One month in
Somehow (and please do not ask me how, it certainly wasn't my idea) we're just over a month into the new year. And we're exactly a month out from the morning I sat down at my computer and took my whole ravelry shop down for a giant organizing and tidying spree.* It was scary (selling stuff on ravelry is how I pay my bills). And reformatting and relisting things is a massive project (I've got more than 280 patterns...revisiting them all is daunting). But it has been so so so satisfying. Since that morning in January, I've brought about thirty [...]
Dispatch
Dispatch is out, it's 10% off with the code POSTED, and you can have a whole stack of them knit up by the end of the week. So I'm always torn between talking about the practical stuff (how it's made, what yarn you need) and the fun stuff (what to do with the awesome little things). But the fun stuff is, well, more fun. So let's start there. From what I've heard, a whole bunch of you are planning to use these to slip notes or cards into and send them off with your kiddos or sweethearts, either as valentines [...]
And now it starts to get tidier
So, we had the messy middle part. We made the patches. Now it finally starts to look better. After sending the patches through the washer and dryer a few times (because if they're going to shrink, I want them to shrink *before* I sew them on my sweater thank you very much), I pinned them to the sweater. Then I held the fabric stiff and still with an embroidery hoop and started sewing. I picked a column of stitches on the edge of the patch and duplicate stitched over every other stitch in the column, then over a random scattering [...]
Sidebar
We interrupt your regularly scheduled elbow patches to talk about the slits on the side of the sweater. I love sweaters with side slits (what can I say, I have a big ass, side slits make for extra ass room). But I find they tend to get messed up over time). But...but...this is fixable! The best way I've found to fix it is by blanket stitching around the perimeter of the slit. Now, if you were a cool kid, you'd do this before it got worn out. But if you were me, you'd intend to do it before it got [...]
There is actually some knitting involved in this
So these are the patches. Nothing fancy, just more or less oval shaped, and a good bit bigger than the worn area on the sweater. I'm knitting the patches in Ontheround's Everyday DK in Silver Lining Tweed. That's actually the exact same yarn I used for the original patch (this is more leftovers from the same skein I used before). You can see that the original patch faded a good bit since I put it on. This is totally MY fault, NOT the yarn's fault. I have done things to this yarn that no yarn should have to endure. [...]
The middle is messy
Like with a lot of projects, the middle of this is going to look a bit messy. I'm pretty sure if I were doing this right I'd only show you the shiny finished product. But I always find it refreshing to see that someone else has messy bits in the middle, so I'm leaving them in. The first step was ripping off the old patch. I'd put it on there rather firmly, and it has been through the wash dozens of times since I put it on, so this part was actually kind of a pain. But I wanted to [...]
Ongoing
This mending thing is an ongoing process. If you were here last spring, you may remember I saved the elbow on an old cotton sweater I wear as pajamas. Well that kept the sweater happily in the rotation for another nine months. But now, the elbow on the other side is starting to get thin. It doesn't quite have an actual hole yet, but if I don't do something soon, it will. So I've decided to just go all out and fix this up properly. I'm going to take off the old patch and make a big patch for each [...]
Your swatch has the answer
So as always, swatching is informative. That's the short version. The long version goes something like this.⠀ I started with the grey with neon speckles and the blue. It's promising, but I see I'd need a smaller needle (that's a two, and the fabric is too open for what I want). Next I tried the purple and purple. And it's lovely, but the contrast is too subtle for this project. While I was working the purple swatch, I got distracted and tried out a solid gray yarn and gray floof, but again, way too subtle (and alas it was dark, [...]
Silk Road Socks Individual Patterns
If you've been following along for the last few weeks, you know I am neck deep in a massive shop reorganization. At the beginning of the year, I took my whole ravelry store down (talk about scary). And I've been busy bringing patterns back out as I get them revised and reformatted. The whole process is unspeakably satisfying. I am one of those people who thrives on order and tidiness, and this is basically giving that part of my brain free rein to be as picky as it wants. But, you're not here for disturbing insights into how my mind [...]
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