Hats Off To Knitty!

After the hot summer months, it's cooling off, and knitting season has begun! As I mentioned in my last post, I finished a bolero I had started late last winter and put away for the spring and summer in order to work on warmer-weather projects. Finishing a project always sparks the motivation to start another one (or two...), so, after promising my boyfriend a winter hat to match the scarf I made him last year, I thought it'd be a quick and easy way to launch the knitting season.

After finally finishing the lace pattern on the bolero, I wanted to do something embarrassingly easy. So I browsed around the sites, and, as it often happens, found myself on knitty.com. And there it was, the perfect hat in all its stylish simplicity: Tychus. The short rows made for fun and fast-paced knitting, and I enjoyed the idea of knitting a hat vertically. Something different and yet, when finished, so simple. Thank you Knitty!

Oops! And then I found another one I just had to make for myself... Couvercle. So off I went on a little knitting frenzy.

I finished my boyfriend's hat in about a week, but with several days off. The pattern suggested size 9 needles in acrylic, but I used size 8 with a medium weight 100% wool. My boyfriend doesn't complain about itchiness, and it makes for a warm, thick, winter cover-up for his bald head. I was pretty happy with the results. And, luckily, so was he!

As for Couvercle, I started it yesterday and I'm already working on the crown. I was wondering how mendoukusai (troublesome in Japanese) the double moss would be, but, in actuality, it's knitting up way faster than I thought it would. It's actually been quite a treat! I should be able to finish it today or tomorrow, and will post the pictures soon!

Some recent projects

Ribbed Lace Bolero

Yesterday, I finally finished knitting a sweater I had started ages ago. Actually, I've been working on so many other projects this summer, that knitting, often what I call a "winter sport" got knocked down significantly on the priority list. But the weather has been growing cooler, the damp days in the aftermaths of the September typhoons lingering, and dusk coming earlier and earlier to bring in chillier evenings has led me to want something warm wrapped around my shoulders. So I finally finished a lovely little knit lace bolero. I found this design on Kelly Maher's great blog, 10 Feet High. The design is simple and clever, and I was interested in testing out my knitting chops with this great lace pattern. Actually making the lace is not so difficult. I, however, am a bit of a rare item: the left-handed knitter. I've read plenty about "Continental Knitting" which kind of adjusts knitting for left-handers, but, having started learning with my right-handed best friend 10 years ago, I just picked up and starting knitting backwards and have never been able to change. It wasn't until last year or so when I knit a pair of gloves and realized that, while I intended to knit the right glove, I actually came out with the left one. And then I realized, in order for me to follow a pattern requiring a lot of shaping--increasing or decreasing stitches, I literally have to read the lines of the pattern backwards. And it works!
So this sweater was knitted with acrylic Red Heart that I had bought years ago while still living in the States. I loved the color. This sweater perhaps would be better in a wool or cotton, instead of acrylic, as it holds its shape better. Even though I blocked this, it's already stretched a bit under the arms, but that was my fault, as I should have paid more attention when casting off, as it's a little tighter than I would have liked it to be. But it still works, and it looked nice on my date last night! And the evening was the perfect temperature to wear it!



Sexy Summer Sarape

I found this great sarape pattern on another great blog, Weekend Designer. Unfortunately, after 100 posts, the author has decided to discontinue it, but I hope that she will leave it up, as her patterns developed from couture designs are fantastic, and I often get a lot of inspiration and advice from her site.
This sarape was so easy to make. If you follow the Weekend Designer's directions, it is so easy to make this project. The toughest aspect for me was handling the fabric. I picked a sheer rayon that frayed easily. Doing the hems was no problem, but making the bias tape for the neckline and sewing it on proved to be quite a test of patience. But all's well that ends well. It's been a great addition to my summer wardrobe, especially in the ridiculously hot, muggy, city afternoons.



Sinfully Simple A-line Skirt

This was actually my first sewing project on my new sewing machine. I didn't use a pattern, I just measured and chalked the fabric. I had to do some adjustments on the waistline towards the end because I didn't like the way it sat on me, but, other than that, the project was so unbelievably simple. I just measured my waist, hips, and decided on the width at the bottom. (I wanted something that wouldn't be as tight-fitted as a pencil skirt nor as loose as a circular skirt.) Then I measured out the waistband, sewing one side of the skirt first, attaching the invisible zipper. I found a great tutorial on Sew? I Knit! After that, I sewed on the waistband, and that was it! It was so easy, even my mom, the sworn anti-sewer, could do it.



Paisley Pouch

I was shopping for fabric at Yuzawaya with a friend of mine, where, at the register, there was a basket of remnants on sale for a hundred yen ($1) a piece. There was this magenta cotton that was just so vibrant, I absolutely had to have it. Coincidentally, there was a nice striped pattern there as well that turned out to be a perfect match. At the time, I wanted something I could carry my embroidery hoop and thread around in (I absolutely must have something to do on the train, and sometimes I just don't feel like crocheting). So, in the "thread" of embroidery, I thought I'd decorate the bag a little.
The pouch itself was really quite simple to make. I just measured and cut the fabric, and then did the embroidery. After that, I sewed it together on three sides. I folded it in half, and sewed up the sides. I liked the effect here, because a little bit of the striped pattern showed through the seams. My sewing machine is just awesome, and has a lot of decorative stitches, so I used one of them on the seams in a contrasting, blue thread. I planned on making a drawstring by creating a double crochet chain out of some blue cotton yarn, but instead, I used some nylon rope that came on a plastic drawstring bagI had bought flip flops in. Recycling is always good!
The embroidery was actually quite easy. I really love Southeast Asian design, Indian and Thai particularly, so I just drew out a simple paisley design with a pencil on the fabric and followed it. I only used four stitches: split stitch, lazy daisy, satin, and stem stitch. I am no expert on embroidery, but I found with knowledge of a few versatile stitches, you can actually do a lot. I always use "The Sewing Stitch and Textile Bible" by Lorna Knight as a reference. It's a great book, and has helped me with not only embroidery, but also mending and fabric information, too.



Beaded Curtain

The truth is, I started knitting more than ten years ago, but I never bothered learning how to crochet. The pretty flowers and round patterns one can make with crochet were enviously elusive, and seemingly unapproachable. As I mentioned, I like to keep myself busy on the train, so, for a while I was knitting on my way to work. But I came to realize that, sadly, no one wanted to squeeze in next to my clickity-clicking needles gyrating past my elbows. So I thought maybe crochet would still keep me busy without alienating myself on the train. So I bought a book, and started browsing the internet for patterns. I found a charming book called simply "Crochet | Handmade Style" by Stephanie J. Milne, and in it, there was a great beaded curtain. My best friend had some beads hanging in strands (they were lovely, but not enough to call it a curtain exactly), and I always remembered them. So with my love of beads, and with a desire to perfect my chain stitch, I made one. It went by surprisingly fast. Actually, I spent more time searching the shops in Tokyo for cool beads, than I did making the project. And actually, buying the beads was a joy. An expensive joy, but still. Here are a couple of details of some of my favorites:











The marvelous thing about beads is that they are tiny little works of art, each with its own personality, but when put together, especially in a setting like a beaded curtain, they create a lumious chorus of color. Since I made this curtain, I have spent many quiet moments watching them dance in the breeze from my window.



Button Up Ipod Sweater

I love my ipod. It goes absolutely everywhere I go, and I'm almost always plugged into it. I couldn't imagine a life without music, so without my ipod, I'd be doomed to a very quiet existence. So I want to take good care of what is now my third ipod. So I designed this case for it.
The design is really quite simple--I made two panels of stockinette stitch with size 2 needles with a nice cotton yarn. I knitted it tightly because I wanted something that would really protect my ipod as it gets jostled in my bag. After that, I crocheted a simple circle with a double crochet stitch until it was about the size to fit on the front of the case, and stitching it halfway around, made a perfect pocket for my headphones. After that I pieced the front and back panels together using a double crochet stitch, and weaved in a final chain of single crochet to attach to the toggle button. It was finished in about a week, and my ipod is now warm and safe.

The Cute White Blouse is shaping into something...

I should start by saying that, for me, sewing is just a matter of experiment most of the time. I guess in Japanese you would call it tekito, which I suppose you could translate as "how you see fit" or, as I prefer, by the seat of my pants. Even though, this time, I'm making a shirt, not pants.

Things have been progressing along nicely though, so I thought I'd share my process. I'd like to note, too, that, I don't intend at all to teach anyone how to sew, as I am just really learning myself, but if you find yourself reading this, I hope that, if you do sew, you can relate to my errors, frustrations, and, if nothing else, get a laugh out of my strange way of doing things, shake your head, and say to yourself, "I'll make sure not to do it that way...."

So, first off, I make a pattern! Of course! And what else better to make a pattern out of than The New York Times Sunday Style section!? Although I did download a pattern from burdastyle.com (as mentioned in my last post), other than the sleeves, which I also modified a little bit, I find it frustrating trying to follow patterns--mainly because I have to adjust the sizes anyway. So for the most part, it's just me trying to measure myself with the tape, and adjusting from there. Rule number one: always cut things too large. For this pattern, I gave myself a few extra centimeters on all the seams--it's so much easier adjusting them later.

After I cut out the pattern, step two was sewing the shoulder seam. I don't really know what the traditional steps are for piecing together a pattern, but, for me, if the shoulders are sewn, it's so much easier to try it on and adust the other seams.

After that I pinned together the armholes to get an idea of how things would sit, and I made the darts at the bust. That was fun...er...no it wasn't. Measuring the placement of the darts wasn't so bad, but getting the angle the same on both sides was a little bit of a challenge. But it worked out.

After that, it was just a matter of sewing the side seams, finalizing the arm holes, and making the sleeves. Making the ruffled sleeves was easy--you can find plenty of tutorials at youtube.com or just by doing a search on Google. The hard part for me was actually sewing the gathered sleeve to the armhole! (My seam ripper is my best friend!) Amazingly, though, I managed to sew both sleeves onto the body and neither look deformed, and they match! Yay!

Finally, I trimmed the bottom of the back piece (I cut it too long) and hemmed all around the bottom. No problems there! I find it much easier to pin and measure out things on the floor. I can stick the pins directly into the rug so things don't move around so much. I always see people's posts and pictures of their fancy sewing rooms, but, I live in a small city apartment, so I do just about everything on the floor, including sewing. (My sewing machine sits next to my computer at a low coffee table, so literally, I even sew sitting on the floor.)

All I have left to do is the cuffs on the arms and the button panel at the front. I hope to finish it over the weekend, but opposite of "normal people," I sew mostly during the week, as I work on Saturday and stay at my boyfriend's sewing machine-less apartment the rest of the time. Ah, well. Patience, patience. But so far, it looks like a shirt! What a relief!

Tuesday morning conundrum

I'm about to start another project...but the question is, "How do I go about getting this one underway?" I want to make a shirt with puffed, capped sleeves, a scoop neck, and I want to use the flower buttons I bought yesterday! So that means, in the process of making this shirt, I need to teach myself how to do the following: making a neckline that will come out even, make ruffles and cuffs, sew buttonholes, and measure everything so it comes out straight! I'm looking forward to getting started, but with a little bit of trepidation. (Maybe I should just spend the afternoon working on the recipe book --shhh!--I'm making for my brother and sister-in-law for their anniversary/Christmas...hmmm...but then again, maybe I'll do that on Thursday!

So, anyway, I bought this really cute English lace yesterday in Nippori (the BEST place to buy fabric in Tokyo!) The man who owns the store I got it at really seems to like me, probably for my clumsy deluge of Japanese, and my enthusiasm about his cute cotton prints, so I always land up going back there again and again... Next time, I want to go back wearing the shirt I made with his fabric, so there's my motivation! (The fabric is shown here hanging out to dry, with my kind of sad looking pineapple sage.)

So I'm off to study patterns. (I don't know what I'd do without Burdastyle!) I'm going to go off their J.J. blouse, using the pattern for the sleeves, but I'll go the rest alone. Looking forward to getting out my measuring tape, so here I go!