Not about

 

Next week school will start again… It has been a long holiday for them (I have been back at work for a bit more than 2 weeks now), so it is kind of mixed feelings. On the whole I think both of them are ready to start again, S will have her last year at ground-school, so she needs to make “decisions” this year…what Gymnasium and what line to choose… M will start middle school officially, unofficially she already has been doing quite some topics at middle school level, but it is still a bit different

Just these last weekends of the holidays have been spent by both of them, sewing… M made her first dress. I helped a bit but she did a lot of the work. She also choose the pattern and the fabric, so hamming it up is allowed:

S made a cosplay costume, a “Captain America” inspired  "school uniform”. There is a “con” next weekend in the town we live, so that’s what it is for. We bought a pattern book while in Japan and the blouse is based on a pattern from that book. Japanese craft books are just so great. As they contain so many schemes one can actually recreate things even if one cannot read the language. I have a number of knitting books that I really like, but the sewing books are maybe even better. I think it is also the styling that really works for me. In any case, S could figure it out, so that was very nice indeed. The skirt is “own” design.

 Good work for both of them, me thinks!

 

and it worked

I am so happy that I did frog that first attempt at making Perkins cove. The new attempt, with modifying it into a cardigan is so  much more me… I used the smalls size, redid the neckline, made it into a cardigan and that’s it… No shaping either, I felt that the drape of the fibre would be enough for shaping this cardigan and it is. It is meant as a throw over a summer dress or skirt on a not that warm day, and I think that is what it does now. so happy me, starting again can be so very worthwhile! I guess it just shows that it is good to know what one likes and would wear, since even though I knit fast, I still rather make things I wear than ones that are nice but not worn.

II finished the edges at the bottom again with an i-cord, such a good bind-off for linen. Also for the neckline I used an i-cord, for the edges at the front, a bit of garter was used knitted with smaller needles to get a good solid edge. Small black shaft buttons finish it of.

 

Rip it up and start again

 

Just like most people I do not like to undo knitting. So when I make a mistake I always try to see whether a) is it really bad and would I be bothered by it and b) is there a fix. I have learned however that if I am bothered by it, it is much much better to face it and work back to the mistake and redo it. Fixes can be things like a dropped stitch which can be amended with the help of a crochet hook, a cable can be reknitted and so on. But the real bad ones are those where you realise that you have to go back a long long way…. Strangeley enough I rather rip than tink back, but that is just me I guess.   And that was what I did with the pullover above. It is a Perkins Cove Pullover and I do like the dropped stitch pattern with the linen very much. However allready when I was casting on I had my doubts about the fit. On the project pages of Ravelry for this design, somebody mentioned that this pattern runs big, and yes running big is what it does. I thought well, that can be nice, a big slouchy linen pullover can be a good thing a bit of shaping maybe and it will work fine. But after knitting about half of it, I realised that it is really not me. So Rip it Up and Start Again it is… I am remaking it as a cardigan in a smaller size….