Copycats

After double checking the fit of the dress pattern I made from the store bought dress, I made it up in some fancier fabrics!

The first version is a Riley Blake knit, navy with cream colored feathers.

The second dress was made with Art Gallery Fabrics knit, from the Mediterraneo line.  This is the same print I used to make a Wiksten tank earlier this spring, only that was the rayon, this is the knit.  I had originally planned to use it to make a short sleeved Moneta but decided to use this pattern instead.  I purposely placed the lemons on the front bodice piece, being the PinkLemon and all!  (There aren't as many lemons in the print as the photos appear to have.)

I don't think I showed the back view before, but here it is.  There's a reverse box pleat right at the center back of the skirt.  It's hard to see in photos of the darker colors, but this print shows it pretty well.

I used navy thread for both of these so I sewed them up together.  Since I don't have enough cone thread to have the serger and the coverstitch machine threaded at the same time, this made it faster only having to move thread once.  I'm really enjoying having the coverstitch machine and while it's not essential, I love the way I can finish my knits with it.

Gussets

 

I've knit past the gusset on the foot of my Francie sock.  The gusset for this sock is on the sole of the foot.  For the Smaug socks I did earlier this spring, half of the gusset shaping runs across the top of the foot.  The other half is in the more usual place, on the side of the heel.  I guess this is my year of strangely placed gussets.

Time to Wrap Things Up

 

I knew when I started the Jessica Jones cowl that it would take a while to knit.  It's knit in linen stitch which takes a while to show vertical progress.  If black hole knitting had a favorite stitch pattern, this would be it.  You can knit for days and have no progress to show.  I knew this going into the project and I was fine with it.

I'm now to the point where my yarn balls are definitely getting smaller and I can tell I'm on the home stretch and I'm just ready for this to be finished.  I'm going to try to finish it this week.  It's time.

Lace

 

I've worked another section of my Clair de Lune cardigan.  This is the most complicated thing I've knit in a while, but I'm really enjoying it.  I think it helps that I've knit the Frost Flowers stitch pattern several times before.  Being comfortable with the basic stitch pattern (there are no rest rows on the wrong side - it's all lace) makes it easier to figure out what's going on in the design.  Also, I've been leaving the TV off while I knit this.  I just feel like it needs all of my attention.

In non knitting news, yesterday afternoon I cut out two more of the dresses I showed you on yesterday's blog.  I hope to get them stitched up over the weekend (I'll sew them at the same time because they both need navy thread) and I'll show them to you next week!  Have a great weekend!

A Dress

 

A few weeks ago, while Caleb was taking his SAT test, Mickael and I went to the outlet mall.  I found a knit dress at the Columbia shop (yes, the outdoor gear people), and while I didn't bother to try it on at the time, I could tell it would fit, and worst case scenario, I could just wear it around the house.  When I got it home and tried it on IT WAS SO CUTE!  It has enough shape to not look like I'm wearing a sack, or a sleep shirt, but it's loose enough that you can't tell if I just ate an ice cream cone.  Perfect summer dress!  I would have gone back right then and gotten the other colors it came in (I only bought the black) except they were colors I can't wear.  As I was looking at it, I realized it would be simple enough to trace and make my own pattern.

So that's what I did.  Once I had my pattern made and added seam allowances, I cut it out in an inexpensive heather gray cotton stretch knit and it worked!  The original had a shirt-tail hem which I didn't do.  I just did a plain skirt hem, but otherwise it's a pretty exact copy.  Now that I've tested it, I'm ready to make a few in some prints.  Also, I'm ready for ice cream!

Ribbing

 

I've finished the leg portion of my socks and I'm ready to begin the heel flap.  This is where all the excitement is on this pattern (at least the way I'm knitting it), but it also means I've got to pay attention, which is why I stopped here the other night.

Hopefully later this week I'll have a more interesting picture of this sock to show you!

A New Sweater

After finishing my Magical Sweater of Awesomeness, I cast on a new sweater over the weekend.  I fell in love with Clair de Lune as soon as I saw it the first time, but I wasn't ready to start it or I didn't know what yarn I wanted to use, so I just went on with my life.  This weekend I realized I had enough yarn (Nerd Girl Yarns Winning in Cassandra) in the right color to make this (I feel like it should be a light neutral color).  The Winning is classified as a heavy laceweight, but after blocking it blooms into a heavy fingering or sport weight.  The silk and linen fiber content would make it very wearable here in Texas.

The first thing I did was knit a swatch.  I used some Winning in a different color (leftover from a crocheted shawl from last year), mostly because it was already wound.  Then I put it in a washing bag and tossed it in with a load of lights I was washing.  A trip through the washer and dryer gave me a beautiful, soft swatch and the yarn had bloomed into the stitches nicely.

Based on the swatch (and knowing the swatches lie), and the fiber content (both linen and silk are drapey fibers with no memory), I decided to knit the smallest size, XS, even though according to the measurements I should be in the S.  I had already checked Ravelry projects and found that most people went down a size or wished they had.  Knowing that my yarn will likely relax and grow as I wear it, I think this is the right choice.

I've just barely begun to knit this, but I'm already reminded how much I love this yarn.  I really should use this base for more projects!

The Magical Pullover of Awesomeness!

 

I finished my Magical Pullover of Awesomeness!  This is the Il Grande Favorito pullover pattern, knit in Malabrigo Mecha in Aniversario.  It's basically a big sweatshirt kind of shape, but the sleeves aren't as loose and floppy as an actual sweatshirt would have.  It knit up really quickly, even with having to magic loop the sleeves and if I do find that I'm wearing it a lot, there are a couple of other colors I'd love to use for more of these.  I'll have to wait until fall to actually wear it since summer is definitely here in Texas.

Here's a shot of the knitted fabric.  I love the way this chunky yarn looks knit up.  It really shows off the colors!

Have a great weekend!  I get to pick a new sweater project!

Crochet

 

The good news - I've started a fourth repeat on my Granny Goes Large blanket.  (Red is the first color of each repeat.)

The bad news - crochet is painful.  I definitely need to rethink how I'm using my body when I crochet and I need to only do it for short amounts of time.  On the other hand, now that I know I need to work on how I crochet, hopefully I can work through it.

I'm not as comfortable with crochet as I am with knitting and I know that makes me less relaxed, but obviously I need to be really aware of how I'm working so I can crochet without pain.  This really reinforces my theory that finishing my Meditative Blanket during the Olympics may have triggered this whole upper arm/shoulder thing.

A Sleeve

 

I finished my first sleeve on my Magical Pullover of Awesomeness (AKA Il Grande Favorito).  Since I don't have double points in the right size (US 10, 6.5mm), I'm magic looping the sleeves.  I don't usually mind magic looping, but when I'm working from two balls of yarn at once, that's a lot of yarns and cables and needles sticking out everywhere and it's annoying.  At one point I almost set the whole thing aside and ordered a set a DPN's, but I decided to just suck it up and keep going.  If I ever do this sweater again (and there's a pretty good chance that might happen), I will definitely invest in a set of big DPN's, but for now, I'll finish with what I have.

I'd really like to get this finished by the end of the week.  Considering that I only have to knit one more sleeve and weave in sleeve ends, there's a good chance this might happen!

Another Pair of Socks

 

I've started another pair of socks!  The yarn is Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock in Hush.  The pattern is the Francie Socks -sort of.  When I first saw the sock, I saw a picture of the foot and I loved it.  The leg of the sock, as written in the pattern is kind of an organic rib pattern to mimic tree bark.  It's interesting, but it wasn't what I expected when I saw the foot so I decided to knit the legs of my socks in a simple 2x2 rib that will then flow into the foot pattern.

This pair of socks isn't part of a KAL so there's no time limit or pressure to finish it and I plan to take my time with them.

Have a great weekend!

Something to Fidget With

 

A while back I learned to Lucet through a little class that involved emailed tutorials (most of them seem to be here - scroll down).  I learned the basic cord and set it aside, but then when I hurt my arm I got REALLY fidgety not being able to do anything.  I decided to see if I could make lucet cord since it's a different motion than knitting or crochet.  I could, but only for short bits of time.

I grabbed some leftover sock yarn and started playing.  I'm still making cord (slowly) and I have somewhere between one and two yards.  The yarn is Malabrigo Sock in Indiecita and I love the cord it makes.  I have no definite plans for the cord, but since I can use it for anything I would use a commercial cord for, and I can cut it any length, I plan to just keep making cord until I run out of yarn.

The Linen Stitch Goes Ever On

 

I'm still working away at my Jessica Jones cowl.  I think I've knit somewhere between four and five inches so far and I can definitely tell that my yarn balls are smaller, so progress is happening.  With some projects, I can knit for an evening and I can tell that there's been progress.  With this project it takes several evenings to see visible progress.  I'm not complaining.  As slow as linen stitch is to grow vertically, it's a very relaxing stitch to work.

I plan to knit until I've used all my yarn so I'm not sure how wide that will be.  The pattern mentions 10 inches for the width, but I think I started with a little less yarn, so my cowl might not be that wide.  This stitch is doing a great job of blending the two skeins and I can't see that one is darker than the other!

Eternal Spring Socks

 

I finished my Eternal Spring socks over the weekend, so I've now knit three pairs of socks for the ESK Q2 KAL.  They are knit in Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock in Sea Spray.  The pattern is free (it was in Knitty) and it's a really fun pattern to knit.  I worked from the chart, but once you get a feel for what the pattern is doing, it becomes very intuitive and knits up pretty quickly.

I haven't started another pair of socks yet, but I might do that later today.  I haven't quite decided.

Second Sock

 

I've done the leg, heel flap, and heel turn of my second sock and I'm ready to work gusset decreases.  I plan to finish this sock over the weekend.  That will give me the three pairs of socks for the Q2 ESK KAL, but I might start another pair of socks when I finish these anyway.  I haven't decided.  I have yarn for another pair of Mickael socks but I haven't picked out the pattern yet and I have lots of yarn for socks for me.

I could also start another kind of project.  Or I could work on one of the projects I've got going (my Aniversario pullover's sleeves or the Jessica Jones cowl).  I have no idea what I'm going to do.  I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Have a great weekend!