Courderoy Pants

These were my first pair of jeans-style pants and they were really hard. The actual sewing isn’t that hard, but making them fit is a necessary pain. First the crotch was too short so I let that out. They were still tight through the hips so I let that out. I must have let it out too much -I ended up having to just take in the sides after I had already sewed on the waistband. Oh well, the fit is still good I think. I might narrow the legs a bit. They are really baggy as is. The pattern (McCalls) has 1” seam allowances, which is nice for fitting purposes. It called these boot cut, but they seem just really baggy to me. Oh well, overall I am pleased with the pants and the pattern.

   

Purple Blouse

I made this shirt from a McCall’s pattern. I took in the sides a bit for a more fitted look. The only thing I don’t like about it is the pocket: its huge! Next time I will definitely make it smaller. Other than that I like it!

T-shirt skirt

I checked out the book Tease from the library, which has ideas for things to make from old t-shirts. I have about 5 million t-shirts so I thought this would be fun. One of the ideas was a skirt so I went for it. Its really simple, basically just cut an A-line shape out of you t-shirt. The directions say to make it crooked on the shirt so that the fabric will drape better but I didn’t have enough shirt to do that. I think it came out fine. Now I just have to wait for it to get warm enough to wear it!

Knit Anklets

I had some left over yarn from the pippi socks for my sister so I made myself some anket socks! It took me forever because I was trying to learn how to do a short row heel and toe. I finally figured it out and I am pleased with how they came out. I used the pattern on knitty.com and added a crochet decoration around the ankle.

The first sock is finished!

You can see the line where I switched stitches in the second dark purple stripe. Oh well, it still fits well!

I was so wrong

So I figured out why my stitches were going diagonally. I was doing the knit stitch wrong! How did this happened?! Did I learn it wrong? Or subconsciously modify it? I looked up the purl stitch and it turns out I was purling wrong too. Not way off, just slightly so that in non-round straight stitch it didn’t seem to matter; I guess the two mistakes just canceled each other or something. But when I did all knits round and round, it came out diagonal. So at the ankle of one of my sisters new socks there is a line where you can tell that I switched stitches and where they suddenly start going straight. Its not obvious, especially from a distance so I don’t think it will matter. Anyway, thats an interesting lesson learned!

My first socks

I have decided to knit my sister a pair of socks for Christmas. I am over half way done with the first one and so far so good.

I am using the ‘pippi knee stocking’ pattern from the Stitch andBitch book. I changed the striping pattern to that it alternate grey with the two purples but other than that I am sticking to the directions. I practiced turning the heal with some scrap yarn successfully so I am hopeful that I won’t screw these up too bad either

I have discovered that I enjoy knitting ‘in the round’ as its called. I also like the double pointed needles. I found a whole set of sizes 0-12 for only $16 on Amazon. And I think I can buy some needle protectors and make some ghetto single pointed needles. That means I never have to buy needles again! Unless I decide to knit something requiring a really gigantic needle. But I much prefer the tight stitched look of smaller needles so that will probably never happen.

Two problems I have had with the ’round knitting’: 1. When I am casting on my stiches seem to disappear. I will count and recount and then the next row will be missing one. I don’t get it. So I just add 1 more than I think I need when casting on.

2. The flow of my stitches looks crooked.. like everything is diagonally stretched or something. I haven’t figured out a solution for this besides ‘deal with it’.