SEWmuchKNITting

The daughter of a good friend of mine had this absolutely lovely hide that she wanted made into a basic leather tote. Using the information she gave me and referencing an inspiration photo that she had, I put together this tote: The size of the hide was approx. 44" X 33", and had the usual holes to work around.  The finished bag size is 14" wide at the opening, 17" wide at the bottom,  15" tall, with 25" handles. The photo below shows just how supple and beautiful this piece of leather is. Due to the lovely suede finish, I elected not to sew in a lining. At the American Stitches Sewing Expo in Novi, MI in 2010, I took a class with Kenneth King about sewing with leather. It was fun to revisit that information, and use it to make this tote. Although I don't (yet!) have a Teflon foot, my sewing machine was able to sew the leather without any problems. I did use a longer stitch length (set at 4 on my Bernina), and a size 80...

My daughter saw just the hat she wanted when watching the X-games a few weeks ago, and asked if I could make one similar for her. The Dee Slouch Hat by Lara Neel was just what I needed to honor Kristen's request!  I found some great yarn while browsing the vendors at Knit Michigan : Cascade Yarns "Venezia" , 70% Merino Wool, 30% Silk It's always a treat for me to see those decreases....so pretty: Best of all.....she loves it!

My sister-in-law Stacy had this lovely alpaca sweater from her college days that she no longer wore, and asked if I "could do something with it?" Sorry to say I didn't take any pics of the original sweater, but it was a natural cream-colored 100% alpaca, and after a few hot water washes and drying, it felted up nicely. The stitches were still visible, which gave the fabric some texture. Below are the felted pieces, as I pondered what to do next. Stacy had mentioned the sweater might make a  great felted bag, so that was my goal. As she is the mother of two boys, who herself has many interested outside of her engineering work, I thought a cross-body flap bag would do the trick, utilitarian yet stylish. I used almost every bit of that felted fabric. The body of the bag was made with one front, with the sleeves seamed together forming the back.  I was able to squeeze out the handles from the one narrow front which had the buttonholes. This outsi...

I met my self-imposed deadline of Feb 1 and finished knitting a shop sample for my LYS (local yarn shop), the  Silk Diamond Scarf  by designer Zara Murken. This project can be found in the book Simply Shetland 4 at Tomales Bay: This was knit in  Silk & Lambswool Shetland yarn  on size 5 needles, with a finished size of 16" X 68".  I have to say that knitting mitered squares is fun! and now I can do them in my sleep :-)  The picture below shows the scarf in progress. Washing this project in Eucalan  (the grapefruit scent is my favorite!) and then wet-blocking made this scarf so soft and drapey. I liked the fact that the garter ridges became less prominent after blocking, making the color changes stand out. Yes, all those color changes resulted in MANY yarn ends to weave in....but I found that job to be rather meditative in a way. The color is off in this picture, but I love to look at my knitting being blocked. Natu...

My daughter asked me to knit this darling sweater for her good friend who is expecting her first baby in February. She picked such an adorable pattern! Grow Old With Me  by Jenny Wiebe This was such a fun project to knit. The construction of the double shawl collar was something new for me, as well as the doubled button band. Because that band is doubled back on itself, you have to make two buttonholes side by side. When seaming the sweater, the buttonholes are stitched together by hand using the buttonhole stitch (ha, of course!). I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight yarn on size 6 needles, with Berroco Vintage yarn for the orange stripes. This should fit the baby at around 12 months, plus or minus.  This baby boy will be living in Chicago, and so this should be the perfect sweater for winters in the Windy City! source

It's always fun and rewarding to post a recap of my projects for the year. It doesn't look as if I was as productive this year as I have been in the past, but that  may be because there was definitely more knitting in 2012!  This coral dress I made for my nephew's wedding was my favorite this year, since I gave myself plenty of time to fit the pattern and sew with more precision and detail. It's not the most-worn tho, that would be the pencil skirt which I manage to wear to work now almost weekly with tights and boots. Kristen's sweater was my hands-down favorite knit, and doesn't she look lovely in it?! The granny square got a mention to highlight the Lenten service project I organized with my fellow knit/crochet friends. In all, we were able to donate 319 squares to the Beaumont Hospital Cancer Center for their team of crocheters to assemble and put to use.  Not shown is the Block of the Month knitted blanket that has yet to be completed...

Christmas 2012 is now in the books: the gifts have been exchanged, opened and even worn. Now I can post about the stealth knitting I have been working on since last March!  First up are the Melody Fingerless Mitts I knit for my daughter Libby. I picked up this kit at Vogue Knitting Live! in Chicago, and had fun knitting with beads for the first time. The yarn was JoJoLand Melody Superwash sock yarn. Beads were black size 6. My daughter Kristen was the sweater recipient for this year, and she had chosen this Drops design last January, along with several others. That way I could pick the one I wanted to knit from her choices, and she would still be surprised! I used Berocco Vintage yarn, which knitted up beautifully. This cardigan, knit in the worsted weight yarn, is very warm. Even though there is waist shaping, the more boxy style will lend itself to layering very easily.  I immediately thought of my son's girlfriend, Cassie, when I saw thi...