pieKnits

Please visit my new site!

2011-11-09T15:41:23Z

Just another little reminder I've updated my blog and it has a new blog feed. Please update your readers!

http://www.pieknits.com/blog/feed

And visit me at

www.pieKnits.com/blog

Thanks!

New blog and feed!

2011-10-14T21:45:07Z

Hello all! I've upgraded my blog software and now have a new RSS feed. Please update you blog readers to:

http://www.pieknits.com/blog/feed

Halloween!!

2011-10-02T21:32:12Z

I'm one of those Halloween nuts that starts planning well over a month in advance. I usually make most of my costumes as it's something I enjoy doing, only however, if I'm not rushing at the last minute. Hence I like to give myself ample time to complete things. That and I'm just a dorky planner.

For those possibly like minded- a past posts round-up of Halloween related ideas for costumes, DIY Halloween/costume pieces, and food.

From the top, left to right.

Witch Doctor and Voodoo Doll - Lots of thrifted/$1 store materials, reused/re-purposed and DIY items.
Medusa Costume - Make up and costume handmade, few purchased jewelry items.
Classic Pirate - everything crafted by me or thrifted other than the corset, sword and boots.
1920's Flapper - thrifted dress with my Stella Cloche pattern.

Tatted Skull Cameo - free tatting pattern
Felted Wool Mustache Tutorial
Tricorn Pirate Hat full size and mini version
His and Her Skull wrist warmers - free knitting pattern
Vintage/period style felt hat
Celtic Tatted Pumpkin - free tatting pattern
Sword Holder - free sewing pattern
Tatted Skull Earrings - free tatting pattern

Doggie Biscuits - good in any shape but especially little bats
Candy Corn and Peanuts Cookies - a pieKnits original
Meathead cheese"ball" - prosciutto covered with stuffed olive eyes
Monster Cookies - the best cookier *ever*
Bean Dip Web - with guacamole spider
Eyeballs & Guts on Toast - or mozzarella and bruschetta

Vintage finds and A Little Mohair

2011-09-20T02:13:04Z

I've had a ball of some pretty mohair in the stash for awhile, waiting for the right pattern, when I found this one for a Mohair Corsage.

I made two lyers for this. First layer followed the pattern, for the second layer I cast on only 74 sts. Added some beads and sewed on the pin back and viola, super fast easy accessory.

I also recently went to a vintage market and came home with some goodies, including my first ever actual vintage hat. I love it! It's rather a tall tilt hat, with a 30s/40s look but also would, I think, work for victorian. Other finds include an animal print scarf and a sterling silver feather pin.

Squirrel, in cross stitch

2011-08-28T18:38:00Z

This little guy was so cute, I couldn't resist stitching him up.

There's just something in the pixel like look of simple cross stitch designs that always appeals to me. It's probably something to do with child of the 80's, working in the web area for the last 10 years, and all that.

A free pattern from this site, I'll probably stitch this little companion guy as well. I just raided my embroidery thread stash for similar colors, so they're not the exact listed in the pattern.

He'll probably be given to a friend as we do like to quote the movie Up and yell "Squirrel!" in moments of the others distraction.

A simple "finish" for the back. The fabric was folded over and secured with double sided tape and then a card stock circle cutout was just snapped into place to cover the back stitching.

Art and Crafts

2011-08-07T23:15:39Z

I love my dog Aejaz. However I didn't fully noticed how much he really is like a furry satellite until I started trying to photograph things. I can't tell you how many outtakes I have with random fluffy ears or a tail in them. While attempting to snap a picture of my first finished "Bettie's Lace Stocking" I decided why fight it? At least he could be useful if he was determined to be in the shot. He made a pretty good foot rest.

For something a little different, I recently attended a BYOB painting class a friend and I had gotten a Groupon for. It was fun and nice to do a little more traditional art again (and while sipping my favorite Lindemans Lambic). While I never really painted on canvas (except for simple pieces for our bedroom) I have always done drawings.

This was a version of Van Gogh's "Almond Branch". It has me itching to break out my easel again!

I also couldn't reisist showing off this hair pretty I got from a friend of mine while visiting my hometown Des Moines. We all know I can't resist a fun headpiece. She makes lovely hair fascinators and accesorries, check out her stuff at Heather's Haberdashery.

New Pattern: Evelyn Tilt Hat

2011-07-25T17:50:20Z

Inspired by all the fantastic hats of the 1930s-1940s, this tilt hat uses short row shaping and blocking to get its distinct vintage lines. The short rows flare out the front while the back brim is flipped up.

This design managed to felt up just right on the first go (after several ripping and recalculating during the knitting process). My felt hat obsession is starting to pay off, ha!

The real key in any fulled hat is in the blocking. I really recommend getting an inexpensive Styrofoam "wig form" head at a beauty supply store to block and pin the hat on it. You want to work with the hat still damp from the felting process, shaping it onto the form, and pinning the brim how you would like. For this hat the back is folded up and pinned through both layers. And in the front I put pins into the foam head under the brim to lift it up so it flares out from the body of the hat. Once it dries it will hold this shape (or with a little extra spray starch or fabric stiffener for more extreme angles/curves).

Any felt-able worsted weight yarn held doubled can be used for this, or equivalent one strand of super bulky yarn. Two strands of Patons Classic Wool was used here. I also like to give it a little shave post-felting, as I have previously posted about.

This is finished with a grosgrain ribbon twisted around to conform to the hat shape and a vintage clear button.

The instant download rundown -after payment via Paypal you will be given a link to download the pattern. This link will also be emailed to you and will expire 30 minutes after the first time it is used. For any questions about the pattern or whole download process please shoot me an email me at- jen@pieknits.com!

Pattern: Evelyn - Vintage Tilt Hat (Ravelry link)
Gauge: 12 sts and 16 rows = 4" in St st on smaller needles before felting but gauge not important. Any worsted weight yarn held doubled will work.
Needle sizes: US Size 13 (9mm): 16" circular. US Size 11 (8mm): 16" circular and double pointed needles
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool (100% Wool; 210yds/192m per 100g/3.5 oz. skein) Color: #00226 Black; 1 skein (Yarn held doubled)
Skill level: Advanced Beginner (working in the round, short rows, felting)
Price: $3.75
Format: PDF instant download pattern

Swap

2011-07-19T17:47:15Z

I received my swap package from my partner for the 1950s Inspired Swap I participated in on craftster.org! This was actually my first craft swap (an irresistible theme) and a great experience. I think it really helps to get some creative ideas going and to try a few different things too.

Fair warning, lots of photos to follow.

First up some beautiful cloth napkins, adorable crocheted flower (I'm so rocking this hair accessory) and the most amazing tie purse in a tiki-esque print. I love it! (This picture does not do it justice either.)

Vintage style romper, how cute is this?! Just in time for our seemingly never ending 100+ degree heat wave.

Embellishment detail

And an altered polka dot (my fav!) tee with bow sleeves.

And now the parade of items I made for the Swap.

Needle book from some thrifted vintage fabric I had. I'm getting more and more confident in my beginner sewing abilities. Now I need to make one of these for myself, handy!

Another pillbox version of my Dose design, this time in teal (my swap partner's favorite color). It's easy to play with the demisions of this pattern. This one is probably in between the original and the shorter, wider version I made before. It has loops sewn inside for bobby pins and little teal polka dot bows for trim.

A pair of lace and "pearl" earrings. The lace is needle tatted from fine crochet cotton. I acutally just free formed this simple design.

Retro makeup bag in Classic Elite's Sundance with a vintage glass button closure. This was a nice interesting knit that went relatively fast. It was great for traveling.

Another piece I may have to recreate for myself, it was hard to part with, haa. This little fascinator/cocktail hat was actually salvaged from a failed felting project that I had saved for that purpose. Cut the base out from it, attached the furry leopard print ribbon and made a little bow from ribbon and netting.

Aaaand the whole kit n' caboodle with some small gifties for her little boy and a teal flower broach.

New Projects

2011-07-14T17:43:15Z

While I've been finishing up several items for my 1950s craft swap I've also been working on a new design! It's all finished and I just need to write up the pattern and get some photos. It's for a 1930s/40s style felted hat (preview), an inspiration which I couldn't resist after how much I enjoyed doing the Tilt Topper hat.

In the meantime I've also casted on for Bettie's Lace Stockings, by Hana Jason from the Interweave Knits, Spring 2009 issue. I score around 12 skiens of this 100% wool fingering weight yarn at the thrift store (a rare find in Texas). It's a pretty, very slight heathered/kettle dyed looking grey.

I had gotten as far as past the heel and onto the ankle when I realized several things.

Despite adding extra repeats, after trying it on my row gauge was still way too small
I somehow got the instructions wrong and the heel was a few stitches off and not perfectly centered on the foot
After reading some of other people's helpful comments on the pattern (should have done that first) seems many recommended doing the sole in plain Stockinette stitch as the lace was uncomfortable while wearing

In conclusion I decided to rip all the way back to the short row toe and start over on US size 3s. I also added 4 stitches to the plain sole section to accommodate for the lack of lace stretch compared to the original design.

Feather Earrings

2011-06-29T17:30:51Z

I love what you can do with a small stash of jewelry findings and feathers. I had a new shirt that was wanting some bright funky earrings for it and so I obliged.

These went together so fast I made them right before heading out to a birthday party, viola new matching accessories.

It's a little hard to make out in the photo but they have some black beads at the top as well. I see a lot more feather jewelry in my future.

In other news, I had a pattern accepted in the "Knitting Pattern A Day Calendar 2012". It's my good ol' Piece O' Cherry Pie pattern. Always fun to see your name in print.

I also joined my first ever Craft Swap. It's 1950s themed so how could I resist? So between all the traveling of late I've mostly been working on items for that so not too much to share yet. I have been working on a new design though! For a felted hat (yeah there's a surprise) but it has a great 1930s look yet very wearable. I'm excited to get that one finished up.

Trimming

2011-06-11T00:28:16Z

A new little hat to make me happy.

When I found this doll hat blank on clearance for $0.75 I snatched it up to try making a vintage style tilt hat out of it. I used a pressing cloth and a steam iron to shape it the way I wanted, mostly fixing the brim.

I doubled some black tulle for a base hat band and added a mesh ribbon to that. Then I hand sewed the black flower out of some fabric remnants and more mesh, embellishing it with a few pearl beads. Added some feathers and some hair pins in the inside and viola, all done.

I recently got this dress thrifting and I love it's little details; I'm planning on wearing it to a show. Apparently I now need to create a hat to go with every dress, but they're so addictive!

Never Say Never

2011-06-06T22:40:13Z

I recently came across an older blog post of mine with a meme asking what types of crafts you were or were not interested in. I was amused to see "lace making, jewelry making, and tatting" listed under "I've got absolutely no interest". Funny since those are exactly what I've used in these necklace pieces for my Bellydance recital.

I love love our dance this year. We did a steampunk/burlesque inspired piece to the song Tempest by Voltaire. I also love Voltaire, I got to see him do that song live so it was extra cool to perform to it. We made our entire costumes, with my very talented teacher (also a blogging knitter!) making the bulk of everything- for all of us. I'll post more on the full costume later as I'm really proud of my first ever "real" sewn garment using an actual pattern (a Turkish vest).

Of course since I love costuming and this genre so much I immediately decided I wanted to take on making necklaces for everyone incorporating some tatting. The fantastic octopus pieces my teacher put together and supplied the beads and keys. I found the other findings and modified a simple medallion pattern for the tatted motif. These are what I made from the tea-stained thread I posted on earlier (a perfect match for the charms!). I then stiffened them with fabric spray stiffener.

We preformed Saturday and it was a blast; I can't wait to get the video! Also now that it's all finished, all my other projects can be taken off hold. There was rather a lot of last minute crafting- isn't there always?

FO: Ribbed Lace Bolero

2011-05-20T23:35:24Z

What's this? Two Finished Objects in a row? Maybe the world really is ending.

With several vintage style dresses scored recently I also wanted a retro styled bolero. They're great for chilly offices and a little extra cover-up for sleeveless dress. I've had this pattern, Ribbled Lace Bolero, in my queue for some time and glad I finally got to making it.

It's a great little pattern, no wonder it's popular. I really liked the attention to detail such as the use of cables to make the ribbing transitions match. This type of knitting was perfect for TV watching and traveling too, easy to memorize

I followed the pattern basically as written using her example measurements and Lion Brand Cotton-ease. I think I could have left out a lace repeat or two. I was worried about it being tight around the arm (I have big upper arms, meh) but it's so stretchy that it's no problem at all. It could have been a little shorter/tighter in the back length though but that's a small quibble. I did cast-on in the combined knit/purl long tail method as I usually do and didn't use the suggested bind-off, just the usual way in pattern.

FO: Monophonic Hat

2011-05-17T22:14:55Z

When I found out a friend was visiting from Utah and so near his B-day I knew I wanted to make him a hat. Men's hat selections are always a bit tricky. I like to make something interesting (both as an FO and the actual knitting process) but guys seem to typically lean towards the simple/plain side. But this pattern was a perfect find.

It's the Monophonic Hat pattern by Erica Jackofsky of Fiddle Knits and part of the Musical Minds Collection. All the hats in this set are great actually. Even more perfect as the recipient is currently working on his PHD in music composition.

This is the Purl version in M/L. A fun, interesting and honestly pretty quick knit too. It uses short rows to shape the hat so the gathered crown decreases sit at the back of the head instead of the top. This hat was passed around and tried on by many and I have to say there wasn't anyone (guy or girl) who didn't look great in it. A perfect amount of slouch to this.

And most importantly the b-day boy seemed to like it. :) I may yet actually get a photo of him in it. Hopefully it'll keep him nice and warm while biking to school next semester.

Tilt Topper

2011-05-06T23:05:58Z

Project Path for this hat:

While thrifting, find and fall in love with fantastic 40's era reproduction dress
Decide it needs a hat to go with it (this should surprise no one)
Troll through Etsy's vintage hats
Find inspiration photo
Find knitting pattern (Deb's Derby) for jumping off point
Raid stash for wool yarn (Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool)
Form a rough plan (slightly smaller around, shorter crown, short rows for asymmetrical brim) and just start knitting
Felt and shape on styrofoam head block
Embellish with black grosgrain ribbon and felt swallow cutout
Put it on and never want to take it off

Detail shot of the felt swallow bird cutout, I really love how it turned out. I wanted a less formal, more day wear look for this and thus no extravagant flowers or feathers. I really like the simplicity.

For my first run at it, I am so stoked with how close to the original inspiration photo this turned out. This is my first time working with Fisherman's Wool and I have to say it felts beautifully. I may even prefer it to my usual Patons Classic Wool Merino, sadly it has limited colors.

This was a fun, very organic process- although really I probably should have written down my notes/changes to try other variations. You never remember as much as you think you will. But where's the fun with no experimentation?

Pattern mods added after the jump >>
]]> OK here are the pattern modifications to the best of my knowledge!

CO 80 sts instead of 100. Purled first two rows (this gives it more of a rounded edge). Work for 1.5 inches.
Short rows: (basically two sections worked over 20 sts with alternating plain sections of 20 sts)
Knit 40, Wrap and turn, purl 20, W&t knit back to 2 sts before previous wrap, w&t; repeat 2 more times then continue around and work same thing over last 20 sts in the round.
Continue with pattern working another 2 inches.
For the sides of the hat work 5 inches instead of 8.
Follow the rest of the pattern as written (noting your stitch counts will be less).