Day: August 13, 2023

Half A Pair Of Socks

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This has probably been the most labour-intensive sock I’ve ever knit!

The lovely dark blue and canary yellow ball of yarn caught my eye when I saw it at LK Yarns a couple of weeks ago. What I couldn’t know was the rest of the colour pallet was dull. I knit the yellow cuff then I pulled out the yarn from the centre of the ball (which I always do), found a medium blue yarn and started knitting. I expected the colour to change within a reasonable number of rows – didn’t happen – 25 rows into the sock I was still knitting medium blue – no yellow or dark blue in sight! When I peered into the centre of the ball, I could see a range of pale greens, but it was clear the last colours I’d get to would be the yellow and dark blue.

This particular ball of yarn turned out to be exactly two pattern repeats – each pattern intended to be a single sock – there was a white segment in the centre of the ball to mark the end of the first repeat. So I was going to end up with a very dull sock!

I unravelled the medium blue back to 9 rows, then picked up the dark blue from the outside of the ball and started knitting. The leg turned out mostly bright blue/yellow – just turning into the soft green as I began turning the heel. But then I ran into more green and more green. A sock for a size 7 1/2-8 shoe was going to finish on a pale green and never get to the medium blue. So I started splicing the yarn. I knit small amounts of the various greens until I got close to the toe, the I picked up the blend into a pale blue, then spliced it again to get to the medium blue to finish.

One sock done. Now I have to watch closely while knitting the second sock – carefully counting rows, so I can work up a colour match for the second sock.

Not gonna buy that yarn again!

Monpei Finished

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Just finished the pants. Simple to make, and I can tell these are going to be VERY comfortable!

I was careful to make the crotch gusset long enough that the inseam is straight. The pants are cut from two rectangles; two triangles (which become the crotch gusset) are cut from the top/sides – I couldn’t do that because my waist is the same as my hips. So I cut the two rectangles (leaving them as is) – I merged the front and back leg into a single panel – so no side seam – but making sure the centre of the panel was on the straight of the grain. I also merged the two crotch triangles into a single long triangle with the vertical of the triangle on the straight of grain so I end up attaching a single gusset, rather than two triangles (a narrow one on the front inseam and a wider one on the back). The widest part of the gusset triangle is positioned at the crotch depth position in my case 12″ at the back/11″ at the front. [Click here for full instructions on how to make a montpei. (Click here for the original instructions.)]

When I tried on the basted panels (with crotch gusset sewn in) I could tell the centre back was going to be too short (I could have adjusted it by dropping the crotch gusset but instead I added a back yoke (2″ at the centre back grading out to the sides); I left the front crotch depth as it was. (I also took in the waist 2″ at the centre back – I didn’t need the extra fabric to pull the pants on.)

Because I wanted to add front pockets to the top of the panels I added them at this point; however they should have been sewn on while the panels were flat – to stitch them I measured 3 1/2″ from the centre crotch line marked it with a Frixion pen, turned the pants inside out so I could stitch the pockets with the panel “relatively” flat. Because the monpei have no side seam, I stitched down the side that would have been included in a side seam.

I created a facing for the waistband, attached it, strung elastic through the sleeve that created. I finished by top stitching the doubled over hem.

Done.

Here are the pants with my shirt tucked in so you can see how the top fits and the pocket detail which is hidden when the top is on the outside.

Although these pants have an unfitted straight leg, they fall nicely from my bum. The wider leg is easier to sit in, and the hip, while snug, is plenty wide enough to permit bending over.

BTW, I finally figured out how to get a reasonable photo of myself – I have a tripod which I set up so I didn’t have to focus the camera on my phone, I just had to press the shutter button on my watch – letting the camera remain focused and steady! (Duh… Don’t know why I didn’t occur to me to use the tripod before. Makes getting side and back pictures much easier!)

Because these montpei fit so well, I’m going to take the time to draft a sloper with the two crotch gusset triangles integrated into the inseam thereby eliminating the gusset (as they are on a regular pants pattern). I will adjust the centre back taking it in at the waist and extending the back crotch depth. My inseam seems to be about 26″ in these pants. I will set leg length at 26″ + 1″ for the hem. I’m curious to see how these would turn out in something like a light weight corduroy.

The finished fit is definitely the best I’ve encountered so far! This may be the starting point for any pants I want to make for fall!