Restingmotion

Vogue finally put up the new patterns, which is good because I had been eagerly awaiting them since the Vogue patterns magazine arrived over Christmas.  With the new patterns came the debut of the new website, which perhaps accounted for the delay.

I like the look of the new site and am not having much trouble with it.  I find it easier to search on this site and I like that there are direct links between Vogue, McCalls and Butterick.  I'm not having any problems with my use of the site, but I dont' demand much of it either.  I do like that they have links to related designer websites.

But on to the patterns.  These are the ones that are currently sitting in my cart although they may or may not still be there by the next club BMV sales rolls around — I am trying to really think about patterns before I purchase.

I loved this Guy Laroche dress(1155) when I first saw it in the magazine and it is one of the pattern that has had me haunting the site for three weeks.  I still love it.  I think it would be fun to sew and wear.  I would make it longer, and I have a few issues with the front closure, but I think I can work those out.

 This Donna Karan dress (1159) really intrigues me also.  Truthfully I kind of had a bit of a love/hate attitude in the magazine and I am not a fan of this print in this dress, although the line drawings have made me reconsider the possibilities.  I distinctly don't like the way the diagonal lines on this particular print look with the diagonal seams in the back of the dress, over the bottom.  But that could just be a sign of impending fuddy-duddy status, and I certainly believe it could be better managed in a different fabric.

 While I am talking about Donna Karan, I am also seriously considering 1168, the blouse and pants.  The fact that G also loves this look and raves about it every time he sees me looking helps.  I think this has a fabulous insouciance that could really add a spark to dressing for casual summer events.

 There are several pretty, girly summer dresses and for the most part they just aren't me.  I keep coming back to this one by Tracy Reese though (1158).   I am not convinced I am going to keep it in my cart.  It is a little low cut in the back, and although I could adapt the design to something I liked even better, I am increasingly thinking this is something that I can best use as inspiration for creating something from one of my existing patterns.

 Last on my list is this Very Easy Vogue pattern.  I have skirts like this one, it is pretty basic. but I love the look of the short jacket over the high waisted skirt, and I have learned that these little cropped boxy jackets can be quite flattering on me.  

 

 I've been reading Mother-Daughter Knits by Sally Mellville and Caddy Melville Ledbetter and by this I mean actually reading it, not just looking at the pictures and diagrams of the sweater and letting my mind wander off into new knitting territory.  And the book is well worth reading and worth knitting from as well.

Admittedly I picked up the book on a whim, and I do like quite a few of the designs, but I was particularly impressed about the clear simple way the authors discussing knitting a garment to fit and flatter the knitter/wearer.  

Thee is a good discussion on shaping and proportion, with good illustrations of the points.  I followed the technique to find your ideal sweater lengths, and was intrigued and happy to find that the correspond to the lengths that I have found to be perfect for me.  Granted it  took me years of sewing and knitting before I discovered this, but hey, I am only reading this book now.

There are also good directions for what to look for in knitting a garment that will fit, including 5 critical points where individual fit should override the pattern:

1.  Finished length

2.  Waist length

3. Shoulder width

4. Sleeve length

5.  Diameter at the cuff.

And then there are directions on how to alter patterns, in a very general way for making these corrections.  I was also intrigued to see the discussion of shoulder width which included the idea that  a shoulder might need to be narrower or wider to accommodate sleeves or other design features.  I thought the advice was right on target and should help anyone knit a better sweater, even me, because despite knowing better, I am far too often prone to just blindly following a pattern and then being disappointed with the ill-fitting result.

I didn't start reading this book until after I finished knitting the body of the Elaine Striped Cardigan and even though I altered the pattern at the shoulders, I may not have made the shoulders quite wide enough.  I am hoping that Sally Melville's advice to knit the shoulders 1" narrower to help keep a heavy sleeve from pulling it downward will help me out here, but I may be a little more than 1" too small.  We will see soon enough.

The first sleeve is being blocked now, so I will know how it fits into the sweater soon enough.

While I am thinking about sleeves, I think the method discussed for finding and measuring for the right sleeve length in the book is genius.  The clever part is now how to measure your own sleeve length, which I already knew, but how to translate that measurement to the pattern you are actually knitting.  I have other fitting and knitting books, but somehow it never really clicked until now.  And the idea is so obvious that I really almost had to hit myself in the head.  Once again, we will see how it works as I finish the current cardigan.

Obviously I am going on and on.  I'll have to do another post reviewing my take on the patterns, because there are quite a few I like.

The light on the river was so soft and pretty this morning, all purples and blues and soft pastels.  

 

 I've been sitting in the family room with Sam on my lap listening to music and knitting.   We were listening to Tchaikovsky's Trio in A Minor, op 50, from this collection of recordings by the Beaux Arts Trio.

There are a couple of mournful cello solos in the work, and each time one of these would begin, Sam would let out a deep sigh and slump against my leg, hanging his head over my knee.  I am not sure if cats respond to music, or if he was just responding to subtle movements I was making in response to the music, but it struck me as particularly poignant, in no small part because Sam was never been much of lap cat, much preferring to curl up with his sister Tori, who passed away last week.

While we listened to this rather brooding and incredibly lyrical (and incredibly difficult) work the fog over the river lifted and the sun came out, greeting us with promises of a bright sunny day.

The new Vogue Knitting arrived over the holidays.  Because the family was here, and a vicious cold incubated, I was a little slow at actually perusing the contents.

Although there are several things I like, there is nothing that is really calling to me, telling me it must be made right now.  This is probably as much due to the fact that I have just cataloged my yarn stash as anything else, and I have lots of yarn and lots of projects, all of which I want to knit right now.

 Nonetheless, here are my thoughts.

I love this little floral vest.  It would be fun to knit.  I have doubts as to whether I would wear it or not though.  I do not really wear a lot of vests and I am not convinced that that the high round neckline is one I would wear on a vest.  I could add sleeves, but then it is not much different than a lot of other patterns I have.  This is a maybe.

 While I am thinking about floral color-work patterns however, I do love this cardigan with the larger scale flowers.  I love the way the large print is offset by the delicate fair-isle work at the waist and along the borders of the sweater, and the herringbone lace pattern in the lower portion of the sweater.  This sweater looks like one that would be both fun to knit and a joy to wear.  Just not right now, although it is even possible that I have felted tweed in the stash that may be applied to it as a future project.

 The truth is that the sweaters I actually wear the most tend to be very simple shapes with simple details, and often not even a lot of color work.  There are two sweaters here that look like they would be fabulously wearable additions to my wardrobe.

First is this fabulous tunic with a central cable motif by Suvi Simola.  Simple and sleek, I don't see what is not to like about this pattern.  Even the relatively short to nonexistent sleeves don't bother me as I can see ways to style it, and what is winter without coats anyway?

 The other sweater is this fabulous fitted jacket-like cardigan. The silhouette is shapely and the lovely details would emphasize a bit of shape even where there was less.  This is a fabulously versatile cardigan, at least for those of us who like a bit of structure and tailoring, that can be dressed up or down.  

Oddly enough, my first thought on seeing this was "too fitted, too conservative, too retro-inspired" but I have come around and it hasn't escaped my thoughts.  The more I look at my closet and the contents therein, the more I see the potential of a little knitted jacket just like this one.

 I don't usually knit men's sweaters, not because there is not a man in my life, but because that particular man, G, always tells me " I don't wear sweaters" and "I don't need sweaters" both of which are quite true as he has drawers of sweaters both purchased and hand-knitted, that he never wears.  But he likes to look at the knitting magazines and point out sweaters that he likes and thinks would be nice for me.  

In all of the years we have been married, this is only the second time he has ever pointed out a men's sweater that he liked and said he would wear.  The other sweater was Alice Starmore's Henry VIII.  

I think he would actually wear this one.  Although he occasionally reminds me he likes Henry VIII, I remember that he hates pullovers and I am not inclined to turn it into a cardigan.  This one I may actually knit, someday.  

One day, when I still was under the influence of my cold, G and I took a trip down Route 9 to the lower part of our county.  We wanted to go check out a couple of Indian Groceries and see what they had in terms of fresh produce, as well as procure a few things that might become pantry staples.  Although I found a small selection of fresh vegetables, including a few things that I can't otherwise find at my regular markets, I did not find what I was looking for, namely fresh fenugreek greens.

After we left the last Indian Grocery, to which we will return, we realized we were only half a mile or so from the Middle Eastern market I used to frequent and so we thought we would stop in and see what was in stock.  Unfortunately the market was gone and a dentist's office now stood in their stead.   As we stood out front, remarking on the dearth of good ethnic markets in the area ever since the Thai grocery closed I realized that we were right next door to JoAnn Fabrics.

Now I don't usually shop at JoAnn.  I stopped shopping there after patterns were available on the web because this particular store never put the new patterns out on the sales floor until 4 or 5 weeks after they were released (although they were very prompt at pulling discontinued patterns), and the new patterns were never available during the sales.  But I was there.  I knew they had a sale on McCall's Patterns.  I knew there was a pattern I was interested in.  So we went in to look, and I bought a pattern.

 Now I really like the pattern, just as I really like the Michael Kors dress which obviously inspired it.

But I am having a few doubts.  My recent experience organizing the fabric stash has made me think about my tendency to buy things on a whim without really thinking about how much I actually have or what I actually need.

And I am having a few second thoughts.

McCalls is not my favorite pattern company from a fit standpoint.  They cut large.  The patterns are too broad through the back for me and usually the bust point is too wide as well, wider than either Vogue or Simplicity.  When I look at this pattern, according to the illustration the princess seams run outside the bust point.  This may be attractive on a slender young woman who is not particularly well endowed but it is a look that I personally find aging.  Given that this pattern line is usually to wide through the bust, and that the style is cut even wider, this pattern would need a fair amount of alteration to work for me and yield an attractive dress.  I am wondering if using this pattern would actually be more work than just altering one of the many princess seamed sheath dress patterns I already own.  

I am realizing that I need to stop acquiring the newest latest thing just because it is the newest latest thing, and think about what I have and what actually works for me.  I don't actually regret the purchase.  Even if all I get out of it is the realization that I need to think more about what works, it was a reasonable investment in education.  For about the price of trip to Starbucks I have turned a corner in my thinking about patterns.  I will probably compare this pattern to a sloper that fits, or another pattern and work from there.  I may or may not use it.  But I will make this dress, or a reasonable facsimile.

It seems to be about time that I actually start thinking, rather than just reacting.

I am a little slow getting caught up with things, apparently including managing more frequent posts.

 I finally got around to reading the new Threads Magazine, which arrived between Christmas and New Years.

It is an interesting issue with several fine articles, but what really interests me at the moment is the fabulous article by Kenneth King, showing the fitting technique he used with me when we were fitting my shirt and my pants.  The illustrations are far more clear than anything I could do to even partially explain.  This technique was really fabulous and changed my way of looking at pattern fitting.

If you haven't read this yet, and I realize I am a little slow here, please do.

I am making progress on my goals.

We are cleaning, this is something G and I can do together and it helps him feel a little more useful, although I would not have anticipated this a year ago.

I am not exercising an hour a day yet, or even every day, but I am working on this.  I still have trouble exercising without breaking into a major coughing attack, and days I exercise, I have a much harder time settling down to sleep without major coughing attacks at night.   I have however, lost all the holiday weight, so I am more relaxed about the workout schedule.

I am knitting, and getting some reading in.  Sewing not yet.  Reading and sewing are the hardest things as these are the things I tend to get completely lost in, where I lose track of time, hunger, and the presence of anything else going on the world.  A little hand sewing can be interrupted, reading the newspaper or a magazine likewise.  But as for losing myself in a book or a sewing project, these are things about which we are still negotiating boundaries.

I do think I will be sewing this week.  I have had a bad electrical switch in my sewing room, where I have trouble getting the lights to come on (it is not the lights but in the switch) or to stay on once I get them on.  I will cut off the power and rewire the switch today, or at least that is my intention.

I also have a kitty in kitty ICU today in critical condition on oxygen and IVs.  We don't yet know, if we will ever know, if it is the primary cause is a heart condition or a major infection; at this point we are merely hoping she will pull through.  I am very distracted and scattered, and I may cancel plans that require attention and thought (like wiring) and curl up with a blanket and my knitting.