Silver Lining pt 1

My knicker making class got cancelled funk came to an abrupt, silver lining stop, when I saw this...

Surprise! (insert that feeling you get when you discover a piece of really beautiful fabric you bought years ago, packed away and then promptly forgot about...fabric stash amnesia) suffice to say, I started plotting an, it's all about me sewing bee, immediately.

PART 1 - PRETTY BLOUSE

From only 60cm of a Liberty Print called Emma & Georgina I cut myself a PRETTY BLOUSE.  As I write Strawberry Thief still has stock on hand but I did originally purchased my fabric from Luccello.

For this version the elastic casing was deleted from the waist, 5cm was added to the length and then the hemline was curved to create a shirt-tail shape.  The bib at the front was the scrap of fabric left after the front neckline was cut, bagged out with another leftover and trimmed with vintage buttons.  The neckline and hem edges were finished with a pre-cut/folded gingham bias binding found at Luccello in 100% cotton and only $2.00/mt.

It's shown here with a cardigan called Chicago from Rowan Magazine 37, more shots on Ravelry.

 

The PRETTY BLOUSE sewing pattern is available from my Etsy Shop in Australian sizes 6-14, for international customers a size conversion chart can be found right here.  Detailed instructions showing HOW TO bind an edge with bias binding can be found here although in this case it was machine stitched in place.

A Snood wearing dude

Today I pose a question...should dudes wear snoods?

On observing my knitting a discussion with my friend Tom about the benefits of snood wearing ensued.  In the play The Bacchae, the character Penthius unsuccessfully disguises himself as woman by putting on a snood and pulling it up over his head.  

  Driven by his desire to witness the Bacchic rites, orgies of sex and violence that only women were allowed to attend, he is duped by their cheeky God Bacchus into thinking that dressed in woman's clothes he could slip in unnoticed.  Of course Bacchus knows the outcome of this useless charade, the women in their Bacchic frenzy tore him apart limb from limb.  Perhaps the moral of this story suggests the answer is a firm no however I'm not so sure. 

My version of a snood, equally good on girls and guys, is actually a snood scarf combo and the instructions are given below... 

The Snarf

You will need... 
40 grams Kidsilk Haze (Rowan) approx. 1 1/2 balls
I set 3 3/4mm (60cm length) circular needles

Cast on 154 stitches
Row 1: (RS) K2,*P3,K4* rep from *to* to last 2 sts K2
This row forms rib, continue knitting in the round until work measures 22.5cm ending the last round with K2

Form Split as follows...
Turn and work in the opposite direction
Row 1: (WS) P2,*K3,P4* rep from *to* to last 2 sts P2, turn
Row 2: (RS) K2,*P3,K4* rep from *to* to last 2 sts K2
Continue as set above until split measures 8.5cm ending with a WS row.

With right side facing and keeping rib pattern correct con't as follows
Row 1: rib 30, K94, rib to end.
Repeat the above row once more.
Row 3: With RS facing rib 30, P94, rib to end (30sts).
Row 4: Rib 30, K94, rib to end.
Rib 30, cast off 94 sts purlwise, rib to end.
This forms the top edge and establishes the start and position of the two scarf sections.

Turn and keeping rib correct work until the first scarf measures 51cm ending with a wrong side row.
Knit 2 rows.
Next row purl to end
Next row knit to end
Cast off 30sts purlwise.

Rejoin yarn to the other side and work to match so you have two identical scarf sections as shown above right

A special thank you to Tom who bravely agreed to demonstrate three ways with Snarf.  This is my first attempt at writing down one of my knitting patterns for others to use.  Any questions or feedback please feel free to email me.

sts - stitches
K - knit
P - purl
RS - right side
WS - wrong side
rep - repeat

Winter Layering

THE LONG SKINNY has many virtues not least of which is it's chameleon like adaptability.  For this version I used a lightweight jersey in a soft floral print.  To give my top a casual weekend look the cuffs, hem and neck binding were all left raw and encouraged to roll. 

Add denim jeans, contrast DRESS-ME-UP COLLAR plus a chunky cardigan and Voilà...out you go!

The pattern for the highly addictive LONG SKINNY (so far I've made 6) is scheduled for release in mid July; the DRESS-ME-UP COLLAR pattern is available from my Etsy shop in Australian sizes 8-16; both of the fabrics used were found at Tessuti in Melbourne.  My cardigan is called WANDERER, it was designed by Martin Storey for Rowan and can be found in book 48.  I did make a couple of changes; I made my cardigan slightly longer, changed the sleeves to be moss stitch and also left the underarm seams open at the cuff for 7cm.