Cables Ahoy!

Cable stitch long terrified me. How was it possible? Would I have the patience?

I’ve always found its origins fascinating, even more so now I live in Yorkshire and am often by the sea. The stitch is apparently meant to look like rope, and was originally used for sailors’ gansys- a chunky jumper, to which the cable added weight.

This guy above is loving his….

Men themselves often used to knit these….

And tradition has it that each village has its own pattern.

I’m starting basic. I found some inspiring cables tea cosies on the net:

I thought I’d give it a go. For anyone who hasn’t tried cable it’s a lot easier than it looks. There are loads of YouTube tutorials such as this one here. Be brave and give it a go!

Here is my progress:

The cable rows are a tiny bit of a bore, but you only have to do one about every 10 rows…

I love the look of cables!!!!

The skirt is finished! And teacosies rule…..

So finally the skirt is finished! The last bit took ages because the craftsy course suggested I stitch the waistband and hem on the machine, but I didn’t want a visible line so I hand stitched it all invisibly. I think it was worth it. 

Actually it was quite therapeutic. 

Here is the finished item….

I love it. I can even live with the pattern match fails at the seams. I think. 

In other news I have finally managed to get three tea cosies into etsy. I had a target of 5 this month but three out of five ain’t bad! I just love making tea cosies, here photographed with part of a lovely tea set I bought in vintage shop Flax and Twine in York.  (Amazing place -if you are visiting York take a look). 

Here are the three I’ve managed to get on:

Love this mad rainbow chunky wool.  Forget where I got the buttons… Whitby I think. 

Granny squares rule. This was going to be a cushion but it changed its mind. 

My favourite I think. Just because I love spotty ribbons. 

I’ve got about another three half done… Always the way!

Happy crafting weekend!!!



Skirt progress

So I’m nearly finished with the skirt! I’ve learnt a lot. First of all about pattern matching!

Cut out my two sides…..

Put them together then realised instead of overlaying them the same way to cut them…..

I should have turned one over!!

Result…. Fail on the seam….

So never mind, side seam, I think I’ll get away with it…. A bit!

Then, very pleased was I with my invisible zip… Until I realised it was perfect but on the wrong side!!!! How did I manage that??

Doh! Thank god for stitch unpickers!

The waistband and hem seem to be going ok though…

I think it will be wearable anyhow.

The a-line maxi begins!

So my new project in this cloudy bank holiday- an a line skirt- pattern drawn from scratch!! This is an online craftsy course I am doing and it is actually great.

So I had to buy a few things. I learnt what a French curve is this week (an implement rather than a physical aspiration!!!)

I’ve spent this morning drafting the pattern. I’ve had to try and be clever as the course is for knee length not maxi. Even my pattern paper agreed and was too short!!

Some bog-standard copy paper is doing a stirling job standing in!!!

I’ve got two fabrics I want to make into skirts. The first is this fab Alexander Henry

How cool?

The second is a good old tartan. I love tartan although I’m making life hard on seam matching!

I’m going to make a full muslin first to check measurements.

I’ve been inspired by the latest sewing bee- is anyone watching?

Wish me luck!