This is a qualified finish. I still need to quilt the border and bind the edges. But the creative work is essentially done. I chose to use echo lines to quilt the background. The work went swiftly and smoothly.
The cotton damask fabric is a joy to work with. I had the benefit of a fresh needle in my machine, thanks to the delivery of my on-line order from Bluprint.com.
Following the example of Lola Jenkins, I used Prismacolor pencils to color the image. I had never tried this medium on fabric before. But by working slowly and carefully, I managed okay, rendering shadow and highlights modestly. Here she is as of today.
Here is a close-up of the subject.
I noticed that a damask vine landed smack in the middle of her onesie. I didn’t plan that placement, but serendipity happens. So I chose to leave it unpainted and embroidered a running stitch around it.
At 18 inches square, this piece is a good size for framing or mounting on artist canvas. Perhaps the arts supply store will open soon and I can buy what I need. In the meantime, she will be tacked up on one of my foamboard panels, allowing me to admire her on a regular basis.
After recovering from the shock of UFO discovery, I came up with a plan. I made a promise to myself to finish one each week. At that pace, I will feel like I am dealing with the problem while still allowing plenty of time during the week for creative play. Above you see the first finish: the Northwoods Serape.
I had purchased this self striping yarn for another project, then rejected it as inappropriate. On one of our road trips last year, I brought it along for mindless travel knitting. As you can see, I ended up knitting three basic rectangles: a wide one in garter for the back and two narrower ones in a lace pattern for the front.
All knitting was done from side to side – this gives a vertical line to the stripes. Edges were picked up and knitted in garter stitch from bottom edge to top.
After that the piece languished for months. In a moment of carelessness I gave away all the extra yarn to a student. The finishing bits will have to be added in another yarn.
I thought I would use this blog to show more specifically how I finished up the serape.
First I blocked all the pieces. This is an essential step for any knitted garment larger than a hat, but especially so for lace knitting. Give it a quick dip in soapy water, rinse, wrap in a towel and squeeze out excess water before laying flat and pulling it into shape. I have 12 x 12 interlocking blocks and U-pins for the pulling into shape part. For this garment the finished size ended up 44 inches in diameter and about 30 inches long.
Since I had prudently worked buttonholes into one garter edge, I decided I-cords would make a good closure.
Fingering weight yarn, size 4 needles
You see the tools and materials above. These yarns were odds bits found in my stash. I held two colors together to make nice, fat I-cords. Using short double point needles, cast on three stitches. Knit them. Slide all the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit. Repeat this step until you get the length of cord you need. Mine are ten inches.
The back neck edge looked very ugly, so I decided to use a row of single crochet to finish off the entire neckline. There are lots of resources for learning to crochet, so I won’t go into it here. I will suggest a few things for this particular application. Work from the front of the garment and draw up a loop from right edge of the neckline. Leave about a three inch tail. If you are clever, you can hide this tail while you work the row. I just left it until I finished and then wove it under the first few crochet stitches. Work UNDER the next stitch to the left. It’s important to have both yarns of the stitch you are working over top of your hook. This keeps the crochet row straight and tidy.
Next is the side seams. I used mattress stitch. Align the front and back edges with the right sides of the garment facing you. Thread a tapestry needle with yarn and fasten the end to one edge. When working mattress stitch into garter ridges, you will insert your tapestry needle into the “knotted” looking part of the garter ridge. Work back and forth from edge to edge like this, keeping your stitches loose.
My work here is a bit slip-shod. I knew that my knitted pieces were already quite irregular. Perfect seams won’t improve the end results.
After running the stitch up the seam about three inches, snug the seam closed as thus: Hold the lower end with one hand and pull firmly and smoothly on the working yarn. The seam should close up. As a side benefit, you will find that your sewing yarn is totally invisible.
Continue sewing until you reach the top, then fasten yarn on the wrong side. Cut yarn and weave in ends.
The last step is to sew the I-cords opposite to the button holes and it’s Done!
I have to admit, now that it’s finished I am suddenly in love with the yarn and the garment. By the way, this lace stitch is called seed stitch lace diamonds. I found it in 750 Knitting Stitches: The Ultimate Stitch Bible.
Daily Fiber 