Edinburgh skies (and buses)

No sooner have I finished one knitting project than I cast on another one, and for once it's not blue!

Part of the Edinburgh bus map - this is relevant, honestly

When I went up to Edinburgh in June, I had the idea of buying myself something special and related to my birth city as a sort of 60th birthday present to myself. Initially I considered jewellery, but nothing I saw really called to me.

One of the things on my 'must do' list for the trip was a visit to Kathy's Knits in the New Town. It was fabulous, an absolute treasure trove of yarns and patterns. At which point it dawned on me that some really nice wool and a suitable pattern would be the perfect thing to buy myself - especially as I knit in the Scottish (lever) style.

The shop has lots of completed items on display to provide inspiration. My eye was really drawn to the stunning Celtic cable shawls by Lucy Hague but sadly, they are well beyond my current skill level. Maybe some day . . . Then I spotted a pattern called Lothian, by Justyna Lorkowska of Lete's Knits. Although I was born in Edinburgh, I grew up in Midlothian, so this had a definite connection. I liked the pattern and Kathy, who is lovely and very helpful, confirmed that it was a straightforward knit.

Then came the less straightforward task of choosing yarn from the mind-boggling choice available. Eventually I settled on a 4ply Bluefaced Leicester/silk mix from Abercairn Yarns, in shade Stormy Sky.

The pattern and the main yarn

For the contrasts, Kathy and I agreed that variegated yellows with hints of grey and red would give the effect of a cloudy Edinburgh sky with sunshine peeking through the gaps - something which we both know well! In fact, one evening the city almost obliged.

Grey - yes, sunshine - no

I was hoping for something more like this

At some point I probably will buy a ball winder, but there's something so satisfying about an old school round ball of wool which fits perfectly in your hand!

One skein

I've only done a few rows so far, and they are rather wobbly, but I definitely like the way the yarn knits up. The edges of the rows were initially atrocious, and nothing I tried made the messy loops any smaller, so I redid them with the first stitch slipped instead and it looks much better.

Progress so far

But what about the buses? When I looked the pattern up on Ravelry, I discovered that inspiration came from Justyna knitting on Lothian buses while travelling round the city, and the squiggly lines are based on the idea of bus route maps. This made the pattern even more perfect. Whenever I go up to Edinburgh, on the first night there I always eat in a restaurant on the North Bridge on the site of the old Patrick Thomson department store, and sit in the window so that I can watch the buses go by. When I was growing up, we often got the bus home from outside "PT's". The two routes which served my home town have been renamed/rerouted, so Rosewell and Birkenside no longer appear on the front of buses, but the destinations of the many other routes which come across the North Bridge are very familiar. I really like the fact that I inadvertently chose a pattern with a link to what has become an Edinburgh tradition for me.

PT's, with the queue for the bus at the bottom left

All in all, I think that this project makes an excellent birthday gift/souvenir.

Confidette completed

I have finished my Confidette bolero, which is something of a relief. I found it much harder work than the Wondrella cardigans - although I must stress that this was due to my limitations as a novice knitter, not Tasha's pattern, which was excellent as ever.

The bolero being blocked

To my surprise and relief, I had knitted the first sleeve head correctly, and it joined as it should at the underarm. Then it was just a case of knitting in the round, with decreases, until I reached the cuff. By this stage it was obvious that I was going to have sufficient wool from the Wondrella leftovers, and hadn't needed that extra ball after all. Still, better safe than sorry.

The second sleeve was a definite 'sleeve island' slog. My stitch pick-up was a tiny bit better, but still left a lot to be desired, and I can't say that knowing what I was doing made the second sleeve head much easier, either. Once the sleeves were done, I tried the bolero on to see if the body needed any more length. It was hard to tell, as the knitting curled up, but I decided that it was fine. Mind you, that choice may just have been from the desire to get the thing finished!

Apologies for the wobbly phone-and-mirror photo!

I don’t know if picking up stitches is anyone's favourite part of knitting, but it certainly isn't mine, and there were almost 200 stitches to pick up round the fronts and neck.

Knitting the first band of the border

I decided not to knit the border in the round, as I couldn't face the prospect of 400-stitch purl rows. Instead I followed Tasha's option of knitting it flat and sewing it up at the end, which has the advantage of creating smooth rows of the different colours.

Not perfect, but pretty good

It's only when you are casting off that you get to see the front corners properly, and to a newbie like me, they do look very impressive.

Magic!

One advantage of doing the sleeves first was that I got to practice the new to me (Icelandic) bind off on short edges. Despite this, I still feel that I may have bound off the fronts too tightly, as the fronts rise up at the centre in a way which they don't on Tasha's examples. Also, it seems to have ended up a bit too wide around the waist, and the fit just generally feels a bit 'off'. I'm hoping that some of these niggles are simply the result of what I did find at times a frustrating knit, and that they will fade over time. For now, I'm taking inspiration from my dressmaking and regarding it as 'wearable toile', and a good use of leftover yarn.

The length is perfect at the back

Showing the border round the neck

It also helps that it goes beautifully with this dress, which I bought from Fantouche Vintage when I was in Edinburgh in June. I very rarely wear true vintage, as it is always too long in the torso for me. However, Rhona had several seamstress-made dresses which must have been sewn for wearers who were as short-waisted as I am (the orange and green one in the photo above is another of my purchases), and fitted me perfectly - joy! The blue dress is sleeveless, so a light-cover-up is a perfect accessory.

The colours work so well with this vintage print

I have got yarn stashed for another Confidette, but I think that I will knit something else first before I dive into that. Watch this space!

The inevitable

It was always going to happen. Even as I typed the words last week, "Stash-neutral status is within reach", I knew that I was making myself a hostage to fortune. I just didn’t expect it to happen quite so soon!

Yes, I've bought some fabric.

"Snowdrop" cotton lawn by Peter Horton

I'm blaming American Duchess. I preordered a pair of their new Esme wedges in red and blue, and they arrived this week. They are stunning (you can read more about the design, and wedge shoes in general, here) and of course, I decided that they needed a suitable dress. I was in Liverpool this week, and thought that I would check out the John Lewis fabric 'department' while I was there. It's right on the top floor, tiny, and seems to get tinier every time I visit - it can only be a matter of time before it vanishes altogether. But despite this, it has an uncanny habit of containing just what I'm looking for.

Perfect match

It isn't a 1930s print, but this is a project where I'm not worried about historical accuracy; I was just delighted to find something in the ideal colours. Now I need to consider which pattern to use.

1930s (and one 1940) patterns

Two which came with magazines

Of course, the prospect of stash-neutral status has taken a hit, (as have my batch-cut projects, which was also fairly inevitable) but it was entirely worth it.

Back up to over six metres

This year's dressmaking efforts - doubled!

I've actually finished something - yay! My cotton lawn Simplicity 4463 is complete. Unfortunately, after several days of sunshine today was very cloudy, so it was hard to get decent photos. The fabric isn't nearly as washed-out as it looks here.

Done!

I have made so many versions of this pattern and its reissue, Simplicity 1777, that there isn't much more to say. This one has a zip fasten rather than a placket, and the V-neck front. In the end, my version of the V-neck turned out so small that I would struggle to get the dress on over any sort of up-do, but at the same time I wouldn’t want to make the V any lower! Any future iteration might require a small back opening.

Because the fabric is so fine, I faced the front section with plain white lawn so that the pattern wouldn't show through. I interfaced the facing, and now wish that I hadn't - it makes the centre front section rather stiff, and prone to bulging out a bit.

The problem with the neckline

There is, as ever, a pocket. As with the previous version, I placed it slightly lower to avoid the hip curve. The front of the pocket bag was also made from plain lawn.

Pocketses (well, one pocket)

As well as being more accurate to the 1940s, the plainer skirt of 4463 feels easier to sit in than the heavily pleated version of 1777. It's also far easier to iron!

#sewnshownseated

And that’s it, apart from the update to the Stashometer. I can't believe that it's August and I've only just completed a second dress for the year.

Stash-neutral status is within reach!