Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 3

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 3

Hood Extension 60 Rows Written & Pictorial Chart

This is going to be a short and sweet blog. I have now finished 60 Rows which incidentally correspond with the length of the A4 Written Chart This can be seen in the photograph above along with the very colourful pictorial chart.

Hood Extension 60 Rows Night Time

I have now finished sewing the Night Time Hood Extension to the Front Piece. I have embroidered a branch along the seam to strengthen it. As you observe I haven’t cast off yet. This is because I haven’t decided exactly how I am going to do the middle part.

Hood Extension 60 Rows Day Time

The above photograph depicts the same process with the Night Time Extension. Obviously more branches will be added in due time. However I am leaving it here so I can start on the next part – The Hood Extension Middle.

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 2

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 2

As I stated in the last blog I have 60 stitches on each of the 5mm circular needles. I am knitting in stocking stitch with selvedges at both ends of the Light Coloured Side (Day Time) and the Dark Coloured Side (Night Time)

Pictorial and Written Chart 

I am still a little hesitant about how I am knitting the Hood so I decided to do 20 rows Knit and 20 Purl making 40 rows in all. As you can see I have split the Pictorial Chart in 2 so I can put both sides on one Chart.

40 Rows Hood Extension Both Sides

This is how the Hood Extension of the Light and Dark sides looks at this point on the Charts.

Hood Extension 40 Rows Day Time Sewn

Next I had to sew the outer edges of the Extension to the Front Pieces. Above is the Day Time section. As you can see in the photograph once sewn it doesn’t go very far across the Front Panel.

I also had to make sure that I didn’t sewn all of the Extension edge as otherwise it would have made it exceedingly difficult to continue with the stocking stitch.

Hood Extension 40 Rows Night Time Sewn

 

After sewing the Day Time Front Piece I sewed the other outside edge of the Extension to the Night Time Front Piece.

Now I had both sides sewn I can see it beginning to come together. However I have decided (and others have agreed) not to sew the other two edges together.

Instead I will add a third panel in which I will mix both the Light and Dark Wools. In the meantime I will carry on knitting the Extensions.

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 1

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 1

Firstly I have to admit that I have been putting this bit off. Frankly I have absolutely no idea what to do. This pattern has always been organic but currently I am in the fertiliser. So when in doubt – procrastinate!

Wool Left For Hood.

After several weeks of doing other projects and then embellishing the Night Time Side Panel I have been forced to face the fact I need to crack on otherwise it will be another year gone before I know it.

Therefore I got the Cape out and looked at it, then looked at it again. Then I turned it around and looked at it that way. I put it on and looked at it. I took it off and looked at it. I held it up, I laid it out on the floor, I pinned the Hood to the Day and Night Pieces. Nothing sprung to mind. Oh inspiration why hast thou forsaken me?

In pure desperation I thought let’s start at the very beginning it is a very good place to start. I admit to have been drinking (not even taking the fact I was chock full of sugar from all my left over Birthday treats). So I got all the wool to see what I had.

Previous Pictorial Chart of Hood

So after this master-stroke it only took a few more days to decide to dig out the old Hood Pictorial Chart. I counted the stitches inwards and found the Mid-point which I marked.

Roughly there was 47 stitches one side and 48 the other. The idea I have is to pick up the stitches from the middle and work down one side

Rough Hood Drawing 

In the rough drawing of the Hood you can see an arc both sides of the mid-point. Then there is a sort of rectangle. This is where I had cast off before continuing on with knitting the Hood.

This strange piece was made in the early stages to do something I can’t quite remember as I then changed my mind. However these extra stitches at the side will be picked up and hopefully will elongate the neck part of the Hood.

Upside Down Chart

Ha! First go hasn’t gone as planned. I ended up with lots of stitches one side and hardly any the other. I had worked out the mid-point correctly but I started picking up the wrong side of the orange part.

Therefore I had to start again. The stitches on the edge were very tight so I used a smaller needle to pick them up and then transfer to the 5 mm needle.

Hood Double Needle

I now have 60 stitches on each needle. This is now my starting point. I will begin working on one side to see if it works. I also will need to sort out charts for it.

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 4

Renovating Box Seats 2017 Part 4

Now I have finished all the hemming it is time to fix the material to the Box

Securing Material at Back

My initial idea was to staple the material in place so I bought a stapler. However there was some fault with it and I had to return it. There wasn’t another stapler that suited my purposes so I had a quick stroll down to Wilko’s.

I wanted some tacks but I didn’t really want anything that looked to modern or garish. Luckily I spotted some antique bronze coloured tacks so I bought those – I bought a couple of packets to be on the safe side.

I made sure the material was as far to the back as possible without it being trapped and secured it with two tacks, one roughly about the middle of the hinges.

Securing Material at Front

Next I pulled the material taut and fixed with one tack at the centre of the front part of the lid.

Securing Material Underneath

Once I had these initial three holding tacks in I proceed to fold the rest of the hem underneath and put some securing tacks in there.

I have to say I am glad I bought two packs of 50 tacks because I bent quite a few. This is because as you can see in the above photograph there are quite a few nails in the wood already and I kept catching them.

Finished Box Seat

 

The folding over of the edges at the corners was a bit of a nightmare and was impossible to photograph whilst doing. I folded the corners to the side and back to keep the front side looking smart. I also added the rest of the tacks as evenly as I could to secure the material in place.

I think you will agree it hasn’t turned out too badly.