Aug 2020 – My Stash Reduction Quest

I was reflecting on some recent makes and realised that a new colour has entered my wardrobe. Historically, I haven’t had a lot of green in my wardrobe but it has crept in over the last few makes. An internet search about the meaning of the colour proved to be very interesting, and a little spooky. Depending on how much you like to read into these things, my craving for this new colour could be subconsciously linked to the huge changes we’ve experienced in 2020. Words like safety, endurance, hope, restful all jumped out at me and made me wonder whether I was craving fabrics that would provide some of these things. Alternatively, I could just have seen lots of nice fabrics and bought them…!

Grass Green

This linen viscose gathered Kew skirt has become a staple of my wardrobe. Normally, I steer clear of linen because it creases as soon as I look at it, resulting in me looking like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards. The viscose blend seems to reduce the creasing, which is great. I bought this grass green fabric from Lamazi Fabrics and it has a lovely weight and drape to it.

The Nina Lee Kew expansion comes with a gathered skirt option. I cut a size 12 and lengthened the waistband slightly because I wanted the skirt to sit lower than my natural waist. With hindsight, this wasn’t a good idea because the weight of the fabric pulls it down and puts strain on the top button. To add some extra support, I’ve added a metal popper by the top button. If I make this version again, I’ll make a size smaller to sit higher up on my waist.

I also took 3″ off the length because I’m vertically challenged!

The buttons are from my new favourite button mine – Swagman’s Daughter – and are a perfect colour match.

Dark Jade

Earlier in lockdown, I made a few Astoria jumpers that are proving to be very useful for days when it’s a little bit chilly. I decided to whip up a few more for my autumn/spring wardrobe. This dark jade jersey is a Mind the Maker jacquard that makes a great Astoria.

I kept the same adjustments as my previous versions. Again, I had to shorten the neckband to get it to sit flat – this took three attempts. I think the neckband took the same time to sew as the rest of the entire jumper!

For an added detail, I drafted a little pocket to mirror a ready-to-wear jumper. I spent quite a while pressing and measuring this pocket, only to realised that I had created an “x marks the spot” on a rather delicate area. There was no way I was making the pocket again though so I just shifted it up a few centimetres! Mr Mouse assured me it looks fine but he did chuckle at it.

Mint Green

The Maven Somerset top that I made earlier this year hasn’t had much wear because of the glorious weather we’ve had. However, whenever the temperature has dropped, I’ve reached for my Somerset. This minty green jersey is also from Lamazi. It has more weight to it than some jerseys so is great for helping those voluminous sleeves stand out.

As with my previous one, I took 1.5″ of the bodice length and 1″ off the sleeve. For the cuffs, I also sewed at the edge of the machine foot rather than the 3/8″ seam allowance, so it was probably more like 1/4″. Again, I cut corners and didn’t use shirring elastic and it worked well.

I also didn’t have enough empty bobbins to use a twin needle so I did two rows of top-stitching. It took twice the time but it’s possible for anybody who doesn’t have a twin needle.

Bottle Green

Last but not least are my bottle green Yanta Overalls. My shortie overalls are so comfy that I decided that a long pair were essential for heading into the colder months of working from home. I had used some of Minerva’s gabardine twill a few years ago for an Arielle skirt and some Chataigne shorts and it was great fabric to work with. I thought it would make some perfect Yantas (and I wasn’t wrong!).

I had already made some bib adjustments on my short version so kept those and tackled the legs. I took 1.5″ off the leg length but could have stopped at 1″ on reflection.

For the pockets, I used the Closet Core Patterns pocket designs and picked what I think looks like a mountain skyline (craving those hills again). A friend of mine had some walking trousers with a feature back pocket that I really liked. If you’re going to sew, you may as well build your inspiration into your makes. Enter feature pocket! I had some cotton remnants that I was using for the facings and managed to squeeze a pocket out of them as well.

Swagman’s Daughter buttons ensure the overalls stay up. I love the design of these buttons and spent a lot of time deciding where to place the ‘burst’.

At the start of the UK’s lockdown (about 17 years ago), I was on the hunt for a relatively simple project that would allow me to go back and forth along the needles. It needed a little bit of complexity to help me think about something other than the sh*t-storm that was coming, but it didn’t want anything too complicated because my brain couldn’t cope!

Around the same time, I saw that Sewstainability and Skein and the Stitch both had a Find your Fade shawl on their needles and they piqued my interest. There are over 35k posts on IG with the #findyourfadeshawl hashtag so it’s “quite popular”! The endless possibilities of colour combinations sealed the deal.

Delving into the stash

A lot of people seemed to be using up stash yarns and it’s a 4ply pattern, which is perfect as I have so much left over sock yarn. Some recently purchased Beehive Yarn (Atomic Flamingo & Aquarius) were the inspiration for the blue/green colourway, as well as a longing for the sea at a time when we were only allowed out of the house for an hour a day. I bought some Coop Knits Beryl to bring the sections together.

Meditative knitting

The pattern is a mixture of garter stitch, lace and colour melting and is incredibly meditative. At the maximum stitch count (233), it can easily take 20 mins to do one row so it was great to pick up, do a bit, then put down.

I love the way that shawls grow from 3 stitches at the start to a large, intentionally wonky triangle. When I first knit a shawl, I couldn’t see why there were no decreases…I still think there’s an element of magic to it, it can’t just be maths.

There are several mistakes in my shawl but they’re all fairly well disguised. Early on, I kept losing count, a problem that was resolved by employing multiple stitch markers – the ones shown in the pics are my current favourites from Otter and Spell.

Lifeline

A technique that I find extremely helpful is a knitting lifeline. At the end of each section, I used a darning needle to thread a length of contrasting yarn through every stitch. That meant that if I had to rip back following a major gnarls-up, I only had to rip back to the start of a section. I am eternally impressed by people who can “un-knit” mistakes because I end up making even more of a mess!

This pattern definitely served its intended purpose and provided many peaceful hours of going back and forth along the needles. In times of stress, I often reach for the needles before the sewing machine, probably because I can knit on the sofa with the TV on. I suspect this won’t be my only Find Your Fade Shawl….I just need to knit some more socks so I have enough leftover yarn for another!

Thanks for reading :o)

Month: Aug 2020

The healing power of green