A few weeks ago I took a five day shift off work to use up some of my holiday, and had a long list of sewing plans that didn't quite all come to fruition. But one of the things I did make, was a Nora Jumper. Pattern by Tilly and the Buttons.
Shortened Body
I made it with some fabric I had been given, the same as my Heyday Dungarees. I don't know much about the fabric, but it does have about 20% stretch and was lovely and cozy. So given I had the Nora pattern, and it calls for fabric with 20% stretch, I decided to give it a go, and this was my first time working with stretch fabric.
I went for the full length version, of both the body and the sleeves, as I had enough fabric to make it. But after wearing it for a day I decided that the body was too long for me and I shortened it. I made it almost entirely to pattern although I hand-stitched the pieces where I had to do top-stitching. This was because I didn't have a thread that looked nice on the fabric, and whilst I used the colour that most closely matched the fabric, it wasn't quite close enough that I liked it. So the collar, cuffs and hem were hand stitched with a whip stitch, only picking up the fabric on the inside of the jumper. Whilst you can't see any of the stitching, this doesn't make it invisible, but I am pretty happy with it.
This jumper has already made a fair few appearances in Me-Made-May and I am really enjoying it. So I may even make a Nora tee soon as well!
Yes yes! Another update on this should-have-been-finished-long-ago work in progress. I have finally managed to complete the body of my Arbor Vitae jumper, and I am pretty excited about it. I was finding the body hard going, with almost endless stocking stitch with a 4-ply yarn. I found that I couldn't just sit and knit on it unless I had something else to distract me as well.
That being said I did manage to get a fair bit done on it when I realised I could walk and knit at the same time, and I spent a fair few walks in the sunshine knitting as I wandered along.
I decided to cut the waist shaping short, by doing one less increase repeat. That meant that the number of decrease and increase repeats were the same, but also I found that by the end of the penultimate increase the body was the length specified in the pattern before the ribbing started. So I thought there wasn't much to loose and started the ribbing.
I tried it on after I had cast off and it was a perfectly fine length, it comes down a fair bit further than my Fern and Feather, and had a nice amount of ease to it. (Not 11" ;P) I then added the neckline and that was practically done in a night too. The neckline also isn't quite to pattern. I knitted the neckline until it was a length I liked, trying it on as I went. That meant that it is actually half the size that the pattern suggests. But I'm not too keen on things being tight around my neck.
So that only leaves the sleeves and sleeve caps to go. I'm thinking of trying to make them two at a time, which would be exciting to try. So I am almost back to where I was when I ripped back this whole jumper. It has been hard going, and I'm a little unsure now of knitting another 4-ply jumper. But maybe this is just because it is the second time round same pattern, same yarn. I'll see how I feel about another one in the future.
The progress I've been making on my Arbor Vitae Jumper has been stopped and the jumper almost completely ripped back, and on purpose too. The jumper had a complete body, and I had started on the first of the sleeves, having done the short row sleeve cap and just started to work in the round for the main part of the sleeve. When I got to that point I decided to try on the jumper to see how the sleeve was doing. I had tried the jumper on before when I had completed the body and the neckband, but back then I didn't think much about the bottom ribbing of the jumper being a little loose - Admittedly when I tried it on the first time I was on the train and at risk of looking more then a little odd, so didn't keep the jumper on that long!
This time I really noticed the loose-ness of the jumper, and it got me thinking about how I wanted the jumper to sit, and how often was I going to wear it if it didn't have the characteristics that I wanted. It was then that I decided that it was too big for me, and it might be an idea to start over again. Now I didn't know that much about gauge and swatching. I did swatch for this project, and I knew that my gauge was larger, but my inexperience with it all lead me to believe that it would only be an inch or so larger than it was meant to be. I also didn't really know what to do with the gauge information once I had got it.
Luckily when doing some research I managed to come across a few websites explaining gauge swatching in more depth then I had really looked for before. The For Dummies website (here) was more of a help then anything I had found before. It gives a brilliant run down of what you need to do, followed by a little bit of maths to work out the size of the knitting using the gauge and the stitch count. This came in really handy, and had my little geek brain all excited to be doing a little bit of maths to help out my knitting.
My best friend tried on my jumper when I was working out a little bit of the maths before I started frogging. She is a few sizes bigger than me and it fitted her almost perfectly. Shame it wasn't for her!
I worked out in the end that the jumper was about eleven inches too big, just a little too large for my liking. The second gauge swatch I did with a 2.5mm needle, which was the smaller needle size used for the ribbing and such in the pattern. My gauge was a little closer, but unfortunately not as close as it needed to be. We were looking at a gauge of 7 stitches per inch pattern gauge and 5.5 stitches per inch my gauge. With the maths all worked out, if I knit the smallest size, the outcome would only be a little bit bigger than it should be (actually an inch bigger, not eleven!) so I went with that, worrying that any smaller of a needle and then I might end up with a fabric which has a feel I don't like as much.
The Arbor Vitae, three months in progress, and only an hour to frog completely. I wasn't as sad as I thought I would have been ripping it out. I know that the yarn is a nice yarn that has a meaning to me, and the pattern is one that I feel I will enjoy wearing. So I am quite pleased to be able to have a second chance at getting it right, one of the things that I love about knitting.
So as the phoenix rises from the ashes, I have cast on and started the Arbor Vitae again, this time on a smaller needle and in a smaller size. But also with a much better understanding of gauge and how it affects the knit, and what to do about it when it isn't what you want. I feel so much better for finally understanding gauge, and I think I do feel a little bit differently about swatching now. I think I will enjoy it a lot more.
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!
Extended Shownotes you will find on the Blog or in the Ravelry Group.
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
Finished Objects:
Fingerless Mittens With Thumbs - Merianna Mel: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/easy-fingerless-mittens---with-thumbs-2
- These mittens are made with an acrylic yarn, unfortunately I can't remember what it was, or find the ball band.
- This is a free pattern and very easy to make.
Flannel - Feather and Fan Dishcloth by Lily Sugar'n Cream and Bernat Design Studio: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/feather-and-fan-dishcloth
- I got this yarn to make myself a face flannel, and there was a free pattern on the ball band, so I used that! The pattern was my first every try at a a tiny bit of lace, and opened my eyes to blocking things.
- The yarn is Lily Cotton, Sugar n' Cream in the Moondance colourway.
Barley Hat - Tin Can Knits: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/barley
- I wanted to make something with this stunning yarn from Gamer Crafting, it is her 100% Merino in the Kind colourway. I decided on the Barley hat as it had a small amount of detail, but wasn't completely plain. The only trouble is, it is too big! So I'm going to rip it out and knit it again.
WIPs:
Mam's Fern & Feather: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/fern--feather-2
- I'm making another Fern and Feather Jumper for my mum. This one is using Malabrigo Rio's yarn in their Cian colourway, the white contrast colour I have used is Rios again, but undyed.
- I am enjoying this jumper just as much as I enjoyed the first, and this time it is all a different shape, which keeps it interesting.
#SocksforSam: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/necker-2
- These started off as a pair of socks for my boyfriend. I decided I didn't like them. The yarn is not sock yarn, and is better off being something else. So I frogged it. I might have to go comfort the boyfriend from the ordeal.
Cancun Boxy Erin Kate Archer: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/cancun-boxy-lace-top
- This is knit in Sirdar Seafarer, not sure of the colourway, but it a navy blue. The yarn has worked up lovely in the pattern. I believe that my tension is quite lose as I've used 6mm needles and the yarn is on the thin side for DK, but after blocking the one half I've made I do like the fabric it has created.
Baby/Toddler Socks: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/baby-socks
- Yes, I'm going to be an Aunty! This is yarn left over from the socks I knitted for my Sister-In-Law for christmas. It is Regia in the Arne and Carlos design line in the Nome colourway. There is no pattern for these socks as I'm making it up as I go along - I just hope they fit!
In The Shed:
Yarn Swift: Don't watch this if you are a joiner/carpenter - you might cry... Anyway. I'm trying my best to make a yarn swift, its not looking good.
- The swift is making progress, I may have possibly drilled the holes on the wrong side, but I do manage to put it right(ish) in the end. Take a look and we will see if it all holds up for next time.
Music:
"Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Finished Objects:
Winging It Jumper: There is no pattern yet for this! Project on Ravelery: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Sockbug97/winging-it-jumper
Music:
"Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
