Soooorry

Hi everybody,

sorry for not blogging for a couple of weeks. I promised a sewing post but the jacket isn't finished yet. I sewed the shell and the collar but the lining is still in pieces (it's cut out though). I hope, that I will get back to sewing next week.

DHs grandmother is in hospital, so we went there a couple of times. (we were off work, since we were in vacation). Made some grape juice after harvisting grapes at my in-laws. Did some work in the garden. I did some work for work while beeing off.

I had another appointment at the hospital, with less than stellar results. I'm still healthy but my body isn't recovering from the anti-hormon treatment the way it should and that depresses me a bit. So I really did not feel like blogging. Heiko and I overall had a good time.

I did knit a lot and I will show pictures next week. One of the babyjackets is nearly done (minus the i-cord edging) and I even already dyed it. Today I started another jacket. My friend Annika went into hospital last friday. I guess the baby is here yet (haven't heard anything though...), so I better knit fast ;) 28 of 140 rows are done!

Home Turf

I know, that I promised to write a sewing entry next but the weather has been so sunny and summery the last few days, that I have to admit: I didn't sew much or at least I did not take any pictures of the finished muslin.

Instead we spend a lovely day today just at the baltic sea, which luckily, is just around the corner (we drive 5 minutes...). First we went for a walk along the shore and then had some ice-coffee at the beach:



I so love to live here. For me, it's all about the water. I really can not imagine to live in the mountains. I need to be able to see the horizon.

We also took some pictures of Ishbel, inspired by Elems post about taking pictures


(I for myself think, that the pictures are better than the others I took before, but that might be just my opinion and the fact, that there's the beach and the water in the picture)

Heiko that to grab one end of the shawl, since it was a bit windy. (Nothing serious, just a nice breeze, but Ishbel is so lightweight, that even the tiniest bit of movement in the air, will make her want to fly)

The pattern is great. Really easy to follow, once you (and by that I mean I) get your brain around, that using stitchmarkers is not really a good idea, since you would have to move them every other (read RS-row), just make sure, the decreases line up.
I made the double decrease a bit different by slipping them off together, I think, this makes a neater decrease, but that is just my personal style.


So here again the facts:

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague. Larger version
Yarn: Marika Jo by Richter Kammgarn. (Found in my MIL livingroom cupboard, when they had to clean it out because they were getting new furniture. I have NO idea how old this yarn is.) Content: 70% Angora, 30% virgin wool
107 gr.

I promise (again) to take pictures of the jacket I'm sewing next!

knit knit knit ssssssrrrrrrrttt

This adds up, what I've done last weeks weekend. Knitting and spinning :) Saturday I went to a meet up with my sewing friends but since I had to go by bus I just took my knitting and no sewingmachine with me. I have to admit, that nearly all the knitting got done while beeing on the bus and just a few stitches during the meeting (but I scored some fabric for a sleeping back for one of the many babies that will be born soon since I have 4 (!!) pregnant friends around). But progress is progess :) Sunday was a really lazy day. I nearly spend 6 hrs spinning up the Corridale sliver ( at least I think it is a sliver not a roving or a batt. It's pretty packed and not really fluffy) that I got from the Woll-Schaf. My second handspun! The handling of the Corridale was different and I think I might have overspun it a bit but I had a few frustrating moments with yarn that "broke". There wasn't any acutally snapping or so but the twist wasn't high enough so the fibers just did not hold together and when I pulled the fibers let go of each other. So I changed to the second largest whorl on my bobbin
(see picture) to give the yarn more twist. As far as I understood, there will be more twist in the fiber when the flyer moves faster without the singles moving onto the bobbin. I have two books here, that I'm currently reading about spinning so hopefully there will be more progress on that. If I bore you with my forays into spinning, just let me know :) After spinning for 6 hrs. I really had to do something else, so I switched to knitting. Ishbel got some rows added. I had a few motivation problems the last weeks, so the only projects I've been working on where the baby booties for my co-worker and the last finishing touches on the OpArt blanket. Both projects showed me progress. I could see them growing/beeing finished. So instead of knitting on my Ishbel (unless you count 1 row here and there) I've spun the corridale. But last sunday was a break-thru moment. I've knitted a whole repeat on Ishbel and now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. (So that will be around 100gr and 1000 meter less stash. yay!) (Since last Tuesday, when I wrote this message Ishbel has been finished. Sorry for not posting this earlier, I just had either no time or light to take decent pictures! Ishbel is now beeing soaked for blocking and I hope to take nice pictures next week. I'm so inspired by Elems great post about taking pictures and I will try to take some too!)
(Ishbel pre-blocking)

My other WIP knittingwise are the Firestarter for Molly, which I named "starting a purple fire". (fire can be purplish, can it?) I finally finished the gusset on the first sock. Boy, that took FOREVAR and also killed my mojo. Yesterday I managed to knit 2 komplete repeats on the leg portion and will add one more before putting the socks on scrapyarn and start the second one. Since Molly really likes a long leg portion, I will knit both socks at the same time when the second one is as long as the first, using up every single meter of the yarn. I so hope, that that will be at a length that Molly likes.

(Again: Progress has been made on this project. The first sock has been moved onto a piece of scrap yarn and is waiting for the second sock to reach the same height as the first. So far I have finished the foot portion and started the gusset. Which was the part that killed my mojo in the first place, having to rip the hole gusset and re-knit it. Urgh. After the gusset the first sock went without any problems. Keep your fingers crossed for the second one)



Since last week I've started spinning some Merino. Boy, that is a lot harder to spin, than the corridale and I have a mixture of over and underspun parts. Maybe I need to switch to the bigger whorl again. I think spinning is something where my inner perfectionist comes out. I want the perfect yarn and I want it now. I know, that this is totally stupid to think but still. I want sockweight yarn, well balanced and evenly plied ;)

And I want to be able to spin the yarn I envision. I'm already dreaming of spinning yarn for the vine yoke cardigan by Isolda from the latest Twist collective.

Speaking of Twist Collective. My next bigger project will be Sylvi. I have 18 skeins of yarn in my stash for it, so that will be a good stash reduction masswise, if not yardwise ;) (meterwise?).

I might sneak in another Tomten jacket. As mentioned, there are a few babies due around me in the next couple of weeks. EEEEK. Nothing finished but the OpArt blanket. I'd better be knitting.

See you soon with a sewing post!

Work in Progress

So, besides getting acquainted with the spinning wheel:

(My first handspun on the lower edge and the most recent on the upper edge. The fiber is Eiderwolle. A very long staple fibre from the sheep that live on the Deich here in Northern Germany. The sheep (breed Texel or Suffolk or mixtures or varying breeds) are raised for their meat not for the wool, so this yarn is a little coarse but really easy to spin.

I'm also still knitting and sewing.

My knitting has works in progress, so I'l start with those.

1. "Starting a purple fire"



These socks are for Molly. Once these are finished I'll be getting some bronze dpn from her.
The pattern is "firestarter" by yarnissima and the yarn is my own hand-dyed wool-bamboo blend.

Since Molly does not wear a size 38 European I had to recalculate the number of stitches, for that I used Cat Bordhis master numbers from her "New pathways for sock knitters" and I ended up having 72 stitches total. I hope, that this will be o.k. *keeping my fingers crossed*

I reached the point of turning the heel on the first sock (which is my commuting project and the yarn is thinner than the usual 4ply fingering weight sock yarn), did that and measured the total length of the sock. Lo and behold I had 1.5 cm (that is 5/8 inch) too much. gnarf. So I ripped back to the beginning of the gusset increases plus 6 more rows :( That means I had to rip out half of the work I had done so far.

Another thing I do not like so far, is that I got some holes, where I had put the stitch marker on one side :( Maybe washing and blocking will fix that.

2. "Op Art"

Is actually off the needles and all ends are woven in.Just needs blocking.

3. "Mommes baby booties"

My co-workers girl friend had a little baby boy last week (Momme. Really, that's his name). So, as usual me beeing late, I started knitting some baby booties out of the left overs from my coriolis socks. The first one is already done (using 14 gr. of yarn) minus the i-cord, which will be the last thing I'll be making, to be sure I have enough yarn for the second one. The second one is already cast on. Very easy and fast project. I had hoped to finish these before my co-wokrer returned from his break, but he started working on thursday and of course, the booties aren't finshed :( This weekend they will be done though.
The pattern can be found here.



4. "Ishbel"

My at-home project since I have reached the lace-part. I'm into the third repeat of chart, this means I will have to knit chart 2.5 more rows on chart A, 6 rows on Chart C, 8 rows on chart D and then just the 1 row of chart E. So that are just 17.5 rows to go! Since one row has over 350 stitches now, that means around 1-2 weeks of knitting ;)
This shawl will be like a heavy shedding feather. So far I have used 60 gr. of this yarn (ravelry link) and it is so soft and I totally love the colour. Unfortunately the yarn is shedding like crazy. Hopefully this will getting less after washing and blocking *more fingers crossed".



Wow. 4 projects at one time. This is a lot for me, but since Op Art is off the needles and the booties are so small, I'm kind of o.k. with that. I just need to make sure, that the booties are finished soon. I really don't like to have more than 2 projects at a time.

Sewing:

Haven't started the Paris-jacket. I'm going to make a muslin for the Onion jacket and see, if it is too frilly for the hot pink wool I want to use or if the burda jacket will be a better choice.
I also have a black-and white wool in my stash, that would be a good choice for the Onion pattern but I realls need a skirt or so out of the fabric first, since I have already made a jacket out of the fabric and a matching skirt or some trousers would be cool...

Sewing, that is.

Hi there,

I just saw, that I did not post anything about the 2 finished sewing projects I have done in the last weeks (sorry, that it took me weeks(!!) to finish them. It seems, that I have too many hobbies ;)
Actually the weather has been really nice around here and the knitting (and now the spinning) is so much easier to take outside and sit on the porch (which is a Terasse in German not a porch) under the sunthingy that keeps the sun out ;) and enjoy the weather.

So 2 things that is and I'm totally copying my reviews from PR here:

First:
Bias cut skirt from issue No. 5/2007 of the ottobre woman magazine



Pattern Description:
Basic skirt with yoke and bias cut lower skirt part.
Pattern Sizing:
34-52. I made a size 40 tapering to a 38 at the waist.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Mostly. I did add piping to the seam and I decided to cut the skirt front and back in one piece rather than adding a seam at the centre back. Thus I moved the zipper to the side seam.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Totally easy and clear.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I really like the look of the pattern and that it was fairly easy to sew. I also really like, that Ottobre uses real people as models instead of skinny bean-poles.

Fabric Used:
Cotton-lycra denim. This wasn't the best idea since the denim isn't fluid enough, even when cut on the bias to look good.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
See above :) I also did cut the facing out of the same rayon I used for the piping. Plus I did shorten it to a length that looked good on me.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
yes and yes.
Conclusion:
Great pattern, that might become a staple in my house

Second is the shirt I'm wearing: Onion 5022, which I got from Maria at Shoponion.com but it seems it's now OOP
Pattern Description:
Package of 5 different t-shirts. From a long sleeved raglan shirt, to a raglan cap-sleeved to a "sleeveless" shirt. I made View D "Kimonoaermer" which is pratically no sleeves but an extended shoulder seam.
Pattern Sizing: XS-XL. My measurements would have put me into an M but I have already made view A, so I knew, that this pattern runs large and I used a size S. I could have merged into size M at the hips though (need to go onto diet. I sewed a XS last time..)

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, totally but better ;)

Were the instructions easy to follow? I do not own the English translation but this pattern has 1 pattern piece, so what should have gone wrong?

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Like: easy to sew, very comfy
Dislike: Nothing

Fabric Used: Rayon jersey remnant from my LFS but unfortunatly the red has bled into the cream part, so this shirt is for at home only.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
Instead of binding the neckline with fold over elastic, I added 1 cm seam allowance and cut a strip of fabric twice the width I wanted the final strip to be plus 2 cm s.a. 20% shorter than the neckline and used that to finish my neckline.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

yes and yes. Awesome pattern and really easy and comfy!

Conclusion:

In my book, this is a winner. I love my raglan long sleeve shirt and I do love this one as well!

Here's a nicer picture


I've worn both garments a lot over the last few days and I really like them both. Too bad, that the fabric bled :(

Next thing I'm going to sew is a more tailored jacket. I just can't decide if I should use Onion 1035 or the exclusive design from burda 01.2009. What do you think?

Isn't she beautiful?

I mean the Ashford Traveller spinning wheel, that I borrowed from a shop (and that I guess is going to be mine).



My singles are getting more even by the day (not that they are consistend by any means. I have under/overspun parts and it's still thin and thinner parts...


And this is my first spun and plied "yarn"



I'm determined to make something with it. So far I don't know what but I still have some meter so spin ;)

(it's Eiderwolle and it's kind of coarse but easy to spin and inexpensive, so I got 300 Gramm and I'm going to spin thru all of it before buying something else. I like spinning it.)

144!

144? you ask. Huh? No idea?

Here are 144 finished blocks of the quilt of doom



That means, I'm halfway there. The bed on the pic is our, much smaller, bed without big duvet covers underneath, so I really have some steps to go until this thing will be finished, although at 200 I might start sewing the blocks together (always 4) and place them on my sisters bed, to see how much more I need to sew, so that is just 56 to go. Maybe this will be my goal for this year. I initial goal for 2009 was to sew 100 blocks. So far 65 are done! (not all by me though. I love swaps!)