A couple of days in to the Custom Pattern Cutting and Fitting course I took back in April I decided that this was something I’d definitely continue. I had managed pretty well with just a 30 cm ruler and a set square but I felt that it was worth me investing in some proper equipment.

For forming curves there are a number of options: A basic set of French curves will do a reasonable job but I found them a bit small. A ‘hip curve’ is great for forming long curves (err, hip curves) and also great for armholes and necklines. A smaller ‘armhole curve’ is also an option if a hip curve is a bit unwieldy, but the hip curve seemed to fit curves more easily. For me, both were a bit pricey just just for drawing curves so I opted instead for a Patternmaster, a tool that combines a hip curve, an armhole curve, a 40 cm rule, set square, grading rule and more. All come in both metric and imperial – I’m used to imperial for sewing but trying to retrain myself, mm are much nicer than 8ths of inches.

Drawing a front neckline curve with a Patternmaster

Surprisingly, one of the secrets of drawing curves is right-angles. The neckline above is perpendicular to the centre front line where they intersect and the armhole curve below is perpendicular to the side seam and shoulder seams where it intersects with those. Right-angles at these points ensure that when the garment is sewn together, curves are uninterrupted by seams. Drawing a little right angle at the intersections before placing the curve tool helps locate it correctly.

Basic bodice block

Tracing a block to make a pattern

What about seam allowance? To make a pattern from a block, each section of the of block is traced around the stitching lines onto a new piece of paper. Adding seam allowance on straight lines is simply a case of lining up the grading lines on the Patternmaster (or grading ruler) with the seam lines. When adding seam allowance to curves, it’s all about being parallel to the curve at all times. At various intervals along the curve, align the grading line parallel with the curve where they meet and draw a small mark. Join these marks up and you’ll have another smooth curve for your cutting line. It’s surprisingly easy!

A pattern piece with seam allowance added

Drawing a skirt hem is pretty similar – think of it as adding a giant seam allowance to a curved waist band. The hem is always at right angles to the vertical and equidistant from the waist. Mark as many points as you can, join them up with a smooth curve and you should have a perfect straight (curved!) hem.

From sewing bought patterns I’m used using a 1.5 cm seam allowances everywhere but in commercial pattern cutting, different widths are used in different places; 1.5 cm on side seams, 0.5 cm on curves and 1 cm standard everywhere else. With varying seam allowances on one garment you need to know where to sew. Notches are used not just to help align pieces, but to mark stitching lines. I couldn’t bring myself to invest in notchers because they’re kind of expensive and a little snip with scissors will do. However, they’re a pleasure to use and make pattern pieces look so professional.

Pattern pieces with notched stitch lines

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Fitting a toile on the Custom Pattern Cutting and Fitting course at LCF

The next phase of Zoe’s wedding dress was to take the basic block and trace it as pattern pieces, add seam allowance, cut it in calico and sew it into a toile. Calico is used because of its firmness and lack of stretch. It’s very unforgiving, so if it looks right in calico, you know it will look right in the final fabric. Calico needs to be pre-shrunk – either wash it on a hot cycle or steam iron it before cutting pattern pieces.

It’s always a bit nerve racking doing a first fitting: Did I write down the measurements right? Did I do the maths right? Did I draft the block right? Did I trace the pattern properly? Thank goodness the answer to all these questions was yes. The toile was a good fit, but as this is for a wedding dress we’re talking about tolerances of a few millimetres and further refining was needed to make it the exact shape of Zoe.

Zoe's basic toile

Certain body measurements are very difficult to take accurately. The rules of thumb used to place darts etc are not right for every figure. Any ripples, bunching or odd angles indicate that adjustments are needed for a perfect fit. There are a number of things to look for:

• Is it too big/small at the bust? The overall width should be adjusted.
• Is the waist too big small? The size of the bottom darts should be adjusted.
• Does the toile fit the shame of the bust? The shape of the darts should be changed (the dart lines will become angled).
• Do the side seams slant? They should be re-drawn, pivoting from the underarm.
• Is there bunching above the waist? The waist should be raised at back, front and/or sides.
• Is there bagginess below the shoulder? The top darts may need adjusting.
• Do the shoulder seams slant? They should be moved.
• Is there a gap between the toile and the shoulder at armhole? The slope of the shoulder should be adjusted.

Most changes will also require the armholes to be re-drawn and even small adjustments can significantly alter the master, so a new a new master should be drafted, accounting for each alteration.

The toile fitting was a good time to for us to make decisions about the position of the straps, the height of the garment front and back and the point at which the skirt should flare. Calico is a great material for scribbling on and it’s good to mark all the adjustments on the toile as well as listing them on paper.

In addition to the adjustments from the fitting, I made a few other changes to the basic block with the final garment in mind. I’m intending to cut the bodice and skirt in continuous panels, so moving the skirt darts to line up with the bodice waist was essential. I got rid of one set of darts on the skirt back because would not have worked with this panel construction, and spread the excess between the remaining darts and the side seams. I also tightened the fit above the bust by enlarging the darts – this is to help the dress stay in place given that it will not have large straps.

It’s worth mentioning that a toile would normally have a front opening. I chose to make mine side-opening because a) that’s what I’m planning for the final dress, and b) it was less sewing.

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I’m finding my latest project, Hannah Fettig’s Featherweight Cardigan a bit fiddly (laceweight on 4 mm needles) and the loops of 4 ply I was using as markers were getting in the way. My lovely handmade markers would have got caught on the delicate stitches.

I found the perfect solution in these rubber hair bands from Claire’s. They turnout to be useless as hair bands – too small to manoeuvre onto my fingers to get round my hair – so I’m happy to have a use for them. They’re £2.50 for a pack of 100 and they’re neon, so easily visible against the yarn. They look like they’d fit up to a 6 mm needle and they can easily be snipped off if need be. I will be using these for all stitch marking purposes from now on.

Neon hair bands from Claire's

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Dapple finished!

I’ve almost forgotten the anguish of Dapple despair now that the sweater-dress is finished and worn. Once I’d found the motivation, it didn’t take too long to re-knit the sleeves and finish it off.

I made a number of mods; added length at the bottom and at the waist, lengthened the sleeves, added sleeve shaping and deceased both sleeves and body to from size S to XS stitch counts at the neck, to make it less ‘off the shoulder’. I accidentally added extra rows to the neckband, further narrowing the neckline – I liked it so I left it.

Despite adding significant length, it’s too short for me to wear as a dress without jeans or leggings underneath. It is also quite bulky and maybe not the most flattering garment for those of us with curves. However, I think it will get a lot of wear in cooler months.

Ravelry project page

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Drafting the bodice block

With the detailed set of measurements I took in day one of Custom Pattern Cutting and Fitting, day two was spent drafting a bodice block from those measurements.

The block is a representation of the shape of the body on paper, which is traced to make patterns. This starts life drawn on paper as a rectangle, the height of the torso and half the width of the torso circumference at the widest point. It is divided to create front and back, then bust darts added, slope of shoulder accounted for, neckline and sleeve openings drawn, all positioned using a combination of body measurements and rules of thumb.

My master draft bodice block

I’m not going to describe how this is done – there are plenty of books available, such as Pattern Cutting and Making Up: The Professional Approach. If have one one criticism of the course at LCF it’s that the handouts were confusing and ambiguously worded. I had trouble following the instructions the second, third and forth times on my own, so I’ll probably invest in that one myself.

One thing you’ll notice about the bodice block is that the armhole is not symmetrical – it is tilted towards the front to allow for the fact the arms move in front of the body. This is something that is largely ignored by knitters and knitwear designers as it is accounted for by the stretch of the fabric. Although, I can’t help thinking that it would be possible to make a better-fitting sweater by applying a little of this tailoring knowledge…

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London College of Fashion's Curtain Road classrooms

A few months ago I did something I’d been meaning to do for a really long time; I took one of London College of Fashion‘s short courses, in Custom Pattern Cutting and Fitting. I’ve got to say it was excellent, well worth the money.

What was it all about? Designing and fitting clothes based on actual body measurements, rather than standard sizes. This is the basis of bespoke tailoring and couture clothing, and something that was a total mystery to me before taking the course. I’ve been sewing from patterns for about 20 years (yikes! I’m not that old, I started young), and I’ve got pretty good at adjusting by trial and error. But sometimes, no amount of adjusting makes something right.

Day one of the course covered taking body measurements. As I’ve long suspected, it’s impossible to measure yourself, and in fact it’s quite a skill to locate various points of reference on the body on someone else. The waist for example, is the narrowest part of the torso, which is much higher than what most of us think of as out waist. Having an accurate set of body measurements for the first time ever, it was clear why I have trouble getting things to fit (aside from my elongated proportions) – my shoulder measurement is a UK10, while my bust and hip are a 14, and the rest somewhere in between.

There wasn’t a single person on the course who was a ‘standard’ shape, which made me wonder how off-the-shelf clothing ever fits anyone! Our tutor explained that brands will choose a body shape that best matches their market and use that as their pattern block. So that’s why Ted Baker fits me, and H&M doesn’t (at least that’s what I tell myself when justifying expensive purchases). One of the few places that bases their pattern blocks on detailed surveys of real people is M&S.

I’ve been meaning to blog about the course for some time but other things have got in the way recently. So why now? My good friend asked me to make her wedding dress. This is exciting and terrifying in equal measure. I’m confident I’ve got the skills to do it but nervous about the time scale, the wedding is in September. So, I’ll be providing progress reports, without revealing too much about the final dress of course!

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Tom's amazing lino prints

I’d always thought of lino printing as hap-hazard and earthy, but Tom’s precise, multi-layered, multi-tonal pieces totally challenged my assumptions about the medium.

My source image

Tom asked us to bring a design idea, I had a few in mind, including this photo of a circuit board (I’ve always thought those things were kind of beautiful, odd I know). But, I settled on something safer and more traditional – this photo of my Japanese Maple tree I took on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic medium-format app.

There are various ways of transferring an image to lino and many decisions to be made; how much detail to include, which areas to print and which to clear, to cut outlines or solid areas etc. I sketched my image directly onto the lino in pencil, I cleared the white areas on the photo so that the leaves would be printed and the sky, not. I like the photo border so I kept a border on my lino, I think it frames the abstract leaf shapes nicely.

My design turned out to be rather complicated. Although I started cutting first, I was the last to finish. What can I say? I like a challenge. I mainly cut with a scalpel in order to achieve the sharp edges, although there were special gauging tools in a variety of sizes. At first I worked painstakingly, trying to be precise, by the end I was cutting as fast as I could just to finish. If anything I prefer the areas I did at the end as they were more geometric, although I accidentally gauged out a few extra bits.

My lino, with ink

Inking up

A thick, linseed oil-based ink is used. It’s applied to the lino with a roller, after spreading on a glass surface to ensure an even coverage.

Lino printing is normally done on thick paper, similar to watercolour paper, and put through a letterpress. However, Tom prefers a fine-grained, off-white Japanese paper that is thin, yet strong. To transfer to ink to the paper, the paper was laid over the lino and pressed with the back of a spoon in a circular motion.

Up until the final moment when I peeled the paper from the lino, I was convinced that my image would not be recognisable. No one was more surprised than me at the results.

My print

Not the most expert execution but I’m really happy with it! I think the combination of the Japanese aesthetic, the fine paper and the plain black ink all come together.

Everyone finished the day with a successful print, it was really interesting to see how different they all were.

Hanne's print

Sofie's print

Kirstie's print

Let’s not forget the real reason we get together for craft days…

Mmm... cake

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It had been a crappy day from the outset; a workplace frustration preceded a chain of events that lead to me missing two social engagements. I set off on the Central Line to make a third social engagement, got off at Oxford Circus, walked a few meters down the platform and noticed yarn trailing from my bag, down the platform, through the doors and into the carriage. A ball had fallen from my bag as I was getting off.

As the bleep from the doors sounded I was too far away, I yelled ‘NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!’. I stood helpless as gormless commuters just stopped and stared at the ball of yarn on the carriage floor. When the doors closed I knew my work’s fate was sealed. I took the knitting from my bag and placed it symbolically on the floor, and like a funeral casket jettisoned from an air-lock in Star Trek, two cabled sleeves accelerated away from me along the platform and under the wheels of the train. When it was all over, a stranger turned to me and simply said ‘sorry’. I walked on, finished my journey, got to the pub and promptly burst into tears. Putting so much effort into something then letting it go in order to watch it being destroyed was utterly heart-breaking.

I started Dapple a while ago and completed the body sections quite quickly but took a break before starting the sleeves as I wanted to make some mods. They’ve been my only project for the last couple of weeks. I added some shaping to make them look less baggy, and more length. I knitted them 2-up on circular needles so that I wouldn’t have to note down the mods so not only did I lose them BOTH (and a 5 mm Addi circ) but I’ve got no record of my calculations.

Today a friend told me that the only way to get over this tragedy is to re-knit them, he’s right. I’ll order myself some 5 mm KnitPro tips (and maybe a few other things to cheer myself up) and make a start tomorrow. It will be a long time before I can pass through Oxford Circus without shuddering. This time I think I’ll knit one at a time, just in case…

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I really like the way you can sort Ravelry stash items by colour now

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This was totally enexpected, and what a lovely write-up! I don’t subscribe to any knitting magazines so I wasn’t familiar with Knit Today but I was presently surprised. Highlights in this issue include patterns for super-cute toddler mittens and tea-cosies, a free frill sweater pattern from Artesano and a review feature on slub yarns. The magazine is pitched towards new knitters and has a great little pictorial tutorial covering the basics.

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Fyberspates offered a wide selection of clubs – single skeins to jumper quantities delivered monthly, you choose the yarn and whether you want semi-solid or variegated colourways, ensuring that all the surprises are the kind you like. I went for Sheila’s sock (4 ply superwash merino), in semi-solid colours.

February’s parcel was a sophisticated shade of pale blue (not a baby blue), something I would never have chosen for myself but I love it.

Fyberspates Sheila's Sock in 'water'

March’s parcel was very much something I would have chosen, a deep plum.

Fyberspates Sheila's Sock in 'violet'

The two colours go so well together, initially I was thinking of combining them for some stripy socks or handwarmers, but I’ve decided to wait and see what I receive in April!

If you’re tempted to join, Fyberspates will be taking sign-ups for the next three months soon, keep checking here. Postage works out free, as if you need persuading…

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Logwood Purple extract, 3/4 tsp on 100g organic merino aran, alum mordant with iron sulphate added to byebath

The logwood purple extract gave a good strong indigo-purple. My book told me that with alum mordant, the logwood purple is not very washfast, so I added iron sulphate to the pan. The dye bath was very dark, especially after the iron went in, but all the dye was absorbed after an hour of simmering. During rinsing most of it came back out again! However, it only took a couple of rinses to run clear so I’m confident it will stay this colour. I think it would look great mixed or overdyed with some lac or brazilwood.

Logwood Purple rinsing - a bit scary!

Remember that peachy-orange skein of handspun from my spinning update. Well now… it’s still orange, but I think it’s better than it was.

Handspun overdyed with lac

I put it in a dyebath of lac, but it didn’t absorb much of it as it was unmordanted (I didn’t want to risk felting). I am still at a bit of a loss as to what to make with it. The current favourite is the Japanese Feather Scarf by Anne Hanson.

I used the exhaust from the lac bath mixed with the exhaust from the logwood purple bath on another skein of superwash.

Lac and Logwood Purple extract w/ iron exhaust on 100g superwash BFL, alum mordant

It’s quite unusual and rather pretty I think.

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Three runners up Frederica Eckstrom, Sarah Griffiths and Jan Pratt received copies of the Aduki hat pattern, and two grand prize winners, Sophie Barnes and Lizzie Page also have parcels of hand dyed yarn on the way to them. I do hope you enjoy your prizes and I’m really looking forward to seeing some new Aduki Hats.

Thanks again to the lovely SnB Stitchettes for hosting the competition, and for all their hard work running London’s best knitting group.

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From left to right: Berry Blue Kool Aid, Brazilwood extract, Lac extract, Teal extract x2, multi Kool Aid

Yesterday, I had a couple of friends round for a day of dyeing experiments. I have spent the last few weeks procuring and preparing. It was very hard to resist dipping into the supplies until the big day.

We had a range of dyes at our disposal; natural dye extracts, Procion acid dyes, Kool Aid and onion skins. Yarn-wise, we had undyed organic merino aran and superwash BFL sock yarn, half of it pre-mordanted with alum for use with natural dyes.

Amazingly, everything we tried turned out really well and I will write up proper instructions for Kool Aid dyeing, acid dyes, mordanting and natural dyes as features soon.

Dyeing supplies

The onion skin dye took very well on alum mordanted BFL (no pics sadly). Books suggested we’d get bright yellow but we got a rich tan.

I prepared the onion skin bath in advance as this took some time. I had been saving red and yellow onion skins for a month or so and had a larger freezer bag full (we do get through A LOT of onions), weighing approx 60 g. I had read that we’d need 100 g per 100 g of yarn to get a reasonable colour, but we got a very good depth of colour with what we had. To make the dye bath, I boiled the onion skins in filtered water for about 3 hours, then sieved the liquid, squeezing the juice out of the skins. I was told this make the house stink, so I was presently surprised when it did not.

We simmered the yarn in the onion liquid for about 2 hours, though it only took about half an hour for all the dye to absorb. The colour did not bleed during rinsing. Although it would take a long time to collect enough onion skins to dye a big batch, they are reliable and effectively free.

Lac extract 1/2 tsp on 100 g organic merino, alum mordant

Powdered extracts are a great alternative to natural dyes in their original form. They require no prep and tend to be more uniform and predictable. We tried lac (pink – made from the crushed shells of beetles), brazilwood (pink / burgundy – a tree bark, good vegetable alternative to lac and cochineal) and teal (blue-green – a mixture of plant extracts). We used about 1/2 tsp extract per 100 g of yarn. The extracts simply dissolve in water like synthetic dye powders. We simmered the yarn in the dye baths for 1 – 1.5 hours.

Unlike synthetic pigments, the strength of colour varied a lot for the different extracts. Lac and teal were pale at the quantities we used, while brazilwood was darker and richer. It would take some experimentation to obtain a particular shade, but we were very happy with what we got. The lac bled slightly during rinsing but all seemed fast.

Brazilwood extract 1/2 tsb on 100 g organic merino aran, alum mordant

Teal extract 1/2 tsp per 100 g, alum mordant. Left: superwash BFL sock, right: organic mernio aran

Kool Aid rainbow: 1 x Pineapple, 1 x Strawberry, 1 x Berry Blue, 1 x Grape

We also had some fun with Kool Aid. A large sauté pan turns out to be the perfect piece of equipment for making multi-coloured skeins without painting. We spread the yarn out in the pan, added enough water to cover and sprinkled Kool Aid straight in, with different colours in different areas, then simmered the bath for 30 minutes. Kool Aid dye takes so quickly, especially on superwash, that the colours don’t really bleed unless you want them to.  Hanne’s rainbow skein was possibly the most exciting thing I have ever seen (sadly no pics of the finished item). I made a red and yellow version using the same technique.

Kool Aid: 1 x Pineapple, 1 x Orange, 2 x strawberry on superwash BFL sock

So, big success! Lots of fantastic yarn for everyone, and my kitchen didn’t end up multicoloured. Although, I’ve yet to work out how to wash, mordant, dye and rinse that lovely organic merino without it felting somewhere along the way!

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My questions are:

• Would you buy one?
• Would you prefer it to be made of recycled board (so it would fit in your wallet), 3 mm tough acrylic, or 6 mm wood?
• How much would you be prepared to pay for such a thing?

Either comment below, PM me on Ravelry (suziesparkle), or use the contact form.

I’ll put everyone who has responded into a draw for a free one if I get them made.

Thanks!

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Dyed Wensleydale locks, chain plied

When I bought my wheel back in April 2009, although I ordered a range of fibres, I got hooked on spinning dyed merino top because of the amazing range of colours available. With hindsight this wasn’t the easiest thing to learn with – it has a tendency to make a wirey, compacted yarn, even after carding. It’s taken me a while, but now I’ve tried out everything in my fibre stash, with mixed results…

First of all I tried dyed maroon Wensleydale locks, which almost put me off spinning for good. My batch was matted, tangled and full of twigs and second cuts. I was very disappointed because I’ve seen some really exciting yarns spun from locks. I had to give up after just 40 g as it was such tough going. I ended up with an interesting-looking, lustrous yarn but certainly nothing that was worth the pain. Not a good start.

Pencil roving, 2 ply

Next I tried some pencil roving. It turned out to be nearly as tough going -hard to draft, it’s fairly coarse and I was fighting with the clockwise twist it already has as soon as I started spinning. Next time I’d spin it anti-clockwise. It is however an amazing shade of electric blue, and I got it relatively even and fine (5 ply / sport weight-ish). I will make a pair of gloves with the first batch (150 g), but there’s still 250 g left to spin! Buying that much without trying it was stupid – there’s an important lesson there, always buy a sample first!

Humbug BFL, chain plied, dyed with Lemon Lime Kool Aid

After that I moved onto carded BFL – a dream in comparison, so easy to draft. In a couple of hours I made a 50 g chain-plied sample skein and Kool Aid dyed it green, it turned out great! I used it almost immediately for a hat. I have a 500 g bag of brown & white mix BFL (I take it back about not buying a big bag, this stuff is great) which I’d love to make something substantial with, but that’s quite a commitment. Not to mention, how would I keep my spinning even over 500 g?

Hand-painted merino top

Finally, I picked up a nice looking hand-painted braid of merino top from a Raveler having a destash (well, I’m always happy to help others). I was amazed how different it was to spin than the dyed top I’m used to, proving that not all merino is equal. It made a fine, squishy, lofty yarn. I got 550 m of 2 ply, light sock-weight from 110 g – easily the finest I have spun. Sadly the bold yellows, oranges and splashes of purple melded together into a peachy shade that I’m not overjoyed with. I will probably over-dye with pink to give me a rich red. I’m also unsure what to make with it, it’s not strong enough for socks. Maybe this Japanese Feather Scarf or a large Ishbel? Any ideas?

2 ply merino from painted top

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Win this scrumptious, hand-dyed yarn

Stitch and Bitch London - my fantastic local knitting group – are running a competition to give away five copies of my latest pattern, Aduki hat, and two grand prize winners will win some very special yarn to go with it. I have hand-dyed a wool and bamboo blend, ideal for the Aduki Hat, especially for the competition.

To enter you’ll need to sign up for their mailing list, or subscribe to their blog. Whether you’re a Londoner (or even a UKer) or not, sign up to their fortnightly email for the exclusive offers, competitions and Aunt Gertrude’s bizarre, stitch-related agony column.

Stitch and Bitch London is an all-round awesome organisation and I can’t think a better place to spread some It’s a Stitch Up goodness.

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Left to right: Silk & wool blend, superwash merino, wool & bamboo blend

I’ve been experimenting this week with Procion MX textile dyes. I put a few different yarns in a dye bath and I’m amazed at the colour variation from the same batch! The superwash merino sucked up the dye and is almost black in places, while the silk blend is pale and much bluer.

The wool and bamboo blend has the most balanced shade and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. If you like the look of it too, check the site next week for a very special opportunity to win some!

The Procion dyes are really easy to use and require no additional chemicals on animal fibres other than citric acid or vinegar to lower the PH. They’re available from DT Crafts, I followed their simple instructions.

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Most impotrantly, I finally finished a long term UFO, in time for my sister Holly’s birthday next week. This is a top version of Stephanie Japel’s Saturday in the Part Perfect Dress from her first book Fitted Knits. The book I loved when I first got it, the designs are wearable and lovely, but quickly became frustrated with the insane amount of errata. I have made several projects from the book and this is definitely my favourite finished project so far.

Sunday in the Park Perfect Dress in Debbie Bliss Cathay

I modified just about everything – I couldn’t find an equivalent blend and weight of yarn in the UK (another of my gripes with the book) so I used Debie Bliss Cathay. The pattern has a recommended needle size of 4.5 mm, the yarn 3.75-4 mm but I felt this was gave a fabric that was too open and see through, so I went down to 3.5 mm. I re-did the maths accordingly. As it’s a top-down raglan, altering for a different tension was straightforward. I didn’t like the yarn, it’s heavy and splitty, this is why the top took me so long to finish.

After working the sleeves I stopped following the pattern. I don’t remember there being mistakes, I just didn’t feel the need. I worked back decreases every 6 or 8 rows to the natural waist, then back increases. I added some front increases where the extra columns of mock cables started, and increases all around the bottom before starting the mock cable edging. You may notice that the mock-cable pattern curves above, rather then below the waist. IMHO the original resembles a pair of pants which is not a good look.

Considering I pretty much winged it it’s an amazingly good fit, very pleased indeed. I hope Holly feels the same about it, she’s waited two years!

Also made as gifts, two pairs of Ysolda Teague’s Veyla mittens from Whimsical Little Knits 2 in leftover Colinette Jitterbug. The pattern is very quick and the clever construction makes it so much fun to knit, I couldn’t put it down. The finished gloves are beautiful I think they make a really special gift.

Veyla mitts in Colinette Jitterbug 'Velvet Leaf'

Veyla mitts in Colinette Jitterbug 'Morello Mash' with non-matching, vintage mother-of-pearl buttons

I got a skein of ‘Morello Mash’ from a swap with mooncalf and I’ve had 4 projects from it – two sets of Endpapers, an iPhone cosy and these. ‘Morello Mash’ has more colour variation than ‘Velvet Leaf’ and I wasn’t sure whether this would work with the lace, but it turned out rather well.

I made the small size and they are quite small even with Jitterbug, which I find thicker than the average 4 ply. Definitely have a think about your sizing if you plan to make them.

Rowan All Seasons Cotton in 'Dusk'

My most recent cast-on is Dapple by Kim Hargraves, from her summer book Nectar. I’m surprised at how few projects there are on Ravelry for Dapple, it’s an easy knit but the cables add a bit of interest, and the finished garment would suit most people.

Very unusually for me, I’m using yarn I bought for this very project and the recommended yarn at that – Rowan All Seasons Cotton, as I got a great deal on it in the sales last January. I don’t have anything similarly coloured in my wardrobe (something to do with an aversion to navy caused by school uniform trauma) but I’m sure this slightly faded blue is a shade I’ll wear. I don’t love cotton and unsurprisingly I don’t love this yarn, it’s stiff and hard work to knit. That’s just my taste. It knits up quickly enough so I can live with it.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2010
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If you’re reading via RSS on a feed reader you’ll need to view this post on the website in order to see some of the charts properly.

Warning: This post is one for the geeks. I don’t mean yarn geeks or knitting geeks, I mean maths/computer/data geeks. If that’s not you, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

As you’ve probably gathered, keeping my yarn stash to a sensible size is a constant battle (and it’s not like I’m alone in that). The more tools I’ve got to help me keep track of what I’ve got, the better. I got a lovely comment about my stash graph from 2009: How did I do?this post from a fellow appreciator of stats. A few weeks ago I went to see the Decode exhibition at V&A (which is fantastic, go see it, it’s on until 11 April 2010), and I’ve also started following a few blogs about data visualisation relating to my day job as an interaction designer – my favourites are Flowing Data and Visual Complexity. All these things got me thinking about how I could graphically represent the monthly stash activity better.

The old graph shows how the total amount of stashed yarn fluctuates from month to month, but what it doesn’t do is represent the amount used and sold as part of the total. I came up with a new graph, a stacked bar chart, which I think shows stash activity in a more semantically illustrative way. The graph was generated in MS Excel.

Stash activity graph

Conclusion

I’m still buying more than I can justify!

The stash activity graph is useful for stopping myself going too crazy with the yarn buying, but what about analysing the yarn I’m actually using (or not using) to see if I can be more practical with what I’m buying? I discovered heat maps on Flowing Data not long ago, and it struck me that this would be an excellent way to represent the contents of my stash. There are instructions on Flowing Data to generate a heat map from CSV format using a free application, but as the maths is very simple, I had a go at turning HTML table data into heat charts using JavaScript.

Heat map of yarn used

I exported an Excel file of my stash from Ravelry. This chart represents the yarn I’ve used (from the ‘All used up’ sheet and the values of the ‘Skeins’ column minus the ‘Remaining skeins’ column from the ‘In stash’ sheet. I combined these values into one sheet, and created a pivot table, summing total skeins against the axes ‘Color family’ and ‘Weight’. If you’re still with me, well done, you’re an Excel wizard. If not, don’t worry, you can still appreciate the pretty chart.

Conclusions

The heat map shows much more clearly what I’m using than numbers alone. No real surprises, I have a preference for DK and aran weights but I do also get through some chunky and 4 ply. The purple/red/pink end of the spectrum is slightly dominant, but really I’ve used quite a good mix of colours.

Heat map of yarn in stash

The data for this chart comes from the ‘Remaining skeins’ columns of the ‘In stash’ and ‘Will trade or sell’ sheets from my Ravelry stash spreadsheet. Same pivot table method as before.

Conclusions

Whoa there! Where did all that grey aran come from? And why aren’t I using it up? It’s not like I don’t like grey yarn, it’s one of my favourite colours. Actually, I like grey yarn so much that I think I’m hoarding it in case they suddenly stop manufacturing it! I’ve also think I’ve subconsciously been saving it for those special projects it deserves, but I’ve not found them yet. With nearly 40 balls of the stuff I think I can afford to dip into my grey stash.

The good news is that aside from the grey and blue aran, there is a nice mix of yarn in my stash, and in similar colours and weights to what I’ve used.

Before seeing this chart I had no idea that I’d accumulated so much grey and blue aran. I’ve already cast on Kim Hargreaves’ Dapple dress in blue Rowan All Seasons Cotton.

Making your own stash heat map

If you’ve managed to get the data out of Excel (which is by far the hardest part) and you’ve got a bit of experience with HTML and JavaScript, why not have a play with this yourself. I have made a zip file containing an HTML page with sample data and my heat map JavaScript embedded. Also included is the JQuery JavaScript library core, which my script requires.

I’d love to see what your stash looks like, post your heat maps below!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2010
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