Streets and YOs

Engagement Sweater Complete

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:31:12 -0500

It only took until 2 months *after* the wedding to complete the engagement sweater. Just in time for cold weather. Brian is thrilled to have his own handknit sweater, and I am just happy there was enough yarn to finish it..

Pattern: Beck by Jane Ellison, from the Jane Ellison Queensland Collection
Yarn: Mystery worsted recycled from a j.crew sweater.
More project details on Ravelry

Modifications:

1. Size. The pattern jumps from a finished size of 37" for an XS to 43" for a S. I needed something more like 40". I swatched the cable pattern with 2-stitch ribs instead of 3, and worked it out for a size 40". It took a couple sketchbook pages to figure out the cable placements, but in retrospect, a pretty straightforward modification. I knitted in the round with 208 stitches for the body, and followed length measurements from the size S.

2. Collar. The collar is a bit shorter than the pattern suggests. I also decreased on the cast-off row, similar to the method I used on the urban aran.

Sure, everyone uses different yarns than patterns suggest, but this project took yarn substitution a step further. A couple years ago I was interested for a time in unraveling thrift store sweaters, as an economical path to decent yarns. These days, I mostly buy yarn at yarn shops. But this recycled yarn was still in the stash, and matched the gauge. No reason to buy more worsted brown yarn when I already had some, so, why not..

As the sweater progressed, 2 cabled sleeves and half of a cabled body later, it became clear that a yarn shortage was impending. Hrm. How could I possibly get more of the same yarn? Odds were slim that I'd find another matching sweater somewhere. Commercially available yarns might come close in color, but there would be a noticeable difference no matter what. But wait - I remembered way back when I posted about finding this yarn, a commenter mentioned that they unraveled the same sweater. Maybe they'd have extra? Amazingly, they replied, and they did have extra and would know in a couple weeks when their sweater was expected to be complete.

In the meantime, I decided to get as far as I could with the yarn on hand. I unraveled the swatches and finished the sweater body. Post-blocking, the body was just a bit long, so I took out an inch and a half from the back and front, and used that for the collar. After sewing in the sleeves, there is maybe a yard left. one yard!

Lesson Learned: You can get a sweater's worth of decent yarn for 5 dollars, but there may not be any more if you run out.

Honeymoon Yarns and Fall Projects

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:44:50 -0500

Folks, I write you now as a married person, one who had the great fortune of marrying someone who likes stopping at yarn shops. Not only did my new husband drive us to Maine and back, he kept one eye out for yarn shops along the way.

I like finding yarns when traveling. I imagine they carry a bit of vacation spirit with them. We got more yarns than I can probably get through this season, but even if I knit the sweater 2 years from now, it can still be a "honeymoon sweater".

Here's what I brought back from our Maine trip.

Peace Fleece, 5 skeins
I am itching to start on this one. This gray-green yarn will be for another "camping sweater", this time a basic turtleneck sweater with deep ribbed cuffs. I haven't decided how to construct it, maybe in the round with raglan sleeves.

Blackstone Tweed, for husband sweater the first
Maybe for the saddle-shoulder aran cardigan by Meg Swansen.

Bartlett yarns in Bark, for husband sweater the second
I love the color of this yarn.. brownish black and tweedy. For a manly version of the camping sweater, a basic crew-neck.

Sock Yarns
Sock yarns are so hard to resist. One is super bright yellow, and one "crazy ball" with colors that reminded me of Maine. The yellow will be for textured socks of some sort. The multi-colored ball looks like it will have long stripe repeats a la Noro. I am thinking about striping in a solid gray or black to break up the long repeats.

Wind-spun Wool
There from Hope Spinnery, a Maine mill where they spin yarn with wind power. The yarns come in lovely subtle colors. This is for a hat for my mom. I made her a hat a couple years ago, but she lost it on a trip and had the hotel staff scouring the laundry for it, to no avail. Time for a new one.

I think it would be great if there was a book or an iPhone app to locate yarn shops while traveling, complete with reviews and hours, so we go to the good shops at the right time. Does this exist? Google maps does a decent job, but more than once I've found the yarn shop out of business or relocated.

In case you're headed up the Maine coast, these shops were my favorites:
Heavenly Socks Yarns, Belfast, Maine
Knit Wit, Portland, Maine
Halcyon Yarn, Bath, Maine

first quilt

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:51:02 -0500

Back in the depth of winter, I took a machine quilting class at Purl Patchwork. I bought fabric for this baby quilt back then too, solids for the front and the print for the backing. Then I started a new job and wedding planning and this project was set aside - until now.

The quilt front will be made of these half-square triangles, a color paired with white for each, to be pieced in a random arrangement. Each square will only be 3 inches, I like them small. But according to my calculations, the quilt will need on the order of 168 squares!

What do you think would be the best way to quilt this? I love the look of swirling circle quilt lines, but since this is my first quilt undertaking, maybe straight lines are the way to go.

(Printed fabric by Alexander Henry, solids are Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton)

all weekend sundress

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:27:43 -0500

A morning's sewing yielded this sundress.

Its the All-weekend Sundress from Heather Ross' book, Weekend Sewing. I thought it looked great in the book photos, but suspected it would be unflattering on me. It turned out okay though! Honeymoon worthy? I think so!

The fabric is cotton jersey from Mood. I almost went with navy, and perhaps will go back for it and make another dress. If I make this again, I'll lengthen the skirt 5 inches or so .

I ran into a strange problem with the elastic thread on the top and waist. On the first try it did not stretch enough and ended up tight. Stretching the fabric a bit while sewing fixed this.

Give this sundress a try! Its super easy.

Scraps

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:27:33 -0500

Some people make quilts out of fabric scraps. I have yet to make a quilt (soon!), and the prospect of saving scraps for future quilts seems like it would be great for someone with a sewing room and lots of storage, not so much for my studio apartment. But those bits and pieces of fabric can be used for something, right?

I saved this weekend's scraps, in rag balls. it was a quietly productive weekend, and I had both time and energy to sit out on the porch and scrap them together. I have this idea to knit a small rug out of them. a welcome mat or a bath mat, like the one in Mason Dixon Knitting. Many more scraps will be needed for that. If only I had begun saving them a few months ago, there would be many rag balls by now. ah well.

I used this rag knitting tutorial to turn random scraps into balls.

For full pieces of fabric or garments, there's an easier way: Vintage Chica Rag Rug Tutorial

Matchy

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:54:32 -0500

While tracking down fabrics for wedding projects, I ended up with a couple duds. Fabrics ordered online turned out not to fit in with the color scheme once I saw them in person. I ordered a couple 3-yard pieces that looked like they might be a nice golden yellow, only to arrive quite orangey. oh dear. What to do with extra yardage of not-quite-right fabrics? Pajama pants, yes.

Following Heather Ross' pattern Pajama Pants for Everyone from Weekend Sewing, I sewed up these two pairs of pants appropriately, on the weekend. One pair for me, one for Brian.

The pattern is great. I thought for sure the pants would be too big as the cut pieces were humongous. I used 1/2" seam allowances rather than 3/8" to make them a bit smaller. Mine are size M and Brian's are size L. There is a lot of extra length built into the pattern. On the size large pants, after cutting the fabric 3 inches shorter than the pattern, I hemmed up another 3 1/2 inches. and Brian is 6 feet tall. I bet you can make pants for a 7-foot tall person with this pattern!

I added a couple details to these pants. One, a little fabric loop to mark the back of the pants and allow them to hang on hooks.

And topstiching. There's something about topstiching.. I want to put it everywhere. Typically, you can only put topstitching either on the inseam or outer seam of pant legs. Doing both just doesn't work.. it is too hard to get the other side through the sewing machine once the leg is sewn up. Jeans usually have the topstiching on the inseam. For my pajama pants, I managed to do the stitching on both sides of the leg. Who knows why I decided to do this, its not a necessary thing on pajama pants. The legs are wide enough to barely make it through the sewing machine. On Brian's pants, I topstitched the inseam and about 12 inches at to top of the outer seam.

topstitching on the outer pant leg

For future pants (or maybe an upgrade for these), a back pocket has been requested.

You know what? Pajama pants are extra comfy when you make them yourself. And matching pants for fiances - oh yeah. Anyone else planning on sewing these?

These fabrics are from Windham's Cheddar and Poison Green Collection.

Pinks

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:58:23 -0500

A friend requested a bunch of box bags for mother's day. She'll fill them with homemade cookies and biscotti for her mom and aunts, who apparently all love pink. So we shopped for fabrics and I started sewing them up. Extras will go to the etsy shop as they are finished (pink woodgrain ones are already there). If you've got a pink-loving mom too and want to reserve one of the in-progress bags, just let me know :-)

A tale of two yokes

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:02:24 -0500

Isager alpaca is really nice. So nice that I forgot to check my needle size before knitting the yoke. oops. The pattern said size 3mm needles, which I hastily interpreted as US size 3, which is almost correct. So I ended up with a rather large yoke, and promptly re-knit it on size 1 needles.

Though the knitting was much more pleasant on the larger needles, I love the tight look of the smaller yoke. Plus, it should hold up better once its weighted down with the rest of the sweater. I am calling this my "Early Spring Sweater" (ravelry link) in hopes I will finish before the summer.

Next up, picking up stitches and working downward.

on size 3 needles: kinda big

on size 1 needles: better

ps. I stand corrected. Knitalongs are alive and well over on ravelry, where they are likely way more efficient than multiple linked blogs. But if anyone is interested in an old-fashioned blog-based knit along, I'd find it pretty hard to resist. What would we knit?

More Sews

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:52:12 -0500

Cannot stop sewing box bags! Here are a few recent additions to the Streets and YOs etsy shop.. bright colors to round out the selection.

Isager

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:27:04 -0500

My sister sent a bit of yarn for me to try. She is knitting a sweater from it, and I will join her, as soon I decide on a color. Its maybe not something I would have chosen on my own, but I can't resist a sister knit along. The sweater is called Olive, from a booklet called Animono. The pattern specifies this light fingering weight yarn, Isager Alpaca Strik 2, to be knit on larger than normal needles, size 6s. The above swatch is on 5s. I think its about the right gauge. Its different than I'd choose without the pattern, but very nicely drapey.

By the way, what ever happened to knit alongs? Remember 2005, when we all knit along? Do they still happen? I realized I haven't heard about one in a while. I guess we don't need them anymore, after all, now there is ravelry, with its wealth of information about the previous knittings of any sweater pattern. And with a number of sweaters under our belts, we've learned to make most adjustments without conferring with others. That's my hypothesis anyway. Sound right?

Box Bag o Rama

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:41:15 -0500

I've sewn up another batch of box bags, this time for etsy. Check them out in my brand new shop!

streetsandyos' etsy shop

Engagement Sweater

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:55:06 -0500

The boyfriend sweater curse is no longer a threat in these parts.. I am making an engagement sweater. Yes, sometime this August I will be a married person!

The great thing about this (other than wedding crafting) is that I can knit finally him a sweater.. yes! We went to Brooklyn General, and while I browsed fabrics, Brian checked out the men's sweater patterns. We decided on Beck, from Jane Ellison's Queensland Collection.

The awesome part of this sweater is how the center cable splits for a zipper at the neck. I also like the overall cabling. However, these same elements make it tricky to alter the pattern. I needed a finished sweater in between the 37-inch and 43-inch sizes, something more like 40 inches. The cable repeat is 19 stitches and one cable should be centered in the front. plus the front and back should be symmetrical with the sides ending in a decent place in the repeat for the sleeves. Swatching and math are in order.

The yarn is recycled from a jcrew sweater I unraveled many moons ago. Its been in my stash for 3 years now! Its worsted-weight and seems like wool. There should be enough yardage since it was a size extra large, but cables do eat up yarn.

Brian says the reason he proposed is so he can finally get a sweater. He's kidding, I think.

Box Bags, A Short History

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:08:57 -0500

I made the first box bag on a quiet weekend this fall, following drago[knit]fly's tutorial. It was easier than expected, and ideal for storing sock knitting in progress.

the first box bag

I like using an invisible zipper, non-invisibly.. it makes for a nice clean look.

Then I made a couple for Christmas gifts. You've seen these before as bags for the Christmas shawls.

Looking kinda squished in this photo

And a few more to show a shop down the street to see if they would sell them.

The shop is going to try to sell my bags! Full box bag production is underway. I will bring them about 10 on Friday. Fingers crossed that they sell!

I think what I like about the bags is selecting the fabrics, linings, and zips.. playing with the patterns and colors. There are only so many things I can make for myself, or as gifts, so the idea of making items for sale is appealing because I can keep sewing, and keep creating things, trying out new fabrics and ideas that otherwise wouldn't have a purpose.

Down to the Wire

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:42:22 -0500

Did I finish the Icarus shawl in time for Christmas? Yes, barely! As it turned out, the final rows and bind off were more intimidating on paper than on the needles. A long car trip on the 23rd provided lots of time to finish the edging. It blocked overnight and by the 24th Icarus was ready to go, a whole day to spare.

thanks to squid for modeling

a close up of the edging

It was a very shawly Christmas at my house. In addition to the Icarus Shawl for my mom, I also gave an Ene's Scarf to my grandmother.

Ene's Scarf is worked from the long edge in, so it starts with the longest rows of 400 or so stitches, and decreases on each row. I like how those daunting long rows are completed while the project is new and exciting. However, errors on these rows can happen - on Ene's, I had to rip out the edging and redo it because I placed the center point not at the center, and only realized it after the whole edging was complete. oops.

In the end I won't remember redoing the edging on one or fretting over having enough time to complete the other. They are both great patterns. It looks like I tend to choose simple, modern shawl patterns. I like that you can see the components that make up the shawls fairly easily - Icarus has those straight lines that morph into feathers with the edging, and Ene's is made up of a center textural pattern plus an edging. Next, maybe I will try something more complex..

This year I sewed a whole bunch of box bags as gifts, and made a coordinated zip bag for each shawl (More on my box bag obsession in a future post).

Technical details on these projects are on ravelry:
Green Icarus Shawl
Red Ene's Scarf

and no, I didn't choose red and green for these shawls as part of a Christmas theme.. it is just a coincidence..

Gentleman's Plain Winter Socks

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:05:08 -0500

Way back in September, I found this Tofutsies sock yarn and decided it would make a good pair of socks for my brother. I've never made socks for Lars because he doesn't like itchy wool. Tofutsies is 50% wool, plus cotton, soy, and chitin, and felt non-itchy to me.

Then, of course I forgot about the yarn until mid-December when I realized I better get going if these were going to get done in time for Christmas. It was a close call - I finished them December 24th! Sidenote: while knitting them at the airport on the 24th, I met a woman who made 18 pairs of socks for the holidays! She said she started knitting in September. She must have knitted only socks for three months. That's dedication.

The pattern is the Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks, and I extended the ribbing down the whole cuff and instep. Someday I will knit these socks as written, but they seemed huge when knit in stockinette rather than ribbing. Is it Elizabeth Zimmermann who says the best fitting socks are ribbed? I believe it.

The heel is a new one for me, the Dutch heel. Its hard to see in the photos, but there is a set of 5 stitches that curve under the heel. I thought this might be uncomfortable, but was short on time to change it. Plus, the Dutch have likely used this heel for hundreds of years, right? must be okay. Lars ended up liking them, so all was good! Next year, I will start knitting sooner!

Specs:
Needle: Size 0, Magic Loop
Yarn: Tofutsies, plus some Lang Jawoll Reinforcement Thread for the heels and toes.
Pattern: Gentleman's Plain Winter Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Ravelry Link