Day #18 and effecting a little transformation

Serious work to do today so I chose a simple outfit with no hanging bits that will get in the way or need constant retying.

Black jeans and multi silk top.

I have spent the day at the National Needlework Archive where they had a wedding fair with a difference.  It was all about making things for your wedding yourself.  People were demonstrating digital photography, buttonholes and making waistcoats for the groom's men, the dresses on show were all from Oxfam's special collection.

I was on up-cycling, working on this dress

The train looked a little like a net curtain tied around the back.

The bodice was made of the same silk chiffon in a basket weave pattern and there were fine spaghetti straps with crystal beads.

I changed it into this

I left the skirt alone, the fabric was rather lovely slipper satin, then covered the bodice with more satin and cut off the chiffon train.

I had just enough chiffon to make the jacket, using the spaghetti straps for button loops and more satin and beads for covering buttons.  I let the sleeves be as long as possible ending in points.

Voila

x

c

The Studio, The Reveal

It has been so exciting this week, I had to wait until the flooring was laid on Wednesday afternoon but then I began the trek, carrying bags, boxes, spinning wheel and sewing machines into my new studio.  And there have been lots of little photographs on Instagram 

like this...

 this...

And this

It's easy to follow me on Instagram (if you would like to!) by pressing the button at the top of the column on the right of this post.  

I will write a little more detail on how I made some of the things (or more truthfully made over) later but for now, here is a little collection of before and after photographs.  Although I did a lot of painting and the make do and mend all the rest  (and most of the hard work) was down to JTH - he has been a hero!

One end of the garage AKA junk room (the dresser drawers survive behind the curtain)

All that fabulous Ikea storage is now full to bursting

On the right the cupboard which finally defeated me in January, when the stash took over my dinning room  (and now it's back!)

Some of my work, stripping and painting the window frames

These old deed boxes have made a previous appearance, now they are lined with cotton fabric and full of yarn

The old GPO weights, in pounds and ounces are for holding down paper patterns before adjustments

Curtains, made from several charity shop finds and sewn into a 'Liberty meets Mondrian' style to match the window frame

And now I'm off to the studio for my first big project - a double wedding ring quilt for a bride, I have known her since she was six and am so thrilled to be invited to her wedding.

I have not given up knitting but with all this space I can sew in the day and knit in the evenings

xx

C

one metre of each for the the quilt

Deed store to yarn store

I am a tad over excited, my studio is nearly ready for occupation by my multiple stashes (Yarn, fibre, fabric and Haberdashery!) .  Its all down to me now to get the painting done, some floor laid (well the carpet store will do that but they can't till I've finished the painting) and then I can begin the big move.  A couple of lovely knitterly friends have promised to come and help!.

white for the outside window frames, grey for within and yellow for the work-top

The cupboards are on the walls

 And the shelves are up

And if the shelves and drawers are to enough I have had these deed boxes.  They have been gathering dust and cobwebs in the garage for years

They came from a solicitor's office that was closed down

I wonder who A.M.Feak was?  I once worked with a solicitor who had a deed box with The Maharaja Of Jaipur stencilled on the side, it sat on top of his filing cupboard.  The story was that years ago the firm's senior partner acted for the Maharaja and once a year would travel to India to obtain instructions and carry out the Maharaja's business.

Now that deed boxes have become as obsolete as travelling halfway across the globe to receive clients' instructions, they are going to make very good stash boxes, once scrubbed with a wire brush and painted.  I shall mask off and preserve the makers stamp on this box

I did think I would throw this one away, it has been repaired extensively (the bottom soldered back on) has string to prevent the lid falling too far back and one hinge is broken

But the very fact that it has been repaired so much makes me think that if someone felt it was worth keeping then so should I.

I plan that they will be dressed up in pastel shades with a cotton lining  and hope to show you the finished articles next week.

xx

C

Growing Pains

Before I embarked on the Right as Rainbow KAL I measured the intended wearer very carefully.  Chest, back neck length and arms.  When it was finished I proudly announced to The Little Model's mother that THIS TIME I hoped the knitted object would not be too small, having measured her so carefully.  To which TLM's mother replied 'But she has grown an inch while you have been away'.  !!!!! You will recall that JTH and I spent the whole of September on a beautiful Greek Island where the knitting (and blogging) took place, alas all that time back in the UK someone was growing very fast.

When TLM tried on the sweater the body was fine, but the sleeves?!  They were two inches too short and lengthening was not going to be a simple task.  The sleeves were knitted from the bottom up and I had no more of the Plum coloured yarn.

nothing but a few unravellings

But it's all right now because I used a cunning old trick to add  some extra stripes.

Slightly Grumpy  Little Model

Happier when encouraged to Be Silly

Perhaps those who remember the Make-Do-And-Mend war years or the 1950s when our parents could not kick the habit also remember how our mothers would lengthen our hand knitted sweaters, by 'pulling a thread'.  Here is how I did it (using some spare yarn in Pumpkin as the deep plum was too dark to show well in photographs)

Thread a life line in and out of the first row of stocking stitch
(I used strong linen thread)

Snip through a single purl bar on the last row of K2P2 rib

carefully pull out the yarn from the last rib row

the rib will fall away from the stocking stitch.
The stitches on the upper part will
be captured by the life line

pick up the stitches on the stocking stitch section,
use a finer needle if that is easier

Knit up the extra inches (I kept to the same pattern as the yoke)

Once the extra length is done re knit the rib

Finally, I have learned a new techy skill.  While I was away knitting and enjoying the Greek Island I made a slide show of my knitting and island pictures but it was not till this week I finally worked out how to incorporate it into a blog post!

I hope you enjoy it

xx

c

On negative ease and learning from the past

It took me a little while to feel as comfortable as this in my new skirt and sweater but I got there in the end

When I made this skirt for the Titanic project the fit was so good that it got me thinking.  I wondered what it would look like made in a contemporary style.  When I say contemporary I mean short, there was no need to mess with the shape in any other way at all.  I made a few little modifications like using a zip fastener under the scallops.

I still did lots of hand stitching as I felt the skirt went together better that way.  It is made entirely with stash fodder, the gunmetal coloured linen was bought a while ago on a visit to Goldhawk Road and the ribbon left over from a previous project, rummaging around in my work-basket I found the right colour cotton and zip.

I loved the skirt it looks perfect in its 21st century guise, I expect to make it again and again and I love the little Tana Lawn shell top, Sorbetto, from Colletterie patterns (it is a free download at the moment)  But not together,

So delving into the stash boxes again I came up with three skeins of Manos Del Uruguay silk and merino blend in just the right colours.  A search on Ravelry came up with the perfect pattern from Ram Wools Yarn Co-op.

The largest size was a 36inch - too small for me so I swatched (yes I truly did) and added stitches to give me an extra 2 inches round.  I also decided to go for an all stocking stitch construction with curly edges.  This is when I discovered what negative ease is.  It was huge and only looked OK if I grabbed a handful at the back and smoothed out some of the curlyness.

It was just a Sloppy Joe and not the look I wanted at all (I should have learnt from the way Sorbetto was the wrong shape).  So I pulled it all out and made it up in the 36inch size, obeyed all the pattern instructions and VOILA!

So, negative ease - knit a sweater that you want to fit snugly about 2inches smaller than your bust size then it will fit not hang.

xx

C

Leftovers

I am hoping that Christmas is sufficiently far behind us to have left just a rosy glow.  I don't want the mention of leftovers to cause a shudder to run down your spine and conjure up visions of yet another recipe for using up cold meat and mince pies.

Because I am not talking about foodie leftovers but woolly ones, like these:-

This is not stash (although these fiddly, tiny little scraps and half used balls of yarn do live in a ziploc bag in my stash box).  These are just bits and pieces that I can't bear to throw away despite having no idea what use I can make of them, I can't keep making knitting patchwork and honestly I don't really like making things in different yarn weights (OK I know I can double the yarn or more, I just don't want to).  I was reading about one woman's main reason for knitting toe up socks the other day.  She said it was because she could keep knitting to the last inch of yarn.  She has a point, what to do with three tiny balls of self striping yarn like this?

Actually I have seen one absolutely beautiful project made with left over sock yarn - here . I tried to copy the photograph to the blog but the website would not allow such a thing so please do click on the link and look at the fabulous afghan and marvel that it is a work in progress from a man who knits his own socks.

I have no intention of just binning any of this yarn and actually I would love it if you would post ideas in comments for what I could knit with this

It may not look much but it is the last of my mother's hand spun.  My mother died on 19 January 2010 after a long and busy life and a mercifully short illness.  One of her hobbies was spinning and this yarn is spun from the fleece of one of my cousin's Jacob sheep.  It's quite hairy.  I would have enough to knit a pair of mittens or a beanie hat, but I am not sure I would wear them, I have scratchy issues (I like my hats and gloves to be supersoft and cuddly) and I would really want to wear whatever I make .  So if you can think of something, please let me know.

Meanwhile, straying a little on to the subject of stashes, did I ever tell you I am not to be trusted in a yarn shop? particularly at sale time?  I was in John Lewis this week, on Tuesday to be exact, which is why I'm a bit late with this week's post.  I spent the day shopping with no1 daughter for baby things and we were looking for a new mattress for the baby crib when I slipped away to the yarn department and found 900g of Debbie Bliss chunky Donegal HALF PRICE and ALL THE SAME DYE-LOT.  Totally ignoring No1 daughter's question 'what will you make with it?' after all she ignores me when I ask if she really needs another handbag, I just had to have it.

And now I have it home, smuggled past JTH,  I know exactly what I shall make.  A chunky throw for our bed.

There just remains the question when shall I make it?  With several projects on the go already and at least three queued up with yarn and needles selected it may be a while. So it goes in the box under the bed, that's why it's called stash

xx

c

Something new from something old

Sometimes I wonder what the difference is between the miser of old tales, counting his pile of gold and the way I guard my stash of fabric, yarns and trimmings (not to forget a huge box of buttons).  And what about my fourth stash box - of vintage linens?

A linen table cloth with drawn thread work in soft greens and a deep border of crochet lace began my minor obsession.  Given to me by my mother after my wedding, it had been the cloth on the table holding our wedding cake.  Periodically I have added to the collection, mainly from charity shops.  Cornish charity shops are the best!  Last weekend I added this to my collection.

A meter square linen table cloth with a large area covered in lazy daisy stitched flowers, £3.50 at the lifeboats shop.  I don't look forward to doing our laundry generally and the ironing can hang around for days (even weeks if I'm entirely honest) but I do like washing, starching and ironing my charity shop finds. Once the collection began to grow, I determined to make things out of the cloths.  This meant I could buy linens with some damage as I cut around the holes or stains and patched the good bits together.  I have made cushions, scented drawer sachets and am planning a large random patchwork quilt.

We had a bumper crop of lavender in the garden this year, so it seemed a good idea to make some little lavender bags.

Although I have a pretty huge collection now it still takes a little courage to cut into someone's handiwork.

I decided to use just the centre of this cloth today, keeping the multicoloured border for the bigger project.

All materials come from my various hordes.

Impulse buy buttons from my button box

Ribbon for the hanging loops, kept from birthday present wrapping.

The central circle of pink flowers made four bags. Made not out of necessity but for pleasure and to make use of something beautiful instead of leaving it in a box under the bed.

xx

C