Craft Enabled, Domestically Disabled

Steampunk Item #2: Legacy Frock Coat

Finally, after exactly a month of wrangling this project, here's the one that inspired it all: the Legacy Frock Coat. This is what the pattern is supposed to look like. I...ended up fudging a lot.

 
I had a hell of a time trying to figure out this pattern.

1. I could not get gauge for it--I finally gave up and went with the closest gauge I could get, 17 sts x 20 rows.
2. I am quite confused as to what size I am in this pattern--my best guess is a 4X. (Really?!) My back is 20 inches across and I’m usually a size 8, so apparently I am kind of huge for it anyway.
3. Between the size question and the gauge issue, I am not doing well at figuring out how to knit the sleeves/back tube. I eventually decided to use the Tubey pattern from Knitty and do enough math to convert that to bulky yarn and knit it approximately that way, i.e. knit it flat, then go into the round and then go back and knit the other sleeve.
4. I picked up around the edges of the tube to do the collar/back, but doing the pattern as written-ish meant that it came out on me a few inches short of having an actual tail. (Probably because I couldn’t fit so many stitches around the tube edge as in the pattern.) I ended up adding an extra 22 rows on as a “tail” after giving up on doing the “short row” decreases.
5. I wanted more of a bolero across the boobs sort of look--plus I had to make the extra tail I added look natural. So I put all of the stitches from just below my neck and around the collar to the other side of the neck on waste yarn, and put all of the added-on stitches on the tail onto waste yarn. I then put the side stitches on the needle and picked up and knit the stitches on the side tail. I then did the same “short rows” technique back and forth until i had 12 stitches that weren’t “wrapped.” Did the same for the other side.
6. It fastens together at the point at the front.

 

I’m pretty happy with my eventual heavy fudging of this project in order to get it to work for me--but man, it was hard to figure this out. I am either the wrong size/gauge, or dumb, or both somehow to do it as written, sigh.

Miscelleaneous projects

This is a "bustle skirt" I got the instructions for out of the book "Improv Sewing."

I suddenly got a lot of requests for these scarves.

April temperature scarves

Followup from here.

I'm so excited at the Davis one! Yellow (80's) and orange (90's), even! Multiple times! On my birthday, even!

LA, on the other hand...kinda monotone by comparison. I find it weird how...consistent...that place is.

Cinco de Derby party

First, there was this.

Then there was this board that I made for our upcoming racetrack game:

And we're also having a hat contest.

I pretty much made this up by using the following patterns, with a bit of alteration on the hat. Be sure to use a dollar store margarita glass!

Changes I made:

(a) done in worsted yarn
(b) In order to make the hat fit around a margarita glass, I had to make a few alterations:

1. I chained 8 stitches--or whatever goes around the neck of your glass.
2. I did NOT connect the circle, as it was too hard to try to crochet around the neck of the glass. What I ended up doing was following the pattern, but adding an extra stitch (in addition to the usual “2 sts, then 2 in 1 st” sort of instructions) on each edge of the circle opening. This compensated for the curse of the neck. I did this for 9 rows/until I was able to fit the glass into the slit/hole, then I started crocheting in the round around it.
3. 

Otherwise, I pretty much followed the pattern (still worked with worsted and an H hook), but added some stripes at the base and on the edge. Two red, one green, two red stripes. I used some craft wire and crocheted around it on the edge of the hat pattern, then went around the edge 4 more times without increasing and adding a few more stripes (1 green, 1 red, 1 green) on the edge before finishing with one last yellow row, I used more wire on the last row and crocheted around it again.

Note: do not cut off the wire edge before crocheting--finish it off at the end. Wire may need to be longer than it appears.

For the roses, I used the Basic Rose pattern, and for the leaves I used A Maiden’s Glory. I made 12 leaves in dark green and 12 in medium green, and 16 roses total. 12 for the brim and 4 for the top.

After inserting the margarita glass, I whipstitched around the outside (hard to do otherwise), and ended up sewing the four roses on top together into a loose circle. They aren’t really anchored to the top because with the margarita glass bottom, there’s no easy way to do so.

 
I just sewed the flowers and leaves around the hat and anchored them to the brim.

Here's pictures of the whole game in action. I have no idea why the pictures bleached out so much other than the room being very white light-y, sorry.

I ended up winning the race, huzzah!

 
We're still pondering what to do with the horse.

Steampunk(?) Item #1: Flower Scarf

Most of the month later...

This is not the first item I have started making in this season of steampunk, but it's the first one finished. I am having issues with the frock coat pattern. So I did this one as a quickie birthday present to me. I don't know how "steampunk" it is, but I wanted some kind of fancy flowered neckwear piece, so there you go.

And now I have like, 4 or 5 requests for others, including my mom and my boss. Good thing they're quick to do. And cute.