Phoenix Wing Shawl

My Phoenix Wing shawl (pattern: Eagle Twist) is FINALLY done. It only took about 3 months to knit, and most of that time was over the holidays. I worked on it a lot over the past few weeks to ensure that I got it done in time for Stitches West!

The pattern is fairly easy. I particularly like the cabled spine. However, there are a lot of short rows, which I didn't realize when I got the pattern; I hate short rows. But, I made the shawl anyways.

The pattern called for sport weight yarn, but I ended up using fingering weight -- Dreams in Color Smooshy with Cashmere. Consequently, I added one more short row section (with 6 short rows) to the shawl to give it more height & width, as I was afraid it was going to be more of a shawlette.

Boy, was I wrong. The rows kept taking longer and longer to finish. I actually worried that I would run out of yarn. My bind-off took at least an hour to complete. But, it felt GOOD to do do the last stitch on the bind off.

I was left with 10 grams of red and 14 grams of the gold yarn. While not cutting it "super close", it was getting down to the wire!

Of course, I found a problem once I washed it and laid it out to block. I had to tink back a couple of times on the bind-off to ensure a consistent tension, and apparently, during one of the tinks, a stitch had dropped.

DROPPED STITCH!!

I had a wet shawl that was already pinned to the blocking boards. I wasn't about to rip back and redo it. So after I had a small minor heart attack, I came up with a viable solution. I used a crochet hook to bring the dropped stitch back to where it should have been, then used some waste yarn from the skein and seamed it into the shawl. You can barely tell it's there.

Out of curiosity, I measured the wingspan of my Phoenix Shawl. I obviously didn't need to worry about length, as the wingspan is 82 inches!!!! The heigh is only 18 inches, but it's completely lovely to wear.

Because we're doing a Potter Craft-a-Long on the podcast, I'm dubbing this shawl as part of that CAL, since 

• a) it's Gryffindor colors, which apparently, is the House to which I belong
• b) I had already called this shawl, "Phoenix Wing", which ties into Fawkes (Dumbledore's Phoenix companion)
• c) Because I can :-)

I love the cabled "spine".

And, it wraps around me several times over. I can even tie it in the back to make a sontag, although, the back isn't quite long enough to be a full sontag.

So many ways to wear it.

I love it! And with a touch of cashmere, what's not to love?

How to Knit Long Fingerless Gloves

I like to knit a lot of fingerless gloves as I find them extremely useful in a variety of situations. I particularly like long fingerless glvoes (elbow-length), for when I want a little bit of extra warmth when I'm wearing a t-shirt, but don't want to wear  coat. (And it's easier to carry around gloves than a jacket.)

I've written up a general recipe for how to knit yourself long fingerless gloves, specifically in relation to my knitting of my Doctor Who Scarf Gloves. However, you must know your knitting gauge and you must have your arm measurements, as shown below.

If you don't want a generic recipe, I've included pattern instructions for *my* size gloves below. I hope this helps you. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below, and I'll answer as best as I can.

Choose from one of the following:

• Generic Recipe for Gloves -- how to take measurements and come up with your own pattern
• Dealing with Thumbs -- thumb gussets? afterthought thumbs?
• Pattern for Small-Medium Gloves -- pattern for my sized gloves
• Stripe Pattern for Doctor Who -- how I did the stripe pattern

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Generic Recipe

1. Make a gauge swatch. 
• Get your stitch count - number of stitches per inch
• Get your row count - number of rows per inch.
2. Measure your arm. You are going to need someone to help you with this part:
• A -- the measurement around your wrist
• B -- the measurement around your arm just below your elbow (or wherever you want the gloves to end)
• C -- the  distance between A & B. This measurement helps determine how much you need to decrease from your elbow to your wrist.
• D -- the measure around your arm at half the distance of D. For example, if C = 9 inches, then you want to measure your arm at 4.5 inches.

Now for the math part:

1. Number of stitches at A =  A x stitch gauge
2. Number of cast on stitches = B x stitch gauge = ___
3. Number of stitches at D =   D x stitch gauge = ___
4. Number of stitches to decrease (E): = #2 - #1 
5. How many rows to decrease:

• (C x row gauge) ÷ #4 = Decrease 1 stitch by ____ rows 

NOTE: These measurements are for ZERO ease. If you want negative ease, reduce the number of stitches by 5-10% (or more, depending on what you want)

I put together a worksheet if you don't want to do the math. Fill in the GOLD boxes.

Dealing with the Thumb:

Personally, I like thumb gussets, but you can do any sort of thumb treatment for your gloves. Here's some ways you can deal with the thumb. I've linked some tutorials that I found (but will not vouch for... so caveat emptor). I've tried all three treatments and prefer thumb gussets

• Thumb gussets
• TinCan Knits Tutorial
• PerfectioKnits Tutorial
• Thumb holes -- where you stop knitting in the round and knit flat for a few rows:
• PurlBee Tutorial
• Afterthought thumbs (originally made popular by Elizabeth Zimmerman)
• Love of knitting tutorial
• Mary Jane Mucklestone Tutorial

NOTE: Make sure to use the Jogless Jog method for any stripe color work.

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Pattern for Small-Medium Gloves

If you don't want to do the math, or want an example, the following are MY numbers for gloves that fit me.

• A: 6 inches
• B: 10 inches
• C: 9 inches
• D: 8 inches
• Gauge:
  
  • Stitch gauge: 8 st/ inch
  • Row gauge 9 rows / inch 

Consequently, the numbers for my pattern are:

• At B, cast on 80 stitches = B (10 inches)  x stitch gauge (8 stitches/inch)
• At D, I should have about 64 stitches =  D (8 inches) x stitch gauge (8 stitches/inch)
• At A, I should have 48 stitches = A (6 inches) x stitch gauge (8 inches)
• For decreases:
• I need to decrease my stitch count between A & B by 32 stitches ===> 80 stitches - 48 stitches = 32 stitches
• I have 81 rows to decrease 32 stitches == C (9 inches) x 9 rows/inch
81 rows ÷ 32 stitches = 2.5 rows per stitch
• So, I have to decrease by 1 stitch every 2.5 rows. The .5 rows is a bit of an annoyance to remember, but I can double the row count (2.5 x 2 = 5): Decrease 2 stitches every 5 rows

Consequently, my general pattern is this:

1. Cast on 80 inches and do ribbing for 1.5 inches.
2. Switch to Stockinette and decrease 2 stitches every 5 rounds. 
3. Continue Step 2 until you reach 4.5 inches (C ÷ 2).You should have 64 stitches (or thereabouts)
4. Continue Step 2 until until the glove is 9 inches @ 48 stitches.
5. Knit rounds until reaching the base of the thumb.
6. Work glove and thumb gusset until you have 17 stitches for the thumb. (See thumb gusset tutorials above).
• Place 17 thumb stitches on waste yarn.
• Continue working the rest of the stitches (47) in the round.
• Make 1 stitch to get 48 stitches.
7. Continue working in the round until 1.5 inches from desired length.
8. Do 1.5 inches of ribbing.
9. Cast off
10. Thumb:
• Pick up 17 stitches of the thumb + 4 more stitches
• Knit thumb until desired length.

Note: These are general pattern instructions.
Please make any modifications as you need for yours.

Stripe Pattern

For the Dr. Who Stripes, I followed the original scarf pattern as listed on the Doctor Who Scarf webpage. I started the stripes as follow, using either end of the scarf to start a new glove. Although, frankly, you can probably start anywhere in the pattern and get your own unique looking set of gloves.

The following illustration should help you get started. Remember to follow the rest of the original scarf pattern.

 

(Divide row count by 2)

In order to make it scale correctly for the gloves, I divided the number of rows by 2. For example, if the pattern said,  22 rows of Red, then I would only knit 11 rows instead. (I was also contemplating dividing by 4 so I could incorporate more colors into the gloves, but in the end, I chose to divide by 2.)

Knitting Doctor Who Scarf Gloves

Despite having multiple projects on the needles, I got a bug in my ear to add one more project to the list -- a Doctor Who set of fingerless gloves! I had made a full sized scarf on the knitting machine years ago for my Viking, and it's an impractical thing to wear on a regular basis -- except for when cosplaying the Doctor! Fingerless gloves would be a little easier to knit and wear.

However, this new project required the purchase of some yarn, in specific colorways. A trip to my LYS yielded colors that were close to what I wanted. (Some colors were slightly off, but it's what the LYS had in stock and I really wanted to cast on right then and there!)

Cascade 220 Sportweight superwash

An initial test swatch told me that the yarn weight was wrong -- the fabric was just too thick for my liking, and the bright yellow was going to bother me. Plus, I had missed one colorway So, I went back to my LYS and scoured their yarn selection. I wanted a thinner fabric, hence, I needed a thinner weight yarn. Consequently, I ended up the Cascade 220 sock weight yarn (Heritage solids).

(Note: I had PLENTY of left overs from each skein.)

While most of the colors were exact, the brown is slightly too dark and the tan is a little too light, but as a design choice, I decided to go with it. Here are the colorways I selected from Cascade 220 Sockweight:

• 5662 Maroon (maybe too red, but it works)
• 5663 Wine 
• 5631 Charcoal (there might have been a better darker grey for this)
• 5639 Brown (slightly too dark)
• 5643 Sunflower
• 5681 Limestone (slightly too light of a beige)
• 5640 Cinnamon 

Another test swatch later told me that this yarn was the right weight. So I started knitting.

As a scarf reference I used the "definitive" Doctor Who Scarf website that lists out the color combinations and number of row repeats for each color. Specifically, I used the original scarf pattern, which is called the Acheron Hero Scarf.

I chose spots in the pattern that I felt were representative of the scarf and that looked good and started knitting there. For these, I selected the ends of the scarf and knitted towards the middle.

In order to make it scale correctly for the gloves, I divided the number of rows by 2. For example, if the pattern said,  22 rows of Red, then I would only knit 11 rows instead. (I was also contemplating dividing by 4 so I could incorporate more colors into the gloves, but in the end, I chose to divide by 2.)

NOTE: Make sure to use the Jogless Jog method when switching colors.
They aren't too shabby.

Plus the Cascade 220 Sport superwash is really soft.

I love these. I might make another pair using a different scarf or maybe even Romana's scarf. I still have a ton left from each skein.

I'll be posting the actual pattern for the gloves very soon, so you can make your own.

Knitting in Seattle

I recently went on a trip to Seattle for a bit of business, but I also had enough time for a bit of fun. I managed to see friends and family, as well as stop by the LYS that was about a 5-minute drive from my hotel.

The place was very nice, well-lit, and had a good selection of different fibers and yarns. The staff were pleasant and very helpful.

I wanted to get something to remember my trip to Seattle, but that was also a specialized item. They had Black Trillium fibers (a local yarn company in Portland, OR, which is 3 hours from Seattle.). After much agonizing on choice, I picked up a fingering weight merino/silk blend in the colorway, "Decay" --- a lovely varigated of greys, purples, blues, and golds. It somewhat reminds me of the grey skies of Seattle with a hint of the sun and blue skies peaking through the clouds.

They also had these magnetic button shawl "pins" that were pretty strong. So, I picked one up.

Because I was travelling, I brought three projects with me (two shawls and a pair of gloves). I ended up working primarily on  Unleaving from Knitty 2012, which I managed to finish!

The pre-blocked version

I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I had about 20 yards of yarn left over (which meant I could have probably knit a longer version), but I can mix it with another similar yarn to make a matching set of gloves or whatnought.

But for now, the shawl is blocked and drying.

I'm finally getting through my backlog of UFOs from 2014!

Re-Working Your Existing Projects -- TARDIS

Recently, I got a chance to test-drive my TARDIS messenger bag out in the real-world. I had to spend a good chunk of time away from home during one weekend, so I packed it with stuff, including a water bottle, three knitting projects (including a sweater WIP), my iPad mini, and small things (wallet, phone, knitting accessories, etc.).

While it was extremely serviceable, I noticed a few flaws that REALLY bothered me that needed to be fixed before I used it at a Convention. I could completely re-make the bag from scratch, or I could take apart the existing bag and re-work it with modifications.

As creating a new bag from scratch would entail more work (and more fabric), I opted to re-work it instead, as the issues could be fixed.

There were two issues:

1. The biggest thing that bothered me was that the bag was too soft and floppy. It would fall over and not hold its shape; the front and back would fall into each other. It oozed, much like Pile-o-Cat, where I wanted the Tall-Cat bag.
   
   
2. The way I had placed the buckles were not holding the bag closed well. The front flap would slip to one side of the buckles, thus creating a gap. 

Both were relatively easy solutions to fix the problem.

Problem #2 was extremely easy to solve. Because the front flap was shifting away from the buckles,  I sewed them to the front flap at several locations. I also added a magnetic closure to the very middle of the bag flap so that there would be minimal shifting.

Problem #2 was also a relatively easy solution, but it entailed that I take the bag apart, and add thicker padding between the lining and fabric so that the bag was sturdier.  I took some thicker Pellon #70 Ultra-Firm Stabilizer that I sandwiched between some pre-quilted padding that I already had lying about.

The end result was about ~ 5mm (or 0.25 inch) thick.

I inserted this extra padding at the bottom of the bag (to help it stand up), as well as the front and back of the bag.

Here's the bag BEFORE I added the padding. See how it wraps itself around the mannequin slightly and appears to be floppy?

Before

After. 

The re-worked bag can stand on it's own now with a few things inside.

However, because of the extra padding, I wasn't able follow the pattern instructions of turning the lining right-side-out. In addition, the added padding required expanded the width of the bag slightly so that I had to add a front facing all around the edges of the bag in order to seam up properly. This new facing also required that the bag straps be attached differently to the bag -- to the edge of the facing on the inside of the bag. Luckily, this didn't affect the overall aesthetic.

Here's the previous bag without the extra facing.

Unfortunately, the facing had to be hand-sewn into the bag, but it was still faster than creating a new one from scratch.

Here's the modified version with the extra facing

I think these modifications will make the bag more usable. I'm really glad that I took out for a trial run before taking it to a convention.

Previous posts on the TARDIS Messenger Bag:

• Planning out a TARDIS Messenger Bag
• Embroidering a Police Box Sign
• Bigger on the Inside
• Making the Windows
• Making the Straps

My New Dress Dummy

Many years ago, I bought an adjustable dress dummy that was on sale at one of the big box stores to use. It was useful, but it had its issues. I could only really use it for hemming skirts or pants, but nothing for the upper body as it was not particularly wide enough along the shoulders & back, no matter how much I adjusted it.

I finally decided to actually get one that was a bitter fit for my actually measurements, so I ordered the Uniquely You dress dummy in October 2014. It's made of high density foam and comes with a dress cover that you modify to your specific measurements, which then goes over the foam dummy. Theoretically, if you ever change sizes, you can remake the dress cover appropriately.

I FINALLY got around to altering the dress cover (yes, it took this long). It required some help from my Viking to help me mark the alterations on the dress cover whilst I was wearing it.  We had to coordinate around his work travel schedule, the holidays, and some illnesses (like the flu).

When we eventually got around to making alterations, the dress cover fit relatively well. It only required minor alterations along the back side seams and shoulder seams to take in extra fabric.

Now, getting the dress cover OVER the foam dress dummy took myself & the Viking to accomplish, but we eventually got there. It took several attempts, and my Viking climbing ontop of it to help compress the foam.

There were several adjustments that had to be made because of the nature of the compressed foam -- we had to take the cover off the dummy twice.  According to the instructions, once you initially put on the cover, the foam might overly stretch out the dress cover so you need to make further adjustments.

In my case, the dress cover fit me, but when placed on the dress dummy, the foam expanded over nearly TWO inches over my measurements. I had to take in both side seams by one inch to compensate for the expanding foam. There was also the matter of getting the bust measurements correct and moving the foam around into the proper locations.

However, it's a lot closer to my measurements than the older dummy. The difference between the two is pretty significant.

I can use her to drape out more patterns, as well as check for a better fit on mockups.

Now, I just need to settle on a name for her....

First FO for 2015

I finally finished my first project for 2015. (Although, yes, I did start it in 2014....) My Sammy cat was very considerate in letting me use him as a prop to show off my socks.

Hopefully, this is a sign that more FOs are in the works for the year.

Yearly Roundup

Every year, I take stock on the finished projects that I finished for that year.

It’s not a contest, but rather a progression bar of how much I've actually finished. It helps me realize that I DID get a lot of stuff done in the year (crafting wise), whereas sometimes I tend to think I didn't get a lot done (which is a fallacy by all rights).

So, for 2014, I made the following things:

• Three full cosplay sewing projects that had a lot of pieces made:
• Melinda May - learned how to sew leather with the machine
• 10th Doctor - learned how to tailor a suit jacket and pants. I also made a bonus waistcoat piece.
• Han Solo - this was a big project, where I made the entire costume (pants, shirt, and vest)
• Medium sewing project, where I made a TARDIS messenger bag.
• Little sewing projects, including pajamas, project bags, and donation blankets
• Leatherworking projects, where I learned how to tool leather and where I made a quiver
• Beading projects, where I made a few new pieces of bling for me.
• 19 knitting projects.  Last year, I knitted 24 projects, but I also did a lot of sewing, as indicated above, so I'm okay with this number. It still comes out to 1.5 projects per month.

Overall, I'm pleased with how my crafting and DIY went this year. I learned a lot of new techniques and got to play with a lot of new crafting toys!

For 2015, I hope to get just as much done as I did this year, if hoping for a little bit more. I already have a backlog of things that will definitely be finished, since I started them late in 2014.

Here's a small sampling of the stuff I made. If you want to go back and read about the others, then check out the link --  2014-list-of-projects.

Donation Blankets

There are a lot of knitters, crocheters, and general crafters who often make items for donation for a variety of charities. Sadly, I am not necessarily one of these people, because there's a lot of things that actually do take up my time. Instead, I tend to donate monetary funds to my chosen charities to use as they see best fit. (Charities often get better pricing for bulk items, so cash can be better utilized.)

One of my favorite charities (Nine Lives Foundation) uses an Amazon Wish List to request items, which are then delivered to the shelter. It's an interesting way to solicit donations. I noticed that they wanted pet blankets to send home with foster families for young kittens as well as to use within the shelter. I noticed that these were rather "pricey" for the amount of fabric used in what little construction the blankets used. These blankets were a 26 x 24 inch rectangle of fabric that were very badly blanket stitched at the edges.

Well, heck, I can churn out a polar fleece blanket in minutes. So, I went to my fabric store, which was having a 50% off sale on their polar fleece fabric.

For the price of three blankets, I bought 5 yards of 60 inch wide fabric. I washed it to remove any chemicals.

Then cut out rectangle pieces at 30 x 30 inches, and used the serger to overlock all four edges. At the end, I had 10 blankets ready to be dropped off at the shelter (along with a donation check).

When I got there, I also found out they had a bunch of fleece fabric donated, but that weren't cut up into blanket sizes, so I offered to do it, so it would free them to do other important things.

Like taking care of these cuties. Because, these little guys deserve all the help they can get.