Queue Check — July 2017 (Summer of Basics)

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Queue Check — July 2017 (Summer of Basics)

Ummmm … grey cardigan? What grey cardigan? That poor thing has definitely not seen the light of day since my last Queue Check. No, it’s been all about the Summer of Basics dynamic duo up there, my vintage fisherman sweater and my first button-up.

I can’t believe it, looking at where it was a month ago, but the sweater currently sits at 4 parts all now at underarm height, so it’s time to start the yoke decreases. Thank heaven! Even knitting the parts round-robin style like this, the stitch pattern has gotten monotonous — as amazing and simple but oh-so-repetitive as it is — and I’ve been dying to get to the shaping. It will speed up from here, but I’m still nervous about getting it blocked and seamed and neckbanded by the end of August since I’m only working on it in the late evenings and allocating any weekend time to sewing.

The lovely Archer button-up is proving to be way more fun than I could have expected … so far. I’ve got the front/bands, pocket (made up my own), back/yoke all assembled, sleeve plackets sewn (ok, that part wasn’t so fun) and one sleeve basted on. My goal for yesterday was to have both sleeves attached and the seams serged. (I’ve decided to serge them, because I want to use my serger!) So I’m slightly behind schedule and gonna have to pick up the pace. The hardest parts are all still ahead of me — the collar and cuffs — and I don’t know how long to expect them to take, but I still need to fit SoB piece #3 in here, so I need to get this one wrapped up!

Speaking of which, you were all immensely helpful with the pants suggestions last week, and then on Saturday morning I totally scored at Elizabeth Suzann’s garage sale — the most exciting bit of which was some light army-green cotton canvas (garment weight) which I’m hoping will become my pants for piece 3 — I just need to commit to a pattern purchase. But all of that said, I’m still reserving the right to claim one or both of last week’s tops/tees as my third SoB if it comes to that! I sewed them in the time frame and they are definitely basics (and were under original consideration, even) but I don’t want to let that fall-back prevent me from trying to get the pants done. I can do it!

And for the moment I’m trying to not even think about what comes after any of that.

• Sweater is a 1967 pattern, Bernat 536-145, in Arranmore
• Shirt is Archer Button-up in sold-out fabric

(Porter Bin from Fringe Supply Co.)

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PREVIOUSLY in Queue Check: June 2017

2017 FO-6 and 7: Grey pullover + striped muscle tee

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This post is a little long, so I want to note up top that the coveted army-green Porter Bin is back in the shop today as of 9am CT, along with another special treat. And you can also now find the army Porter at these fine stores!

2017 FO-6 and 7: Grey pullover + striped muscle tee

Technically, this is a premature FO post since these two garments aren’t 100% finished yet — they both need their topstitching, and the striped one needs a hem — but I’m so excited about them I couldn’t wait to share. Why?

I serged them!

You may recall I bought a serger in August* of last year and it’s been in the box ever since. In my defense, I hadn’t sewn at all, anything, between last August and the beginning of June. These are two of the four garments I cut out when I had a little cutting party one Sunday a couple of months ago, thinking if there were stuff ready to sew, I might actually sew again. And I did proceed to sew the white linen top that got cut that day, but the other three (all knits) have sat at the end of my ironing board, neatly bundled and so very appealing, but just … waiting. I think the whole reason I wasn’t sewing is I didn’t want to sew stuff — knits especially — on my regular machine when I had a serger, but I didn’t know how to use the serger and didn’t have time to figure it out. So instead of that purchase increasing my sewing productivity, it brought it to a screeching halt.

At long last, this week I scheduled time to go back to Craft South and take the lesson that came with the purchase of the machine. I showed up for my serger lesson on Wednesday without my serger, because that’s the kind of day I was having — the kind of day where I would normally prohibit myself from sewing, because sewing and a foul disposition are the worst possible combination — but I wasn’t letting anything stop me from finally getting that machine out of its box and learning how to use it.

Bob brought the machine to me, Michelle showed me how to thread it and use it and, clumsy and fog-brained, I fumbled my way through the afternoon. And within a couple of hours, bam!, two knit tops with serged seams. Homemade tees and sweatshirts here I come!

. . .

The grey top is a modified Hemlock Tee identical in process to the black wool gauze one I made last year, so all of the pattern modification details are in that post. The only difference (at the moment) is I haven’t decided whether to hem the sleeves like before or leave them rolled like this, but they’ll likely stay as is. The fabric is a dense grey wool knit that I got at Elizabeth Suzann’s fabric sale a couple of years ago; this was a bundle of scrap pieces I paid $10 for and used maybe a little more than half of for this top. It’s a little wonky — I think I even cut the pieces with the grain going different directions — but it’s totally fine and the simple alt-sweatshirt I’ve been needing.

Pattern: Hemlock Tee from Grainline Studio (modified)
Fabric:  unknown grey wool knit remnant
Cost: free pattern + about $6 fabric = $6

The striped sleeveless tee is my second Adventure Tank View B, following the black one last year, which was the first (and only) knit thing I’d ever sewn. Having now sewn one on the regular machine and one on the serger, it’s crystal clear how worth it the serger is. This is also the same fabulous organic cotton-hemp as the black one, only in an awesome ivory-and-black stripe, and my gold star moment of the day was that I had cut the front and back with perfectly matched stripes and managed to keep them aligned as I sent them through the serger, breath held, teeth gritted. And look how symmetrical the bands are! (I needed that, since I was definitely not wowing anyone with my mental sharpness or sewing acuity.) The last remaining kit-of-parts from my cutting party is this same tee again but in the grey wool knit above, the rest of that scrap bundle, which will be fantastic for transitional weather and for layering. So that will be my third of these, but definitely not my last — I love this pattern so much.

Pattern: Adventure Tank (View B, muscle tee) from Fancy Tiger Crafts
Fabric:  striped hemp jersey bought for $20/yard from Fancy Tiger
Cost: reuse pattern + $20 fabric = $20

. . .

By the way, speaking of sergers, this post on the Grainline blog came at the perfect time! That tip about only buying one cone of the contrasting color is pure genius and will no doubt save me a ton of money. Thanks, Jen!

Happy weekend! What are you up? And don’t forget about the Porter Bin …

*I keep saying I bought it in October for some reason, which might have been me trying to trick myself into thinking it wasn’t as bad as it really was?! It was 11 months ago, wow.

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PREVIOUSLY in FOs: The white linen shell

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New Favorites: The perfect leftovers hat

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New Favorites: The perfect leftovers hat

Every single time I buy yarn for a sweater, I buy a little more than I think I might need plus one more skein — out of extreme caution heightened by my compact-row-gauge affliction — and every time I think, “If there’s enough left over, I’ll knit a matching hat.” I’m apparently wild about the idea of a matching hat. And yet, thus far, I have never once done that. Which means I have a lot of leftovers, which is why you’re always hearing me speculate about a leftovers blanket or even a leftovers sweater. But the fact is, I do really love the idea of using them to make myself an array of very plain but perfectly coordinated hats — hats that hopefully meet my exacting requirements for a hat, since I don’t have a super hat-friendly head and won’t wear one if it isn’t just right. Enter Whitney Hayward’s Holcomb Hat, an ultra-basic top-down hat pattern written to work for any gauge and intended size. She describes it as ideal for using up handspun (unpredictable gauge) and those mysterious no-longer-labeled stash yarns we all have rolling around, but I love this specifically for project leftovers because you’ve already established your gauge, thereby negating the need to commit any of your yarn to a swatch while simultaneously increasing the likelihood of nailing the fit.

The thing about a top-down hat is it’s the same as a top-down sweater: Trying it on as you go is all well and good, but you need to know how blocking will affect the finished fabric. As long as you remember to count, not measure, you should be good. And a fold-up brim always gives you wiggle room on the length.

I’m hereby swearing to do this when I’m done with my current sweater, leftover yardage permitting.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Goose Eye

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Idea Log: Side pocket pants

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Idea Log: Side pocket pants

I’m fixating on an idea that might not even be a good idea, I don’t know, but I can’t stop running scenarios in my brain. The final pick for my third Summer of Basics Make-along piece remains undecided. I still want it to be some kind of simple pants, but can’t quite decide what exactly. And of course I’m complicating matters by dreaming and scheming something that would require pattern work on my part, rather than just picking a pattern from the thousands out there. But the idea I’m locked onto at the moment is a pants version of Purl Soho’s Gathered Skirt for All Ages. (Which I’ve made twice unsuccessfully, in different ways — here and here— through no real fault of the pattern.) As we head into fall, my top sartorial priority is figuring out the cool-weather version of my black linen pants I’ve been wearing nonstop since April, so that’s what I want: easy, wide-legged, elastic-waist pants, but in a nice flannel or melton. (I have a lot of charcoal melton at my disposal.) And I love the pockets on that skirt. So I’m trying to work out how to pattern that. This is all slightly complicated by the fact that I’ve never sewn pants so don’t have any reservoir of knowledge or experience to draw on as far as pattern modification. But here’s what I’m thinking:

Couldn’t I take a really simple elastic-waist pants pattern — such as Sonya Philip’s Pants No. 1 — join the front and back pieces into one big flat wraparound piece, and from there work out how to carve out the center strip for the side panel/pocket? Or maybe those pants are square enough, straight-sided enough, that it would be even more straightforward than that to figure it out.

The real question is whether I have enough time for this little project to be part of my SoB 3 … I still have a lot to do on my fisherman and my Archer.

UPDATE: Savvy commenter @jddietrich has pointed to the Tofino Pants from Sewaholic that look like they could be the perfect starting point for this.

(Fashionary sketch templates from Fringe Supply Co.)

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PREVIOUSLY in Idea Log: Indigo kimono jacket

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Books lately

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Books lately

In addition to the two gems that went into the shop recently (ALJ and The Artisan), there have been a lot of beautiful, inspiring, thought-provoking books piling up on my table over the last … uhhh .. nine months or so that I’ve been wanting to tell you about. Here they are all at once!

• The New Garconne: How to Be a Modern Gentlewoman by Navaz Batliwalla has no DIY angle and isn’t even specific to slow fashion, per se, but the women featured are the sort who take their wardrobes seriously — in the sense that they add pieces with thought and intention and expect to wear them for years, whether they’re bought new or vintage. I.e., the normal attitude from the days when we didn’t need a special term for it! It’s a collection of interviews with a variety of women — artist, fashion editor, perfumer, etc. — about their clothes and their lives (peppered with informal shots of their homes and workspaces), followed by a one-page tribute to each of the key wardrobe elements and a bunch of great street-style shots of additional women of great style. It’s beautifully designed, fun to flip through, definitely on the aspirational side, and I’m rationing the 14 interviews for myself to make it last a while. (Hardcover)

• The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees grew out of the wardrobe-planning blog Into Mind, which you may remember me raving about here. It’s an encyclopedic guide to re/building a wardrobe, with guidance on everything from choosing a color palette to understanding what works for you to being a more conscious consumer. It’s quite dense and I haven’t gotten to read any of it yet but have seen lots of raves, and would love to hear below from anyone who’s spent real time with it. (Paperback with French flaps)

• In Search of the World’s Finest Wools by Dominic Dormeuil and Jean-Baptiste Rabouan is a big, gorgeous glossy coffee-table book — a tribute to the farmers and herdsmen around the globe (from Australia to Central Asia to South America and beyond) who are literally preserving ancient traditions on which we all depend but who are under increasing global pressures. From the intro: “We must never forget that a splendid cashmere garment worn by a model in a Paris fashion show only exists thanks to a Mongolian nomad … . [Rabouan’s] photographs capture the beauty of traditional methods of animal husbandry, amplified by the magnificence of diverse natural environments. However, this beauty must not blind us to the difficulties facing wool growers everywhere. … [C]an we do enough to ensure the survival of the last guardians of these beautiful and rare fibers? Their disappearance would take with them part of the history of human civilization.” It’s stunning from cover to cover. (Hardcover, sent to me by the publisher)

• Color Confident Stitching: How to Create Beautiful Color Palettes by Karen Barbé (I love her) is the perfect intro to color for those who didn’t go to art school and study color theory (as I tend to forget not everyone did). It’s not a textbook — it’s slender and beautiful and accessible — but it’s a fantastic overview of how color works and how you can make it work for you, from how to use and think about the color wheel, to how color affects us and our moods, to how to create a palette for your next project, whatever it may be — colorwork yoke, cross-stitch sampler or living-room decor. In the back of the book are a handful of lovely stitching projects, incorporating embroidery, cross stitch and duplicate stitch on knits. (Paperback with French flaps, sent to me by the publisher)

• Cocoknits Sweater Workshop by Julie Weisenberger is one I’ve mentioned before but wanted to include here anyway. This is Julie’s master explanation of her modified top-down methodology which leads to sweaters with English-tailored shoulders and set-in sleeves rather than the common top-down raglan method. She describes the process in the front of the book, explains how to calculate and track the numbers you’ll need, and all of that is followed by eight (highly adaptable) sweater patterns and a detailed run-through of the abbreviations and techniques they employ. Another gorgeous book, and I’m dying to try out her method!

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PREVIOUSLY in Books: A Year Between Friends

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Great scenes from the Summer of Basics so far

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Great scenes from the Summer of Basics

You guys realize next week is August? And you know what comes after August? SEPTEMBER! We’re almost through summer, and already 2/3 of the way through the Summer of Basics Make-along. There have been so many great garments and moments and photos on the #summerofbasics feed so far, and I thought today would be a good time to share just a few:

TOP ROW: From @ashleybennett88, this is such a clever way of solving the tricky problem of shooting pattern+fabric choices, while also spelling out her three-part plan for SoB. (NOTE: She’s just getting started — you can, too!)

SECOND: Likewise, this is such a gorgeous photo and sweet scene by @paddleboatstudio, which also happens to be a killer idea for showing off finished garments. Hannah appears to have been something of an SoB overachiever in June!

THIRD ROW: The “look at my new PANTS!” twins, @bethtais (her intro post here) and @sv_azimuth (her original plan here)

FOURTH ROW: Such a great, summery WIP scene by @hi.hilde, who is knitting her first-ever socks (her full plan here)

BELOW: And proving that “basic” doesn’t have to mean either boring or neutral, there’s this amazing shot of @callmedwj in her rainbow cardigan, which clearly not only thrills her but will work with everything in her closet and get a ton of wear. Basic at its finest. ;)

What are some of your favorites so far, and how are your projects going?

Great scenes from the Summer of Basics

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Q for You: How do you feel about mistakes?

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Q for You: How do you feel about mistakes?

Someone recently asked on Instagram for my thoughts on mistakes. And I was like, Where do I start?! Let’s see, here are a few of them:

1) Definitely make them! Early and often. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re likely not trying anything new. (This is a life lesson; not knitting specific.)

1a) All knitters make mistakes — it’s not something you grow out of. (The best gymnasts on earth still fall off the bars on a regular basis.)

2) Fixing mistakes is the absolute best way to learn and to grow your confidence and ambition, so again, make new and different ones so you can learn how to fix them!

3) The most common advice I give people is that you’ll never regret having taken the time to fix something that’s bothering you, but you might very well regret not doing so.

4) But also: Not all mistakes need to be fixed, in my opinion.

I’ve struggled with perfectionism (and “perfection paralysis,” as one of you said the other day) all my life, have been really working hard on it in recent years, and the fact that I just said “not all mistakes need to be fixed” is evidence of how far I’ve come. The initial question had been prompted by my admission to another person that I had left in a mistake, visible in the photo and in the one up top here, in the very first cable cross in the lower right. I knew it when I made it — I was right there and could have fixed it in two seconds, but I chose to leave it. The person who asked the question described herself as a perfectionist and talked about a project she had completed that was disappointing because it wasn’t perfect, which I obviously could totally sympathize with. My Instagram-sized response to her was:

“I mean, everything is fixable. You could pull out your I-cord and redo it, right? My rule of thumb is just if something will bother me in the end, I fix it. If not, I don’t. This tiny little thing, to me, is like getting that first ding in your new car — now that’s out of the way! I’m a perfectionist in life (it’s something I battle) but I don’t really believe in perfection in knitting. That tiny mistake I left makes it not only handmade, but uniquely mine.”

There are commonly cited legends of Persian rug-makers and Navajo weavers (etc) who hide a small flaw in their work on purpose because only God is perfect (or some variation on that). Someone else said something recently that I can’t track down now [EDIT: found it], but I think she said her grandmother would call a mistake a “humble spot,” which I love. LOVE. But for me it goes back to what I first fell in love with about William Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement when I studied design history in school — their notion of placing value on the “presence of hand” in an object; evidence that it was made by a person and not a machine.

Here’s the rest of what I said that day, which is a newer thought for me, and one I haven’t fully fleshed out yet:

“I think there’s getting something right and getting something perfect. I’m only interested in getting it right. And only I can define any of those terms, anyway.”

You all know how much effort I put into getting things right — by which I mean getting the yarn and colors and fit and length and neck-shaping exactly (or almost exactly!) how I want it. But perfection doesn’t interest me. Just like the rift in the moss stitch and the misplaced black stitch in the colorwork pictured above — two other recent mistakes I’ve deliberately left — those two mistwisted purl stitches on the inside of my wrist will be my favorite thing about this fisherman sweater when it’s done: the inside joke or wink-wink between me and my genuinely one-of-a-kind sweater.

So that’s a lot from me, but I wanted to put the same Q to all of You: What’s your attitude toward mistakes? How do you decide what to leave and what to live with?

I’m looking forward to hearing from you on this, and wish you all a happy and relaxing weekend!

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: What are you afraid of?

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