I like making things: November 2011

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving Day here in the USA so the turkey is in the oven along with sweet potatoes and stuffing.

I have been working on Christmas presents but will not be posting pictures until after Christmas just in case any of the recipients read my blog.

Today though, the knitting machine will be left under wraps. Tomorrow is housework day as many of my husband's family are in the vincinity for his Aunt and Uncle's 70th wedding anniversary. Now that's not something you get to participate in very often, a 70th Anniversary party but that's where we are headed on Saturday so I guess there will not be any more knitting until Sunday at the earliest. We may get visitors back here after the party so better make the place all spic and span lol.

Have lots of things to do in the next three weeks before we depart for CA so it's gonna be a busy few weeks.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

I made some cone stands

The advantage of having a husband who likes making things too, (in his case woodwork type things) is there are always lots of off cuts of wood in his workshop.

I love winding yarn on the woolwinder but I only have one cone so when I take the yarn off the cone the hole closes up and sometimes the cone will fall over when I'm knitting with it on the machine.

So I went off the the workshop, found some offcuts, sanded them down so the yarn wouldn't catch and found some thin dowling.

I got my husband to drill the holes and cut the dowling to the sizes I wanted and then I glued them in.

Here they are:-

being tested out

The large cone's cardboard cone is all squashed in so the cone wouldn't

stay upright before and the cone I wound closed up when I took it off

the winder so it would tip over sometimes

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

And finally, the little jacket is done and in the mail!

After my last post I thought it was about time I just stopped whining and complaining and just got on with it, so I did lol.

Actually, everything went quite smoothly after the faux pas of trying to knit the hood in one piece.

I knitted the two pieces of the hood and then both sleeves. Then I was left to decide on how to edge the front and said hood. I tried the suggested method of crocheting the edges but my skills in crochet are not that good so I decided to do a doubled edge. Then I had to calculate how many stitches I would have to pick up so that it didn't pull too tight or be loose and wavy. I experimented on my swatches and found out how many stitches and what tension would be best. I knitted the main body on tension 6 using tuck stitch but the edges needed to be tension 4 on the hood and 3.. on the front.

The front edge attached to to the front and being cast off.

Before I started on the edges I decided to move my knitting desk to a different location in the spare room. I needed more space around me and it was too crowded in where I had it up against a wall.

I had snaffled a bench from my husbands workshop to use at my machine because I could slide along it when knitting and could also place my pattern and instructions etc on it. With it being against the wall I now have a backrest.

I had read on a knitting blog that it is best to have the yarn on the floor behind the machine rather than just sitting on the table behind the machine so now my desk is not against the wall I can do this. The other advantages are I can now set up the wool winder and whirly gig on the desk and I could even have the Knitsmart fitted up on the back of the desk and I would just have to move my bench around. Much better than having to take down the 700 to use the Knitsmart. I am very happy with this arrangement.

Ice cream pots make great containers for the cones and of course, there's the ever present cup of tea!

And now for the piece de resistance! The Jacket. I have to say I am pretty proud of myself on this one.

All the time I was making it I was worrying about sewing in the zipper. Should I hand sew it in, should I use the sewing machine, was putting a zipper in a bad idea? All these thoughts were rolling around in my head. When it was all sewn up and ready for the zipper I was quite nervous. I started off by pining it in, then I tacked it and took out the pins. Next I took my trusty swatch and an old zipper and tried sewing it on the machine from the front but it pulled the knitting a bit. Finally I took the bull by the horns and stitched it on the machine sewing on the zipper side and using the teeth as a guide.

The result was perfect. I was soooooo happy.

I wanted it to be perfect because my four year old grand daughter is excited about getting it and she was hoping it would be as 'beautiful' (her words) as one I had made for her when she was a baby, which incidentally, seemed to grow with her as she was still wearing it when she was three!

Have some things to get done in the house and some sewing to do before embarking on my next project on the Knitsmart. A bulky cardigan for my husband.

Glad you stopped by

I started this blog in 2011: Ever since my Mum taught me to knit at the age of about six or seven I have made things. Back then it was doll clothes. I was also inspired by Mrs Levitt an elderly lady who had a sewing room in a conservatory type room on the back of her house. I would sit and watch her in awe as she sewed.

When I was a child living in England the school system was such that you started at 5 years, did two years in Infant School, then four years in Primary School then five to seven years in Secondary School, depending on whether you chose to stay on after fifth form to get qualifications to go to University. I can't remember much of the Infant school other than making the standard square doily thingy from fabric that had holes in it so you could embroider patterns into it. A bit like the modern day cross stitch fabric but with bigger holes and spaces to make it easy for small hands to use. I also remember with great joy getting a toy sewing machine one Christmas which sewed only chain stitch but I did make doll clothes on it and that was before I started Primary school. I do have very vivid recollections of Primary school and having sewing and knitting lessons. In Primary school I knitted gloves and made a dress from scratch hand sewing it all.

Secondary school continued on with sewing by which time I had progressed to using full sized sewing machines and was making more intricate skirts and dresses. My parents bought me a proper sewing machine when I was thirteen. I used that same machine right up until I emigrated to Canada at age forty six years.

I have always had a fascination for sewing machines and knitting machines. I bought my first knitting machine at around age twenty one from an ad in a newspaper for twelve pounds. I had absolutely no idea what one was just that I wanted one. I trundled on the bus to the address in the advert and handed over my twelve pounds having absolutely no idea what I had really bought. Fortunately it came with a manual. It was an aged Knitmaster, very basic and I loved it. I wore it out. Next was a Brother push button one which I didn't keep because it was at a time in my life when things were difficult. Later on in my life, around forty, when things were better I bought a brand new Brother punchard machine with a ribber attachment. I loved it and made many things. Life took a different turn, I moved countries twice and along the way, regrettably I sold it.

Now, through the universe's blessing I now have another machine. It is a vintage one because they stopped making them early 90's but works perfectly and I love it. So I decided to make this blog to document my knitting progress and include sewing projects.

In 2013: we embarked on a new hobby, leather-work. My husband got started with it and it drew me in. It is something we can do together. We have a workshop so have plenty of room to work. We added another workbench for me to work on in 2013. We already had one but we were tripping over each other both trying to work at it. We only make things we want to make. It is strictly a hobby. We made some things for our good neighbours who help us out a lot. I am also working on Christmas presents. So this blog now incorporates the leather-work. Knitting and sewing will always be my first love though.

Fast forward to 2023 and now age almost 75 years. I have seven sewing machines, four knitting machines, several ribber attachments and a garter carriage for one of the machines. I am blessed beyond words, but I know that I have more than enough machines to keep me going in my lifetime so I don’t think I will be adding to my collection any time soon……….unless a nice embroidery machine manifests itself very cheaply.

I am a Brit living in the USA, sometimes I spell like a Brit and sometimes like an American. Sometimes I use slang and even make grammatical errors. I blog for the pleasure of it and to record my endeavours in the event that my memory fades, as I am sure it will with more age. I will be able to look back and remind myself of the things I have made along the way. So please forgive my mistakes when reading about my life making things here in the hinterlands and I hope you get as much enjoyment from my blog as I do from reading the blogs I follow.