It's too hot to knit...

Another guest blogger post for Handmakers Factory.

Handmakers Factory

I put my hand up to be a guest blogger on Handmakers Factory and I've just had my first post published. So exciting! You can find it here. And there will be more to come!

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...

Weekend Knitting

I went away last weekend and I might have overdone casting on new projects, without finishing anything!

Clockwise from left: Reef from Ondine, Tuesday from Blue Monday, Breaker from Ondine, and the sleeves of Mandarin from Chinoiserie, all by Louisa Harding and all in Adorn Yarns Cotton Cashmere, except Tuesday which is in Adorn Yarns Silky Merino DK. Now I just have to finish them!

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.

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.

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.

MIA

Well nearly, but not quite...weddings and teaching have kept me busy, but I've still be knitting away...and at least now I have a corner to sew in and keep all my clutter under control.

I have been working away, both sewing and knitting. First of all the knitting. Finished is Kim Hargreaves's Jen from Precious in Rowan Cotton Glace. It was a quick knit despite making a mistake on each piece and having to pull out most of my work a number of times. A lovely summer cardi.

And the buttons are from Wool Baa in Albert Park. Next is Frankie from Kim Hargreave's Breeze. I'm knitting it in JaggerSpun Wool Silk DK and I've run out. I'll have to put it on hold for a while as I wait to order more yarn. It has knitted up beautifully and the colour is fantastic.

Also on the needles and likely to get finished more quickly is Kim Hargreave's Lilac, also from Breeze. I've pulled out the lace edging so many times as I keep making mistakes...but three quarters of the way there now.

And now to the sewing. The top is Simplicity 2934 View C with the capped sleeves from View D in a cotton knit from Tessuti. It is a fabulous shirt, a really easy pattern with some nice touches. It does run on the large size especially in length. I made another one in a Gucci Viscose knit. The skirt is my third version of McCall's 5590 View C with the pockets from View A. This remnant, again from Tessuti has quite a bit of stretch, so it's very comfy to wear.

This little shirt is made from a piece of remnant cotton from Clegs...about 1.2 metres. The pattern is McCall's 5884 View A. This pattern runs really large and taking my lead from some comments on Pattern Review, I cut out a 10 and took two inches out of the back. Also I cut the tie down the selvedge rather than on the bias. Works a treat. I've cut out two more (you can see the material piled up next to my sewing machine in the first picture). One is a white spotted lawn and the other is a blue and coral spotted silk, again both from Tessuti. Maybe before Christmas?

Another remnant, from Tessuti, made it into a cute little shirt with some easy simple detail. The pattern is from Wendy Mullin's Sew U, a medium with bust darts but not the waist shaping. I cut the button facings with the fronts by extending the pattern by the width of the facing less seam allowances and folded the facing outwards to make a placket style detail down the fronts as well as on the sleeve (all suggestions she makes in the book). Perfect with my denim skirt!

I have perfected is tee-shirt...made here from a cotton print from Astratex from Wendy Mullins Sew U Home Stretch. The sizes in this book run really large, so I've made my own pattern for the back and the front and cut down the neck to a shape of my liking. I make the neck band by cutting a piece that is 80 percent of the length of the neck opening and stretching it slightly when sewing it in place.

Hanging out after washing are my work pants...I finally bit the bullet and bought a pants pattern maker pattern, Simplicity 2700 and cut out a curvy 14 as a muslin with inch seams. For this pair (my work pants, that's why they're drying on the line not on me) made in a stretch cotton, I let the seam allowances to 5/8ths of an inch between just above the knee and the waist to give me room to move. The next pair I'm going to make are out of denim with a little stretch, so I'll increase the seam allowance again to make them more fitted. I'll also change the pockets to make them look more jean-like.

I've a very long list of sewing to keep me going, hopefully I'll get a bit done after Christmas!

WHAT?!

My stash of knitting yarn and material has exploded! For the first time I have three projects on the needles at once (it was four!) and quite a few garments cut-out, but not sewn up yet! Yeeks!

But first the finished objects. Sloppy Joe by Sarah Hatton from Rowan Studio 12, quite my favourite at the moment!



And then my Habu scarf...I've been wondering what to do with these yarns which are so beautiful and yet so simple...a scarf seemed the most appropriate, however knitting it on 2mm needles took forever. The scarf measures 12cm by 250cm and is lovely under jackets where a bigger scarf would be too bulky.



On the needles and more than half finished is Haven by Kim Hargreaves from Heartfelt. The yarn, Karabella Margrite Bulky was on sale from kpixie.com.



A bit of a story with this, I ordered some more Margrite DK for Still by Kim Hargreaves (from Thrown Together), but they send the wrong yarn, some charcoal Margrite Bulky. When they re-shipped the original order I managed to include the green sale yarn as well! The charcoal is going to be made into a hat and some mittens!



For both Still and Ripple, also by Kim Hargreaves from Nectar, I'm pulling out two of my finished projects. For Still, the green V-neck jumper by Louisa Harding I knitted last year which is too short in the arms and the body, and Glint by Kim Hargreaves which is just too small really, and as it is made from my favourite yarn, Naturally ME, too good to waste.



Also on the needles, but much neglected at the moment in the rush to knit winter woollies is the Bow Cardigan by Sarah Hatton from Rowan Studio 12, also being knitted in Filatura Di Crosa Superior. It is a very boring knit, and something I will wear in the warmer months. I'll come back to it after I've knitted all my jumpers, scarves and hats I guess...



Also about to be cast on, and needing to be knitted to a deadline, are a couple of jumpers for a short film being made by an friend. Because she has no budget, she's bought disgusting acrylic yarn from Spotlight, but as I'm only knitting for a 10 year old girl, it shouldn't take too long. I have to knit a jumper which can unravel from the bottom and then one that is unravelled to a certain point. I thought I'd do a provisional cast on and knit the jumpers bottom up without the bottom bands and then knit the bottom band down to aid the unravelling. At least the colour is fabulous!



Also waiting to be cast on, but probably not until Spring is this beautiful Habu non-twist cotton boucle for Clemence from Louisa Harding's new book Nouveau.



I've also just ordered some Jaggerspun Wool Silk DK to knit another pattern from that book, Sabine. And there's a jacket from Thrown Together that I have to knit for Mum...

The sewing is more pressing as I'm close to running out of clothes! Here is my stash!



A jacket and a coat, a pair of lined wool pants, three woven shirts, a knit dress and three knit tops. Whew! Then I went to the new Tessuti shop in Flinders Lane run by friend Lisa and bought more! Madness!



Organic denim for jeans and a Marnie Skillings knit originally for knickers, but I think more for a top!

Time to knuckle down!

Being Green

My Louisa Harding V neck jumper from Modern Classics is finished just in time for a spring cold snap in Melbourne.

Karabella Margrite is beautiful and soft and warm. I only need six balls, so I could have made it a bit longer in the body. Might make another for next winter...

I've started work on Jasmine from Kim Hargreaves Nectar in my Habu Textiles Tsumugi Silk. It's going to have a different look from Rowan 4ply Cotton, but it's coming along nicely...why do I keep knitting on small needles and in green?

I've just knitted a little scarf for Michael's niece Zoë, in the right team colours after the AFL Grand Final. I'm not sure if she'll like it...



My friend Ms Lisa has taken three of the books and I've marked them sold on the previous post.

Finally...

Yes, Michael's vest is finished!





And I've also finished my Juliet Scarf...I love Karabella Boise, it is soft and it doesn't itch!



I've knitted another Juliet Scarf in Louisa Harding's Angora Pure and I think the stitch definition is better in Boise.



I started quickly knitting my second fitted jumper from Louisa Harding's Modern Classics before winter really ends in Melbourne. This is knitting up beautifully in Karabella Margrite.



And clearly in the grip of a very green moment, I've started working on my Hobo bag by Norah Gaughan from Knit Knit. For some reason I thought it might be nice to knit it in Habu Textiles Fique, but my fingers are not so sure...