Fixins

In the fall, when I switched my seasonal wardrobes, I placed three garments on my dresser top.

 

 They all needed re-working to make them comfortable-wearing  pieces.

And there they sat.  Through the fall, Christmas and into the new year.  This weekend, My Mother's voice saying 'enough is enough' came to mind. I couldn't let them sit on top of the dresser forever and unless I stopped saying 'I want to fix those some day' that is exactly what would happen. So off my doff  I got and into my needle kit I went.
 

The Noro Vest,

 

knit from a vintage pattern a couple of years ago was too tight, high and uncomfortable across the centre, back neck.  The shoulder seams had been sewed with cast off stitches.  I undid them and  re-attached them with  a 3 needle bind off.  And - I did so while cheating.  The front shoulders seemed to come too far across the back leaving only a tight, narrow, centre space for the back neck. Three times while doing the 3 needle bind off, I worked 2 front shoulder stitches together. That gave me - all together - 6  addditional stitches in the centre-back portion. It seems to have done the trick.  With the opening  6 stitiches wider, it is much more comfortable.

The back neck stitches had also been cast off as per pattern.  I un-did them and sewed the live stitches to the back in a curving, quarter moon fashion that gives me  a looser and wider back neck.  Much more comfortable.

The mohair vest, machine knit last spring,  is  was one of those loosey-goosey garments so trendy today.  The fronts were knit as rectangles, that went completely across the front body, shoulder to shoulder.  The idea being that when it is worn, the extra-wide, front fabric drapes from it's seamed shoulder to form a drapey, piointy, hangy-down front piece.  As I said, very trendy, but a style that swamps me.  Why did I knit a piece so unsuitable to my short frame,  you ask?  Good question.  A moment of folly, I suppose.

The repair I had in mind for this piece was to sew and cut on the diagonal, from bottom front corner to seamed shoulder then with left-over yarn, knit a rolling edge along the front to finish it off.  But, luckily, when I stood in front of the mirror to see exactly what needed to happen, I realized the light-weight mohair was so malleable that I could simply fold it back to where I wanted it and tack it down.  Easy!  And I am all about easy. 

Two repairs  done.  Friday night and Saturday afternoon.  What took me so long  to get started?

The next repair will take longer.  The bottom sweater in the dresser pile  is my Sit-Com Cardi. The crew-shaped neck  always wants to turn back/under  into a 'V' shape  so I have decided to let it have it's way.  I will re-do the neck as a 'V' neck.  Also, I seem to have grown a bit as the sweater now strikes me as being too short.  My leftover, half- ball of yarn I will use to lengthen the sweater.

 I sense a lot of ripping back before this repair can begin.  Don't look for it soon.