Stripey mitts

 

 

These are the same pattern as the ones I made a while ago here:https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/12/anarchy-gloves.html

There is a slight difference though in that they are 6 stitches smaller because I found the original ones a bit too big for my hands. The ribbed pattern does make it so very easy to adjust the size!

 

These also match though because though I love the Anarchy gloves I do nto always want mis-matching stripes. They are mostly made from the rest of the yarn from the original Aldi kit because I did not use the Aldi kit yarn for the first pair either. Both pairs have a glitter yarn which came form a Poundshop. I have more of this stuff but yet to decide hwo to use it.

On both pairs I mixed the Aldi yarn with other yarns of the same weights so I would get a product that is not the same as anyone elses. I do like uniqueness!

You can just see the seam where these are sewn up. They are knitted flat so have to have a seam on the inside/underneath. This is great, if like me you, hate knitting in the round.

Like most of my knitting ( and quite a bit of my sewing!) these are imperfect in that as you can see one thumb is a row or two longer than the other. It will not matter.

I actually knitted these while recovering from my Hip op in January this year but never got round to the sewing up bit. I do hate sewing up knitting. I suppose that is a good reason to knit in the round but I don't like that either. I have actally just bought a set of double pinned needles to do just that because I have quite a few Sweater Babe hat patterns I want to knit and if I am going to have to do in-the-round knitting then I definitely prefer double pins to those horrible flexible circular needles. My Mum loves them, and even knits flat with them, but I have never got on with them. I only use those when I have to rip something back and then pick the stitches back up because I find the plastick wire bit of those circular needles makes it easier to do this, especially if you also use a much smaller needle as well. If I can get away with it I even knit the neck on jumpers flat and sew them with a seam at one side. I know its much more professional in the round, but in reality most people never notice.

Stay safe:

Bracken

Knitted Purple mohair aran, and seperate hood - and free vintage chunky aran pattern

 

 

My Mum saved this from some magazine I think back in the late 70s or maybe early 80s. 

There does not seem to be a date on it and I do not know which magazine it was from though she did like Womans Weekly back then so thats the most likely. Its meant to be in chunky gauge yarn but that means most old 1980s mohair will knit about the same. I was never very keen when I was a kid on this pattern but when I thought about it in purple it got a whole new feel to it. I was not sure I had enough yarn in the violet which I used for the main colour and I had only 10 x 50g balls of this ( bought second hand from Ebay for £6 plus postage back in 2017) in the violet which just about did for both jumper and hood, but that was because I used various other shades of purples for the twisted ribbing. I used 5.5mm needles for the twisted rib and 6.5mm needles for the main body because these are what I had and they seemed to give the right tension for the yarn. I knitted the smallest size knowing it will turn out sightly larger due to needle sizes etc. Its turned out just right so this has all worked for me.

 

That twisted ribbing was a killer by the way. I cannot just knit into the back of the stitch like it says because it just does not work for me so had to use a cable needle for every twist. so every other stitch ont eh front rows. I used two cable needles when I got to the body part.

 

 

It seemed to go on forever when it came to the hood. Well what a boring project that was. Also the instructions say to increase on both sides for the hood and I think having done that that its wrong. You should just increase on one side but never mind. My hood and the original picture are not the same. Its does not matter because it still worked and its going to be very cozy when walking my dogs on a cold day soon.

 I have never yet managed the basic knit of making a scarf. I just find it so boring. I did manage an infinity scarf the other year but really that was because I was making a jumper that is knitted in strips and decided to go down a needle size ( and it even then worked out huge!). I decided to just start again when I did that and did not bother unpicking the original strip so ended up with this small piece that made for a good infinity scarf when the ends were joined. I have worn it as well so worth keeping what would have been a scrap bit of knitting otherwise.

You can see that huge jumper here. I do not seem to have a photo of the snood but its in the same multi coloured stitch as the side strips. This was a very easy beginner pattern in fact though maybe a smaller needle would work better next time. I watched a You tube video that explains what happeed here. I matched the needle to what it says on the yarn and not what the pattern says. Pattern says 6mm needle,  yarn says 10mm though I actually used 8mm but still its too big to get the tension right. Never mind a lesson learned with that one.

 

 

It does work when I want to just curl up and be comfy but its not really the best jumper I ever made and not even the best version of that pattern I have made because like many jumpers I knitted recently already knitted that pattern back in the 80s and more than once!

Anyway back to this. My perfect as in no dodgy bits anywhere aran. I actually spent loads of time with this one unpicking large amounts. sometimes it got ripped back for the last 3 days worth of knitting when I realised there was a mistake. I am I think getting much better at knitting and back to what I could do in the 80s when I was always knitting something. I am hoping these jumpers will now last until I have time to do this again so probably in about 12 years when maybe if they do not again change the rules on me I will get to retire. Thats if I can still knit with my old hands by then as well. Ah well, at least I will have lots of nice knitwear for the next 10 years or so.

And these are the instructions in case anyone 

wants them

 

I was trying here to show you my very much hard work ribbing so ignore the silly face please!

The hood is knitted as a strip. You are told to increase on both sides but thats almost certainly wrong. Then you fold in half,  sew up one side and pick up and knit along the front edge with normal ribbing. I did stripes again. The pattern has a button fastening but I think probably it could come updone when wearing so I just joined it and knitted in the round.

This is where I just picked up and joined via knitting. No sewing!

 

The front showing ribbed edge. Its stripey tho that is hard to see here.

I am proud of this though its not really very interesting but this hood really seemed to go on forever.

If I had not included the other purple shades in the ribbing I would not have had enough yarn so beware if you knit this in mohair you need probably 13 or 14 x50g balls to be on the safe side. I actually do not know how many extra balls of yarn I used because I have lots of bits and just got on with this.

Its a very "pixie" pointy hood and tucks inside the polo neck very well.

I am going to enjoy this one though. I have had to wait nearly a week to get photos which has meant I did not wear it just in case I ruin it somehow. Now I can start to enjoy this properly.

By the way the green faux leather leggings were made here

https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/05/elvish-green.html

Take care

Bracken

More Lovely underwear

 

 

Here is another pair of knickers using the free Megan Neilson Acasia pattern. The bra is Sierra from Madalynne and its another free pattern. I have made both patterns before but these versions are slightly different. The thong is Rebecca Page basic thing pattern. Again I have made this before and all 3 are very good patterns.

 

The knickers, because I used swimwear fabric left over from my (non-swimwear) Voodoo dolly dress have a cotton gusset but this is just a scarp of Tshirt and I did the same with the thong, and the bra is similar to the last lace trimmed Sierra I made but I went back to bikini fasteners because having tried both plastic bikini clips and proper bra hooks I prefer the bikini ones and after all this is my creation so convention can go out the window here.

 

 

 

I am not going to show you the thong on me I am afraid but the big knickers and the bra are OK. 

 

I have a bit of a problem with where exactly to join the leg elastic (lace) so you cannot see the join as you can see here in the photo below. Its not very neat on me because you can see the join on the back leg.

 

I have yet to sort that little problem but they are not uncomfortable and they were very much fun to make.
 

This is The free Sierra bra. 

 

Its lined with bright blue power mesh. I used this before on my other Sierra Bra versions and it works well and have have loads of it that I picked up in a sale years ago. 

 

Its not actually wearable for much else but I suspect will be lining my swimwear and undies for many years to come unless I can find something else to make from it that uses it all up. Since I think there are about 12m of this that would actually be a very good thing. I just cannot chuck it out though despite lack of space though I think really I did get a bit carried away I think when I bought all that! It was so cheap though at 99p for 6 plus metres. I actually have made a double layer ballet skirt from it

 and a top ( that started out as a dress until I added elastic in the sides). I do not think I have a picture of this as it is now but it has gathered side seams. Its more wearable as a top though still has little wear really but then it takes up minimal space in my drawer so I have kept it. The other dress I used this for was the Partly Sunny Frock

Anyway its versatile this fabric but as a top or dress so far not quite wearable. The blue skirt is great for ballet practice though which I got into during our first lockdown earlier this year.

 

 

Hear you can see the inside of the Sierra. 

I am feeling quite happy with the neatness of this one

 

And one last selfie:

Take care and stay safe

Bracken

Raggy top

When I showed you my witchy dress I mentioned this top. I actually made this first but never got round to blogging about it. This was really hard to sew up. I left loads of small bits of the cut layer out of seams. Then attempted to unpick but the lower layer of the fabric is so fragile I decided to stop that before I reck the top so in the end I just chopped off all the dangly left-out-of-seams bits. To be hoenst I do not think most people will even realise. I had similar problems witht he dress tho that was a ffraction easier to sew up partly because the fabric is more substantial. I think to do this next time I willeither stay stitch all the loose edges down before construction or get some of that glue that washes out and just glue before sewing up.

 

Its another Minerva Fabrics fabric but although looks very similar to the dress fabric its much more delicate and also more glittery. Before I even got to wear this I had "pulls" in the fabric. I may as well just wear it out of course and I really like this top but I would not reccommend buying this particular fabric. Its the version of this stuff with sequins. Its very glittery and for something like a party would be lovely but for an every day top you want to just wear and not worry about its actually not really very good. The fabrc was just £3.99 but the the dress cost me the same and is far better. That has no glitter tho!

 

It could be argued if you buy this kind of raggy fabric you cannot expect a long lasting garment and thats of course very true but the dress will I think last a year or so whearas I suspect the top culd be in the bin by Christmas 2020. Having a lovely dog jump up doesn't help either because he catches his claws and even his rough pads on the fabric and makes even more pulls. You can see one of them here:

So I love the way this looks but if you buy this fabric be ready for it to die pretty quick. Its worn here over a fluorescent exercise vest. I love the see throughness of the slashes.

Other than the short lived qualities tho this is a really nice top and very "me"

 

I wore this with a black velvet maxi dress for halloween evening and it looked lovely. Oh and yet again its my TNT pattern Butterick 5562. Bearing in mind I bought the pattern for its unusual sleeves its been used loads but to make all these basic ordinary sleeved tops. Just shows you can never be sure what you'll end up making when you buy a pattern on a  whim.

Take care and stay safe

Bracken

Mesh tiger top

I bought some ebay fabric a couple of weeks ago and with it came a flier for a pound a meter fabric shop so I googled and in fact there are 3 such shops in the UK - or I found 3 anyway. Of course I then had to place an order with each shop just to gauge what the fabric and service is like and happy to say I will be returning to all 3 shops.

Here they are:

https://poundfabrics.co.uk 

https://www.poundametre.com/

https://efabrics.co.uk

The first shop, pound fabrics.co.uk,  will it seems force you to buy 3m at a time but even then its a good deal. I did buy several 3 metre lengths from here of fabrics that were more than £1 a metre but they were still very cheap and good quality when they arrived. Downside with this shop: Its expensive to get delivered. I paid £4.99 after removing half of what I had intended to buy because it was too expensive with the delivery charge which just goes up and up the more you order. 

Similarly with poundametre.com. Though I bought a lot of lightweight fabrics from here and it was £8.99 for delivery but bearing in mind the quantity I did not mind spending that because I was getting loads for my money. This top is made from some of the fabric from there.

efabrics.co.uk was the fastest to ship and get delivered. However the general fabric quality is not so good as the other two but it was cheaper to get delivered. I got some very nice trouser fabric as in office type trouser fabrics from here for about £2 a metre. 

Anyway there are pros and cons with each shop but all in all all 3 shops are well worth investigating. 

 

The fabric for this top is from poundametre.com and I have to be honest I am very happy with their fabric and delivery. 

 

I made the green velvet and black sports legginsg here:

https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2020/04/green-velvet-and-black-stretch-panelled.html

 

I bought loads of mesh and lace fabrics and a few other bits and pieces just because they were a decent price. Its not good for the stash and my partner has started to complain again. I have however, got round to recycling some of my stash to charity since I really do not see me ever wearing it. It killed me to do it but its gone. 

It was a last minute decision one morning when my neighbours had the charity bags out and I put the fabric out with some old clothes. I actually changed my mind and went out to get it back but they had already collected it. Fate I think stepped in there. Its gone now anyway to the air ambulance which is a charity I like,  so a small bit cleared and since it was heavy weight upholstery velvet that got recycled it allows for a great deal more light weight fabric to get stored in its place.To the anoyance of my long suffering partner. He has even started to talk of buying a shed to get rid of it all. I had to point out I would need to heat it though to stop it rotting!

 

So this top: its all overlocked including the hems. I did start to add a twin needle stitched hem but hated the look so undid it very carefully and redid the overlocking so that its wavy. A bit more punk rock!

 

I have not yet re-overlocked the sleeve edges or neck edge so they seem a bit tight but I think I can do that at some point soon when I have the time.

  

I like the loose feel of the stretched hem line so will probably do it eventually. More than likely when I rip a stitch on my current hems. 

This top I do like, so the pattern I used for this was not exactly a mistake, but I actually prefer to make my squares tops like this self drafted top. This is Butterick 5562 View D . I bought this pattern for the different sleeves variations but have ended upas previously using the ordinary non- gathered, non-puffed sleeve and missed off the wide cowl neck as well. Its got a very nice boat shaped neckline which I love and is more suited to T shirt patterns.

I previously made this top from this pattern:

 What I am going to experiment with is to use the neckline of this pattern on my own self drafted tops next time I make one of these, and see how that works, because this is better than my straight across necks. So I suppose my self drafted top (seen below worn singly and layered) is evolving!

: 

I wear these tops all the time ( and even with the exposed seams on the inside for work like a thin jumper with my work clothing!) so will be making more of these from the rest of my mesh rather than the much more difficult / fiddly pattern used here. I prefer the simpler design of my self drafted tops. Sometimes it feels like a cop out but if you like it thats surely what you should make and not smething more "styled" just because its a commercial pattern. 

 

My self drafted tops are more "punk" and very much more "me". My current collection consisting of 4 or 5 tops are wearing out. 

 Generally tho I wear these kind of tops out over a few years. They are not investment pieces and the ones made back in 2015/16 are all in holes now so need replacing. They are very much what I wear most days though, so I need to make more of them. Now I have some new, and very pretty mesh I will make lots of these.

Roses are a major issue for these tops, because in the garden, I catch the thin fabric on the roses when walking around or gardening.   I love Roses and they are all over the place in my garden - climbers and bush roses and even hedging roses. I suppose I could argue that I should not wear things I love in the garden, but you just go out there to enjoy it and rip things. Or I do anyway.
 

These kind of tops do not last long!

Having said that I have 4 original mesh Omen tops from the early 2000s which are still going. Thats where my inspiration for this look comes from. They are fishnet though so seem to wear a bit better than the thin fabric of the blue tops above. 

 

 I will show you what happens when I make the next version with my new neckline. For now stay safe and have a lovely weekend.

Bracken