splityarn

oh look, it's another brown hat

The Coronet toque I knit before we almost moved to Minnesota has seen a lot of wear this winter in New England. The Cashmerino while soft is not holding up as well as I'd like. It's fuzzy, pilly and disheveled looking. As we move into slightly warmer Spring temps, I wanted to knit a new hat that would keep me from looking like a ragamuffin.

I picked up a couple balls of Rowan Calmer on sale a month or so back from A Good Yarn. In one evening of knitting (and using less than one ball) I cast on and finished Grumperina's Odessa. No beads on this version, I only had purple in the stash.

More details on Ravelry

I'm yer auntie argyle

True to form, I broke out the zippers almost before you could say "coats & clark."

The husband popped into Waterloo for the new Killing Joke DVD and while he sorted through discs I cruised their ample selection of indie bags for sale. I noticed a vinyl ipod case with a printed argyle pattern on it. As I seem to be working with vinyl as my medium of choice these last weeks I had an idea. I scrawled some notes on the back of the receipt and set to work when we got home. The gray bag was the prototype (the diamonds aren't stitched down all the way around, they're tacked down with a little glue) and the cream bag is the refinement of the design. It still needs some work but these will make good stocking stuffers for my nieces.

I'm not happy with the corners where the zipper hits the edges of the bag though. The tails of the zipper fabric stick out and I can't get it to turn out nicely with crisper points. I was just winging how to install the zipper and the lining fabric; I don't *really* know what I'm doing. Anybody have any pointers?

part II of back-tack II

The second part of my backtack project was a little matching pouch for scissors and whatnots. I used Thimble's tutorial again, but this time with an adjustment.

When I've lined purses in the past, I've always kept the lining the same size as the outer part of the purse which seems to be the standard. The problem is that once you turn the bag right side out, the lining isn't a snug fit; there's too much excess fabric. This time I thought about cutting a smaller lining but I realized there's an easier way. Instead of trimming the fabric down and worrying about centering it during assembly, I adjusted the seam allowance instead. When sewing the lining, I used a seam allowance one eighth deeper to add up to a quarter inch overall. Once the pouch was turned right side out, the seams sat flat and the lining hugged the outsides for a great fit.

part I of back-tack II

Mid-October is going to be crazy around here, so I launched into my back-tack 2 project this week. There will be several parts to the bag and the kit that I'm putting together, but the first (and biggest) part deserves its own post.

Inspired by Africankelli (who's making an Amy Butler bag), I bought the Amy Butler Rural Messenger Bag to use for the main part of the project. I bought the pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop and the fabrics from JCaroline Creative. I placed the orders on a Saturday night; both arrived on Tuesday morning. Awesome!

The outside of the messenger bag is brown cotton duck (a nice sturdy canvas,) the inside is a lime green Michael Miller Hypnosis print. I didn't bother to use any interfacing this time around, but when I make the bag again, I'll add some to the lining. I find with most bags the lining turns out kind of shloompy, not crisp like I'd prefer. After fiddling around and a whack of seam ripping, I top stitched in lime green by doubling my top needle thread. For closures I left out the Velcro and used heavy duty snaps instead. I know as a knitter that I don't like to use Velcro in a bag that may later house yarn.

I love the final product (I hope my back-tack partner will too), but I am going to rip on the pattern a little. Look away if you're Amy Butler devout.

hooray for me!

It's pretty stinkin' hot here, so the knitting (between coats of primer in the pantry - you can see it on my fingers) has been kept to smaller projects. I picked up this yarn (Regia 6 ply, colour 5402) a few months back on a trip to our 2nd closest yarn store. I am a sucker for pink, black and red don'cha know. While I'm not keen on the purple, I'm sucking it up because these are such a quick, fun knit. I'm using Marnie's Hooray for Me fingerless gloves pattern and I'm totally addicted. One down, one to go. I can almost see how folks would like to knit socks. Almost. I'm not *quite* there yet. Although I must confess I've been thinking a lot about knitting Alison's ankle socks. So cute!

10 months in the works

Way back in November I screwed up a Sophie purse I'd knit out of Noro. It's been sitting nearly ready to go in my WIP drawer ever since. I used today's sewing time to fix it up once and for all. I cut off the bottom (which had felted into a funny shaped trapezoid) and then installed a raspberry coloured zipper. When I sewed up the bottom the fabric flared out a little as machine sewn wool is wont to do. That ugly bell shaped purse wasn't going to cut it, so I took in the sides a little to compensate. Et voila! Insta-birthday present for one of my nieces. Good thing I didn't leave it to the last minute. It has to be in Canada by tomorrow. Whoops! Bad Auntie Caro.

is it draughty in here?

Last weekend The Husband got a new haircut and almost immediately began to mention that his head was cold. I've been promising him a new watchcap for ages now, so this week I got off my duff and knit him one. I used a little more than one ball of Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed and a free Seaman's Cap* watchcap pattern knit up on size 6 circs. I got to the decreases at the top and realized that I didn't have any of the right size DPNs, so off I went to the LYS this morning. Turns out they're all sold out in that size, so I had to learn something new. I'd never knit with 2 circulars instead of DPNs, but it was super easy! The key is just remembering to knit onto the same needle that you're using. Simple and brilliant. Love. It.

*heh - seaman. it makes me giggle.

sewing distraction

I've had a couple episodes of Simply Quilts and Craft Corner Deathmatch waiting for me on the DVR for about a week now. I'm not very good at sitting still to watch TV if it's not riveting (which neither of these shows are) so I tried to make myself useful and knock a project off my list.

We have two canvas grocery bags that we take to the store every time we go for groceries, but we always end up with more than will fit in the two bags. When I popped into Hancock fabrics the other day on my hunt for Mariah's zipper, I walked out with a 1/2 yard of printed canvas instead. Today they became my TV sewing project and we now have two more grocery bags. I have to say, for $5 worth of upholstery fabric and 2 hours worth of mediocre TV, they're much more stylish than the freebie promo bags we've been using up til now.  And really, when you're shopping for red peppers isn't that all that counts?

in medium rotation

I admit it. I can be nerdy. For my birthday The Husband gifted me with an ipod mini. I freakin' LOVE the thing. Seriously. I take it everywhere. I was finding it hard to just chuck it into my purse where it clanged around with my keys and the camera, so I decided I needed to make a sock of some sort to protect it from my rough-housing. Know what was the perfect size? My lucky clover swatch. I just seamed up the sides and the bottom and ta da! I'm going to find a thinner ribbon for the top, but you get the idea.

Lucky Clover herself is coming along nicely too. I started with the back in the hopes of getting the biggest piece done while I'm still keen on it. I got gauge on size 3's the first go round so I'm pretty pleased.

Mariah pics are going to have to wait for a bit. For one, I have to find an adequate zipper (not to mention installing it.) And two, I have to wait for the Husband to help with a proper photo shoot when we have good lighting. Soon. Very soon.

confession time

I had a great weekend off. Plenty of couch time, plenty of restful time, plenty of sewing time and unfortunately, plenty of ugly knitting time. This weekend was the culmination of a few weeks of pitiful knitting.

1st up: I've had a skein and a half of Araucania Nature Cotton lounging in the stash for a few months now (leftovers from the 70's Shag Boat Neck).  I LOVE this yarn. It's so soft to work with and it's great to wear. The 70's shag has been worn a few times, but it's been a challenge to find the right temperature for it. It's too hot to wear on regular days, but too cold to wear it when it's chilly because it is without sleeves. I thought I would use the leftovers to knit up a really quick scarf to match to take care of the temperature regulating problem. There's only one way to say it. U G L Y. I think this one is destined for the frog pond.

2nd: Remember a while back when I knit another Sophie out of Kureyon? I showed the before felting pictures and then quietly ignored the result? Here's why. I cobbled together some bits and pieces for the bottom desperately hoping that they would felt at a similar rate. No I didn't swatch. I didn't have enough yarn to swatch, it was all scraps, remember? No shocker here, they didn't really work out well together. The Cascade and the Kureyon worked really well together, the Silk Garden? Not so much. What's killing me is that I had that stupid second skein of Kureyon that would have finished the bottom anyway. I'll run it through the wash one more time and most likely send it to one of the nieces as a play purse.

3rd: I was using some Koigu scraps to knit up some Barbie clothes for the nieces for Christmas. I used the cover pattern from Knits for Barbie in a lovely purple (because one of the girls is in her purple stage). This one also turned out U G L Y. I think it looks like a housecoat. The arms are too short, there's too much bulk through the body and worst of all it's a pain in the ass to put on. I knit it exactly to pattern specs but I hate it. Oh sure, I'll sew the pockets on and have it put under the tree anyway, but I just want it said that I don't like it.

Here's hoping that this week yields better knitting results.