Tale of a Stepsister Sweater

One of the many things I dabble in is designing knitting patterns. Most often I do so because I conceived of a desire for a garment and couldn't find an existing pattern that was exactly what I wanted. So I try to make my own.

When watching the live action Disney Cinderella movie for the first time, I fell head over heels in love with the honeycomb sweaters Anastasia and Drisella wear as they try to stuff their feet into a glass shoe.

In one of my many vintage knitting pattern books I happened to find this gem from 1952. Suddenly making a dreamy stepsister sweater of my own seemed possible. Altering the neckline and sleeves wasn't too difficult. The pattern was really easy to follow and adjust.

 Next I needed yarn. Luckily for me, my local thrift store always has 'good' yarn. I found 8 skeins of this shockingly chartreuse textured dk and bought it all without a second thought or even a project planned. Someday I would be making a hi-vis sweater and it would be glorious. When I found the teal and green variegated yarn at my LYS, I knew it was to be. 

So, with my newly altered pattern and awesome yarn, I got to work. My chief inspection officer 'helped' a lot in this process.

There's the finished project in all it's neon glory, and I even have 4 skeins of that yarn left!
 

The Magic of Graph Paper

I am an avid and primarily self taught knitter. I learned most of the techniques I know by trial and error as I worked a pattern that was probably too advanced for me at the time. Collecting these tricks and techniques into one place is hopefully as helpful to others as it is to me. 

One thing I have always struggled with when designing a pattern is how to distribute increases or decreases to make a curved edge like for armholes and shoulders. And then I had a bit of an epiphany; if it's hard to visualize, draw it!

So this is just my short hand sketch, so it may not be super clear for others, but I'll try and give you an idea what's going on here:

I was trying to make a nice curve for a sleeve cap. So the first this I did was sketch in the shape I wanted. I only drew one curve, since the shape will be symmetrical, just imagine the other half to the left of the drawing. Since knit stitches are wider than they are tall, each square on the graph is one stitch and two rows.

Once I had the curve in, I used a ruler to draw straight lines to approximate it. Using the grid, I just counted how many stitches needed to be decreased in how many rows for each straight line segment. The bottom line of numbers in each set on the diagram is that count. Multiply the count by two to account for the other half of the sleeve cap, and then simple division gives the distributions listed in the top line. At that point, just work from the bottom up.

For this example that means:

    Decrease 1 stitch each side every 4 rows, 8 times, for a total of 16 stitches decreased over 32 rows, then

    Decrease 1 stitch each side every 2 rows, 6 times, for a total of 12 stitches decreased over 12 rows, then

    Decrease 2 stitches each side every row, 4 times, for a total of 16 stitches decreased over 4 rows.

And now you have an easy step by step to follow to make the curve!

For the curious, here's how those sleeve caps turned out :)

Vintage Craft Book Feature: International Needlework Designs (1978)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books. Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm. Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

International Needlework Designs- 1978

This book feels like it is halfway between being a showcase for beautiful existing embroideries and a project book on how to recreate them. In any case, it is an amazing trove of embroidery history and know how. There are many stunning photos, including color plates, of many different types and styles of embroidery, and each of those has a few designs traced out and clear instructions for how to execute them.

            

The first set of pages is dedicated to diagrams of needles, to help the embroiderer identify and choose the right needle for each and every project. I've not seen such a comprehensive section on needles even in a dedicated instructional book.

There are also extensive stitch diagrams and illustrations included making this book a good one to pick up even as a beginner to embroidery. 

Designs are included from everywhere from Hungary to Guatemala, shown in glorious color and detail.  Each section is separated by country or region and includes background and history of the embroidery tradition there.

For embroidered garments such as the kimono on the cover or these Bessarabian shirts, diagrams for how to cut and sew the garment are also included. One has to wonder though, are the hunks modeling the shirts also part of the "Author's Collection?"

Tracing Tribulations

 It's friday and that means it's time for free patterns! Unfortunately the app I used to use for tracing is no longer supported so I was forced to find another. With all the app downloading and testing, I only got one tracing done. I hope to have more ready for you next time, but for now, enjoy this delightful design from a vintage bread cloth.

Fully Stocked Kitchen

I shop at thrift stores a lot. Really, a lot. Clothes, books, decor items, cookware, raw materials for my shop; most of the goods I buy come from second hand shops. This is partly because I am cheap and refuse to pay full price for new when perfectly serviceable things are available used.  Mostly, however, I shop at thrift stores because they can offer some hidden gems found nowhere else.

Sometimes these gems are beautiful and unique vintage clothing, or delightfully nerdy bits of whimsy, and sometimes I find really high quality kitchenware for a bargain:

I once read an AirBnB review where the person jokingly docked points for the "fully stocked kitchen" not containing an egg slicer. It occurred to me some time later that I didn't have an egg slicer, and thus could not consider my kitchen to be Fully Stocked. My local thrift store had my back, though, with a super fancy German one that slices eggs into perfect wedges.  It's really a shame that this IKEA cheese grater is discontinued, because it is the single most useful and convenient grater I have ever used. 

I've had a love affair with cheesecake ever since I was a kid, and my mom has made me one for my birthday every year since. We've had a lot of fun trying out lots of different recipes. She also helped me hunt down octagon shaped dishes from thrift stores until I had full sets of the quirky and unconventional dishes. This springform pan I found for a few bucks is not only really high quality and in great shape, it also lets me make octagon cheesecakes to fit on my octagon plates!

Despite the fact that I have (and adore) shiny black geometric dishes, I also have a weakness for elegant porcelain with little purple flowers. I walked back and forth in front of this display for several minutes trying to decide whether to buy this set.  One the one hand, gorgeous! On the other, limited counter space and clashing style. I asked my mom and my hubby to talk me out of them (I don't know why I thought that would work, they are both such enablers...) and both told me to stop dithering and just get them. Mom even said she would store them for me until I found space! Long story short, I bought them. I'm determined to use them, though, not just let them be decoration, so they are all filled, though not necessarily with what the labels say.