Knitting First - Socks

So, we've started vacation and have no travel plans - actually, no plans at all except day to day, whatever comes up. Knitting, sewing & blogging are high on my radar.

Here are a few of the pictures I mentioned - I've finished a few pairs of socks this year so far. But, I was really lax in keeping track of my stats so, just pics.

My new preferred TNT, I think - Hermione's Everyday Socks

SFTTU #10 - Lace & Cable (next project from Socks from the Toe Up - still lots of projects to do in this book)

Now, it's summer and, if at all possible, I do NOT wear socks - sandals, ballet flats and bare feet :-)
Sometimes, though, I need to wear my sneakers and it's much better all round if I have socks, preferably short footies. I wear a size 9 shoe, and sock manufacturers seem to stop just short of the length I need. In regular socks it's not TOO bad, but in footies it means they take no time at all to slide off my heel and into the shoe - not so comfy ! Wool blend sock yarn is too hot, but I had a couple balls of Patons Stretch Socks yarn on hand and decided to use this - there's wool but also 41% cotton which should make them not so hot. I didn't use a real pattern just cast on with my regular toe up, stockinette foot, slip stitch heel and did the cuff right after getting it all back in the round after the heel was done. I did have to allow for the stretch and so used a 56st foot rather than 60 or 64st for non-stretch yarn. They haven't been tested yet but there's another pair already on the needles.

Also on the needles now is a Haruni Shawl from the Crazy Zauberball yarn I got from DH at Christmas. It's coming along much quicker than I thought, been working on it about 3 weeks or so and I'm on the home stretch. Pics on that soon. Really soon !

Sewing - up next...

Where did the time go ?

Aug 2, 1997 - 15 Years !

Happy Anniversary, Bob

I'd do it again in a heartbeat

Almost a real post

No pics for a few days but I DO have finished projects to post soon !

The delay ? I'm on the bus to Saint John today for a quick weekend at home. The dad of my BFF (since we were 5 years old !) passed away 2 days ago and the funeral is Monday. Growing up I spent as much time at Elizabeth's as I did my own home - at least it seemed that way. Her mom and dad are the best and I grew up thinking of them as a second set of parents. Jerome's been sick for a while now and while not completely unexpected, it's pretty hard to deal with. I can't imagine him not being around even though I no longer see them that often. I'll miss you Jerome xx

In the meantime, I’m just a bit antsy and need to keep busy. I’ve got my knitting, a book, and wi-fi on the bus. I’ve managed to catch up on all my blog reading so far and actually comment on some. At least those that I could get past the word verification - is it just me or has that feature become a NIGHTMARE ? It was a topic of conversation a few months ago and I made sure mine was turned off. Some are still on though and it seems as if it is harder to get through it. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t for the life of me read those darn letters. Proving I’m not a robot, it pretty difficult LOL On average, I need to press refresh at least 4-5 times before I get one I can figure out !

Anyway, since January, I haven’t done a lot but I did manage to finish 3 pairs of socks and copy a dress pattern from one of mine. A basic t-shirt dress very similar to M6559, which looks like the ‘go to’ pattern of the summer. My original was above knee-length and cotton. After a couple washes it was WAY above knee-length and needs bike shorts or something underneath.

See the tie-dyed dress ? That puppy couldn't afford to lose any length ! LOL

I decided to lay out the dress, trace off a pattern and see what I come up with. I traced it off at the length I wanted and also extended the pattern to maxi-length. At the time, M6559 was not even on my radar. Only after it was done, did I realize the similarity. Mine doesn’t have a racerback but I may make that change to an upcoming version. Yes, I finished one, have another cut out and plans for more in the works. DH took pics of the first one last week, but I never got to do a post.

There is also a tee in progress for DH. I cut out a Kwik Sew (pretty sure it's KS3299 some time ago and the pieces were just sitting around taking up space. Both the sewing machine and serger were loaded with the right color and the next dress required a color change so I decided to finish the tee first and fight with rethreading later. I don’t know about you but changing threads and fiddling with tensions take more time than the actual sewing does. Between picking and setting the serger stitch I want and playing with tension, twin needle (& twin needle threading!) and now the walking foot on the sewing machine, it takes forever to get anything accomplished.

Now, after all that talking about it - give me a couple days and I'll get through the weekend, get back home, take the pics and finally get some finished objects posted.

...

Sewing in progress...
Back soon...

It's all Skippy's fault LOL

I wasn't going to do it - not 2 times in a row - 'posting for the sake of posting'. 'course, at this point I'm not sure who all would still be reading :-)

It's been ages since I've done any sewing. I do have 2 pairs of socks almost done and another pair on the way, but nothing postable yet.
Thinking about sewing is happening though. I had a girls' day on Saturday and I tried on a bunch of maxi dresses. Can someone explain why they look fine on everyone else but in all but one, I looked pregnant ? phooey ! At least there was one and now I'm trying to figure out if I can make a copy of it.

DH took pics of Skippy earlier and I went through the pics on the camera. Here's a sampling...

A few weeks ago, I spent 2 weeks in Toronto with a friend who was recovering from a major surgery...and in high 20°C temps where better than the beach ? I really had no idea Toronto had real beaches right on their waterfront, duh ! We watched some beach volleyball...

...at one point I walked across the sand to get to the water. This isn't even half the beach.


Hubby loves to catch me unawares - I finally made it to the end of 'Breaking Dawn' yesterday morning.


Before I left for Toronto, my flowers and shrubs were just starting to green up and get buds. My rose bush was about 10" tall. 2 weeks later it was full of buds and blooms too!

...and a close up - they're beautiful.


Another couple weeks later, this is what they looked like today. I've already pruned out all the spent blooms and thinned it out - you can't easily tell but there are still a LOT of buds to come.




The last couple years, my clematis has bloomed but the leaves turn brown starting at the bottom and within a week or two the vine looks horrible. This spring, in preparation for digging out the clematis and the rose bush in front of it, I chopped it right down to the ground and left it for later. Well, later it is and look at it now. No brown leaves yet, but I think I'll still dig it up and replace it in the fall.


Skippy's seat of choice is on the arm of the couch, any arm, and it doesn't matter if someone else got there first !

And when I attempted to ignore him and keep on surfing anyway...he dropped ! Daddy ran for the camera...and I had a blog post - LOL


Alex had her own thoughts on the camera this week.

Apparently, one pic was her limit :-) too funny.

Snoop shopping for tops

My lunch buddy deserted me today for a department lunch and I used the time to browse Winners. I've not been sewing much at all lately as you all know but I really need some clothes.

Last weekend I found a couple pairs of pants which will do for a start but still need tops. Said lunch buddy mentioned that I still wear pretty much the same style of clothes as I did before I lost weight although what I've bought fits better (read 'closer' LOL). She's right, so I thought I'd see what I could find 'different'.

I tried to pick tops that seemed out of my comfort zone, whether colours or style or fabric. Some I'm happy with, others not so much.

The pics were taken with my Touch and are not great but opinions are welcome (I haven't bought anything yet - way to paranoid to choose something 'different' by myself :-) ). Yes, I've been told to smile but boy, it's not easy to take your own picture !

S2860 - clipped

What a difference clipping that crotch seam makes - I admit to being pretty surprised.

Back-

Front and Sides - specifically showing the wrinkles below the zipper. I looked through my books for these wrinkles and came up with a couple possibilities - thin thigh (add to front crotch point) and prominent abdomen (straighten center front seam) - sorry for some reason I can no longer get pics to size small enough to completely show, even though I pick 'small' for the size. Clicking, of course, does show the whole pic.

As you can see below, the front tugged up a tiny bit makes the wrinkles go away. I'm not sure which of the two possible adjustments to try, or is there something else to try.

S2860 - to date, and what's next

I was going to sew up the pants 'as is' or at least 'as was' - at the state they were when I lowered the side seams on Monday.

Well, I've spent the last few days digging around the 'Net, PR and blogs for more research. On PR, in the Year Long Pants Sewalong thread, Barb has suggested scooping the back crotch. Since the crotch fit is SO comfy I was extremely reluctant to change it in ANY way !

I'd also been asked what happens if I stand with a wider stance. What happens ? The wrinkles go away - well, at least some of them do.

More research needed as this is twigging a thought in the old brain - it ain't what it used to be LOL. OK, somewhere in all the pants research last year I stumbled across a site/article/something that talked about legs needing to be centered in the 'tube' that is the pant leg - the analogy was pipes and tubes. I found it again the other day, forgot to bookmark it and promptly forgot how and where I found it - sorry. The light bulb in the brain was getting a bit brighter - I kept digging.

In the meantime, I decided it 'wouldn't hurt' to just baste the darn crotch a bit lower and see what happens. I lowered the back crotch and also lowered the waistband at CB.

Ick ! The age-old problem of fix one thing, affect another.
The front now has a camel - toe that wasn't there before - straight out of the envelope I felt the front was 'good to go' - looked and felt good. Now (sorry, blurry pic)…

Same problem on the sides - right leg twisty, left leg fine - this could be a grain line issue as I did not cut each piece separately. It's possible the underside could have been not quite straight. I had every intention of marking the grain lines but forgot til after DH took the pics and I was back in comfy yoga pants (darn memory !)

…and the back - from left to right… as is / with the CB tugged up a bit / and with CB tugged up a bit more.

I also made sure to stand in a comfortable width stance. Note I have NOT clipped the crotch seam at all - there's between 5/8" and 3/4" SAs in there. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not an accurate pic with all that fabric in the SAs, but remember I was just 'basting'.
Aha ! Belinda had a bunch of pants fitting posts. This one is the first in a series of 3 Sew4Fun - fitting 1. I linked this same post last Saturday but this week have read more closely through all her pants posts and I'm almost positive I need to shift these legs toward the inseam. I paid close attention during the last fitting and I can feel my legs touching the inseam - all the empty space seems to be a the side seam. My legs are not centered in these pipes LOL
Now ? I posted these pic in the Sewalong thread on PR and will see if there are any comments tonight, but

• I'm going to trash this pair instead of finishing them 'just because' - I'm only playing with $5 worth of fabric here and that 5 bucks has already provided me with 2 weeks of entertainment. Plenty enough bang for the buck without stressing over having to end up with a finished garment.
• So far, I've cut an 8 inseam, 10 side seam, let out and lowered the side seams 1/4", lowered back crotch curve 1/4" and lowered CB 1/2".

Before I play with the pattern and cut a new muslin, I'll clip the crotch curve and take another pic.

Only a small difference

Only made one change - unpick the waistband from the pants and rebaste it lowering the side seams. It only gave me about 1/4" so I wasn't expecting a great improvement, if any.

Some of the comments I received were from:
Digs - drop the side seams & widen a smidge
...I had already widened approx a 1/4" smidge from waist to a few inches below the crotch. The change was the 1/4" drop of side seams
Waikikimum - extended calves & maybe back thigh length too long ?
...I definitely have hyperextended calves ! The back thigh length may be too long. I could pin a wedge here, but I'll only be able to fix it in the next version.
Gwensews - check out Peggy Sagers videos for wrinkle help.
...Gwen, I've watched one of Peggy's pants videos - one where she fit pants onto 2 women. It was a while ago though, I should go back and rewatch it and check out the jeans fitting one as well.

In the meantime, here are the next round of pics.
Front and back - all I've done since last time is rebaste the waistband and lower the side seams that 1/4". The front shows the hip curve REALLY needs to be adjusted - they look like jodphurs now :-)

Since I could only resew such a tiny amount, I tugged the side seams down another bit - maybe about 1". You can see the waistband is now looking straight across rather than contoured. The wrinkles are a bit less pronounced on the right but I have no idea why. Maybe my stance was different.

Next up - the dreaded wedgie shot - the wrinkles changed but I have NO IDEA what this is telling me !

Last one - knowing I have hyperextended calves, I bent my knees a bit to see if this would help the drape of the back below the knees - I don't see much difference.

I don't think there is anything else I can do with this pair. I think I'll sew them up for real and see what I end up with. A lining would probably help the drape but I haven't done a pant lining yet - should I start now ?

For the next version, two wedges (Debbie's X-wrinkles) may help - these would both add to the side seams and take some length from the back inseam.

Any other suggestions ?

Saturday Post #2 - A Little Less Phooey

Making progress. Thanks for all the comments/advice so far.

I figured the best place to start was to loosen up those waist/hip side seams. I let them out 1/4" which gave me 1" more room.

Front - the wrinkles on either side of the bottom of the zip changed some - not sure if I need to deal with these or are they normal ?

Left/Right sides - left side seam goes pretty much straight down center of leg - right side seam moves forward (last year my legs were twisting forward and Sew-4-Fun (link goes directly to her pants fitting post) suggested to shift the legs - is it possible to need to shift the leg of only ONE leg ?)

Back - diagonal wrinkles are still there, not helped at all by the extra bit of ease. Need to lower the side seams a bit but I only have the waistband attached with a 5/8" seam so not much to play with. Question - if this works, do I make this adjustment to the pattern by adding a horizontal wedge at or above the hip line ? Where exactly ? or do I just add it to the top at the waist edge ?

Back close-up - still lots of wrinkles but for some reason they don't looks as discouraging as they used to. Maybe because I see all diagonal lines, rather than the mess of horizontal, diagonal and vertical that existed in the pants last year. I look at this and really think an addition to the side seams should/could fix them.

Any more thoughts - am I way off base ?