An Engineer's Guide to Handwork

 I've got a new knitting project! It's a Hue Shift Afghan from a kit from Knit Picks, in the Deco colorway which is a neutral color pallet. I'm pretty excited about it - this is a pattern I've been eyeing for literal years and I'm finally excited to take it on.  Pattern: Hue Shift Afghan Yarn:  Brava Sport Needle: Size 5 addi turbo I'm following the pattern pretty much as written, though I did switch the center stitch to purl on the wrong side so there's a little knit stitch column on the centered double decrease. I'm also slipping the first stitch of every row to make picking up easier. On the left side that's a simple slip one with yarn in front and then knit, on the right I settled on purling the last stitch and then slipping the first knitwise with the yarn in back, and then starting the second color. That keeps the end with the color change neat.  There are reports that the kits don't really have quite enough yarn to actually complete the pr...

It's done!  Final completed blazer I spent most of the month of January working on this, cutting and interfacing and sewing. I did the cutting out in sections, starting with the interfacing and then the main fabric. I waited to cut the lining until I was ready to sew it, following the advice of another sewer who suggested that since there is so much cutting for this project it's helpful to not do it all at the same time. That did work well for me - there is a huge number of pieces to cut out and keep track of. I traced the pieces onto the fabric, pinning the layers together inside the lines to ensure the two sides were the same. Pattern weights were a combination of mason jar pickling weights and a couple of cans.  Cutting out the interfacing with pattern weights and red chalk Cutting out the main fabric - pinning the fabric layers together and more tracing Jacket torso put together on the dress form, with the lapels clipped open to help shape the roll line The sewing process ...