Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 - Completing Body

Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 - Completing Body

Well here we are. I had to check how long I have been working on this project. It certainly lived up to its name as according to my record I first blogged about this in March 2016!

Daytime Top Edge

 

I am now going to add Embellishments to the Daytime Top Edge. This includes Leaves and Branches

Fox Embellishments

 

Laura was kind enough to take the following photographs for me. Here is the Fox. As you can see I have added various Leaves to the Top of the Edge and also further down over the Fox.

The above photograph gives a good view of the added Leaves even if I do look like I am about to sing ‘Bring me Sunshine’.

Hedgehog Pocket

 

In case you have forgotten I had added a Hedgehog Pocket under the Pile of Leaves. Since the Mobile phone won’t fit anymore it is handy for Tissues or Sweets.

Night Time Top Edge

 

As with the Daytime Side I then had to Embellish the Night Time Top Edge.

Badger Embellishments

 

Once again I added Leaves and Branches to the Design

Mole Pocket

 

Here is a reminder of the other Pocket. I called it a Mole in a Hole.

Complete Hood

 

The previous photographs showed the Hood merely draped over my hairline. As you can see in this picture the Hood comes over quite far. This is designed to protect from those really cold days with a biting wind.

Owl Back

 

Back to the Owl. As I said previously if I had known then what I know now I would have placed it further up the Design. Please forgive the folds we were rushing a little.

Can you spot the Squirrel hiding?

First Hockey Match

 

I have decided that the first proper outing will be at a Panthers Ice Hockey Match. I was really toasty. I also loved the Boots that I bought to accompany the Cardigan. Great picture courtesy of my boyfriend Danny 

Paws the Panther

Wow a snapshot with Paws the Team Mascot. What could be better to end this Long Term Project with another animal picture?

It’s been a real labour of Love and it shows what you can do when you try and help from your friends.

Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 - Another Problem

 Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 - Another Problem

For some reason things never seem to go smooth for me. I have now found my Leaves and was going to start adding them when I Spotted something.

Wrong Colour

 

I should imagine that this was another of my working in the wrong light and being too tired moments. I have inadvertently added a Bright Orange to the edge of my Night time section.

Unpick Colour

 

There is absolutely nothing I can do to hide this so I have to Unpick the Leaf.

Replaced Colour

 

I have Replaced it with a Dull Yellow although the camera has made it look quite bright. I haven’t put it back in exactly the same place because with Unpicking I slightly Damaged some of the Red. Therefore I had to adjust the angle to cover it.

Night Start point

 

This is the area I was supposed to be working on. I need to make the Brown section look more organic and add Embellishments.

Branch Embellishment

 

I begin to add more Branches. This is going to take a long time so only going to add a few at this point.

First Leaf

 

As you can see in the above photograph I have put a few twigs on and added my First Leaf.

Absolutely Fantastic

I am still struggling to use my new phone to take photographs and somehow I have appeared to have lost them. Will have to retake them. Do the problems never cease?

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project – Branches and Boo boo’s Part 3

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project – Branches and Boo boo’s Part 3

After waiting for a week or so I finally have the extra wool I need.

Cygnet Wool Rich Aran

This wool I got off eBay and I had to pay through the nose to get it but needs must when the devil drives.

Daytime Front Piece Branches

One area that needed to be addressed was the branches on the Daytime Front Piece

Daytime Front Piece Leaves

I extended the branches a little and thickened where necessary. I then added a couple of leaves. These leaves not only break up the amount of green around the Fox but also cover up a couple of Boo boos.

Daytime Too Much Yellow

The above photograph shows a mass of yellow. This technically isn’t a mistake I was juggling the mixture of colours with the lack of red wool. Discontinued yarn has been the bane of this project.

Too Much Yellow Fixed

I have labelled this photograph as Too Much Yellow Fixed. Actually it isn’t fixed it is merely the start of the process. I have added a couple of leaves to break it up initially but it is going to take much more work to get it to a point where I am satisfied.

However if I took pictures of every single little thing I did not only would this blog take even longer than it has been doing but also I would never get any work done.

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 – Branches and Boo boo’s

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

Since this pattern is organic and I am continuously altering and adjusting it there will always be areas that I will have to come back to in order to correct.

One of my continuous bug bears is the trying to make the discontinued wool go as far as possible. I have about 5 colours that I am watching constantly to make sure I have enough to do what I want. There is also the huge learning curve to contend with. When I started on the back piece I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Now after nearly a year and a half I still have no idea but it is no idea with STYLE.

Longer Branches Required 

One of the things I needed to do was extend the branches up the back of the Cape.

Branches Extended

As you can see I have extended the branches with the dark brown wool.

Thin and Ragged

Some branches are thin and ragged. These need to be thickened so they look like they could realistically support each other.

Unfortunately when I checked how much wool I needed to correct everything I realised there was no way I could do this without extra wool. Therefore I would have to search on the internet to see if anybody had a spare ball of this discontinued wool.

Variety of Leaves

 

As the days are becoming shorter, darker and colder I really didn’t want to put the project on hold. So I had a think to see what I could do in the meantime. I decided that I would make some leaves

Comparing Leaf Sizes

When I came to sew a couple on I found that they looked wrong. They were fine for low down on the ground but they were a little too big elsewhere.

I decided that I needed to try and make some smaller ones. I got one of my original sized leaves and checked the pattern to see what size needle I was using. It was a 3.25mm.

I then tried using different sized needles and compared the results with the original.

Small Leaves

I found that that using a 2mm needle gave the best results. So therefore I made more leaves using this sized needle. I knitted just over a dozen leaves in different colours.

I then sewed up the leaves, washed and pressed them ready for use.