FO: Sorbetto

It's hot.  Really hot.  And that calls for a new summer shirt.  I thought I'd try out the Sorbetto, Colette's free pattern, with some fabric I already had.  My mom gave me this beautiful fabric along with a pattern a year or two ago, but I thought it might make a nice Sorbetto instead. 

I like this top a lot, and a lot more than I thought I would.  It's perfect for steamy summer days.  I've only worn it casually, but I think it might be nice with a skirt for work days, too.  I will definitely be making more, especially since the fit on this one is not quite right. 

I cut a 10 at the bust, grading to a 14 at the waist and a 16 at the hip.  I think next time I'll cut a 12 at the bust, since there is no ease and it's pulling a bit.  It's not so bad that I won't wear it, though.  I'll also shorten the dart length by about 1.5 inches. 

See the wrinkles at the bust?  Too tight!

I made bias tape for the bindings.  The bias tape bindings was a new technique for me, and I love how it turned out.  This top took far longer than the hour many people say it took them, but that's okay.  I'll be making more for sure!  It's a great top for looking pulled together in a very casual, cool way. 

FO: Caeles top

Pattern:  Caeles by Hilary Smith Callis, published in Twist Collective Spring/Summer 2012.  It's a basic top down tank made special by the dramatic Snow White's Evil Stepmother collar.  The collar and sleeve caps make use of short rows.  There's no seaming, but there is a lot of finishing work, as the collar, sleeves and hems all require sewing live stitches to the fabric.

Process: I love short rows!  So fun.  This was a breeze to knit, since it's mostly stockinette in the round. I knit it as part of a KAL hosted by Webs yarn store.  I also love finishing work, so that was fun. 

Product: I'm really happy with this FO.  I was a little dubious about a worsted weight top for summer, but I think it will be okay.  It will definitely be great for spring.  And I love love love this color. 

Yarn: Valley Yarns Goshen.  I am not a fan of cotton and I always swear I'm never going to use it.  But when May comes around, I lose motivation to knit wool things that I won't wear for 5 months, and I start wondering about knitting some summer patterns.  Goshen was on sale, so I took a chance.  I think I might have had a change of heart about cotton!  I think this yarn looks a little sophisticated, and it didn't hurt my hands at all.  It was very pleasant to knit with--I didn't have any splitting issues.  I'd use it again. 

What I learned: I learned how to do a turned hem and sew live stitches to the back of the knitted fabric.  The videos on the Webs blog helped a ton and made it easy peasy. 

Ravelry page: here

FO: McCalls 6073 Maxi Dress

It is hotter than hot here.  As someone from the arid West, I just don't know how women in the south do it.  After an hour of this humid heat, I very closely resemble a soggy washcloth.  How to the Paula Deans of the world survive the summer with their hair and makeup looking like it came straight from a debutant ball?  The only way I know to cope is dresses.  And lots of hair rubber bands.

This maxi dress is perfect for hot days.  It's basically as comfortable as wearing pajamas, and the flowy skirt means nothing is sticking to my legs.  This is the second time I've made this dress.  The first time, it fit okay except for the bust.  See?

There was just too much fabric, and the cross over panels flopped open every time I sat down.  I tried to fix it by running some elastic along the neckline binding, but that was only minimally successful and maximally frustrating.  (I never get frustrated with my knitting, but working on that neckline made me want to padlock the sewing room door and forget the whole thing even existed.)

So I found this most excellent Small Bust Adjustment tutorial from The Slapdash Sewist, and I'm pretty sure it's changed my life.  This is why I want to sew: I want to have clothes that fit well and make me look great.  Yes, there are things about my body that, in a perfect world, might be nice if they were, well, more perfect.  I'll still hold out hope that maybe someday I'll look a bit different, but in the meantime, I just want to feel great in my clothes.  So while I'm sort of 10% annoyed that I have to do a SBA in the first place, I'm 90% thrilled that I figured out how to do it successfully.  There is hope for all future garments! 

Half an hour later, my pattern piece looked like this:

The finished garment looks like this:

I look so annoyed!  Remember, that's heat and humidity all over my face.  Inside, I'm still beaming that I fixed a pattern so it fits me well.  I used a zig-zag print from Gorgeous Fabrics, which I've since seen at Joanns, although in a different colorway.


I love the detail of the elastic at the shoulder seams.  The pattern also has elastic in a casing at the waistline, which supports the weight of the skirt.  I added about 3 inches to the skirt, and I haven't hemmed it.

Look at that bodice!  And the mostly matching stripes!

I think I'll be living in this dress for the rest of the summer. 

FO: Renfrew top!

I finally made a Renfrew top!

The pattern was easy, quick and fun.  I can see myself making a lot more of these, especially for fall and winter layering pieces. 

The fabric is a stretchy something-or-other.  It's a cotton interlock from Harts Fabric. It's substantially thick, which makes for a nice shirt, but not so heavy I won't wear it on hot summer days.  The fabric did this weird wrinkly thing in the white stripes.  I'm not sure what's going on there.

I think I did a good job matching up stripes on the sides, but not on the arms, obviously.  I'm not losing sleep over it.

I cut a 10 through the bust, then a 12 at the waist and a 14 at the hips, and I think it fits perfectly. 

This pattern was very easy, but the finished product looks clean and tailored.  It was the perfect project for my week, which was so full I had almost no time or brainpower left over for knitting or sewing intricate things.  Things are calming down a bit this week, so I'm going to revisit my goals list and see what I can get done!

FO: Rory's striped scarf

Ahem.  I wrote this post a long time ago.  March, I think.  And now I'm posting it.  Don't judge.  You have things hanging over your head, too, right?
 
As part of Stash Down 2012, I've used up some scrap yarn!  Since Downtown Abbey is over (sad face), I've started re-watching Gilmore Girls for the 78th time.  In Season 1, Rory wears this stripey scarf, and I found myself thinking, "I could make something like that!"  I realized I had a ton of worsted weight wool scraps, so I gathered it all up and got to work.

Pattern: I wanted the stripes to be very clear, not affected by purl bumps, so I used the Noro striped scarf pattern.  It's a 1x1 rib, which ends up looking like stockinette on both sides.  I used each color for 15 rows.

Process: This was so speedy!  I hate making scarves because of the boredom factor, but this wasn't boring at all.  I should tackle the Noro striped scarf!

Product: It's a cushy, basic, sporty, very warm scarf.  For free!  Score!

Yarn:  This was like a sampler for different worsted weight wool.  Out of the 15 colors, 8 were Wool of the Andes, one was Cascade 220, one was Cascade 220 Superwash, one was Patons Wool, and one was Merino Style, which is now sadly discontinued.  It really is very soft.  It's listed as a DK weight, but it knit up at exactly the same gauge and hand as all the worsted weights.

What I learned:  This was a super simple project, but I still learned something!  When it comes to binding off a 1x1 rib, it will flare out and look sort of crummy.  So I used the kitchener stitch!  I put all the knit stitches on one needle and all the purl stitches on another needle, and then grafted them to each other!  It worked perfectly and made me happy.

Ravelry project page: ta-da!

Stash Down 2012 strikes again!  Maybe I'll use the scraps to make some Sundance-inspired mitts?

Queue up!

Okay, I need to get my creative mojo all working in the same direction at the same time.  My brain is crammed full of things I want to sew and knit, but I've found myself the last three nights without anything interesting to work on.  Why is this happening?  I'm paralyzed by choice again.  So I need to narrow things down and make a plan.  And where better to figure all this out than this blog?  Here are my thoughts, in thoughtly order:

1.  I will be working on a vest for Ravelympics (or whatever we're calling it now).  It's the Wood Hollow pattern by Kirsten Kapur, and I'm using Wool of the Andes worsted weight.  I'll start that in late July, so that gives me a month or so of knitting time to use before then.

2.  I really want to make this pattern, Cinnie, a summery cardi.  But wouldn't you know it, I don't have a single appropriate yarn in my stash.  And not only did I really look, but I swatched.  Nada.  So I think I'm going to order some Knit Picks Cotlin because it's cheap and I've wanted to use it for a sweater.  I will not feel guilty about not knitting from stash, because it's summer, and who's wearing worsted weight wool in July?  Exactly. 

3.  I'm about to finish the Caeles top (although I've run out of steam lately with just the seaming left.  Meredith, get on it!) 

My Caeles progress several weeks ago.

I'm thinking I need a summery new skirt to wear with it.  I'm internet stalking Simplicity 2215.  Isn't that a beautiful skirt?  I'm loving the versions I'm seeing in the blogosphere.  This is also leading to fabric stalking.  When am I going to commit to this project?  I need a deadline here.  July 1, I'll give myself permission to buy fabric and invest in the skirt project.

3a.  Why do I need to give myself a deadline?  Because I'm still primarily a knitter.  Sewing takes a lot more mental energy for me, so without giving myself a commitment goal, I'll just bounce around theories forever without taking the plunge.  Why isn't it that way with knitting?  I'm at the point in my knitting understanding where I understand how all the moving parts (pattern, gauge, yarn weight and fiber, fit, needle size and notions) fit together.  In sewing, each one of those moving parts is like a mystery to solve. 

4.  I'm about to finish a shirtdress, McCalls 4769.  It needs buttons and it needs to be hemmed.  So far, it looks great.  I made a collar!  But I'm afraid that I'm at the point where finishing my ruin my pretty handiwork so far, and so I'm a bit paralyzed.  Again, I need a commitment date!  I've ordered snaps (!) in the mail, so when they get here, I will get to work on finishing that. 

5.  I have some stripey fabric for a Renfrew Top.  That won't take very long.  I could knock that out before my skirt deadline kicks in.  Hmm ...

6.  At the back of my mind is this idea that I need some more summery things, like skirts and dresses.  The 4769 will be in the closet soon, and the 2215 skirt fits the bill.  Are there more summer dresses I can use?  I've recently made two maxi dresses (McCalls 6073), and although that was a lot of fun, it's not work appropriate.  Maybe the very cute Cambie Dress?  Is that beyond my skill set, or is that exactly the kind of challenge I need? 

6a.  Focus, Meredith.  First, the 2215 skirt.  Then think about more summery things.  See how well this writing thing is working?  I'm prioritizing here! 

7.  I started the summer wanting to work on some lace, especially a lace stole that I could use as a scarf in the fall.  I just finished the Vermont Shawl, which is beautiful!  It's blocked and waiting for pictures.  But I have 800 m of a purple alpaca lace weight, and I'd like to do something with it.  I swatched for Euphrosyne, another Kirsten Kapur, but I didn't like it in the swatch.  I think I need to go down a couple of needle sizes, and it would be okay, but it did make me second guess the project.  What happened to the stole idea?  Should I revisit that?  If I'm going to do lace, then I need to get on it.  Because I have the vest coming up at the end of July, and after the vest, I'm knitting an Aidez cardi for my sister's birthday in September.  It's now or never for a lace stole. 

Here's where we are:

July 1 -- Buy fabric for skirt.
July 1 -- Buy yarn for Cinnie cardi
July 1 -- Make a commitment to a lace project with the purple alpaca
Before July 1 -- Finish shirtdress
Before July 1 -- Finish Caeles top
Before July 1 -- Renfrew Top?  Use Renfrew Top as a break from other things in July? 

Does that sound like a plan?  Yep!  Which I guess means it's all subject to change at any moment. 

Because of my recent discovery that (a) I am tall and need to lengthen sweaters, and (b) I therefore need to buy more yarn than a pattern calls for, I am finding myself up knitting creek without enough yarn for my current WIP. 

I'm making Aidez with Cascade Eco Wool, just to be completely original.  These are monster skeins--250 grams and 487 yards.  My ball winder shuddered in fear at just the thought of balling those puppies up.  I had two skeins in my stash that I bought last year before the price of wool increased.  Most people on Ravelry were able to finish their sweaters with just two skeins, so I started the sweater with confidence that I would be fine. 

I scoured Ravelry for people making the same size (44") with the same needle size (9), and it looks like most people still used just two skeins.  But I decided to add an extra inch to the body length, and I started to get nervous.  The first skein got me through the back and the left front, except the last two inches.  So I started looking around for a third skein.

This must be the smallest dye lot in the history of yarn.  I could only find one person on Rav with the same dye lot, and hers wasn't for sale.  I did find the same shade, although different dye lot, at a local-ish yarn store, and I figured that was as close as I was going to get.  The new skein is very, very close to my old skeins.  But what's the old saying?  Close only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes?  (Wow, what a lovely saying.) 

I swatched the two together, and the difference is detectable.  How detectable to people other than me, I don't know.  I don't think it's so bad where I alternated every two rows.  Can you see a difference? 

The stripes are more visible on the bottom of the swatch, where I alternated every 8 rows. 

Alternating every two rows.

The new one isn't as brown as the old one.  I have just the two sleeves left to do.  What approach should I take? 

1. Knit one sleeve from the remaining skein, then knit the second sleeve from the new skein.
2. Knit both sleeves from the new skein.
3. Knit both cuffs from the new skein and the sleeves from the old skein, hoping the old skein holds out for both sleeves.
4. Knit both sleeves with both skeins, alternating every two rows. 
5. Knit both sleeves from old skein, and switch to new skein when I run out. 

Clearly, this is ridiculous.  I've never run out of yarn before, so I've never faced these kinds of decisions.  But I didn't put this much thought into choosing grad schools.  The longer I think about it, the more options I discover.  (Knit one sleeve with old skein, knit second sleeve alternating new and old skeins.  Alternate skeins with greater/lesser frequency the closer I get to the sleeve cap so that the cap will be mostly old skein so as to match front and back knit from just old skeins ...  The polar ice caps are melting, and my most pressing concern is two different dye lots of yarn.)

From a distance, it's not too bad.  (Hello, poor, sad, neglected Granny Stripe in the corner!)

In the end, I'm going with option 4.  It's the most time consuming, but the safest in terms of producing two identical sleeves with the best hope of matching the rest of the sweater. 

In these circumstances, what would you do?