The knitting doldrums

True to the title, I am bang in the middle of knitting doldrums, not helped by the fact that I just wrote this whole post and then managed to lose it. Note to self: save blog postings more regularly!

I haven't really been in the mood for picking up my needles for a while, although I did manage to finish my Birch in the car on the way to see my gorgeous nephews yesterday. But other than that, there's not been a lot of knitting at the Knitting Retreat.

Part of the reason is that I've been doing some sewing. I went on a sewing course (actually, I went on two sewing courses and bumped into another knitter on one of them but that's another story). I am now the proud owner of a sewing machine and a rapidly growing stash of fabric, mostly from Liberty.

And

But this is, and shall remain, a knitting blog, so I'll spare you loads of pictures of my wonky sewing. But, add to fact that I've been sewing, the fact that I just cannot face the idea of ripping back the neck of the ski sweater or undoing the cuffs and trying to work out how you make sure that you rip back the same amount either side. So the ski sweater is relegated to a bag on the floor next to the sofa in the hope that she just might magically improve. You never know.

But there has been the teeniest bit of progress - which I shall now milk to death seeing as there is pretty much nothing else for me to write about. Remember Flighty from Rowan 23 that I cast on in August 2004? Well I decided that there was no way that I was going to have a 3 year old WIP when all that needed doing was a bit of sewing (there are older WIPs but they require proper knitting to be completed).

Here's Flighty after I had sewn in what felt like a gazillion ends. There are only so many strands that you can carry up the side and eventually some of them need to be cut and sewn in. It's a fact.

I do like the zig zag effect that this pattern produces.

However, there is a slight problem with her. I suspect that this may have something to do with my rather haphazard reading and subsequent interpretation of the pattern rather than the pattern itself.

The front "pointy bit" rolls up. Too much for me to wear her as she is. I think I will try to give her a good pressing and maybe even attempt a splash of starch although I am already resigning myself to the fact that this may turn out to be a design feature. In which case Flighty may well find herself heading to the charity shop.

The button holes were a bit of an adventure as I hadn't attempted these loopy ones before.

It turns out that they are quite easy but I did learn one lesson: it's best to do them all in one sitting. I did mine in two sittings and managed, between the two, to lose the pen that I was using to create the initial loops which means that the loops aren't all the same size. I'll live.

Finally I finished the straps. Icord is officially preferable to these.

So all that's left to do is sew in the buttons (I have some lovely Rowan red buttons) and sew the straps in. Not sure how I'll do that but I am sure to come up with something or other.

Posted by Amelia at April 9, 2007 08:43 AM