Stripey socks

Here are some stripey socks done in Australian Heirloom sock wool (I´ve lost the tag unfortunately, so until I find it I can´t say what colourway it was...) which my lovely mum sent me from Australia as an early birthday present. I finished them this morning. The baby I made last year - very happy with him. The socks are just stockinette stitch (the slip stitch heel sock from the Socks from the Toe Up book) and are the ¨easy¨ socks which I knit when I´m tired or just sitting outside with the chickens etc (when it hasn´t been raining). I´m still working on the blue On Hold Socks from the Socks from the Toe Up book as my ¨tricky¨ sock. which I knit when I have peace and quiet. Next easy sock will be the Spring Forward sock from green Joy of Yarn wool (Winsome Win) for wonderful Jellyspec!

Vest I designed

This is a vest I drew up the pattern for after reading Cal Patch´s wonderful book Design It Yourself: Pattern Making Simplified. Its from the basic T pattern in the book (p58), just without sleeves. The neckline isn´t too different from that in the book, but of course, I´ve put a cowl-like collar on it. Its from the same material as the stretchy shirt I made, although I´m hoping a bit funkier... The fabric is difficult to see in the pics, and my camera has totally failed to pic up the colour correctly (its actually a much nicer shade in reality than what the pics have shown here).

I experimented with freestyle gathers, inspired by this shirt, whose maker was in turn inspired by this website. Basically, I just cut the pattern out as per the basic-T in the book, allowing an extra couple of cms. Then I did all the freestyle gathers, which are only 1/8 inch wide, done on the right side. The tucks weren´t hard to do - I didn´t pull or stretch the fabric unnaturally, but just changed the angle of the sewing every so often to create curves. I´d do them a bit wider next time (1/4 inch?) as they are a bit difficult to notice. Then I lay the pattern over the finished fabric again, and trimmed it to be exactly like the pattern I drew up, and sewed it together as per usual. The cowl is one layer of fabric only, sewn wrong side (of cowl) to right side of top, so that the cowl then sits up and lays on top (probably makes no sense... :o)) Also, next time, I would extend the shoulder line by about a cm, so it kind of sticks out a bit. Can´t quite put it into words, but I think it would look a tiny bit more like some of the shoulder lines on the clothes that Makeshift makes, which I really love.

Worser Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

Little Beanbags

Another rainy day, so I made some beanbags for my 4 year old. These are about 10 x 12cm. Too big! Here´s a hint: make beanbags for children quite small. They pack a surpising amount of wallop. Who knew 4 year olds and projectiles would be a problem? :o)

Turkish socks

Here are some socks from the book Turkish Socks by Anna Zilboorg, which I knitted a few years ago before I started blogging. So I thought I´d put them up here since I´ve been getting back into knitting again. I had to buy the book from America, and I sold it a few years ago when I thought I couldn´t knit anymore (shame, but at least someone else in NZ can enjoy the book too now). So I don´t know which patterns from the book they are. The book is very interesting too and is a very different way of knitting a sock. I knitted it from 8 ply wool, so they are very thick and warm, but are pilling a bit now. I finished my first sock from proper sock wool a few days ago.

On the road to Sunrise Hut, North Island, New Zealand

Knitting needle bags

Here are some knitting needle bags. The blue ones are presents for other people, and the Amy Butler (Belle) fabric one is for me. They are basically the bag pattern from the Weekend Sewing book by Heather Ross, but longer and thinner. The big ones are 20 x 4 inches, and the little one is 15 x 4 inches, finished size. The seams are french seams, and I just left the hole for the string open when sewing the french seams (rather than cutting the seam with a seamripper as the book´s pattern says.