In Which A Scarf is Knit

In my last blog post I mentioned that I had two knitting projects over summer. The second (and the object of today's post) was a gift to a university friend, a joint 21st birthday and a 'welcome home from China' present. I knitted him a scarf and the story behind this is that before he left for a six month sojourn in the East I promised to knit him one and send it out; he told me not to send it, but instead keep it here in England so that we would have reason to meet up again when he returned. So I did.

Normally I don't knit scarves as I find them a little repetitive so I decided to make it a little more interesting. As I mentioned last time, there's still a lot of knitting techniques I have to learn so I decided to make what is known as a 'sampler' scarf. Essentially, the scarf was made up of different pannels of stitch patterns I had not tried before. I have a knitting book (it's fantastic; Dorling Kindersley's A Little Course in Knitting, I would recommend it to anyone who has just taken up knitting as it covers everything from casting on/off, to knitting on the round, intarsia and more. Personally, I find the yarn weight and needle charts invaluble; they tell you which size needles for which weight yarn and a converter for needle sizes. It really helps when I just need reminding how to do something.) which has a couple of sections on patterns/textures and how to knit them. I chose my favourites and some which I thought looked challenging and started putting them together to make a scarf pattern.

Left to right; diamond stitch, four stitch cable, basketweave.

I do apologise for the poor quality of the photos; they don't really show the level of detail in most of the panels, due to poor lighting and my choice of a dark coloured wool. The scarf pattern was of my own design and the first thing I've ever knitted out of my head rather than off a page (if you don't include the fact I followed individual patterns for the panels). It had a garter stitch border; ten rows beginning and end, and six rows between each panel (to ensure that each panel started on a right side, so that all the patterns would be facing the right way).

Left to right; zigzag stitch, woven cable, double rib.

The first panel was diamond stitch which, as the name would suggest, gives a diamond shaped pattern. The second panel was four stitch cable; I had never cabled before and really wanted to try it out as I've earmarked a beautiful cabled jumper for a fture project. I was amazed at how simple cabling actually is; it looks really very difficult (and also really effective; one of the more obvious pattern designs). I don't own any cabling needles in the right size, so I had to use a crochet hook as the third needle. I actually found using a crochet needle was really useful, using the hook to slip the stitches over. The third panel was basket weave; it gives a nice chequerboard effect and is one of my favourite panels in this particular scarf.

Left to right; double rib, honeycomb stitch, stocking stitch 'B'.

The fourth panel (which, unfortunately, is probably the least clear panel in the photos) was a zigzag stitch, using a technique called 'twist overs' (it's like a single stitch cable). It looks fairly easy, but of all the panels that was the one I struggled most with. I had to pull back about ten rows of that pattern (about a third of the panel), five of them in one go. Blergh. I hate that pattern. And, personally, I think it shows; the mistake are abundant in that particular panel, although to the non-knitty eye you probably would not notice over much. The fifth panel was woven cable, which is another cabled stitch. It sort of looks like, as the name would suggest, a diagonal weave. As this was the first time I had knitted it (and only the second time I had knitted cable) I was not aware how tight cabling pulls the knitting. As you can see from the photograph below, the scarf gets significantly thinner on that panel. Doesn't help that the sixth panel was double rib stitch, which also pulls the knitting in (it's used to creat elasticity in garments, such as cuffs on jumpers and socks). If I'd known what I know now, I would have put the panels in a diffewrent order, to try and keep the tension the same/similar throughout. The seventh, and final pattern panel, was honeycomb stitch. It's pretty simple (probably the most simple of all the panels) but gives a nice texture. The recipient said that this was his favourite panel.

Close up of the 'B' panel

The eighth, and final, panel was completely my own design. No copying from books or finding free patterns online. Nope, this was me using my own knowledge and ideas to create something. It's not perfect but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out in the end. I'm not sure if there is a name for this technique, but it's essentially a stocking stitch panel, with the 'B' made out of purl stitches. My method for composing the panel was using trusty ol' MSPaint. I made a grid, 30x30 and then coloured in the squares that I wanted to form the 'B'. On right side (rs) rows, I knitted the white squares and purled the black squares, while on the wrong side (ws) rows, I purled the white squares and knitted the black. When making this kind of chart it's important to remember rs rows are read left to right, while ws rows are read right to left. I actually transcribed the picture into text though (i.e., the first row became k6, p12, k12, instead of squares) to make it a little more simple and to remove the right-left/left-right confusion. I'm not quite sure why some parts of the B are convex while others are concave. I may ask some of my knitting superiors for an answer. Once the B panel was complete, I just had to do the garter stitch edge and, voila! My first scarf, first no-pattern project complete!

The full length of the scarf.

As always, here's a paragraph detailing the facts. I bought 200g of acrylic, Aran weight yarn. I didn't weight what I had left, but at an estimate, I'd say I used between 120g and 150g in this scarf (more than I was initially intending to use; I was originally going to do five panels, but, once I got to four, realised this would be too short). It was knitted on 5.5mm (UK 5) needles; in future, I think 5mm (UK 6) needles would have made the patterns more distinct, although it may have made the scarf a bit stiffer and less comfortable to wear. It took me two weeks to knit this scarf; I roughly worked a panel a day, but there was four or five days in the middle when I was away and could not knit. Each panel was exactly (or to the nearest number suitable for that pattern) thirty stitches long and exactly thirty rows high, with five stitches of garter on either side. In total, the scarf is comprised of 302 rows and 12,080 stitches.

A Baby's Birthday Gift

As many of you know I am slowly becoming an avid knitter. I've gone from not knowing how to, to spending most of my free time with needles and yarn in my hands in the space of a year. I used to be cool, you know? I used to melt bronze and fight people with fists or swords. And now I knit things. Maybe, I've just ascended 'cool' and become so awesome I can do whatever the damn I like and still pull it off with finesse.

Or maybe there are some things that no matter how much metal and ink you have, will never, ever, be hardcore. But I digress.

Over Summer I had two knitting projects; both gifts (as it happens, I've never actually knitted anything for myself). The first one was for my best friend's new baby; a teeny little matinee coat, which I'll be discussing (read: waffle on about) in this post.

I used a variagated pink, white, lilac and peach wool that my friend picked out; it was the perfect sort of wool for a baby's... Well, anything, really. She knew she was having a girl, hence the rather feminine colour scheme. (There was also a variagated blue, white and green wool, I believe, for boys or girls of a blue-hued persuasion.) I like variagated wool anyway, so I was more than happy to knit with it. I went home and mum found me a pattern (in a charity shop; I think it was 20p) and I didn't show my friend; the design and finished product were not allowed to be seen by her until after the baby had been born.

Close up of of the finished diamond lace.

To the left is an image of the matinee coat about a third of the way through and after the most difficult section. I've never knitted lace before; let me tell you, the dainty pattern on the coat is hands down the most furstrating thing I have ever knitted and I had to repeat it five times. Which doesn't sound like a lot, but the pattern itself was made over eight rows, each of 150 stitches. So that's 7200 stitches of pure rage and anger. The worst thing was, if I missed a stitch or forgot to do an increase/decrease it would throw that entire row's stitches out of whack. The first couple of rows of the lace patterning is, well. A little wonky to say the least. I got the hang of it eventually though, and the rows towards the end of the lace section look really rather girly. It's a start though; it may not have been the neatest lace to begin with, but it does mean I am better prepared for any later lace projects. The distress and difficulty of it was actually quite enriching; I'd grown a little complacent and was starting to see myself as a pretty good knitter. The lace helped me realise I still have things to learn; I still have knitting challenges to face. And, actually, I enjoy a good challenge, knitted or otherwise. The rest of the coat was knitted in moss stitch.

In total I spent a little over a month knitting this, although it then took me another three weeks to actually get around to sewing it together. Unlike the first baby's jumper I had knitted that was in several parts, this pattern was essentially one piece, with the only sleeves knitted seperately. Sewing only took a couple of hours; the reason I left it so late was that my friend went into hospital early to have the baby, which spurred me on to finish knitting. However, this was a false alarm, so I figured I would leave the sewing until I knew she had gone in to labour as I had other knitting projects to concentrate on. If anyone is interested, the baby (Keira) was born on the 21st of September, the day before her due date, at 2:17pm. As I was leaving for university, I did have to sew up the matinee coat on the 20th. My friend was desperate to open the present, but I told her that it was not for her to open. I think that's the real reason the baby arrived when she did; what child doesn't want to open their presents RIGHT NOW THIS VERY SECOND?

The coat was meant to have a crocheted neckline, so I sort of vaguely taught myself to crochet over the course of knitting it. However, I can only really crochet a chain. That's about it. I was no where near good enough by the time it was due to give the coat away so I decided it was best to leave it. I didn't want to accidentally, last minute, ruin something I'd spent a lot of time and effort on. It was also meant to have three buttons on the front, but, despite following the pattern, I somehow missed out the third button hole (actually, I think it's there, it's just in the lace rather than the border). The buttons were some mum already had, but I think they went perfectly with the finished coat.
 

The finished product.

 

From the back.

If anyone is interested, a few quick facts regarding the coat. Just under 100g of double knit wool went into the coat. The lace was knitted on 4.5mm (UK 7) needles, the body and majority of the sleeves on 3.75mm (UK 9) needles and the sleeve cuffs on 3.25mm (UK 10) needles. The pattern was Sirdar c3284, knitted in the smallest size (46cm).

A Mesmerising Coat

Hello and welcome to the first (official) post for my craft blog. Today I will be discussing my latest (and first 'big') sewing project; a 'Mesmer' coat. Now, I realise a lot of you will have no idea what on Earth (or should that be Tyria?) a 'Mesmer' is unless you happen to be inclined towards participating in online games. Long story short, the game Guild Wars (and its sequel, the creatively named Guild Wars 2) has a number of professions to choose from, one being a Mesmer. Mesmers are essentially illusionists, whose skill set include hexes, misdirection and enchantments. Throughout both games their armour/clothing has had a distinctively 'masquerade' or pseudo Italian Renaissance feel, right down to the fact their head armour is, yes, a mask. They sort of look like they've walked out of a more birghtly coloured The Phantom of the Opera.

Anyway, the reason I was sewing this particular jacket was for a fancy dress party with the theme of 'M'. I fancied having a go at honing my sewing skills (I feel a bit of a pants re-enactor having done it for nearly ten years and still not made my own clothes yet) and it was a toss up between Major Motoko Kusangi or a Mesmer. The latter won out in the end because, quite frankly, as much as I love having purple hair, I couldn't be arsed to dye it, especially when it is such a lovely colour right now. I spoke with my mum (our resident seamstress) about it and asked her how difficult it would be to put together a decent costume. After much deliberation, we decided that, if I could make a jacket, it wouldn't be too difficult after all

Guild Wars Female Mesmer Armour

Using the above image (admittedly from the original game) we decided to work on a sort of composite costume. Being a beginner sewer (and on a time limit and budget) I didn't make a carbon copy, like I know a lot of hardcore cosplayers (some of my friends are included here) would have. Instead, we looked for a pattern that looked about right; we actually found a pattern for a Steampunk jacket that, with a change of colours, would turn out to be perfect. (Fortunately, one of my Steampunk friends had said coat pattern and is of similar build to me, so I borrowed that and didn't really need to make any adjustments).

Originally I was just going to make the outer as it was just a 'dress up' costume, but when I found some ivory silk at a bargain price, I decided to line it. By this point I had already cut out and sewn together the outer layer, from purple watermarked taffeta that my mum had laying around. It was already looking pretty fabby by this point and it seemed a shame to not line it; at least, now, with the lining it can be worn out and about, which, being me, I do plan on doing.

Ivory silk with purple stitch

The ruffles, also made from the silk, nearly killed me. They were edged with a decorative purple stitch, which was fine, but just about everything that could go wrong when I added them to the collar and cuffs did. I managed to sew one of the arm holes up at one point. Having got through the rest of the process fairly stress free, it really was rather aggravating falling at the last hurdle. I got them sorted in the end though, but not before a good, long tea break.

Perfect buttons for the job!

Currently, the fastenings are false; at least, the buttons are decorative and the jacket is currently held to gether with poppers. This was due to time restraints; despite having started this project at the end of July/beginning of August I some how ended up working right up until the last minute. In total, we've estimated that it was three solid days' work, although this was spread out over a few weeks. However, now that the party had come and gone (it was amazing, by the way), I can sit down at a more leisurely pace and sew in some button holes. It'll be good, because the poppers kept, well, popping open.

Malice the Mesmer?

Of course, you're all probably quite interested in seeing the finished product now (as, unfortunately, I never took the time to take 'in progress' photos). To the left is a photo of my entire costume (nothing else was handmade, with the exception of a ring I am wearing, which was not by me) and images of me modelling the jacket (in less flouncy clothing). Sorry for the poor quality, I was using indoor lighting for the photographs. Bit image heavy, but they better shows off my handiwork. All in all, I don't think it's a bad effort for my first piece of sewn clothing (and only my second ever sewing project).












A few simple facts for the more sewing conscious of you; the pattern used was Simplicity 2172, without the addition of pockets or the epaulettes. In total, there was four metres of fabric used, two of the taffeta (outer) and two of the silk (lining). The silk was a rather fraying material, so needed zigzag stitching, which contributed to a rather large amount of thread being used. I think three spools were used to complete the jacket.