Finished the Shirt

Here it is, finished!! I am not a very small person, DH is so tall that his shirts go to my knees. I had to add 3" to the pattern to get the right length.
I learned a new way of hemming. First I overlocked the edges of the button bands, then I turned up the hem and slip stitched it invisibly. It has made a lovely finish with no bulkyness where the seams meet.

It was my first attempt at a collar. The instructions were clear and, provided I followed them to the letter, all went well. I slip stitched the collar by hand for extra neatness and comfort.

I practiced a lot before doing the buttonholes. I used my Janome 6600P and it was straightforward once I had got the hang of the buttonhole foot. I found a video on Youtube showing this technique - I love Google : ) The machine automatically makes the buttonholes the right size, so that part was easy.

I stitched the buttons on by hand, and hemmed the sleeves by hand too. I think hemming by hand gives a neater finish. I really enjoyed this project once I got my confidence going.

DH has now bought some striped fabric and given it to me to make the next one Gulp!!!

A Dr Who Encounter at 5am

This weekend I was at Manchester. DH and I were hiring a chamber organ at the new BBC studios and ended up singing with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra - thrilling!!!


While we were there on the Saturday afternoon for rehersals, one of the lovely men mentioned that parts of Dr Who were filmed there and would I like to have a nosey? Of course, I jumped at the chance. We had to wait until the Sunday morning at 5am, just before the final rehearsals, so I look a bit bleary eyed in the pictures.

We werent allowed on the sets, but I found this outside a studio. Now, I think knitting outside the TARDIS rates as quite a good location for knitting in public - dont you?
A bit further down we met a Dalek. It was a bit subdued, so I thought I would teach it to knit while it waited for The Doctor to show up..............

It picked up the basics surprisingly well, and gave the poor staff a good laugh while we waited to start.