Sizing from Last post
It's interesting to note that many people felt the sizing was too limitied in Vintage Knits sizing and equally interesting to see that many of the smaller sizes were concerned about patterns getting too big to fit them. I think that it's important for pattern sizes to be available in a range of sizes. I don't have a gripe with Vintage Knits per se, I did buy the book and I will probably knit that camisole, if not now, in the future. My point was a practical one, the sizes are too small to fit the average sized woman in the UK. It's a shame because the patterns are so lovely, but not fitting the average woman, excludes a large percentage of knitters.
I always chose my size by the finished measurement, and I highly recommend that approach to getting the fit that you want. Knitting 'my' size will never make me look as good as the models in the book. Looking at the garment fit on the models in the books is also terribly misleading. Most samples are knitted in the smallest or second smallest sizes. The models tend to be very slim. The ease for my recommended size may not be the ease for the garment on the model. In fact, there can be a lot of pinning to make it fit. Knitting magazine pictures can be so unreliable.
Have a look at this and this. The sweaters in both these photos are much too big for the model, it's saggy around the arms and torso.
Most knitter go visit the blogs and look at how it really fits on real people, who haven't pinned or had it 'styled' to fit.
Back to Fruity
Fruity as a portable project is still motoring along. I am making progress, but much more slowly. I'm also making a lot more mistakes, messing up on the number of decreases/increases and ripping far more than with the sleeves or back. In case you're wondering, cash cotton does not like be man-handled.
I have noticed the angora sticking all over my black trousers. I have to fight my instinct to say pants because in the UK, pants = underpants and clearly I would not have a problem with angora on my underwear while knitting on the tube.
The frilly edge is rolling. It's VERY annoying. It had better block flat or else... I'm going to sew a bit of grosgrain ribbon to the reverse side. The one in the book doesn't have this problem and the sample garment in John Lewis in Oxford Circus also seems flat, so I wonder if I've done something wrong.
and to the garden
I did a little gardening, taking advantage of the sunshine during the May Day bank holiday. Surprisingly, some plants that do have weed-like features are still alive and well.
This little beauty saves itself from being uprooted by flowering early.
Re: your weed? NO, No, It's not a weed!!!!!!!!!!! It's called sweetheart "vine" . It's a perrenial bulb that comes back year after year. They're pretty expensive to buy in the local garden store. I've seen them in pink, white and I think recently, yellow. I love them - they come up every early spring and remind me there's life after snow and cold!
Salamanders eat slugs and Victory Garden or some other PBS show this last weekend had a salmander house that you can build for little money and effort. I wish i could remember the specifics but I don't have a garden (or a house anymore for that matter, so I don't pay a lot of attention). Go to the PBS website and search - you'll find it.
Best wishes. Jeannie
Posted by: jeannie at May 12, 2005 05:44 PMlovely lovely garden! looks just perfect to frolic in. I miss having ground, my planters just arent the same.
As for sizing, I can say as a tiny one sizing is ALWAYS an issue for me It is a myth that being tiny or thin makes clothing or sizing issues negligible. I am proportionate but not in ways than many fashion designers acknowledge. The joys... I will learn how to modify for my size if it is the last knitting thing I do :)
Posted by: stinkerbell at May 9, 2005 03:01 PMThat blue color is absolutely amazing! That is my number one favorite color... I have yet to find a great yarn using that color in the texture I want.
Love your garden! Thanks for the awesome pics!
Posted by: Dani at May 7, 2005 02:20 AMAren't there any natural predators that can eat slugs? Cats? You can tell that I know nothing about the outdoors or animals.
Have you tried pressing carefully Fruity, just to see if the edge still curls? It might at least allay your fears, although it wasn't that obvious last night! It's looking lovely, I love it when people finish 4-ply stuff off!
Dawn
Flat beer or a bit of left over wine in the bottom of a plastic container (butter/margarine tub) and pushed into the soil here and there with the top of the container level with the dirt works wonders - drunk slugs/snails can't creep out again!
Posted by: Lesley at May 6, 2005 09:59 PMI tried to email you about knitting shop recommendations for London but email bounced! Very disappointed - I'll be in London next weekend and need a fix! There aren't any great knitting shops in Noord-Holland! Do you have any 'hot tips' for wool tourists?
Posted by: Ashley at May 6, 2005 08:44 PMThey do say that a weed is only a plant in the "wrong" place! Happy gardening Polly - long may your flowers bloom!
:-)
Nothing to do with knitting today but......about those slugs, have you tried Sluggo? Garden Safe Slug and Snail Bait by Schultz is the same stuff.
http://www.gardeners.com/Shopping/sell.asp?ProdGroupID=12755&omMerchandising=Search
It works great and acts like plant food as it dissolves into the soil. It's the only thing that ever worked on my horrible snail problem and wouldn't poison my 3 dogs.
Save the hostas, kill the slugs!
:)
If you want to try it you might want to look for a UK distributor first
I agree once something blooms it's not a weed, even if it's a dandelion (which I personally adore - the little shot of yellow in a field of green is so becoming).
Posted by: Rebekah at May 6, 2005 03:28 PMThank you for speaking out on the sizing issue! Not so many of us on the other shore are as tiny as the Vintage book might have one believe, either. A girl could get a serious complex.
Fruity is lovely. I'm quite sure you can find a way to tame that edge!
Posted by: candace at May 6, 2005 01:22 PMJaegar needs to get real women to show off the patterns. The Rowanettes could do a Calender Girls type thing...maybe not quite that dramatic, but with the new books. If Dove can do it, so can we!
Posted by: Tracy at May 6, 2005 11:07 AMI always try and look at what size the model is wearing, IK tends to tell you what size they photographed. That way if it's a baggy sweater and it says that the thin model is wearing what should actually be my size I know that I need to make a bigger size in order for it to hang like that on me iyswim.
Sizing varies so much though, I made a sweater recently that should have had almost no ease on me (I made 'my' size) and it actually has about 2 inches or more of ease even though I knit to gauge. I also get easily confused about how some patterns say 'to fit' a certaiin size and others give you the actual finished measurements of the garment. Some standardisation of sizes would be very helpful!
Lovely plants!
Anna
Posted by: Anna at May 6, 2005 10:11 AMGood points about sizing. I find blogs very useful for seeing how garments look on real people. I've knitted things that I wouldn't have chosen from pattern books after seeing them on bloggers (and sometimes vice versa).
I reckon that frilly edge will roll - get used to it! I tacked a ribbon facing onto the bottom of one of my summer tops last weekend (only had enough to do the fronts) but it worked quite well, I'm going to buy a bit more ribbon this weekend and do it properly.
Posted by: sam at May 6, 2005 08:01 AMI agree with the added benefit of the internet and knitbloggers serving as real life models. More than once have a followed a sweater's progress only to see what it would look like in real life.
I also agree with your garden logic, and that though I don't even have a window box.
Brava! I totally agree about the limited sizing in knitting patterns. In what alternate universe is a 38" bust a large?
Posted by: Michelle at May 6, 2005 02:51 AMI just love your garden! In my garden if it blooms it is definitely a weed, as apart from the Rose bush all my lovely carnations, lavender and golden bamboo fell victim to the ants ages ago.
Posted by: Louise at May 6, 2005 12:06 AMHa ! I have exactly the same gardening dilemma as I ponder whether to pull up or not - I'm never really sure what's a weed and what's not. As long as it looks pretty I have to say I don't care that much :0) You're spot on on the sizing issue too, it drives me nuts when the largest size given is a 36". I don't have that many thin friends to knit for !
Posted by: Heather at May 5, 2005 11:26 PM