Fall Star minus the star

I started the Icelandic Star sweater. I am calling it the Fall star minus the star as I think I am going to leave out that embroidery as I have lengthened the section that would have held the embroidery the pattern asked for. That isn't to say I will never embroider the sweater just not with the star the pattern calls for as it would now look silly. Maybe it will end up with some wool crewel embroidery on it or not either way I am fine .

I started this yesterday I think it is working up fast. Currently have about 12 inches on the body section for the size that is supposed to fit me I am supposed to make this section 14 inches long but I think I am going to make is 15 1/2 inches long as I don't like wear it hit right at the jean waist line sort of odd to look at for me. This is the sweater that I am making out of the thrifted yarn I posted about.

Like I said not my favorite colors but will still be a nice fall sweater to wear at Thanksgiving time or any time I am wear neutral colors which isn't too often. This sweater reminds me of Charlie Brown's shirt in Peanuts even though the colors and stripe are all wrong I can't seem to get that image out of my head it will probably leave once I get the rest of the bands on it around the neck and the sleeves. The sleeves will not have quite such a wide strip of the darkest color just a square like two of the other colors.

This picture came out pretty well I took about 30 photos to get 1 that would show that there are four colors in this sweater it was hard to read in photos.

I don't know what the term is I am calling it reverse knitting. During this project I taught my self how to work backwards on the needle so I am always looking at the front of the pieces and never the back makes doing the purl stitches a thousand times easier and I don't have to knit in the round and cut eh sweater for the opening so many pluses with that one. So I just while posting this decided to look on You tube to see if this is a real technique I have found it called reverse knitting and backwards knitting. The person in the video is a thrower I am not even though I did teach myself that it is just slower so I don't do it. It is much faster if you are not a thrower. I figured it out on my own I started to purl a row inserted needle and cast yarn over it then turned it to the front so I could see what my stitch looked like. This made it so I could see what to do from the front ok nothing like reinventing the wheel in reverse that someone already did but I still figured it out with out help and that makes me happy.

Fleisher's Yarn

Did a little thrift shopping today found some Fleisher's Yarn in Knitting worsted weight 4 oz per hank. It was $2.00 a hank and there was 6 hanks. So 12 dollars for 24 oz of virgin wool yarn. The colors are not my first choice by any means. That being said they should make a nice fall Thanksgiving or Halloween sweater with some color work in it. I have already rolled them into balls to make them useful with the help of my middle daughter as a yarn swift. Some day I will have a real yarn swift my kids would love that. I am going to use this yarn for the Icelandic Star sweater by Sarah Hoadley not sure who I am making it for me or my oldest daughter will see who it fits when done that will be the deciding factor. I may leave out the star part of the pattern ( the embroidery), lengthen the sleeves and change the color-work in other words I am just following the basic pattern and making it work with the yarn I have.

The colors are

• sort of dark peach color 486 4 oz ( the top left in picture)
  
• pumpkin color 487 12 oz ( this of course would have to be the main color as it has the most skeins)(top right)
  
• a sort of medium rust color ( medium dark brown) 488 4 oz. ( bottom right)
  
• a sort of dark burn umber color 402 4 oz. (dark brown)(bottom left) bad light in photo
  

Each hank was actually sorted into two skeins in side so each gave two 2 oz. balls of yarn. Other than being a little dusty it seams all good and well and fine. Since I am still new to knitting and usually would only collect vintage threads for crochet I am new to collecting vintage wool yarn. Would this amount of yarn be enough to make a small/medium sweater for an adult female ( ie. me). I guess I could fined other colors to mix with it such as cream or something liek that to make sure there was enough yarn to complete a project. The labels only gave the weight not the yardage so I have no idea how much yardage is in each hank.

the label had some care instructions on it so I thought I would post them here encase I loose the labels ( which they all still had complete skeins not partials). Also thought it might be useful info for someone else who has vintage woolens to take care of them.

Washing Instructions

1. Hand wash, using lukewarm water and mild soap-flakes or a detergent recommended for woolens.
2. Squeeze gently-always support garment in hands while washing. Do not wring.
3. Rinse Several times in lukewarm water until every trace of soap is removed.
4. Add a few drops of white vinegar to the last clear rinse water.
5. Roll in Turkish towel to remove moisture. Unroll at once.
6. Lay flat in original shap to dry-away from sun or heat
   

Sapphire China Doll

Yes I started another one. I plan on making about 6 of these maybe more see if I burn out before I get to that point. I haven't posted in a few days because we had a power outage and when the computer came back up after being shut down for it I had to wait for my husband to set it up as it didn't go to the log in screen and I don't know how to fix that. I really like this pattern by Doris Chan. I am not having anymore problems with it. Like I said before it was all my fault and not the patterns fault. Hard to see in the photos but this is a sapphire darl rich blue color with a metalic thread running through it. The black one had this as the trim color this one will probably ave white as the trim color.

Black China Doll done

It is done except for placing one snap at the neck to keep it closed a little better there. The orange stitch markers are where I am going to place that snap to keep it closed.

Look close to see my mistakes that I did not notice till done. See my mistakes with the white shirt they are easy to see. I made the mistake of forgetting to turn every row so certain sections of the shirt slant different ways. I will only be wearing this with a black undershirt so it won't be noticed anyway but I do know what the mistake was. Will remember that for the next one. Also I added an increase where there should not have been one to make it fit better but you can see it in this photo on the bottom right . But you can only see it because of the white undershirt with such a dark yarn if it had been a light yarn it would not have shown at all. Now you have been shown my mistakes and how I could have hid them with a black undershirt or just the red of the dress form you would have never seen them which is how I will wear the shirt with black underneath. I purposely showed them to you they will not be in the next one if I had just shown the top four photos no one but me would have known about my mistakes.

I missed having it done for church by only 30 mins. Oh well I will wear it next Sunday or maybe tomorrow.

The white crochet at the bottom of this photo is actually the undershirt that is what I do to mine to make them longer so if I have a shorter shirt I can still wear it and not have skin show. I just wear this part under my other shirt but over my skirt or jeans as a decorative accent that makes it functional as well. I wouldn't wear something like that with this. It is a t-shirt type of thing.
Just so you know if I make something for the store and see mistakes like on the bottom half of this I will tear them out and re-due. But since this is for myself I can live with them just fine.

China Doll more progress

It is comming along nicely now. The pattern is fine with the errata it has. The mistakes are all mine. A person should never worry about ripping out mistakes it is just part of the process of any handwork. If you are making this in a size 36 like me I have posted what issues I had and what I did that was wrong on Ravelry so encase you have the same mistakes you can see if they are like mine and see the fixes I did.

Black China Doll

I have finally figured out my mistakes and gone on. Don't even have a clue how many times I ripped this out. But it is real funny at my house. I was starting to wonder why the yarn had not given out yet. The bad thing about photographing black is that it and red are real hard to see in most photos. So it actually has a lot more detail in the shell patterns than you cna see in this photo. the yarn has a very thin metallic mono filiment in it that is why you see little whitish spots in the shirt. It isn't actually white it is just the flash being reflected back into the camera. There is still something that is bugging me about the neck area but that happened after the join it doesn't seemed centered any ore but everything else is correct so I may skip forward to that part and figure out if when the collar is added it looks correct. I usually do the sleeves and collars first in crochet long before I finish the hem that way the item can be tried on and see where everything lands before I get to the hem and see if I need to lengthen and not have enough for the sleeves and such. With most patterns you can add lace edge to the hem if you need to lengthen harder to do on the neck area. In the neck area if you run out usually means you need a contrasting yarn and make that area different.

Baby Padded hangers

Padded hangers to protect all your heirloom quality infant and baby clothes. You can buy them here or on The Vintage Threads blog store.

padded hanger

white $2.00

Frogged and started again

I tore out the previous posts item the red china doll sweater. I had made a few mistakes in it (understatement of the century). I have now started over about 6 or 7 times or more lost count, it isn't the patterns fault it is mine my mind just would not focus well for some reason and kept making the same mistakes over and over again. So now I am about three rows from the joining under the arms the point in which I tore out all the other times. But unlike all the other times I am happy with this at the moment. Everything looks right where it never did to me before. I have also changed colors from red to black. May still make one in red just not at the moment. I still very much like this pattern and hope to make many more of this sweater if it comes out the way I expect it to.

I contacted Doris Chan the designer of the pattern to ask her a few questions about it. Stating what I thought I was doing wrong and she confirmed it to me. At least I knew what mistakes I was making and she was very gracious and replied to my inquires a very nice lady. Above you can see where I am now.

My children make the statement that they never see me tear things out. I always laugh at that saying I tear things out all the time. I just don't usually talk about it. Just tear out and keep going not a big deal to me usually. But because they are so surprised by it I wondered if my readers thought the same thing. I have been trying to post lately when I tear out and things of that sort so that beginners know it is fine to tear out. You learn so much more ripping out than you do just following the pattern.