It's not that you can't do it!

So I was at kinder pickup the other day and we were talking about sewing, and I heard that classic ripper of a line "I'm terrible at sewing. I just can't get it." And I did what I always end up doing. Saying something along the lines of "Patterns that are around these days are fantastic as they teach you as you make." "The diagrams are better and you learn techniques as you sew" (as opposed to old school patterns that assumed that you knew the techniques required). And then "it isn't actually difficult - it just requires a bit of practice".

Anyway it got me to thinking about how many people have said something along those lines to me AND got me wondering why. Why people think they are bad at it and that they can't learn how. And why does there seem to be a perception that you either have what it takes to learn to make or you don't*.  

There is this Elizabeth Zimmerman quote that I can't for the life of me find (and I am about to butcher) but it basically says that she has heard people say that they can't knit. Piffle she says! They can balance their cheque book, drive a car and make a meal. Knitting is easier than all those things. They may not want to - but it isn't that they can't. End of butchered quote - my apologies lovely Elizabeth!

When thinking about the why we don't think we can make anymore I have been thinking about what has changed in society and I think there are some clues there. I acknowledge that there is less knowledge floating around in the community these days about domestic handcrafts such as sewing. Whereas once you would have learnt sewing and knitting from your family (aunts, grandmothers etc) or even from school, nowdays those avenues for knowledge gathering are not available to most of us. And in the past there was more making around us. Due to necessity and the lack of disposable clothing and income, people mended and made as part of their daily life. It wasn't a hobby but a necessity. 

However, I think what has been lost - the thing that leads to all these comments - is more subtle than just a loss of skills. 

I think we have lost the belief that we can make.  And that making with our hands is learnable.

We aren't talking about making couture. We are talking about making a frock. Or a quilt or a cardy. None of it is really hard either. It is learned skill on skill with practice. But I think that that loss of belief is the key. And I think maybe that it comes from your childhood. From people around you just making as part of their day. From most people making as part of their skill set - like most people cook or drive, or do their online banking.

I'll give you an example from another craft to demonstrate what I mean. This guy I know, let's call him Will**, grew up in a family of tradies. He isn't one. He has always worked in corporate job. But he does all his home maintenence and he builds stuff. Sheds, chicken houses, rewiring lamps, making bunks - you name it and he will have a go at it. Even if he hasn't done it before, he gets on to the internet and figures it out. "How to hang a door" was one of the many tutorials I have seen Will look at over the years and he did a slow but fantastic job. He isn't phased by something he doesn't know about to do with building, because he believes he can learn it. He finds a person who can teach him or a book or an internet tutorial and off he goes....

I was lucky enough to grow up with a mother that is a sewing teacher. And yes I learnt to sew when I was small. BUT the skills that I have now have pretty much all been learned as an adult over the last ten years. I sew differently to my mum. She thinks the way I put my waistbands on is much harder than it needs to be. I would argue that it gives a nicer finish. Although she can knit I didn't learn from her. I learnt from youtube at when I was nearly 30 and now I am much more a knitter than she is. What I did get from her though was so key - and that was the belief that I could learn it if I tried and practiced. 

So how do you get the belief if you don't have it? I don't know..... I know that some encouragement helps. And being pointed to some good resources on the internet is also useful. I think that there needs to be a bit of an education on how not-tricky it is, but what else?? 

Am I on to something? Do you feel like this, or have you? And what helped you become a maker?

Felicia

* I should qualify this by saying that it is inevitable that the odd person really won't be able to get it. But definitely not most. 

** not his real name ;)

Best Of - The Banyan Tee

The Banyan is my go to pattern for kid's knit T-shirts - for school tees, for up-cycling and also for pyjamas. I have tried other T-shirt patterns but this is the one I come back to over and over.* I think in my time I would have made it easily fifteen times. Maybe twenty.

What I like about it is that it is a little looser - which means more growing room and more comfortable for the small people. And because I sew my knits without an overlocker the looser fit means less broken seams and a nicer finish. It is also super quick. All in all it probably takes an hour or two. And if you can make more than one at a time I think you can do it quicker. 

So the details. It is a pattern by Figgy's which is available as a pdf download from Stitch56. There are actually two different shapes. A boys shape which is looser and a girls shape which is more fitted with a different neckline and what I think is called a handkerchief hem. You can see some beautiful versions by sewers on Pinterest here. ** I adore the striped girls versions. They are next on my list.

The bit that I really really love about the Banyan is the neckline. In both the boy's and the girl's pattern, it has a lovely shape. However, my favourite thing is that I LOVE how simple it is to put on the neck band AND the total lack of fiddly-ness. Having to fiddle with a curly knit fabric to do a neckline is one of my least favourite things to do when sewing. This technique makes it super simple. 

I love this pattern so much that I asked Sophie to teach it at The Craft Sessions 2013***. You can see what was made in her class in the photos below. All of those fabrics were recycled from tees from the op shop. Sophie has also made a bunch of them for her small boys which you can find on her blog. 

Not the best photo - but fabulous garments!

I LOVE the fact that it looks wonderful with a combination of fabrics all thrown together which means that you can use small bits and pieces (I would call them scraps if I wasn't writing at ridiculous o'clock after being out with girlfriends for a glass of wine....my apologies!)

I did the same thing on the horse tee below. I took a tee that had holes in the arm, that belonged to my partner, and used the existing pattern for the front of the small boys tee. Can I tell you how happy he was that he got a new T-shirt out of a T-shirt that used to be his dad's? This is a winner all round.

Over the years, I have learnt to wherever possible make the front of the tee a dark colour. The grubbiness of small kids when eating and playing has meant the end to many a light coloured garment. By making the front piece dark I think I get an extra six months out of them before they become too feral to wear.

While I love the girls shape I often tone it down a little to make it less flappy and more practical. A version of this can be seen below in yellow - still flappy but not so much. I know literally nothing about pattern adjustment. I just wing it and redraw lines. It often works out. In the yellow version I just redrew the wings to make them less wingy. I then smoothed the curve on the bottom. It is a little wonky but she is happy. I was attempting to do the half up and half down thing inspired by Brienne but I accidentally cut off the back bit....ridiculous but true.

I have included photos of this last pink T-shirt to show you the joy of winging it and the use of the lovely Banyan neckline finish. I found this tee a month ago. Cut out and half made. I have no idea why I abandoned it - it may have been because I wasn't sure what to do with the back. I couldn't look it up because I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the pattern is. It definitely isn't a Banyan. Once I figured out that it would go over her head even if there wasn't an opening, I attached the Banyan neckline finish, then I literally just sewed the two pieces together. Dodgy but such a sweet top. Dodgy can equal joy!

Have you used the Banyan? Or is your go-to something else. I would love to hear.

Have a great long weekend.

Felicia x

*I have tried the Flashback Skinny Tee by Made by Rae - which I really like but hasn't become my basic. Again - I liked it but it hasn't become my basic tee.

** When the pattern was first released it came with some pants. So some of the pictures on that pinterest search are the pants. 

***She is back teaching this year!!

Getting bottom up sweaters to fit beautifully

So I'm away on a bit of a road trip. About 9000k in the last three weeks - so fun. And the super lucky thing about it is that I have got to share the driving, which means a fair whack of knitting time each and every day. Obviously the parenting malarkey has got in the way a little bit of the quiet-uninterupted-knitting-time-on-a-road-trip you may be imagining. But I have been productive none the less.

And so - I've finished Lila. The lovely Lila as she is known in our household. And lovely she is.

All details of my version can be found on Ravelry.

I really think Lila is the perfect pattern - and Carrie Bostick Hoge it's designer, is a genius. Genius!

What I love about the pattern is it's all round cosiness and comfort - while still retaining an elegant shape. Elegant isn't a word I use too often about something in my wardrobe but in this case it is appropriate. Lila may just be the perfect sweater for autumn, winter and spring. I see myself wearing it over a frock and tights, or maybe a Wiksten Tank dress and jeans. And over my pyjamas - totally perfect for that.

That said - while I love the result - my (first) version is a fairly major stuff up. I am trying to channel my mistakes are how you learn post and forget that I wrote a blog post about how to choose the perfect sweater pattern to enable you to make the sweater you really want.  

I wanted ease - for the cosiness factor. The lovely woman with the curls in the photos has a few inches of ease and it looked great. What could go wrong?

Well friends, I chose the wrong size. See the critical bit with any oversized jumper, in my opinion, is that it fits you really well around the shoulders. This doesn't. It is sloppy and the arms are too big. I recovered it slightly after blocking by committing a cardinal knitting sin, and throwing it in the dryer. And it did pop back into size a little. 

This shows too big sleeves and underarms...and probably the body too...

This shows the extra fabric around the underarm. 

So how much ease is too much? I am have a 35" bust and I chose a 38" size in the pattern and ended up with a 38". And for me that is too big. And the lesson here is that for me I need a pattern that has little to no ease at the bust when the actual sweater is oversized. 

But after saying all that I love it, and it was fun to knit and so am very happy to do it again. I see myself with other colours and will be knitting this again. Perhaps in lovely soft grey like the sample. Yum.

Anyway there was a point to this post and it was to tell you about how I knit my bottom up sweaters to give them a better chance of fitting. Knitting a sweater from the bottom up means that you can't try it on as you go. And trying it on as you go (like you are able to do when you knit top down) can make it much easier to get the fit right.

Getting bottom up sweaters to fit beautifully.

The order you knit a bottom up sweater is the critical bit. Normally you knit the sleeves and body up to the underarm, before joining them and knitting the yoke. The issue with this is that you don't know the length of the yoke (as it hasn't yet been knit) so your body or sleeve length might not finish where you want them too. 

Huh? How does that work? Well the pattern might state a yoke length BUT your row gauge might be very different from the pattern, and therefore the length of your actual yoke could be anything from 1 to even 3 inches different to the pattern. What this means in reality is that a pattern that is supposed to fit right under your undearms doesn't, and instead ends up about 2 inches away from your underarm. This means that your sleeves will be two inches longer than the pattern states. 

I hope that makes sense? Row gauge is the key and these days it isn't always stated AND I personally have never been able to get the same row gauge a pattern states. It seems to be a tricky thing to achieve - to get the same row and stitch gauge as someone else.

The difference of an inch or two of sleeve length can be really annoying. Say you like a sweater that you can pull down over your hands in winter, an inch or two shorter than necessary results in futile pulling. Or conversely you may be the kind of person who hates sleeves around your wrists. That extra inch or two could drive you nuts.

Love this sleeve length for a cosy winter jumper.

And once the body and sleeves have been knitted it is very difficult to fix without totally pulling out the yoke or some other crazy long-winded work around.

So what to do? How to get the sleeve and the body to the right length? 

This is tricky but I have a super simple answer! The most common issue is sleeve length so initially I am going to deal with that but I apply the same thing to body length* at the bottom.

Step 1: 

Choose the right size - Ha!
And swatch and wash your swatch. Blocking your sweater can drastically change the fit of your garment. The more you know about how your yarn will behave at a given gauge the better. So if you know that your swatch grows in length by about 10% then you need to knit your sleeves 10% shorter than your desired length!!

Step 2:

Knit the body up to the underarms. See below for clarification *.

Step 3: 

Don't knit the sleeves!!

Step 4: 

Read the pattern and look for the stitch count for when you knit to the top of the sleeve - so just before you join the body and the sleeves. Provisionally cast on that number of stitches using waste yarn.

There are hundreds of tutuorials for a provisional cast on. I am lazy and just cast on the right number of stitches, then purl one row. I then cut it off with scissors.....lazy lazy but I can never seem to remember provisional cast-ons without my friend youtube on hand and that is just a hassle.

Step 5:

Join the body and the sleeves as the pattern suggests BUT rather than joining actual sleeves join your provionally cast on sleeve stitches to the actual body.

Step 6:

Knit the yoke as described.

Step 7:

Undo the provional cast on (cut it off in my case) and knit the sleeves top-down. This ensures you get the sleeves to fit because you can try it on and modify the decreases as appropriate to your arms. AND you can ensure you get the sleeves the right length. Yihaa!

So - a simple answer that you can use on any bottom up in the round pattern, to help you get a great fit.

Wishing you a lovely week! 

Felicia x

* This trick also works with the body length and fit if want more control over those. In that case you would just do a provisional cast on for the sleeve and the body. Join them together using the working yarn and then knit your yoke. Then knit your body and your sleeves top down. Best of both worlds. Bottom up yoke and top down sleeves and body.

An update on The Craft Sessions 2014

So a super quick one today as I am still away and really struggling with internet access. I feel like things have been a bit quiet about this year's event - September 5-7th just in case you were wondering - and I just wanted to let you know that it wasn't because we weren't working on it. We are planning our little hearts out! 

We have some wonderful new teachers and many new classes. Mainly new classes in fact. There are only one or two classes that we are repeating (due to super popular demand) and there is so much goodness there. I am bursting to tell you about what we have planned. So very good!

As we did last year - we are focusing for the most part, on traditional hand crafts that are fibre based. We know we can bring you classes that are taught in ways that make these skills and techniques more accessible. Classes that focus on empowering you, and increasing the joy you get from your chosen craft. Again, we have a fantastic balance for all levels of crafter - new crafters right through to those that are already super skilled. There are also plenty of opportunities to dabble in a new-to-you craft. 

In addition to all the new - many of last year's teachers are coming back, which I am so very happy about, as they were fantastic. This was confirmed in spades by the feedback we got from last year's participants. 

So some "dates" - sometime around mid March we will be announcing this year's lineup. I'll let you know as soon as we have them up via the mailing list and then the blog. We will give you a registration date as soon as the classes are finalised.

I can't wait to share it with you. 

Felicia x

PS. If there was a class that you didn't make last year but are desperate to do then leave a comment. I'd love to hear it. I have a week or two left of wiggle room before things get locked down.....speak up lovely people!

Part 1 - Knitting Tips and Tricks - Counting

Another new ongoing mini-series prompted and inspired by the lovely Jen and Martine - my mates who I have been assisting through the process of beginner knitting. Working with them has made me realise that there are so many things about knitting (and also sewing but that is for another day) that it isn't possible to learn in books. And it is really valuable stuff. The kind of stuff you learn from experience and experimenting. From being in the right place at the right time with the right knitter. Or picking a pattern that usefully tells you how to do something. So much of knitting is assumed knowledge and I am only realising through working with them all that I actually know more than I think I do. It's the little things.

And so I have decided that occasionally, as I think of them, I will write them down for you in the hope they help you.

First up we are going to do counting. An oft overlooked annoying point for knitters. Counting stitches, counting gauge and counting rows. I can make it easier.

1. Counting stitches

This is possibly the best "trick" I know and it isn't even a trick. But it will change your life if you are a knitter!

I have no idea if I made it up or I read it somewhere. My apologies for not crediting the genius that came up with it (if there was one), but I have been doing it so long I don't know to not do it y'know?

Doing a stitch count to check you are on track is one of the only times where I condone counting in knitting. Generally I think you should learn to read your knitting and so there should be little reason to count. Stitch counts here and there however, are essential. Really important. 

The number of times early on I had to count my 300 stitches (my first project was Birch) and kept loosing count, over and over and over again and taking for-e-ver. Well you probably don't need the details. Incredibly frustrating, 1,2,3,4,5, .....145,146.....

Later in my knitting career I started counting in twos. 2,4,6,...you get the picture. Still loosing count and still wasting my life and my knitting time.

So the trick! - the trick is to count in FIVES!! Yes fives. I swear this is life changing.

Your eyes can actually clock five stitches at a time. They really can - five stitches look a certain way. They make sense to the eyes and make it so much quicker to count and much much harder to loose your place. You may need a small amount of practice but you can pick this up really quickly and it will save you SOO much time. All about the joy!

2. Counting your gauge

I often hear of people struggling to count their gauge and so I thought I would share what I do which makes it super easy. You just need a few sewing pins, a ruler or tape measure of some description and you are good to go.

Lay your swatch on a bed/couch/something firm but squishy. Take out your tape measure and lie it towards the top of your swatch. Make sure that you follow the line of stitches across from your first stitch so you are measuring along the same row and not crossing rows. 

Mark out the start and finish of your 10cm/4" with pins making sure that you start on the left hand side of a V - see our Learn to Read Your Knitting post - Part 1 if this doesn't make sense. Put your final pin in exactly where the 10cm/4inch mark is. 

Mark the start and the end, making sure you begin on the left hand side of a V.

I find it easier to use a different colour pin to mark each 5 stitches. Look for the Vs.

Leaving the ruler/tape measure in place put a pin in every 5 stitches. You can do this easier because you know that you are looking for the Vs - right. Five Vs then a pin and then another five Vs etc until you reach the 10cm/4inch mark.

Leave the pins in and then count the number of left over stitches between the last marker for a five and the final pin that marks 10cm/4inches. Make sure that you count 1/2 stitches and even 1/4 stitches at the end if you have them. Be as accurate as you can. 

And here is the critical bit....Repeat towards the bottom of the swatch. It also helps if you do it before and after you have washed your swatch. This tells you what gauge you will be getting when you are knitting, as well after it has been blocked.

Here is another example just because ...

This shows that we have 3 and 3/4 stitches in the last bit. Giving us 23.75 stitches as the gauge.

One final example. This large gauge knitting often is tricky because the yarn stretches so much. Make sure it is relaxed when you count. And don't do what I am doing in the picture and counting when it is on the needle....

3. Counting rows

In the Learn to Read Your Knitting - Part 2 post we talked about counting rows. The best way I've found is to mark the first V you are counting with a pin in the hole of the stitch. Then stretch the fabric slightly before using the needle tip to count the Vs going upwards. Stretching the fabric width-wise and length-wise makes the individual stitches easy to see. You can also use pins here to mark 5 rows to make it easier, or you have a lot of rows to count.

Same two examples for you - which I like because they are both lightly hairy yarn (both contain alpaca) and are slightly harder to read - which is good because you can see that using this stretching pin "trick" you can easily see the stitches.

Counting the Vs.

The other thing that will help is to put a contrasting colour on the table behind the knitting when you are trying to count. Then when you stretch the knitting you can more clearly see the holes. If you have light coloured knitting use a dark fabric and vice versa.

I didn't realise before I wrote the post but the key to counting is 5.....who knew?

I really hope that was helpful. Try the counting 5s thing. It really is lifechanging. Let me know if you like it.

Felicia x