Autumn Cape: A Stitch in Time Saves 9 – Part 3

Autumn Cape: A Stitch in Time Saves 9 – Part 3

Happy New Year 2018

This is the 3rd blog in the series and ironically each one has been in a different year. The 1st was published in 2016. The 2nd was the final blog of 2017 and this blog is in the initial week of 2018. It also means that I have completed last year’s resolution of posting a blog every week for a whole year!

Hood Side Blemish

In this blog I am continuing with the mending of the Green Cape. There are several problems that need doing so in this part I am concentrating on the Hood. If you look towards the top of the above photograph you will see a small blemish on the Green part of the Hood.

Hood Several Blemishes

There are several other blemishes on the Hood that need fixing. I will divide them into sections for ease.

Hood Left Side

I originally only spotted one area that needed fixing - the bottom part of the Hood. I first covered up the area with a Brown flower then I added the stalk and a leaf. The idea was that if any of the surrounding area began to come loose I could connect them with more stalks.

The one at the top of the Hood was far more difficult. It was so close to the join I had to work it in a different way. Normally I do the centre part of the flower then add the petals. This time I had to do an outline of the top and left petal before I could tell where the centre needed to be. I then in-filled and added the other petals.

Hood Right Side

This side had blemishes and holes galore. It was going to take a bit of a think to sort it out. Since I had used Brown flowers on the other side I decided this time on Purple flowers with White centres complete with stamens.

I used the connecting stalks idea with smaller flowers and leaves at the bottom. As I got to the top I made the leaves slightly bigger and made the top flower into a large bloom as a focal point.

Hood Middle Section 

This Middle Section took the most work. Since the background was Brown I gave me an opportunity to use up some of the Green Bamboo Cotton I had.

I used a slightly different technique on this section. Since there was such a large area to cover rather than doing straight stalks I endeavoured to make them bend and twist.

I felt that this gave them a more naturalistic look and also meant that if any part came loose in the future it would be far easier to add a small stalk and leaf to cover it up.

Next time I will continue on other areas of the Cape.

Autumn Cape: A Stitch in Time Saves 9 – Part 2

Autumn Cape: A Stitch in Time Saves 9 – Part 2

If you are wondering if you have missed a blog you haven’t. The 1st Part was written in 2016. I have pasted the link at the end.* It might make more sense if you read that blog first.

With this the last blog of 2017 I thought it would be useful to touch on that sore subject – lack of money. Most people have spent a fortune over the Yuletide and will be cutting back in the New Year. Here is one way you can save money. Repair and modify old items.

Green Cape – Top Holes

 

The Green Cape I made has not been able to be worn of late as I noticed threads coming away in places. It needed mending – Again!

Green Cape - Middle Holes

Last time I simply did a quick darn with sewing in loose ends where I found them. This time I would have to find a better solution.

Green Cape – Top Centre Flower

In order to strength the whole area around where it is coming away or fraying I decided to do a spot of embroidery. Fortunately I had several balls of yarn of different colours left over from both the Green Cape project and others.

Green Cape – Top Right Flower

The small holes could be covered by small flowers. However some areas had several holes too close together to do small flowers singularly. Therefore I did a larger flower complete with leaves.

Green Cape – Lower Top Flowers 

The more flowers I embroidered the more holes I seemed to find. In order to spread out the colours I alternated between white, brown and purple flowers.

Green Cape – Middle Back Flowers

Some areas seemed to be fine until closer inspection. This is because the unravelling was showing on the underside rather than the right side.

Green Cape - Bottom Left Flower

This little hole nearly escaped my notice. It was the constant turning whilst embroidering the other flowers that loosened the threads enough to spot. I have more to repair on other parts of the Cape but until I have done that I will move on.

Other Money Saving Ideas

A kind friend - Laura of Alyssa Rose Boutique recently renovating her shop and saved lots of things for me that she thought I might like.(https://www.facebook.com/Alyssa.Rose.Boutique)

Old Chocolate Tin

Chocolate Tins and Tubs are in abundance around Yuletide. This particular one is very old and I had to look it up to find that it was made by Cadbury’s in the 1930’s.

Bead Tin

Inside the Tin was a collection of small bottles. Apparently Laura’s Grandmother used them to put beads in. So who am I to break with tradition?

More Beads 

I sorted all the loose beads I could find and put them into the bottles. I wish I had thought of this idea years ago as it not only gave me more room in my sewing box but I also found more that I had forgotten I had. It was certainly put to good use as I used some of the beads on the Flower Brooches from last week’s blog.

Another Needle Notion

Amongst the items given to me were knitting needles galore. It took me ages to sort them and when I did I found a few odd needles and a couple of broken ones. Rather than throwing them away I decided to use them as supports for my tomato seedlings.

I am still sorting through all the goodies so I may find other items that give me money saving ideas.

*

http://lady-jane-quirky.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/autumn-cape-stitch-in-time-saves-9-but.html

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Oakey Doh-key

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project

Oakey Doh-key

No you haven’t missed a post. I am still plodding away on the Hood but since it is taking a while I thought I would blog about something a little different.

If you can remember way back towards the beginning of the project I mentioned that I only have a limited amount of yarn in certain colours. This is due to the fact that they are from discontinued stock. Now since I am getting very low I thought it was a good time to check the Cape.

Doh-key

Autumn Cape Orange Hole - Stretched 

I apologise for the quality of the photographs but unfortunately I can’t take close shots very well. Hopefully you can see a Stretched Hole in between the Orange and Yellow.

Autumn Cape Orange Hole Mended - Stretched

 

Using a short piece of Orange Yarn I sewed across the gap. I tried to do this using a crisscross method as sewing directly across would have been too noticeable.

Autumn Cape Orange Hole 2 – Dropped Stitch

Autumn Cape Orange Hole 2 Mended– Dropped Stitch

 

Using the same technique I mended the Dropped Stitch Hole. I continued to do this throughout the colours on the Back of the Cape and with luck I have managed to spot them all. I have to repeat this process on the Sides and Sleeves. The Hood isn’t as bad as obviously by now I know better what I am doing.

Oakey

So I have covered the ‘Doh-what have I done-Key’ what about the ‘Oakey’ bit? Ah well here I have to admit this is not my own design. Whilst thinking about embellishments I decided I wanted some Oak Leaves. Therefore I trawled the Internet searching for a pattern as I knew this was definitely out of my ability range.

Oak Leaf Pattern

The Pattern I found used 3 mm Double Ended Needles. So this is what I used for my initial attempt. Since I had more Orange Wool than anything else I selected this colour to knit with.

Orange Oak Leaf 

Although this is a beautiful leaf it turned out that following the pattern using 3 mm needles I ended up with a leaf 13 cm long. This was far in excess of what I required.

Yellow Oak Leaf

On my second attempt I used 2.75 mm needles. This again was far too big at 12 cm.

Red Oak Leaf

Third time lucky I found that using 2 mm needles (Thanks Cayt Hewitt for the loan) the Oak Leaf came out at 10 cm. This is really a bit on the large size for what I originally had in mind but I am not sure if they do needles any smaller and even if they did I struggled knitting the pattern with these so it will have to do.

Triple Oak Leaves

This is how the Oak Leaves compare in size.  I shan’t be doing anymore for a while yet as plodding away at the Hood. If you would like to try knitting them yourself see the pattern link below.

Oak Leaf Pattern

http://www.oddknit.com/patterns/treesandleaves/oakleaf.html