September 21, 2005
I'm now Morning Knitter Rabbit, too.
Hey! Remember when I said that I was getting a dress form to use in fashion school? And how I wished I could take the dress form home with me? Well, yesterday I found out that - hold on to your sewing machines for this one - I will be getting TWO dress forms: One that stays at the school and remains school property, and a brand-new one that I get to take home and keep forever. AHHHHH! I'm getting my own dress form that will be mine, mine, mine! [Runs madly around the room in circles.]
Okay. I'm calmed down now. Let's look at some knitting:
Oh, the KSH...she is so gauzy!
[Click here for a BIG view of the teeny beads on the KSH...oooh!]
Don't tell my other projects, but I've been getting up about 20 minutes earlier than I usually do so I can sneak in a few rows on Butterfly while drinking my morning coffee. Knitting Kid Silk Haze in the morning puts me in a good mood for the day. So floaty! So gauzy! So wanting me to finish it so I can wear it, already. And can you see the tiny little beads I'm knitting into the piece? Oh, how SWANKY!
And in knitting repair news, I took some scissors to the sleeves of my Pretty Cotton Jacket. After two years of wear, the bobble stitch in lower half of the sleeves grew to the ridiculous length of down to my fingertips. I looked like a little girl wearing her mommy's knits! Thankfully, the first few rows of the sleeves were worked in stockinette stitch, and then continued in the bobble stitch pattern. So I placed markers to indicate how much I wanted to rip out and where, and then I cut the edge stitch of the last row worked in stockinette stitch row before the bobble stitch and ripped out that row in its entirety. (The cast-on row and all the rows worked in stockinette stitch were removed as a result.) I then ripped out rows in bobble stitch until the sleeve reached the length I wanted, put the live stitches back on the needle, and worked the few rows of stockinette stitch from the top down using the same yarn I had just ripped out. I then bound off loosely and VOILA! My sleeves were at the proper jacket length I prefer: Between my knuckles and my wrist, as shown here. (And I wore the Pretty Cotton Jacket to school today, by the way.)
Okay. I'm calmed down now. Let's look at some knitting:
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[Click here for a BIG view of the teeny beads on the KSH...oooh!]
Don't tell my other projects, but I've been getting up about 20 minutes earlier than I usually do so I can sneak in a few rows on Butterfly while drinking my morning coffee. Knitting Kid Silk Haze in the morning puts me in a good mood for the day. So floaty! So gauzy! So wanting me to finish it so I can wear it, already. And can you see the tiny little beads I'm knitting into the piece? Oh, how SWANKY!
And in knitting repair news, I took some scissors to the sleeves of my Pretty Cotton Jacket. After two years of wear, the bobble stitch in lower half of the sleeves grew to the ridiculous length of down to my fingertips. I looked like a little girl wearing her mommy's knits! Thankfully, the first few rows of the sleeves were worked in stockinette stitch, and then continued in the bobble stitch pattern. So I placed markers to indicate how much I wanted to rip out and where, and then I cut the edge stitch of the last row worked in stockinette stitch row before the bobble stitch and ripped out that row in its entirety. (The cast-on row and all the rows worked in stockinette stitch were removed as a result.) I then ripped out rows in bobble stitch until the sleeve reached the length I wanted, put the live stitches back on the needle, and worked the few rows of stockinette stitch from the top down using the same yarn I had just ripped out. I then bound off loosely and VOILA! My sleeves were at the proper jacket length I prefer: Between my knuckles and my wrist, as shown here. (And I wore the Pretty Cotton Jacket to school today, by the way.)
55 comments to this entry:
Thanks for posting about your pretty cotton jacket repair. I have a few skeins of Aviso left from knitting this jacket and have been trying to figure out if I should knit them up into something else. However I now think that I should keep a bit of extra yarn after for each project I knit for those "just in case" moments down the road!
[lori z on 21 sep 05 @ 07:25 pm]
Hey Lori: I just used the yarn I had ripped out (for consistency purposes), but if you planning on using leftovers wash them with the jacket so the yarn loses that "brand new" look. That way you won't tell that a repair has been.
[Becky from fluffa! on 21 sep 05 @ 07:27 pm]
Your very own keep at home dress form! You are such a lucky rabbit.
And I totally remember when you knitted the cotton jacket and my sis was like, will you make me that? and I was like, um, maybe something easier? like a scarf? hee.
[Carrie on 21 sep 05 @ 07:49 pm]
You're so brave! I am so nervous about cutting my knits even when they desperately need it. I just keep procrastinating. Thanks for the peek into Butterfly. She's looking soooo gorgeous!
[Evelyn on 21 sep 05 @ 07:50 pm]
Very pretty. I started Ms. Butterfly last spring, but she's been put on hold for submissions and other projects. This makes me think I need to go back.
[Julia on 21 sep 05 @ 08:06 pm]
My sister has been having such trouble with Butterfly. I may have to get her to leave you a message and seek your wisdom on picking up those stitches. Yours looks great! Yet another project I want to knit....we all need an extra 20 minutes knitting time during the day!
[Christie on 21 sep 05 @ 08:08 pm]
Wow that cotton jacket is beautiful! I want to know how you can wear white around kids. I've only just been able to wear white again after 12 years of avoiding it like the plague.
And Butterfly is beyond words. Are you randomly placing the beads or are they more purposefully being added. I hope to add beads to a shawl I'm working on and haven't decided where to put them yet.
Tanya
[Tanya on 21 sep 05 @ 08:15 pm]
beautiful butterfly!!
[blossom on 21 sep 05 @ 08:18 pm]
Christie: Don't let her give up on it. Tell her to visit her LYS and ask for help on picking up those stitches.
Tanya: The beads are "randomly" placed in the diagram. It saves me a lot of work as I don't have to think about where to put them!
P.S. I think Carrie needs to knit the cotton jacket for her sis. Hee hee!
[Becky from fluffa! on 21 sep 05 @ 08:19 pm]
Butterfly is going to look so sweet on you! One day I'll finish mine, too. By the way, thank you so very much for the thoughtful surprise package! It arrived in the mail a few days ago and I was just bowled over by how well you've pegged my tastes in knitted tops as evidenced by the patterns you sent! Merci mille fois! I accidentally left my digicam in Vermont a few weeks ago, but our friends will bring it to me when they fly into town tomorrow. Then I can take a picture for posting. Thanks again, Becky!
[Rossana on 21 sep 05 @ 08:23 pm]
Your own, brand-new dress form? Be still my heart--that's exciting! And those tiny beads on the KSH? If you hadn't mentioned them, I wouldn't have seen them, they're that subtle. (And I like subtle, so that was a compliment!)
[--Deb on 21 sep 05 @ 08:30 pm]
Oh! You are so disciplined to get up early to knit! How wonderful that would be -- but I just can't help trying to get a few more minutes of sleep in the morning! Butterfly is looking beautiful!
[Felicia from sweetgeorgia on 21 sep 05 @ 08:35 pm]
That color for Butterfly looks great. I just finished mine, but I have no occassion to wear it yet :( It's too nice for work.
[li on 21 sep 05 @ 08:38 pm]
I'm sorry, but I keep getting jalous. If your school sell used dressforms, let me know ...
Your Butterfly looks really great. Does your schoolmates know that you knit ?
[@nne on 21 sep 05 @ 08:39 pm]
Well aren't you clever! Cut and sew knits take on a whole new meaning.
Good deal on that dress form! Wait til you learn draping--you'll be in heaven.
[Silvia on 21 sep 05 @ 08:49 pm]
Your Butterfly is looking fabulous! I can't wait to see it finished... it will look stunning on you.
And I am absolutely drooling with envy over that dress form!!! How lucky are you!!??? I can't wait to see pictures of you whack dancing with the dress form... hee!
(Thank you so much for the very sweet note on your sidebar!)
[Kathy on 21 sep 05 @ 09:03 pm]
Very clever alteration.
[claudia on 21 sep 05 @ 09:05 pm]
Oooh, draping! If that's "moulage" (pinning fabric directly on the dress form), we start that soon. I can't wait for that.
P.S. Whack dancing with the dress form...hee hee!
[Becky from fluffa! on 21 sep 05 @ 09:07 pm]
I would get up early to work on Butterfly too, it is beautiful, the beads are great. And you are a lucky duck to get a dress form! The cotton jacket is so cool too--I am digging that since fall is on the way--plus good job on the repairs.
[Punkie on 21 sep 05 @ 09:10 pm]
Oooh, Butterfly and beads - yummy! The pretty cotton jacket is indeed pretty, and good idea on the fix. A dress form? To keep? What a lucky rabbit!
[Stephanie on 21 sep 05 @ 09:23 pm]
Butterfly is so, so pretty. Love the little beads. Such a smart rabbit with the knit fixin' - that cotton jacket is so nice for fall - it would have been a shame not to fix it.
[Vicki on 21 sep 05 @ 09:28 pm]
Wow. You are so clever. I am afraid of taking scissor to knit, even though I have one that I really must do.
[ashbloem on 21 sep 05 @ 10:07 pm]
Cool bobbly jacket, that was before my time of reading your blog. I likes! So glad it's wearable again. The butterfly is addictive!! She wields her charms on all who knit her.
[Sarah on 21 sep 05 @ 10:32 pm]
What pattern is that gorgeous bobbly jacket?? I covet that jacket deeply! By the way, your humorous whack dancing rocks!
[Chauntel on 21 sep 05 @ 10:40 pm]
I am impressed by your repair work on the jacket! Well done... As for the dress form(s), now I am jealous...
[francoise on 21 sep 05 @ 10:49 pm]
I've always adored that jacket. I'm glad you were able to salvage and enjoy it.
Can't wait to see the lovely Butterfly. I suppose I'm going to cave and do one one of these days!
[Julie on 21 sep 05 @ 11:06 pm]
Beeeeeautiful Butterfly! It looks so ethereal and lovely. And your newly repaired jacket is amazing--your classmates must be impressed. Are any of them knitters?
[Val on 21 sep 05 @ 11:28 pm]
wow one for you? cooool!
way to be a fixer-up rabbit too!
[heather on 21 sep 05 @ 11:58 pm]
I sure hope your school mates know what a rightious knitter you are!
Way to work the repair!
[Chelee on 22 sep 05 @ 12:36 am]
Ah. I'm knitting with KSH now and determined I need an entire sweater of it--I'm planning on the cardigan from the same issue, only probably combining the short body and long sleeves. Your Butterfly is inspiring--and so is your going to fashion school!
[Daphne on 22 sep 05 @ 12:51 am]
Oooo, your very own dress form! Oh wow! You've hit the big time! If you take it home on the metro, please take pics! :)
Love the beads on the Butterfly. The effect is really stunning.
I'm very impressed with your fix-it abilities. You have no fear! Good on ya!
[Michelle 2 on 22 sep 05 @ 02:07 am]
Oh happy you! A dress form to take home! Thanks for the tip on repairs. It never occurred to me to do it that way. Butterfly is looking good.
[lauray on 22 sep 05 @ 05:43 am]
After 6 months of being utterly charmed by your blog, I'm delurking to state the obvious...your Butterfly is looking heavenly. I want to make the longer version for my wedding. There's some KSH waiting in the wings, but I'm hoping Jamieson & Smith Ultra Cobweb Weight will do it justice...
Thank you for inspiring me with every post!
[keli on 22 sep 05 @ 06:03 am]
a dress form... to take home.. and keep???
what a lucky rabbit!
your butterfly beeds are so beautiful, it'll be just the right amount of sparkle, i'm dying to see it.
clever repair job! You're getting so clever we can only dream of completeing half of what you do these days :)
and you MUST post metro with dress form photos! MUST!
[happy spider on 22 sep 05 @ 08:43 am]
I did the same thing on the bobble/moss stitch pullover in cashmerino from Debbie Bliss... even after I measured and shortened the sleeves, after seaming it hung so much I couldn't stand it! And there was no way I was gonna unseam my sleeves and redo two entire sleeves! so unseamed a few inches up the sleeve from the edge and ripped back the sleeve and shortened it... then again on the other! I love how you can do that with knitting! Great rendition on your cotton sweater.
[Michelle on 22 sep 05 @ 04:50 pm]
wow, a dress form of your very own to have at home! So cool. That's really awesome. And I hadn't been reading your blog back to the time you made the cotton jacket and let me say, I love it. It's so beautiful. I'm going to look for that pattern book b/c I love the jacket and while not a bobble fan, this bobble stitch on the jacket really makes me want to make it.
[Wanda on 22 sep 05 @ 04:52 pm]
a dress form you get to keep? you're so freaking lucky. lucky i say.
[lindsey on 22 sep 05 @ 05:57 pm]
Once you have your own form at home you'll get proficient 10x as fast. Moulage is probably refering to creating the basic body block by draping directly onto the form. The french do it a little differently that the US in that the moulage block has more darts and ends up being a more 3D representation of the body. The standard basic block drape is usually 2 darts from and back. Both are useful in their own way.
[Natasha on 22 sep 05 @ 07:12 pm]
I think you must tell you classmates you knit, because your knits are all so beautiful, if they think you bought them all, you could become a kidnapping target!
Does the dress form at home mean we get to see whack dance shots of you and your homework? I can hardly wait!
[Kathen on 22 sep 05 @ 07:47 pm]
None of my classmates know I knit yet, and I'm not sure if the others do. So far, I'm the only one who has been showing up wearing handknits (it's perfect crisp weather for sweaters and cardigans right now!), so I suspect that I'm in the "handknitters who knit like mad" minority. But they'll eventually find out I'm a knitter because we will be taking a course in knitwear. Hee hee!
P.S. My husband kindly offered to bring my dress form home in the car, but another girl who lives in my neighborhood will be bringing hers home on the bus. (Bringing it on the metro would be awful; too cramped and people shove off and on too quickly.) So OF COURSE I offered to bring mine home on the bus when she does. Dress form solidarity, and all. It should be a riot :-)
[Becky from fluffa! on 22 sep 05 @ 08:06 pm]
I have a bead question - are they strung on the KSH or put in as you knit (crochet hook or something)? If strung, how did you do that? I attempted a stringing, and if the needle fit through the bead, then the eye didn't, or the eye plus two thicknesses of yarn didn't. I wound up using nail polish to make the end of the yarn form its own "needle", but there has to be an easier way!
Double the dress forms, double the fun? Will you blog the bus ride, pretty please???
[Sarah on 22 sep 05 @ 08:19 pm]
Are you done spinning yet from the dress form excitement?! Take a deep breath and GO RUN SOME MORE because that is such FAB news! OOOH! :)
You must have someone take a picture of you and the DF on the BUS with your friend! I will, but of course, need a copy to look at while I drink my morning coffee becasue that picture would be too WACK not to dig in the A.M.
[Bonne Marie on 23 sep 05 @ 09:04 pm]
so, OK: everything in this post just generates one long "ooooooooooooooohhhhhh!" :)
[mrspilkington on 23 sep 05 @ 10:50 pm]
Brave, brave woman you are to be cutting, and ripping, and repairing. I LOVE THAT JACKET...glad to see that it gets a lot of wear, even though the wear comes with the tear!
Wish I could be there to see the dress forms riding the bus. I wonder if you will need to buy it a ticket?
[elisabeth on 24 sep 05 @ 01:49 am]
You did WHAT to your PCJ?????? Oh, Lord. I had a palpitation or two. Should have known you'd never put that jacket in danger. Whew!
[Jenny on 24 sep 05 @ 09:39 am]
Dressforms are a good thing. You will LOVE having one!
[Gaile on 24 sep 05 @ 09:02 pm]
I do love those beads in there! I want to make that so bad as well :) I always knit in the morning, sometimes for an hour or two since I wake up too early most of the time.
[Dani on 25 sep 05 @ 12:29 am]
yay! another butterfly! such a beautiful knit! and it's going to look smashing on you :)
[Moni on 25 sep 05 @ 02:21 am]
Wow, you're own dress form, I'm so so jealous! I'm a fashion design major in the states (massachusetts) and I would love my own dress form in the class, let alone for home!
congrats, and keep up the amazing knits!
[Becky on 25 sep 05 @ 08:25 am]
WOW, WOW, WOW! I'm a little bit envious of you...you get to go to school you get to knit to your hearts delight...and such lovely work...I don't have the presonality to create such lovely things...lace looks to me almost like controlong the "force" in Star Wars lingo.
I look forward to seeing butterfly complete.
[Orli on 26 sep 05 @ 10:21 am]
oh, i've been trying to knit more at night as well, instead of only in the car when i commute to work. We try to get our son to bed by 22:00 every night...if i'm not too sleepy or busy doing other things (dishes, laundry, etc) I knit. =)
[Orli on 26 sep 05 @ 10:22 am]
woowee!!!! congrats on the dress form!!
[rachel on 27 sep 05 @ 06:40 am]
Butterfly looks beautiful. I love the beads! You are so lucky to have a dress form!
[Donna on 27 sep 05 @ 03:34 pm]
I love the color you are using for Butterfly--so pretty!
Have a good one, Becky! ;)
[Lolly on 27 sep 05 @ 08:15 pm]
you're brilliant (but we already new that) very clever!
[froggy on 02 oct 05 @ 11:32 am]
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