Sew Distracted

Different fiber, Different look

I finished the second shrug, and it is perfect.  It seems apparent that there is much to learn in terms of the properties of various fibers, the effects spinning and structure has on the yarn, and how to compare and substitute fibers.

This is exactly the same as the striped shrug in terms of critical measurements.  The gauge is identical, the same pattern was used and the finished objects share the exact same dimensions.

Looking at the photo however, one can see that the alpaca shrug, shown here,  has a much softer hand, it hangs rather than curls and it drapes differently around the body.  I think this is perhaps more flattering, although careful examination of the photos indicates that the differences are slight.

This sweater drapes over the body whereas the striped wool shrug hugs the curves.

Had I perhaps been a little more astute in my observations, I might have discerned the difference the yarn would make.  If you go back to the previous post and look at the two pattern photos, you notice that the striped sweater is appears much closer to the body than red one.  Yet, as I mentioned earlier, the patterns almost the same and have the same dimensions.  The difference must be more in the fiber than in the pattern itself, as the differences in directions would not account for the difference in fit, and I do not believe that this can be described entirely in terms of potential size differences with different models.

Although I am happy that this shrug lived up to my memories and expectations, especially following the initial disappointment with the first shrug, I find I am most intrigued by the difference fiber choice made in the outcome.

I know that fiber makes a difference.  I am well aware of the differences between say silk, and wool and cotton.  But in the past I have tended towards indifference concerning any perceived difference between wool, cashmere, and alpaca for example.  Obviously this attitude is incorrect.  Just as sewing a dress with the same pattern in very different fabrics can give widely differing results, and different issues with fit as well, I can see that these same issues apply to knitting.  I suppose I have always known this intellectually, but have not always made use of this knowledge in any practical away.

In the past knitting is something I did mostly to have something to do with my hands, for relaxation, for sanity, and for the love of knitting.  But I did not really think about what I was making in terms of how I would wear it and how it would work in my wardrobe.  I just knitted something because I needed to knit something, or I wanted to try a pattern or technique.

I want to change all that.  I do want to incorporate my knitting more into my wardrobe, even though a knitted project takes longer than a sewn project (well perhaps except for the truly special garments).  I also need to pay  far more attention to how I actually want to wear my knits and how the choices I make affect the wearability of the finished garment.

Oh dear, that sounds like so much work. 

Quick, give me something mindless to knit.

First Snow

This is what I love about winter:

View from the front door in the (fairly) early morning light, about 7 AM.

It looks like it was only about 10 inches, or that is what I have this morning at our snow-measuring station.  It is possible it might have settled overnight, but it is fairly light snow.  The official measurements are 6.5" in the town south of me, and 8.2 north of me.   Both of those measurements are taken about 5 or 6 miles inland from the Hudson River.  Our location , on the river with the cliffs behind us, seems to always have more or less snow than the official measurements indicate, this time slightly more, although there have been days when I had but a dusting and I went over the hill and onto the highway and saw 3 inches or more.

After 30 years I still love the snow.  Although it was even nicer before the house you see in the picture was built (about 10 years ago).  Before, there was one property owner between me and a large National Historic Site and I could cross country ski from my front door all the way across.  No more.  That neighbor had to sell off part of his property because the taxes were killing him -- he had over 20 acres and the area was zoned for 1/2 acre lots.  He had to pay 40+ assessments for fire and water taxes.  The laws have changed now, but too late for that neighbor.  Now I have to get in the car and drive 1/2 mile in order to ski.

Snowed in with a warm new shrug

I love how absolutely quiet the world grows when it is snowing.  Even though I live in town, my driveway is rather long and you cannot see the street from my house.  And although I have neighbors within sight on all 4 sides, they are really only in view during the winter months and then if I go search them out; my position, half-way down a series of small ledges makes for a certain semblance of privacy. 

When it is snowing it seems quite isolated.  I have no idea what is going on in the world beyond the white blur outside my windows.   The FedEx delivery person walked down my driveway to deliver a package this afternoon and said the town had finally plowed the street just ahead of him.  He also told me there had been a major accident near the construction site on the main highway just outside my house and the highway had been closed for several hours.  I never knew.  That explains why no one came to plow until we had over 8 inches on the ground, no one could get to me.  I suppose it is a good thing I didn't have to go anywhere.

So instead I did a little Christmas baking and puttered about the house, and did a little knitting as well.  I also took a nap because I have a vicious cold, and there is nothing quite like a snowy day and a cold to make one want to curl up and hibernate.

It was  also a perfect day to wear my cozy new shrug that I knitted over Thanksgiving.  If you have been reading my other blog, PurlsandMurmurs  you might know that I had finished it, and I promised a picture of me wearing it but I hadn't gotten to it yet.

In fact, I wasn't thrilled when I finished it, It clung to the body too much, and seemed to bunch up around my neck.  So in a fit of frustration I threw it in a corner, and then moved other things on top of it because I had to clean out the bedroom to put in a floor.  By the time I found it again it had been shoved and pulled and stretched and it looked quite relaxed and cozy.  In fact I am quite fond of it now. 

Ignore the spots on my tee.  I did not spill my lunch on my tummy.  I had just leaned over the wet railing to stare down at the neighbor below .  Silly me.  This picture was taken yesterday, when it was nice and occasionally sunny, and didn't look at all like we were about to get a foot of snow.

I shall reiterate the details here since I am going to be combining blogs and in the future will just use this blog for all my creative endeavors.  There will probably be a few bits and changes around here as I find my way through incorporating new bits, but don't worry there will actually be sewing as well.

This shrug was inspired by this pattern from Tahki-Stacy Charles :

I looked for the yarn, Shannon, at my LYS but they did not have it.  As I was wandering around avoiding my knitting one evening, I saw the Nashua Vignette that I ultimately ended up using. 

When I looked at the pattern Theresa pointed out that it was very similar to a pattern written for Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande, and that the shaping was a little nicer in the Plymouth pattern.  Since I wasn't using either yarn, I decided to go for the Plymouth pattern.

This is the photo of the Plymouth Shrug:

When I looked at the patterns they are not that different, and are actually about the same size (although you wouldn't know that from the photos) but the shaping for the armhole opening is different.

In retrospect I suspect the Tahki pattern might fit better around the arms.

I am knitting it again, this time in the recommended Baby Alpaca Grande.  This is not the recommended sequence of events.  I probably should have knit the alpaca shrug first, then modified the pattern for the wool.  But then I have always had a strong tendency to go at things backwards and upside down.

Ideas from Chanel

From a rather prolonged autumnal season, we have moved in to full winter, in all of its Hudson Valley "loveliness".  In short November may have been warmer than usual, but so far December is colder, and we have had three sleet and ice storms in as many days although yesterday we alternated  a bit between rain and ice.  Thrill.  I don't really mind winter in theory, and I like the snow, but it never lasts here, much to my dismay.  What I truly dislike though is the general dreariness.  Everything is dark and damp and cold. I like light.  So why do I live in a house that does nothing to maximize available light? 

I spent a significant amount of time yesterday trying to take photographs of a jacket I want to share, as much for my own ability to remember, as anything else, but dark house and bad weather lead to poor photographic opportunities.  It took several rounds of photographs before I just gave up.  Since the forecast is for more of the same all week, and the jacket in question needs to be returned to its source, we will have to suffer through not so great photos.

I received this Chanel suit, made of brown wool crepe, from a personal shopper.  The photo does not do it justice, but you can get a glimmer of the seaming from the photo.  Click on the picture to enlarge.

Since photos of the jacket on me showed even fewer details than the flat photo, and did even less for the jacket I have attempted to sketch it:

This is partially a guess, as to the fit of the jacket.  I could not find an photo of this jacket on the Internet, and the belted waist seam on me is about 2 inches above my waist, but since I often have to lengthen jackets by one to two inches, I am assuming this is meant to be a waistline seam.  It would actually look nice cut higher as well.  The seam was not flattering, however, on the place it actually hit my body

One of the things that attracted me to this jacket is the sleeve detail.  Note that the sleeve is three pieces, two of which are cut on with the body.  The third piece consists of a gusset that is aligned with the side panel of the jacket.   There is a center seam running down the shoulder line.  The back piece is cut in one piece with the side back panels.  There are also two center back pieces to the jacket with a center vent.  I could not get a photo that shows any of this detail.

.Here is a slightly expanded view of the front seaming.

Take a look at the buttons.  They are covered in self fabric and then a fine chain is sewn on top, I would use a very fine link chain.  Where the chains cross there is a little "CC" symbol, but I think this would be particularly nice with a bit of simple beading at the cross as well.

Although this photo is not as clear, you can see the waist seam, and the way the waist is finished below the notch collar and under the belt.  The belt and belt loops could be easily removed.  I actually like the really low neckline of this jacket, it makes it perfect for showing off a beautiful top or a blouse, and I think the shaping of the sleeves is also interesting.  The gussets and the shoulder seam allow for room for fitting and give a rather sleek modern line, which is really not apparent in my crude sketch.

This only serves to remind me that it is probably time I invested in a better digital camera, one that allows me to set the shutter speed so that I can maximize what light is available. There was a time, not so long ago, when I believed I would never want more than a simple point-and-shoot camera.  As so often occurs when the word "never" creeps into my vocabulary, I have been proved wrong.  I will start looking after the new year, I know Santa has already arranged for my gift and it will not be a camera.

lap robe/floor mat

I believe that I have mentioned that my simple, "quick" projects rarely turn out to be all that simple, or if they are simple, they do not prove to be quick.  It must be something in my basic constitution...

I had an idea that I would make a soft cushy mat for the floor, something like a yoga mat, but not a yoga mat. I needed something long enough for an adult person to lie on but which was also comfy and cushy and snuggly.  I needed something that could be rolled or folded for storage and which could go in the washing machine.

Thursday I went to the mall to buy two of those long bath-sheet sized towels, because we didn't have any towels that large.  I bought the softest, cushiest towels I could find.

I didn't have time to go to the quilt shop before they closed, but I found this lovely Kaffe Fassett cotton in my collection. I had one yard, more than enough for binding the edges of my mat.

Towels and fabric were washed Thursday night, so I could begin Friday evening.  I really thought I could do this in an evening.  After all the steps were so simple...

First make bias binding
Press under hem allowance one side of binding.

At this point I realized that I I would not be able to sew the binding onto the "front" side of the quilt/mat with all the layers intact because it would be too thick to easily manipulate through my machine, and there would be far too great a risk that I would not be able to keep things straight and all the layers properly aligned. So I decided to attach the binding to only one towel, mitering the corners as I went, realizing that I would have to anchor the layers together by hand when I wrapped the binding and finished the other edge.

Next I sandwiched all my layers together, first  aligning two layers of thin batting with the bottom towel and using binder clips to hold everything together.  Then I positioned the top towel over the batting, and carefully positioned it, wrapping the binding around the edge and repositioning the clips to hold all the layers.  This actually worked quite well and the binding was quite easy to manipulate into position.

This is probably obvious to people who regularly quilt things, but it took me a few minutes to figure out the binder clip technique.  I started with pins, but quickly realized that my longest pins were not going to work with the thickness of the layers.  I think it was also much easier to keep the edges of all the layers lined up exactly using the clips, whereas the layers would be more likely to shift with pins (unless I used thousands of them). Luckily I have a good sized box of binder clips salvaged from the office when we closed it last spring.

This morning I settled down with a pot of coffee and started to sew, anchoring the binding to the quilt and stitching through the layers to hold everything in place.  I think the final result is quite nice.  It makes a nice soft mat to lie on,  it can be rolled into a comfy bolster...

And it also makes a nice warm, snuggly lap robe or blanket.  I know because after I finished sewing, I sat back in my chair with it spread over my lap and I took a little nap.