Lemmon Juicer Podcast Ep 15: The One With All the Sewing

Welcome to the Lemmon Juicer Podcast, put the kettle on and get stuck in.

Instagram: @lemmonjuicer
Ravelry: sockbug97
Ravelry Group: Lemmon Juicer Podcast
Blog: www.lemmonjuicer.blogspot.co.uk

Extended Shownotes you will find on the Blog or in the Ravelry Group.

Finished Objects:
Madison Scarf: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/madison-scarf  - Made out of Malabrigo Rios in the Purpuras colourway, and knit on a circular needle at quite a loose gauge. It was a fun a intuitive knit and was finished pretty quickly.

Spinning: Green Batts - Batts I picked up from a yarn shop, no idea what sort of fibre content they have, just know that they are wool and they are green! Spun into a simple 2-ply with my wheel.

Stevie Top: https://shop.tillyandthebuttons.com/products/stevie - A lovely pattern, and as I has discovered easy to wear! Made out of a blue cotton with a button and loop fastening on the back. Fabric and button were from Hobbycraft.

Delphine Skirt: From Tilly and the Buttons book Love at First Stitch - This I made to try out some new skills and techniques, not sure what it will go with in my wardrobe yet though. Fabric from a bargain bucket in a fabric shop near my LYS.

Hoddie: A self drafted hoodie pattern from YEARS ago, finally finished it. - Made from a pigs flying fleece from many many moons ago, I finally put some cuffs on it and it is now rather wearable.

WIPs:
Baby Cross Stitch:https://www.sewandso.co.uk/product/train-birth-record-cross-stitch-kit/1001851 - Whilst I did not show this today, it is very much still a WIP, although some progress is being made. Next time I'm pretty sure it will be done.

Galewood Gauntlets:https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/galewood - Finally got cracking on making the second one and fortunately the mojo is returning. Made with Devonia (John Arbon) 4-ply in the Bleeding Heart colourway.

Lyne Socks: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/lyne-socks - Slow progress but I do have a HO, one sock done and the cuff of the other also completed. Loving the pattern and even more so the yarn: Gamercrafting Yak sock, in the Lagoon Mist colourway.

Socks for me: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/lottie-socks - A pair of sock I'm making without a pattern for myself. On a 2mm circular needle with 64 stitches. It is a fraternal pair, one is already finished and the next one is getting on. Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners, Bo Peep in the Teddy Bear colourway the other is Bergere De France Goomy 50 in the Imprim Jaun colourway.

In The Shed:
Niddy Noddy: Making a niddy noddy out of windfall wood.

Real Talk:
These are some links to the people leading the conversations around racism and inclusion in the
knitting community, take a look at their stories and discover some new people:
@su.krita - https://www.instagram.com/su.krita/?hl=en
@thecolormustard - https://www.instagram.com/thecolormustard/?hl=en
@ocean_bythesea - https://www.instagram.com/ocean_bythesea/?hl=en
@booksandcables - https://www.instagram.com/booksandcables/?hl=en
@ggmadeit - https://www.instagram.com/ggmadeit/?hl=en

Layla F Saad's workbook: https://www.meandwhitesupremacybook.com/
Unfinished Object: https://www.unfinishedobject.com/
Vox Article: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/25/18234950/knitting-racism-instagram-stories

Music:
"Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Me-Made-May 2019 - Another Pair of Leftovers

Day 10 I wore another pair of leftovers socks (I think I have three pairs, so prepare yourself for one more after these!) these leftovers were from my first ever pair of socks, and a pair that I made for my friend Emma.

The first shortie sock made from the yarn from my first pair of socks I believe I made on a 2mm circular needle. I can't remember if this was the first time I had used the needle or not, but the sock wasn't without it problems. I had vastly misjudged when I needed to start the toe in the sock, and I was quite glad that I tried it on before grafting the toe.

It was indeed too short and I had to rip back the toe to put on a few more rows and starting the toe again. This may have made it wearable, but it is still too short. It likes to slip off my ankle, but oh well. It was a learning point, and we moved on.

I think that I made this sock with a 60 stitch count, which also makes it a little too tight on my foot. It was around when I made this when I realised that going down a needle size and not going up in stitch count meant that whilst the sock fit more tightly, it was a little on the uncomfortably small size. But we learned for next time.

The second sock is a leftover sock from when I knitted my best friend a pair of socks. This shortie was made a lot lot later then it's pair here, and was made on 2.5mm DPNs. This sock kept me company when I was working up in the office on the last month or so of my placement before I got my job. I became known for always having my knitting with me and taking it out everytime I had a break. I also took it on a course I was sent on as well, and everyone seemed to be interested in what I was knitting.

The stitch count on this sock was 60 stitches as well, but the needle size is larger. This size does seem to fit my foot nicer than the other sock. Both of the socks are made with one inch of 1x1 ribbing on the cuff before going straight into the heel. The heel I used was a heel flap and gusset type. Which at the time was the only one I felt confident in doing. I had tried a wrap and turn heel for the socks I made for my best friend, but I didn't really feel it went the way I wanted.

These socks are now in regular rotation and I enjoy them a fair bit. Here is the instagram story post from day 10:

Me-Made-May 2019 - Winging It Jumper

Day 9 for Me-Made-May is a cozy, stay at home jumper. This is the first adult sized garment I had ever knit. It started from when I had just finished a baby jumper and I thought "How hard can it be to make one adult sized". It turns out, pretty hard. I managed it, and it was the plainest and squarest jumper there ever was.

The jumper is made out of super chunky, acrylic yarn. I had one huge ball that my friend gave me, but she had got it from Aldi, and I couldn't find any more when I realised I wouldn't have enough for the whole jumper so had to find something else that would do.

I started off swatching to find the right needle size for the type of fabric that I wanted. I'm not a very good swatch maker, I just don't really know how to do them properly, and I always feel like I'm using up yarn that could be useful somewhere else. Which is probably why I have never cast off a swatch. Which may have been my downfall.

I cast on in the end, writing down everything as I went, although I am still yet to actually write up what I did! I went for a top down jumper in the round. Which is how the baby jumper was constructed, and the only way I knew how. Needless to say it has quite a wide neckline, I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it is what it is.

I knit down the plain body, I added one little stripe before I switched to the other colour in a hopeless attempt to make it look like the colour change was intended. I finished off the body with a rib. I then started on the sleeves, these I was quite pleased with in terms of matching the body of the jumper. I wasn't so pleased with the cuffs though.

I had made the sleeves longer then the body, but probably not long enough, sadly only something I realised much much later. One of the things I was proud of when knitting my sleeves was picking up stitches in the armpit before knitting the rest of the sleeve and avoiding holes.

The jumper sadly just got worn for the finished object photos and never again. For part of Me-Made-May I am trying to finish off or fix garments I have but I don't seem to wear. This was one of them. I decided that one of the reasons I don't wear the jumper is because of the cuffs.

I had no experience of jumpers, and I didn't even know that sleeves had shaping in them - such a rookie. The cuffs were the same size as the rest of the sleeves and just kind of flopped around my wrists, I didn't like. So I ripped the sleeve ribbing out. I knit 2 together for every knit stitch in the first row of ribbing and then I knit the same amount of ribbing as I had done originally. This made it so much better. I felt that I was able to wear it around the house then.

Only after wearing it for Me-Made-May, I then found out the things I don't love about it. But they are livable with. I'll be wearing it again sometime, and maybe thinking of how I can improve it. I will now leave you with the instagram story, hopefully this jumper will get more wear in time. Perhaps I will grow to love it - Happy making!

Me-Made-May 2019 - Blue Three Quarter Circle Skirt

I have now caught up and I am writing this post about day 8 on day 8, but it won't be published for a few days! Oh well!

Now Day 8 is a little bit of an unusual one. Those who know me will find the idea of me in a skirt a very odd one. I am not really a dress or skirt kind of person, but for some reason I have three Me-Made Skirts. All of which I never really know when or where to wear them. So Me-Made-May is the perfect time to put some thought into it, and find out what goes nicely with what and what sort of outfits I can wear.

This skirt is a three quarter circle skirt, from a pattern that I drafted myself, and had made another skirt out of before. Although that first was was a little unsuccessful, but you will be seeing that at some point soon.

This skirt is made out of what I believe was the skirt of some sort of evening dress. I was helping out my Granny clear a couple of boxes that had come from another lady's loft somewhere and it was full of yarn and fabric. This showed up, and I was really taken by the colour and the shiney-ness of it. So I took it home and it spent quite a lot of it's days hiding with a lot of the other fabric in the house and nothing really became of it.Until recently when I decided to get my finger out and make something. I dug out the old self drafted pattern and set about making something.

One of the modifications I decided to make however was including a waist band. There wasn't one on the original skirt and I felt that this skirt needed one. It also had a zip, not really done many zips before but the internet is a wonderful thing!

The skirt was whipped up in a couple of days, I had started and finished it around October time and it had it's first outing at a new years eve party later that year. I have to admit it is the first time it has made it out since.

I love the re-made nature of this skirt, and I kept some of the original seams from the previous skirt in it, and it seems to give it a little piece of history. So here is me trying to squeeze it into an outfit for Me-Made-May, I paired it with a yellow shirt, but being me I'm never sure of how I look in these particularly girly things - luckily I don't have to go outside today!

PS - I may have forgotten when I posted the insta story that it wasn't a half circle skirt. It really is a three quarter, I had a mare while drafting the pattern, but more about that later!

Me-Made-May 2019 - My first socks

Day 7 was another pair of socks. This pair the first ever pair I made, and I was ridiculously proud when I finished them.

I knitted this pair about a year and a half ago, I picked up the first ball of sock yarn I could see on the shelf in a craft shop that was in the town I had temporarily moved to at the time, and a few days later went back for the right sized DPNs. The pattern was a basic sock pattern that was on Love Knitting, although has now been taken down, and I set about trying to knit the first sock.

My first hurdle was the cast on, and then all the jargon used to describe the different parts of the sock and what to do! I did refer to the internet, and the delightful "For Dummies" website which has a lot of brilliant tutorials on a lot of different things. I really had to look things up and do a fair amount of reading to finally understand what I was doing. I also believe it was the first time I had come across a SSK.

I remember finishing the first sock on a weekend away in Cornwall. It was October time and I had spent the day watching the first public runs of the Bloodhound Supersonic Car at Newquay Airport, and was cozy-ing down for the night under a blanket. I was so proud I put it on straight away and demanded that my boyfriend take photos!

The second sock followed shortly afterwards, I had no problems with second sock syndrome, and before long I had my very first pair of socks. I also wrote a blog post here about them. They were far from perfect, they weren't the right gauge to fit my feet and all kinds of things, but I still love them, and I still wear them!

I made them quite a while ago that I don't actually have any photos of them to hand, so you will have to do with the instagram story! I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Me-Made-May 2019 - Necker Socks

My Necker Socks were made a little while ago and have a love/hate story behind them. I made the pair of socks when I got a book called the Op Art Sock Book. It's a great book full of sock patterns that use either colour or texture to create an optical illusion on your socks. The idea is great, and the patterns are great too!

So I set out with great intent to create a pair of Necker socks, one of the first patterns in the book. Unfortunately my choice of yarn let me down substantially. I loved the pattern, I loved the yarn. Together they made something icky and somewhat soul destroying to knit.

The yarn I chose was West Yorkshire Spinner Signature 4 ply in their Bluetit colourway. A Beautiful yarn that really does encompass the colours of the bluetit, of which we have many in our garden. I loved the yarn, and I believe at the time I wanted to knit these socks the only sock yarn in my stash was variegated and patterned. I knew that you shouldn't really mix patterned socks with patterned yarn. I threw caution to the wind because I was inpatient to get knitting, and I learned my lesson the hard way.

To not do things by half I also decided to try making socks two at a time for the first time while attempting to knit these socks as well. My word I know how to make life difficult for myself...

I very quickly fell out of love when I was knitting these socks, and gave up fairly quickly before all the pattern repeats had been done. I cut them short after picking the socks up and filling with dread for knitting them. My stubbornness did help in that I refused just to put them in a corner and forget about them.

I did finally finish the pair of socks, knit on a 2mm circular needle, at a knit night, and in the same night cast on the shortie sock you saw the other day. The leg is a lot shorter than it should be, and the pattern does not show off the yarn at its best, and neither the yarn show off the pattern.

My boyfriend did ask if he could have a pair of Necker socks a little while later, and I did start them. Unfortunately I didn't like the yarn I was making them with and I thought it wouldn't do for a pair of socks, so it got frogged. I haven't quite got around to having a second go. I should sometime though, if only for the satisfaction of having beaten the pattern! :P

So here is the photo from my instagram stories. I was at work the day I wore these socks and they were quite comfy in my work boots, which is all that matters really.

Happy Making!

Me-Made-May 2019 - Leftovers Socks, Blue Tit and Kingfisher

Day 4 of Me-Made-May was a sock day. I feel like wearing my socks for Me-Made-May is not putting in much effort, especially when it wasn't a work day, I need to remind myself that homemade socks are just as important.

This pair in particular are what I like to call my Leftovers Socks. Most of the time I get 100g of sock yarn to make a pair of socks, and every time there is a fair amount of leftover yarn. In fact there is more than enough to make myself one shortie sock. So I do, and seeing as I give away a lot of the socks I knit, it is a lovely reminder of what I have made. There is a bit of an odd sock nature to making my leftovers socks, so I will often make one straight after I've finished the pair it is from and I'll end up having one sock without a partner for a little while. I also occasionally mix and match the shorties, but usually they stay in a little mismatched pair.

The first sock from this little pair that was made was one made from the leftovers from my Necker Socks, and they were knit on a 2mm circular needle with 64 stitches. They were knit in West Yorkshire Spinners signature 4 ply in the Bluetit colourway. It was finished quite fast but then stayed on the side for a very long time waiting for a partner.

It was also the first time I had used a cardboard cut out of my foot for measuring the sock against to work out when to start the toe. Fortunately it worked quite well, and I have repeated the technique several times, getting cut outs of feet for the people I knit socks for regularly.

The second leftovers sock is from a pair of socks that I made my Mam. She picked out a ball of West Yorkshire Spinners in the Kingfisher colourway. So it was the same base as the first shortie sock. The socks that I knitted for my Mam were knit on 2.5mm DPNs, and so I used them for this sock as well, using a 60 stitch count for my thin foot.

I did knit this second shortie in a little bit of a panic as I thought that I hadn't got enough pairs of socks to last me a shift at work over Me-Made-May. Having this second sock would create another pair and enough for the shift. I soon realised that I actually already had five pairs of hand knitted socks and another would make six. So I had one day extra - thankfully!

So having pooped out that second sock it got paired up and put away with the Necker shortie sock ready for the day it was to be worn. Which was day 4. The pair did quite well, and they got put through their paces being walked around Richmond and then playing a badminton match. The fact that they were both knit at different gauges was noticeable however. Which isn't surprising really.

They were still a joy to wear and will be put through the wash for another day, so here's the instagram the story shot, happy making!

Me-Made-May 2019 - Brigitte Scarf

I went away for the weekend, so I'm catching up with blog posts now I am back with my laptop again.

Day 3 of Me-Made-May I wore my Brigitte Scarf. A little head scarf that I made very shortly after I got my Tilly and the Buttons book (it's a Tilly and the Buttons pattern suprise suprise! ;) ) and it is the first pattern in there and brilliant for new beginners. It is also on her website as a tutorial, so follow the link above if you want to find out more.

I did this pattern just as a little something to keep my fingers busy before deciding what the next big sew was going to be. The fabric was from a scrap bin in a fabric shop near to my LYS, and I thought that the blue with little birds in flight was lovely. It seemed the perfect thing to make with it. The Brigitte scarf itself is very versatile as well. I have worn it in so many ways since I made it and I really do love it.

The fabric scrap wasn't long enough to make a scarf the exact same length as the pattern says, but I made one as long as I could out of the fabric I had. Fortunately I have a small head so there wasn't going to be many problems.

I wore this on the train journey up to London for the weekend and it helpfully kept my hair out of my eyes - and I have a lot of it!

Unfortunately I don't have a close up photo of the scarf, so you cannot see the stitching, but I did make some changes the following time that I made this pattern. This particular scarf when I turned the scarf the right side out, I ran a length of top stitching along the edge with the hole in it. It looks fine and when wearing the scarf it isn't noticeable, but for some reason it bugged me. I have a basic sewing machine, so I don't have any of the snazzy top stitch settings that some do, which would have finished the edge of this scarf off beautifully.

I did make a second Brigitte scarf, which you will probably see later on in the month, but for that one I hand stitched the hole closed in a way that hides the stitching from the outside, which I feel makes it so much better. But I am happy with this one! I will leave you with the picture from my Instagram stories for day 3, I also was wearing my Margot Pyjamas, well, because they are my pyjamas! ;)

Me-Made-May 2019 - Margot Pyjamas

Now I don't know if my second day of Me-Made-May is a cop-out or not. But I still wore it! For my second day, I have a lovely pair of pyjama bottoms that I made from the Tilly and the Buttons Margot pattern.

I think the pattern is only available in the Tilly and the Buttons book Love at First Stitch, which really got me into home sewing. It really was love at first stitch. If you do want to get started it is a really helpful book, and will go through everything. I mean EVERYTHING, you could never have seen a sewing machine before and by the time you'd finished that book you would be able to sew a dress. It is fun to read and there is explanations for all the sewing jargon. You can probably tell I love it.

One of the first patterns I tried from that book was the Margot pyjamas. They looked fun and were one of the easier makes - plus if it looked horrible then no one was going to see as I would be wearing them to bed. Result.

As with most projects, knitted or sewn, there is always something that doesn't quite go to plan. Just like the Fern and Feather one of my problems was to do with measuring. But that wasn't my first problem oh no. It started well before the pattern was actually started.

I had it in the back of my mind to make these and it was a trip to a fabric shop with my best friend that set the idea of making them into motion when I found the fabric. A cream coloured fabric with green planes and blue cars. I loved it, decided that was what I was going to make my pyjamas out of and bought a metre. That was my first mistake. I hadn't looked at the fabric specifications at all, and what a newbie sewer like myself didn't know what that a metre is hardly enough to do anything - even if you are a smallish size.

The disaster was saved somewhat by that same delightful friend who make a quick trip back to the same fabric shop to pick me up another metre and post it to me. Once that was sorted I got on with making the pattern. But even two meters wasn't quite enough to make the full length of the bottoms, but I made do with a cropped length. Which I think looks fine.

The second mistake, was my measuring mistake. I learned the hard way where exactly you should measure when it says "hip measurement". That is the widest part around your bum. Not the top of your hips - just sayin'. Lets put it this way, I made the size too small (I have a tiny waist but larger hips) the size would fit my waist quite well but not my hips so much. Which I found out when I first went to try the pyjamas on.

I will give you an amusing mental image. I managed to wriggle my way into the bottoms, they JUST got over my hips and settled nicely around my waist, "sorted I thought, not so bad after all", but there I was wrong. They were kinda hard to move around in and it was then I realised that I couldn't actually take them off... Luckily I had put them on inside out and the seams were easily accessible. So there I was sitting down, unpicking the side seams of my pyjama bottoms whilst still wearing them, in order to take them off.

It was rather disheartening really, but having the engineers way of thinking, I quickly came up with a solution to my problem. Re-making them in a larger size wasn't really an option. I didn't have enough fabric anyway, and to do that would have been a waste and felt wrong somehow. So I remeasured my hips and worked out how much more space I needed to create at the top to allow me to get in and out. I then created two triangle pieces to put in at the top. I put them in with the point at the place on the side seam where I was the widest, and that allowed me to be able to wear them properly. Thank goodness.

So I managed in the end to make a functional piece of clothing. It isn't the most polished or the prettiest, but I still love them. I am quite proud of them, and they are in my usual pyjama rotation now. I do intend to make another pair the right size and the right length soon too, now I know exactly what fabric I need! ;)

So here is the photo for Me-Made-May day 2, sleepy having just got up early to go and vote in the local elections with my Mam.

Happy Making!

P.S - I forgot to say they had pockets! Yes, pockets.

Me-Made-May 2019 - Fern and Feather Jumper

It is the 1st of May, and it is my very first time taking part in the Me-Made-May Challenge hosted by Zoe of the So Zo What Do You Know Blog, and it is the 10th Year of the challenge. I had heard of the challenge before hand, but only really in passing. But it was this year, with my more recent sewing experience with Tilly and the Buttons new book, Love At First Stitch I decided that I was going to join in.

The idea is to make a challenge for yourself and make a pledge to complete your challenge. My pledge I made on the SoZo Blog, to try and wear at least one item of clothing that I had made every day throughout May. Hopefully in the process I will be able to find out what sort of things I need in my own Me-Made wardrobe. Now the challenge is not a photo challenge, but people are more than welcome to share their photos and progress. I personally want to share photos in my instagram stories to keep me accountable every day to make sure that I do manage to carry out this challenge.

What I plan to do is every day that I wear a new Me-Make, I will post a little blog post here with information about what it is, the pattern I have made it from, and the materials I have used. So I will start off my first blog post of Me-Made-May 2019 with my Fern and Feather Jumper.

This is the Fern and Feather knitting pattern by Jennifer Steingas, that you can find on Ravelry. The yarn I used was by Countess Ablaze, the base for both colours was the Grande Merino base. The main colour was Footloose (Funk Remix), and the contrasting colour was in a natural undyed, white colour.

The pooling of the colours of green throughout the jumper I loved, and it was my first proper garment! I had knitted a jumper before, but it was without a pattern, having never made an adult sized jumper before and I went ahead and winged it, and it isn't quite right. I think for Me-Made-May I will get it out and do some jumper surgery. But back to the Fern and Feather.

It really was a joy to knit, and the colour work yoke was surprisingly easy. I loved it so much, that I knit another one for my Mam.

My knitting however wasn't without it's mistakes. The biggest mistake however, wasn't really anything to do with my knitting, But my ability to read the pattern instructions properly.

Those of you who have made a Fern and Feather before will know that the pattern is designed with about 3 inches of positive ease. As you can see from mine, there isn't any. Now I am dyslexic and I struggle to process information properly the first time a read it and that is exactly what happened and by the time I had realised I had already done the yoke, split the sleeves and started on the body. So I assumed that seeing as the pattern had 3 inches of positive ease, that making the size that was my bust measurement would mean that it would be 3 inches bigger than that. But I was wrong - oh well!

I had got quite far when I realised and I decided to just carry on and finish the jumper. I am glad I did, but I will admit that it was the reason that this jumper has only really been worn once or twice since it was made, which is a shame really.

Putting this jumper on this morning was a joy though, and I can't really believe that I was holding off from wearing this jumper just because it wasn't like the pattern suggested. I'll leave you with today's photo from when I put it on. Check out my instagram stories for the daily updates on what I am wearing each day (previous days will be saved on a highlight that you can find on my instagram profile) and you will see how often this jumper gets worn. Hopefully a lot more than it ever has been!

Happy Making, I hope your Me-Made-May is enjoyable, however you plan to spend it.