DK, colour Ash. I'm hoping this tunic will help me combat our rather bleak winter weather.
Again, for those of you who care...these are my first images with my new point and shoot camera the Fujipix x100. Set on raw (and having to use Adobe's DNG converter which is very annoying) and Velvia simulated saturation for a bit of film nostalgia. The lens is super, but it is quite clunky and slow just as this review says, so I for one am hanging out for a firmware update.
The other is Mandarin from Louisa Harding's Chinoiserie. This was a much slower knit...mainly because of the colour work on the cuffs and peplum. The rest was plain sailing and I used Adorn Yarns Cotton Cashmere DK, knitted a bit tighter on 3mm needles instead of the recommended 4mm on the ball band (as a loose knitter I always go down a size and for cotton I need to go down two sizes). I was a little worried that it may create too firm a fabric that would go stiff on washing, but it's just fine.
I wish my sewing was progressing as smoothly...
First is the most recently finished, an easy knit from Louisa Harding's Blue Monday, the Tuesday tunic. Knitted in Adorn Yarns Silky Merino DK, colour Ash. I'm hoping this tunic will help me combat our rather bleak winter weather.
The other is Mandarin from Louisa Harding's Chinoiserie. This was a much slower knit...mainly because of the colour work on the cuffs and peplum. The rest was plain sailing and I used Adorn Yarns Cotton Cashmere DK, knitted a bit tighter on 3mm needles instead of the recommended 4mm on the ball band (as a loose knitter I always go down a size and for cotton I need to go down two sizes). I was a little worried that it may create too firm a fabric that would go stiff on washing, but it's just fine.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Skipper!
Well, it's been a while and I have been knitting, but I've also been doing plenty of unpulling. This yarn started off as Kim Hargreaves' Patsy from Touching Elegance, and I had knitted quite a bit of it, but I just wasn't happy with knit, so I unpulled it. And then I saw the new Louisa Harding books and I fell in love again with her patterns and bought a pile from the UK. The first project is Skipper from Ondine, which took quite a bit of tweeking to get the fit right and hence more unpulling. The body to the underarms is a size 10, the fit across the front and back (the same) is a size 12 and the length of the arm hole is a size 14. I also lengthened the body and the sleeves until they felt right for me. Here's the outcome:
The three big cable up the front and back (I reversed mine to that they were on my right hand side) are very dramatic (and easy) while showing off the beautiful yarn from the Wool Baa (Adorn DK wool/silk mix).
And for those of you that care that's what a canon 135mm f2L lens at f2 and closest focussing distance (0.9m) looks like. New favourite lens...thanks Roo!
Next project on the needles is Louisa Harding's Mandarin from Chinoiserie, another beautiful pattern and one I've been thinking about knitting for a while. As the body is knitted in one piece to the underarm, the bottom fair isle pattern is knitted in one piece, that's 217 odd stitches of fair isle per row and I'm managing one row a day! Lucky is a cotton cardigan, I should have it finished by summer! The yarn is from Wool Baa, this time DK Cotton Cashmere and taken with that new lens again...
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Lily
Remember those red jumpers I knitted all about 18 months ago? No...well, here's the film, and here's the news from the Berlin Film Festival. Congratulations Julia and Kasimir!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Finding the time...
...to finish both sewing and knitting projects is difficult at present, but here are two I've managed to finish and photograph. First is my favourite summer top (just as it's long sleeved partners was my favourite winter top). The knit is from Tessuti and the pattern is from Wendy Mullins Sew U Home Stretch, called Get the Scoop, cut on the bias (not matching stripes) and without elastic in the neck and waist. I just used the twin needle to finish the neck, sleeves and bottom. Easy!
Then I finally managed to finish Kim Hargreaves' Haze from Misty, a generous boat neck jumper with big raglan sleeves and a lovely trim bottom band. Knitted in Adorn Yarns' Cotton Cashmere DK, it's a cuddly jumper for chilly autumn evenings.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Finally...Fay!
I started knitting Kim Hargreaves' Fay (from Precious) in October last year in Jaggerspun and didn't like the lace pattern; didn't like the gauge; just wasn't happy. I started again in Leonie's yarn (Adorn Yarns Silk Cashmerino 4ply) and it's taken me an age to finish it and then to sew it up...not sure what all the hoopla was about, it's fabulous now it's finished. I left off the buttons on the lower edging as I realised I'd scratch my camera when working.
The stitch definition is great with this yarn.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Embrace
Which is exactly what this lovely cardigan by Kim Hargreaves from Misty does when you put it on. Knitted in Adorn Yarns Silky Merino DK in Ash, I've been wearing it all week. Underneath I'm wearing one of Wendy Mullins' Sew U Home Stretch tops, the boat neck...my new favourite! The fabric is the same striped jersey knit Nikkishell used for her drape dress from Tessuti.
The short row shaping creates a beautiful curve across the back and down to the fronts that was really easy to knit.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Catching up
I have been working away on my knitting and sewing, but just not finding the time to photograph what I've been doing (which is especially poor of me as a photographer). Oh, well...
It's been a freezing wet winter in Melbourne and so I had to divert some of my energies to making a warm jumper I could wear immediately. Enter Kim Hargreaves' Briar (sweater length) from Winter Blooms. I LOVE this jumper, hence the already worn look. Knitted in Adorn Yarns Silky Cashmerino 4ply in Aquamarine held double. I dropped my needles to 4mm and 4.5mm to get the gauge made no other changes. While it might have been sensible to add to the wide neckline, it is fabulous just the way it is!
Also finished is my second Ripple from Kim Hargreaves' Nectar. This is knitted in Adorn Yarns Cotton Cashmere DK in Malt. I've worn this quite a bit and washed it twice now and it's becoming softer and softer and warmer and warmer.
It's been a freezing wet winter in Melbourne and so I had to divert some of my energies to making a warm jumper I could wear immediately. Enter Kim Hargreaves' Briar (sweater length) from Winter Blooms. I LOVE this jumper, hence the already worn look. Knitted in Adorn Yarns Silky Cashmerino 4ply in Aquamarine held double. I dropped my needles to 4mm and 4.5mm to get the gauge made no other changes. While it might have been sensible to add to the wide neckline, it is fabulous just the way it is!
Buttons from Buttonmania of course!
I'm still plugging away at my purple Fay, but at least I've finished the front and the back now! Also just about finished is Kim Hargreaves' Embrace from Misty, which is an easy knit with some really interesting short row shaping on the hem. This time I'm using Adorn Yarns Silky Merino DK in Ash.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Finally!
Frankie (from Kim Hargreaves' Breeze) is finished. The yarn is Jaggerspun Zephyr DK wool silk. It's warm, cosy in fact, and soft. Any it washed well in my machine on the gentle hand wash cycle. Perfect!
The buttons are vintage from Buttonmania again (thank you Kate!). The colour is Pewter, a slightly mauvey- warm silver.
Now, I can concentrate (and I mean concentrate) on Fay, also by Kim Hargreaves from Precious. Another Jaggerspun Zephyr project, this time in the lace weight held double.
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