Another Bra Adventure

Sorry for the recent silence. I had a breast reduction done end of January, and time seems to have flown by. I'm really happy with the results, it's just so nice to have small breasts and not have to carry around the weight of the old ones. It's also nice to have them back up where they belong :)

I had to wear a soft non wired bra 8 weeks after the surgery, and the sports bra was all right, but I wanted something that would give more shape, so I bought a few classic 1950's 60's style bras, the kind grannies usually favour, and it's amazingly comfy, at least when you have relatively small breasts. They mostly come in black and white, but I've found out that most of the white ones can be dyed, so I now have brown, wine and dark blue bras as well as black.

I've been thinking of diving back into hand made lingerie. I made a bra a year ago from this pattern, and I decided to give it another go, but do the longline version this time. So far I've been struggling with the mock up. I altered the pattern again tonight, and will give it another go tomorrow. The last time I made this bra I measured myself from between the breasts straight across the fullest part to the point where I wanted the cup to end, but since I now have a 38 inch bust (yay!) I thought it would be fine to simply cut out the pattern as marked, but no. I needed to make the cup wider this time as well. I'll start on the third (!) mock up tomorrow, wish me luck.

Gauge and Ease Frustrations

The one thing that is starting to dawn on me is just how hard it is to estimate the amount of positive or negative ease needed in a knitted garment.

I had no idea it could be as hard as I've found it to be. My first attempt at knitting a jacket for myself ended up way too big, and I frogged it. I considered making a gift of it, but the proportions was just not flattering. Not at all what I was after.

The second attempt was the vest I made in December. This also ended up too big. This time I got the measurements right, but the fabric was too soft and elastic, which made it a couple of sizes too big anyway.

I'm halfway done with the camiknickers from the pattern I posted. I decided to knit it in the round, not realizing it would make it very hard to gauge whether it would fit, so for now it's hibernating while I'm summoning the courage to place the stitches on a string and try it on.

Finally I started on the red Miss Lemon Cardigan. This time I decided to knit it flat, and started on the back piece after swatching. I calculated gauge correctly, but when I tested the fit after 7 inches on my dressmakers dummy I discovered that it was still too loose, and had to unravel it down to the ribbing. This is starting to annoy me quite a bit. It seems I will have to knit the equivalent of a small baby blanket of the stitches I plan to use to see how the fabric behaves.

How do the rest of you knitters cope with this?

Miss Lemon

I own all the Hercule Poirot films, and watch them at regular intervals, sometimes just to drool over Miss Lemon's outfits. He has such lovely things it makes me both greedy and envious.

To alleviate this I've decided to give a go at recreating some of her things, most specifically two of her jumpers. The lovely red one that looks like a cardigan at first glance, and the black one with white polka dots. Swoon...

You can follow the red jumper project here. I'm making the pattern up as I go along, and I've settled for a broken rib pattern as the main stitch. If the jumper turns out the way I hope it will I'll post the pattern here once it's done.

The black jumper project is outlined here. Don't you just love Ravelry? Such a handy site. I haven't started on the black jumper yet, but I've found a pattern in one of my books that should give a good framework to it. The stitch will have to be altered, but the basic shape is more or less the same. For others out there with Miss Lemon envy I am posting the pattern I'll be using for the black jumper. Enjoy :)

Lace Camiknickers

It was so nice to see the knitted vest take shape and create something from one of my knitting books I decided to go ahead and knit these lace camiknickers too. I am using the gauge given in the pattern, and added 2 pattern repeats total. I am knitting it in the round, as I'd rather not have any seams in the garment. The yarn I'm using is a lace weight alpaca/silk mix, and it makes a wonderfully soft fabric.

I am not really used to having to learn by doing. Normally I can read my way to most things, but with knitting it's really different. In the beginning it frustrated me, but now I'm starting to enjoy the process. So far I think the biggest surprise is the amount of negative ease I can calculate in. With the alpaca vest I thought it might end up a tight fit, but not at all. It's amazingly elastic. I'm looking forward too see what new things I'll learn on this project :)

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. I decided to use my camera, as the scanner is awkwardly placed and a pain to get to.

Knitted Undies Part 2

Behold!

I've finished the knitted vest :) Just in time for the below 20's, I suspect. At the moment it's not very cold at all, it varies between -2 to -7 degrees, but this can surely not last.

I had my breast reduction approved, and will have the surgery some time after new years, so I padded the dress form with what I think (hope) my new measurements will be.

For anyone interested in the notes I made while knitting this you can have a look at my project at ravelry.

Knitted Undies

Oddly enough winter still hasn't fully arrived here in Lillehammer. I'd expect to be freezing my bum off by now, but currently the temperature seems to fluctuate between -4 to +6 Celsius. With luck I'll be able to knit up the woollen undies below before we hit the below 20's.

A little about vintage knitting patterns and sizing. The needle sizes in the pattern are old UK sizes. I am making my vest in a fine 3 ply alpaca yarn (Drops Alpaca), using 3.5 and 3 mm needles, to fit my current measurements of 43-33-41. The fabric really is very elastic, and I think you could use this yarn and needle sizes to comfortably fit 3 inches smaller or larger than mine. I am hoping to be approved for a breast reduction myself, so I figured if the top gets a little loose afterwards, I'll just undo the lacy bit and reknit it using a smaller needle. I'm knitting the vest in the round so I won't have to contend with seams if this should prove necessary. The original vest is also very long, 22 inches seams. Mine will be around 16 inches from underarm to bottom.

Enjoy :)

Click on the images to enlarge. This is intended for personal use only. Please do not copy and sell.

Knitted Bra Pattern

I have been drooling over this knitted bra I found on Ravelry for the longest time, unfortunately the pattern is in German, and although I did one year of German in school, my German is sadly lacking. But, I decided to give a go at translating the text, and you'll find it below. Please keep in mind that I cannot guarantee that I got it 100% right.

Brassier

The brassier is made with white CMS Perlgarn Nr. 5. on US 0 - 2.0 mm needles. Garter stitch pattern. Bust size 112 cm.

You start at the lower end of the bra casting on 224 stitches. Continue in rib knit of k. 2 p. 2 for 16 rows,  (or as long as you'd like) slipping the first stitch of every row. Cast off 22 stitches at the beginning of the following row, knit 60, place on a string or a stitch holder, knit another 60 and place these too on a stitch holder. This leaves 82 stitches. Knit till the end of the row. The next row: cast off 22 stitches at the beginning of the row and knit the remaining 60. Then knit the last two stitches of each row together until there are no stitches left.

The middle triangle is worked the same way as the first until there are 10 stitches left on the needle. Knit another five rows and then cast off stitches.

The last triangle is made the same way as the first.

The cup part:

cast on 30 stitches, * knit until end of row, knit two stitches together, turn and knit next row*. Repeat these two rows until there are 5 stitches left on the needle. Pick up 25 stitches along the cast off edge and repeat the above instructions. Repeat until you have 7 triangles, cast off the last 5 stitches and stitch the cup closed.

Repeat for the second cup.

Stitch the cups onto the lower edge by fitting four triangles into the v opening of the lower edge of the bra. Crochet a picot edge over the upper edge.

Straps: Cast on 110 stitches, knit garter stitch for 10 rows, cast off.

Row 5: Cast off stitches 5-7 and 11-13 for buttonholes.

Row 6: Knit until buttonhole, make 3 stitches, continue, repeat.

Stitch the straps towards the back of the side triangle with the buttonholes facing the front. Stitch a button to the top of the breast cup.

Stitch press stud buttons to the back of the bra to fasten it.

Update:

I had a German friend look over the original pattern, and it seems I got it right :)