Finished Object - Nora Jumper

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! 

Before Alteration

WIP Wednesday - Peppermint Purple SAL

Now blackwork is something I'm quite new to, and didn't really know anything about until I saw someone I follow on Instagram post about this exact Stitch-A-Long (SAL) and I decided to get involved. 

Blackwork uses backstitches to create a pattern on a fabric, which can be, and usually is, cross-stitch aida. Which is what I used, as I had some of it in my fabric stash, I also decided to try and use leftover embroidery floss that I have from when I had done a sampler for the birth of my Nephew. So far I am really enjoying it, even though I hate backstitching my actual cross-stitch pieces! XD

The SAL is free to anyone who wants to join and is running all year long. Every week a new box is released, and on some weeks there are a couple of options for you to customise your own work. There is a lovely facebook page for support if you need it, and even though we are halfway through the year it really isn't too late to start. 

It would be great to say that I had been keeping up every week, but that is far from the truth. I tend to miss out on a week or two, and then catch up on a day off. As the boxes are quite small they are doable in an hour, and a couple doesn't take too long. I find this is a nice no pressure SAL and by the end of the year will have a lovely piece to frame and put up somewhere.  

Finished Object - Leftovers Shorty Sock

A little while ago, before Christmas maybe? I had picked up a cheap set of 2.25mm DPNs to see if I liked the fabric I could knit with them whilst making socks. Sadly they sat in the needle case forgotten about until fairly recently. So I decided that when making this leftovers sock I would use them and see what I thought of the finished product. 

I cast on 60 stitches for this sock, which was a guess at how well it would fit me really, as I tend to use 60 stitches for a 2.5mm needle and 64 for a 2mm needle. But I think it has turned out pretty well. I knit an inch of ribbing and then started the heel. 

The heel is a little bit different to what I mostly use. During Me-Made-May this year I am wearing all my hand knit socks a lot more and I have been rediscovering which of my socks I like the best. It turns out that my socks knit with a heel flap and gusset I find the most comfy, while the majority of my socks are German Short Row heel. I think this is mostly because I really didn't like doing the heel flap, and the German Short Row heel I had memorised and found easy to do. But seeing as my most recent pair of socks I'm knitting are heel flap, I thought I might as well on this sock too. 

So I pulled out the pattern for Hermione's Everyday Socks and I used the eye of partridge heel recipe in that, which I can highly recommend. In fact the Hermione's Everyday Socks are a brilliant pattern if you are a new to sock knitting knitter. 

The yarn I used for this sock is leftover from when I made my brother a pair of socks for Christmas, and is West Yorkshire Spinners, signature 4-ply in what I think is the Mallard colourway. I've only tried on the sock so far, and it fits really well so I am looking forward to when I have some more leftover sock yarn to make it a little friend so I can wear them together and really give it a road test! 

WIP Wednesday - Chapman Socks

First of all I want to say a huge sorry for the posting schedule going a little off piste this past week. I didn't realise I hadn't scheduled a post to go up on Sunday, and after a tiring week at work, I am only now just getting around to getting some things written. So on with that! 

One of the things I cast on recently was a pair of Chapman socks by Rachel Atkinson from the John Arbon Textiles Annual, issue one. The Annual itself is a lovely little book with a couple of patterns as well as a few fun little activities and I am excitedly waiting for my copy of issue two. 

The socks are cabled with a little wiggly two by two cable, which gives a lovely effect, as well as being really easy to knit. I am making the Extra-Small size (there are five different sizes) which uses 56 stitches, and whilst the pattern calls for a 2.25mm needle I have used 2.5mm DPNs. 

I've now knit one complete sock and am now starting on the second. But there was one false start with the first... I accidentally cast on two extra stitches and didn't really work out why the pattern wasn't working until I had done the entire leg and was about to do the heel. After pulling it completely out and starting again it was very quick to knit up, and really quite enjoyable as the pattern is easy to memorise without too much thinking. 

The yarn used is actually from a little weekend break away I had back last year when I went with my parents to Edinburgh. We had an amazing time, but I managed to pop into the Ginger Twist Studio shop and pick up a holiday skein of yarn. I chose a skein of her sock base, Sheepish Sock in a colourway that really spoke to my heart: Factory Girls. It is the most amazing green (the photo above doesn't do it justice) whilst also being lovely to knit with. I can highly recommend. 

Now excuse me whilst I go knit on this sock! ;) 

WIP Wednesday - Arbor Vitae

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. 

Finished Object - Heyday Dungarees

I had a few sewing plans for my days off and this was the first of them. The Heyday Dungarees by Made By Jacks Mum. The pattern is a brilliant price and available as a digital download, so you can get sewing almost as soon as you buy the pattern. I printed the pattern at home, although there is a copy shop pdf if you are that way inclined, and I glued all the pieces together and cut out the pattern in my size. What I love about pdf patterns is that I can cut around the pieces of my size rather than worry about saving the larger pattern sizes, as they can be printed again later.

The fabric I have used was given to me by my Aunty and Uncle as they had cleared out my Uncle's Mum's loft and had loads of fabric that needed to be put to use. The fabric was only about 90cm wide and I had 2.9m of it. There was just enough to make the pattern if I shortened the legs a little bit, which was fine as it is my back that makes up most of my height. It is a soft woven fabric that had a sort of flannel-y feel to it, it's cozy none-the-less.

I have to admit that it probably wouldn't have been my first choice for a pair of dungarees, but the more I wear them the more I seem to love them! I followed the pattern exactly, and managed to not go careering off the rails as I seem to often do - I'm not very good when it comes to following instructions or being told what to do. But the pattern was easy to follow and the methods of making the dungos good and straightforward. 

I did add a jazzy front pocket. I wanted a little something to shout out me, and I had the perfect piece of fabric leftover in my stash. The aeroplane fabric I got originally to make a Stevie top for my birthday last year, and I still had a bit left. I am super excited about that pocket, and I really am enjoying wearing these for Me Made May this year. 

Grow - April Round Up

April has now been and gone, and the garden has been a little quiet compared to the last couple of months. There have been a couple of unseen additions though, and things have been taking shape. 

Potatoes

One of the biggest changes is that I have planted a few potatoes. One of my neighbours who has an allotment had a spare few potatoes that he wasn't going to get a chance to plant out or use, gave away some of them, and I planted three rows. They were three different early varieties, and one was a second early I think, so I was a little on the late side in getting them in the ground, but already in the past couple of weeks I have had a few pop their heads up to say hello. Despite next door's cat using the veggie bed as a litter tray... It's a good job I like Mr Pickle (the cat). 

Peppers on the windowsill

The addition of potatoes was not the only thing to get done during April. My experimental propagator has worked its magic and has produced nine quite substantial seedlings from my pepper seeds I rescued from a supermarket bell pepper. I planted them out into three pots and they are now residing on the windowsill in the knitting den. It is the warmest room in the house and gets the most light. They are watered almost every day and are being turned just as often to allow them to grow upright instead of leaning towards the window. I was warned by my stepfather that peppers are notoriously hard to keep alive and reminded me that the battle isn't over just yet! ;) 

First Spring Onions

Most of the other veggies I have planted have been growing well, the first set of spring onions are looking tall and strong as ever. I got a variety pack of seeds with a few red as well as white, and I'm excited to see that the red bottoms of a couple of them are starting to peek through! I'm starting to consider planting a couple of these onions outside to see if that will help them grow a little more. I can't help thinking that them being in a small punnet is slightly limiting, but I don't really have much else at the moment. I am considering trying one or two when they are at this stage too, seeing as the small seedlings which I thinned out earlier last month had some flavour to them. The second lot of spring onions are still relatively small, at about three inches high, so there isn't much to report on that front. 

First Leeks

The leeks however are looking good. I have about five seedlings in the first pot, and the biggest of those are reaching around six inches, which is quite exciting. I think they will be what is next to plant out next month. They do look the spitting image of the spring onions, although less fat when they are at a similar height. I have planted out a second pot of leeks now, and am hoping that they will carry on into the winter. But we will see. The spinach doesn't have as much of a happy tale though. 

Spinach and Basil

The spinach, seen here with the second basil plant, is the second lot of spinach I planted. The second lot overtook the first lot quite substantially, and I decided that having two spinach plants was a little too much for just me to eat all of, even with copious amounts of humous. The time the first plant had spend in the kitchen I think had stunted it, and it wasn't showing many signs of recovery sadly. So I picked the baby leaves off of it to sprinkle on tonight's tea and I then used the pot to plant the second lot of leeks. The remaining pot of spinach is starting to look good and I am looking forward to eating it. 

First Basil

The basil, the last thing left to talk about is going strong. Both the first and the second sowing in fact. They are both now quite substantial and smell amazing. I am now going to start using them in my cooking if I can stop just burying my face in it to give it a smell. I am really pleased that the marmite jar seeds have taken so well to being in there too. I am a little reluctant to move one of the pots into the kitchen where there will be a lot less light and heat than by the back door, but maybe it might be necessary when there becomes no more room! 

The last happy surprise from my garden has to be the mystery bush in the middle of the veggie bed. It was green and spiky when I moved in, and is indeed still green and spiky now. It had a tendency to lean over the small path in the garden and for a while now I've just been walking onto the grass to get around it. Today I tied the top part back to the fence so it stood up a lot more and was covering less of the path. Once I can get hold of a pair of secateurs then I will give it a little bit of a prune to encourage it off the path. But to my surprise a lovely pale pink flower was hiding in the bush. There were a few other buds too so I am looking forward to seeing them all come out in time.