Ordination Stole

It was a great privilege to participate in the worship service this morning wherein our new minister was ordained. As part of that, I got to present a stole I had made for her. Here are a couple pictures I got from Facebook:

In my hand, ready to present. (I'm on the left.)

Thankfully someone from her family got pictures because I didn't dare have anyone take some during the service (although I was trying to think of some way I could get some).

Now that you've seen how the stole looks on, I'm going to get into some of the details of how it was made.

I talked about knitting the stole here and here. The summary is that I took a scarf pattern and knit two scarves side by side and then cut a steek up the middle to separate them. They were joined at the back with a 45 degree angle. (I knit them side by side to make the colours match.)

Knitted item.

Sewing along both sides of the centre stitch.

Cutting up the centre stitch. I did the centre
three stitches in a P-K-P rib so the centre
stitch would be very easy to follow.

The knitting was completed in August of 2011. I really enjoyed the process, but once it was done, I didn't think the colour change was dramatic enough to really make the triangles enough of a design element. The stole ended up in a ziplock bag in a box. I figured I would unravel it one day when I had another project I wanted to use the yarn for.

But then I found out that we were calling a new minister and she said she was interested in a stole made by me. (It's amazing how motivating a little appreciation can be!) And so I started to rethink this stole that I had knit. What if I just used it as a base? A starting point for something more...

So I thought of embroidering on top of the garter stitch scarf. More like weaving really:

I got the idea from a cowl pattern by Franklin Habit. It ends up looking woven and I thought that might be just the thing. Plus the yarn worked through the stitches would help to stabilize the fabric. (Garter stitch is very stretchy and on top of that the weight of the stole hung along the bias.)

I used a silk blend that I had in a pale gold colour. The more I did, the more perfect I thought it was.

It would have been too much if I did the whole stole and I did just the bottom portion:

Yes, there's a pale red triangle on the bottom without the embroidery. I can't remember if I decided to do that on purpose or if I just forgot at the time. But when I noticed it, I decided to keep it that way.

Next step was to work on the embroideries I wanted to apply. First I traced the triangle shapes they were going to fit on and then I drew several symbols (based on ideas from a Google image search):

I traced the symbols onto embroidery cloth with a water soluble pen:

 Yes, the lines are a little messy, but they're just a guide so it's ok.

Here you can see the first layer of embroidery. In order to make it have more body, I stitched perpendicular to the direction I wanted the final stitches to be. Then I worked over them with the same colour in the other direction. This way the stitching stands up higher and the layer underneath fills in for any gaps in the stitches so white won't show through.

Here are three finished designs:

I decided to use a red silk blend for some accents on the cross and then decided it would be good to fill in some of the gaps on the other shapes to make them easier to cut out and make into a patch to be sewn on. (The red was done in one layer only to allow the design to "pop up" and stay dominant.)

Meanwhile, I had to continue finishing the body of the stole. I decided batting (my first idea) was too thick and heavy to use to stabilize the knitting. Instead, I spray basted some flannel to the back side of the knitting, trying to make the knitting as square and "straight" as possible.

Yup, sometimes you use what you've got.
Even when it's pigs and pink roses.

Once the knit fabric was stabilized with the flannel, I cut out the correct shape from batik fabric for the backing. I put the layers together, right sides together, and sewed around all the edges. I made sure to cut the batik extra big and sewed from the knit side so that I could follow the edge. (Although stable, it still wasn't perfectly straight and square.) I left a gap along part of the edge and turned it inside right more easily than I thought I would.

Here is a view of one end:

It already looked so much better. Fabric was stable. Edges were straight and even with each other and I corrected both the length (had to come up half a triangle) and the angle at the back (had to make it steeper than 45 degrees). It sat on my shoulders really well and I was starting to think this was really going to work!

Next step was a little quilting to hold the layers together and give a little depth and texture. I started at the bottom of each side and went up to the centre back by following the zig zag path of the lines between the triangles.

I was using the walking foot to keep all the thick layers moving together, but it was catching and pulling on the silk embroidery thread, so I switched to my new clear round quilting foot. It worked wonderfully!

I did one more patch based on a celtic design to represent the Trinity.

After I had stitched the gold parts, I was thinking it would be nice to have a contrasting colour for the circle. And then I remembered I had silk in white. It's wonderful to have a stash so that whatever you wish for is already there! :)

To make it into a patch, I trimmed a wide margin of the base fabric and then turned it to the back side with the help of an iron. I basted it in place and then hand stitched muslin to the back along all the edges:

I was going to sew them onto the stole but I decided that pinning them in place would work better.

The original plan was to have the Trinity sign on one side and the three symbols of the persons of the Trinity on the other, but when I "dry fit" it, it was way too much going on. So I decided to finish the one patch and pin it on. I'll finish the other three and then they can be changed depending on the season. (They can also be easily removed when the stole needs to be laundered.)

One last view of her wearing the stole as she ends the service with a blessing:

What a great project this has turned out to be for me, especially as I had once given it up for useless!

Project Stats
Started: 16 May '11 / Finished: 3 Jun '16
Pattern: Adapted from Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf by Karen Baumer
Materials: Evilla Artyarn 8/2, A-85 red variegated, 160 g ($35) and small amounts of silk blends for embroideries; two yards batik for backing ($25); flannel for lining.

Red Stole Redux

I've been wanting to touch base here, but I don't feel like I have a lot to report. Such is the bane of working on large projects! (Never mind that I'm keeping one of them secret. And it really is taking a lot of my time.)

I can say that my red triangle stole is going much better since I ripped it back and refigured it.

Here is the old version of the stole:

You can see how after the initial shape (on the left), the whole things pulls in severely. That was the problem. The new one:

is so much better. But of course, with almost 50 percent more stitches, it is going slower.

Here is a view of the piece spread out: (just to remind you, I will be cutting it down the middle to form the left and right sides)

You can see the triangle shapes here, I trust, and I captured where the yarn is transitioning from one colour to the next. You can see the right side triangle was done first because the lower part of it still matches the previous triangle pretty closely. After the right one, the left one was knit, and you can see how much more it contrasts with the previous one on that side.

For you knitters out there who are wondering how I adapted this scarf pattern to a two-sides-at-a-time stole, here is an overview:

1. The fabric--essentially two scarves knit side by side at the same time:

2. Here I will outline the triangle shapes so they are very obvious:

3. The yellow lines demonstrate the direction of the knitting on each triangle:

4. After the initial shape is done (a modified bias square that I think I talked about in my first post), you begin the alternating triangles:

Starting at the bottom of the picture, I am knitting across both centre triangles as demonstrated by the lower yellow lines. There is an increase at each green dot which is what makes the knitting flare out and form the triangle, and the steek stitches are between the increases. When the last row is done (top yellow line), I start one of the side triangles.

Starting at the left lower blue lines, I again increase at the green dots. When that triangle is done, I swoop all the way down, across the steek stitches in the centre and to the beginning of the second (right) side triangle. Again I knit following the lower blue lines (this time on the right), increasing at green dots.

Once that side triangle is done, I am back at the center and can begin again. Easy, peasy, right?

One thing this project has going for it is that it is easy to pick up and put down. I've done quite a few sessions waiting in the drive through line!

I still have not worked through all the yarn that I raveled from the first try, but I'm getting there. Whenever I have to rip something back, I always feel a little unsettled until I've knit up all the raveled yarn again. Usually this makes me work on something long past when I should be doing something else, but in this case it was so much that I had to admit it was not going to happen in one sitting!

Cutting up the Whistler

I've finally done it! Gotten myself to tackle the sewing and cutting of my Whistler sweater.

I got an early start this morning, figuring if anything went wrong I had all day to either fix it, make up for it by succeeding at something else, or drinking a lot of beer in an attempt to forget it.

But never fret, your beer supply is in no danger because things went well!

I started by measuring the width of the top of the sleeve and then measuring that far down on the side seams so I would know how far to cut. I tried to err a little on the small side because it'll look better to have the sleeve a little gathered than the body of the sweater.

I should clarify that I don't really have side seams since the body is knit in the round, but you can see where I inserted a purl stitch. It makes a little gap running up the side edge which 1. makes it easier to keep the body from twisting and 2. provides a guideline to sew straight in the following steps.

But first I had another thing to deal with. While blocking, I noticed some of the white stitches were too loose at the top of the sweater. I was going to leave it because it wasn't too bad, but then I realized that I was about to cut this sweater so I could fix this with no ill effects at all.

So I pulled the white wool from the front and back toward the side seam until I had the right tension and left all the extra wool looped at the side seam:

Now, I didn't want to sew it down like that--I mean that's a mess!! So then I thought of using some masking tape. I pulled all the loops to the side I wasn't sewing and taped them down:

Then I sewed down the one side of the gap from the right side.

I set the machine to a narrow close zig zag and followed the left half of the first knit stitch to the right of the gap (marked by the grey line).

Here's the first side sewn down:

Then I removed the masking tape, smoothed the loops down to the other side, and taped them down again:

Then I sewed it down, following the stitch on the other side of the gap. At this point, I cut off all the extra white loops since they were sewn down on both sides and secure.

Since I'm using superwash wool which doesn't stick to itself like untreated wool, I sewed down each side one more time and across the bottom for a little extra security. For the second pass, I moved out from the gap and sewed down the other side of the knit stitch.

After two passes with the sewing machine, you can see on the wrong side the two lines of stitches and the nice column of knit stitches which will be my guide for cutting:

Cut right down the middle of that"gap" stitch and you get this:

Now I am set to sew in the sleeves, sew the shoulder seam, and sew down the sleeve facing.

The neck required some stitching and cutting as well, but was less trouble. I set the zig zag just a little wider and straddled two stitches for the neck. I ran up and down once on either side of the center stitch (no "gap" stitch here).

I decided not to sew it twice since it seemed to be holding really well, and this area will get less wear than the sleeves.

A trip down the center stitch by the scissors gave a nice slit down the center front.

Stitches will be picked up along these edges to knit a facing and then the collar. And then I install a zipper or Norwegian style clasps.

Then sew down the hems of the sleeves and body, insert the shock cord, and it will be done!

I don't think I'll be making any more progress on this today, but I feel like I've pushed this project over a big hurdle and now progress can continue at will!

When Cutting Your Knitting is a Good Thing

Yes, those are scissors. Cutting my knitting. Call me crazy, but this is what I had to do for this shirt.

I've been saying all along that I had to work in the round and steek the arms and back neck shaping. What you see here is the back neck. For no particular reason, I decided to do the neck first.

I won't go into a step-by-step tutorial today but I will give you an overview of the process.

Here you have the back of my camisole. The black lines mark the shoulder seams. The stitches sitting on the holder will form the center of the back neckline. (The lowest part of the scoop, if you will.)

And the circled part? That is the steek. I've knit a few extra stitches over the opening which will form a facing when we're all done. By the time I took this pic, I had already crocheted a finishing edge along both sides of the part we're going to cut. (The raised ridges.) Again, this is just an overview, so you don't have to see exactly how it was done, just recognize that they're there and we will move on.

Move on to the actual cutting between the crocheted edges:

Here I've reached the end and am cutting through the final stitch. Can you believe you can do this?!

Now that it's cut apart, the crocheted edge nicely turns toward the opening and gives a very neat edge to the facing.

Of course, besides being neat and trim, it's also holding those last two stitches together so the whole thing won't unravel.

Once I open it up, you can see how the neckline now looks quite normal. The center stitches can spread out a little bit, and the angled part on either side is the steek, now with the facings turned to the inside.

Here's a quick peak at the entire camisole:
I'm very happy with how all the colour changes came out. It's getting very close to done. I have picked up the stitches around the neckline and am working on knitting the trim. I still have to edge and cut the armhole steeks and then knit a trim around them. But it's getting there.

Enough typing, time to get back to knitting!

-christina