Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 Filling Time

 Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 Filling Time

Would you credit it? I have had the Leaves I Knitted under my nose for months and now when I want to use them they have gone walkabout.

Gap Fox Side

Since I cannot do what I planned until I find the Leaves or make some more I am reduced to doing a spot of Maintenance.

As you can see in the above photograph there is a Gap at the Top where I have added extra Rows.

Fox Side Sewn

 

I proceeded to Blanket Stitch the Two Parts Together.

Gap Badger Side

I have the same problem on the Badger Side.

Badger Side Sewn

 

This was easier to Sew as I had left a long Tail when I Knitted whereas on the Fox I had to find the Wool to Match.

Top Rim Tidied.

Finally I Sewed the Top Rim to make it Tidy.

 

Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 Toggle & Loops

Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 Toggle & Loops

The year 2020 was for me the year of the Face Mask! I have finally managed to put away my Sewing and get my Knitting back out.

Matching Fox Overlap

 

Frankly it was so long since I have worked on this project I had to go back and read my blog - Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2019 Toggle & Loops to remember where I left off.

After I sorted out my Needle and I-Cords I got my Cape and opened it fully. I then Folded over the Fox Side so the Loops Matched where the Toggles were on the Badger Side Interior.

Sewing Fox Overlap

 

With the Tail of the I-Cord I Sewed it Opposite the Adjoining Loop. I Sewed it through itself as well as the Wool.

Fox Overlap Tied

 

I then double checked that the Tie would hold. There was plenty of Cord left to make a Double Tie if I wished.

I decided that for now at least I was only going to Sew in One Tie on that Side and see how it held when I was wearing it. This is because with the extra Rows on the Top of the Overlap I didn’t want to throttle myself with it being too high.

Badger Overlap

 

I repeated the process with the Opposite Side. You may notice in the above photograph that the Wool used is a slightly different colour. Therefore I had to be extremely careful not to go completely through the other Side.

Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2019 Toggle & Loops

Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2019 Toggle & Loops

With so many projects on the go it seems that I never have time to finish the one I started a few years ago. This is quite annoying as it is getting so close to being a finished item.

Toggles Badger Side

For quite some time I have been unhappy with the Toggles on the Interior. I have difficulty keeping one Tied whilst trying to do the next one.

I also haven’t as yet decided how to Tie the Interior further up. As you can see in the photograph above only 4 Toggles are Sewn on.

Unravelled

I decided to make some more I-Cords. These were to be used as either replacements or as additional securing. However since they are Knitted on Double Ended Needles whilst travelling this particular one decided to completely Unravel.

4 I-Cords

I Knitted 4 I-Cords. Since this was going to be a Trial and Error basis I didn’t measure them. They are roughly the same Length as a Motorola G Mobile for those who are technical.

Testing Tie

I next Tested the I-Cord for Length. I wanted to make sure that it would Tie after it had been Sewn on. If they were massively to Long I could simply Unravel and make Shorter Ties.

The next step is to Sew one Tie into place and decided whether to use the Toggles or to Remove them from the Interior.

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project – Branches and Boo boo’s Part 2

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project – Branches and Boo boo’s Part 2

Whilst I am waiting for some more wool to arrive I am going to tackle some of the Boo boo’s that are on the Night Time Front Piece

Badger’s Front Paws Grass Mistake

I have named this Badger’s Front Paws Grass Mistake. It isn’t really a mistake as such. It is simply where the wool has puckered due to being pulled tight. This generally happens when I run out of a section of wool or the wool I am using snaps.

Badger’s Front Paws Grass Correction

This little Boo boo is an easy fix. I merely added a leaf to cover it up and voila au revoir Boo boo!

  

Badger’s Tail Grass Mistake

Here by the Badger’s tail we have a similar problem to the Front Paws Boo boo.

Badger’s Tail Grass Correction

The problem here was again fixed by adding another leaf

Badger’s Nose Grass Mistake

The more I look closely at the Night Time Front Piece the more things I find. The photo has not come out too good here. However there are imperfections either side of the Badger’s nose.

Here I cannot just add another leaf as the contrast in sizing will look out. I will have to have a think about this problem and come back to it at a later time. Some kind of embroidery option I think will be needed. In the meantime I will concentrate elsewhere.

Autumn Cape 2017 A Long Term Project Night Time Pocket Part 2

Autumn Cape 2017 A Long Term Project Night Time Pocket Part 2

I will keep this blog quite short as it is basically the same process as the Front Daytime Pocket

Night Time Pictorial Chart Full

This is the full Pictorial Chart prior to the adding of the pocket pattern

Measuring Daytime Pocket Against Night Time Piece

Before I add the pattern to the Pictorial Chart I need to work out roughly where the pocket should start. Therefore I thought the best way to do this is to overlap the Fox Piece with the Badger piece. I could then gauge where I think the pocket top would finish.

Mole Pattern Transferred to Chart

Once satisfied that I knew where the pocket should finish I put the Mole Pattern onto the Pictorial Chart. Then I proceeded to pick up the 40 stitches and begin the pattern.

Mole Pattern with Press Studs

After finally receiving the press studs I ordered I was able to add them to the Mole Pocket. I then folded the bottom of the pocket then proceeded to sew up the sides.

It was then to my annoyance I discovered that I had sewn one of the press studs wrong. I had inadvertently put one bottom press stud in one corner and the top one in another.

So before I could carry on with the flap I had to unpick and resew one of the press studs.

Mole Pocket Flap

Even though this was the second Flap I had made I found it extremely difficult to position. This may be in some part due to the fact that this time I was using five instead of the previous four leaves.

The problem was trying to make sure that I had covered the Mole whilst not obscuring the feet of the Badger above. It took a good 2 hours before I was happy with the result and able to sew the leaves together.

After that it was merely a case of attaching the Flap to the Badger Front Piece. Then I was able to sew on the final two halves of the press studs.

Mole Pocket Finished

No you haven’t gone mad. I rearranged the photo order so you could see the Mole with its fine details better. Phew another blog finished.

Autumn Cape 2017 A Long Term Project Night time Part 3

Autumn Cape 2017 A Long Term Project Night time Part 3

Oh dear. I am afraid that I have not been having much luck with my knitting at present.

Badger Wonky Legs

I am not entirely sure how I have managed it but I have got the Badger’s legs completely out of sync with the pattern. This is going to require some major embroidery to fix.

Badger Hole

Here is disaster number two.  Whilst marking out the shoulder joint with black wool I went wrong. Therefore I needed to undo what I had done. Here I could have really kicked myself. As I cut the wool (I had got it knotted and it wouldn’t unpick) I slipped with the scissors and cut through the knitting.

I swung into major panic mode and quickly grabbed the ends and pulled hard before they could unravel themselves. I then had to gently tease the wool back into shape prior to resewing.

Measuring Before Cast Off

As with the Daytime Front Piece I finished the Pictorial Chart then put against the side to measure. I then sewed the Night Time Piece onto the Side Panel. I sewed down until I reached the end of the yellow and beginning of the brown as shown in the above photograph.

I then kept comparing the section on the needle against the side panel whilst adding a row at a time to the brown.  The final tally was 7 Knit and 7 Pearl Rows plus Cast Off.

Now I have reached the end of this section I will be able to proceed to the adding of the pocket.

Autumn Cape 2017 A Long Term Project Night Time Part 2

Autumn Cape 2017 A Long Term Project Night Time Part 2

It is difficult to decide what to put in this blog about the Night Time Project. So much of the techniques I have been using have been already blogged about. I don’t want to keep repeating myself and bore people.

Night Time Badger Progress

As you can see knitting the main part of the Badger is far less complex than the Fox so therefore there is not much to say. It won’t be until I start on the legs and belly that it will begin to offer more of a challenge again.

However in order to stop getting fed up in the meantime I have been playing around with a few things. One thing I have been doing is knitting a few leaves. I will need some for the pocket so thought I would crack on and do some.

Size 13 Vintage Needles

Since the last time I knitted some leaves I have purchased some new needles. I obtained an unopened mint set of size 13 double pointed needles. I believe they are 2.25 mm in metric.

Size 13 Needles 11.5 cm Long Leaf

Naturally since these are new needles I didn’t know what length the leaves would come out. Therefore my first leaf was in the mustard yellow wool. It came out at roughly 11 and half cm.

Size 2.75 mm Needles 13cm Long Leaf

I then made a 13 cm leaf with the dark red wool.  Instead of having just four leaves this time I have decided to do five. I thought this would give me a little more flexibility when sewing together.

Selection of Leaves

Next job is to sew in some of the ends so they don’t get tangled.