Tayberry Hat

This is the Tayberry Hat by Cirilia Rose, such a crazy hat! I love it. This is the last of my finished projects from October. I have a couple that i have not quite finished yet, namely a second Arleen.

The main part of the Tayberry Hat is a two colour start stitch pattern. Despite looking complicated its an easy pattern to remember, but a pain to rip back. The hat looks great but i found it best to scrunch up the end a little, or it looks a little two boxy. I might run some stitches on the inside to make the scrunching more permanent.

My ravelry notes.

Sewing Post!!! The Sureau Dress

Well this was my main project for my October break. The Sureau dress by Deer&Doe.

As soon as I first saw this dress, about a year ago, I knew that this was the dress I was looking for. Only, I also knew that I was not going to have time to make it before I went the France. I dreamed of sewing this whist in France, but soon realised that finding a working sewing machine was going to be too difficult in Chamonix.

When I went to work in Scotland, I dragged my sewing machine all the way up there, along with my luggage on the bus. I ordered the pattern and fabric but, realised that I was not going to have time to make this and do a good job between shifts. But I took the month of October off work and went to stay at my parents, where I finally completed my first Sureau.

It was not the most ideal situation to try to sew in. There is very little space and I had to complete it in small chunks, whilst my parents were out. So one sewing session went something like this:-

• collect my sewing stuff from the spare room,
• unpacked all on the living room table,
• sew for 15 mins,
• pack it all back up again and restore in the spare room.

It took me nearly 3 week working like this to produce two toils of the bodice and the final dress.

The final dress is very wearable, unlike most of the dresses which have come before. I decided not to make any hacks on the pattern, and went online to order a dark blue chambray (one of the recommended fabric). I had not done any sewing in such a long time and my projects usually fail due to poor fabric choices, so following the pattern seemed like the sensible thing to do.

The only alterations I made was to grade the pattern from a size 40 on the bust to a 44 (and a bit) on the waist, and added 2 cm to the bodice. If I was to make this again I would not lengthen to the bodice. The pattern is actually good as it is, it took me two toils trying to guest where alterations would be needed to realise that I just needed to expand the waist.

These photos are very over exposed, the dress is actually dark blue. I took them in a hurry as I was getting ready to leave for London. I tried darkening the photos as much as I could, but any more the colours get really strange.

So I am now in London, staying in a 15 bed dorm whilst I try to find a new job and somewhere to live. I am really hoping I can land my self a good job quickly. I have been pretty lucky with jobs over the last year. I think my best policy is not to except a job which I know I am going to hate, I don't want to go back to factory hell, any time soon.

Grace Lace Beret and Lattice Hat

Having this last month just to chillax, has been so good for me. I was feeling so incredibly tired, just being able to sit and knit, crochet and sew for a month. I have started ticking off my sewing and ravelry queue's, it's been so good. I am at last starting to feel like myself once more. Its not going to last long though, i have to find a job and somewhere to live. I can't stay here forever. I don't think the parent/daughter relationship could survive me becoming a permanent unemployed lump, knitting on my parents sofa.  So i am off to London tomorrow (still, we see if i can put that off for a few days) and then start the mammoth task of finding employment and accommodation in a new town. Its exciting starting again, but i do wonder how many more starts i can do it. 

Grace Lace Beret

This is the Grace Lace Beret by Elizabeth Eisenstein. I first tried this pattern last year, which frustrated me so much as i could not get the cast on right and always ended up with the wrong amount of stitches. Eventually the hat was frogged and forgotten. But browsing ravelry, i was still attracted to this pattern, so i decided to give it a second try. 

This time around i had absolutely no problems, i abandoned the crazy cast on in favor of a double banded rim and the rest of the hat just few off my needles in one evening. 

Lattice Hat

This is my favorite of the two hats, Its the kind of winter/sporty beanie that i usually wear. Though it does look abit like a Turkish Fez in my photos. It's the Lattice Hat by Sarah Arnold, the pattern worked out well, once i figured out what i was doing. I had never done Front Post Double Crochet (fpdc), Back Post Double Crochet (bpdc) or Lattice Treble Cluster (LTC) before, and i found the pattern quite complicated to follow. However once i got the hang of the stitches it all came together nicely. 

For both of these hats i used up one of the many balls of cheap acrylic that i had in my stash. I am really starting to hate the feel of acrylic, but i have so much!!!