Under the Red Umbrella

Showing posts with label knitting. Show all posts

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Project! Summer Lee Knits Totally Rad Ribbed Socks in Beehive Yarns

Pattern: My mom gifted me a limited Christmas Socks Set - "Vintage Cheer" - from Beehive Yarns last year and it took a minute to find the perfect pattern worthy of this gorgeous yarn. It came with a pattern, but there were certain details that weren't exactly my cup of tea, so I held off. When Summer Lee released the Totally Rad Ribbed Socks pattern, I knew IT WAS TIME. I pulled in some design elements from the pattern included and mashed it all together in a pair of beautifully retro socks.

Cost: The Christmas Socks Set was gifted, and the pattern was $5.

Timeline: This was my travel project in France during the month of April. I love working on socks while traveling - they take a decent amount of time but take up a small amount of space, so they're perfect, in my opinion.

Sizing, mods, changes and notes on fitting: I knit a size M with a cable cast on for a stretchy cuff, and then followed the pattern as written, with the exception of adding another round of stripes before the toe to use more of the accent colors. This was a VERY generous sock set - after I finished the Totally Rad socks, I had enough yarn to cast on a second pair of Weekend Shorty socks, whoohoo!! And I still have leftover yarn.

Monday, September 5, 2022

Project! Summer Lee Knits Weekend Shorty Socks (HAMBURGER SOCKS)

Ok, here's another project (finished in March...) that I didn't blog about in a timely manner... so details are missing but I super love these socks and wanted to make sure they saw the light of day...

Pattern: My new favorite sock pattern - the Weekend Shorty Socks by Summer Lee.

Materials: I knit these socks with the leftovers from my Hamburger Socks, knit from Knit Picks Felici (sadly, no longer available in the hamburger colorway, but there are lots of other fun self-striping colors available), and some ancient Knit Picks Stroll Tonal - truly scrappy socks. It makes me *very* happy to use up scraps.

Cost: Free Ninety-Nine, since this was a completely scrappy project, and used a free pattern.

Sizing, mods, changes and notes on fitting: I cast on a size M using a cable cast on for a stretchy cuff and followed the instructions pretty closely from there. The Felici yarn is self-striping, so I just let it stripe as it would for the cuff, heel and toe, and then used the Stroll for the main part of the sock. I love the fit and simplicity of this pattern!

Feelings about this project: Yes, I have already knit another pair of these socks with other sock leftovers. It's such a versatile pattern!

Monday, July 25, 2022

Project! Wildflowers Blouse by Poison Grrls (Test Knit)

Pattern: Wildflowers Blouse by Poison Grrls. I test knit this one and it's a gem! The neckline! The sleeves!

Materials: The recommended yarn for this knit is CoBaSi by HiKoo and I also heartily recommend this yarn. This is the second time using this yarn (in a second Poison Grrls design) and it's just perfect for summer or, you know, living in LA like I do.

Cost: I used almost all of 5 skeins of CoBaSi in "Gold Crest", so total was $47 including shipping.

Timeline: Woof. Test knits can be tricky, you know?? I started this on June 10th and finished it on July 21st, after a lot of ripping and re-knitting. I knit a total of FIVE sleeves on this sweater, can you believe it??

Sizing, mods, changes and notes on fitting: Ok, the finished product is fantastic, I am very happy with it BUT due to the "test" variety of knitting, this didn't exactly go as planned. I cast on the wrong number of stitches, so it's a little larger than the size L. Now, each designer has a testing process that is different and works well for them, but unfortunately for ME, Amy's process requires detailed reading and apparently I am very bad at that!!!!! So I missed a few corrections to the first draft of the pattern and that led to the sizing issue, as well as me having to rip and re-knit the top of the bodice AFTER I had already finished the entire garment. So yes, this took me over a month to get right, but I never have regrets about ripping out a "Meh" knit to make sure it's fab.

I also got Covid somewhere in that month, and I partially blame that for my inability to read the corrections. IT WAS NOT MY FAULT (it was my fault).

Ok, back to what I DID do right: I added an extra inch of length to the body before beginning the increases for the bust, and I knit the sleeves one size smaller (my usual mod for my skinny arms). I love love love the sleeves and the proportions of the puffy sleeves vs. the sweetheart neckline!

Feelings about this project: Overall, I am so so happy with how it turned out, and I feel really fantastic wearing it. And I promise to learn to read soon.

Friday, June 10, 2022

Me Made May 2022 Recap

Well, we're 10 days into June, but here's my Me Made May Recap. Yes, you'll notice there are only 10 outfits, but 10 out of 31 ain't too bad in my book!

Left: Linen Joss Pants and B5895. Right: Linen Joss Pants and the Hawaiian Madhu Top

Left: Linen Joss Pants and a refashioned tank from Old Navy. Right: Ikat Alder Shirtdress

Left: Sunshower Cardigan (Rav link) and self-drafted Hawaiian Dirndl Skirt. Right: Pumpkin Spice Seamwork Benning Dress

Left: Linen-blend Burnside Bibs (unblogged, gasp!). Right: Lace Stripes Sweater

Left: Groovy Striped Madhu Top. Right: Linen Joss Pants

And the MVP for this Me Made May goes to... the Linen Joss Pants! I'm actually wearing them right now as I type this, too. They are so comfy but look kinda chic in a burlap-sack, paper-bag-sorta-way, and I LOVE them.

Truly, this Me Made May tested my wardrobe. A lot of my handmade clothes no longer fit comfortably and I don't wear uncomfortable clothes (anymore), so. My options were limited. But onward and upward! Summer is here and I have leftover linen, so look out!

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Project! Poisonettes Top by Poison Grrls

Pattern: Poisonettes Top by Poison Grrls - this was a test knit in the summer of 2021.

Materials: Paragon Sport from Knit Picks in Black and Turmeric. This yarn is lovely, but unfortunately it's no longer available in most colors.

Sizing, mods, changes and notes on fitting: So, I'll be honest: it's been so long since I knit this that I've forgotten a lot about it, but I still wanted to share some photos for posterity! I tested this pattern and I LOVED the design at first sight. It's super cute and wearable, and the stitch pattern is fun to knit, but it took me a few tries to get it to fit comfortably. I definitely remember adding rows before and after the sleeve join, to get more length, but I don't remember my other mods. I love that the top band has elastic in it, so it does sit very well on my shoulders. Overall, it's a very cute, unique design!

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Project! Twin Set: Fujiyama Mama by Poison Grrls Knits and My Little Secret Crop by Jessie Mae

Pattern: The bolero is the Fuijiyama Mama Bolero from Poison Grrls and the tank is My Little Secret Crop by Jessie Mae.

Materials: One of my favorite cotton/acrylic blend yarns: Cotton Fair from Michael's! I am so obsessed with this yarn, it wears like a sweatshirt, it's super affordable and comes in nice, bright colors.

Cost: I bought 4 skeins of this yarn for about $20, and I also paid for the bolero pattern. I got the tank pattern as a freebie when Jessie offered it up in March of 2020 for some distraction knitting. So for both garments, about $30.

Timeline: This is what happens when I belatedly blog... it's all a little murky... I finished the bolero in April of 2021 and I believe I finished the tank in July.

Feelings and notes about this project: Although I love the finished product, knitting this bolero was a bitch on my hands - the daisy stitch is GORGEOUS and I love the texture, but ouch. After I finished knitting it, I had almost two full skeins of red yarn left from the original four, so I decided to knit a tank to wear with it (or on its own). I was tempted to write a pattern in the same daisy stitch to perfectly match, but my hands couldn't take it, so I went with this TNT pattern. Easy, portable, wearable, A HIT.

And yes, my THIRD ripple tank. Aren't they pretty in primary? It's also fun to see the difference between the red tank in a cotton blend yarn and the blue one, knit in wool.

As much as I love this twin set, I have rarely worn it. Summer 2022, I'll bring it back!

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Project! Hamburger Socks - Rye Light in Felici Yarn

Pattern: Rye Light from Tin Can Knits. I've knit this pattern a few times in the baby size, but this is the first time I've knit it for myself! Or any other adult, for that matter! I love the style of this pattern and it's part of a collection of free, simple patterns that are awesome. I've also knit Rye in worsted weight and the Barley hat in both weights. All are very cute and well written, great for beginners.

Materials: Felici Sock Yarn in a magical HAMBURGER colorway! I was on a serious yarn diet at the beginning of 2019, but when I saw this yarn, I knew I needed it.

Cost: Felici runs about $7 a skein and I got two, so we'll say $18 with shipping.

Timeline: Although I bought this yarn in 2019, I hemmed and hawed about what sock pattern to use. Geeze, let this be the year I get over that "special stash" anxiety!! I cast on in August and started knitting a size medium. I got through the heel and they were just waaayy too big. I finally bit the bullet and ripped out the whole project and started again, finishing around November 17th. Sometimes you just gotta let a project chill if you're not feeling it, and with this project, it helped to put it down for a bit.

Sizing, mods, changes and notes on fitting: I went down a size from what I initially though I wanted. In retrospect, I would modify the heel to use my favorite slip stitch heel, not the one as written. I usually prefer to knit socks toe-up, and while it was nice to try a new pattern... I would still rather have a different heel and toe-up.

I also like to knit socks using two-at-a-time magic loop. Because the second sock syndrome is real over here, and once my second sock came out a full size different than the first one.

Feelings about this project: I still love this yarn! I want everything in this yarn! It's perfect! I should maaaybe do a capsule wardrobe that is entirely in these hamburger colors?!

Monday, January 17, 2022

Project! Stockings for Me & Chase in Knit Picks Brava Bulky

Pattern: Ok, I started this project by asking Chase what kind of Christmas stocking he wanted. And he said "I want a Ninja Turtle saying 'Cowabunga Man, Merry Christmas!'..... yeah, right. Then he moved on to a more simple idea of a chunky cabled stocking, and we looked through patterns to find.... this. Wow, what a misleading photo! I started knitting it (Chase requested stripes, so already one modification) and it turned out TINY. I get that this (free, why am I complaining?) pattern was probably written to sell a skein of yarn, but woof. Who wants a tiny stocking?! So I added width, more cables, length and some knit rows to make it all lay flat.

Materials: Knit Picks Brava Bulky - Red and Dublin for Chase, and Fairy Tale and Hunter for me.

Cost: The yarn was on sale, so about $12 for four skeins and shipping.

Timeline: I started knitting these WAY too late (third week of December) and finished Chase's on Christmas Eve, just in enough time to leave him some gifts for Christmas morning. I finished mine on New Years Eve.

Feelings about this project: I thought I had made a big mistake before I got the sizing right. The red and green one looked like FREDDY KRUEGER'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING. Buuuuut after everything, they turned out very cute! The yarn is fantastic and I would definitely use it again.

Feelings about the world: Merry Christmas! Ok, yes, I know it's halfway through January, but better late than never.

Friday, December 31, 2021

2021: Everything I Made This Year (Almost)

Happy New Year! Ok, so I have not been great about blogging individual projects, but that doesn't mean I can't do an end-of-the-year round up, right? Here's everything I made in 2021 (almost):