Damn, Knit & Blast It

Do you remember, way back in March, how excited I was to be knitting as sample for KnitOnTheNet?  I first blogged it in “Top Secret Project – Shhhhh“.  The big downer of the project was that I couldn’t show it to you until the book it was for was out (understandable really!)

Guess what, A Stitch in Time is out!

I have a copy!

It’s superb!

And best of all, I can show you “Top Secret”!!!

Before I get into telling you the ins and outs of Top Secret, I must first gush about this book. It’s huge. Over 350 pages, stuffed full of over 50 designs from the 20′s through to the end of the 40′s. All have been knit with modern yarns and photographed and modelled beautifully.  I wish Rowan would take a leaf out of this book – you can see the garments and the stitch detail, and the neck lines!!

All the original patterns and pictures are in the book as well as the modernised instructions. I have spent hours going though and reading the old patterns and giggling at some of the language used.”Inexpensive, youth-giving millinery” was a particular fave. Plus words like delightful, elegant, pretty, distinctive and smart used so formally.  This is a super coffee table book if you never knit a stitch but that would be a waste with so many super patterns to choose from.

Have you got the impression I’m a fan yet? If you’re a prezzie short for Christmas or looking for something to spend Christmas money on – I recommend this book!

Buy it here if you want a copy….

KnitOnTheNet bookshop

First, let’s reveal Top Secret’s proper name…It’s called “To Wear in the Evenings”.

It’s from 1935 – 1937…this is the original picture from the pattern…

If you have the A Stitch in Time book, it’s on page 142

The jacket is worked entirely in Moss Stitch  in a beautiful pure silk 4ply. I think it was a very good choice of yarn for the jacket as silk has very little “give” and holds structures well but manages to drape at the same time.  There’s a lot of garment here – if it had sagged or gone stiff and inflexible it wouldn’t have worked so well.
Here’s the stitch detail…

Want to see the WIP shots??
The fronts…

Careful decreasing to nip in the waist above the peplum (that’s the frilly bit from the waist downwards)

Rapid decreases at the top of the sleeve head to give extra “puffiness”…

And all the bits, knitted and ready to sew…

That was the stage that I had to post off all my hard Moss Stitching to be finished and photographed for the book.

Want to see how it looks, beautifully modelled and photographed, in the book??

How fab is that? To see my knitting in a “real” knitting book

And do you want to see the best bit?? I got a credit for the knitting

Once I’d finished my Hedera socks I needed some commuting knitting.

I was mean to Ben.

Look, Ben. Look at this lovely ball of yarn.

You’d like a pair of socks in this WOULDN’T YOU??

“Urmmmm”, said Ben, looking scared “Is ‘Yes’ the right answer?”

I graciously agreed to make Ben a pair of socks from the ball. I wasn’t even sure how it would knit up.

I used the very plain boring free Regia pattern that’s free with their yarn. I wanted something easy for the train – Hedera had been a bit tough on a crowded train. Plus I’d already made Ben a pair from this pattern and he finds them comfy.

I love using these self patterning yarns – I always seem to be rushing to get to the next pattern change – or in this case stripe!

The one problem is that you must be very careful to know exactly where in the pattern you start – if you want identical socks that is!

I like to use a long tail cast on for socks so the rib stretches – it also gives a nice “lashed” edge to the top of the sock. I made sure that I made my starting loop, when I cast on, at the point two colours changed.

I accidentally found that this gives a pretty contrast edge to the sock!

I’m afraid I have no “action” shots to show you of these socks – they were very fast and easy. Even though they were supposed to be “train knitting” I confess, I felt so ill<insert violins here> that I knit these some evenings too.

So here they are all finished…

Not fabulously exciting but now bad for a sicky girl!

Hmmm there is something missing???

We’ve had knitting, WIPS, FOs, traumas, Mewsley….where’s Thug?

OK, OK, Thug Fans…

He condescended to model with the Ben socks….

He’s such a busy cat!

Forgive me readers for I have sinned. It has been two weeks since my blog post…

I’m kinda convinced life is out to get me – just when I thought the dental trauma was sorted, I caught a heavy cold and have been knocked for six. All I’ve done is sleep, and drag myself into work for the essential bits. I am no hero when I have a cold – I really should be a man I’m such a wimp!

“Stop whining and tell us knitting news – everybody has a cold right now!”, Yell my readers.

OK. OK. I’ll do my best to make up for my delinquent blogging…

Emily – life was having a go at me via Emily too, you remember?  Or maybe I was just being careless and making silly mistakes???

Well, I pressed on with dogged determination and what do you know? Things are looking up!

Emily is finished.

It took me quite a while to get the neck right. The edging is sewn on rather than knitted on.

I found that laying it out on the dining room table was the only way to get the thing pinned and sewn neatly.

Ben wandered by when I was mid “sew up” and asked, “have you knitted a loo seat?”
I had to see the funny side – and his point!! (the pins might smart a little!)

One thing that niggles me about the neck is that however I tried to sew it it does stick out a little . No one would notice except me I guess.

Once the neck was done it was quite simple to sew the rest of the seams, with Mewsley’s expert supervision…

I think if I made Emily again I would make her a little longer too. I find myself tugging her down under my belt. That’s another thing – in the Kim Hargreave pictures it’s shown with a belt – I think Emily cries out for a belt (I’m so easily influenced by the publicity photos aren’t I ?)

So here it is the finished Emily!!

Well I said it was quick!

I’ve finished my “So Called Scarf” already.

It was a great travelling knit until I got onto the second skein on Manos. Then it was too big to fit comfortably in my handbag. I then had to do more of it at home. Mewsley decided to “help” me by sprawling on my lap every time she saw the scarf

Fortunately, this scarf did manage to provide an upside to my recent frequent visits to the dentist. Those two crowns I told you about? I dislodged one and needed root canal treatment in the other Big “OWwww”

In pain and waiting for my dentist to be able to squeeze me in to his schedule, I sat in the waiting room concentrating on knitting as a distraction from the hurt in my jaw and so I wouldn’t think about the fun and games to come. I must have been pretty worried – I knit really fast and finished the thing!

I did think the scarf looked a little like a strip of carpet when it was done – why carpet? I have no idea – it just said that to me! Maybe because it’s quite a thick fabric in that stitch. I decided to embellish the ends a little to make it look more scarfy and less carpety.

Remember the Lilac shell buttons I used on Geno? You don’t? These…

I needed 6 for Geno but the ones I wanted only came in a pack of 30 – they were very reasonable (£5.99 in John Lewis) so I splashed out. Hmmmmmm…..Just the thing for the scarf…

What do you think?

Here’s a close up to the buttonerisation…

A steam with the iron and here it is with the lovely suede coat it was made to go with!

I made the scarf so I could fold it double and tuck the ends through as shown because it is quite narrow – 12cmish but it varies because the yarn is “thick and thin”. I made mine 170cm long too which left me with at least half a skein (Out of two skeins) over. I thought you’d like the stats in case you’re thinking af making one.