Library love

I love browsing the magazines at my local library.  I have to confess that I rarely make it to the 'real' shelves - I get quick snatches of time whilst supervising kids or on my way out to lunch (I'm lucky enough to work next door to my local library), so the magazine section it is.

The Burda magazine pigeon hole is one of my first points of call.  So often I borrow them with good intention of tracing off patterns I like, but usually they get renewed the maximum of three times before being sent back unused.  I'm proud to say that that's not the case for the 6/2013 edition.  Granted, I've already renewed it once, but no only have I traced off the patterns for Views 137 and 138, but I've actually finished a top based on them.  What's even more impressive is that I love it!  So often I take copious amounts of time to finish clothes for myself, only to find that they're not quite right - the fit's not great, or my fabric choice is wrong, or the cut isn't really my style.  This time though, the dark navy crepe from my stash is not only right down my alley, but it has just the right weight and drape for the pattern.

I've used the length from View 137, but the neckline of View 138.  Its a size 46, which I find horrific, but the fit is beautiful.  There are darts in the front and back of the upper section, but just the back of the lower section, and a side zipper that extends to the integrated sleeves.  Beautifully comfortable, but fitted at the same time.

Up next I'm planning a shorter length A-line skirt in the rest of the same fabric, plus the dress length (with a slightly narrower neckline) in a some more fabric from the stash.  I'd love a pair of narrow-leg trousers to go with the top.  Trying not to get too far ahead of myself though!

Its a curriculum day today, so amongst adjudicating between the kids and doing stuff with them, I'm going to loiter over here and check out what the crew have been up to.

My [new] creative space

Hi, remember me?  I thought that it was probably about time that I re-surfaced and shared some of what I've been up to.  Like so many others, I've been finding that life's a bit too full to blog lately.  Suffice to say there's been big changes (new house, full time job, etc.) since the last post.  I have managed to squeeze in some crafting though, and am really happy that in the last month or so that's included some time in the shed.

This week I've finished (well, manufactured, undercoated and installed) some narrow shelves on the side of the small one's wardrobe.  The wardrobe itself is built in, but only made of chipboard, meaning that the Cyclist and I installed the shelves by drilling and screwing straight through the end wall of the wardrobe and into the timber.  They'll get their final coats of paint when we paint the room sometime later this year.  In the meantime, they're housing some of our favourite reads (except when Abbie's emptied the bottom two shelves so she can sit on the floor and 'read' aloud to herself instead of sleeping).

Abbie loves them, and so do I - its an idea I've been wanting to use for a long time, and this's the perfect spot for it.  She's two, so I figure we have a while before picture books are packed away.  After that I can see them used to show off favourite pictures and photos.

Upsized Clara

Have you seen the Clara dress pattern?  I fell in love with it before my daughter was born and tried to buy it.  My bank's security system wouldn't let the transaction through - when I contacted Isager because my order didn't seem to be being processed, they advised that this isn't uncommon for Australian customers.  Apparently the 'falcon' thinks that you're trying to shop in person in the US when it knows you were only down the street using your card 20 minutes ago, and it rejects the transaction.  Over a year went by, and I tried again (this time with a card from a smaller bank), and was successful.  The problem is, that the pattern is sized for a chest circumference of up to 20", and that's my daugher's current measurement.  I didn't want to go to the effort of making the dress only to have her grow out of it before winter is over.

Well, after many calculations and much trial and error, I've finally finished my 18-24 month size of the pattern.  I managed to make it out of the two skeins (500m) of wool in the kit, with just 2m to spare (most of the calculations were me working out how many stitches I could expect to knit out of each gram of yarn, and therefore how long I could afford to make the skirt!).

In summary I:

• Cast on 260 sts (after I had nearly finished I read other posts on Ravelry, and yes it would have been easier to use 261stitches, and decrease one stitch in the first round of the pattern)

• Then followed the pattern, knitting to a length of 29 cm / 11.5 inches

• Split into rows at the start of the moss band beneath the bodice, 'splicing' it to create a lapped opening.  

• Included a moss stitch button band on both ends of the row as I was knitting from this point forward, adjusting the pattern accordingly, and evenly spacing three buttonholes.  In hindsight I would have put the bottom buttonhole in the horizontal moss band - it pulls a little.

• Knitted the 'set sleeve' row as follows: Moss 5, k26 sts, place next 10 sts on holder, CO 65 sts, k54 sts, place next 10 sts on holder, CO 65 sts, k25 sts, moss 5 (245 sts on needle). 

• Inserted one additional WS row after Rnd 1, three additional rows (with only one k2tog tbl in each repeat for right-side rows - ie. no decreasing over the length of the row) after 'Rnd 14', and two each after Row 1, Row 3 and Row 5.

• Omitted Row 9 and Row 10 (giving a total of 32 rows from the top of the moss band to the bottom of the neckband).

• Knitted up 77 stitches for each sleeve band.  Due to my yarn restrictions I knitted eight rows on each.

No, she doesn't usually get to play with sticks!

I'm joining up over here, and will be checking out what other people are up to working shortly.

Joined up here too.