Chinese-esque Robe

As part of my Clockwork Alchemy costume, I had to create a Chinese-esque robe that would work with the leather armor. Again, pictures are worth a thousand words, and help cut back on the amount of writing I have to do :-)

I used some red linen with a inner gold lining.

And I found some matching red trim at JoAnne's Fabrics. I had to go to 2 different stores and ended up with 17-18 yards of trim. I had two requirements for this trim: a) it had to match the fabric b) I had to be able to machine-sew the trim (some trims need to be hand-sewn onto a garment due to its shape.)

17+ yards of trim was barely enough to line all of the edges.

I wanted to add Chinese frogs for closures, but I couldn't find anything commercially that would work as most stores only sell black or white frogs. So I opted to make my own using some gold trim we had in our Stash. I found an excellent online tutorial for the frog closure I wanted.

It was fiddly at first, but I got the hang of it.

Sufficed to say, I got some nice compliments on the outfit, and it worked really well with the leather armor.

Leather Armor

I've gotten minimal knitting & spinning done, because I'm trying to get my costume ready for Clockwork Alchemy. The leather leg guards have been completed. It’s not very heavy, and very wearable, except that you can’t really “sit” with it on, as its based on cavalry armor. However straddling a chair or a stool? Completely comfortable.

Overall, it’s been relatively easy to work on, except that it did take some time to complete, because this particular outfit can’t be just “sewed”....parts of it had to be molded to fit my body, which meant getting it wet, then letting it dry in the specific shape I wanted. Plus parts of it had to be glued down ...so that just takes time waiting for it to dry & cure.

Here's a pictorial essay, because, photos are much better than words:

Mockup

Templated Cuts

Molded Leather

Riveted Together

Bound Edges

Grommeted Belt

Completed Set

Right now, I'm working on the fabric portion of the costume, and have been sewing for the previous nights. I'll have photos of that later on when I get farther along.

Mogwai Project

Mogwai Projects

If you have listened to the podcast, Sandy & I talked about mogwai projects turning into gremlins, and how it can be avoided by following some simple advice:

1. Don't feed them after midnight --- ie. Don't start a project after midnight, or when you're tired
2. The light of day burns any gremlins into the ground --- ie. Waiting until the morning will put things in clearer perspective.

This was my mogwai project that could have easily turned into a gremlin.
It started with my Stained Glass handspun. I thought I wanted to weave with it (and even bought a warp yarn for it) but it's far too nummy to wrap onto a shuttle. I wanted to feel the yarn with my hands...hence knitting with it.

In addition, I had some other criteria for it:

•  it needed to be a form of neckwear, in particular, a scarf...and I HATE knitting scarves...but I wanted a skinny scarf to wear anywhere with anything that wasn't a "winter" scarf. * it had to show off the wonderful colors of the handspun.
•  it needed to incorporate some form of lace -- not a lot, just enough.
•  it should be a quick, easy knit --- preferably in the round and not involving garter stitch So I perused around Ravelry.

It seemed that a "tube" scarf might do the trick, but I wasn't overly happy with just knitting stockinette stitch. I saw a couple of diagonal or bias knit scarves (like the Clapotis), but it involved flat knitting and not conducive to a skinny scarf. I looked at one of the patterns that was close to what I wanted, and started knitting a few rounds, then not like what I had done. However, it was "close" to what I wanted. So, I ripped the whole thing out, and using the spirit of the pattern, I sampled a few more times.....And I frogged the project several times over because I either:

1. didn't like the width or
2. didn't like how I was turning out.
3. all of the above.

Eventually, I managed to get something that was exactly what I wanted, but it took the better part of 2 hours to get to that point. If I had started this project shortly after midnight, I would have been up for that length of time, TRYING to get it right and getting frustrated because I was tired.

Instead, I waited until the next day to cast-on, and give myself plenty of time to figure out the pattern while I was fresh. Now, it's turned into my "potato-chip" knitting. The colors of the handspun are working up really well. And it's soft and squishy to the touch.

I've had to put aside my Basic Hoodie sweater to work on this scarf, because it's been so addicting to knit...and I don't normally like knitting scarves!

So, disaster averted! My wonderful cute little Mogwai project could have turned into a nasty, ugly gremlin if I had not paid attention to the rules.

SPAKAL 2012

If you listen to the Knitmore Girls Podcast, then you're probably aware of their SPAKAL 2012.
This is a SPIN-along, KNIT-along for the next 8 months. You spin the yarn, then knit the chosen sweater (Eadon (ravelry link).

I've had my eye on this sweater as it's lovely. But, I also have 2 other sweaters for which I have plans to spin. Of course, I superceding those plans and looking to spin for the Eadon.

I opted to spin up my hogget fleece, Odie, a merino ram. And what a delight to spin!

I spun up a little bit of Ode @ 11:1 and did a ply back test, which didn't give me quite what I wanted. At 3 plies, it gave me about a sport weight. So I dropped the ratio down to 9:1

9:1 - Ply back test @ 2-3-4 plies

The ratio came a lot closer to what I wanted. A quick comparison on the WPI had the following:

I spun up three bumps of 3 ounces of Odie @ 9:1 which gave me a sample of yarn (about 44 yards) of a 3ply that I was very much hoping would have been worsted weight after being fulled. Unforutnately, it ended up being a DK / light worsted weight. I probably could have done a 4-ply to give me what I wanted, weight-wise, but I was really looking to do a 3-ply.

So, I made adjustments to the spinning wheel (changing out whorl sizes), and started another sample of yarn, which will hopefully yield what I am looking for.

And in an effort to regain some use of my full bobbins (from an earlier spinning project -- Gretta) for use with Odie, I plied up 3 bobbins according to my previous set of notes --- getting consistent yarn is all about taking careful notes about wheel settings --- and it came out beautiful and very much like my initial sample.

So, I guess I'll be spinning on 2 wheels for the next few weeks:
1) to finish spinning up the last 2 ounces of Gretta AND to regain some of the bobbins with her yarn
2) spin up the Odie sample, and get started on the SPAKAL

Sweater FOs!

So far, I've completed 3 sweaters this year (nevermind, I started one in 2011...)

But now, I need to take a small break from sweaters and knit a few socks. My sock drawer needs more filling.

Plus, I have to finish SPINNING for two more sweaters.

Leatherworking

In addition to your general Fiber arts and sewing, I do a little bit of leatherworking on occassion.

This time, I needed to work on a specific Steampunk costume -- Steampunk Mulan -- based off an artist renditioning thereof.

DH helped me drape out a pattern for the leather bits, and I tested out how the scales would look in muslin and how much of binding I would ned.

Then I took an old leather half hide that DH had for a long time, cleaned it, conditioned it, then let it dry (as it was curling on the ends) The old hide has some distinctive markings, so it'll look a bit more 'weathered'.

I cut out the base pattern for the legguards and started with the scales.

The scales were a bit annoying. I am using a strap end punch to template out each of the scales. However, it does take a bit of hammering with the mallet to really punch out the leather. I took to punching out as much as I could, then using an exacto knife to cut through the rest. I only managed to get half-way through one legguard of scales, before I had to break off from all the mallet pounding.

After I get all of it cut out, the middle of the scales will get 'ridged' so that they won't curl up in the middle.

I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Granny Square Kick

I appear to be on a Granny Square kick. I made this the other night in under an hour:

It's made out left over sock yarn. Initially, I was going to make the Sock Yarn Blankie Square (Ravelry Link), but I think I might "spice" it up with a few granny squares in between.

Red Tide: Abalone

This is my 3rd sweater of 2012. Well, technically, it's a sweater vest, but still a sweater, yes? It's the Abalone sweater on Ravelry. I had overdyed some Luscious Silk Singles from Blue Moon to a gorgeous burgandy color.

The sweater is lovely. I made it a little bit longer in length and a little bit wider in the bust.

The pattern was pretty darn easy, and I used the following links to help with the things I didn't know how to do.

• How to do a Cable Cast On
• Three Needle Bind Off & Applied iCord

And now, I'm love with applied icord and will be using it for a lot of other things.

Stained Glass

I went from this....

to this:

Pre-Wash: DK weight.

After Wash & Fulling: Worsted weight

It's about 222 yards at a worsted weight. It does remind me of stained glass. Now, the question is...what to make...

Finished Frankie

I FINALLY...FINALLY finished the NEVER ENDING SWEATER. (03/31/12) I am SOOO relieved to have finally finished this poor sweater with its trials & tribulations. I had to rip back the finished collar and reknit it to make it taller (as I wasn't too happy with the length -- and frankly, since I had already gone through the trouble of doing so much with it...what's a little bit more?!?

Here the buttons I found at the LA Garment District. They are quasi-Egyptian, and work well with the cardigan. I alternated the round & square buttons, because I thought it looked rather cute. They are resin buttons.

I had DH snap a photo of me in it, because...I was just so elated to finally fricking finish it!

Spinning Color

Lately, I've been spinning away on naturally colored fibers, like Frank, Gretta, and my Teeswater roving.

• Frank kinda got to be a chore for a while, because it was just constant working with Frank trying to get "enough" to finish my sweater......it seemed never ending.
• Gretta is lovely, soft, and an absolute delight to work with....but after spinning 14 ounces, one does get a bit tired of the same thing (esp. as I'm spinning for a sweater; I still have 3 more ounces left).
• The teeswater? This is not as pleasant as I had hoped, mostly because of the effort I had to go through to get it to a reasonable state in order to spin it (it had felted in shipping), but I'm determined to actually finish this project.

 

But, evern now and then, one needs a little bit of extra color to put some POP! in their lives.

 

 

This fiber is 4oz of Frabjous Fibers in their SPARKLE line (merino & angelina) -- the colourway is "Stained Glass".

 

I've spun up 3 bobbins of this, and will be creating a 3ply. I'm not wholly sure what it's destined to become, but, there will be enough for something small, like a hat, pair of fingerless mitts, or a small shawlette.

Wig Block Find

I luv Thrifting.

Why? Because you can find the nifty-est stuff at a thrift store!

Take this for instance:

It's a wig block that allows you to build/style/create a wig to your specific head size. This one, I found at thrift store for $2.00!!! (50% off the waay low price of $4.00!!!)

Granny Squares

A friend of mine (actually, a friend's mom, but who is still a friend) was diagnosed with cancer.

A bunch of friends decided that it would be good for us to get together and put together an afghan for her.

The rules were simple:

1. Make a 6 inch square from any craft
2. Make it from a pre-determined list of yarns & colors so that we'd at least be consistent
3. Make it with love.

So, we ordered the yarn, and started. Some people are knitting, some are crocheting, some are using tunisian crochet, and some are doing a combination thereof.

This photo taken during one of our get togethers to see where we were in the process and how much more needed to be made.

I had forgotten how much I really do like knitting granny squares. They're cute colorful projects that take no more than 20 minutes to finish. Here are some of the ones I made:

I also took the time to learn some basic tunisian crochet and make a square out of that. And I found that while it is rather a neat method -- it takes a lot longer than just crochet'ing a simple granny square. BUT, tunisian crochet makes for a wonderfully THICK fabric.

Once everyone is done with their squares, we'll get together and sew together this wonderful blanket

---

I think I might be making more granny squares in the future. Several years ago, I made myself a wonderful granny hexagon blanket, which I love to pieces. I might have to make myself a full granny square blanket.

Tardis Gloves

For Gallifrey One 2012, I decided to go ahead and create a pair of Tardis gloves for myself. After poking around Ravelry, I saw that there were quite a few Tardis patterns, including gloves.

None of them QUITE fit what I wanted, although some came close. I looked up photos of the different Tardis from the Doctor Who: The TARDIS Handbook-- which we happened to have handy around the house -- coz we're geeky like that.

So, I noodled around on the Google docs spreadsheet and came up with my own pattern. I saw that some of the existing glove used purls to either denote the windows or the paneling. I didn't like that. Some didn't have the right number of panels or windows.

I also wanted to have POLICE BOX on each hand, but no matter how much I played with the spreadsheet, I couldn't fit both words onto the small space at the top without having it wrap around to the back of the hand. So, on that front, I compromised.

I made my first one, and had some issues with the thumb placement, which I subsequently corrected in the 2nd glove. But, still, it ain't too bad (despite my lack of duplicate stich skills). Regardless, I got plenty of complients at Gallifrey One.

Eventually, I'll get around to posting up my chart, once I've cleaned up all of the notes I made on it.

Frank, the Never Ending Sweater

I have a sweater THAT WILL NEVER END.

As anyone who reads this blog (or follows the podcast will know, I've been working on the sweater, Everybody Knows, using my lovely handspun, Frank since October 2011.

I've been having issues with this whole project -- not issues with Frank the Fleece or the actual pattern itself. BOTH are wonderful. But I have had logistical issues that have been either my fault or circumstances beyond my control

1) Not enough yarn because I decided to change the pattern I wanted to knit. I had enough for the old pattern, but not Everybody Knows. I spun enough for the body of the sweater & the collar, but didn't have enough for the sleeves.

2) 11/8/11 - 1/15/12: I spun more for the sleeves, and began knitting the sleeves.

3) 2/28/12 I "lost" one skein of Frank and was 6 inches away from finishing both sleeves. I thought I had to spin more

4) DH FOUND the lost skein, YAY

5) I discovered the armscye of the sweater is too big (that's the sweater armhole). Consequently, I have TOO much fabric around the armpit when I attach the sleeve and it bunches when I put on the sweater. I had to figure out a way to resize the armscye.

6) 3/11/12: The sleeves were too big. I derped and increased too much. I had to rip back 6 inches on both sleeves and reknit with the correct amount of increases

7) When trying to fix the armscye, I had an issue with a cat and clawss. Sufficed to say, it was ugly, and even my LYS sweater guru said..You need to rip back and reknit.

8) I rip off the collar. I undo the shoulder joins. I RIP back the right front panel to the armscye. I reknit. I rejoined the shoulders.

8) I figured out an ingenious way to fix the armscye of the other arm by making a reverse "gore". Essentially, I knit a small piece of fabric that I then grafted on that made the armscye smaller. Because it's garter stitch, you can't realy see the extra fabric.

9) I reknit the collar, then ripped it back 2x over because I didn't write directions on how to do a mandarin collar like I did the last time.

10) I attached the sleeves 4x over, because I HATE attaching sleeves and it's never a pretty thing.

And now, I'm FINALLY in the home stretch. I've attached the grosgrain ribbon to the button band, and I HAVE BUTTONS for it.

It's not going to be the prettiest sweater I've ever knitted, but it's nice and warm, and very servicable.

Finishing a Sweater: Hikers Waistcoat

As most knitters know, it's often times very hard to find buttons for a sweater that would match its look. Often times you find buttons that are a perfect fit immediately, and sometimes, you have to look around for a while.

So, while I was looking for wood buttons to go the Hikers Waistcoat (Ravelry Link / website link), I added the button bands for the sweater. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any grosgrain ribbon that matched the colorway, so I dyed some 3" wide white silk ribbon to a golden hue, folded it in half, and sewed white twill ribbon to add some stabilization.

Then I handsewed the whole thing for the buttonbands.

Eventually, I found an Etsy store in Europe that had some excellent handmade buttons for a very good price. Her feedback was pretty positive, so I was pretty confident in purchasing from her store.

So, I ordered Plum Wood buttons with some of the bark still on them. They were about the size of a dime. I <3 them.

Here they are spaced on the sweater.

I used some embroidery thread that matched the buttons, and sewed them on to the sweater.

Just When You Think You're Done....

Sometimes, things conspire against me. Or at least that's what I tell myself to cover up my poor planning skills.

Take my Frank Sweater for instance. First, there was the never ending question of whether or not I would have enough yardage to finish the sleeves.

Then, it turns out that I had JUST enough to finish both sleeves (and yes, I did finish both sleeves) and with some yardage left over.

But now, I have another problem -- the armscye of the sweater is too big (that's the sweater armhole). Consequently, I have TOO much fabric around the armpit when I attach the sleeve and it bunches when I put on the sweater.

Luckily, I only put one sleeve on and tried it on before doing the other sleeve.

Now, I have to figure out a way to reduce the size of the armhole by at least two (2) inches. I have an idea but I'm not sure if it'll work, but even this problem might be too much for my current skillset.

I might need to go to my LYS and solicit the help of the knitting gurus. However, I don't have the time to go down there until next weekend.....which means Frank will remain undone for another week.

Maybe I should keep him as a vest? *sigh*

Saved!

Sometime yesterday, DH found my errant ball of Frank! It had falled behind & underneath a storage bench that we have in our office. It was in a plastic bag containing:

• a ball of Frank
• a half full weaving bobbin of singles
•  my test skein when I was initially trying to determine how to spin/ply Frank

(The photo doesn't do the size of the ball justice.)

DH was quite proud of himself. He had heard me bemoaning my fate with Frank (a seemingly never ending saga of spinning, knitting....finding out you're short yardage, then spinning, knitting....finding out your short yardage....) He left it on my desk to find when I got home.

I awarded his good deed with much lavish affection. Then I proceeded to finished the last 3" of one sleeve last night. I still have plenty left for the 3" of the second sleeve., which I will finish today.