A Sock Is Born

I know, I was supposed to post a picture almost a week ago of the 'new' sock progress, but I got so caught up in knitting it I never wanted to stop long enough to take, edit, and post a picture.

But now it's done.

I'm really glad I ripped back the first attempt, because this one turned out so much better. I really enjoyed this pattern. It is, by the way, the first full sock pattern in Cat Bordhi's new book "New Pathways for Sock Knitters." It was different. It was challenging just to the degree that it was really fun to work, but not so challenging that it was just an exercise in frustration. This was all new to me from the top down - literally. For starters, I never make socks top-down, but this one was made that way.

There was a new stitch pattern in the sock, the 'linen stitch,' which was quite interesting. I think it would have shown itself off better in a yarn with a different striping pattern or colorway, or even a plain yarn, but I didn't realize that when I decided to use this yarn, and that's okay - I still like it.



There was of course the interest of using Cat's new design, placing the increasing for the gusset on top of the foot instead of around the heel. There was then a new way to knit the heel itself, since the traditional flap heel wasn't getting made.



Then there was the star toe. I've heard of them, but never made one before. Wow - how easy! And I love the way it turned out. My concern about these toes used to be that they might not be very comfortable, but this one is perfectly comfortable. (I haven't pulled it taut and woven in the end inside yet, so there's still a little tiny hole there).


That opens up a whole new world. I never did learn to graft toes, which is why I started making all my socks toe-up with a short row toe - the toe is very comfortable, and I don't have to graft. But I gotta tell you, short row toes are way more complicated than this simple star toe. Quite a neat new trick to add to my sock-knitting repertoire. I'm not 'stuck' knitting socks from the toe up anymore just because I only know one way to make a toe.

I'll be learning more, too, there are instructions for several different toes in Cat's book, and as I work through the book, I'll be trying out all of them. Such a nice touch - you're not just learning a new way to handle the gusset-increase portion of socks, but new cuffs and toes as well.

There was only one odd thing about this sock, that at first I was a little concerned about, but which turned out fine. The length of the leg - my finished sock is much 'taller' than the sample picture in the book. There are obviously far more rows between the end of my cuff patterning and the beginning of the heel stitch in my sock than in the one in the book. And my sock, consequently, comes up clear to mid-calf.


I would have sworn I followed the pattern exactly - in fact, twice, because the first attempt, which I ripped out, had just as long a leg as this one. I kind of doubt I'd mis-read the instructions twice in the same way. So it makes me wonder if it's just that the sample picture was knit purposely shorter, just to show a variation.

I'll find out when I knit the second sock, because I'll be paying special attention to that section, to see if I misread something, or what.

Initially I was kind of concerned about that height, but now I'm not. They're quite comfortable, and since I wear high-top boots all the time, having a sock that's a little taller is actually a good thing. Both of the other pairs of socks I've knitted that I can wear with my boots are actually a little too short for the boots, and the tops slip down inside - not comfortable. With this pair being this long in the leg, that will never be a problem. So regardless of how it happened, it was a good thing to happen. These will be great boot socks, because of that height, and because of their cushiony comfort. (The heel is really nice and padded).

All in all, a great experience - and now I just have to make the second one! One other interesting thing about this sock - usually, anymore for me, simple socks seem to go so fast. This sock didn't seem to (although I did knit it easily in one week; but I spent a lot of time knitting this week, too). It seemed to be taking a very long time. I think part of that was everything being so new. And part of it was that length in the leg, making it a considerably bigger sock than I usually knit. But because it seemed to take so long, I admit I've got just a minor twinge of 'second sock' syndrome. It's like, 'Wow, that was fun, but I have to do it all again?' But it's not horrible, and I will do it - probably starting it today, in fact. No languishing sinle sock for me! Because I really do want this to be a finished pair, so I can get down to enjoying wearing them. And, I think a larger part of my reluctance to have to knit a second one of these is just that I'm so excited to move on to the next sock in the book!

I plan to work my way right through every sock in this book, partly because these new structures are so fun to learn and knit. And partly because I'm fed up with knowing how to knit socks, but having only a couple pairs of my own. Hand-knit socks are the most comfortable thing I know, and I've decided I deserve lots more of them!

Oh, one last thing - I admit that I did not knit the learning socks. There are two child-size 'learning socks' at the beginning of the book which Cat recommends you make, to familiarize yourself with the new concepts and ideas. I started to, then thought, you know ... I can just familiarize myself in the first actual sock, and then I'll be that much further ahead.

Since I'm trying to improve my skills in knitting, I usually do try to take the time to do things "right" - gauge swatches and things like that. But this time I really thought I could get away with this step, and I did succeed. (The problems with the sock I ripped out weren't because I didn't do the practice sock, they were me not paying attention and not following the pattern as given). I think the practice socks would have been almost a necessity for anyone who was not very familiar with sock-knitting in the first place, because they go into much more detail about what each instruction actually means. But for someone with sock-knitting experience, I think it's safe to skip them, and dive right into your first 'real' sock to wear.

I know I've said this before, and will probably say it again, but I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is, hands down, the best knitting book I own. Not only is it an instruction book, with techniques to learn, but of course a pattern book as well.

I think one of the best things about this book is the number and variation of patterns. Each sock architecture has it's own pre-written pattern to follow, to learn exactly how it all goes together. (I'm not talking about 'practice socks' - I'm talking about full-on, completely written out patterns to make a pair of socks for yourself, that you can wear). Those patterns have instructions for multiple sizes, based on the width of your foot at the widest point - so I was able to make this sock almost as custom-fit as if I were doing the math myself. I like this far better than when patterns are just given as "women's medium" - those never fit me, they are too big. And I'm not patient enough to deconstruct the pattern and figure out how to downsize it to fit. And these patterns are gorgeous - not just generic, no frills, bare basics patterns. These patterns have stitch designs in them, and different cuffs and toes - these alone would have made the book well worth owning.

But as if that wasn't grand enough, there is also a 'master pattern' section where, once you've learned the basic architecture from the fully-written pattern, you can plug in your own foot measurements, add any design details or special pattern stitches you'd like, and truly custom-make any sock architecture in the book. Which means that from this one book you could have a lifetime of endless variations of socks, with two pairs never being the same. It's like the Lifetime Sock Knitting Treasury! I can honestly say I would never need another sock knitting book.

Oh, but wait - I lie. Because delightfully unbelievable as this is, this is only the first book in a 3-book series Cat has planned, and I can guarantee you that I will be grabbing the next two as they're published. I don't even have to know what's in them to know that with Cat's genius for the new and magical, and her wonderful way of explaining everything, if she has a new sock book, I want it, sight unseen.

I know, I know - such giddiness over sock books. Well, hello - did you read the title of the blog? And if you still don't get it, then you've never worn hand-knit socks.

A Week of Extremes; March Socks

Wow, gotta love spring. The (former) Valley of No Weather is making up for it this year.

This Monday past the weather was so warm that when I got home from work, my awesome, wonderful boyfriend built us a fire, and we sat on the back porch playing music.


Okay, it wasn't a raging bonfire ... not for lack of skill or trying. There was no kindling, and what wood there was was soaked. Just that previous weekend we'd had bunches of snow (you can still see the remnants of it in the yard behind the fire bowl). But it was a fire, all the same, and I loved it.

Today the fire bowl looks like this.


We're up to about 8" or 10" and counting. This is the kind of snow a Poo could get lost in. Run, Poo, run! It was too deep for him to walk through - the only way he could navigate around was to leap through it like a bounding deer.



Since staying in and staying warm was the only thing to do these past two days, I've been working on the March sock project. I started a sock from the Cat Bordhi book, "New Pathways For Sock Knitters." (Wonderful, wonderful book! Can't recommend it enough!).

The sock was originally going along like this.


But there was something wrong (and it was operator error, nothing wrong with the pattern). I had buggered up the cuff, somehow managing to knit half of it with one side out, and then reversed it and began knitting it with the other side public. Initially, when I thought I'd followed the pattern correctly, I thought it was done that way on purpose specifically so you could fold it down and make the cuff. (One of the pictures in the book for this pattern has the top turned down, the other doesn't - so obviously it's optional). But I still just had a funny feeling I'd done something wrong.

Secondly, I didn't like the cuff. If I was going to fold down a cuff, I'd want it to be bigger than that.

Thirdly, I hadn't done a gauge swatch - I know, I know! But it wasn't laziness, it was just a case of mistaken identity. I thought this was the same exact yarn I'd used for the Christmas socks, with which I got 8 spi with a size 1 needle. This pattern called for 8 spi, so I figured I was safe not doing another gauge swatch.

A considerable way down the leg I thought I'd double check, and I was getting 9 spi. I went back and checked my notes, and this wasn't the same yarn I'd used for the Christmas socks. I immediately switched to a size 2, thinking I could still finish the sock (the part of the leg done so far had fit anyway, even with the wrong size needle). But this, too, kept bugging me.

And last, but certainly not least, I was pretty sure I was buggering up the design pattern. It's a deceptively simple knit / slip / knit / slip pattern. "Deceptively" being the key word, because I'd been watching a lot of TV and movies while knitting this, and although I never caught myself in the act, I had a nagging feeling that I'd messed up the pattern quite a few times. My suspicions were corroborated by the fact that the pattern just wasn't looking right, somehow, although I couldn't put my finger on it.

I considered ripping back many times over the last 24 hours, but I kept telling myself, "Don't be such a ninny. It's a sock, for goodness sake. One sock, of a potential pair. No one's ever even going to see the cuff or the pattern on the foot anyway.

But I couldn't take it. It was bugging me. So this morning I reduced my half done sock back to this.



(just not quite as blurry)

Yep. I ripped the whole thing out, and started over. And boy am I glad I did. The second version is turning out so much better than the first! This is one time (at least) that ripping out all that work and starting over was definitely worth it.

By tomorrow I should have a picture of the new sock, take two. (There wasn't really enough done yet to bother tonight; okay, I lie, I've already got my pictures edited and ready to upload, and was too lazy to go take another one).

Well, that's all for today ... back to knitting!

February Project - Done!

I've been busily knitting lately, and haven't had much to say here at the blog. But now I do ... I finished the February project, my self-designed scarf and handwarmer thingamabobs. Here they are, once again modeled by the Dread Reverend (and a pillow).





I'm pretty happy with these. I like the pattern, I like how they match, and the handwarmer thingamabobs are really comfortable. Well, the one thumb opening is a little too large, but that's easily fixed with a little sewing up.

The scarf might have turned out better if it was a little wider, or somehow a little heavier, so it would hang better. I could add beads to the bottom. But chances are I'll just tie it anyway, and it'll still be cool.

These would have been done sooner, except genius that I am I forgot to reverse the pattern when I made the second handwarmer thingy, and ended up with two right-handed ones. Fortunately they don't take long to make, and I whipped up a properly left-handed one in just two evenings this week.

I'm pleased with my "finish one thing a month" progress, too. Well, okay, it's only really been this one month. But I still finished, and I'm still pleased.

For March I'm finally going to dive into that new Cat Bordhi sock book I bought back in November or December. I knew when I got it that I couldn't get into it until I finished my Christmas socks, but then when I had done that, for just a wee tiny period of time I lost interest in socks.

Now it's back, and I think that would be a great March project. I stocked up on some sock yarn awhile back, so I've got options.

I already know what April's project is going to be - and it's going to be a challenge. I broke down and ordered this pattern, which I saw in the Patternworks catalog and somehow became unreasonably obsessed with, and this yarn to make it with. I'm not really much of a 'shawl person,' but sans logic I just really, really wanted to make this. Although, due to it's complexity and the approach of the first event of the year (for which I need the pirate coat embroidery done), I may not get the shawl done in April, even if I start it then ... it may end up as the finished project for another month. But that's okay - my deal was to finish one thing a month - it doesn't have to be finished in the same month I started it. So if I run into a month where I'm not going to be able to finish any of my ongoing projects, I can always throw together a couple of dishcloths (I really like my handknitted dishcloths, but only have 2 so far) or sew some garb - I need that too, and the 'finish one thing a month' challenge isn't just about knitting. It can be any of my fiber obsessions.

That plan wasn't, by the way, some sort of 'competition' or 'look how much stuff I can make' thing. The whole point was, I was getting frustrated with knitting projects that drag on for years, and never seeming to have anything to show for it all. I was starting to feel like a hamster on its wheel. I was also getting frustrated because in my desire to get said long-term project done, I was hesitant to start anything else. But working on one thing for so very, very long and thinking "I don't want to start anything else till I finish this" means months or years where I can't make anything else. It also made it hard when I'd see any new project I wanted to make, because I'd be afraid to commit to it, thinking that if I did, for maybe a year or more that would be the 'only thing' I could work on.

So I decided to scrap that 'focus on one thing at a time' mentality, and add some small(er) projects into my year, to have the satisfaction of accomplishment, of actually having finished things throughout the year, in addition to my big, long-term projects. And it's helped already - as I said, I'm inordinately pleased to have completed the scarf and handwarmer thingamabobs this month. I know, most knitters do this instinctively ... knit multiple things at once. I guess I'm just a slow learner.

But I decided to include any project, not just knitting, because in the past I had tended to focus only on my knitting projects, and discount anything else I'd done throughout the year - which was kind of unfair to myself, since I make other cool stuff too, and sometimes they are quite an investment in time and skill (like the pirate coat). So now I count things like garb and embroidery projects, too.

Despite all these other distractions, Celtic Icon is coming along, too. It turns out that knitting begets knitting - just because I've added a new project to the mix didn't mean I stopped working on Celtic Icon, and in fact I've gotten more done on it this past month than in the last year. Who knew? (okay, apparently everyone but me).

I finished the first front piece recently, and started on the second front piece. After that all that's left is two sleeves, and the two side panels (one of which is half-way done). Then will come the challenge of trying to fit it all together since my pieces aren't measuring the same length as the schematic. I checked my row gauge several times on this first front piece, and it seemed dead-on to me, but for some reason the overall length of the piece was, again, several inches too long. Hopefully it'll be the same several inches too long that the back is, and hopefully the sleeves will do something similar, and it will just magically all fit together.

Famous last words of knitters everywhere who have impaled themselves on their knitting needles for projects that turn out not even remotely close to the proper size. (I know I'm not the only one who has one of those monstronsities thrown on the floor in the back of the closet, because I wanted it out of my sight so badly I didn't even have the energy to rip it out to reuse the yarn yet; someday I will, though, that was a pretty nice cotton yarn; a whole over-sized sweater's worth).

Work progresses on the pirate coat, as well. Two weekends ago I finalized the first motif with my practice piece, and I'm ready to re-embroider it onto the 'real' cuff. That is the compass rose which is going on the center of each cuff. I still need to find and/or create another motif to go around the entire cuff, to sort of frame and set off the compass, but I'm hoping to do that this weekend. I'd better ... if I don't move along on this pretty soon, I'm going to have serious issues getting it done by mid-May.

Well, NASA's not looking for me

I'd never make a NASA photographer. But in a rare (very rare) moment of not-cloudiness in northeast Ohio in the wintertime, I have had a spectacular view of the lunar eclipse tonight.

I discovered that the optical zoom on my little digital camera was good enough to get a pretty decent picture ... IF I could have held the camera still. Even with the tripod (after I scrambled for 15 minutes finding it), I just couldn't get it stable enough. (It being about 15 degrees out there and me having to kneel in the snow to see the camera's view screen had nothing to do with that, I'm sure).

Anyway, here's what I did manage. The first one - Moon Twins - is of course from the camera slipping after I'd pushed the button. Still, interesting.







Oh well, that was fun. I got cold. I'll go check it out again in little bit, before it's completely over with.

Knitting Away; And, Of Course, A Problem

I'm still working away on the Celtic Icon sweater. I've made a lot of progress on the current piece, the right front panel. I'm into the raglan reductions now. And, unfortunately, I've noticed what may be a major problem. (go figure).

On the back panel, the initial instructions said to knit until the piece measures a certain length - easy, row gauge doesn't matter if you're just measuring the piece. But once you get into the raglan shaping, then you knit a set number of rows ... and if your row gauge is off then, you will end up with the shoulder part being too short or too long. I checked my row gauge when I was working on this part of the back panel, and it was indeed off. So I did a bunch of painful math, and determined that I needed to add about 12 rows to the section to make it the right length. I interspersed them evenly throughout the section, and thought myself very clever.

That was the last time I was working on this sweater, about a year and a half ago. When I got to the part of the front panel where I'd need to make similar row increases, I couldn't remember exactly what I did, so I thought I'd just re-measure and re-do the calculations. But when I checked my row gauge on the front panel, it was dead on.

I re-measured the back panel. The section from the raglan shaping up is almost a couple inches too long. Which means I miscalculated somewhere, and quite probably didn't even need those extra rows, or at least not all of them.

If the sweater just ended at the top of the neck, I'd just rip it all out and re-do that section - I'm not putting several years of work into this sweater to have it not fit. But, it's not that simple ... the hood extension, the center strip of the hood with the cable pattern in it, that goes from the back of the neck all the way up over the top of the head to the front hood edge, is knit from the back in one solid piece. I'd have to rip out more than a foot of cable panel, then another 8" or so of the back, to get back to where I need to fix this. In fact, I'd need to rip out about half the work I did on the back.



I can't face that. I don't know yet what I'm going to do. One plan is to finish this front piece, or maybe the whole thing (both fronts and both sleeves and side panels), then see just how badly it all fits together. If I'm lucky, the different won't be horrible and I can manage to fit it all together and have it still work.

If not (which is the far more likely thing), then I can only think of two other ways to fix it. I could learn a new and interesting skill. I've read about this (so obviously I'm not the only one who has ever run into this dilemma). I can (in theory) pick up a row of stitches at the base of the hood extension, then cut my yarn somewhere below that, and remove the hood extension intact, with live stitches on the bottom. Next I'd have to rip back the center back section to the point where it needs fixed, reknit it, then ... reattach it to the hood section with kitchener stitch.

Which I've never learned to do. But it can be done. Although I'm not at all sure how you would do it in the center cabled section, to keep the cables intact with no wonky break.

Plan B (C?) would be to simply figure out how many rows I'd need to add to the front panels to get them the same amount too-long as the back, and just do that. Then, although those sections would be longer than the pattern called for, at least they'd all match and, in theory, should all sew together nicely. I'm not sure, but I don't think it would majorly distort the sweater if the section from the neck to the underarm was longer than it was supposed to be (as long as it all matched). But then, I never could visualize well spatially.

Ah, but it's not that simple. I'd also have to adjust the same rows in the sleeve, and possibly the side panel insert.

Oy. This is disheartening. I wonder if I'll ever learn to knit anything that actually measures out to the right specs, and fits. I thought I was being extra careful with this one (having ruined the last 2 sweaters I attempted to make by not paying attention to gauge). But apparently I neglected to re-measure this section before moving on, assuming that my calculations were correct. How silly was that?

If I'm going to add rows to the front panel I'm working on, I need to decide that soon, because I'm well into it already.

Moving On ... February Knitting

It didn't take me long to be lusting for a new knitting project. Keeping with my goal of trying to finish one thing a month (in addition to Celtic Icon, the other big goal for the year; and counting the log cabin blanket as my January project, just because I can), I decided to start on my scarf.

I mentioned this before, but I had two balls of yarn in my stash that I'd bought on a whim, and now had an urge to make something out of. Since there was so little of it, I thought I'd try making up my own scarf pattern, designed to maximize the yarn I had without risking running out. I was envisioning a more decorative scarf, not so much something for real bulky warmth.

I decided to make a sort of modified seaman's scarf. The ones I'm familiar with (from Stahman's Shawls and Scarves), have a neck band that is ribbed, then two tails - the 'main part' of the scarf - in a lace pattern.

I didn't think I had enough yarn to knit the neck band in ribbing, so I knit it in straight garter stitch (a la the log cabin blanket patches; apparently I'm not over that yet). Initially I started it with the garter ribs crosswise so that I could start it with a provisional cast on, then have live stitches on both ends for doing the tails simultaneously. But I very quickly decided I didn't like the look of that, ripped it out, and started over by casting on 72 stitches (a number chosen more or less at random based on the gauge on the ball band), and knitted the neckband length-wise.

Then instead of having live stitches at both ends, I just had to pick up stitches across both ends to start the tails.

The next thing I tried was knitting both tails at once on a circular needle, my theory being that I could attach one ball of yarn to each tail and knit till I ran out of yarn, to maximize the minimal amount of yarn I had.

I grabbed my Barbara Walker book "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns" (she has 4 or 5; I only own one of them) and looked through the patterns until I found one I liked and thought would work well. I had knit the neck band with a size 8 needle, because that's what the ball band suggested, and that turned out well. I decided to change up to a size 10 for the lacy parts, figuring that would help make the lace more open and ... well, lacy.

A few inches into it, I didn't like the way it was turning out at all. I realize it would have looked different when blocked, but I just thought the stitches looked too big and sloppy, and I didn't think the pattern was working out very well. It looked like the type of thing that only shows itself well en masse ... the narrow band of the scarf tail wasn't going to let the pattern show to its best advantage. I didn't think it was going to look right even blocked.




I ripped that out too, began a different pattern, and went back to the size 8 needles. Much better. The new pattern I chose is called Candle Flame. I was familiar with the Candle Flame shawl and really liked the pattern, so I was happy to find this in the book (although it looks slightly different than the shawl pattern, but still pretty). I wasn't sure how it would look in such a narrow width, and I was pleasantly surprised ... to me it looks a bit like cascading leaves, since I'm basically knitting it upside down.

One other thing I changed was going back to knitting the tails one at a time. This is the second time I've tried knitting two of anything on one circular needle. It was working, but I'm confirmed in my initial opinion that it's just not for me. It's just too fussy for me, I don't have the patience for it. Well, hey - at least I tried it. Twice.

So when I started the tails over, I just did one at a time. I had a pretty good idea by then that running out of yarn actually wasn't going to be an issue after all, so I wasn't too worried about it. And I finished the scarf, and actually blocked it ...


... and viola! My first self-designed scarf. I'm pretty darned happy with this.

This is the first time I've ever blocked anything, because it's the first project I ever finished with a 100% natural yarn that needed blocking (and it did; until I blocked it, those tails just curled up into a long tube). Although I'm very picky about the feel of yarn, most of what I've made has in fact been made from acrylic yarn, for ease of care. The log cabin blanket, for example - I'm not putting that much time into something that large that I'm afraid to get dirty because I can't wash it.

So I finished the scarf, and had almost a whole ball of yarn left, and what did I decide to do? I decided to make a pair of wristlets to go with the scarf. I put some thought to it, and decided I could make them match the scarf by knitting the same pattern over the back of the hand, then having ribbing to keep them snug around the rest of the wrist.

And it turned out great!! I was very happy with this ...



(modeled here by the Dread Reverend). Except that I didn't have enough yarn left to make a second one.

Yeah, you know it's coming. I ordered one more ball of this yarn, so I can finish my matching wristlets. Some stash cleaning out, huh? But it was all good ... for one thing, this yarn only costs $2.98 a ball. And since I didn't want to only order $2.98 worth of yarn when shipping and handling was going to be $6.00 regardless, I made the order worth $6.00 S&H by adding some sock yarn to it.

Hey. Sock yarn I can always use.

So my February knitting project is well on it's way ... as soon as I get my new yarn, I'll finish up the wristlets, and have this quirky little matched set I designed myself. I'm pretty happy with that.

And ... I've started back on Celtic Icon! That really makes me happy. Here's a picture of the front piece I'm working on (unblocked, yet, of course - hence the curling sides).

Pirate Coat Update; A New Edition of "This *^#$% Old House"

My house doesn't have a real attic, it has these cubbyholes along the eaves. Like this.



And while rooting around in this one in the last few months, because it's where the holiday decorations are stored, I noticed the insulation was falling down alarmingly. It looked like this ....



Although I probably should have just replaced the insulation entirely, that was a project I wasn't up for. But I decided I did need to do something with it, so I resorted to Plan B - stapling plastic up over it to basically hold it in place (and keep any that wasn't already ripped up from getting ripped up).

So Saturday I went out to Big Lots and bought a couple inexpensive but relatively heavy clear plastic painter's drop cloths. Then I spent awhile in this cubby fixing the mess. The section I got done was the worst of it. I had a swirl of little tiny insulation fibers floating all over the place, and I'm sure a bunch of them got inhaled (because I didn't think about wearing any kind of mask for that, until it was too late and I was already in the middle of it). I had little itchy bits of annoyance stuck on me all day. And I only got this one section done.



But ... at least I got that done, and could (finally) put the Christmas decorations away. There's quite a lot more of it left to do, but I kind of figured that was enough for one day.

Then I worked on the pirate coat!

I had initially started the embroidery in rayon floss, because I thought it would look a wee bit fancier - it has a bit of shine to it, almost like a satin or silk. But even practicing and trying to be careful, it was turning out like this.


Messy. I wasn't terribly happy with it, so last night on a whim I decided to try regular embroidery floss. Wow - what a difference.


I'm definitely glad I tried this, because I'm definitely sticking with this now. It's so much easier to work with, and it looks much better.

I'm still working on a practice piece for the cuff, because I want to experiment with different stitches and how the whole thing will look, before I just start on the actual cuff. I'm really debating on adding a little bit of color, or at least shading, to help the different elements of this particular motif stand out. If I don't do that, I think I'll have to simplify it somewhat, because as it is now, it's a pretty complex motif, and if I do it all in black satin stitch, I think it's just kind of going to be a big blurry blob.

I've been waffling about the color issue steadily, because I'm afraid even a little color will sway it over into the realm of just looking tacky. I want to first try some 'shades of black' - like adding a bit of charcoal gray.

But I don't have any of that color. I considered running out to Joann Fabrics again today to pick some up, but ... we're in one of those arctic freezes, with wind chills near - 15 and a high wind warning, and I'm just not entirely sure I want to go out today. I mean, who wants to go out in this to buy embroidery floss ...


... especially when there's plenty of other stuff to do.

I could shift my focus to another part of the coat, and begin planning the embroidery for the neck band and button band. Of course, there's always knitting. Or I could just curl up under the log cabin blanket and read and drink tea all day.

While I'm on the topic, I have to brag about this ...


... this is the transfer paper I found for transferring my designs onto the pirate coat for embroidery. Okay, so everyone else in the world probably already knew about this stuff, and I'm just out of the loop. But no matter - I've found it now, and it's going to save my life on this project. It is so incredibly easy to use ... I just placed it on the fabric, placed my pencil-drawn design on top of it, and traced over it with the point of a knitting needle. It easily transferred crisp, clear lines even onto this black twill fabric. And, the coating on the transfer side didn't seem to 'disappear' - the package says you can use it over and over, and it seems to be true (well, to a point, I'm sure). This was a sampler pack with a variety of colors, but the yellow and white are probably going to be most useful for me on this project. I am so impressed with this stuff! The only thing I noticed was that as I worked with the piece, it did begin to rub off the fabric a bit. But that was easily dealt with - every so often I removed the embroidery hoop and re-drew any faded places with a white pencil. It's not coming off so fast that I can't keep up with it, so I don't think it'll be any major trauma. And the advantages of it far outweigh this little bit of necessary maintenance. So ... great stuff, highly recommended.