The Latest Crafting...

My next goal is to finish a second muslin of my fitted bodice (S, my fitting friend, is very polite but I sense she wants to smack me for my delinquency). Hopefully tomorrow - the last day of my vacation - will permit me to do this successfully.

Today, I finished the button bands on my City Cardigan, Take 2, and photos will be coming soon. I did have a very stressful moment, wherein I had to rip out 2 of 4 buttonholes after the machine seized up. That cost me an hour, but I'm grateful to say the fix is doable, even on a hand-knitted garment lined with a petersham ribbon. Given my hysteria about buttonholes in general, this was a bad scene. My husband had to talk me off the ledge. And fix the machine and stand next to me while I resewed. Note to readers: NEVER cut your buttonholes until you've sewn everything in. Then, if something, fucks up, you can rip out the buttonhole framing with (hopefully) little ill-effect.

I do hope to sew something quick in the next couple of weeks, and I've just started knitting this:

It's the Claire McCardell "Convertible" wrap sweater from the 50s. I've provided some info on Ravelry... You've got to love the deep coral colour I'm using, called "Chagrin". It's by a Lorna's Hand-Dyed Yarns. (Yet again, the website shows a photo of completely inaccurate shade, but what can you do?)

While the pattern looks fairly simple - ahem, let's not get ahead of ourselves - it's a flat knit that must be finished with a fair amount of seaming. (It's faced and hemmed up the yin yang.) Those mid-century knitters were not top-downers. It's also to be knit with a sock-weight wool on a 2.75 mm needle. That's yarn about a zillion times thinner than the worsted weight I just used on my City sweaters and a needle that's practically thin enough to sew with! The freakin' gauge swatch is probably going to take me an hour.

Finally, S has been working on a linen shirt for quite a while. Actually, she's been wearing it for quite a while though, technically, it's not quite done. One of the finishings she's considered is a rolled-hem. A while ago, I watched a video of a skilled tailor hand rolling and sewing the hem of a silk scarf. Somehow, and I guess this is the power of observing rather than owning a project, I decided it would be fun to practice the technique on S's blouse. And she didn't stop me?!

I don't know if, on closer review, tomorrow she'll pull the stitches out, but tonight she seemed fairly pleased with the result. I'm amazed by what an enjoyable bit of hand-stitching it is. Don't fear the hand-rolled hem. It's very intuitive. Just lick your fingers to gain the required friction to slimly roll the raw edge of the fabric. I can imagine it will be delightful doing this with silk.