Re-Fashionista

Fabric-wise it was love at first sight, a funky twill weave cotton with bias stripes of a tabby weave with a thread end fringe.

At second look it was a sad no waist band, loooong gored skirt about 5 sizes (if you can believe mfg sizing) too big. IMHO a fabulous fabric worked up in a poor design, surely I could do something about that right? So I bought it for a $1.98.

Such a simple fix.  I removed one full gore from each side, sewed the right side seam up leaving a proper armhole length open and added a side zipper on the left side.The next step was to sew on the bias tape and tack the top of the armhole at the shoulder creating a boat neck.

Done. Easy. I love it.

Pix Are Coming

Yea! I finally have my camera but, the batteries died just as I began taking pix for the hiatus montage. :-/ I suppose I should have started the pix in chronological order, but of course my ADD kicked in and I just had to have pix of the new project.

New project, you ask? Why yes, yet another new project. Don't worry I'm still knitting and I'm still spinning, and I'm still weaving rug squares, this is a new project that will fall into the "slightly off my rocker" category. I've committed myself to a new group on Ravelry created for like mind folks. Were knitting slipcovers. Yep, slipcovers and/or upholstery fabric, for real furniture.

The group is called Society for Knitted Upholstery (that's a Ravelry link) begun by none other than the girls (Ann and Kay) from Mason-Dixon Knitting.

So the only pix I have for you today are three chairs that are in the running to get a new face lift. In no particular order these are my choices.




I like this chair, a LOT. It is in good shape just the way it is, except one tiny thing. The color. In the pic the color is washed out. It is almost granny smith green. The "almost" is the problem. In the kitchen the green is not green enough, and the yellow in the sitting room is all wrong for it. It does look fab in the purple living room, but it's the wrong style. Don't get me wrong, I love an eclectic look, but this chair in that room looks like a red-headed step-child. Damn.

Next up is this little beauty. Obviously, someone at some point, has already re-upholstered this chair. I wonder what it really was like, nonetheless, this fabric has got to go one way or the other, so it's in the running for a knitted facelift. btw the original plan for this chair was to recover it in leather keeping the wood natural, or maybe, just maybe paint it with a plethora of colors highlighting the carvings and turnings, and use I-don't-know-what fabric to re-cover it.



And finally we have this chair.




Now if the Society for Knitted Upholstery had started up last week I wouldn't be in such a quandary right now. I would have just done this chair, but you see kiddies, I made slipcovers for this chair just last week!!!!! arrrgh

I now find myself with waaay too many options. Not only do I have several chairs to chose from (these are the three I've whittled my choices down to after much thought and consideration and yes, I have a thing for chairs, and the chair stash is considerable as well. Dang, I love my hubby) but I also have a variety of chair styles each of which kind of screams or at least suggests what type of knitting in which it wants to be adorned. For example can't you just see and kewl geometric mosaic fabric on that green chair, Op art-ish maybe? What about some nifty miters, or is that just too obvious with that back? Polka dots? Checker board? How about some sleek sensual waves for that blue chair, or maybe a nubby textured tone-on-tone, or a huge chunky knit? Some tiny scrolling cables for the chair with the carvings/turnings? How about some Fair Isle??

Lest we forget, there is still fiber to be chosen as well. I might go stash diving today to see what my options are. Available materials might be a determining factor in which chair and what design, but right now I'm even too tired to go stash diving. Shocking, I know. Bart is home from Aspen, (obviously I have my camera) Gillian is back in Savannah having come and gone for a world wind visit this pass weekend, and I'm exhausted. It's been 5 days of parties, family, eating, family, preparing meals, family, get-togethers, family, playing games, family, driving, family, etc. family. I'll say it again, I'm exhausted, happy, but exhausted.

As usual all input regarding above chairs would be greatly appreciated.

A Refashion of My Own

Before I get into the refashion I'd just like to give a big welcome to those of you who are here for the first time cuz the lovely Sherrill from Bell of the Ball Podcast pointed you guys in my direction. Thank you Sherrill. (If you're looking for the Obama pictures you can go here or follow the links on the side bar. I hope you can find something else that interests you as well.) Michelle from You Just Gotta Keep Knitting gave Sherrill the heads up about me so many thanx go to Michelle as well. Welcome one and all.

Now onward and upward to the subject matter of todays' post. A refashion of my own.....

Yep, I did it. Before I ever wore the second petal sweater I refashioned it. Remember this post in which I contemplated my sanity and the buttons for the second fitted petal sweater?
Insanity won. I banished the garter stitch button bands in favor of a stockinette edge with a zipper. It was not without great fear and trepidation, but my instability was obviously greater than the fear. Behold the beginnings of the stitch drops.

I began by ripping out the bind off and putting the stitches on a holding thread. Then I went a couple rows pass the first button hole and threaded in a life line. I might be crazy, but I'm not a fool and if this wasn't going to work I didn't want to ruin everything I wasn't exactly sure how dropping stitches through a button hole was going to work. I thought it would be easy enough but hey, I've been wrong before.....many times in fact. :o)


The button band consisted of 6 garter stitches. The button hole spanned the three stitches just inside the edge stitch so I freed the outer 4 stitches from the holding thread and then replaced the edge stitch on another holding thread. Next I dropped the three stitches. Dropping pass the button hole was not a problem so the drop continued the entire length of the button band stopping one row short of the cast on edge.




Here is the neck edge with the three stitches that were just dropped on a holding thread. Looks kinda scary doesn't it. At this point I started to work the stitch just inside of edge stitch back down in stockinette stitch. I didn't like it. It left the edge loose, loopy and inconsistent, not a good thing for an edge that will have a zipper on it in yarn that is made of 8 individual threads that are not plied, so I dropped it back to the neck line. I went back to the bottom edge and dropped the remaining two garter stitches of the button band up to the neck. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at things) the pix of all 5 stitches dropped didn't turn out it, it is just as well though it was a sight too ugly to witness anyway, believe me.

After working all 5 dropped stitches I had some space left over. I figured there would be some slack merely by changing the stitch from garter to stockinette but I didn't think there would this much!




Yes boys and girls there enough to slack left over between the newly reworked 5 stitches and the edge stitch for another entire stitch!! So up at the neck I kinda made a starting stitch with my crochet hook and made another column of stitches between the original 5 use-to-be-garter-stitches and the original edge stitch.



I'm very happy. Yes, the gauge is off a little, it's tighter, but I don't think I'd change anything. I think a tighter gauge where a zipper is going to be is a good thing. And I suppose it will be lots less noticeable after blocking and few wearings.

In other knitting news, I started a couple more things this week. Yet another cardi, more sweatershirt casual like. Drops #81-10. I'm using up multiple yarns and threads from stash to beef up some black cotton I had in stash as well. The body is done and sleeves are nearly done. I'll post about it soon.

I started a pair of socks as a last resort to squelch my insatiable need for bedtime knitting that has been the impetus for all the new starts of late. I really don't understand why it took so long to start a pair of socks. I use to make sock all the time. I use to have at least one pair if not two or three on the needles at all times. It's been eons since I made a pair of socks (although now that I think about it, it could have something to do with the fact that IdaMae loves hand knitted socks). If all of these new project starts are the Knitting Goddess's way of telling me to start knitting socks again she could have been a bit more clear in her intentions. I would have happily obliged, I'm enjoying these socks. The sock thing got off to a rocky start though. As a matter of practice I always begin knitting at least 1 if not 2 needle sizes smaller than recommended, that's just how it is for me, but after a few hours of knitting toe up with very little visible progress I pulled out the tape measure and figured my gauge. Um yeah, 16 stitches to the inch is a tad bit ridiculous. I dumped those needles and that yarn and am now knitting a respectable 7.5 stitch to inch sock.

Big Red and the Open Cables top are coming along nicely. Open Cables is done except ends need to be woven in and a slip stitch crochet edge I want to work around it. Big Red is just getting bigger and bigger, I'm still not exactly sure when I'll stop but I have been coming up with some nifty things to do with it.

Hutzpuh

Yep, I've got it, enough of it at least to presume I can remake a Perry Ellis coat. :o)

Remember this coat?


Now it looks like this.


(sorry Susan I hope this doesn't hurt too much. BG)

Aside from chopping it off making it fingertip length, I also added some simple stitching. I thought it was just a little too blah and didn't think a mere button change would do the trick. Now I think it's fun and kicky.



I used blue, "steel blue" to be exact, (not baby blue like it looks in these pix) size 5 perle cotton for the stitching. I still want to change the buttons and have raided my vintage button jar and came up with a few possibilities. They each have their own pros and cons.

I like this one a lot but, it is slightly too big and I don't feel like redoing the buttonholes. BTW the color isn't as purple as the pic shows. It really is very close to the stitching in color. I just love the staggered brickwork pattern on the button and how it echoes the stitching.




I really love this button, sorry about the glare. The color is perfect and its just an awesome button, but its too fragile for a coat this heavy. The shanks are plastic and were glued on, to the button face, there is one face already missing it's shank....sigh.




This button is perfect colorwise too, but it is slightly too big and I'd have to do the resize the buttonhole thing. Plus it's a little too subtle, the color doesn't show this well unless you're really close to the button....yet another sigh.

I've considered making buttons. I'm not thrilled with the idea of crocheted buttons. I've been thinking about using a ring and working some needle lace to close up the center. I've done one so far.



Eh, not bad, but I'm concerned about the cotton fuzzing after a bit of use. I'm going to dunk it in some polyurethane, or perhaps paint it with some clear nail polish. Maybe that will work, maybe not. I wish I had some resin and a mold! :-) I'm in no hurry, the coat doesn't need buttons, it still has all the original buttons intact, I can't say that about very many of my other coats! LOL

The leather jacket is coming along nicely. I've re-configured the collar and now have to tackle the hem. Just a matter of getting around to it. I'll let you know when it's done.

On the knitting front, I did make a sweater with donegal tweed from a few posts back. More on that when I get the buttons sewn on, and the pattern written up. The sweater itself is a real no brainer perfect for lousy days spent with Mr. Migraine. I'm calling it "Dancing with the Devil" cuz its flirty and swingy and like I said, perfect for dancing days, no counting, no pattern checking, no seaming, ahhhhhhh.

Here We Go Again!

Yep, another leather coat has succumbed to my evil ways. Not to be confused with the Leather Coat Project of days pass. Nope this is a brand new just begun today project with a different coat.

Technically, I didn't start out today thinking I was going to be working on another leather coat. The day had begun with me working on this wool coat....



I think I mentioned this coat before....a 1990's Perry Ellis Meg-Ryan-Sleepless-in-Seattle coat. (I might be off on my dates, but when ever I see this coat that's what I think of. Oh yeah, and how incredibly uncomfortable it was to sit on that damn belt slung across the butt.) Anyway, the reason for this coat project is cuz when Jilly went back to school last week she took her J Crew Pea Coat with her. Damn. I'm gonna have to beat that child. But then again, this is nice coat too, if it's tweaked. I began tweaking this afternoon. It's done except for the hem which will be a breeze and a change of shoulder pads. Arrgh! No shoulder pads in my stash.....oh wait, yes there is, in the long brown leather coat awaiting an appointment with Mr Seam Ripper. Thus, Project Leather Coat II began.

Here are few pix of the original coat......like really, like totally 80's, oh my gawd!



Nothing wonderful about this coat other than it's leather. It has ginormous shoulder pads and a really boxy silhouette. There isn't any spiffy stitching details, it's just a sad, sad, design. But it does have a pretty fabulous lining!!!


Sorry about the icky color, but the grey dismal days of January are upon us. The shot above is no flash (obviously) the shot below is with a flash. Take your pick, dark and murky or washed out and shiny.


The true color is a beautiful bronze ground with black design. I haven't decided if I'll keep this lining in the coat-soon-to-be-jacket or if I'll cut another lining and use this fab fabric for something else.

The plan for this coat is to separate the seam that runs along the top of those huge gapping pockets which will make it a short jacket length. I may have to add a small band around the bottom if it turns out to be a weird length.

The first thing I tackled were those linebacker shoulders. I removed the shoulder pads....just as I suspected, each pad was actually two pads sewn together. YEA! Shoulder pads for the Meg-Ryan-soon-to-be-Lucy-Ricardo-Coat!!! (btw, I'll have finished pix tomorrow of that coat. I ran out of what little light I had)

Now to deal with a shoulder seam that measured nearly 9 inches from collar to sleeve cap. I wasn't confident in my ability to remove the sleeve and adjust the armhole so I made some pleats in the shoulders.



I was thrilled with the fit of the shoulders and stitched it up!

On the first pleat I used a lot binder clips, then I got bold and use fewer clips on the subsequent pleats.



I fiddled around with the collar for...oh.....about 2 hours, and decided I'd leave it a shawl collar for now. Tomorrow I may change my mind. I originally was thinking about putting a zipper up the front, but now I'm not so sure. The lining is only for prettiness, there's no r-factor to it, so chances are I won't be wearing this when it's too cold therefore no reason to zip it up.

I still have some top stitching and some stay stitching to do but this is what it looks like so far.



Be honest, what do you think?
I'm a little frightened.
Tell me this didn't pop into your mind when you saw the jacket.



~sigh~

Hats and Scarves

Yes, I am still making hats and scarves requested by the kids.

Yes, I am bored out of my mind and sick of them.

I followed the crowd on Tuesday and made the My So Called Scarf. It was nice cuz I only had the one skein of Manos del Uruguay and it was an interesting stitch pattern, at least for a little while....sigh



Yesterday I decided to tried to throw in a little bit of fun. To add at least a tiny bit of amusement to knitting a scarf I made this one.

I made this one up as I went along sorta. I started out casting out 280 st. working Moss St for 5 rows then a row of cross stitch (crosses made in alternating directions) keeping the first and last 5 stitches in Moss St. Six rows of garter stitch, determined merely by weighing my ball of yarn and working it until the halfway point. Another row of alternating crosses followed with an equal number of Moss St to finish it.

It was OK for awhile but it too got boring. Although I gotta admit, towards the end the excitement peaked again. This is how much yarn I had left.

I must have a particularly large grudge against scarfs. The only reason I can think of to explain this aversion to making them and the incredibly short wick on the burnout meter, is no matter how much effort, fancy stitches, and glorious fibers, in the end you still just have a long skinny rectangle. Even something like the Stacked Diamonds, (aka Edgar) or the Snake Trumpets (aka Kureopatora's Snake) are in essence long skinny rectangles....just rectangles that fudge their boundaries.....sigh

I think the next scarf will be this one, maybe the skinny rectangle-ness will get lost in the flounce. One can hope can't she?

As for hats. Eh. I don't usually wear hats cuz I have such a pea-size head. I buy my ball caps in the children's section. I can wear a baby bonnet easily. I'm not kidding. It's a huge mystery to me how all my brains fit into such a tiny space, some of my marbles must be missing.

Recent activity could prob'ly be construed as an indication of a certain lack of ones marbles, I suppose ..... :o)

Where was I? Oh yeah, hats, aside from just more renditions of beanie's with and without brims, I jumped on the bandwagon and worked up a Just Like a Peasant Cap. The first one I made turned out ok. I'm not thrilled and felt the fabric itself was a tad bit too thick so I modified it a bit. You really didn't think that I'd let it go untouched did you?


I worked the main part of the hat in Stockinette St (obviously) using a BW mosaic pattern I think the name of it is "Maze". Instead of falling into that frightening abyss of 3 feet of k1p1 ribbing that is the tying band on this hat I cheated, saved a few hours and made a simple single crochet band 3 feet long. 30 min for yet another skinny rectangle, sure beats a couple hours, any old day! And even after all that it still is like every other hat, it looks ridiculous on me. Perhaps it will look good on Gillian. She can wear hats well and she'll be home soon. (Yippee Skippee Silly will be home soon!!!!)

I suppose it's cuz the knitting lately has been so uninspired I've been dreaming and planning a coat refashion. I'll be working on that tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow cuz Silly is coming home on Saturday and my sewing room is "her bedroom" (wink wink nudge nudge say no more). Picture a black wool, Perry Ellis, circa 1990's, Meg Ryan/Sleepless in Seattle-esque long coat. You know a big shouldered voluminous coat with that tortuous belt slung across the butt that made it feel like you were sitting on someones foot every time you sat down. (It also had matching mini belts at the cuffs. Lovely.)

I've got the sewing all set in my mind, still wavering on what type, if any, additions I'll be making. Of course there is always fur and leather to consider, but I'm pretty sure it's going to end up being a fairly plain utilitarian coat. Something my mother would have called her "grocery store" coat. Ahhhh I can hear Mr. Seam Ripper calling me as we speak.

Felt Boxes

Recently during a Ravelry discussion regarding things to make with felted sweaters I mentioned making boxes out of the really hard felted sweaters. Here's a few pix of some of the boxes I've made.

In the first picture is a 4 inch box and a 6 inch box. On the smaller one you can see that I did a little bit of embroidery (such as it is). The little box has a thin row of plastic canvas around the upper edge, to help keep the shape of the larger box I pushed a wire through the top hem. Notice the seams on both of these are on the outside. I like it this way, it give a very angular edge to the box.



The last two pix are of the the same 6 inch box pictured above just turned inside out with the seams inside. I kinda like it this way too, it lends a softer more sculptural element to the angular cube.





The only support in either of these is the plastic canvas/wire along the top edge, there is no support in the sides nor in the bottom. Obviously the factor that determines the need for additional support is the firmness of the felt itself. I prefer to use wire, I have plenty of copper wire around here, a wire coat hanger could be used just as easily. Supports could be hand sewn into the seams as they are made here, but it's not necessary. When the construction is one piece, as opposed to the 5 pieces these were made of, the faux seams at the edges actually lend a bit of support themselves, but if need be, a wire can be pushed through those edges too.