Second Stab Shale Blazer

Some time last year I made a knitted jacket called ‘Shale’ from Kim Hargreaves’ Storm collection.  I wasn’t 100% happy with how it turned out, mainly because I had substituted the wool and it came out too big for me but also because I wasn’t keen on some of the features such as the back vent, buttoned cuffs and one too few buttons (to my mind anyway) on the front.  I blogged about it here

 

 Despite those things, I really liked the texture the stitch created and the style of the jacket so, nothing daunted, I bought more yarn and made it in the XS size, omitting the fancy details and adding a button a little higher up.

I’ve used these vintage buttons for now because it’s hard deciding what to use but, if I see something I like better, I’ll change them.

I really like the texture and it does actually feel like a jacket rather than a cardigan.

The mannequin is sporting the buttoned up version because I’m such a lazy baggage I couldn’t be bothered to change so I pulled some jeans on under my dress and then just folded the hem of the dress up a few times to make it look like a top with the result that it made me look hippy when I buttoned the jacket up.  So I’ve just used the photo of me demonstrating the open version.

This is the next thing I’m doing from the same pattern book and this really is supposed to be a ‘boyfriend’ cardigan.

I promise I won’t accessorize it like this. ( If only I could get away with such things any more).

I decided to knit this using the Rowan wools recommended but as you use one strand of Kidsilk Haze and one strand of Kid Classic throughout it worked out rather expensive.  I scoured Ebay until I came up with somebody who, miraculously, had the 11 balls of  Kid Classic I needed in a soft grey colour so I bid quite high as I was determined to get it and it still worked out a lot cheaper than any of the other sellers.  I found somebody selling the Kidsilk Haze to go with it at £4 a ball – which is about half the price of everywhere else – bought and paid for it and then they told me they were waiting for stock.  The next day they refunded my money.  I threw a bit of a hissy fit as I probably wouldn’t have embarked upon this project if I’d had to pay full price – or I’d have found substitutes – now they’re saying it is still in the system and, when it comes in, they’ll send it to me anyway without charging me again.  If that happens it’s a good result for me but, if it doesn’t, I’ll be naming and shaming them as I don’t like the practice, becoming more and more common, where sellers take your money for something they need to order from another supplier without always knowing they’ll be able to get hold of it.  Rant over (for now).

Do you think I’m compensating for not being able to add to my fabric stash because of my fabric fast by knitting like a woman possessed?  I must confess that I nearly fell off the wagon on Thursday.  I went to Ikea in Toulouse with a friend and, as we were walking round, I spotted the curtains and blinds section and noted again the fact that their fabric selection is diminishing.  My friend realised she needed the loo which we had just gone past so she backtracked, leaving me alone and unsupervised.  I vaguely wandered over to the fabrics and wasn’t interested in any of the home furnishing weight stuff but noted the plain cottons they have for 3.99 euros a metre and, as my stash is sadly lacking in ‘plains’, I thought I’d buy a metre of the black cotton.  If you have ever bought fabric in Ikea you will know that you cut your own and then weigh it and stick the resulting ticket on it.

This is how far I got – literally –  the scissors were open and the fabric was between the blades – before I remembered that I have 11 months to go until I can do such a thing again.

 

Still, I’ve cast on for another one of my huge blankets.  The weather has an autumnal feel in the mornings and evenings now and I think I can bear to be covered in wool from time to time and this will be for my Mum’s Christmas present.  It’s a funny colour – lilac mist I think – it’s beige with a lilac fleck in it but, to be honest, it’s mostly beige unless you look very carefully in good daylight.

Do you do ‘research’ when you’re making something?  By which I mean trying to find the materials at the best possible price.  It does take up a lot of time and sometimes I think I’d rather just pay the top end price and be done with it but, to be honest, I secretly enjoy it.

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It’s Nippy! Must Be Knitting Time.

It’s that time of year when I prefer the comfort of a big, warm, fluffy ball of wool and a pair of chunky needles to a cutting mat and some flimsy fabric.  That’s not to say I have abandoned the sewing machine.  I have the new Grainline sweatshirt pattern, ‘Linden’  and some french terry fabric ready to make something to keep me warm at the start of my yoga class.  I also have Colette’s new Dahlia dress pattern for which I’m going to throw caution to the wind and try sewing with plaid again – they promise it’s an ideal pattern for plaid (no darts) and will hold my hand along the way which I will need after my last disastrous attempt.   So I’m just awaiting a huge fabric delivery, praying Customs won’t punish me too much for ordering from the States,  then I can get going on that.  I also have a sort of 70s boho vibe top cut out and ready to go for Mlle Tialys the younger and just need to make or buy some bias binding and ribbon and I’ll be off.  But, for the moment, I’m mainly in knitting mode.

In a timely fashion for the temperature change we’ve just experienced – one day in swimming pool*, next day looking at snow on the mountains – I’ve just recently finished this jacket or short coat, as it is called on the pattern.

* not me in swimming pool of course.  As if.  It needs to be at least 27 degrees for me to get in – and I’m talking water temperature not air temperature

This is Sirdar Pattern 8951 in Denim Ultra which is a joy to work with and also knits up quicker than you can say ‘I think I might actually wear this one’.  My mum had made one for herself and I liked it, especially when I saw the size of the needles (10mm) and the rope like yarn.  It’s definitely a quick fix knit.  I was lucky enough to find somebody selling it for a fraction of the price but only in one colour – Laurel – which is a dark green with black fleck, although I know it looks grey in the photo.  So an economical knit too.

Here is the back but I confess that, true to form, I made an error right at the beginning by ignoring my usual insistence using cable cast on and following the pattern instructions to cast on using the thumb method.  I’m sure there is a good reason to do this but, not being used to it, I cast on too loosely for the back and it stayed a bit ‘loopy’.  When I took these photos I hadn’t fixed it but now I have by weaving a length of yarn along the cast on edge at the back to neaten it up.

 

The reason it is on the mannequin instead of me, by the way, is because it was bloomin’ hot on the day I took the photos and I usually relish any excuse not to photograph myself plus my mannequin carries off a jaunty silk scarf much better than me.

Before I start my next project, I must must must – I really must – finish my socks I started back at the beginning of the year and then abandoned (or hibernated, as they call it on Ravelry) .  Remember these?  My two at a time, toe up, striped socks using the tutorial from Heidi Bears.

Well they are now past the heel and halfway up my leg so another couple of evenings will have them finished but, until then, I am not going to cast on for this pattern called ‘Shale’ from Kim Hargreaves book ‘Storm’.

in this

which is Sirdar Denim Ultra again, in Blackberry, and I’m going to use it instead of Rowan Big Wool which is what is used in the pattern.  It is half the price and, after reading some negative reviews on Ravelry about the Rowan yarn, might be a better choice anyway.  I’ve knitted a swatch and I think, by going down a needle size, I can make it work.

But first, I have a pair of stripy socks to finish.