I hope you had a much more productive weekend than I did…
On Saturday evening my sewing machine starting making a funny squeaking noise, then after a while it started laboring… :( I had to stop sewing altogether since I didn’t want to end up damaging my machine by pushing it when it’s not feeling well.
So off to the repair shop it went today. Truthfully, I really lucked out since I didn’t think my repair shop was even open on Sundays. Which means that I’m hoping to be able to pick it up later this week, if all goes well.
Sadly, all I have to share from my weekend is a progress shot of three skirts.
On the far left is my muslin of Godet skirt from Burda, in the middle is my nearly complete Linda circle skirt, and on the far right is my Twinkle skirt with a horsehair canvas-interfaced yoke.
I’ve been getting a good rhythm down with my sewing projects; during the weekends I’ve been trying to work on my muslins and various fitting issues so that during the week (in the evenings) I can just sew knowing I don’t have any alterations to do. It’s been working out great so far but it also means I have several projects going at the same time, all at different sewing phases.
After dropped off my machine, I switched over to knitting and started up my first fall knit: the Vashon sweater by Berroco:
The yarn this pattern calls for is a chunky-gauge (thicker than worsted weight) and I’m using a size 10.5 needle, both of which I’m not used to anymore. It feels quite strange knitting with so large of needles, but I’m slowly getting the feel for it again.
While I don’t mind focusing on my knitting, I really want to be able to get back to my sewing machine and continue to push ahead on my fall sewing projects. Please wish my machine a speedy recovery. :)
While I was on vacation a ton of fabric I had ordered for trousers (and a couple of blouses) arrived, so I’m eager to get to some fall sewing. Good luck on a speedy recovery for your machine!
Sorry to hear that your machine was acting up! And, on your sweater, did you crochet chain the bottom so that you can extend the ribbing if necessary? Or am I seeing something else I don’t understand (I’m a very new knitter)?
Yes! That is a crochet chain on the bottom of the ribbing and you’re exactly correct that it is for extending the ribbing for additional length at the end, if needed.
It’s techincally called a provisional cast on with knitting. I just learnt this technique myself, and I’ve found it quite useful.
Whenever I begin a new knitting pattern, I look through everyone’s comments about the pattern on Ravelry to see what their common alterations were; and a great deal of people commented that this sweater ended up a bit short. So I thought it would be perfect to use a provisional cast on so I could add more length if I ended up needing it in the end.
I blogged about this technique here which includes some Youtube videos so you can do it yourself. It’s really quite easy!
Thanks so much for that feedback. I am thinking of sewing a sweater that calls for this (I don’t think it refers to it as provisional – I think they call it crochet chain). I’m totally going to check out your post! K
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your poor machine! I think I’ve been even less productive than you lately, so don’t beat yourself up!
I’m sorry your machine is acting up… but on the positive side, that sweater is gorgeous! I love Cirilia Rose’s designs. I know what you mean about the large needles/yarn though … it’s great that they knit up so quickly, but it can be pretty hard on the hands if you’re used to smaller gauges!