Summer Holidays

I'm currently staying with my (slightly dotty) grandmother for the long weekend.  I'm determined that I'm going to learn how to knit socks - these were the socks I was going to knit went to Northampton, but didn't in the end, as I didn't have the right size needles.

Having never knit in the round before, I didn't know about joining the stitches, so as to avoid a massive gap.  Attempt one - frogged.  The second time, I forgot that you need to swap needles as you knit, so I ended up with everything on two needles.  I lost count of the number of failed attempts, although I do have one photo from where it was going right:

About two rows later, I dropped a stitch, couldn't work out where it had gone and started again. Attempt whichever-we're-at-now - frogged.  The yarn is Sirdar Heart and Sole, using the cuff down pattern on the ball band.

Thank goodness for YouTube (seems I wasn't joining properly anyway).  With luck, and enough Bank Holiday rain to keep me inside, these socks may yet happen.

The other project I had with me, is a shrug pattern, from the Free Vintage Knitting website, in a discontinued Jaeger yarn, labelled as a baby merino.  The first problem is the number of splits I had in the yarn (this one wasn't the worst, by a long way).

The second issue I had, and this is a surprising one, was the colourway.  In the balls, it looks nice and autumnal-ish and the kind of colours I'd go for.  All knit up, it actually looked like the camouflage pattern, used on army fatigues.  As a pacifist, I don't really like the idea of wearing something that looks like Army uniform, let alone the fact that this is baby merino.  Not appropriate at all for baby clothing, in my opinion.  Due to the number of the split ends, and the fact that I didn't follow the pattern properly and have much better ideas on how the pattern can be improved, this has also been ripped back to where it started.

But then, with this amount of Bank Holiday rain, I guess an abundance of frogs are par for the course.

Threading it all together

Recently I’ve been watching This Old Thing (dubbed ‘The Vintage Clothes Show) and Tivo decided to record The Great British Sewing Bee on the overnight repeats with BSL interpreter. I don’t know why, but I’m very glad it did. As I’d like to try sewing a bit more, I thought I’d pull together the threads from these two programmes. (See what I did there?)

I’m yet to be convinced about vintage. Sure, I get the glamour and the romanticism thing, but a quick search of online vintage shops doesn’t bring up much, if anything, in my size. The skirt I got from Oxfam (advertised as being ‘woollen’, was actually mostly synthetic with a bit of mohair) had to be sent back as it was too small. Yes, I know I need to get out running again, but that’s not the point. 

The one thing I will take away from This Old Thing is the idea of revamping and upcycling clothes to make your wardrobe stand out from the crowd or to make your clothing last a bit longer. I’m no stranger to customising or dying clothing, or using decoration to make good on an otherwise ruined garment. (This is how I ended up with butterflies on my trousers – they covered up the bleach splashes). I like the idea of going through the stuff for the charity shop and seeing if there’s anything that can be salvaged and I’m also planning on raiding my grandmother’s wardrobe when I see her in a few weeks’ time. 

The one item I really want to be able to sort out, is t-shirts. For some reason, manufacturers think that if you have a bigger bosom, then you have higher shoulders. I either end up with floppy necklines, or having to wear t-shirts which are too ‘sweater girl’ for my liking. I’ve just sent a favourite blouse to the charity shop for making me look frumpy, when all I needed to do was find out how to do bust darts. (In fact, I like that blouse so much, I’m almost tempted to go back to the charity shop to see if it’s still for sale). I’ve lost count of the number of vest t-shirts I’ve had to hitch up by a couple of inches. 

This is where The Great British Sewing Bee comes in. How cool would it be to learn the techniques to adapt charity shop stuff, as well as make my own clothes, in the colour and style that I want, with the decorations and embellishments that I want ? It’s a way of keeping my wardrobe unique, stopping stuff from languishing in the charity shops and making sure I have clothes that actually fit me. Absolute result! 

Now where did I put that sewing machine ….