Henley Perfected

I finished this hand knitted top yesterday.  The pattern is called Henley Perfected and I bought it from Knittingdaily.com

I used Patons Crystal yarn, acrylic microfibres, 120 metres to 50 gr, and I used just under 9 balls. 

I experimented with the hem as so often knitted hems have a tendancy to flip up.  For this one I did a temporary cast on on waste yarn onto 3 mm needles.  7 rows stocking stitch starting with a knit row, then k 1 row working into the back of the stitches.

Change to 3.25 mm needles and work 5 rows in stocking stitch starting with a knit row. Place the first row of main yarn onto a needle, and then using a 3.5 mm knit across knitting together one stitch from the hem with every stitch to turn up the hem. I used 3.5 mm needles to achieve the main tension for the top.  No Flipping!

It fits nicely and a liked the pattern, I will wear a vest type top under it.  It looks nice too with some of the buttons unfastened at the neck.

Shetland wool gilet

I finished knitting this gilet by hand recently. It was a pattern in a kit I bought so I thought I would knit it in some 2/10s shetland coned yarn which was a yucky beige colour so I dyed these colours in a slow cooker.  Instructions for dying in a slow cooker can be found on the internet via Google.

I can only dye about 75 grams at a time in the slow cooker but that was alright for this project and I just worked out the stripes according to the colours I had dyed.

It all worked out nicely and it fits well and I think it will be a useful garment.

May Textile Challenge

This month we had to work on a patterned fabric.  I decided that a patterned fabric was just something that wasn't plain, so I settled on trying to put together a check pattern using some ribbons saved from chocolate boxes.  It was suggested we make a needle case.  The colours were determined by the gold and purple ribbons.

I wanted to try to weave the ribbons and yarns into a fabric and then stitch over it.  I ironed some Bondaweb onto a piece of felt first.  Then did the weaving on top of the felt so that I could then iron the ribbons down so they would hold together whilst I did the top stitching.  I then got carried away with the top stitching, my motto being 'if in doubt add more'.  I remember this phrase from attending a Kaffe Fassett evening where he discussed his knitting.... he said if in doubt add more colour.

I've never been quite happy with just a satin stitch edge onto this sort of project, I always get a few pokeys showing through the edge, so I tried something different this time.

First I went round the edge in zigzag stitch, 4.2mm wide and 1.0 long, then a second round in 5.5 wide and .8 long.  I used Madeira Classic 30s embroidery thread.  Then I used the saddle stitch to sew down the middle on the satin edge in metallic gold which stabilised the edge a bit more.  Finally I added some cord which I made on the sewing machine - I stitched this on by hand.

The finished needle case is quite busy and glitzy, but yet again the Textile Challenge has encouraged me to try the weaving technique which has been on my list for long enough.

Lambswool Sweater

I finished this machine knit lambswool sweater today.  It is a pattern from Nina Miklin which I have been making for my husband for over a decade, but this is the first time I have followed the instructions in Nina Miklin's three Knit to Finish Booklets which I recently bought.

It took me an age to plough through her knitting and finishing technique instructions as they span the three booklets,  but the finished results were worthwhile.  The techniques have developed my finishing skills and I will be using what I've learned in machine knitting projects to come, not just for Nina's patterns.

The yarn is 2/16s industrial oiled lambswool, ribs knitted on my Passap Duomatic 80 and the rest on my Knitmaster 360 single bed machine.  I knit the single rib with two strands of the lambswool and the rest with one strand.  This makes a more substantial rib for a man's sweater.  I also ran a strand of YLI invisible thread in the rib zigzag row, the 2 CX rows and the lst rib row to strengthen the edge.  Sometimes I run a thread of ordinary sewing cotton instead of the YLI if I have the right colour.

The knitting looks almost too loose as it comes off the machine due to the oil used in the spinning, but once washed in detergent the lambswool becomes soft and it fills out the knitting.  I needs a steam press to make it look good.  This is not a sweater which goes into the washing machine.

Quick Quilt!

Well it was a quick quilt for me, I started it around Christmas 2008 and finished it by Easter.  I did start a quilt for my daughter to take to university with her, and I presented it to her on her Graduation 5 years later... so yes a quick quilt.

This one is made in Van Heusen shirt fabrics which a friend, anxious to destash, so kindly gave to me.  The fabric is so smooth and nice to touch.  I did the quilting on the centre squares on my Janome 300e embroidery machine, then I pieced the logs right onto the wadding, which gave me a chance to use the IDT function on my new Pfaff Creative 2.0 machine.  I put the quilt together using Sharon Pederson's book called Reversible Quilts : Two at a Time.  This quilt has plain squares on the reverse side.

The beauty of this method is it is quilt as you go, so you don't have to manhandle the quilting of a large double bed quilt other than the joining strips.

April Textile Challenge

The focus for April was using a rubbing to create texture and pattern.  When I joined the Textile Challenge Group I added a couple for rules for myself, firstly to make something of the challenge rather than just a sample, and secondly to try not to buy anything to make the piece - I have so many things on hand and lots of projects in mind, so I kill two birds with one stone, I challenge myself and make a project too.  

I had a carved wooden box, so I decided to use this for the rubbing.  A friend had given me some Markal oilsticks (and yes you know who!) so I thought maybe a cushion would be nice.  The fabric is a deep red and black shot taffeta, remains from an evening skirt which I made for my daughter.

The rubbings done I backed the fabric with batting, cut a template from the rubbing shape and stitched around in machine saddle stitch to give the quilted ovals.  I used a decorative stitch to go around the edges of the Markal shapes and then I applied some beads and just a little hand stitching.

I applied a zip in the back of the cushion, by following this YouTube video -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTKn_QrvU-U

Then I put the front and back of the cushion, wrong sides together and piped the edges first with some drab old gold fabric, then I bound the edges as I would for a patchwork quilt.

March Textile Challenge

This month we were asked to work with the colour wheel.  I chose to use a bright blue and it's opposite colour on the colour wheel.  I made a padfolio, the instructions are here -

http://www.fibreandstitch.com/pdf/padfolio.pdf

I used blue felt with some orange silky fabric for contrast with an overlay of different net fabrics.  I used the Pfaff couching foot to apply the orange cord.  The felt and the lining were attached to craft vilene with Bondaweb before the edges were satin stitched.

Details of the satin stitch -

Pfaff sewing machine, first pass 4.2mm wide and .8 long, then second pass 5.5mm wide and .8 long.  I had the foot pressure set to 4.0.

I intend to keep my machine instruction book in the padfolio.