Purl and Seam

Cabled raglan baby sweater

July 24, 2009

We had a little Swine Flu scare Chez Stitches this morning…fortunately it’s turned out to be just a case of Man Flu! So we’re all on the sofa watching Madagascar and I’ve taken the opportunity whilst Little Stitch (and Mr Stitch for that matter) is sat quietly to finish off the cabled baby sweater.

It’s knitted in Sirdar Just Soya, which is without doubt the splittiest yarn I’ve ever used. However it creates a soft, drapey fabric which is lovely for the shape of this cardigan.

: Hot off of the needles – not blocked or even washed!

I quickly snuck it onto Little Stitch for a try on. As planned it’s big on her. As it’s going to be a couple of months before she needs woolies on a regular basis, even though she’s growing at the moment there’s plenty of room to make sure this sees her through the winter. 003 Next!!!

10 weeks

July 23, 2009

What is it they say about the best laid plans?

Whilst I’d intended to get to work on the gingham wrap blouse this week, I’ve been absolutely floored by exhaustion. The doctor tells me I need to rest and I can just about summon up the energy to laugh at that notion in a world weary way.

He seems to think I’ve been completely overdoing it for the last year physically, which, coupled with the emotional roller-coaster of the last year or so, and particularly the past 11 weeks, has resulted in my body whimpering “enough”. I have no idea what he means. Said with wry smile

So Mr S has put his foot down and I’ve been banned from the workroom this week. And to be fair, I’m not really missing it. I’ve not even done that much knitting either, although I do only have about eight rows of cuff to do to finish Little Stitch’s cable cardigan. I’m determined to finish that this week.

The good news is that we now have in our happy hands the paperwork we need to complete to finalise Little Stitches adoption. As we’ve completed the obligatory 10 week period, we just need to fill in the form in triplicate, hand over a cheque, and wait for the court to squeeze us into the schedule. Then she’ll be our little girl in law as well as our hearts.

Ooooooooh weeeeeee!!!!!

July 17, 2009

The plan for today was a visit en famille to the zoo as Mr Stitches has a rare day off from work.

Unfortunately we had forgotten to take into consideration that we’re in the middle of British Summertime. Which means that today we have torrential rain and weather warnings for flooding and high winds. Of course!

So in a last minute change of plans we went to the aquarium instead. I can’t say that I was particularly enamoured with the idea. I didn’t really think that oversized fish tanks was my idea of a particularly good day out.

How wrong can you be?

089 We had such a good time. All three of us. 043 Little Stitch was mesmerised. All we could hear was ooooooooooooohhhhh weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

All in all a good alternative to the zoo, I think.

AND we’ve got an appointment next week to draw up the application for the final adoption order.

Ooooooooooh weeeeee indeed.

Wrap blouse v2.0

July 12, 2009

The phrase “from the sublime to the ridiculous” is definitely springing to mind as I write this post.

Following my last post I checked more books and even went to the library and borrowed The Perfect Fit! They showed full bust adjustment for a pattern without a bust dart. One which doesn’t add a bust dart. Cool!!!!

So I followed the directions.

I marked up the pattern as instructed: 003 Then cut and spread. Here it got a little tricky. They told you the maximum amount to spread, but didn’t give any recommendations based on cup size. So I guessed.

004 I also added a bit to the side seams and to the front edge as planned.

I may have overdone it. A bit. 015 I had tea with Himmelbjerget on Friday (and some rather lovely buns that Little Stitch and Nino enjoyed immensely) and we pinned and pinched and I think we’ve got it sussed. I’m going to make another version of the toile either tomorrow or Tuesday and we’ll see. Very nearly there I think. I HOPE!

71

July 7, 2009

J&J8 It’s 1am in the morning.

It’s cold and raining in Lancashire. I’m curled beneath the blanket that Ma knitted for me, drinking hot chocolate.

I’m pretty sure the weather in Surrey is much the same. And I’m also pretty sure that Ma is also awake, curled beneath the blanket that travelled the world with Pa Stitches. If she has any sense she’s drinking something a little more substantial than cocoa.

We can’t sleep because today would have been Pa’s 71st birthday.

Last year we threw a small surprise birthday party for him. Even when all the guests had arrived and the platters of food appeared as if magicked from nowhere, he still didn’t quite believe it. The 70 cupcakes convinced him.

We had such a great time. We always did at such gatherings. Family and friends and food and wine. Then later, the last few around the dining room table with a bottle of Jack (Daniels) and Tales of the Desert (again!) until the wee small hours.

Well, it’s the wee small hours again, but oh so different.

Happy birthday, Pops.

Good grief, Charlie Brown!!!

July 7, 2009

I’m sure you’ll recall that my original plan for the black gingham blouse was to make flat alterations to the front, which would provide a reasonably fitting toile that just needed some tweaks.

And that the original plan went out of the window.

Whilst Little Stitch took an afternoon nap, I sewed up the toile. And it is, dear reader, my worst nightmare. Although I do think it has potential, hence the public humiliation of the following photos.

Starting with the back, my initial thoughts are that a good start would be to:

adjust the yoke to compensate for my slightly rounded back
let out the waist to compensate for not having one!

If you scare easily, look away now. The front is even worse:

013 Again, I have some initial thoughts:

Letting out the waist should alleviate the pull across the front
It still needs a full bust adjustment (hence the black dots playing “hunt the bust point”
I think I need to lift the neckline a little too – I think flashing your bra at playgroup is frowned upon.
Oh! And I think the armhole probably needs lifting too. But I’m going to do that last to see how much difference the other changes make.

The only godsend is the the side seam looks like it’s pretty much where it should be.

So I’ve locked the workroom door for tonight. Hopefully my brain will work on this over the next couple of days and work it out. I won’t get chance to come back to this until probably Thursday at the least.

What do you think? Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. Please be gentle with me.

We interrupt our scheduled sewing…

July 6, 2009

…to rustle up a quick (for me, anyway) robe. 004

Close of the belt loop - cord made from 4 strands of thread

Close up of the belt loop - cord made from 4 strands of thread

It’s made up in Amy Butler Lotus Tree Peony in Slate. I ordered this from the States, via Fabric Supplies on Etsy. It only took a week for the fabric to arrive. The best part is that, even including shipping costs, the fabric was cheaper to import than to buy in the UK. Strange but true.

I’m awaiting the complimentary spot fabric to make matching pyjama bottoms. It’s en route. I’m hoping they turn out as well as the robe. I’m awfully pleased with it. The pattern is a Burda envelope pattern that I’ve made up before. This time I altered the kimono sleeves to reduce them in width and length. They’re much more practical this way.

Also going well is the Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater, a free downloadable pattern from knittingdaily.com. 009

The gingham wrap blouse, on the other hand, is giving me heebies.

I’d planned to do the full bust adjustment shown in the April/May 2009 edition of Threads magazine. A cunning plan as this blouse doesn’t have a dart and I wanted to add one. However, as cunning plans are wont to do, this one failed at the first hurdle.

The blouse has yoke panels. And front gathering.

So it’s beyond the wit of me to work out how to do the illustrated dart insertion with those added features.

Enter Plan B.

I’m making a toile. I’ve just cut out the size I need, am going to sew it up and then see where the kinks are and work from there. More time consuming, sure, but better than wasting any more time trying to figure it out on paper, poring over texts for help or just generally cussing at the pattern in a most unladylike fashion.

I’m planning to sew it up tomorrow and try it on. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Quiet!

July 1, 2009

It’s a statement. Not an instruction.

Ma Stitches is back in the civilisation of Surrey (after a 7 1/2 hour 450 mile round trip on Monday).

Mr Stitch is at the office. No doubt sweltering in the heat.

Little Stitch is at her grandparents.

Charlie is asleep on the rug. Alice is asleep in the garden.

I am tackling the European Laundry Mountain. I’ve done 2 loads already this morning. Just the 7 to go!

However, in between, I’m off to put the workroom back together after the boiler engineer had to move everything to get to the boiler each of the 4 times it took him to visit and finally figure out what the hell was wrong with the boiler. No, wait! It was Mr S who worked it out. Silly me.

Once that’s done I should get a couple of hours of cutting out done before I go collect the wee one. Bliss.

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos to prove that even in our inclement climate, you can still have a little bit of summer in your garden:

Our first fruit from the tree gifted to celebrate Little Stitch and remember Pa Stitch

Despite studiously ignoring last year's plants, we have delicious fruit

Should’ve gone to Specsavers!

June 25, 2009

On Monday I called into Tesco to pick up a few groceries, which included a bottle of cognac.

At the till, all the items beep, beep, beeped their way through the scanner until the bottle of cognac arrived in the hands of the assistant.

She looked at me with an apologetic smile.

“Do you have any ID? I’m sorry but we have to ask. We need to be sure you’re over 25.”

Monday was my 43rd birthday!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday to ME!

Vogue 8543 – Knit top

June 21, 2009

010 I have to admit to loving this top. The photo, less so, but it’s the end of the day and I’m going to suck it up!

This pattern is super easy to make, it fit right out of the envelope, and it hides the fact that I’ve eaten far to much of Ma Stitches-in-Law’s lovely pie and bread and butter pudding (separate plates, obviously).

You’ll remember that I added 8cm to the length because it looked like it would come up short. Well, when I’d sewn the thing together and tried it on, I cut the 8cm right back off again. And it’s a fabulous length. Particularly for picking up a small child without flashing your midriff to the world. Always a bonus in my book.

One small query in my mind is the unfinished neckline. It wasn’t a surprise as it’s clearly listed in the description on the envelope back. This has also been discussed in other parts of Blogland. However, when I make this again, and I will, I may try adding a self fabric binding to the neck once the pleats have been made. It would change the look slightly but worth a try, no?

Next up is the wrap front blouse from the black and white gingham I bought during my last trip to London: 013 This project will take a little longer because instead of cobbling together something slapdash and then hating it because it doesn’t fit, I’m going to do a full bust adjustment and make it fit properly.

Also, Ma Stitches is coming for a visit on Tuesday – she’ll be here for a week, woo hoo!!!! Not much sewing will be going on whilst she’s here as we’ve lots of lovely outings planned. Woo hoo again! Although obviously there’ll be some knitting – I’ve another little cardigan on the needles for Little Stitch. Not the raspberry! I’m still not speaking to that yarn.

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