Beanie Binge for Justice

I have been a woman on a serious mission for the last month. My lawyer daughter and her work team have been taking part in a JusticeNet Walk for Justice to raise money to stop people slipping through gaps in the legal system. For reasons now lost in time, I offered to knit beanies for the team's walkers to wear on the walk. My original thought was to design a symbol and make the hats in various colours from my not insubstantial wool stash. I found a scrap of graph paper and played around with symbols, opting eventually for Scales of Justice.

I had worked about 5 rows of my prototype, when I fortunately realised that using 4 ply yarn was a bad idea. A more thoughtful search of my stash turned up 3x200gm balls of Bendigo 10 ply Aran - in cream. It immediately occurred to me that not only was this quicker and easier to knit, but if the team all had hats with this base creamy-white it would be unifying. I liked the idea of knitting white hats for justice.  The idea now had a life of its own and I was up and running. I found 3 contrasting colours in very solid 8ply for the emblem and set to work.

The first one off my needles was fine. I worked out, however, that I could shorten the scales a little to avoid them wandering into the crown. It took 3 more before I had what I thought was the best version. All were, however, visually clear and wearable.

Over the next 18 days I knitted 20. By then 17 had registered to join the walking team.  My original 600gm of Aran made 10 beanies, so I ordered another 600 from Bendigo, as well as 600 gm of 10 ply cotton, for those who might be allergic to wool. 

The Authorities (my granddaughters) said yes to pompoms, so I made 20 of those and attached them. 

Such intensive knitting was hard on my hands, especially the thumb joint on my left hand, which is largely stationary. Exercises and a brace helped, and I really enjoyed doing it. In the end it took 4-5 hours per beanie. I varied the size slightly. I began using 5mm needles with the wool, varied it up to 6.5 and ended using 5.5. I also varied the number of rows before beginning the pattern and in the crown reduction. There should be a fit for most people.

The 10 ply cotton is not as thick as the wool, and the contrasting colour shows through a little but it works well enough. Reducing needle size reduced the shadow, but required stitch adjustment.

I also made one in another colourway for a family member from a different workplace, walking as an individual.

In the end, 34 of the work team registered for the walk. I used all the Bendigo wool and cotton, and found, at the last ditch, a skein of cream alpaca yarn my brother had bought me back from Peru.

I couldn’t find my swift to wind it into a ball, so did it by hooking the skein over my arm. This ended in a tangle that took me the best part of two hours to sort out, but resulted, 10 minutes before my handover deadline, in the last 2 beanies!

As I wasn't sure that I'd have enough yarn to finish the last one, I began knitting it with a narrow band, planning to make it a headband if I ran out. There turned out to be plenty of yarn, so I finished the crown. The result was a skull cap, so  I added  to the band- as you can see!

Just as well I did. It was 6C when the team assembled at 7.30am this morning, so ears needed covering and the beanies were useful. 

The team raised over $14,000 - a remarkable achievement. They also won the best-dressed team prize!

I'm delighted to have helped along the way. This is the first time I have designed a knitting pattern. I enjoyed the design process and learned a lot. I intend to document the pattern for others to use. I'd like, however, the basic colour scales of justice on white/cream background to be reserved for this team. This year's participants will hopefully walk again next year in their beanies and I'm up to add extras for new recruits.

I also enjoyed the knitting. It was somewhat rushed: 36 beanies in 40 days is not a record I'm looking to break! While it wasn't a stash-buster, I did end up with about 700gm of wool less than I started. Interestingly, while my arthritis gave me trouble along the way, in the last 10 days it was well under control. Worth knowing.

It's been a privilege and a lot of fun to be involved. Many thanks to my family for encouragement and help.

And hats off to all the walkers!

Kasia Jacquot panels have arrived and await embroidery!

When I finished the Veronka bag I ordered more printed panels from her Stitch it Your Way line, roughly matching my choices to the cotton bags I had to hand. These arrived yesterday. I really appreciate the simple packaging - paper envelopes, slipped flat into a postbag that fitted easily through my letterbox slot.

I immediately got out the bags and tried matching them up.

I don’t remember my original thoughts on each one, but this is where I have ended up.

The bags are now neatly folded in each envelope with the panel and diagram. While they call to me, I am now embarked on a substantial knitting project, so these will need to wait their turn. When that comes, which will I choose first?  At the moment I don’t know, but don't need to decide.

I'm knitting as fast as I can!. 

Meadowsong: Mountmellick pouch

I'm beginning this post with the finished product. Getting to it was a bit of a process, so I want to reassure any reader (and myself) that I did get there! 

This was a kit I bought from Inspirations 122, A Mountmellick pouch which the creator, Deborah Love, named Meadowsong.

I had not, as far as I can remember, attempted Mountmellick before. The kit came with the fabric - described as white jeans material -along with 3 threads of different thickness wound on cards, white machine cotton and needles. From reading Yvette Stanton, I gathered Mountmellick always uses non-polished white matt cotton, usually sold in three thicknesses.

The first challenge was to transfer the design. The fabric was too thick to transfer the design by tracing on to it, even using a light table.  In the end I used the old pencil method. A is the printed design sheet. B is my pencil copy onto tracing paper and C is the pencil design transferred to the fabric by rubbing over the reversed tracing.

It gave me a clear image of the end motif ( yes, I stitched the design in reverse) to work with and a single line around the length and breadth of the piece to be embroidered.

I knew that the thread would pick up graphite from the drawing as I stitched. I also knew it would annoy me, so prepared myself to be patient.

I began working in the recommended place (the rose) and generally stuck to the suggested order, deviating a little to use up the thread left in my needle when it was still in good condition.

Most of the stitches were familiar to me, but the methods of stitching a couple of the leaves were new, as was the linked chain stitch stem.

I was right about the thread getting grubby, but I held off washing it and moved on to the border. which I had only marked with one pencil line.

         It was a long way around with two-length blanket stitch border topped by french knots, but soothing, if a little hard on the hands without the aid of a hoop.

This is followed by an inner border of herringbone and detached chain.  I just had enough of the recommended medium thread to finish the herringbone and a few detached chains. I worked the remainder in the heavier thread until it also ran out. Rather than use a polished thread, like coton-a-broder, I found a roll of vintage matt thread. It is a 3ply knitting thread and too thick but I removed one of its plies to finish the last 15 detached chains. Might as well try to be a purist!

As soon as I finished the stitching  I washed it and blocked it. Blocking wasn't in the instructions and didn't work very well. It did help to show heavily embroidered areas where the pencil hadn't come out. I washed these again, using a nailbrush to get into the thread layers. Once I was sure the pencil had gone, I ironed it.

I opted to line the pouch. It seems to me that to be really useful, the inside needs to be smooth, without the risk of contents catching on stitches. It also, I think, is better not being white.I chose some pink silk. 

I cut it slightly larger than the embroidered piece, folded the extra under as a hem, ironing as I went, and pinned it. The curves were a bit tricky, but OK.

I stitched it down all around with pale pink machine thread.

The kit included white machine thread for joining up the sides of the pouch by hand with running stitch. I thought I'd get a better finish on mine (especially since it is lined)  using a buttonhole stitch and the remaining fine white Mountmellick cotton. I had enough of the thread to use it double.

The result is the introductory photo at the top of this post. 

The back view when folded and the front view opened are shown here.

I'm very pleased with it. I learned quite a bit, improvised a bit and have a(nother) useful pouch. It may end up holding jewellery - an idea at the back of my mind when I went for silk lining.

Veronka by Kasia Jacquot

I bought this Kasia Jacquot kit from the Art Gallery of South Australia on one of my visits to the Radical Textiles exhibition. It is part of a series stocked by the shop, along with lots of other goods relevant to the extensive, long-running exhibition. I certainly didn’t need another kit, but loved the look of the series, the particular relevance of this one to my family, and wanted to support the Gallery.

Inside the box was the design printed in full colour on linen, a full-size colour diagram, two sheets of instructions, the threads, needle and, generously, a very clear black and white copy of the design in case I want to work it again on another piece of fabric.

Most of it fitted in a 10" hoop so I went with that in my seated frame, and took the linen out to finish the edges - the best solution for my hands.                               

I began in the centre and followed the suggestions for both stitches and thread. The designer's preference is for 6 strands of cotton, which worked.

It was a long time after stitching this central heart that I realised the outer border was meant to be dark blue, not green. It looks fine, and I’m not undoing it. Fortunately, I had a hank of the same green in my thread stash. The error meant I needed a whole extra hank!

While stitching I was thinking about how I might use the finished piece. I remembered some cotton craft bags I had bought a couple of years ago when I saw them in Spotlight. At the time I thought they'd be handy for painting. I dug them out. Veronka sat very nicely on one of the red bags. That spurred me on. I could now see a use!

It is a nicely varied design for stitching. Some motifs are paired but others are single. Although the stitch range is limited, the colours and placement vary, so there isn't a lot of simple repetition.

I stitched as far into the corners as I could

then removed it from the hoop and worked the corners in hand, followed by the borders. 

Before working the latter I folded in the raw edges and worked the borders through the double thickness as far as possible. As can be seen here, the horizontals are entirely through two layers, the verticals have two of the three through two layers.

At the last minute I decided to block it rather than iron it. It was 32C when I decided, so it dried in a few hours.

I stitched it to the bag by machine. I thought about another row of red herringbone over the edge but don’t think it’s needed. 

The bag came with a loop that can be used to hold it together folded. I’ve attached it to the bag in case someone wants to fold it to carry in a handbag. It’s tight, but works. It does crumple the bag - but shopping will soon fix that!

The cotton bag is not as strong as the embroidered linen square but it’s sturdy. If and when it wears out the linen can easily be removed and repurposed. This has been a really enjoyable project - and I've ordered more in the series.

Diamond challenge

In June the Embroiderers' Guild of South Australia celebrates its 60th Anniversary. As part of the celebration all members were given a square of pink silk with which we were challenged to make something. The results will be part of a Diamond Anniversary display in July. 

Around the same time as I collected my square, several months ago, my (cheap) black silk lipstick holder frayed and I got the idea of remaking it with the pink silk. I got as far as taking the lipstick holder apart last year, but then other projects took over. After the Evil Eye mandalas, I thought the pink silk time had come.

I cut my silk square in two and joined the halves into a long strip, slightly wider than the lipstick container, and mounted  it on some old sheeting so I could place it in a hoop. I used Madeira silk thread and stitched through the backing sheet as well as the silk.

I marked a series of diamond shapes by hand, in pencil, on the section of the silk that corresponded to the curved part of the holder. I kept to colours I already had in the pink range with a bit of gold for good measure.

I began with long and short stitch, but switched to satin stitch when I couldn't get it smooth enough. It still looks rough.

The embroidery, however, was the easy part. 

I had kept the dismantled original lipstick holder, opened out (unfortunately I didn't think to photograph it) and wrapped the silk around it. This meant folding narrow hems, pinning and then stitching with machine thread. Inside the original black silk was a metal cylinder and cardboard frame.

I had trimmed a bit too closely at one end,  but managed to compensate with the excess at the other end.

I had allowed for a couple of strips to cover the ends. 

These needed to be folded in to cover the inside. I stitched the outside, but used half a velcro spot to anchor the inside component as getting a needle in there was impossible.

I had not originally thought to embroider the lid, but it looked out of place, so I used the last strip of silk. 

Working on such a small piece was a bit tricky.  I pinned and tacked before 

holding it in my hand to embroider more diamonds, then appliqueing  it to the lid.

The original fastening was an embedded stud. the male half of which was missing. I thought of working around it but in the end took the remaining half out and devised a wrap-around cord, with a shell end that is secured through an embroidered loop.

It's a bit strange. I don't think I can call it a thing of beauty and it is nowhere near stitching perfection. 

It uses the silk, has diamonds and is ready for the challenge. More important to me, it challenged me beyond an obligation to the Guild. I do feel obliged to contribute, but this also holds a lipstick, recycles a container, uses every last bit of the silk fabric and will go in a handbag after July, satisfying my personal creative drive.