March Madness

I must have been crazy to start so many projects with a March 31 deadline.

Green socks
These were a Mystery Pattern from the Ravelry SKA group. Green is the March color for Ravelry Solid Socks group. Yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton.

Black scarf
Ravelry's Project Yarnway group had a challenge for March to knit with something not sold as yarn. I used black tape usually used for hanger loops in garments. My contrast is rayon seam binding. I would have made it longer, but the knitting was hard and time was short.

There is another pair of socks on the needles. Lace socks called Reflections from the Fiber Trends pattern called Walking Away Socks. SKA says I have until April 30 for these, but they are almost finished.

We won't talk about the sweater I'm knitting. Garment and design are due April 2. Oh by the way, could I do a machine knit pattern? Chosen yarn doesn't work on the machine, so I'm doing it in another yarn. Just need a pattern and technique illustrations, not a complete garment.

On the work front, I am making a "Judy Garland" dress from a 1940 pattern. My customer is a singer doing a Judy Garland program. She bought the pattern on eBay.

The dress is silk chiffon over lining. The bodice is underlined with the lining. I had considered doing a traditional lining, but the pattern construction seemed to make that difficult.

I decided to finish the shoulders with a Hong Kong finish using a bias strip of lining. I'll be using it on other seams, so do a how to then.

The neckline is finished with a chiffon binding. The bias strip was folded and the raw edge sewn to the neck. The fold is hand stitched to the lining. The lower hand stitching is the neckline edge of the front piece, not a separate piece.

The pattern is interesting. Perforations mark seam allowances. The pieces were pre-cut. Notches have more information than we get today.

Assembly instructions are printed on one side of a sheet of paper, but appear to be complete enough. I do think that the print and pictures are smaller than seen today. I will show that next time.

Vareity is the Spice of Life

Spring is definitely coming to NE Ohio! No pictures of all the mud. It's been raining for a couple of days, which is melting the last of the snowbanks. At least I can walk my dog because there is no ice or deep snow on the sidewalks.

Work life has been busy. I made a pile of veils this week for my wedding veil customer. The alterations business is picking up. I need to finish an Irish dancing dress tomorrow. It's not a fancy dress and the customer is very large. She's an adult, getting back to what she loved as a girl.

Red sweater for TKGA is progressing. I hope to finish the back today. I will need more yarn, but want to do the back and one sleeve before ordering. While I wait, I can work on the front and the patterns. Yes, that's plural. They want a machine knit sweater too. I'll work out gauge with Caron Simply Soft, which works on the machine, and use that to demonstrate techniques. It may show up in the hand knit pattern, since it's off white and a better color than cranberry for showing details. I'm showing the back of the fabric here, and its quite a bit darker.

I didn't order enough yarn to account for the cables, and I've changed the design a little and that will use more yarn too. I saw something on line that was very interesting. The white swatch was the machine knit original idea. I still want to use the drop stitch cable somewhere, sometime. I also sent in a really bad sketch for a child's sweater. TKGA wanted an adult pullover. The front neckline will change in the final sweater. I may do something with the idea for a young granddaughter.

Sock progress
The blue socks are mid leg. The lace pattern is easy, and the foot even easier. I don't need to finish them until April 30, but they'll be done long before.

The green Mystery Sock progresses. I don't think I will have the second cuff ready by the time I catch up with Clue #3 on Monday. I'm trying to finish these by month end to qualify for Ravelry's Solid Socks group. Red sweater needs to be done by then too.

March - a Time for New Beginnings

Exciting News!
I have a design published in a book! It is in Circular Knitting Redefined, a baby sweater named Sweetie Pie Stripes. It was knit last April from The Fibre Company Canopy Worsted in 2 colors. I knit the sweater 3 times before I submitted it. I scanned the little boy image out of the book. The back is really interesting. It isn't shown in the book.

Ravelry starts for this month.
I joined a new group last month, called Project Yarnway. It's similar to Project Runway in that you have a challenge to do in a short period of time. The challenges are monthly and unknown until the month starts. The February project was to use stash yarn. My Oh My! Moguls! socks qualified. The March challenge is called Innovation. The project can only have a maximum of 20% yarn in it. The rest must be materials not sold for knitting or crochet.

My project uses olive green rayon seam binding and black tape used for hanger loops in the shoulders of garments. I have lots of each; 100 yds of seam binding ?00 yds of black tape, the number is illegible. The project will be a scarf. The knitting is hard work because of inelastisity of "yarn". I don't know how long I will make it.

Sock Projects
SKA Mystery sock for March Clue 1. The cotton yarn and twisted stitches make the pattern really pop. I have started the second sock.

SKA March lace challenge
This yarn and pattern were bought in 2003 on a trip to the west coast to see my sister. It finally matched with a challenge. The pattern is Reflections socks from Fiber Trends. The interesting aspect of the pattern is the patterning only on the back. The front is 1x1 ribbing. The foot is stockinette.

If I have nothing else to do, I have a sweater to knit by April 2. I had hoped to knit it by machine, but the yarn wouldn't cooperate. Luckily it is short sleeved in worsted weight yarn. I still will have to write a machine knit pattern, but will illustrate any techniques with a machine tested yarn.

Plymouth Yarn Co. has 2 new sock yarns. I am working on swatches for new socks for them. I've been designing 2-color socks from their solid yarn recently. It will be a while before I can show them off. I did find one pair of my socks on their website recently. They were designed for a man.