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Agatha Sweater – Finally, Progress!

For a couple hours a day (mostly on my lunch break and while unwinding before bed), I’ve been knitting up the back of my Agatha sweater. We had a very very rough start – for some reason, I kept mixing up the rows and having to rip my work. It always happened at row 10, too. I frogged the entire thing 6 times (maybe 7 – I stopped counting because I started getting mad!). It was very frustrating, especially since this particular section casts on 69 stitches. 69 stitches + 10 rows – that’s a LOT of re-knitting! UUGHHHGHHHHHH!!

Anyway, we made peace on Tuesday and I was able to jump over the hurdle of 10 and start exploring new knitting territory. And by “exploring new knitting territory,” I mean I repeated rows 10 & 11 seventeen times each. Ha! But you know – the back looks gorgeous and I’m really excited to be almost finished with it!

Here is my progress as of, oh, about 10 minutes ago. This sweater is knit top-down, so you are looking at the back right-side up.

Despite how much I wanted to destroy things every time I gave up & frogged, I actually think it was good that I worked the lace pattern over and over – my stitches are pretty even!

Once you get past the first 3 or 4 rows and the pattern actually starts to show in your knitting (lol I just started to type “shitting” right there GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, LAUREN), it is much much much easier because you can follow the pattern based on what you already knitted, instead of getting to the end of the row and realizing you missed a bunch of stitches and have to unknit all 69 of the little buggers… not that I know anything about that.

Following the pattern can be a little difficult, since you are following lace panel rows in addition to the regular ol’ rows that make up the rest of the sweater. I found it very helpful to stick post-it notes under the row I was following, so I wouldn’t accidentally follow row 6 when I was supposed to be on row 7 (this is where the majority of those first mistakes happened. Ouch!). Once you start knitting short rows, the lace panel rows don’t match up with the rest of the rows, so the post-it notes were VERY helpful with keeping me on track with everything.

Anyway, I feel really good about my sweater & the progress I’ve made. It is REALLY fun to knit – just complicated enough to keep it interesting, but not so complicated that I feel like I can’t do it. Hopefully I will be starting the front panels within the next day or so – and once I get farther into those, I can actually try it on!

For those of you knitting along (Agatha or not!) – how are you coming along with your sweaters? 🙂

Oh! One more thing –

I got the buttons to my coat last night 🙂 I had to have them made since those kits you buy at the fabric store at totally shitty. These are really nice – the lady uses a machine, and I don’t think I could pull them apart if I tried! I had an extra made just in case 🙂

Coat pictures to come soon – Monday, perhaps? 🙂

Tags: Agatha sweater, Fabiani coat, knit-along

Comments 18 Comments
Categories crafty things that are not sewing

New Projects!

26 Jan

Since my coat will not be ready for it’s unveiling this week, I embroidered a little L tag to make me feel better:

I just love putting these tags in my garments (and making them, too!). I think they really pull the piece together and give it a nice little personalized touch – you know, since sewing/hand-tailoring/fitting the damn thing wasn’t personalized enough. (this is where I roll my eyes)

Also, I love embroidery! I don’t get to do it enough, but I just find it so relaxing & free-flowing. This particular monogram is from Hoop Love Vintage Transfers – I use transfer paper to draw the design directly onto muslin, and then fill it with pretty embroidery stitches 🙂 This piece has satin stitch, back stitch around the satin stitch, and split stitch swirlies. Yay! I DO feel better, thanks for asking!

During coat downtime, I’ve been cooking up some sewing schemes to keep my occupied ’till then.

A croquis for your viewing pleasure. Also, shoe fail.

I will be making the Colette Violet out of some nice sheer white dotted swiss – I barely had enough to cut my pattern out (the under collar is actually pieced – whoops), but I managed 🙂 This fabric is SUPER sheer, though, so the body is underlined with cotton batiste, and I replaced the interfacing with a sturdy muslin (collar, facings). Debating on whether or not to underline the sleeves – what do you think? The fabric is still pretty sheer even with the underlining. Mostly I don’t feel like hand-basting anymore but I’ll totally take one for the team if need be. Opinions, please!

The skirt fabric – some poly blend plaid that I picked up at Denver Fabrics a year or so ago. I love how bright it is, but yeesh that plaid repeat is GIANT! I think it translates nicely into a circle skirt. I let myself buy a couple yards of bright yellow rayon lining… and a piece of matching petersham ribbon to stabilize the waistband. That creepy black blob in the corner is 3″ horsehair braid for the hem. Oh yuck, I just noticed that you can see part of a broken button in that picture too. Ew quit haunting my dreams.

These are all cut out and ready to be sewn up – the skirt has been hanging for about 2 days now, and I just finished basting all the underlining for the shirt. First non-coat of 2012, yo!

What have y’all been working on?

Tags: circle skirt, embroidery, violet, work in progress

Comments 22 Comments
Categories crafty things that are not sewing, work in progress

Join Us For A Knit-Along!

24 Jan

Remember when I said I was going to knit me up an Agatha sweater as my first big project? Turns out Mika is also knitting the same sweater, and suggested we do a lil’ knit-along for anyone else who wants to join! You don’t have to knit the Agatha sweater if you aren’t feelin’ it (although the pattern is only $6.50 on Ravelry!) – first sweaters are welcome too! I don’t know about y’all but I am needing a lot of hand-holding during this process 🙂 And here’s the fun part – unlike me, Mika is not a knitting n00b, and she has graciously offered to answer any questions you may have about knitting your first sweater.

If you want to join us, we’d love your company! Join the Flickr Group and stick the badge on your blog! If you just want to watch this ’round, that’s ok too 🙂 This is a pretty informal/flexible knit-along – I personally don’t plan to be completed for at least a couple of months.

Speaking of sweaters – I have more swatches! Ahh I am so sick of swatching! I think I finally got gauge, though 🙂

Lace swatch

Ribbing swatch

So yay! Thanks again for all your help with my first batch of swatches – I had to go down to a 5 to get gauge. Now I’m ready to knit 🙂

—

In coat news – I finished the lining last night, yay! Started to sew the buttons on and every single one of them broke, boo! Cheap ass covered buttons, guh. I did, however, find a local source that will cover my buttons for me with a machine… the only drawback is there is at least a week processing time. So we are pushing back the coat unveiling and I would say I’m sorry but I’m really not because I demand perfect buttons.

In the meantime, Amelia seems to think my coat is a suitable cat bed:

She knows what she is doing is wrong. You can see the guilt in her eyes.

Tags: Agatha sweater, Fabiani coat, knit-along, knitting

Comments 12 Comments
Categories crafty things that are not sewing, work in progress

A Knitted Lacy Collar

20 Jan

I swear this is a sewing blog… I’ve just been bitten by the Love Bug. I can’t stop knitting! We’re still in the honeymoon phase, where everything is fresh & new & super sweet. So forgive me while I gush about another knitting project (or two)!

This is the Lacy Collar – it’s from the book Knitting Vintage, which I swiped from my library last week (Sidenote: our local library RULES. Not only do they have practically anything I could want, but you can use their website to request books that are shelved at any of the branches and have them delivered to your local branch. Awesome awesome awesome!). I used yarn left over from my Bunny Slippers, and a button from my stash. Basically – free lace collar! Woohoo! I was inspired by these little autum collars from Casey – I love the idea of a removable peter pan collar, but I didn’t want to spend my precious sewing time making one. Instead I spent a WEEK of precious knitting time on one! No, I don’t get it either.

I only made one change to the pattern, and it was unintentional – I left out a couple of rows by the bottom lace edge. So my collar is a little smaller than the one modeled. Oh well! I learned how to pick up knit stitches with this project, and the lacework is a little more advanced than what I had previously done. I wish it had blocked a little flatter, but whatever – it’s lace, I’ll deal. Isn’t it pretty, though?

I am really pleased with how the lace work turned out! And it was such an easy project!

Ok, here’s a question for all you knitters – I need some swatch hand-holding!
I had to make two swatches for my knitted cardigan – ribbing and a lace panel. I actually made 4 because it looks like my gauge is a little loose. In both pictures, the left was knitted with size 7 needles (as per the pattern’s suggestion), and the right was knitted with size 6 needles. All swatches have been blocked & dried.

The ribbing swatches should measure 2″x2″. As you can see, thanks to my handy-dandy 1″ gridded cutting mat, one measures 2″x3″ and the other is 2″x2.5″. So they are both still a little big! Does it really matter if they are long, though? Or is the width the only thing I should worry about?

Here are the lace swatches. These should be 2″x3″, and the size 6 looks like it baaarely sticks outside of the 2″ margin. 7 is more like 2.5″, so obviously that’s too big!

So I guess my question is, I should use the size 6 needles, yes? Or do I need to go down another size & make another swatch (eeep!)? Help meeeeee!

For your patience, here are some pictures of the current coat progress:

I started padstitching the undercollar last night, but as you can see I got a little antsy in my pantsy & decided to stop after one row. The undercollar is lightly padstitched (1/2″ stiches spaced 1/2″ apart); there is no need for a fall since the coat has a collar band. At least, I hope that’s the case lol.

And here’s where I am so far! Kinda looks like a (sleeveless)coat, eh?

A randumnb news story to brighten your Friday – Dolly Parton & Gaylord just annouced that they will be opening an amusement park in Nashville. Nashville has been mourning the loss of our beloved Opryland for over 10 years now (they replaced it with a shitty mall. Ew!), but it looks like we’re gonna get it back! Yay! Just another reason to love Dolly 🙂

Tags: dear god help me, Fabiani coat, knitting, tailoring

Comments 24 Comments
Categories crafty things that are not sewing, work in progress

More Knitted Goodies

18 Jan

Look – I finished not one, but TWO knitting projects! Both of these have been slow works-in-progress, and over the weekend I was able to get everything blocked, then last night I finished weaving in ends & sewing seams & all that fun stuff. And now you get to share my joy with me! Yay!

Sorry that the pictures are so bad – I took these last night because I was so excited to show them off. It’s been grey & rainy all week. Ugh, winter is so bad for pictures.

First up – bunny slippers!

This is the hopsalots pattern – it is very easy! You knit everything flat with decreases and increases and then seam everything up, felt the shit outta it, and sew on the ears/eyes/nose/tail. I learned a lot with this pattern – decreases, increases, seaming, felting, knitting with 2 strands of yarn. I also made my first pom-pom lol.

Here is a progress photo – I had to pin the edges down because they really wanted to curl up.

I added 2 rows of stitches before decreasing, since I knitted a 5/6 and I wear a 6.5. In the end, I pinched a little excess off the back because the slippers were too long – probably from those extra rows. Also, I don’t think I felted them as much as I needed to. Felting took about an hour – I got bored! I brought my Kindle in the kitchen and watched some TV shows, so it wasn’t tooooo bad, but man my poor fingers were pruney after the fact.

Anyway, I love my slippers! They are kind of dangerous on the bathroom floor but I’m sure I’ll manage 😉

Next pattern – my cowl!

This is the Casu Cowl (psst – it’s a FREE Ravelry download!). I knitted mine using an Alpaca blend in a delicious shade of wooly teal. It is my very first written pattern and that shit took foooorever (mostly because I kept stopping to make other fun things, like bunny slippers. Ahem.). Things I learned with this pattern: how to read a pattern, how to read a pattern chart, provisional cast on, yarn overs, knitting 2 together, grafting, and adding a new ball of yarn (I used almost 3 balls). Grafting was interesting – my seam isn’t totally invisible, but I think it’s pretty good for a first try 🙂

I just love the lace pattern at the top.
The only thing that sucks about this cowl is that the teal is basically the same color as my new coat – which is too matchy-matchy for me. Ah, guess I’ll have to just knit another cowl. Bummer 🙂

I have a couple more knitting projects – one nearing completion (just a few more rows to knit and then a quick blocking) and I just started swatching my sweater last night. Actually, the lace pattern on this thing nearly killed me but Sarah the Knitting Magician saved the day/my life and corrected my error. Hopefully I’ll have some swatches to show off in a few days! I am REALLY excited about this project 😀

Are any of y’all on Ravelry? Friend me – I’m laurenc0re!

Tags: completed, knitting

Comments 23 Comments
Categories crafty things that are not sewing

aw! baby’s first scarf

14 Dec

actually, this is more of a scarflette than a proper scarf – i ran out of yarn, so it’s short! but it’s scarf-like, and it’s my first real knitting project that isn’t a swatch. i know this is a *sewing* blog, but it’s also *my* blog, so we are going to talk about knitting today.

new techniques i got to put to the test: purling, binding off, and button holes! i also learned how to un-knit, which was very helpful since i messed up pretty much every single row in the beginning. at one point, i dropped a stitch in my un-knitting fervor and nearly had to frog the thing to fix my mistake. fortunately, i was able to correct myself and continue, although there is a wonky area near the buttons. don’t look too closely!

the pattern is the scrunchable scarf and it is knitted up on size 7 needles with alpaca wool. obviously, mine is shorter because i didn’t have enough yarn. the buttons were actually intended for my leopard jacket, but ended up being too big for the bound button holes (how the hell did that happen???? ugh.). so they went on the scarf instead!

isn’t it pretty! ignore the mess in the background – hopefully the sewing fairy (aka me) is going to turn that red pile into a pair of clovers. i think, anyway.

open. you can see how short it is – i had the tiniest little yarn ball butt left over!

my button holes!

the buttons & aforementioned Area of Wonk. like i said, don’t look too closely.
i don’t know why these buttons look black; they are actually a deep teal – basically the same color as the lining in the jacket.

buttoned-up – i like it this way, as opposed to a tube-thing around my neck.

so… what do you think? i know it’s laughably simple, but i’m so excited! i already started my next knitting project – and my first knitting pattern (that isn’t just knit knit purl). scary pattern chart & everything! my pal sarah has been a wonderful teacher – very patient with my dumbass. so i’m thankful for that. it’s weird to be a beginner at something. i actually kind of like it, to be honest.

in non-knitting news, yesterday i was surprised with a gift certificate to mood fabrics from an incredibly generous reader – words cannot even express how much i am thankful for this. and how excited i am about more fabric! 🙂 i would love to make that vogue another tailored coat – and a bombshell dress! i ordered a bunch of swatches today, so we’ll see!

Tags: knitting, scarf