"Knitting is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while, then take up the sock again."

- Dorothy Day

Knitting is also very addictive... I find myself wanting to do it all day, in every one of those little moments between doing tasks!

I'm currently working on two of the projects that I mentioned previously: the cardigan (the baby arrived two months early, so it's going to be way too big until the handsome little guy has put on some weight! I also need to finish it sooner rather than later), and the pretzel scarf. I haven't drawn up a chart for the pattern on the latter, but have started the length of the scarf (it will only have a pretzel at one end, of course (!) ) and am making progress with that.

I continue to thoroughly recommend knitting, though, as a creative outlet, a method of relaxation, and - as Dorothy neatly put it - as a conductor for thoughts.

Sara

Change of Direction with Progress...

Progress on the smoking jacket has officially come to a complete halt, and by "officially", I mean that it's been agreed with my (very patient) husband that other projects have more immediate deadlines. These are:

1. A baby's cardigan, for the baby of my best friend, due in December;
2. A scarf (decorated with some kind of a pretzel pattern) for a dear friend as a part of a murder mystery evening that we're hosting, also in December;
3. A pair of short crocheted gloves for myself for the party (these are somewhat less important, especially given that I cannot currently crochet).

The scarf that I began after hearing about the 'Knit Your Bit' cause on the Fedora Lounge is nearly finished - I just need to finish the many coloured "ends" (bits of wool that I left whenever I changed colour, because I had inconveniently lost my darning needle at some point in the past seven years, or however long it has been since I last knitted), knit a few more rows of the second half, and stitch the two halves together.

I have to say, in addition to this being for an excellent cause, this is a wonderful way to get into knitting from a pattern (as opposed to just rectangles, which was all I knew how to do before this) and so I'd enthusiastically encourage anyone who wanted to try knitting to try this.

What's more, having bought some short, bamboo knitting needles, I have now discovered the joy of knitting during my commute on the train: it's very therapeutic (even more so than knitting on its own), and the new needles mean that I both don't poke anybody, nor do I make any noise (unlike those businesspeople tapping away on their laptops and/or poorly designed mobile phone keyboards). It has, in all seriousness, improved my train journey no end, and I'm going to recommend it to all of my friends!

Anyway, I shall leave this update here and pick up my baby cardigan knitting, and hopefully get a good few rows done before I have to shower.

Sara

Slow Progress

Smoking Jacket

Progress so far: 3 pieces (out of about 11!) cut out and marked. This could take a while, although I'm hoping to get a little more done this weekend.

The good news is that I am now successfully getting into work earlier, as planned, and have kept it up for nearly three weeks (to the point where I have now sent an email to my team-mates letting them know that my official office hours have changed); I'm extremely pleased.

Knitting

On a separate note, I learned four new knitting stitch abbreviations last night! I'm starting upon another learning curve - that of reading simple knitting patterns - in order to take part in this: http://www.nationalww2museum.org/calendar/knit-your-bit.html.

I already appear to have gained a stitch from somewhere, which would normally bother me immensely, but I've decided that learning to knit cannot be something in which I indulge my inner perfectionist, or else I'll go crazy. So I'm doing a "rough" version of the scarf first. We'll see how that turns out (!).

Sara

An Introduction

Welcome! I thought the best place to start would be with somekind of an introductory post, so here we go. My name is Sara, and I live in the U.K.. During the day, I'm an analyst, but alongside my passion for patterns and numbers is a passion for patterns of another variety, as I have a great fondness for sewing projects of various scales.

I want to give a little disclaimer here and note that I am by no means any sort of expert in this, merely an enthusiast. A partial reason for this is the amount of time that I have to dedicate to the many projects that I have floating about in my head is somewhat limited by the amount of daylight (and energy) left by the time I return from my daily commute. To help combat this problem, my husband proposed the two following courses of action:

1. Go into work earlier, thus enabling me to leave when it is still light; and
2. Log any progress made on my projects.

The former recommendation is being successfully implemented as I scribble this on a scrap of paper from my handbag (heading into work on an early train), and has led to a number of unforeseen benefits, for example a significantly calmer and more pleasant commute! The latter recommendation is what this blog is for. And I'd best get to business, otherwise I will ramble for a good while and not get this posted (alas! this kind of behaviour is another reason why projects often don't progress very quickly).

Project of the Moment

So, my first project is: a velvet smoking jacket (for my husband, not me). The velvet will probably be green, and I plan on using a shawl collar and adding a number of customised pockets.

My first thought, even as I type this, is that this project doesn't seem like one for an amateur, but I think a large portion of its benefits lies in the fact that there is a rather steep learning curve (one that I shall be taking slowly and surely!), and that the potential benefits in being able to make jackets and coats for both myself and my husband are great. I am planning on making mistakes - albeit hopefully not too many expensive ones - and learning from them, one by one.

Initial Resources

• Vogue Pattern V2383 - http://www.voguepatterns.com/item/V2383.htm?tab=men&page=1. This is the pattern that I will be using to create an initial mock-up and to get an idea for the basic structure of a man's jacket. I'm hoping to get this completed over the next month so that I can establish: (a) how tricky this is going to be, (b) how many alterations I am likely to have to make from the basic pattern, and (c) where the pockets are going to go.
• Classic Tailoring Techniques: A Construction Guide for Men's Wear by Roberto Cabrera - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Tailoring-Techniques-Construction-Guide/dp/0870054317/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250797923&sr=8-1. This is a book that I got a while ago and looks to be very thorough regarding construction techniques and also has a section on the alteration of commerical patterns, which I will definitely be turning to after I've made my mock-up.
• Just Pockets: Sewing Techniques and Design Ideas by Patricia Moyes - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Just-Pockets-Patricia-Moyes/dp/1561581704/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250798247&sr=1-1. My husband bought this for me as a gift and it made me smile, because he's got a great fondness for pockets (he recently bought a two-piece travelling suit that contained fourteen); I, personally, didn't realise that you could write an entire book on pockets, but evidentally you can, and this is it. I'm not sure how many of the ideas I will use, but I'll keep it handy for inspiration.
• The Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Readers-Digest-Complete-Guide-Sewing/dp/0895770261. I bought this at a car boot sale for 50p (the gentleman who owned that particular car boot wanted only 10p, but I disagreed with his pricing assessment!) and it's been a fantastic buy - it's got every sewing-related method I've ever wondered about in it, covered to a reasonable (and oven greater-than-needed) level of detail; I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's getting started on such crazy projects as myself.

Anyway, I had better tidy up my sewing box and start reading some of the 8 pages of pattern instructions so that I will be ready to start the mock-up at the weekend...

Sara