Not On Your Tintype!

A long time ago, Mom sent away for a sewing pattern, probably from a magazine ad.

It was for a lovely owl-shaped pillow, and so probably was intended for me. But she never made it.

I got around to reading through the pattern yesterday. It called for fabric, and felt, and sewing tools that I haven't heard of since a long ago class in Home Economics. Still, it seemed pretty straightforward.

Then I got to the instructions for the feathers.

That's right. Cut out 500 of these, sew them together in pairs, turn them inside out, gather them slightly, and sew them - one at a time - onto the owl's body.

Can you imagine? I can't, and I'm sure neither could Mom. I've never looked forward more to giving something away.

A Pause, and a Restart

The latest legacy project has been on hold while I waited for the buttons to arrive. It's bad luck to make buttonholes before you have the buttons. And now I do, so that will start up again soon.

Meanwhile, I ditched two different pairs of socks I was working on. These, because all of the remaining yarn had been nibbled at (long before I got it and quarantined it, there's just a limit to how many ends I want to deal with). And these (the second one down), because although working the pattern is interesting, I just never like the results. Instead, I've cast on two new pair, and finished a toe apiece.

Not Turtles All the Way Down

How does the doll I am knitting stand up, you ask? Extremely well! I am shocked at how well it stands and keeps its balance, even knowing that the skirt acts like the sides of a trimaran.

But she has a secret. An alter ego, if you will...

And she stands securely as well.

Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) DPNs, US 7 (4.5mm) 16-inch circular

Yarn: Knit Picks Brava in Almond, Black, and Currant, plus assorted acrylic worsted scraps

Pattern: Susan B. Anderson's Top-Down Seamless Petticoat Dolls, from her book Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys, although my copy was included in issue 120 of Simply Knitting in the UK, and is just called Topsy-Turvy Doll

And because I know someone will want to see exactly how it works, here is a photo of the joining:

And here is the photo I drew on before making the face, which was exceedingly helpful in placing the stitches:

Legacy Yarn: Tigrenki

I'm knitting up the leftover yarn from these socks into socks for myself. I thought I'd have enough for anklets, at least, with orange toes and an orange stripe around the top of the cuff. Amazingly, it looks like I'll have enough for a full pair of socks!

Still completely impossible to get clear focus on this yarn!

I've jazzed up the cuffs with a 2x2 rib variation I learned ages ago: every 4th round you right-twist all the knit-2s. Easy-peasy to do and keep track of, and it looks like normal ribbing if you decide to fold the cuffs down.

Legacy Project: An Italian Hem

After some consideration, I decided the cast off I wanted to use is the Italian (or Invisible, or Tubular) Cast Off. It's best done to finish off 1x1 ribbing, but I had to learn the hard way that you can't do it on twisted rib. Once I worked the set-up rows in plain 1x1 ribbing, and reminded myself of the steps, it was smooth sailing.

I really like how it looks.

I just wish there wasn't quite so much of it.

When I start the front-and-neck edging, I will start making up my mind about fasteners. Pewter clasps? Elephant buttons? Boring blue buttons?

Legacy project: Embroidery, Crochet, and Kntting, Oh My!

This was a total magic trick. I know I've been making fun of all the different steps and skills involved in this project, but the end result is completely impossible: knitting on to a piece of woven fabric.

First up, the embroidery. I was supposed to do this before seaming, but I was worried that the seam would eat up partial chains. Doing it after worked just fine. Three strands of floss, an embroidery needle sharp enough to pierce fabric, but sturdy enough not to be bent -- this fabric is a heavy twill with a satin lining -- and off we go. The instructions specify 4-5 stitches to the inch, and I wing it across one piece of fabric before measuring. Nope. I cannot eyeball distances and I know that. Back it comes (chain stitch, is there anything easier to rip out?). I measure off inches with pins across the bottom edge of the fabric, prepared to count forever. Fortunately, it only takes two inches of chains for me to realize that I can measure my stitches against the serge stitching on the edge of the fabric. One chain to two serge stitches, and I'm off again, removing the pins as I go, and finishing the whole length in no time.

Next, some crochet! The hook size was specified, and although my crochet hooks are lettered rather than numbered and seem vague about their equivalent millimeters, I have the approximate right size. I don't have an afghan hook small enough, so that variant was nipped right in the bud. One single crochet in each chain, one single crochet in every other edge stitch of the knitted section. I did have to refresh my memory on single crochet. I make a lot of dish scrubbies using half-double-crochet (which is not the same as single crochet, get over it, math and language nerds), and my hands now automatically do that stitch unless I carefully watch them at the beginning.

Finally, time to knit! The instructions gave explicit directions -- but no pictures -- on how to hold the fabric and which direction to start from. I had to stop thinking I knew what they wanted and do exactly as instructed. And lo and behold, on the next row I was working twisted rib onto fabric!

I've done the math, and I have enough yarn to do the entire edge in the same yarn. Ordinarily that would argue for mitering the corners and doing it all at once, but I simply do not have enough, or long enough, needles. So, again as instructed, I will work the bottom ribbing and then the side ribbing.

Doll face

The do-over is done and the socks now fit like all my other socks - yay! A good soak removed most of the kink from the yarn.

Meanwhile, I've been stricken with a desire to knit dolls.

She just needs a face and hair. Hair is hard, and has been my doll downfall in the past.

But First, Mattress Stitch!

Back to the legacy project. I was wrong. Embroidery wasn't next up, sewing the side seams was. The yarn I bought for the ribbing proved to be too thick for seaming. But any thin yarn would do, since with mattress stitch, it would barely show. See?

And here's a bit at the end so you can see what color I wound up using to sew the seams.

There was a long enough tail on the cuffs to seam them up with the original yarn, which is nice in case the eventual wearer wants to turn back the cuffs.

Now can I embroider?

Do-Over

When I packed up my wool socks for the summer, I noticed that there was a pair I had not worn once all winter. I thought about it, and realized they didn't fit well and never had. I had messed around with my standard sock pattern to try to improve it and had instead achieved the opposite. But this was six years ago! Was it too late to re-do them? Well, if I wasn't wearing them much anyway, what did I have to lose?

So I picked out the woven in ends, ripped out the knitting, and re-wound the yarn. Now I am re-knitting them to my standard pattern. Since I initially made them too long and narrow, I seem to have enough yarn to make them shorter and wider.

The yarn, however, looks like this:

So the finished sock looks dreadful:

I can only hope that blocking returns the yarn to its former smooth self. Half a sock to go, and then we will find out.