FO: Simplicity 2215

Okay, everyone.  I'm not sure about this one.  This is the skirt pattern from Simplicity 2215.

Do you need to have a defined waist to make this skirt work?  I'm not sure it's doing much for me.

I like it pretty well when I'm wearing it, but I'm not twirl-around-thrilled with it.  Now that I see the pictures, I'm even less convinced.

I removed the pockets, because in my experience, extra floppy fabric around my hips is not a great look for me.  I added five inches to the skirt and then took a deep 4 inch hem just for fun. 

Any thoughts?

Ravellenic FO: Wood Hollow Vest

So while some of the world's best athletes were finishing up a leisurely 26.2 mile run this morning, I was binding off my Wood Hollow Vest!

I wouldn't have reknit this from the bottom up if it weren't for the challenge of the Ravellenic Games.  There was one night of knitting where I thought I would n e v e r reach the armhole shaping decreases, but every Olympic event has that moment where you hit the wall and just have to keep going.

And I'm so glad I did, because I love this vest and I will sport it proudly!

The specs:

Pattern: Wood Hollow Vest by Kirsten Kapur, of Through The Loops
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes
Started: July 27, Opening Ceremonies
Finished: August 12, 9:00 am
Ravelry page here!

Congrats to all the Ravellenic athletes, and, of course, to the real Olympic athletes who inspired us and united us for two amazing weeks!

FO: Simplicity 2219

I finished my last maxi dress of the summer, and it's my favorite by far.

The pattern is Simplicity 2219.  I made View D.

I used a knit from Gorgeous Fabrics that I bought during one of their sales at the beginning of summer.  I love it.  It's a dark eggplant background with large line-drawing flowers in pink, orange and grey.

I made a size 14, a size smaller than the measurements called for.  But the pattern allows for half an inch of positive ease in the bust, which I do not understand.  Why would you want positive ease in a garment made out of stretchy knit?  I would guess that as I made it, the bust has about .5 to 1 inch of negative ease, and I think it fits well.

I added 3.5" to the bottom of the skirt.  The only other change I made was to take a 1/4" seam allowance on the side bodice front pieces, since I was nervous about it being to low and showing too much skin in the underarm area.  I still think it could be a bit higher, but it's not too uncomfortable. 

 

I would highly recommend this pattern.  I think it looks very polished for a fun dress.  

Okay, that's all for now!  I have to get back to my Olympic knitting!

FO: Euphrosyne shawl

I finished this beautiful shawl last week. 

Pattern: Euphrosyne by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops.  It's all-over lace with a lovely knit on border.

Process:  Very straightforward and enjoyable.  Although I am just noticing now as I'm looking at the photos that I've not done a very good blocking job!  See how all the little points on the edging are, well, pointy?  If you look at the photos on the pattern page, each little yarn over all along the edge has been blocked out completely, giving it a slightly more scalloped, consistent look.  I, however, used blocking wires, threading the wire through each point only.  Darn it.  I really should re-block it. 

Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool Silk.  I bought this during my first visit to Kanawah City Yarn Co., a really awesome LYS in Charleston, WV.  I love the color of this yarn.  It's very raspberry.  The yarn is light and airy, but not skimpy.  I just loved it and would absolutely use it again.  Plus, I think ti was about $13, and you can't beat that.  Well, I mean, you can, but why would you?

What I learned:  That I should double check my blocking process.  

Product: I love it!

Ravelry page here.

FO: Sorbetto #2

 When it comes to knitting, I very rarely repeat patterns.  There are so many things I want to make, and once I'm finished with something, I want a new experience. 

With sewing, though, I can see myself repeating patterns over and over again.  Why is that?  Is it because it's harder for me to get the fit right with sewing, so there's a lot of value in working on something several times to get it right?  Is it because sewn garments are more common in my wardrobe than knitwear, which are usually unique pieces?  Who knows.  Don't over think it, Meredith. 

Anyway, I made another Sorbetto! 

My first was too tight through the bust, so I cut one size larger there, but kept the waist and hip the same.  So I did a 12 at the bust, grading out to a 14 at the waist and a 16 at the hip.  Do you think it fits better?  There are some faint wrinkles on the straps.  What's up with that?

I used a London Calling floral cotton lawn from fabric.com which I love love love.  From far away, it reads very light and pink, but up close, it's a little more vibrant. 

I think this will be a great summer and fall top.  I have some MerLin in that aqua color to make a Goodale cardigan.  I think I'll start that as soon as the Ravellenic Games are over.  I can't wait!

I wore this yesterday with a skirt I made but didn't blog, McCalls 5523. 

I'm sure I'll make another Sorbetto.  Next time, I'll work on fitting the back just a bit better.  Bra straps anyone?  Oh well. 

Next up: one last maxi dress for the summer!

Good as new!

After a very simple and enjoyable ripping, winding, washing and hanging, here is the yarn from my Wood Hollow Vest, all ready to be wound into cakes and cast on!

Just a few hands on minutes, plus two days of drying time took this:

to this:

Isn't wool amazing?  I love it.

I'm all ready to cast on!  Bring on the opening ceremonies!

Reclaiming yarn: Easier than it looks!

Have you ever put something off because you thought it would (a) take forever, or (b) be really difficult, or (c) both?  And then finally talked yourself into finishing the task and found that it was (d) no big deal at all?  That was me and frogging this vest.  I've been thinking about that thing for two years.  Two years, people!  And the whole thing took about half an hour, and was really pretty fun.  Two years of thinking about something that took 30 minutes.  Why do we do that to ourselves?

Here's what I did.

I used a yarn swift to hold the yarn and wind it into a hank.  I pulled about 3 yards off the sweater, then wound it on to the hank.  Trying to wind it directly from the sweater would make the yarn too taut, and would also be very fiddly. 

If you don't have a yarn swift, you can use the back of a chair.  Just make sure that the sides of the back of the chair are parallel, or angled in towards each other.  If the sides are angled away from each other, if the chair back gets wider as it goes up, it will be nearly impossible to remove the yarn after you've wound hundreds of yards.  I know of which I speak. 

When I'd wound about 100 grams (about two balls of the Wool of the Andes), I tied it up in four places using some scrap cotton yarn.  I'd just started a fifth ball of this yarn, so I wound the sweater into two hanks.  

You sort of make a figure 8 with the cotton through the yarn.  Well, a figure 8 with another loop on top.  So really, more of a figure snowman. 

Look how crinkly the yarn is!  You can't knit with that!  Not without driving yourself mad. 

It does look sort of awesome though, doesn't it?

 

To get all the crinkle out, you have to wash it.  Washing unknit yarn sounded like a scary prospect to me--oh! the tangles!--but since I'd tied it well, it was not a crisis.  It was as easy as washing a sweater.

After squeezing--not wringing!-- the yarn and wrapping it up in a towel and stepping on it, I hung it to dry, using a couple of skirts on hangers as weights to pull out the crimping.  I think I'll wear the vest with this khaki skirt this fall!  Ooh, with boots and tights.  And the sky will be blue and the leaves will be beautiful and it will be a delicious 55 degrees and not 194 and sticky and terrible like it is now. 

I let it hang about 24 hours, rotating the hank so it dried evenly and didn't get re-crimped from the two hangers.  Then I let the hank rest on my ironing board for another day or so to rest.  The yarn really plumped up again, and looks like no one ever even thought about knitting a gigantic sweater with it. 

I'll show you the finished hanks tomorrow!