Merino Wool Fingerless Gloves

 

Daughter has been looking for fingerless gloves for some months now, and everything she's found so far has had some deal breaking flaw.  So I offered to make her something if she could find a yarn in my stash that she approved of.  Turns out there was a single ball of this blue, green, purple variegated merino wool that she positively fell in love with at first sight.

It took me a couple of weeks, simply because I've been having a hard time finding project time. But persistence prevailed!  I finished these a couple of days ago to an astonishing amount of excitement over how beautiful they were.  I love making my girl happy!

These are done on a circular needle and if I'd had two balls of yarn I would have knitted them both at the same time. Alas, I had only the one and no idea where it came from.  I would guess a clearance bin somewhere, but honestly, I keep my supplies for years sometimes before I get around to using them.  I can almost always shop my stash and find something I didn't even know I had.

I've used the book Knitting Without Tears as my go to reference book for knitting techniques, so that's where the thumb design comes from.  I have made countless fingerless gloves over the years, so my technique has morphed into something kind of my own, but that book is definitely my origin.  I used it 30 years ago to teach myself how to knit.  Left-handed.  People tell me I knit backwards.  I have no doubt they're right.

The wristband is your standard k2,p2 as is the finishing at the thumb and finger ends.  The palms are a straight knit.  The backs are a popcorn stitch.  Alternating double rows of k2, p2.  It's my favorite knitting stitch, for mysterious reasons of irrational personal preference.

Youngest Son is now clamoring for a pair like his sister's. I can't really blame him.  Hers turned out really nice.

I will, however, have to fix my knitting needles first.  I thought it was cute when I saw my cat Gizmo carrying them around by the nylon part, with the bamboo needles hanging from either side of her mouth.  Needless to say, I took them from her and put them away with my knitting things.  Apparently, not away enough.  She found them overnight.  And chewed them.  

Cats. Like husbands, can't live with 'em and can't live without 'em.

Mama's in the Kitchen--Aprons Galore!

Okay, so I've never met a jar of pasta sauce that  didn't spill on my clothes at the first introduction.  Or a hamburger that didn't spatter me with grease while cooking.  Why haven't I made any aprons sooner?  Good question.  Wish I had a good answer.  I could've saved myself a lot of money over the years on clothes I didn't have to replace.

There are so many cute aprons out there.  And so much cute fabric.  Heck! I should  just make some.

So I did.

First I bought some lightweight canvas.  Because quilting cotton makes great aprons, but the canvas was on sale and it had just the most pretty or adorable prints.  This tropical flower print is easily my favorite of the lot.

Next, I drafted me up a pattern that looked like it would work.  I tend to be a visual pattern drafter so I eyeball a lot of what I draw.  The first draft wasn't perfect, but the second was pretty good, and the third even better.  Then I added a pocket or three on the front.  Because I love pockets, and I'm always looking for places to put things down.  I even made some with contrasting binding around the edges.  Extra work, but I think it looks really cool. 

Then I said to myself, "Self, other people might like an apron, too.  People who don't sew, or who don't have the time."  Hence, my Etsy shop.

I've got aprons on there, of course.  But also tea towels and pot holders that match, because I do like it when the things in my kitchen match.  So I figured other people might like that, too.

I've also popped up some hand braided jewelry as well.  Because it's fun to make, but some folks just don't have the time, or the patience, or they just don't consider themselves crafty enough to make things like that.

Take a look, if you're so inclined.  I'd love to have your feedback, sewing and crafting friends.  I always love good feedback.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheTrinityTreeShop

Twinkle Toes and Tshirts

Here's the wool socks and the fleece slippers, elegant aren't they?  They both have gotten a workout already.  Daughter wears the slippers every single day.  She's definitely going to need one or two new pair before this New England winter is over.

And Youngest Son's long sleeved tshirts are finally finished, too.  It's so hard to make interesting clothes for boys.  There just isn't that much variation in boys' clothing.  The pattern for all of these is Jalie 2918 Men's Tshirts.  A very nice, well-drafted pattern.  I used a size slightly bigger than his measurements, so a little room to grow.  I like the length on these.  Kid's shirts always seem to be too short for Youngest Son, but this pattern fits fantastic.

All the seams are serged, and the hems, sleeve hems, and necklines have all been coverstitched.  This is the technique I've been using to make t-shirts from time immemorial and I rarely have any trouble with it.  Occasionally one of the children will pull too hard on the hems or neck opening and pop the coverstitching.  It's pretty rare, so I haven't bothered to change the way I do things.  I guess if I really wanted to make them last, I'd put wooly nylon in the loopers.

This one on the left is a chocolate cotton/lycra -- probably from Fabric.com -- with organic cotton ribbing -- definitely from Fabric.com -- for the neckline.









The one on the right is brown organic cotton jersey with conventional organic green cotton jersey for the stripe and organic cotton rib knit for the neckline.




Here we have brown organic cotton ribbing and charcoal conventional cotton ribbing.  The color block seams really wanted to ripple on this one, but a session with my iron settled that rebellion.

The one on the left is a plain gray cotton ribbing.








This one on the right is camel and brown organic cotton jersey with brown organic cotton ribbing.








Not very exciting, I know, but sometimes the sewing just isn't that exciting.  I want to make a few Christmas gifts next, so those should be a little more interesting.

More Toasty Toes -- Ballet Slippers

So apparently footwear is the name of the game these past couple of weeks.  First socks, now slippers.  These are pretty awesome slippers, though, and once your pattern is all set they take less than an hour to make. What could be better than that?

The pattern I got from the Burda Style website -- the Dorothy Ballerina slippers.  And it's free.  Unfortunately, they only come in one size so unless you're making a women's 8, you'll have to do some adjusting -- which isn't really that hard.  Especially if you use fleece, like I did.  The pattern is supposed to be for wovens, but since I never follow the rules, I didn't do that.

I made these for Daughter, so they're a girls size 1 1/2 or thereabouts.

To adjust the pattern, I printed out the pdf and had her stand on the sole pattern piece with her toes about 3/8" (for seam allowance) away from the front.  Then I traced around her heel to get the proper size for the sole.

For the upper, I cut out the pattern piece, laid it across the top of her foot (again leaving about 3/8" for seam allowance), and brought the ends around to the back of her foot and estimated how much to cut off so that it would fit snugly at the back but not be too tight.

All very unscientific, but it worked beautifully.  I made one quick muslin that fit perfectly from front to back, but I found that the sole piece was a bit too wide, so I narrowed that up a bit and cut out the pieces for the real version.

I made the soles in two layers: the inside is the fleece, for fuzzy warm coziness, and the outside is leather deerskin suede for non-slippiness and durability.  I got to break out my treadle machine for the leather sewing, Yippeee!!  I keep a leather needle in the treadle machine, as that is pretty much all I use it for these days.  I don't really have the space to keep it out all the time -- my regular machine sits on top of the closed treadle cabinet.

After stitching the center back seams of the uppers right sides together, I used the treadle to stitch the soles to the uppers.  Then, going back to my regular machine, I zigzagged a piece of 1/4" elastic to the foot opening stretching ever so slightly.  Then I folded over to the inside and zigzagged again, for a nice clean finish around the foot opening.  Voila!  All done.  That's why it takes less than an hour.  There's just not much to it.

The first pair I made of these was done in a brown fleece with these ugly flowers embroidered on in wool yarn.  Not sure why I bought that piece, except that maybe it was really cheap.  The funny thing is, Daughter really liked the slippers, so she didn't mind the ugly flowers until I could make her a better pair.  Preferably in pink.  I didn't have any pink fleece, so we compromised with blue for the time being.  So here's the blue pair.  I'm sure she'll be happy to model them later.

Warm and Toasty Toes -- Finished Knitted Socks

At last!  The knitted wool socks for Daughter are finished!  Made with wool, self-striping baby yarn, these socks will keep Daughter's feet nice and warm.  I really like how these turned out -- and the stripes on the two socks almost perfectly match to within a few rows.  I'd like to say that I achieved this through the careful application of scientific principle, but in truth it was purely accidental.  I just cast on the stitches for the second sock right where I left off knitting the first one and it just so happened that the pattern of the yarn started at the same general place on both socks.  Never mind.  This pair is an absolute success and I'm very proud of them.

Knitted Fingerless Gloves

You know, it's really hard to take decent pictures of your own hands.  But here they are: my new fingerless gloves for this year.

Every year I usually make a new pair, simply because I either wear out the old pair or I get tired of them.  I wore my last pair for two years -- they were made of a multicolored yarn, primarily teal with some browns and yellows and white mixed in.  But teal doesn't go with virtually anything I own so I decided I needed a slightly more neutral-colored pair for this year.  Not that purple is exactly neutral, but it's better than teal.

There's no pattern, just an adaptation of instructions from Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears, since it doesn't actually address fingerless gloves -- just mittens.  I learned to knit about 20 years ago from reading this book, so I have a nostalgic attachment to it.

The cuffs and the finger/thumb openings are simple 1 X 1 rib knit, the body is plain knit.  I made these using one circular needle instead of double pointed ones.  The yarn is a variegated superwash in merino wool.  It's pretty soft but still just the tiniest bit scratchier than my old teal ones.  I also think that I used a needle a little too small for the yarn.  It makes the gloves a little less stretchy than they could have been, but it also makes them denser and warmer, so it's probably okay.

I like the way these turned out -- they look a little like blueberry ice cream -- which I think is kinda neat.

Hematite Necklace and FNSI

I've always adored short necklaces -- they are not quite chokers, though I love those, too.  I'm still looking for the perfect cameo to wear on a black ribbon choker I've been wanting to make for years, but I'm patient.  I've been known to wait many years for just the thing I'm searching for to trundle along looking for a home.

I like short necklaces  mostly because I often don't like things dangling from my neck -- and more importantly, I think it looks cool.

The beads on this one are hematite -- my favorite stone.  I bought them years ago as part of another necklace that has long since disintegrated.  I made them into a previous necklace, which also gave up the ghost a year or two ago.

This time, I used waxed cotton cord to weave the main part of the necklace, mostly in an effort to make something that I liked that would hold up longer than the other two have.  This is the style of jewelry I like most -- pretty simple, made with natural materials, but tasteful and understated.  The core of the weaving is a braided beading thread--very strong and practically unbreakable.  My scissors doesn't even want to cut it.

I actually made the bracelet first, testing out the materials and just the right way to attach the split rings at the ends that hold the clasps.  It has a magnetic clasp that is really not quite strong enough.  It doesn't spontaneously fall off or anything, but a really light tug will make it come apart.  I left it on, though, as I'm not particularly attached to the bracelet.  It's a "wearable muslin" so to speak, so my heart won't break if it gets lost.


I was surprised at how little time it took to make these.  Just a couple of hours and they were done.  And now I have my favorite hematite beads back  :o)

As for the Friday Night Sew-In, I just finished tonight's homemade chicken soup.  So, in about an hour, I'm going to put on some music, pour a glass of port, and finish putting the buttons on Jalie 2111 men's shirt for my husband.  Then, I am either going to 1) cut out a new dress shirt for my oldest son, or 2) trace an above-the-knee (I'm too old to call it a mini skirt) pleated skirt for myself.  I haven't decided which.

Friday Night Sew-In -- Leatherworking project

Pop on over and sign up for the Friday Night Sew In this week.  I'm looking forward to it, that's for sure.

First of all, I need to drive to JoAnn's for the start of their weekend sale on Friday morning.  I'd like a few Burda's (which rarely go on sale), a few notions (like size 18 needles), and perhaps a replacement for my troubled iron, which is going to take at least 6 weeks to send it out for repair and get it back (but will only cost me shipping one way).

I'd like to finish up my volunteer sewing for SewMuchComfort first, which ought to take all of 15 minutes.  The only reason it's not already done is that I need to pick up a piece of velcro from the aforementioned fabic store.

Then, I'm hoping to fire up the treadle machine (okay, too much steampunk there -- all I really have to do is engage the belt -- but "fire up" sounds so much more interesting than "engage the belt")  and make a corset type belt out of a piece of really beautiful black leather I bought from FabricMart last year (I think).  It's garment weight, so I'll either have to line it with leather or a heavyweight twill to give it enough body to make a good belt.

I like these rather plain buckles that I ordered from a seller on Etsy and I'm thinking I'd like to fasten it with 2 or maybe 3 buckles. I have some fancier buckles, too, but I've noticed that I usually tend to pick plain and functional over fancy and delicate.  Who knows?  I might change my mind between now and Friday.  Sheesh. I might change my mind halfway through the project.  It's certainly happened before :o/

In any event, I've always thought those wide belts were really cool and I can't wait to make one for myself.