knitting neels

I have been knitting, I swear! In fact, I’ve been getting back to my once-usual regular amount. Not having a million rehearsals and college stuff to prepare all the time definitely helps. I have already knit and finished a hot pink lace shawl, which is blocking as I type. I’ll show it as soon as it’s dry – hopefully tomorrow. In the meantime, I couldn’t keep my woolly mitts off the Malabrigo Rios that This is Knit got in recently. A little Ravelry searching and I figured I had enough for Millwater (rav link), a reversible garter, cabled moebius cowl.

The pattern is really easy to memorise so it is perfect knitting to stuff in your handbag. And the Rios… swoon! Such a textured knit really shows off what it’s capable of.

The same day I got the tartan wool for my skirt, I picked up some black cord for a Proper Attire skirt. Personally, the fabric choices in the pattern are too nuts for my daily life. I also have a black cord skirt that I got a few years ago in H&M in Barcelona. I love it dearly but it has seen better days. I love it because I can cycle in it, it’s got decent, comfortable pockets, and it’s the kind of skirt you can dress up or down depending on what you put with it. I haven’t seen anything remotely similar to it since I bought it. I like the shape of this pattern and the fabric was about €13 I think for 1.5m.

The only thing is… it’s got a zip. I’m not very good with zips because I haven’t had much practice with them. I had a zipper foot on my old machine but when I screwed it on, it was crooked. When I loosened it so that it was straight, it would fall off. So I didn’t have a very good beginner’s experience sewing zips. You may recall that my aunt (who gave me the machine in the table) was in possession of a particular box of tricks. She gave it to me before she went home after the wedding. There are two zipper feet – one normal one and one for invisible zips; a blind hem guide; something else that the booklet tells me is for piping; and a special plate for doing darning and buttonholes.

I figured I should really try out the zipper foot on a small project just to get the hang of it. I decided on the zippered pouch pattern from 1, 2, 3, Sew!.

I spent a lot of time fiddling around but it was really straightforward. It’s not perfect but I’d like to try more. I used an invisible zipper because it was the shortest one I had and I used maybe a third of a fat quarter. Again, another fat quarter that I adored but couldn’t find anything to sew with such a small amount. I love little bags for things so this is the best use, I think.

About the book – I used it for the bib and burp cloths that I showed yesterday too. It’s a nice concept: every chapter has three projects based around a technique. The techniques get progressively more difficult as you progress through the book. The projects at the start are mostly just two pieces sewn together whereas those towards the end are more complicated. The chapters, in my opinion, are well-chosen, and I don’t get the impression of ‘filler’ chapters at all. I like how the projects are easy enough to complete in one or two afternoons but challenging enough that you can learn something out of each one. I resisted buying it initially because, really, I only wanted to make the mouse pincushion from it. But I looked through it on a number of occasions and was drawn to the simple usefulness of each project.