Sweater-mending and oh, one more needlebound babyhat!

I promise, no more baby hats before I've finished the 14th century outfits! 

However, this last hat I'm really pleased with, and I think I'm starting to get a hang of this pattern-making thingy. Or what do you think? Still looking for someone else who also does these kinds of patterns in needlebinding, with colour changes more complex than just the normal changing-of-yarn thingy. Wow, it really is too late for blogging, I'm having serious problems putting together a sentence. It all seems to come out as jibberish. Anyhow,  here is the last baby hat.

A couple of days ago my boss came up to me and asked for a favor. Seeing that I'm always knitting, could I possibly have a look at her sweater? It was a bit torn and she had no idea how to mend it, but perhaps I could do something about it? I, of course, did not mention that I do needlebinding, not knitting. And though I had no idea how to mend the tear in the knitted fabric I nodded and said that I'd give it a go. 

Here is how it looked before I began....

And lo and behold, I did it! It was tricky business, but somehow I got the yarn through the correct loops and managed to sew the ends together. So here it is post mending... Pretty good, huh?

. . . and yet another needlebound babyhat!

Here is my fourth contribution to the Värma liten project ("warming a little one", see previous posts for explanation), a blue needlebound babyhat with a green heart.

Now, I must say this isn't the prettiest baby hat ever created. But from my point of view it's actually quite a large step forward, since the green heart wasn't added to the surface after completion, it's not embroidered or an application, it's actually a part of the needlebound fabric. Previously I experimented with just a line of a different color going in the "wrong" direction, but this is the first time I've actually managed to make a real pattern. It's not amazing, but it works. So the next step is to adjust the pattern more to the thickness of yarn and size of the stitches so that the image doesn't look as rough (it's almost like it has too few pixels, if you know what I mean, making the image look unsharp!).

Anyhow, even though this particular baby hat isn't the prettiest in the world I hope that it will be both useful and comfortable, so I'm sending it with the other baby hats I've made. Lastly, here it is together with the last hat I made, the red one with a green flower.

... and yet another needlebound babyhat!

Here it is, my third needlebound babyhat!

Now, somehow the picture makes it look asymmetrical... but I assure you, that's not actually the case. =) As you can see I added a needlebound flower to this one as well, this time in green. I actually think the flower got a bit too thick, but I don't think it will feel uncomfortable to wear so I will leave it be.

Two needlebound babyhats!

I have finished my two first babyhats for the Värma liten project (previous post here explains it all!), hooray!. Since I have had some fun ideas on how to develop my needlebinding technique I seized the opportunity to try something new...

Both hats are decorated with needlebound flowers... Something I've never done before, and I have never actually seen any done by others either! The green baby hat has a white flower, seen below. The inspiration came from the plumeria flower, which is just agonizingly pretty! My needlebound version isn't as beautiful, but I'm still pretty happy with the result.






Now check out the white stripe that runs from the top to the bottom. This is also something I've been thinking about for a while, and I've never actually seen anyone else do it. You know, it's easy to make stripes of different colours going horizontally across the fabric, which is done by simply switching the colour of the yarn at regular (or irregular!) intervals. This however was my first attempt at creating colour patterns beyond that, and the first step was creating a line that runs vertically across the fabric. It may not look like much but for me this is actually revolutionary!








The second hat, which by the way is really tiny, is red and made by yarn that is much thinner than what I'm used to. This means the resulting fabric is very fine and right, and I really love the look of it. It is decorated with a needlebound flower, which isn't actually black but really dark blue...

Now, I really wanted to try the hats on a real baby to see how the size was. But lacking babies I got one of my cats to volunteer as a model... He was delighted, and the hat fit perfectly. Or what do you think?  

Warming a little one . . . (värma liten)

Yesterday I cam across this post in another blog (it's in swedish), which immediately caught my attention. It refers back to yet another blog, which writes about a project called Värma liten - "warmin a little one". The original post is also in Swedish, but let me translate the important bits for you...

"In the civil war in Congo, many women suffer. Rape has become a weapon of mass destruction. Some of these women are helped at the Panzi hospital, led by dr Denis Mukwege. (...) A lot of children are also born at Panzi hospital, and those children we want to help. The children need hats to protect against cold nights and harsh sunlight, they need blankets and other clothes. 


The magazine Dagen, the publishing house Libris and the charity organisation PMU are collecting knitted and crochéted baby hats, baby blankets and other baby clothes all of this summer. We will make sure they go directly to Panzi hospital, where they will be put to good use!


Would you like to contribute?
Knit or crochét in sizes from newly born to 1 year. Use yarn that is easily washed by hand and remember that what's needed isn't exactly winter clothes.


Knit something that you just as well could give to a little one close by, and a mother in Congo will surely be just as happy as a mother would be here!


Send what you (and your group?) have made to


Dagen - Värma liten
105 36 Stockholm
Sweden


If you send it so that it's delivered before the 15th of August your contribution will go in the very first shipment."

Now of course I feel like contributing! Although I am getting a hang of crochéting I still work best with needlebinding, so that's what I'll do. At least to begin with. Now I just have to figure out how to make a hat that fits a baby... But I'm sure I'll work it out!

Now, if anyone is reading this post and feel like joining in, but feels a bit lost in all this Swedish stuff, just post a small comment here or send me an email and I can help you with info or whatever. Let's make sure the Panzi hospital is totally swamped with wonderful and practical baby clothes!

Sweater Pictures!

I thought I'd show you some better pics of the needlebound sweater. Thank you Carita for modelling! I've tried to slightly alter the pictures to match the actual colour of the sweater, but still... the real sweater is a much warmer purple! 

Cutting through needlebound fabric

A very good comment by Kareina to the previous post ("The Fny Method: Needlebinding a Sweater") made me think about the possibilities of cutting through needlebound fabric. I have previously tried cutting along the rows of stitches, which works very well! The edge stays intact and there is no need to made additional seams or anything. Very good!

Now, Kareina's comment made me wonder about the possibilities of cutting not along the row of stitches, but across. For example, if it could be possible to cut an opening along the front of my newly needlebound sweater...  So this evening I picked up a small patch of needlebound fabric that I made earlier (it's just a circle, nothing fancy, I made it as a test) and simply cut it in half.

This is what a half looks like right after cutting it:

Then I used the other half for my experiment, throwing simple saddle stitches around the length of the edge. Then I folded the edge and sewed tacking-stitches back and forth and back again. (Had this been more than just an experiment I would of course have used more proper stitches instead of tacking-stitckes, and would probably have folded it so that the raw edge is tucked in completely!). Here you see what it looks like where it's folded....

And here you see what it looks like from the front!

The other half, that I didn't do anything with, isn't very durable and I can easily pull out strands from the edge. On the other hand, the half that I stitched up and folded seems to be just fine. In other words, one could actually treat the needlebound fabric more or less like a woven fabric and it would be possible to make a sweater just like I explained in the previous post, and still have it open in the front! 

The Fny Method: Needlebinding a sweater

   This post was really supposed to be called "The Fny Method: Needlebinding a sweater without using a pattern" but that was just ridiculously long! Anyways... This is not a needlebinding PATTERN for a sweater, but rather a TUTORIAL or an explanation of how to do it in more general terms. In other words there will be no counting of stitches. Why? It's simple, I just really don't like counting! But what this post will tell you is how to put together a sweater just by using your own body as a sort of template, in which order to do things and what to look out for. 

*

1. Create a long line of loops to start with. Check the length against your own body size – this is the circumference at the bottom of the sweater, down below your tummy. Make sure that not only does it reach around your bottom/tummy (depending on how long you want it to be!), it is also long enough to slip your entire upper body through without it stretching too much.

2. When you are happy with the circumference close the first round. Make sure the line of loops hasn’t twisted! 

3. Continue needlebinding, decreasing just a few stitches per round.

4.Carry on needlebinding, checking it regularly against your own body to see how much to decrease to make it fit well. For my bodytype I felt it best to decrease the circumference at the waist, but if you want the sweater to hang completely straight then feel free not to do so!

5.Once you reach just below the armpit (once again, try it on!) you should do a loop of unfastened stitches to go around the arm. Fasten it with just a few stitches at first (or use a safety pin!) so that you can try it and feel how tight it is around the arm. Make sure it's wide enough to let you lift your arm!

6. Once you are happy with the width of the arm-to-be then go ahead around to the other side, making a loop of the same width there.

7. Continue needlebinding around and around, slightly decreasing with a few stitches each row. I find it best to do the decreasing just above the point where the arm loop starts.

8. When you reach the shoulder it is time to drastically decrease the amount of stitches, decreasing one for each stitch you sew.

9. Try it on and figure out exactly where you want your neckline, making sure it's not too tight to get on or off!

10. When you've finished the neckline it's time to start with the arms.With a new piece of string, start right at the point where you previously began doing the unfastened stitches, at the back. Move around the arm-opening, decreasing one or two stitches at each side.

11. Once more, try it on! Depending on how thin your arms are and how tight you want it, you will want to decrease more or less. I chose to decrease very little, and not change the circumference after the first 2 or 3 rounds.

12. Continue with the stitches until  the arms are as long as you like, making sure you do the left and right as identical as possible.

13. Now you are almost done! You just need to fasten the end pieces of yarn, tucking them in and 

smoothening out the edge as much as you can.

14. You know what? You've just finished your sweater! 

I hope these instructions aren't too messy! The most important thing to remember is to keep checking the sweater against your own body and make the appropriate adjustments to make it fit. If you have any questions (if, for example, my instructions aren't clear enough...) I'll be more than happy to clarify it for you! I have never actually seen anyone else needlebind sweaters, which I think is a bit sad. It's not difficult! You don't need complicated counting or measuring, you just need to do it. And it really doesn't take THAT much time either! 

If you have ever seen or made a similar sweater I'd love to hear about it, and perhaps we could compare notes? Anyways, I hope my instructions are helpful!

How frustrating, I'm out of yarn!

The sweater is coming along nicely, as I've finished the main body and I'm now working on the arms. Or well, I WAS working on the arms until I ran out of yarn just a few minutes ago. I felt so frustrated that I had to write this short blog post! Darn... I gotta go downtown some day soon to get some more of that lovely purple yarn. And then I'll be able to finish the sweater, yay!

Needlebound sweater in progress + mittens and socks!

Project sweater is coming along nicely! When it is finished you can look forward not only to pictures of the finished product, but also a guide I've been working on with instructions on how to needlebind a sweater. It will be illustrated with pics from my current project, so make sure you check it out in a few weeks or so! So far I've gotten to the lower part of the shoulders, so it is actually already wearable! =)

While waiting for the sweater pics I thought I'd show you some more old needlebound things of mine. These socks and mittens I made this autumn, using an incredibly soft and fluffy yarn. Not my best work but still pretty ok, or what do you think?

(See the cat in the lower right corner of the last pic? That's Trix, a beautiful kitty found just across the road from our house, seriously mistreated and almost dead. She now resides at my mother's place, living happily ever after. =) Mjau!) 

Needlebinding: stitch B

It is time for stitch B!
This stitch is done inside out - in other words you have to turn the project inside out when it is finished. The surface looks like this...

Then how is it done? First, pass the needle right-to-left through the loop to the RIGHT of your last stitch. Then, find the tiny loop running at an opposite angle, half-eay hidden to the left of the loop you just passed through.

Yeah, lets repeat that last part, slowly...
Look to the LEFT of the loop you just passed the needle through. See the tiny loop, running in the other direction? Only halfway visible? Yeah, that's it. Pass the needle through it, from right (upper right) to left (lower left).

Next, pass the needle through the loop to the LEFT of your last stitch, from right to left. Then TWIST the needle so that you can pass the needle through your last stitch from the left. Pull the needle and yarn all the way through.

Sounds complicated? It's not as bad as it sounds, I promise! =) Here is a video of how it's done:

Needlebinding: stitch A

Hey everyone!
I thought I'd start documenting the stitches I use when needlebinding, for my own sake (I tend to forget) and for the sake of everyone who is trying to learn. I generally just come up with new stitches as I go, and therefore I don't know the "proper" names of the stitches I do... And since I don't use my thumb in the traditional way it looks a little bit different from what you might be used to. Anyways, this is what I choose to call Stitch A.

The finished surface looks like this...

And here is a short video showing how to do it! The needle first moves from the right to the left through the two loops on the RIGHT side, then from the left to the right through the two loops on the LEFT side.

Needlebinding with thinner yarn

As you might have noticed, I am rather fond of using really thick yarn when I needlebind. This is for two very obvious reasons: it is considerably faster and the result is fluffier! However, I started out using much thinner yarn, which creates a cloth-like look if worked tightly. Here is a pair of fingerless mittens that I made a couple of years ago (using only hand dyed yarn!). They took way too long to complete but I quite like the result, or what do you think?

Project Sweater

I have an ongoing project which is sloooowly progressing - my needlebound sweater! At first I thought I just wouldn't have the tenacity to finish, since it seemed like such a huge project, but now it's going pretty well and I think it'll be all right.

 This is how much I did the first day, which I felt was ok for a start. Now, after a few months of not working too much on it, the sweater has clearly grown:

The stitch is very simple, running the needle through
1.the two loops to the right of the last loop (on the previous row) from right two left
2. the last two loops, from left to right

I think the result is pretty good, the stitch may be simple but it looks good. Sometimes simple is better!

Needlebound socks for big and small

These grey socks are THE most comfortable socks EVER! As usual, I improvised a for me new stitch and this time it turned out great, or what do you think? The small blue socks are made with the same stitch, but well... they are tiny, made for a baby. Kinda cute, right?

 Interested in trying the stitch? Well, lets see... If I remember correctly it goes something like this:

1. through the stitch directly to the right of your previous loop, from the right

2. through the tiny loop inbetween your previous loop and the one you just went through (it's hidden behind, more horisontal), from above

3. through the stitch before your last loop (to the left), from the right

4 twist the needle and go through your previous loop from the left

Simple enough, right? =)

I find the back prettier than the front side, so I usually turn over the end result. And I should perhaps mention that I generally needle-bind without using my thumb... I find it much more practical! One can do the same stitches either way, though.

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