craftyaction

A blog for the Mt Lawley Stitch'n'Bitchers. If you're in Perth, WA, and you like to knit, crochet or just gossip— or if you want to learn how— come down to Exomod in Mt Lawley every Monday from 7.30pm and catch some crafty action! Email Clementine for more info: indienial (at) gmail (dot) com

Friday, September 29, 2006

posts are coming thick and fast: both sleeves done and done. blocking in the bathroom as i type. resisted the urge to buy blonde wood buttons (my personal weakness); or buttons with sparkles in. have suitable maroon buttons to finish neckline.* if i get myself into gear i could in fact have this top finished to wear out tomorrow night (highschool friend is over from melbourne for a weekend. meaning i and her and twelve others will eat and drink ourselves stupid. mmmm....). but i'm scared someone (namely me) will spill something on it.

* and, thanks to spotlight's vicious, seductress ways, i also bought 20.3m of ribbon. also maroon, translucent, sparkly, 5cm wide and 10c per metre on clearance! (i bought the roll. classy, enviro-friendly xmas wrapping here i come!) and i nearly bought scarf style (yeah. they had a copy at spotlight. go figure). and also nearly bought some printed felt, and some jersey to make a top, and some yarn on clearance....

Thursday, September 28, 2006

so i put one capped sleeve ruffle thing on.
i put it on real neat like, weaving in all the ends and everything.
now i've decided that ruffle (reduced from the all-encompassing, arm-pit tickling monstrosity in the pattern) is actually too small. i want to extends all the way down the front of the armhole, just not into the arm-pit bit.

*sigh*

so i'm working on ruffle number two. i will put that on, and if i decide it's okay, then i will unpick and frog the other ruffle and redo it.

i think in total i will actually have knit 1.5 tops by the time this is finished.

and the frustrating part is that i really want to re-use the yarn from the too-small ruffle, because then i may finish the top with a whole, untouched ball of yarn to spare. so i can't just go hacking away at the too-small ruffle with scissors, which is really what i want to do.

Saturday, September 23, 2006


i put the neck on. what a hassle. i had to frog and reknit it because.... well, i'm tired and it's technical. something to do with purling through the back loop and the significance of not doing that. and i had to redo the shoulder seams because i have only ever knit raglans before and my seaming was truly dreadful.
my three needle bind off round the neck is quite an obvious seam. i don't know if it's supposed to invisible or not. but it looks neat, if obvious, so it's staying.
the sides aren't sewn up yet, which is why i am contorted in the photo. i was trying to hold the camera and the top to keep me modest-like.

the armholes are quite small, although i made them larger than the pattern called for, so i do not want the lace ruffle extending under my arms (yucky sensation. hate frilly stuff in my armpits). so i have to study the pattern carefully to make a nice lace edging that 'grows' out of the armscye. i don't want to just cast on less stitches, because that will leave a right angley-thing where the lace ends.
does ANY of this make sense? i am quite tired (thankyou, dresden dolls and your four and a half hour show that only ended because the venue was closing) and not so eloquent.

i did have the apparently genius idea last night of knitting a pillbox hat with veil and floral embellishment. still too tired to work out if this is in fact a good idea, or deluded brain-rambling... i would stiffen the actual hat with a cardboard...um... hat-shape that the knitted part would go over.

Friday, September 22, 2006

So, I finally finished Candygan. FINALLY!!
It took me three (admittedly very busy) weeks to crochet the button holes, attach buttons and do the seaming. but now it is done and I have worn it, and worn it, and worn it... and not taken any photos. Whoops.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

hey, what's that? That'd be my first proper hardcore attempts at blocking (spritzing worsted yarn with a little water probably doesn't count). But Clare, if you're so hardcore, where the hell are all the pins to keep the shoulders nice and the lace lacy? Uh, I don't have any. Nope, no pins here. Look, it's mostly cotton, the towel kinda grips the edges, okay? It's a bath towel folded double placed on my bathroom floor. Oh, for a blocking board (or an ironing board not covered in my housemate's 'To Iron' pile)...
Here is a mystery though. The pieces were really, really water resistant. Is this a characteristic of cotton, or of rayon, or of silk? Or is it likely that the yarn was treated with something? And mystery number two: why is the front larger in all dimensions than the back, when there were, number-wise, more stitches across the back? I blame something to do with the short-rows, mehself.

All up I'm kind of pleased. Blocked and held over a light colour the little lace flowers actually look floral, and you can see where the vertical bands go diagonally outwards before they go directly vertical (I worked real hard on getting that bit nice). And the bobbles aren't as warty as I always thought.

I just really, really hope that it fits okay. It looks really large compared to other fitted tops I own, but I keep reminding myself that this has no lycra/ elastine in it, thus should look larger.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

mmkay. clementine had her ebay moment with the spinning wheel. i think i've just had mine. at least it was relatively cheap... even if i'm not entirely sure what to do with the unidentified 'hooks'. i'll keep all my darning needles safe at least.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Quite literally, making the news.


from http://tools.fodey.com
Originally uploaded by indienial.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

I succumbed. Vogue Knitting Fall '06

Well, I gave in.

I bought the magazine, after doing the "no, no, I don't need to" thing.

You can see it here. I mostly bought it for the first "Modern English" pattern. Which, ironically, Adam commented he didn't like.

He did like the coat below it though. I can see myself knitting it for my little miss, but not really me.

And I think several of the "greys anatomy" ones have really interesting construction. I'm not sure I'd wear any as is, but maybe in different colours. My mum would like a few of them I think.

I will bring Monday natch. :)