First HandSpun knitted item

Somewhat rustic in appearance, but its all my own work.  This item started out life as a bag of fluff, and I spun it, washed it, and knitted it into this.  So I'm a proud mama even if it isn't perfect.  Perhaps BECAUSE its not perfect. 

This is made from 100% merino.  I had a bag of mixed shades of blue and turquoise and spun up two skeins of just over 100g each... allowing for a lot of breakages, and bits of fluff that ended up on the floor rather than in the yarn.  I believe the skeins were already shown off in an earlier post, but here is the relevant skein again. 

I wasn't sure quite how far the yarn would go when knitted since its rather uneven in thickness (that's quite an understatement actually) so I knitted it up as Hitchhiker which is a pattern you can stop more or less anywhere depending on when your yarn runs out.  As it happens, my yarn managed to run out five stitches from the end of the cast off and a bit of additional hand spun from a rejected attempt was added to eke it out.  Said rejected attempt was from the same bag of fibre so its not obvious what I did. 

The finished item is rather small, and quite thick... not very drapey and definitely an outdoor scarf not an indoor accessory but it seems to me that its still a statement of style.

 The original pattern is supposed to have 42 teeth and be done in sock yarn.. This one has sixteen and a bit teeth and is done in "heaven knows what weight", but its worked out OK and will work well in the neck of my new coat. 

Overall I'm pleased with it.  Whilst the colours don't do quite what I envisaged they should when knitted up, its close enough for me to feel that I have produced something roughly similar to the intended outcome, which for a first attempt, isn't too bad.

The other ball of yarn, which is more blue toned, is still waiting to be knitted up, along with a natural coloured ball that I spun just before Christmas.  I might stripe those though so I get a larger finished item. 

PS.  I promise I'm not trying to start a Turquoise SWAP with all these turquoise based projects.  I'll try and make sure my next post includes something non-turquoise.  :) 

3's the charm cardigan

Hmm.  This cardigan has been re-knitted three times which is why this super bulky, supposedly super quick project has been a while on the needles.  Planned as a long line cardigan with a  belt in seed stitch, stand collar, button bands, hem and cuffs all in that same stitch.  Its not quite what was planned.

The first version was much, much too large. Knit contiguously, which is a method that never normally lets me down, I somehow managed to produce a cardigan that had 16 inches of ease in the body and sleeves so tight that it was a struggle to get my arms into them.  I was aiming for relaxed fit, but not for a knitted tent... so I unpicked it all, which only took me 20 minutes to do.. and started over.

Version two was better... that fit across the back, the sleeves were OK from bicep to wrist this time but the upper chest was massive, the sleeve caps were funny shaped and the front had about six inches of excess ease and hung strangely.  So I unpicked that one as well.  That took half an hour because I'd done that thing where you think if you knit fast enough, and far enough down the garment, it will magically improve and you won't need to un pick it.  .  Its related to the old chestnut, if you sew faster the bobbin won't run out I guess.  In any event I was only about six rows from finishing when I realised the knitting pixies weren't going to fix this whilst I slept and unpicked a virtually completed garment.

Seconds out, round Three.  Top down, raglan this time.  I figured that this would allow more control of the sleeve/body width for a mathematically challenged person such as I.  And, whilst it doesn't look like I planned exactly, its wearable this time.  It was never going to be quite how I planned it since it turns out that what I thought was a massive amount of yarn, totally wasn't, so there wasn't enough to knit the planned long line cardigan with seed stitch belt.  Instead I have produced a sort of odd length, coat-y cardigan which could be seen as slightly matronly I suppose.  I spent two days debating whether to make a shorter cardigan, but then I'd be left with yarn I couldn't use, plus I thought longer was better in terms of warmth and leg coverage, the two being inextricably related in this case. 


So, in short, happy with the colour, which I dyed myself on the hob using acid dyes.  The uneven dye job has worked out well and gives a nice effect I think.  I do love the look of the seed stitch, its very much how I envisaged it.  The collar on the third attempt is somewhat wider than I planned and certainly wider than versions one and two but it fits well enough.  I love that I could reuse these wooden buttons that came from a previous cardigan (which I knitted, then managed to shrink it the first time I washed it).  I'm pleased I have a finished garment that I can actually wear whatever its flaws.  I'm not totally sure about the length, which is neither long or short, I probably should have put in waist shaping given that I didn't have enough yarn to make the belt, but I kept knitting away, faster and faster, in the vain hope that I'd have enough yarn left for the belt.  Because knitting faster was obviously going to result in more yarn being left over for a belt.  Of course it was. 

Marfy 2264 - completed

As usual, the last section of the coat took the longest to complete... isn't it always the finishing that takes the time? 

Anyway, its done and I'm pleased with it.  I think its going to be very wearable, though as always I see flaws.  Overall I think its not too bad considering the difficulty I had with handling the thick fabric.  This coat has killed four size 14 top stitch needles and bent half a box of pins. 

Getting the facing to lie nicely inside the coat was a considerable challenge involving a fair amount of steaming and whacking of seams.  I did try to pick stitch/hand understitch it, but it didn't really hold it at the edges and the only other option was to hand top stitch the entire edge about three eighths from the edge which wasn't a look I wanted.

The lining is a mystery fabric.  I know it came from Fabric.com during a designer fabric sale and I think it might be a rayon or rayon blend but I'm really not sure.  Its lovely quality though and  one of those colours that's quite difficult to accurately define.  In some lights its stone, but it has a sheen that turns pale gold in other lights.  I've part machine and part hand lined the coat.  The facing and lining are attached by machine, and the shoulder seams and vertical seams are all machined.  However, I put the sleeve linings in separately when making the sleeves, and have attached sleeve linings  to body lining  by hand.  Due to the weight of the main fabric, a back neck facing was impractical so the coat is lined to the edge of the hood at the back.  I sewed the lining to the hood/neck attachment seam allowances then brought the hood lining over the main lining neatly and sewed it by hand.  Its made a bid for publicity at the hood edges because I failed to allow enough extra lining to cover the massive amount of turn of cloth needed to get over four layers of duffel coat wool. 

Although I did buy the fur for the hood trim, I really don't feel that the coat needs or wants fur trim.    I have found an alternative use for the fur I bought though, and indeed for the wooden buttons I bought for the coat and didn't use, so all is well there. 

The button holes are done in what I am told is a vintage manner.  I'm not totally sure of my facts there though.  Due to the fabric thickness it wasn't possible to sew these on the machine.  The foot, when down, was pretty much in the up position, if you know what I mean, so getting my button hole foot, which sticks at the smallest opportunity, to move across this fabric was just not going to happen.  So, I've done a hand worked button hole treatment.
First I cut open my button holes with my trusty button hole chisel.  My fabric doesn't fray much under ordinary circumstances but it would do so in a button hole exposed to lots of wear. 
Next I hand worked a button hole stitch, rather badly, around the button holes, to keep the fraying down.  I had to use top stitch thread as I didn't have real button hole thread in the correct colour.
Then I made the super fiddly ribbon trims for the front and back of the button holes.  After a lot of trial and error and fiddling about, I found the best method to keep the trim in place long enough and accurately enough for me to sew them on by hand, in the right place, was to attach Steam A Seam to the back of each length of ribbon.  I folded the point in the middle, pressed it with the very nose of the iron only, and very carefully (with the whole thing sat on a piece of freezer paper to avoid sticky bits on my ironing board), folded the ends up underneath the ribbon on the straight end, sticking those down with the nose of the iron.  I drew a line on the freezer paper and followed that so that all the units would come out the exact same length.  Then placed each unit in the right place, over the button hole, and pressed it into place using a press cloth to save the wool from damage.  They didn't stick that well, but just enough to keep them in place for me to sew them without them moving.  Pinning them distorted and slightly moved them and as they are both small and contrasting, the tiniest difference in length, placement and angle was very obvious. 

The button hole trims for the tabs on the sleeves and pockets are only decorative.  The sleeve tabs are sewn in place with the buttons and not able to be undone.  The pocket tabs have a false button hole and button with a large snap underneath the tab to close the pocket.  This is way more practical than a buttonhole for a winter coat whose pockets I'll need to open one handed whilst wearing gloves. 
The main button holes on the front had to have the trim stuck and sewn on the outside first before the trim on the facing was tackled.   

Buttons are plastic and shanked, with an extra thread shank added due to the fabric thickness.  I was very pleased to get these particular buttons.  In the box at the shop there were only five and I needed ten.   An extended search for an alternative button turned up a second box of this button, which held enough to meet my needs.  I think they look quite 1960's and I thought this matched the vibe of the coat.  There is no top button.  Its not designed to have one and the contrast facing showing looks rather nice I think.  I'm going to wear it and see how it works out for me, but may add a large fur hook at the neckline or a giant popper, to keep the top of the coat completely closed at the neckline on very cold days if I find I get a draught.  As I've finally managed to work out how to make my super fancy camera do the close up shot at long last, I hope to be able to show better details of my projects in future. Next challenge... timer shots. 

I love the coat, and the pattern was reasonably easy to make up (fabric notwithstanding) and I feel its a good fit.  The hood needs to be made smaller for the next version.  Its much too large.  I did check the size before I added it, but I guess I didn't check carefully enough.  But it should be reasonably simple to make it less deep without affecting the neckline, which fits really well. 

I have worn this today, to walk the dog, and it was lovely and warm and cosy.   It works fine with my most favoured winter scarf, which even works colourwise.  And, to prove just how good a dog walking coat this is, see what the dog thought of it.  This is the coat half done.  I put it on the floor to place the patch pockets accurately, went to get a coffee, and this is what I came back to.  She flatly refused to move and I had to work around her.  Every time I get the coat out, she sits on it.  All the time I was doing the hand sewing, I had a dog on the other end of the coat.  Luckily she seemed to manage to magically avoid the pins so I can confirm that no dogs were harmed during the making of this coat.   When I put the completed coat on the sofa this morning whilst I got my boots on, she sat on it again, so the coat was hair covered before I had even put it on for the first time.