In which I pick up my sewing again.

Hmmm - the last week or two has seen me slightly losing my knitting mojo.  I completed the Darlington Cowl, but am unconvinced; even having lengthened it somewhat it still is a bit short.

Here are a couple of shots of it being worn:

It's cute - and I love the colour of this King Cole merino blend yarn - but it's too short.  I might lengthen it more, or I might just rip it and knit a heavy shawl out of the yarn.  I have plenty more.  Decisions, decisions.  I am also wearing a handknit in the above photo - but my only contribution to this was finishing it, as it came (in pieces) in a bag of cotton yarn I picked up at a thrift store in DC.  This striped cotton pullover has a boat neck, kind of dropped or dolman sleeves, and is long line but quite fitted through the body.  It's perfect for spring, and actually I wear it a lot. 

I am still thinking about the Portnoo Poncho, so that is hibernating after my swatch.  I am finishing a thick wool sweater for my husband, but that is rather boring to knit... and due to my travelling life, I need lightweight, small, interesting but not too challening projects - socks and shawls of course.

So yesterday saw me returning to my sewing, and I cut out and started a practice run on ... sewing my own trench coat/mac!  I am using some drab brown/beige cotton I had in stash - I don't mind if it doesn't work out, and if it does it might just work in a vintage, ration-book WW2 kind of way over a tea dress (think Sam in Foyle's War).  I am using a McCalls pattern for vinyl and heavy-weight fabric trench coats.  I am doing a simple belted trench, unlined (although I might put a lining in) with front facings and a collar.  Many of these techniques are new to me, so this will be a learning experience - hence the practice piece!  Now I haven't really been applying myself to my sewing challenge, but I am enjoying it at present, so I might start catching up with my goals.  I have a plain A-line black skirt ready for some finishing (January), and have a vintage Vogue pattern lined up for trousers (February) and blouse (March).  I also have underwear cut and ready to sew for later in the year.  I'll get there, but perhaps not in a month to month way!  As usual, I am sewing on my vintage Jones CS treadle (straight stitch only, but what a lovely machine to use), and hand finishing where required.

Cast On Fever

It happens this way sometimes, when I finish a project (the Averill vest, see previous post). On Saturday afternoon I stopped by the newsagent for some printer paper and came across the magazine Yarnwise, which despite being on its 57th issue I don't remember ever seeing before. I immediately saw 2 projects in it I wanted to cast on - the Portnoo Poncho, for wrapping up when watching tv in the evenings, or reading in bed, and the Darlington Cowl.

Here is the Portnoo Poncho swatch - I am trying to use my many, many single skeins from my many yarn store visits in the USA but I am not sure the lighter shade works here:

I may try a little more of this, or I may replace the lighter shade with a tweedy grey... I don't usually swatch per se (very bad I know!) but I start projects and sometimes restart differently if I don't like how they're going.  It is swatching of a sort.

I frogged a project (the Vicky Howell shrug, which always annoyingly slipped off my shoulders) on Sunday to start the Darlington Cowl during this week;

I am ashamed to say I haven't got too much further than this during the week!  It is a good travel sized project, and now I am into the moss stitch (strangely had a lot of trouble with a very simple run of decrease and increase rows; might have been tiredness I guess) it is rather mindless and good for tv knitting.
I did a little spinning last weekend too, so another 2 skeins lie waiting to be knitted up into the Rocky Coast Cardigan.

The Averill Vest

Complete, as yet unblocked (the lace rib bottom edge and single crocheted neck and armhole edges require it). Love, love this super soft Aussie merino (Morrris Empire 8 ply, in the colourway Plumage). The pattern, from Knitscene Spring 2012 was reasonably clear and accurate.

So yesterday I had a few hours spare in Hull while the husband went to the football. As I often do there, I spent the time on trendy Newland Ave, full of vintage clothes shops, arty tea rooms and shabby chic furniture places - as well as whole pile of clothes and furniture thrift stores which pre-date the trendiness! Also on Newland Ave is Babes In The Wool, a classic LYS, which has something for everyone. For me, that was the latest copy of Knitting magazine and a couple of skeins of Louisa Harding baby cashmerino.

The coldest March day in nearly 25 years...

Means that it's a good idea to wear a hand knitted balaclava!

This is my husband, modelling the balaclava I knitted him for the Washington DC winter (2010/11).  I used an armed forces pattern, and knitted it out of stash Jarol DK (wool/acrylic blend) in the colourway Coffee.  It hasn't seen much action since DC, but today it was perfect for running errands in Darlington.

This week I have mostly been knitting (and wearing)...

So this week I cast on the Averill Vest, from Knitscene Spring 2012, in the Morris Empire I bought in Sydney.  Here is my progress thus far (I am a little further on now, after doing some work on it last night):

The colours alternately pool and stripe - possibly due to my usually eccentric guage - but I don't mind pooling and quite like how it's turning out.

Averill has been my work-a-day commuting knitting, but yesterday at home I picked up the Larissa wrap, which I started for Julia just before we went to Australia.  Larissa is an old Marie Wallin pattern from the Rowan booklet Arabesque, and as I had some amethyst Little Big Wool in deep stash, I started it for her.  I won't have enough to do the sleeves, but thought I would make it a sleeveless wrap vest - sometimes better with bulky yarn anyway.  I finished the back yesterday but here it is half done, in the "knitting nook" in my lounge room:

I got a lot of knitting done yesterday!  That's because, despite it being mid-March, it is snowing in the UK - yesterday was a vile day, with a freezing east wind blowing in sleet.  The only sensible thing to do was knit through the afternoon.  The only good thing about this kind of weather is that I can keep wearing my heavy winter hand knits - Surface yesterday, and the grey (from my anthracite obsession, which has now ended thank goodness!) Garter Stitch vest today, both with a mustard long sleeved tee underneath, dark denims, and accessorised with brooches.  I love brooches on handknits - to some degree handknits always feel a bit retro to me, and brooches set that off perfectly.

Here is Surace fastened with a brooch:

Here is Helsinki , mentioned in the next paragraph (I have since blocked it, to great effect):

So what other handknits are working in my wardrobe?  I took Surface to Australia, both for slipping on during the flight (it is knit in RYC cashsoft, so the lux mix of fine merino and cashmere is perfect for a situation like that), and wore it once when sitting outside at my sister's house in the cool of a summer evening.  I also took Helsinki (the Sand and Sea shawlette from Coastal Knits), and wore it as an accessory out to dinner one night. 

I am hoping the Averill vest will be suitable for work wear - my handknits are mostly weekend wear and it would be nice to wear more than handknit scarves/shawls and socks to work, as most people know I am a keen knitter.

My plan for today's snowy weather - a bit of sorting and organising at home, and maybe a bit of sewing!  Stay tuned...

Knitting in Oz

Dear readers, I have spent a few of the last weeks in my own home country Australia, where I saw family, friends, and did a little knitting and purchasing of yarn and yarn-related things.

My WIP for this trip was Elizabeth's toe-up, afterthought heel socks, done using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (Robot Overlord).  Other than the method of contruction, which I had not really done before, they are plain vanilla which made them perfect for long haul flights (I like to do things when flying but find my concentration levels are poor, so no complex lace etc!), sitting around with my folks and chatting, 4am wake ups with jet lag, etc.  I completed them just after returning and here they are:

I did the bullet heel option, but they are a bit too pointy, so am just doing a little surgery on them this morning, unravelling the point and ripping back a few rows - I will probably kitchener after all (was trying to avoid this as I always have to look up kitchener stitch and wanted to find a totally portable method of doing socks without reference to anything).

My home town is the stately and lovely Adelaide, but we also took a side trip to the big smoke of Sydney, where Australia's largest (and I think best) yarn store is located - Morris and Sons on York St, just a short walk from Circular Quay, the bridge and Opera House:

Sydney was well into storm season, but it was warm despite the heavy skies which threatened a tropical downpour!

I had hoped to pick up some Jo Sharp or Pear Tree at Morris and Sons, but there was none in stock - in fact doing some online research I think both have either ceased or really reduced production.  Such a shame.  Instead, Morris and Sons have started their own line of high grade 100% Australian merion in a variety of weights and dyes, and I couldn't resist this DK - Empire, in the colourway Plumage:

I picked up enough to do a little lacy vest I found in Knitscene Spring 2012, so bought the Knitscene as well.

Back in South Australia, I rummaged through a few second hand stores to find a few vintage leaflets and patterns - more on those when I do something from them!

I gifted the completed Honey Cowl above to Charmayne although it went straight into storage as it is pure alpaca and the day I saw her was 41 degrees!  This will, hopefully, be warm and stylish when winter does hit.  My sister received the anthracite grey Apple Strudel for her new home in a cool, woodland area, and I will do another version for myself at some point - in a bright red, navy, or jewel tone perhaps.

My work is at the moment taking me to Glasgow during the week, where I have joined a new knitting group and plan some sewing classes, so more blogging to come.

And on the sewing front?  Well, I had hoped to do one of the Ravelry sewing group's challenges for 2013, and still plan to as I can.  I am almost all the way through a skirt for January (ermm, although it's March!), and will dip in and out as I can:

Jan- Simple skirt


Feb - fitted trousers / jeans

March - Jacket of any sort

April - pjs / nightdress

May - knit top or dress

June - blouse / shirt

July - tote/ bag

August - dress

Sept - skirt with details/pleats/ pockets

Oct - underwear ( pants, camisole, bra or slip)

Nov - a dress for the holidays

Dec - an item for charity

Let's see how it goes!