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Gemma - more progress and one more tip!
April 29, 2005
Yes yes I know! I forgot the other idea for dealing with Gemma's ends! Well I didn't forget it, I just didn't really understand how it worked, because I was being a bit slow :)
Carolyn suggested knitting flat pieces, but on a circular needle, and then you can work from either end of the needle, depending on where the ball of yarn you need is. You just strand the yarns up the side. This is dead clever I think, especially as I must be wasting a ton of yarn on ends and this would save that.
So thanks and sorry Carolyn!!
I have slowly been plugging away and didn't feel like much more was done, but I just took a photo and the back is noticeably longer than last time I posted :)
Here's where I'm up to (half way through the increases after the waist):
I will hopefully be buying yarn this weekend, hurrah! After a while of no inspiration I had THREE (oh yes) design ideas this week, so I will be investigating colours this weekend. There is no where at all to buy yarn in Oxford (I believe I might have whinged about that just on one or two occasions before, hahaha) so I have to drag Adam to the department store whenever I'm in Bristol! Have a nice weekend everyone!
Posted by jen at 09:03 AM | Comments (5)
Gemma - minimal progress plus TIPS!
April 26, 2005
Gemma is going SO SLOWLY. It is really going to take me forever to finish this project. I think it is the 2 rows that create the little bumps in the pattern that are slowing me down - it takes about 15 minutes just do to those rows, and it hurts my fingers! Gosh how whiney! Enough of that!
Here's how far along the back I am - I can only show half because it's scrunched up on the needles. For your info I have just finished the decreases for the waist:
Anyway, a while back I was talking about the ends and what a beastly nuisance they were, and people had 2 ideas to solve the problem. One was to work in the round up to the armholes, which would save lots of ends - I decided against this one. I'm not a fan of working in the round, and basically that's all. There may have been some other reason as well but I can't remember what it was. The other idea was Johanna's! Which was to weave in the ends as you go. And I'm doing this one and it rocks. Thanks Johanna!
Anyway, I have no idea if anyone is even remotely interested, but I like to feel useful, so I thought I'd share how to do this weaving in ends as you go trick!
Firstly, on a knit row. So in the picture I'm knitting the row with the biscuity coloured yarn and weaving in the purple end. Knit the first stitch. Then, hold the working yarn down the back of the work, lift up the end, and place it from right to left over the working yarn:
Then lift up the working yarn again and knit the next stitch. You have caught the end in the stitch. Repeat this until a few stitches are done. I'm doing 10 sts, because Calmer is a stretchy yarn and I didn't want the jumper to stretch and the ends to pop out. Then just leave the end hanging and finish the row, and a few rows later trim the end off.
On a purl row next! Again I'm working with the biscuit coloured yarn and the end is purple. This time you start twisting the yarns on the very first stitch of the row. Before purling the first stitch, lift up the end, and place it from right to left over the working yarn:
Then, making sure the end stays in place over the working yarn, purl the first stitch. Put the working yarn down, lift up the end, and place it over the working yarn from right to left again:
Lift up the working yarn and purl the next stitch, etc. continue until several stitches have been worked. This is all invisible on the right side of the work, and looks like this on the wrong side:
So there you go! Nifty and neat! Hurrah!
Posted by jen at 08:02 AM | Comments (10)
A few small things
April 22, 2005
I started seaming up my jeans, and discovered that the pink thread I had chosen for top stitching was in fact too pale, and looked almost white against the denim - something anyone with a BRAIN would have thought of before!
I will get darker pink thread soon - more of a medium pink I think so it still looks pale.
I also cut out the cream coloured cotton print fabric and then immediately lost motivation.
I knitted about 10 rows of Gemma (haha I'm so crap at the moment!).
Also I made falafels for dinner last night - they were good.
Have a nice weekend!
Posted by jen at 08:23 AM | Comments (2)
From super speedy to very.....very.....slow.....
April 20, 2005
This pretty much describes my knitting at the moment! I suppose that's what you get when you go from Big Wool or Chunky Print projects to Calmer. I finally finished the back of Elspeth:
Those are my fingers at the bottom! I say I "finally" finished because there was ripping involved.
Someone emailed me a little while ago asking what I thought of the pattern and chart, and I said it was fine so far, but just after I sent the email it suddenly wasn't so fine! There aren't any mistakes that I've noticed, just that the pattern isn't written in a very user friendly manner. Here are my issues with it:
1. The chart is only for the first 12 rows. There is increasing for the chest and then lots of decreasing for the raglan armholes, and in order to see where I should start the eyelet pattern each time, I had to work out how many sts had changed since the first 12 rows, and count in on the chart. I know that doesn't sound so bad, but it is a bit confusing. Somewhere I went wrong and the pattern didn't line up perfectly. I ripped back to before the mistake, and tried again, counting SUPER carefully, and made the same mistake. I HAVE NO IDEA where it crept in. Can you see it? I can't and I'm not ripping again, as I said I can't see where I went wrong, so it would probably just happen again!
2. No selvedges in the pattern, or any instructions on making decreases or increases. I know I could have put them in, but it's nice when a pattern makes provision for neat seams and the like. I mean, raglan armholes are the neatest of all because you can mattress stitch them together, but I won't be able to! I hope they don't look poo.
3. Not enough stitch counts in the pattern.
I guess that's it. I like it though! I love the design and the yarn I'm using. I will wear it loads when it's done.
I started on the back of Gemma now (I am alternating pieces of Elspeth and Gemma), but have done so little it wasn't worth a photo!
Posted by jen at 09:40 PM | Comments (5)
Motivational Sewing Post
April 18, 2005
So, clearly I have no progress to show or it would be here (I spent all of the weekend with my lovely boyfriend, cooking and eating!), but here is all my sewing stuff, which I really need to sew! Hopefully this will be like a kick up the backside to make me feel bad and sew until smoke comes out of the machine (although let's hope not literally!). Somehow I feel less guilty about my fabric stash than my knitting stash, just because I know it would only take a few weeks to sew it all up.
Items 1-3:
On the left - chocolate flower print linen for a skirt.
Middle - Pin-tucked denim for I DON'T KNOW! Tell me?
Right - cotton print for a summer top, maybe a wrappy one I think.
Here's a close-up of the pink one, I hope you can see it has beads and sequins and metallic thread embroidery (so pretty):
Items 4-6:
Left - pink cord intended for a skirt.
Middle - denim for jeans, which will have pale pink topstitching. I have cut them out and marked them, they just need sewing.
Right - chunky cord for trousers.
Items 7 & 8 (why am I giving them this ridiculous terminology?!):
Left - so soft and pretty old fashioned looking cotton print for a summer top, I'm making up a pattern and looking forward to making this.
Right - green cotton, hard to describe but it has lines on it, but in the same colour? For a skirt, which I'm going to put something else underneath for a fake petticoat effect, because right now I really like that look. :)
Items 9 & 10 (finally! Bored yet?):
Two pairs of trousers that need taking up because they're too long. The ones on the right are from Mango and really very nice. They said they would take them up for a fiver, and I was being all self-righteous and thinking I would do it myself, but predictably I HAVEN'T, and since I bought them I swear my thighs are fatter. Poo face!
OK I feel bad now, expect some hot sewing action to take place soon!
Posted by jen at 09:08 PM | Comments (7)
Cotton Print Aprons!
April 14, 2005
I made these aprons over the last couple of days - one for me and one for my friend Jess! We love them!
Click on the photo for a bigger photo and instructions to make your own. They are quite quick and easy :)
Anyway, I don't have much more to say about them that isn't already written on the Apron page, so go have a look!
Back soon with more stuff - my secret project is now finished.
Posted by jen at 09:28 AM | Comments (6)
I <3 Laura Long!
April 12, 2005
I just realised that the two designs I'm making from Rowan 37 are both by the same designer, and in the same yarn (Calmer)! The first one is Gemma of course. That one hasn't progressed any further than one sleeve. I also started Elspeth, because I thought I could alternate one piece of Gemma with one of Elspeth - it doesn't quite add up but it does mean I get to work on both at once - hooray!
I'm working on something TOP SECRET at the moment (!) so not much else has been done - but I have done most of Elspeth's back (pitiful really as it's not very big!). Here is a close up of the pattern:
The Top Secret thing will be finished today, and then hopefully I will have lots to show - especially some sewing I've been doing :)
Posted by jen at 08:30 AM | Comments (9)
A long overdue entry...but just LOOK at what I've got to show you!
April 07, 2005
I really wanted to get better photos before I made this entry, but it has been raining or no one has been there to take them, and I can't leave it any longer!
When Carolyn said she was sending me a package naturally I was very excited, but I had no idea it would be THIS GOOD. She sent me her gorgeous Point 5 poncho! I'm really touched and love it to pieces, and here I am showing it off:
Click to see more!
Just so you know it's getting the attention it deserves, Carolyn, so far it has been worn in my chilly room to knit multiple times, to a friends for dinner once, and also down to the chippy one evening. But then it started raining lots so it's only been worn indoors for a few days :(
Hooray!
Posted by jen at 09:47 PM | Comments (5)