bee creative

knitting knits and sewing knits

I've been reminded that sewing with knits and altering patterns can be a bit scary...

I have made a lot of pj's with my experiments.  Some don't even make it to that stage.  Those end up as rags. 

My latest experiment will have to be used as a rag...good thing I used scraps from the t-shirt.   And that's actually part of the process, testing the pattern.  Especially if the body type is not considered "average." 

On Saturday I decided to try the tank top pattern from Alabama Studio Style.  I didn't have high hopes that it would fit, but I wanted to see how close I'd be to the sizing. 

The results?

*A good case of the giggles.

*Knowledge.  I know that it fits, sort of (surprise!).    But I would need a lot more ease to feel comfortable. That's pretty easy to fix with this pattern as it has princess seams.  The length was way off.  But again, the princess seam will make that easy to fix too.

 

 

This was much more successful.  If any part of a t shirt is going to be difficult for me, it's the neckline.  I decided to try the binding method described in Alabama Studio Style and did some hand stitching.  The first time round with the binding looked nice but didn't lay right.  I decided to fold it over one more time and stitch it down again.  It worked! 

For anyone thinking about trying a project with knits; the most important thing I think is to start with a new needle designed for knits (if using a sewing machine) and to go slow. 

And then there is the hat:

Hello everyone! 

 

 

weather making

What to do when you've left your favorite warm hat at work and it's suppose to be really cold in the morning? 

Put aside the sewing and grab a skein of yarn from the stash and start knitting. Use big needles. 

It's too dark to get a really good picture of the finished hat tonight, but I'll have a warm head tomorrow.

Good thing too.

The snow started at about 1 PM.  Big feathery flakes.

And then the sun came out. And most of the snow melted away. 

But the wind is from the NE and the low tonight is 20F.  A hat will be nice tomorrow morning. 

details

It may be cold, wet, and windy; snow may be in the forecast...

But spring is coming.  Yesterday I had two eggs on the same day for the first time since Jitterbug started molting in the fall.  More of the crocus are popping up in the garden too.  And the rhubarb is up to four inches. 

Maybe it will be t-shirt weather soon?  I'm going to be ready.  Today I tried out another pattern.  This one is destined for the dye pot. 

The next one will have a few more inches added to the bottom and the neckline adjusted just a bit.  Patterns are like recipes...the details are adjustable. 

No recipe involved here. 

I've been craving a cheese sandwich but didn't really want to make bread and then have a lot of it that I would end up eating, so I bought a small loaf of locally made sourdough.  Added a little local cheese and a saute of cabbage, apples and hazelnuts and I had this week's Dark Days meal. 

Hmm...maybe French toast for breakfast? 

 

sky scarf: 6 months

Six months ago I started my sky scarf.  The plan was to knit a bit every day to match the color of the sky for the hour after dawn.  Has that happened?  Not so much the last two months.  Have I stopped working on it? No.

What I've done is changed the approach.

I write down the color I need to knit every day and then spinning yarn one day during the weekend and then catching up with all the knitting at one time.

Here's what I've realized over the last month:  A daily practice needs to fill a certain time frame, for example the time I'm on the bus in the morning, or it needs to be long enough that I can settle into what I'm doing. 

It is easier for me to spend one hour every night working on a project then it is for me to spin yarn for the day and knit two rows, which takes me about ten minutes.  The ten minutes is a teaser, I want to keep going and it makes me sad to stop. 

I'm at 35 inches now, about 3 feet.  My knitting for the first month is about one inch longer than my current month.  I'm spinning thinner yarn now. 

 

Today I will write "B" for my records.  I came home to find the first of the crocus popping up.  If I'd been a little earlier they might even have been open. 

considering patterns

Sewing clothes again:

It's time for me to develop a new collection of basic patterns, the ones that I will come back to because they are easy to adapt and fit right.

The pattern for this shirt will be a good start.   It's from Kwik Sew Method for Easy Sewing by Kerstin Martensson.  I've loved the directions in this book for a long time but the blouse pattern was a bit small.  Not any more!  

The fabric is an organic cotton that was purchased at a local fabric store.

 

comfort

Some days I like to walk home in the rain and the wind.

Today I could have made a better choice about footwear though.

It made me wish I still had some of the tomato soup I had for dinner last night.

This is my dark days meal for the week.  I made it with tomatoes from the freezer, an onion, herbs, and just a tiny bit of olive oil and salt.  The olive oil and salt were not local.  All ingredients were roasted in the oven for about an hour.  And then I tossed everything into the blender. 

Since the oven was on, I decided to bake the last of the potatoes from the farmer's market.  I'll still be able to get local potatoes from the co-op, something that makes me very happy. 

And then a small project that also brings comfort:

I made this scarf a year or two ago with a skein of locally spun/dyed yarn.  I love this yarn, but it slides of my neck very easily.  Rather annoying.  So tonight I spun just a bit of yarn and crocheted the two edges together to make it into a cowl.  Much better. 

Using things up...

Years ago I wouldn't have been able to imagine not having milk in the house...it was essential.

Last night I decided to use up what milk I had to make one of my favorite treats, pudding.  Topped with the last of the strawberry-honey jam I made last year.  

I am feeling no sense of panic about having used up the milk.

I've been using up some favorite scraps on this project.

I'm feeling no sense of panic that there won't be more favorites.  New favorites come along...and it's good, maybe even necessary?  Thinking about what I consider essential and why. 

dark days: meals and garden

I actually could harvest something to eat from the garden right now:

A few warm days and I'm going to have a nice crop of Swiss chard and kale so I'll wait.  I could also raid the lettuce that reseeded from last year and the chickweed I suppose.  There is another weed in that mix as well, not sure what it is. 

Spent a couple hours in the garden today, mostly pruning the large apple tree but also doing a bit of weeding.  I decided to be brave and planted a few peas and some spinach in my little hoop house. 

Dark Days Meal:

Some of my Dark Days meal for the week did come from the garden.  I picked a handful of parsley, a bit of sage and a branch of rosemary.  This is a spin on a recipe from The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper.  The recipe I based it on is "Farro Risotto."  I left out the olive oil, garbanzo beans, orange zest, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and added some butter, cauliflower, diced apple and local cheese instead.  I should have added some hazelnuts too.   99.9% local, just used a bit of salt. 

 

 

leaves

What I learned:

1.  It would be better to break the egg at the narrow end of the shell for a deeper "planter."

2.  The egg shell planters dry out quickly.

3.  It is easy to over water.

4.  Hatching lettuce is fun. 

I'd call the first part of this experiment successful.  I'll be planting the first two shells in the cold frame tomorrow.  I plan on smashing the egg up a bit. 

 

I like how this looks with a few leaves. 

click click says...

the computer.   Just wanted to say I might not be around for a couple days.   The computer is making some strange sounds and I don't know how long it's going to last.  It might be the next time...