Crispy Noodle Knits and Quilts

Cables Galore

2012-02-04T13:57:00.001-08:00

Cables in Coastal, courtesy of Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock, my favourite sock yarn ever. The pattern is BFF socks by Cookie A, and very cleverly written with her use of increases and decreases within the cables themselves, they are just so tidy looking!

These socks turned out to be very squishy, a great fit, and so pretty in blue cables, I thought I could be my own BFF on this one!

Canvas art

2012-01-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

It started with a new couch in a rich dark brown microfibre!
I thought a nice purply grey would be a lovely wall colour to go with it...but my choice turned out a bit blue instead. Still intending to paint it over grey, I moved on to wall art, and picked up three blank art canvasses.

In keeping with my screen printed theme I have going on right now, I decided to remove the canvasses from the frames and have Smoking Lily print them! It would be a fun, personal and creative project for me (and daughter), and lighten up the wall considerably. First, I had to pull out the staples on the back. I found a potato peeler worked brilliantly, it took less than 10 minutes to remove the staples from one frame.

I gently pressed the gessoed canvasses and headed over to Smoking Lily to make my design and colour choices. That process was nothing short of good times, thanks to Glenda and Erin! The following week they were ready for pick up, here's what I got:

I was delighted with how they turned out, and set about stapling them back onto the frames. As you can see, the folds were still present in the canvas so I just followed them to re-fold the corners which was very helpful.
Then to figure out how to hang them? I was not crazy about putting holes into my new freshly painted grey (over blue) wall.
I was, however, okay with using adhesive! That is, 3M Command Velcro Picture Hanging Strips for damage-free hanging.
I used two per side, adhered directly to the frame...

...then stuck them on the wall! With pencil, measuring tape and level, Miss M and I got these up, straight and positioned, and are feeling extremely proud of our project.
We love it!

Waste not!

2012-01-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Back in the fall, I thought my fabric stash needed to be downsized.
As I sorted through the pieces of colour, I had a walk down memory lane recalling projects made of the fabrics.
They were just too pretty to do anything else with but make more memories!

Remember these?

Their leftovers transformed into these gorgeous aprons, photographed here before I got the ties sewn on:

They were a colourful part of my Christmas gift giving last month!

A special kind of carry bag

2012-01-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

This is one of those ideas that brewed in my mind for a long time before I made it happen. It is so gratifying to see one's concept become real!

It started with a pattern I saw at my local quilting shop for a tote bag, called the birdie sling by Amy Butler. Looked like a fun, easy bag I could make, using a beautiful fabric. I tucked the pattern away in my sewing area at home and soon forgot all about it. On one of my purging days many months later, I re-discovered it and put it back in my mental project queue.

I had some IKEA beige fabric sitting around for what I thought were going to be pillow shams for my Euro pillows. Turned out the colour was too dark, but I had 2.3 metres of it. It sat near the sewing machine, waiting for some inspiration to make it pretty.

One of my all-time favourite shops is Smoking Lily. They are known for their locally designed and handsewn (in Victoria) clothes, homewares, and accessories, all silk-screened with funky, quirky, and beautiful images that are incredibly unique, not to mention just plain FUN. The staff are fabulous! Super friendly and helpful, just being in the store is like a tonic. I always leave in a great mood. They print their cool designs on dresses, tees, wallets, skirts, belts, hoodies.....and will even do custom orders on items one may already own. Hmmmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Okay, you get it. 2 + 2 + 2 = silk-screened fabric for bags! :D
I set my plan in motion!

Enough fabric for five bags, I cut out the pieces for the main, outer bag. I took these pieces over to Glenda and Erin at Smoking Lily, and with their help, chose a print and ink colours. There are sooooooo many options, it was difficult to limit myself, but I did it! My order was sent off to the studio in Victoria.

Here they are freshly printed in "Chairs," in two colours. Love love love! I planned on two bags using the blue, and three bags in the pink. Each bag would be printed on both sides (same colour), so I had ten "sides" printed in total. From there I went shopping to select the coordinating fabric for the band and handles of the tote.

For the inside pockets, I looked at my stash of vintage linens, waiting for another go-around of use. I found this, a "hamper" with embroidered pockets! It's hard to see in my photo, but the words on the pockets are "laundry, kerchiefs, and socks." How sweet is that? Completely charmed, I cut it to use in more than one bag, to spread the love around, you know. I used many more bits and pieces of old runners, table cloths, and napkins to make the inside pockets on all the bags.

With all the components now assembled, I set to it! This is the only photo I have while "in sewing process," but as you can see I am pressing the plain coloured lining with vintage pockets added. All the pockets are interfaced and lined, and the bag itself has fleece lining in between the outer bag and fabric lining (constructed according to pattern, with the exception of the pockets - I added more!)

End product happiness! Here's what they look like when they're inside out, so we can see the vintage loveliness:

And outside out!
They turned out great, and the recipients were most pleased with their unique handmade-with-love Christmas presents!

Decadence in every stitch

2011-12-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

Jane Richmond's Oatmeal proved to be as simple and comforting as the design name implies.
Add to it the use of Malabrigo Chunky (Paris Night), and the yummy factor got kicked up significantly!

Took less than a week from start to finish, what a joy to knit.
Details on ravelry!
Satisfaction in five skeins, my friends.

Goes like clockwork

2011-11-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

Aptly named, this scarf went without a hitch.
Easy hockey knitting!
Made of Handmaiden Mini Maiden (50% silk, 50% wool), one skein each of raspberry, and cezanne.
Lots of leftovers for another one down the road.

(sorry for the bathroom shot, but the lighting seemed good)

Hair of the Mo

2011-10-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

I used to think mohair was from something called a "mo." It took me quite awhile (ie. up til a few years ago) to finally figure out that the yarn is made from the hair of an Angora goat. Not to be confused with angora wool, which is made from the fur of an Angora rabbit!

At any rate, I love this warm and fuzzy stuff!

The pattern is from Vogue Knitting 2010/2011, a standard-fitting pullover. It is written for a cowl neck, where the cowl is knit for 8 inches in rib, and sewn on separately to the neckline of the sweater. It is then supposed to be folded in half so that it ends up being 4 inches doubled. I thought I would not fold it, but let it lie in gentle soft folds instead. Turns out I got very bored at the 5 inch mark so I cast off, then sewed it onto the sweater. Unfortunately the single layer of fabric did not sit well, so I tried folding it to the inside. I was told by my teenaged daughter that it looked like the ruffle of a clown.

So I ditched the whole cowl idea and instead picked up 60 sts around the neck, worked about 5 rounds in rib, then cast off in pattern! This works for me.

Other modifications include omission of the patch pockets (they looked like hip pads on me), and I did not turn up the hem. The turning ridge is still present, but I have now decided that it is a "design element."

It's a perfect fall sweater. Details on ravelry!

Happy Panda

2011-10-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

A sweet surprise from my daughter, on my birthday last month.

Needle-felted love. And he's holding a piece of yam, I am told.
(A favourite veggie of mine)

Sweets for the sweet

2011-09-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

Calorie-free delectable goodness!

Clothilde

2011-09-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

We were in Ashland, Oregon this summer and I happened to see a knit shop right in our walking path!
What luck. (It's the one with the red awning)

Beautiful store with lots of charm (and air conditioning - it was about 35 degrees Celsius outside), miss M and I found plenty to keep us occupied whilst the boys traipsed about in the bookstore next door.

We found a few treasures:
Madelinetosh dk in the colourway Ink.
A panda tape measure by Lantern Moon.
And of course the monkey needle felting kit, as you saw in the last post.

It was one of those purchases when you see the yarn, you quickly find a pattern, and you're off and running.

Meet Clothilde, a triangular shawl knit in dk weight.
Great stockinette sections to show off the varigations.

A fairly quick knit (when you are actually knitting), I do love lace on heavier weights. I made the large size, the final dimensions are 72" wingspan, and 32" deep. I had been hoping to make it on two skeins, but ended up using about 10 percent of a third.
Total estimated yardage 473 yards. A cosy shawl or scarf, I love it.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2011-09-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Way back in the spring time, I found a little sock monkey kit to knit at Urban Yarns!
It was so cute I bought it without a second thought.
The result was okay, I wasn't thrilled with how the face turned out, but you could still get the idea.
I moved on.

While travelling this summer, miss M found a sock monkey kit to needle felt at Websters!
Happy to encourage creativity in the family, I bought it immediately.
The result was fantastic! We love it!

The sock monkey pals, hanging around the house.

Sock enjoys sunshine on Olympic Peninsula

2011-07-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

At Hurricaine Ridge

and at Kalaloch!

(That's Crazy Zauberball, again)

Leaves, mon amie

2011-07-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

Last year I came across a shawl pattern that caught my eye, called Photosynthesis by Modern Lace. The name appealed to the science student in me, not to mention the delicate repeating leaves! I bought the pattern to add to my collection.

Later in the year, I fell in love with a beautiful green laceweight yarn by sweet georgia yarns, the colourway called Botanical. The greens had subtle varigation, and were extremely restful on the eyes. I had to have it, and felt very content just looking at the skein from time to time as I moved it around the house to appreciate it in different light.

Then one day pattern and yarn lay side by side, and a new idea was born!

Seems pretty obvious to me now, gah.
Photosynthesis + botanical = perfect pairing.

Once I got into the zone, the shawl worked up very well in about four weeks.
The pattern was a treat to knit! Very well written, with an excellent cast off for no-worry blocking stretchability!
The yarn is sheer beauty (as are all of sweet georgia's!)

I knit on my lace beauty, immersed in the joy of watching the leafy lace pattern emerge and change as I made my way through the charts. I admired the little leaves, I anticipated the transition rows, I embraced the big leaf section because they added balance. I loved making the lacy mesh edge, but then it was all over too soon. I was sad it came to an end, but so happy and pleased with what I had accomplished.

Lila, this shawl is for you!
Thank you for all the wonderful times we've shared over the years, but mostly, thank you for your kind and generous friendship.

You will be missed very much, miss millefeuille!
Love, miss eclair

a little card, a little envelope

2011-07-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

Miss M made a cute birthday card for a friend.
She folded a little envelope and glued it onto the front of the card.
She was very pleased it looked puffy.

Inside was the message!

This little card was her inspiration.

Valise

2011-07-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed a new challenge recently. A vintage brown leather portfolio came across my path! It has a very simple design, slim profile, and sturdy zipper. There are some surface scratches from regular use, but the leather is in excellent shape. Over time, though, the stitches have shown their age: in the area where they attach the zipper to the case itself, they had worn thin, frayed, and disappeared. This meant I got to try my hand at leather repair!

First I went looking for the right kind of thread. I found a great colour match with the leather:

and the existing stitch colour, too.

Ideally I wanted to use a strong quilting thread, but the shop was in short supply of colour selection in the thread I wanted, at the time. Instead, I used my usual silk finish cotton thread. I doubled it to get a closer match to the weight of the other stitches.

Then I set about carefully unpicking the remains of the stitches on the underside of the zipper.

Then I got to start making stitches! I backsititched my way through sections where no stitches remained, admiring my work along the way. It was pretty easy considering I did not have to make holes in leather, I just worked the needle through the path that was already broken. I found this "work" to be very satisfying.

It all went swimmingly! I think the hand made stitches look pretty comfy nestled into their places.

Anyone for dessert?

2011-06-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

It's that time again....miss M's birthday party! This year she is up to more heartfelt handmade goodness.
Or should I say needlefelt?

(That's Penelope the bunny, trying to protect her treats)

Pillow Talk, Set 2

2011-04-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I will just be puttering about the house, minding my own beeswax, then all of a sudden get struck by a creative idea where anything I am doing at the moment must stop so that I can make whatever it is that instant.

When the idea is a simple one of making pillows using up scraps on hand, things go together pretty quickly ie. no shopping involved! I completely forgot to take "before" photos, but here are a couple of "afters."

This pillow was made using some old jeans I bought for a few dollars many years ago at a consignment store. The jeans were crazy looking, but I thought they would come in handy to use for something. The fronts of each leg were pieced with vertical strips of fancy fabric, alternately with denim. If you have ever cut up jeans before, intending to use them as big flat pieces of material, you will agree that it does not work that well unless you use smaller pieces, which is what I did. I used a small portion of the front of each leg, pieced them together to make the front of the pillow, and then used some cotton from my stash for the back. Voila! The pillow form is a very old bed pillow. The stuffing had decreased somewhat, so I just pushed it down to one end and sewed a new seam so the resulting pillow size is about 18 x 20 inches. I like my upcycled pillow!

I ran out of jeans to cut up for a second pillow, so I turned to my collection of embroidered and cross stitch table linens, picked up over the years from thrift stores and garage sales. The top half of this pillow was cut from a little runner that was stained in one section. I used the good part, incorporated some of the original lace edging, and combined it with a garden/bird print for a splash of more colour. I thought the bare spot under the arc of the embroidery could do with some text, so I penned in the word, "Bliss," because that's the feeling I have when I create something beautiful (yes, then truly that feeling would be "blissful," but the noun works better in this case, thank you). Love x 3!

Pillow Talk, Set 1

2011-04-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

This year, I've been making a concerted effort to make my bed every day. Never used to be a priority, but lately I have noticed the pleasure I have when I walk into my room and see the bed all neat and tidy. It's satisfying, and adds a degree of serenity to my day when I look at it.

A new duvet cover helped a lot, I admit, to ensure my daily task gets completed. A beautiful indigo blue, all cotton, from India, but I thought I would add some light coloured square (25" x 25") pillows to brighten and balance the blue and green (sleeping pillows) from the gorgeous cherry headboard.

I picked up some cotton muslin from IKEA (as well as the pillows) to put together a simple pillow cover. To dress it up a bit, I looked through my button collection for inspiration.

On the front of the pillow, I plotted out a 3 x 3" square in the centre of one side, and reinforced the back with foundation paper applied with fusible web to make a sturdy sewing surface.

Then I sorted out buttons, and on the reinforced 3x3 square, I sewed the reds onto one pillow cover:

and on the other pillow cover, the yellows (with some gold):

And here we are, my made bed, complete with button-embellishments!

Spring loaded runners!

2011-04-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

Trying to bring some more colour into my dining room, I thought I would whip up a runner or two (well.....two).

This is a kit from the Cloth Shop, supplied as materials to make the top, and binding. I love cutting and piecing, so when I finally was "in between" projects in the knitting department, I put this together pretty fast. The finishing touches of ironing done while watching hockey, the handsewing of the binding done while watching badminton. This line of fabric contained a panel which is what this runner is built around. Makes for very fast piecing, not to mention almost instant gratification!

I had some leftovers of these chock-a-block full-on colours-and-florals-anyone? fabric combo, blending nicely (and loudly) into my late spring/summer runner. This is a blast which will sing in the dining room. Go me!

Stripe Crazy

2011-04-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Crazy Zauberball pair #2 is done, using this beautiful, outrageous yarn (Schoppel Wolle).

Miss M decided she would model the socks wearing my shoes, a la Cookie A.

I do love the striping. Since the colour repeats are so long, there is no pooling whatsoever over the gusset increases. The changes are subtle, and with so many, the effect is extraordinary. Watching the colours emerge keeps one motivated. (Then why did these take me six weeks to knit, I ask? Let me just point out that the sugar maple shawl punctuated my sock journey!)

Noro is the other favourite striping yarn we all know and love for its long colour repeats. This pair was knit with Kureyon Sock, with a side cable to jazz things up. These colour changes are working for me! I love that blue.

i

Sun Break

2011-04-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

Ski Break

2011-03-26T14:06:00.001-07:00

Woolly days

2011-03-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Still feeling cold around here, but thank goodness for wool socks!
Love how they keep me warm and perk up my day. :D

Here's a standard pair of day brighteners.

The yarn was milled and dyed in Granby, Colorado, from our holidays last summer. So pretty!

The other woolly warmer just finished is the Sugar Maple Shawl, this is the ravelry link.

Here's how it started out:

And here we are all done!

This pattern is simple lace, I memorized the pattern after a few repeats. A very long rectangle is knit over twenty-nine 12 row repeats, then hundreds of stitches are picked up along three sides. Increases are made every other row to make a wide, gentle ruffle. It's very cosy, and long enough to wrap around and sit comfortably on my shoulders without falling off.

Suh-weet! Soft and squishy Malabrigo worsted, what is not to love?
(Let's not bring up the single-ply pilling factor, shall we? la la la la la....)

Ruffles close-up!

Warhol-inspired school art project!

2011-03-19T14:53:00.001-07:00

Trapper Hat, In Style

2011-02-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

Missy saw this hat in the yarn store.
With big eyes and a big smile, she asked me to make it for her:

This pattern is knit in two pieces (the inner and the outer), each top down, then crocheted together:

It has a bit of rib at the back to keep it snug:

Here's a view of the top:

Fleece Artist's Peter Rabbit (natural) on the inside (angora), Rowan's purelife British Sheep Breeds on the outside. Perfect to take the edge off all the coldness. She loves it!

Knitty good stuff

2011-02-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

These sun-filled days have inspired me to surround myself with colour.
This means projects, of course! (seeing as the ground is rock solid, no can do out there)

I started working madly on a sock made with Crazy Zauberball. I know I've said it before, but really, these colour changes make me crazy for more! Is that how they got the name? Anyway, I'm almost done sock number one.

Then I thought I would cast on for this shawl, one that I've been thinking about for almost two years. I chose the perfect yarn (in my mind) for it, sweet georgia's merino silk lace in the colourway botanical. For Photosynthesis, how fitting, indeed. The colour is best depicted in the first picture below.

I made my way through the little leaf section, then thought, "I am cold sitting here, knitting this lace."
So I bagged it up, put it hold until the weather warms up a bit. Really, it is zero degrees out there, I think the sun got to me.

Next, I pulled out this little bit of heaven:

Malabrigo worsted in Amoroso, to be made into the Sugar Maple Shawl. Sigh....more cosyness to look forward to.
To the ball winder we go!

I have more to show you, lots of good sewing stuff is going on! Coming soon.

Charmed

2011-01-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

Newest creation inspired by a visit to Michael's.
After many happy minutes perusing the aisles for chains, beads, findings, and pendants, Miss M was intrigued by this collection of charms, and added her own beaded touch to give the set a little more colour.
Leather cord with a lobster clasp finishes off this quick project.
I just love a new necklace!

Recipes re-organised!

2011-01-16T17:13:00.000-08:00

And it keeps on going!

Okay....the recipes were in the same situation as the patterns.

I still wanted to use the same binder, but the dividers needed to be upgraded.
All for the desire to beautify everyday living, I bought some William Morris file folders.

I sorted and thinned out many, many recipes, and magazines.
It's funny how I thought I would make something over 10 years ago, and still have not made it to this day.
Figure I probably still won't have made it in another 10 years. Onto recycling.
Sorting in progress (this is not all of it):

I took four pretty file folders and cut them in half along the fold.

On the bigger half, I used my three hole punch, trimmed the sides a bit to clear the binder easily, and popped them in the binder.

On the smaller half, I had to figure out how I could still hole punch them and have them sticking out a bit so I could actually see the divider tabs.

As I took out the old dividers, I thought I could still make use of their reinforced holes. Using double sided tape, I attached the functional part of the divider (ie. the three hole strip) to the pretty folder half, and voila, it works perfectly. So I got eight divider tabs out of four file folders. I love this!

Another functional system (that's easy on the eyes), another good night's sleep...

Patterns in place!

2011-01-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

It all starts out innocently enough. A few patterns printed out from the internet, then a few more, necessitated a binder with dividers. It quickly became very ugly, what with the rate at which I was buying patterns and producing knitted items. Loose papers spilling out, not grouped how they should be...you know what I mean.

Enter: beauty in the shape of a floral printed file tote.

Accordion files.

Labels for pattern categories.

Ahhhhh......this makes me sleep easy! Don't you just love a system?
(a pretty one at that)

Crafty Cards

2011-01-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

Because of our in-house cardmaker, I haven't had to buy a birthday card in quite awhile.

Some of these supplies we pick up from Urban Source, one of favourite places to go to get those creative ideas cooking!

Handmade touches, our trademark.

Happy New Food!

2011-01-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

Miss M and her pal spent a pleasant afternoon crafting with clay.
Tempting tasty morsels...

Merry Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T22:17:00.001-08:00

It's all good

2010-12-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

New teapot....

needs a new tea cosy! Well, how many cosies can a teapot wear?

And here I go using up some vintage ric-rac!

A trip to the Cloth Shop supplied me with loads of inspiration to get the ball rolling, so much so that I made these three in as many days. Two to gift, one to keep, I'm thinking. Here we are, modelling near the tree to get into the spirit.

Carrying on with the same colourful note, miss M was inspired by a picture she saw on the internet of felted acorns. Our big oak tree was very generous this year with its seeds, dropping many acorns in doubles and triples, a bonus for the artist. Marianna set about collecting them and choosing her rovings. Here are the little gems newly created by miss M, a wee gift of handmade needle-felted goodness.

Hat Parade

2010-12-21T20:48:00.000-08:00

Went a bit crazy with hats again this fall.
One leads to another, to another...kind of like eating chips.

These have all been gifted! (or kept to ourselves....)

Knotty but Nice was a great way to exercise my hands making cables. I got lots of practice cabling without a cable needle, makes me feel so pro.

I love making Christa Giles' hat patterns, Tilted is one of my favourites which I've modified slightly to give it more slouch factor. Christa can also be found here on ravelry. These two I made back to back, using my usual model, plus cousin!

Ysolda Teague's Ripley has been on my mind since Whimsical Little Knits 2 came out. Another fun slouch with a bit of lace!

This is the second Sutro Heights I've made, using alpaca from our summer hols in Colorado. Still loving slouch and lace.

Then to keep things interesting, miss M asked me to kindly whip up a hat with cables, earflaps, and braids, if I had time.
Apparently, I had time! This is it.

Eve of Winter Solstice

2010-12-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

Just squeezing in some of my favourite fall pictures from around the yard this season!

That's just jim Dandy

2010-11-17T23:01:00.000-08:00

It was one of those moments where I lost control in the excitement of meeting yarn designer and textiles artist extraordinaire Kaffe Fassett. Splendid chap! I wasn't really planning on buying that night, but oh well. I'm weak.

Four skeins and a pattern book later, I whipped up another little something....you know, for warmth.

Here's Dandy, a Sarah Hatton design, using Kaffe Fassett's Rowan Colourscape yarn in Chunky, 100% lambswool, colourway Misty. Modelled by Andrea W.

It has a very loose fit with no shaping, and not a sweater design I would normally be drawn to. But it was fun! The 6.5 mm needles really got the job done in a hurry.

After consulting with Anina (who made the same sweater in two days, ahem), I decided to make the body a little smaller by reducing the number of front edging sts to 11 from 13. Also, when I pieced the fronts to the back, I used a 2 st seam allowance on the back instead of the usual 1, when mattress stitching.

I blocked the pieces before starting to piece them together. It makes the seaming experience SO much more enjoyable. Here they are, all dry and ready to be joined.

After knitting the edgings, the pattern says to sew them to the front piece, without specific instruction. I began using the working yarn in a mattress stitch style, but I didn't like the seam. I thought it was a bit thick. I was not convinced a good blocking would remove that pucker created at the starting point.

So after a bit of thought, I chose to use three strands of embroidery floss in a neutral colour, with small invisible stitches on the wrong side.

Here's the right side, edging attached. This works for me, it's so flat! And I love the colour contrasts.

Pretty stained wood buttons are from Button Button.

Like mother

2010-11-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

Months before her birthday this past summer, miss M had an IDEA. She wanted to create and make a small stuffed critter for each of her birthday guests, personalising each one a bit for each friend. She drew out a rough plan:

She wanted me to help her with the supplies and sewing. I encouraged her to use as much as possible from what I had already in my crafty stash, staying with my philosophy of using what we have on hand before acquiring (too much) more.

She did the planning of materials, pattern making, cutting, gluing, embroidery, and stuffing. I was only needed to work the machine when called upon.

We started them in about March (the party was in June), allowing ourselves to enjoy watching them being born one at a time! Careful thought was given to fabric choice (as much as possible within the supply) and expressions for each birthday friend, slowing giving personality to the stuffie. She named each one, wrote bios for each with their dates of birth, likes and dislikes. For example, Melba the bunny liked having blackberry tea and munching a scone in her garden. We took a group picture (minus Pip the sheep, unborn at photo time) before they were distributed during the party, to be discovered through scavenger hunt clues! So fun!

During the summer miss M renewed her interest in beading. My sister started her off with a birthday beading day just with her cousin, and she made these two gorgeous bracelets!

Pleased with her new bling, this spurred her on to make beaded gifts for her friends' birthdays, using beads from my old jewellry cast-offs, and a couple of stores here and there. The first picture below also features a blue sheep miss M needle felted. He is eyeing the blue and green beaded necklace with the initial T.

Creating beauty. It's a wonderful thing!

Wishful Thinking

2010-11-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

New Project Bag!

2010-11-04T09:52:00.000-07:00

I love packages in the mail! Who doesn't, really. This one wasn't in brown paper, or tied up with string, but oh so delightful.

My latest acquisition, all ready to be fed some alpaca/merino.

(it's from here!)

Autumn

2010-10-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

misty morning

that's toast

pumpkin yummies

what we have

Tis the season

2010-10-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

for keeping hands/arms/wrists warm!

I love making fingerless mitts. Fast, practical, fun to give away.

By Ysolda Teague, her Garter Stitch mitts

And my favourite pattern is by Clara Parkes, Maine Morning Mitts

For the gift reserve.

Ultimate soft

2010-09-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's nice to keep a cosy layer about the neck, without the cumbersome-ness of a scarf.

This was instant gratification.

Blanket Love

2010-09-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

Our group project is done. It turned out SO well, what a beautiful combined effort by everyone.

I'm really happy with the corners:

My I-cord join is not perfect, you can see it next to Lukey's left paw. Let's just say Kitchenering a tube is not the same as the toe of a sock.

This is for Sarah.

Blanket Border

2010-09-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

After the seaming (this is the BACK of the seaming - looks fairly neat with ends woven in)

....we had to decide on the border. What to do? I asked around at work, I talked about it to anyone who would listen to me.... everyone graciously deferred to my judgement. Ack! Garter border? Garter border with eyelets? Applied I-Cord? Picot edging? Crocheted edging?

Back to ravelry and googling. I dithered and pondered and experimented.

Applied I-Cord was my final choice since it is very sturdy and gives a very nice clean finished look to garter edges. I HAD planned on picking up one-half stitch along each garter ridge (as in the tutorial linked below), but I found the picked up stitch was not sitting comfortably on the needle....I did not want to work my SSK with it like that, so I sat back, deflated a bit. I dwelled on it overnight before my eureka moment. At work we decided to have a violet border, so using this, I picked up sts all along one side. Then, working from the other end of the ball, began working a 4-stitch applied I-cord from where I started to pick up.

I don't a have a photo of how I started, but here's the link that got me going. It uses a provisional cast on.

Here's what I did when I turned the corner.

Then I used kitchener stitch to join it together.

One more final wash before it's ready!

Before it rained

2010-09-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

The chairs got stained, just in time!

They perk up the backyard, great contrast to the green (and brown)

Pink hydrangeas in full out bloom!

Over halfway

2010-09-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Here we are at 50% seamed:

ETA: When picking up stitches along the garter ridges of the sides of the blocks (vs the cast on and cast off edges), the number of ridges were not always the same between rows of blocks - since everyone's row gauge might be a little different, there may be more or less rows to make up an eight inch square. What I'm getting at is that the number of sts must be checked carefully moving from block to block because the 3-needle bind off only works when there are the same number of stitches on the needles.

Up close and personal with the first seam going the other way!
(Loving the intersection)

It's turning out to be a really pretty blanket, the weight is very comfortable on my lap, perfect for snuggles.

Seam note

2010-09-07T23:56:00.000-07:00

Just want to point out that when picking up stitches in the manner I am using, one must be aware of the order of the blocks.

When picking up on the bottom edge of row one, I went in order of blocks (reading left to right) 1-2-3-4-5. Then I cut the yarn.

When picking up on the top edge of row two, I went in order of 10-9-8-7-6. This means that the working yarn was coming off block 6 (which is what I wanted) and that when I held the two rows of blocks wrong sides together, I was working a three needle bind off from right to left.

And so on.

Referring to my layout for each row before picking up stitches.

Onward Blanket

2010-09-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

Despite many years of piecing experience, seaming garter squares for a blanket is a new learning opportunity for me.
The fact that each square is knit by a different knitter is also something new to consider (ack! gauge!). Five different colours add another dimension to the finishing process.

When asked by the folks at work how I was going to do it, I kept saying, "Not sure yet, but no problem! I'll figure it out!"
A challenge! (grins)

While the squares were blocking, I toured around ravelry and the internet on methods to seam them up.

My first plan was to crochet around the edges of each block to neaten up the sides. This edging would lend easily to crocheting the seams. However, the yarn was not very forgiving (or maybe I'm just not that great at crochet?), so I bailed after a few tries.

Then, I thought I would use mattress stitch. However, I worried the finished seam would not look very neat going from one coloured square to the next. I also was not sure how strong it would be.

I finally found a thread on ravelry that suggested working a three-needle bind off to make the seam. Of course I liked this a lot since it was knitting vs crocheting, and oddly enough I actually like picking up stitches.

I picked up stitches along the bottom edge of row one (on a circ):

I did the same with the top stitches of row two, then proceeded to bind off with three needles with wrong sides together. The tutorials I viewed suggest starting with the working yarn coming from the back needle (for the first stitch). The most important thing to note here is that I used 5 mm needles to pick up 5 x 38 sts along each row edge, but when casting off, I used a 6 mm needle to ensure a stretchy seam. This is working!

It's tidy, it's strong, and the resultant ridge is a nice detail.

I'll keep going!

Sarah's Blanket

2010-09-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

When the knitters in my department at work learned our colleague's young daughter was ill, we organised ourselves pretty fast.
Well, at least they did....I was out of town at that time. When checking my email, I found out they decided to start a project for the baby girl, a garter squares blanket! Balls of different coloured yarn (Lion Brand Cotton Ease) were being rotated, with each knitter submitting their eight inch square to the community project. I volunteered to put together the whole thing.

I found a few squares ready for me when I got back to work:

and they kept coming! All twenty-five of them. I took them home and gazed fondly at the little group, happy with the cheerful colour.

I thought they might need a good blocking to get them all to uniform size before seaming. My bedroom rug serves its main purpose as blocking surface.

Then I played with them on the dining room table to find a random pleasing arrangement.

This looks like a pretty patchwork quilt - just my kind of thing!

Socks for.....Kirk?

2010-09-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Who knew?

(glad he likes them)

Summer travels

2010-08-31T23:22:00.000-07:00

Pink Frothy Delight

2010-07-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

(aka Habu Mohair Sweater Kit 110)

The knitted fabric, from what seems like a thread with a bit of fuzz factor, is light and dreamy.
I'm reminded of dessert.

Cabin Time

2010-07-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

Near the headwaters of the Colorado River, the family cabin is situated alongside (these belong to the neighbours, theirs is farther up but with many more trees surrounding and harder to get a picture)

The beautiful state flower, the Columbine, is out in full force.

In the neighbouring town of Granby, there's an alpaca farm and mill, what unbelievable luck.

There are many friendly faces, close to two hundred, these guys have been shorn recently:

Of course my favourite kind of memento to take home from a trip - handpainted goodness fresh from the farm.

Three pairs

2010-07-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

of socks are done! Yay!

Based on the Blueberry Waffles Sock, my version uses a fingering weight.

Spring Cable Socks were fun, I cabled without a cable needle to make these go a bit faster:

And finally I made Monkey, they waited so long in my queue, but it was worth it. I surprised myself by memorising the lace on this pattern, and combined with the feel of this delicious yarn in my hands, I completely enjoyed myself every minute of knitting these socks.

THIS is satisfaction.

Shawl Happy

2010-05-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

I was trolling about the house looking for something to knit, with what I had in my stash. I LOVE getting rid of stuff, I think it's one of my favourite things to do! So knitting with leftovers makes me feel pretty good, not to mention light (can you tell I like that feeling).

Cheryl Oberle's book Folk Shawls is one of my well-used references, and long ago I had earmarked her Feather and Fan Triangle Shawl as a potential project for my scrap yarns.

I gave it a go, and I think it was a good idea! I used my odds and sods of creams, greys and browns in worsted and aran weights, and worked up the garter portion quickly on 5.5 mm needles. I actually ran out. I had to buy more yarn *sigh* to finish the feather and fan lace. I followed the pattern generally, doing the additional increase rows near the top for shoulder shaping, but omitting the eyelet rows since the colour changes were enough for me to handle :o)

I stopped knitting when it got too heavy and there was no more room on my circular needles - the finished blocked dimensions of this baby: 100 inches wingspan, 33 inches deep. A sturdy shawl mostly made of merino, silk, and alpaca, perfect for watching hockey!

And as if that was not enough of a break before going back to socks....

I have eyeing this one for a long time, from ravelry, orlane's textured shawl recipe.

This is a pretty and simple pattern using your basic top-down triangular shawl design, increasing on right side rows and purling across wrong side rows, and 2 st garter edging. I used m1R and m1L increases the whole way down until I got to the garter border where I kfb because I like the look of this in garter (virtually invisible).

As for the yarn, it was rather an impulse purchase at the ferry terminal in Nanaimo. A 100 g ball of natural, handspun alpaca from a local farm was irresistible, I had to have it. I was very surprised at the non-itch factor of the knitted fabric, even beside my face it's ve-ry soft, love it. I ordered another two 100 g balls, just to have around the house (this balances out my previous project...:D)

This beauty drapes wonderfully, as modelled by my work pal. I added another repeat of the original size, which I'm glad I did since I had the yarn, all the more to enjoy! And need I mention the warmth factor, there's a lot of that packed into the lightness of alpaca fibre. After blocking, this shawl measures 70 inches wide and 28 inches deep. I used almost 200 g (I am estimating less than 600 yards of dk/light worsted weight).

This shawl pin is working for me, too.

And here we are looking longingly outside, waiting for the rain to stop.

Singles needing mates

2010-04-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Wish I had three feet for these pictures.

Had to take a break from fingering weight. Three weeks on 2.25-2.5 mm needles? Hungry for worsted.

Just add music

2010-03-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

for a perfect and peaceful morning.

Like my Spring Cable?

Boxleaf Wrap

2010-03-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

It was on the ferry,

and on the plane.

Now I'm done this gorgeous thing!

Light and airy, I'm practically floating up here.

Check out the border (I love leaves).

One of my longer-lasting projects, I'm a bit sad it's over. Easy repetition, but challenging enough to keep me focussed. I did have a set back when I picked up the sts from the provisional cast-on. They were tight, and I was worried the motifs were not properly aligned when I worked that first row. I ripped back a couple of times before I read Anne's ravelry group's comments. She said since we're picking up from the bottom of the st, it will always be a half-step off, but after washing and blocking it will not be noticeable (and she was right). I also stressed a bit because I was working from two skeins (in succession), purchased at the same time, but without lot numbers (Fleece Artist's Nyoni). This is a hand-dyed yarn. One skein is definitely a bit darker than the other (you can see this below), but as Anne says, she often works from 2 different skeins and that the differences do not take away from the overall effect (she is a wise woman). When the shawl is worn, the differences are not glaring out, and truly, sometimes these colour variations can happen even within one skein. After digesting all this wisdom I washed my troubles away and am now embracing the lovely characteristics of hand-dyed and hand-knit goodness.

Sigh. I'm off on my cloud.

Halfway

2010-03-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

I started this on day 2 of the Olympics, and thought briefly I might be able to finish it by the end of the closing ceremonies. Right. Lace charts and hockey don't mix, especially with all the eating and drinking I was doing in front of the TV. Ah well. I'm halfway done.

This here is Boxleaf Wrap, another rectangular lace shawl with which I am happily involved. A few mistakes I made here and there with frogging back for fix-ups has not discouraged me. I supposed I could use a lifeline, but then I would have to look up how to do that. It's only 75 sts on a row, I do find it oddly relaxing to put each one back on the needle. This pattern starts in the middle with a provisional cast on, then works out to the end. After casting off on the short end, undo the prov cast on and make the second half. This is where I am now. I'm looking forward very much to when I get to the blocking stage, it will be a great day, I love the magical transformation! I think it's the best part, for me, to knitting lace.

What I love most about Anne Hanson's patterns is her economical instruction. Strictly the goods, with all the important information delivered succinctly. Not to mention the charts are fabulous to follow, I love them.

The yarn I've used before...remember Hillflowers? Again, this is Fleece Artist Nyoni, a fingering weight yarn in merino, mohair, silk, and nylon. The light blue/grey has subtle colour varigations, this colourway was not named on the label...so for now I'm calling it Vancouver Sky. Will go great with my daily uniform of denim.

Wondering if I might whip off a quick bulky project to mix it up a little before resuming the second half? So crazy.

Wee perks

2010-02-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

Go Canada go!

Pretty lights.

Happy Spring.

Heather Hoodie Vest

2010-02-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

Took a gamble on this one....think I won?

Borrowed Knitscene Fall 2009 from Shannon, and copied this vest pattern. The smallest size was about an inch bigger than I wanted in the chest. Considering the sample was knit in bulky weight on 6 mm needles with a gauge of 14 sts/10cm, I thought I would wing it and use an aran weight on 5 mm with a working gauge of 12 sts/10 cm, and see what would happen.

Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran was on sale at Urban Yarns, 4 balls should do it. I worked up the swatch, t'was a bit crunchy, but I forged on. I knit up the back and fronts, adding side shaping along the way (one set of decreases and increases an inch below and above the waist). I also added an half-inch of ribbing to make it a bit longer.

Short row shaping within the ribbed sleeves made the cap hug my arm a bit better.

I knew I was running out of yarn while working the hood, so I picked up less sts and began decreases earlier. There are lots of comments on ravelry about the hood being really big so I was okay with this, for me the hood is strictly for "the look." I still had the band to do, too, so I did not want to take any chances. The pattern said to do a three needle bind off for the hood, but I grafted it for a perfect seam.

When picking up sts for the button band, I merely went for a multiple of 5, picking up approximately 3 sts every 4 rows or so, reading my knitting as I went along.

Buttons made from "horn," combined with wool tweed make for a nice rustic look.

Sweet sweater.

Lace is always lovely, no matter what

2010-01-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

She's done! Presenting.....the Luscious Lace Scarf.

Found this patt by knitting pixie on ravelry, which uses a 2 ply cashmere/silk blend, and in the same yardage (400 yds) as my CashSilk Lace. The bonuses were that it used a needle I already own (3.75 mm) and every other row is a rest row...always welcome!

The pattern is easily memorised. This pleases me.

I'm hoping the lace design is not lost in all this gorgeous watery colour.

I know it's an Olympic colourway, but when I look at this, I think of glaciers, snowflakes, and Lake Louise. And without trying too much harder, I also see blue skies, lush foliage and tropical waters.

I was chomping at the bit to make this scarf after a lot of deliberation about which pattern to choose, so excited was I to get my hands started on knitted lace. In my hurry to cast on, I forgot to think about the edging on this scarf. There are no garter edges, just a beautiful wavy-ness that gives way to rolling in on itself on the long sides. After working about six inches into the scarf, I thought about it, but decided I was having too much fun so I just kept on knitting!

It's ever so soft, feathery, light, and was quite satisfying to knit. Took care of my lace needs for now!

Now....how about some cables?

Canada Red

2010-01-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

Handmaiden Fine Yarns hand-dyed some Casbah in a special colour for Urban Yarns: Canada Red. I scooped it as soon as I read the blog post, and felt very cheery and heartened when I saw it, the colour is so rich! I love how it looked in the skein....kind of felt I needed two so I could keep one looking so pristine. How many favourite yarns can a girl have? My first time knitting with Casbah (merino, cashmere, nylon), one skein (355 yards) worked up perfectly (on 4 mm needles) in the form of Traveling Woman, free pattern on ravelry.

This lace scarf/shoulder shawl is very similar to the beloved Ishbel, with stockinette in the first section for speed and warmth, then lace for all-over prettiness. The edging lace pattern is dainty, and blocks out with slighter points than Ishbel. I noticed the points became even less so after I wore it for the day, but I think the resulting shape is a nice change from the more defined triangular shawl. Shawl size after blocking has a wing span of 57 inches, and is 13 inches deep. I had a teeny tiny little ball left over.

I'm into it. Love these Olympic-themed colourways, keep them coming!

Speaking of which, onward to Luscious Lace, still in progress....

Renovation 2009 - "After"

2010-01-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

Prettier.

More functional.

Better use of space.

New ideas.

Improved storage.

In every way.

Kitchen reno. Check.

Thanks Doug!

Sixteen Projects to a New Kitchen

2010-01-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

Yes, well, might we say I needed something to take the edge off all the drywall dust, the busyness of the house with the workers coming and going, and of course, all the decision making. Besides the wine, I mean.

Staying with my plan of easy mindless knitting while my energy could be directed to the BIG project, I cranked out mostly hats and mittens. I won't bore you with the details of each one, but I did put them together in a wee slide show so you can view them at once. It's all on ravelry!

Here they are, the results of my favourite coping mechanism (but we all know it's so much more than that) in 6.5 weeks from demolition day, to the day we were fully operational. Yep, when I wasn't driving around in Richmond picking stuff out, I was knitting.

Renovation 2009 - "Before"

2010-01-21T23:24:00.000-08:00

When we bought our house in 1999, we knew we would renovate our kitchen one day. It looked a bit old-fashioned, but was certainly functional enough for what we needed with toddlers at the time.

Those toddlers have grown to be a tween and a teenager! Our kitchen, like us, has aged. Time for change (I'm talking about the kitchen).

Most of you have heard the story about the oven breaking down on Christmas Day, and had been "adjusted" to work for us until we were ready to renovate.

The stove elements, well, two of them were hit and miss most of the time.

The dishwasher, the one where we're never supposed to see the repairman? Yeah, twice. Both times, the circuit board.

The frig was still going, though a bit on the small side for us on party days.

Cupboards, floors, backsplash, lights, and paint needed "updating."

Enter: Doug, our longtime contractor.

And so it begins

2010-01-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Our kitchen renovation kept me pretty busy during the fall (pictures to come), but I successfully "knit through it" to keep myself from daily frazzle. I kept my projects on the simple side (pictures to come), but now that the kitchen's done....I'm so ready for lace.

Quick trip out to Urban Yarns before starting my shift, and a little skein of CashSilk Lace from Sweet Georgia sung out to me. I took it to work and kept it by my computer so we could share a little bonding time before meeting the ball winder.

A limited edition colourway: wetcoast winter.

A scarf is born. Bliss.

On a Ysolda roll

2009-09-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

Meet Poppy!

I'm not sure what to say about her since she turned out absolutely perfect. The pattern was a breeze to follow, I'm really happy with her, my first stuffed toy I've ever knit! I used Louet Gems sport weight, in crabapple, and champagne.

Her Mary Jane's are made by using duplicate stitch over the "shoe" to create the "skin."

Found a couple of buttons in jar for the bib part of her wee dress.

Had fun making the hair! Marianna loved giving her a trim. We used a dk weight in Loyal.

With her new pals, Lukey the little bear made by me many years ago, and Dorian, another handmade felt critter by Marianna.

And as our segue, Marianna is wearing her new Liesl whilst arranging Poppy's hair.

My third Liesl knit in Elsebeth Lavold's Angora blend in a soft chocolate brown. I knit the smallest size on a smaller needle than what's called for, kind of taking a gamble on the fit. I made a good guess, because it fits her AND she loves it! Bonus. Her new fall sweater.

Blobs of Summer

2009-09-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

At the lake this summer, the kids were busy making cute felt crafts when they were taking a break from the sun.

A cheerful tree:

And a totally delicious looking cake. Nice whipped topping!

We thought the first tree needed a companion:

And threw in a whale for good measure:

And then the characters came along. First the girls:

Then a bunch more! Marianna, Christina and Mark were the makers of the crew, cutting, stuffing, and stitching carefully. A productive litte team.

Blobs enjoying their walk home from the lake.

Bulky knit on a hot day

2009-08-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Not sure why I tend to buy or knit something thick and chunky on the hottest day of the year. I remember, one sweltering August day years ago, wandering around an air conditioned Fabricland and leaving with metres of polar fleece, sweating profusely riding my bike home with my pannier full of thick Malden Mill.

I think I really like fall.

And who can pass up Rowan Purelife at 40% off?

So I found a fast knit project using seven balls (120 yards per) of bulky weight 100% British Sheep Breeds. I mostly love the fact it's wool from four different sheep, blended together, and undyed.

The pattern is SweaterBabe's Vine Lace Pattern Cardigan. I like lots of the elements in the design: wide collar, deep ribbed waist and of course the lace. I omitted the patch pockets and continued the vine lace down to the bottom instead.

I made a mistake fairly early on in the lace, in the upper right section, but oddly I didn't notice it until I was well into the ribbed waist. After dwelling on it for some time, I decided to embrace my humanity (I'm trying to take comfort in that) and plough on. I think if I place a cool pin, or a felted flower there, that will totally distract me from my error.

The pattern itself is fairly easy to follow,

I used vintage buttons I inherited from my aunt's old button collection. Three buttons were on a card (Eaton's) for 10 cents. Now I am ready for fall, on a 29 degree summer day.

Liesl

2009-08-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

On a bit of a Ysolda Teague craze, I found delight and joy in Liesl. A feather and fan pattern, I adore the simplicity of it, as well as the lace effect, of course!

First I made a wool one using louet's Bonnie. Truthfully I was inspired by Sivia Harding's version using the same yarn, and had to copy her choice, only in blue (Sivia's is green-based). The colour changes are stunning.

Since I finished it in May when the weather was warming up, I thought I would make a cotton one for summer. This is filatura de crosa's aran weight Porto Cervo, a creamy white just right for summer days over a tank. Loving the dainty picot edges on the hem. Turns out Lila loved it too.... now it's hers!

dk yarn + easy sock pattern = bring it!

2009-08-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

Waaaaaay back in February, I enjoyed a sale price of Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe at Urban Yarns. Since making my first pair of Coriolis Socks in this yarn, socks are my first thought when I see Kersti.

I love using this weight - that heel turn just shows up so soon!

So here are a couple of squishy, cosy pairs I made with it:

Cat Bordhi's Fountain Foxglove (made for Denise)

and the International Sock of Doom (made for me).

I'm rather pleased I still like, and am still using, purchases from much earlier this year. I'm also amused I pose my feet the same way despite these pictures being taken at different times.

Lace Neck Shawls

2009-08-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

More lacey goodness.

Ishbel, another excellent charted lace project. Pictured is the small version, but Ysolda's pattern has a large laceweight version too. This purple beauty uses Indigo Moon's handdyed sock yarn "Bordeaux." Yum city.

Using up yarn leftover from socks, Pam Allen's Arrowhead Scarf pattern was a good simple one. The yarn is Duet from A Swell Yarn Shop, where the solid contrasting colour is typically used for the heel and toe (a brilliant idea, I love her colourways, this one is called Army Guy). I thought I could use it for the edging. I'm afraid the lace pattern is a bit lost in the colour changes of the main section, but I had knit too much to frog it back. I guess I could have, but this is a bonus project from an already completed project, why work too hard?

Liking the lace

2009-08-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

My latest addiction is knitting lace. Nothing too fancy, but nonetheless, it's lace alright. It's fun!

On our recent travels I picked up a ball of Noro Silk Garden Sock, kind of an impulse buy at a yarn store I didn't expect to visit while in Bend, OR. I found Anne Carroll Gilmour's pattern for the Gaia Shoulder Hug on ravelry, an easy little knit (on 3.75 mm needles) using one ball of said yarn (Kureyon, actually, but the SG works fine too). I love the colourway, and the knit itself was easy and manageable in four days! There's an option in the pattern for a picot bind off using KBB (knit back backwards) which intrigued me very much, but I ran out of yarn so did a regular bind off instead. I guess I could have frogged back a couple of rows but I wanted to finish and block right away. I've worn it every day since finishing (all of two days), and am now planning to wear it to work. As a scarf in the front, or as a shawl held by a safety-pin style Celtic pin, this is a versatile little number.

This next shawl was another one-skein project, using Tofutsies, which I had originally intended for socks. However, another shawl seemed like a good idea so I found a pattern (Show your Colours, on ravelry) to suit the yarn. I thought this would be an easy knit on the road so I brought it with me for travelling on the interstates. Turned out that Hillflowers (several posts below) kept me captivated and motivated through the freeways so that was my road trip shawl after all. This one I finished when I came home. Knit on 3.25 mm needles, it took some time to knit about 450 yards, but the result is a lovely light and breezy summerweight shawl! Marianna is modelling:

On a lace roll now, I found a pretty pattern for a leaf lace scarf, Branching Out by Susan Lawrence. Perfect for my one skein of Manos silk blend, it knit up fast and was a pleasant experience knitting from a chart. Another accessory for fall.

Summer Garden

2009-08-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Lake

2009-08-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

Some things we've made:

These guys are Sam and Treeling

Hillflowers

2009-07-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

Finished!

Back in May, I found a beautiful skein of Fleece Artist's Nyoni on sale at Urban Yarns. The colour is harvest gold, and it spoke to me from the shelf. I listened, then brought it home.

The pattern is Hillflowers by Anne Hanson. The pattern was easy to memorise once I got into the groove, which was one full 16 row repeat. To make the pretty scalloped edges on each short side, the pattern is worked one half at a time, then grafted in the centre. I worked 14 chart repeats for one side, as per patt, but I was a little short of yarn on the other side and made it only to 12. I guess I could have frogged back the one side to make an even 13 repeats on both sides, but I was ready to just graft at that point. When wearing a rectangular shawl, it's not usually always centred anyway.

I thought the tone-on-tone colour worked brilliantly in this wavy pattern.

I made the medium size ("petite wrap"), which called for 850 yards. I had 820 yards and used it up efficiently, with less than three yards leftover after grafting. It blocked out plenty big enough to 16" x 64". I'm thinking I got great value from this one. I love it!

My leftovers:

(I zoomed in, but I guess I didn't need to, I'm sure you get it)

State of projects

2009-07-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

My sewing table is in disarray with lots of quilts to be finished and started.

My yarn stash is manageable (but does not include today's purchase).

My current knitting project (another shawl) is well underway, and my only WIP.

So I begin Poppy! This one's for Marianna.

Perfect Road

2009-07-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

(perfect for knitting lace)

Something from nothing

2009-04-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

Rooting around in my plastic buckets of partial skeins and dreaming up ways to use odds and sods is one of my favourite things to do. Scraps are a huge source of inspiration. I can get hours and hours of cheap entertainment.

I pulled out some bits and pieces of sock yarn leftovers, and whipped up this....

the prettiest yoga mat bag I've ever seen.

Comprised of Tofutsies, Koigu, Colinette Jitterbug, Regia by Kaffe Fassett, among others, it is knit according to the Serenity Yoga Mat pattern by Stephannie Roy published in KnitWit. Instead of Mission Falls 1824, I used all sock weight yarns held double, and knit round and round. Stashbust city.

Accessorize, accessorize.

Lone Star, Part 2

2009-04-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is another project I have had on my mind, waaaaay longer than the Rogue hoodie, ie. since we moved in.

Stars are probably my favourite kind of quilt patterns, maybe because there are so many different ones to choose from? I've always liked the graphics of the Lone Star design, which is rows of 45 degree diamonds set in contrasting rings radiating from the star's centre to the tips. It is a classic, eight pointed star, also known as Morning Star and Star of Bethlehem.

When I saw the jelly roll in the shop, I knew it would be an effective, efficient way to use the fabric. I also knew I would be using the strip piecing method of construction and I didn't want to cut any more than I had to.

I wanted to use as much of the jelly roll as I could, in a variety of fabrics, but not make the star so big that it wouldn't look right in the space I had in mind for it to hang. I also knew I was going to machine quilt this one, and I have learned the hard way many times over that I can't quilt a big quilt easily and comfortably using a regular machine, which is what I have. That also helped me determine the size to make.

The width of the jelly roll strips was 3 inches, which, in a 5 x 5 diamond layout using 1/4 inch seam allowances, meant I would be making a finished star measuring approximately 60 inches (across the full width and height of the star). This would work for me.

I studied a few different quilt designs for lone stars, and finally decided using a continuous curve method from Harriet Hargrave. It's not too fussy to do, and the best part is that the process eliminates the need to constantly stop and cut threads. The only time you have to stop is when the bobbin runs out (and when you finally quit for the night).

Here we are pinned and getting ready to start the actual quilting (and psyching myself up).

I batted up a sample for my "practice sessions." This is quite important to "get in the zone," I call it, before I start machine quilting. I usually have a beverage by my side and music playing to help this process. I go at it for a bit on the practice piece, then go for real on the quilt after I'm all loosened up. That sounds funny and odd, but ...it works for me! Not to mention it's pretty fun. :o)

After I finished machine quilting the star, I was stumped about the design in the setting triangles. I had enough going on in the star, and did not want to complicate things with anything too fancy. I sifted through all my patterns for borders and corners, and came up with a simple scroll design from Hari Walner that I enlarged, traced onto a template, cut out, then traced around the template with a special marking pen onto the sections. I initially machine quilted it, but was having trouble making the curves smooth enough for my liking. I ended up pulling out the stitches and hand quilting it instead, which did not take long (2 nights). I'm really happy with the result.

One might think that after spending so much time and thought on this quilt that the process would carry on through completion. For some reason unbeknownst to moi, I did something rather impulsive, with some regret. I attached the binding to the back (instead of the front, my usual), and brought the binding to the front to machine quilt into place using the serpentine stitch.

I think it's an interesting look, but not exactly the one I was going for with this project. It is too much to unpick, so now I am learning to embrace my quick decision and going with "the look." I have too many other things to do!

Voila, another checkmark on my life list.

Bits and bobs

2009-04-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

It's a time of restraint, hence, I present a couple more finished projects from leftover yarns. I'm in feel good mode!

From five different yarns comes this wildly scrappy hat using The Boy Hat pattern. Rather jolly looking, I say.

Throughout many winters Kirk has been wearing the hat my mom knit for him years ago. This year, I thought I would give him an option. Of course it's now spring, and it's done, the Marsan Watchcap. I used the extra ball of Dream in Colour Classy (the lighter coloured one) that I had for the Rogue. It's knit up into a sturdy, twisted 1 x 1 ribbed hat with a nice brim for extra ear warmth and interesting decreases for the crown. So he's ready....for next winter.

And this silky little number is from a pretty skein of Malabrigo Silky Merino. Marianna remembered I was quite taken with it on a trip to the LYS, then took her dad back to the store so she could buy it for me for Christmas. Just the sweetest. The pattern is the Darkside Cowl, free on rav. It's an easy pattern with a zigzag look. Used only about two thirds of a skein....so now I have more leftovers to work with, heh heh.

Finally....Spring

2009-04-19T00:48:00.001-07:00

Me and my Rogue

2009-04-05T23:23:00.000-07:00

In my ravelry queue for over a year, and on the needles for 5 weeks, I'm done!

I got this Rogue Hoodie off to a great start this past winter. Nineteen page pattern from Jenna Wilson, it is a detailed and well written pattern. No wonder it is rated five stars by reviewers on rav. The pattern pages were a bit unwieldy to haul around in my knitting bag, but worth every effort. Ta da!

The pocket is knit in as you go along, which I really liked, not having to go back to sew it on.

I made the body length longer by adding an extra cable repeat, as the designer suggested. After I finished the sweater, I was still not quite happy with the length so I left the 1x1 ribbed hem down instead of turning it up. Even with the turning row showing, I think it still works! The side shaping in cables I thought was rather clever.

I used a three needle bind off for the shoulder seams.

The Celtic cables I am crazy about, I love them! (seven charts of cables to follow, oh my). When working the hood foundation row, do not forget there are three wrapped stitches that must be worked within the left and right cable sections! I had put the project down for awhile and then had to deal with this after the fact. Not pleasant, but all fixed up :o)

For the hood finishing, I was unsure about how to graft both purl and knit stitches, but found a tutorial here which was quite helpful.

For sewing the hood to the cabled border, I picked up the same number of stitches on the border as on the hood (19), and grafted them together.

I wore the sweater around the house, in vest form, while working on the sleeves. I adapted the sleeve pattern to knit them in the round, so I worked two less stitches (to compensate for seam allowance) up the sleeve. I also knit the sleeve hem just 8 rows instead of 12 to reduce bulk. Besides the hood finishing, the only sewing was setting in the sleeves to the body. Totally manageable! But then again, I like sewing.

As for the yarn, well, wow, it was my first time with DIC Classy. I think we now have a "thing" going, I so enjoyed knitting with it. This colourway is called Grey Tabby, it makes me feel warm and cosy just imagining a furry kitty. This is a superwash yarn, a good choice, I think, for a hoodie. I did not encounter any knots in any skeins, either. However, as with hand dyed semi solids I've used in the past, I ran into problems with colour varigation differences, and I didn't think I could live with it. Only with one ball, though, so I just went out and bought another one! Not without discussing at great length with knitters at work, knitters at the LYS, family members.... anyone who would listen, really. All is good! Thank you, you know who you are ;o)

After blocking, the yarn easily went back into shape. I just know this will be a high use sweater.
Love my rogue.

Leftovers

2009-04-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

I think I've been pretty good lately, I have not bought yarn for at least 2 months! This is a long time for me....so now I'm feeling rather virtuous working through my partial skeins leftover from finished projects. I had lots of balls of about 100 yards or just under, so off I was on a stashbusting mission.

I present the Wavy Hat Pattern knit in Misti Alpaca Hand Dyed Worsted. Love those short colour repeats.

and Lonesome Stone Dyed Worsted in the same pattern. Very pretty lace work, and quite stretchy enabling a forgiving fit.

This is the You Don't Know Our Women Hat knit in Araucania Azapa, this yarn is SO soft! I like how the cables twist opposite to each other.

and The Amanda Hat in Cascade 220 Paints, gorgeous colour blends. I omitted the last set of lace rounds and garter rounds since I was running out of yarn. It's still deep enough for a good fit, though.

Plenty more where that came from!

Lone Star part 1

2009-03-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

More and more these days, lines of fabric are being made available to the quilter in small packages. It's a great way to add to one's stash because often the whole line is offered, and how often do we get to buy 20-40 different fabrics all from the same line? Depending on how the fabric is cut, the packages are called turnovers, layer cakes, and in this case, a jelly roll. Now this looks tasty!

I wanted to make a Lone Star quilt using these strips. I chose twenty-five different fabrics from Moda's Urban Couture jelly roll, based on their "busyness," relative colour intensity, and how they balanced each other set in a diamond shape. I wanted the middle of the star to have a strong centre, so red was an easy choice. I planned my strip piecing all around this.

I strip-pieced a unit using five fabrics, each 2.5 inches x width of fabric, using 1/4 inch seams, and offset by the (cut) width of a strip. I made five of these, rotating colour placement by one strip for each unit.

I carefully pressed the seams open with the hot tip of the iron. Normally seams are pressed to one side when piecing quilts, but I followed the advice in this book because it seemed to make sense to reduce bulk. The diagonal cuts were made at 45 degree angles. I got 8 diagonal strips from each 5-strip unit. The diagonal strips have bias edges that require minimal handling, for piecing success.

On my design wall, I set one diagonal strip (comprised of five diamonds) from each of the five units to make up one big diagonal point of the star (25 diamonds per). I did this eight times for each big point, and found my pleasing arrangement. That was easy, gee, couldn't it just piece itself now?

Layout done, now for piecing diagonal strips together. This process seams two bias edges over four intersections! After pin-matching the four seam crossings, I machine basted each intersection with 4-5 stitches before actually sewing the seam. This worked very well and saved stretching the edges in case I would have to pull out the stitches if the seams didn't match. I also used a walking foot normally used for machine quilting, but I thought it couldn't hurt for this kind of thing.

Ready for pinning and sewing.

Once all eight big diamond sections are pieced, cutting of the setting triangles is next. This is always quite fun since I get to work with a bigger fabric section which at this point in the process, is welcome and refreshing.

Quilt top pieced! Layer and backing still to come, but first, a break whilst I plan how the quilt design on the little diamonds. Good times!

Happy Feet

2009-02-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Portable. Functional. Beautiful. I'm talking socks!

The yarn: Koigu KPM, premium merino wool, hand dyed. Knit on 2.5 mm addi dp needles, the fabric is nice and sturdy. It's my first time using it for socks (this is what I used it for last time), and I know I will many more times in the future.

The pattern: my standard fave from Cat Bordhi, Coriolis. I used 64 sts as mid-circumference, but I think next time I will try 60 sts since I think they are wee bit loose on my foot. I added a couple of stitches to the coriolis band for a bit of width, here are my modifications:

On the first sock, I placed marker A 4 sts before end of instep. Round 1: knit until 2 sts before A, k2tog, sl m, k2, kfb, k to end. Round 2,3: knit to 2 sts past A, kfb, k to end.

On the second sock, place marker B 4 sts after start of instep. Round 1 1: knit to 4 sts before B, kfb, k3, sl m, ssk, k to end. Round 2,3: knit to 4 sts before B, kfb, k to end.

This time I thought I would stop at anklet length to add a little variety to my sock selection. Which means I only went about one-quarter into the second skein.....think I will use the leftovers as a heel and toe with some dark grey Koigu for the body of another sock. Waste not!

Block of the Month

2009-02-09T22:50:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite yearly projects is a good old-fashioned block of the month from the Cloth Shop. It usually starts in the fall months, where one or two blocks per month are made available, and carries on til spring. A finishing kit in June makes the whole thing come together. I love piecing the quilt slowly, and having a little surprise each month to look forward to. Each monthly package has the pattern and fabrics, and I get to do all the cutting and sewing. This time the pattern is foundation pieced, a method I don't use too often, but am glad to have an opportunity to keep my skills up.

Here's what I have so far. Are these the cheeriest quilt blocks you've ever seen?

(btw, the windows and doors on the houses are supposed to look askew)

Random Wednesday

2009-02-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

The piecing has begun for my Lone Star....

This past weekend I found Dream in Colour's Classy in "Grey Tabby" meowing at me at the store! I have this lined up for Jenna Wilson's Rogue Hooded Pullover. This semi solid colour is the exact colour of a kitty cat, it had me purring when I left the store. Can't wait to start.

And as if I don't have enough to do, I thought I would start a sock. A toe is born (in Koigu)...

Moebius

2009-01-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to learn how to use Cat Bordhi's Moebius Cast On (MCO). I recently completed a course with Sivia Harding at Urban Yarns to see just how mysterious it is. And it's the coolest technique ever! I cast on for a simple neckscarf using the MCO and enjoyed myself thoroughly watching the knit fabric grow from the middle out, and with only one edge, one surface. It's fascinating and mind-boggling (to me)! This neckscarf I made using a pattern from Sivia with Misti Alpaca's Hand Dyed Worsted, a wee treat for myself from String of Purls in Omaha.

I wanted to make a second project during class time so I could take advantage of Sivia's encouraging instruction, but was reluctant to buy new yarn when I have so many leftovers at home. I rummaged around and surfaced with partial skeins of Malabrigo worsted, Manos del Uruguay, Cascade 220 and Patons SWS, all very feltable yarns. Feeling virtuous using what I have, I showed my happy mix to Sivia to run it by her before casting on for Cat's Felted Moebius Basket. She explained the risk of possible uneven felting when using a combination of yarns (a basket may pucker). I wavered, but thought I would press on with my stash. After discussing it with Claire, I decided to compromise and use up the Cascade bit, but also buy one new skein of Cascade to complete the basket. Then, when I noted the pattern used Manos del Uruguay, I thew my all good intentions in the garbage. For heaven's sake, I'm taking a knitting class in the middle of a knitting shop, what am I supposed to do? I'm weak! I gave in readily enough and chose a bold, bright skein of Manos (eclipse). Pretty!

This project is fast enough, does not even use one skein. I cast on in class and kept on knitting when I got home, when I got up the next morning, after the kids went to school, and then was done by lunch. The handle cleverly is the single 180 degree (half) twist which defines it as a Moebius. I find this concept has unending intrigue, I can't wait to do more from Cat's book, A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting. I also love how forgiving the knitting can be when I know it's going to be felted - not having to weave ends neatly makes me feel pretty good.

Here we are unfelted, waiting patiently to be transformed.

And after!

Drying with a balloon to help it achieve its roundness. (Unfortunately my picture-taking skills don't show off the unique coolness of the handle's twist.)

And in its blocked glory, enjoying the goings-on of the neighbourhood from the window sill. Cute shape!

On the last post where I was modelling my purple sweater, you may have noticed the dining room table covered in cloth. Here it is on closer inspection. This is the beginning stage of my next quilt! I'm still working on colour placement, there will be lots more of this down the road.

Frontward Cabled Pullover

2009-01-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

I was most pleased to receive Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits for Christmas! I had already perused a library copy and made my plan before the holidays. So shortly into the New Year it was easy peasy when I cast on the "Backward Cabled Pullover" with my Jo Sharp Silkroad dk Tweed hankering to be used. The designer gives lots of great tips on how to customize each pattern to make it one's own. When I made this sweater, I used the option of placing the scoop neck in the front, and making the sleeves three-quarter length so I could use up more of this luxe yarn.

I fussed around a bit with numbers to get the right fit.

I had made my swatch in the round, and washed it too. My gauge off the swatch was 19 stitches/10 cm. Pattern calls for 20 sts. I thought I would make the smallest size (chest 32 ") and that my gauge might compensate with a fit with just a bit of negative ease. Gauge off the top of the sweater where it's knit flat was about 18 sts, and then when I started knitting in the round it went up to 20 sts, as it should, because I'm knitting every stitch where the fabric is generally tighter rather than alternate rows of knit and purl. Plus, did I mention I was using smaller needles to get gauge( 4.5 mm)? Honestly then, the gauge did not compensate enough, but by then I was hoping the silk component (10%) in the yarn would add a bit of stretch to the garment to give me more room. Overall, there were too many variables for my liking, but I think it all worked.

In any case, I'm happy with the fit, and the knitted fabric is very warm, and softened up even more after a good SOAK.
My first sweater of 2009!

One Month Ago

2009-01-25T22:40:00.000-08:00

Just 30 days past we had this:

And then we flew to Omaha where I was pleasantly surprised to see this:

No snow on the highway...who knew? And (almost) clear skies, whoa, I didn't expect that for the four days we were there.

Still some snow in the country, though, to remind me of home:

I took knitting for the plane. Since 9/11 I am always wary about flying with needles, and in the past have been careful to bring a stamped self addressed envelope in case the unthinkable happens. Lately I've been on a pretty good run, and now just brazenly show my knitted work-in-progress in a clear zip bag as I breeze through the X-ray line up. Really and truly, I think it depends a lot on who I have looking at my stuff and what kind of a day it's been. Admittedly, I only take a project on flight that is small and what I consider expendable (needles included). Like a hat made of scraps...

Brooklyn Tweed's Turn a Square (free ravelry download) was a good one for using up short bits and pieces of beloved yarns too nice to toss. I keep every yard of Noro leftovers, it's pretty well a basic need for me. Most of these stripes are Kureyon or Silk Garden betwixt some old blue worsted I received many years ago from Whale Cove Knitters on Grand Manan Island, NB.

On the plane I was also quite entranced with Interweave Knit's 2008 Holiday Gift Knitting mag. The Ribby Slipper Socks kept calling to me and begged to be knit up (who can resist BSA bulky calling out one's name?) so who was I to argue. Justified two skeins of it with using scraps of Mission Falls 1824 for the cuffs. A welcome present for Daniel whose feet needed something warm.

On my mind....

2009-01-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

I'm cooking up an idea using a Jelly Roll of Urban Couture by Moda!

....just in time, since this is almost done.

J

And more presents past

2009-01-09T23:37:00.000-08:00

Here are the rest of the gifts that went out!

I forgot to take a picture of the finished pair, but you can at least see one of the socks being modeled below, forefront. These were knit in Dream in Colour Smooshy, Black Parade, on 2.5 mm dpns. Superwash merino wool just perfect for socks. Dad loves them.

Marianna's teacher was due with her second baby late December, so I thought a little sweater might be in order. I used Debbie Bliss' Ribbed Baby Jacket for this one, knit with about 3.25 skeins of Mission Falls. Super cute! Like that nice vintage button?

I had been tempted for so long to try Manos del Uruguay's 100% wool in colourway: wildflower, and finally got my chance when I made Michelle a cowl for her birthday. This is Crofter's Cowl, available as a free ravelry download. Another one skein project! Very warm and cheery.

Then for myself - this was the first project I picked up after all the gift knitting was done: Squirrel and Oak mittens. I had started them early fall, then dropped them for a few months in other busyness. Anyhoo, they're all done now and getting lots of use! Knit with Blue Sky Alpacas' sportweight, they are made of baby alpaca in colourways toasted almond and licorice. Total yum. I really wanted to finish them before year end so I could honestly knit in the year 08 on the right hand mitten. That's my Chinese supersition coming out!

Past presents

2009-01-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

Now that we're waaaay past Christmas, I think I can trot out some of the gifts I was working on this fall! It was a busy time, starting off with knitting washcloths. I used Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton for the beige/white ones, and BSA dyed cottom in Pickle for the other, all neatly tied up with a pretty soap. Quick knit and practical. I used this pattern for the first one

and this pattern for the green.

For more quick, one skein gifts, I whipped off a few hats too. These are both designed by Christa Giles - check her out on ravelry! The first one was a test knit for a new pattern, made with Cascade 220 Paints, and the other two use one of my favourites of hers, the Garter Ribbed Hat, both in Silk Garden. I have made so many, I have the crown decreases memorised pretty well.

I knit up a couple of hats for us to keep. The first is also designed by Christa, called Loose Ladders available on ravelry, this one is knit in Berroco's Ultra Alpaca. The second one below is the Cashmere Ribbed hat (though this one is not cashmere, it's a nice combo of tweedy wools) here. Both hats are being modeled by the giftees.

I thought I would mix it up a bit and knit some fingerless gloves for good measure. The first set is "Design 8" from Jenny Watson's Noro Mini Knits, made with Noro's Cashmere Island. I made some modifications to this one which are noted on my ravelry page. The second set is by Joelle Hoverson, knit in Patons SWS in natural raisin. I love these one skein projects!

Whew, that's it for now, lots more to show later!

Girl time

2008-11-24T22:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since the high school gal pals got together for a weekend! Finally our time arrived. Our drive up island included a couple of shopping stops in Cobble Hill and Whippletree Junction, which can only be described as perfectly delightful.

The purchase, even more so:

The final destination, Tigh-na-mara, was idyllic:

Same time next year!

Quilted!

2008-10-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

For about a year now, I have been wanting to finish a few quilting projects, but my yarn always seemed to get in the way of my fabric progress. Well, I have finally done it, yay me!

I present Maiko, a Cloth Shop design:

I am planning to have this quilt grace my bedroom wall, I am very excited about it! This was a kit supplied as a sixteen-block quilt, but I wanted the dimensions to be closer to a 12 block size in a 3x4 format (finished size about 50 x 60 inches). I had leftovers, of course, and could not let these beautiful fabrics go to waste, so I whipped up a four block size, too:

Some detail of stippling in the background of the stars:

Fits quite nicely in our living room!

And the next one up is Vintage Gatherings, from the same place:

It was a block-of-the-month project in 2006, which I had great fun in piecing and appliqueing over the course of nine months. Once I had the quilt top done, it sat for a long time before I felt inclined to continue. Our cool weather helped immensely! I got started, then couldn't stop (what's new). More detail of the stippling, my all-time favourite and effective quilting technique.

This section of the block needed a little extra something something. I took inspiration from nature:

Liking this!

The finished size is about 54 x 58 inches. You will have noticed I have not quilted the border yet, I am still thinking about design. I'm considering it finished, though, and eventually when it is hung as wall art, I will complete the quilting!

A few years ago I made a special quilt from reproduction fabrics of the early 1900s. There were enough leftovers from that to make a small 30" x 30" wall quilt - I chose the Snowball design, a vintage pattern.

I have just finished it, and it now hangs in our sewing room/office.

I am feeling pretty good about life right now...

Resistance is futile

2008-10-17T13:02:00.001-07:00

I know I said I was trying to not buy new yarn, distractions and all, but I couldn't help myself. Another weak moment in my day and I came home with some Noro Silk Garden Chunky! Not surprisingly this didn't sit for long before getting knit up into the Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet, from Peony Knits (free pattern).

Knit on a 7 mm circ, less than 24 hours folks!

I saw a store sample here and was immediately captivated by it, not to mention it fit me perfectly! I got a gauge of 13.5 sts/10 cm using this yarn, so I cast on more sts than what the pattern called for.

I cast on 61 sts divided as follows: 10 for left front, 10 for left sleeve, 20 for back, 10 for right sleeve, and 11 for right front.

This means for row 1 (the set-up row), I did this: k2, p8, yo, pm, p1, yo, p9, yo, pm, p1, yo, p19, yo, pm, p1, yo, p9, yo, pm, p1, yo, p8, k2.

I continued raglan increases 14 times which is what it took for the sleeve section to be the circumference of my upper arm (11 inches). The sleeves had 38 sts (each, of course) at the time of making the divide from the body.

On the wrong side rows where you knit all the sts, I knit the yo through the back loop to lessen the eyelet hole which I like but not quite so big. Three skeins were used to make this pretty capelet, I really like it!

Toques and tea

2008-10-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Tray of hats, to admire, to squish, to wear!

Some leftovers of the above hats using Noro were used up in this Kureyon Kozy. My tea cosy is a combination of Silk Garden, Kureyon, Taiyo, and Iro. Most pleased was I to use up every little last bit I had of these. Easy pattern, with only a couple of modifications: I shortened the repeats of the top so I would have easier access to the lid, and I just crocheted a chain (using the Iro) to tie bow-style above the handle.

See that quilt-in-progress on the table behind the cosy? It is almost finished and I'm trying hard not to buy any new yarn to avoid any distractions. After it's done, I have another one waiting in the quilting queue, here is what one of the blocks looks like:

Busy times! :o)

Improved with I-cord

2008-10-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

Remember these?

A wee bit plain, so I thought I'd jazz them up a bit with some leftover Koigu Kersti! I used 3 stitch I-cord to make a length, then sewed it down with regular sewing thread into this flower shape. A visit to the button jar, and we're done!

Now they really are "Super" Mittens!

In my last post I was proudly sporting Juliet. In the few times I have worn it since, I have not been happy with the loop closures. Specifically, I thought the attachment of the loops seemed kind of sloppy, and showed through the knit fabric. It was Sivia Harding who suggested to me I do applied I-cord all the way up the fronts and around the neckline to create a smooth finished front, and seamless I-cord loops for the buttons. Brilliant idea! Thanks Sivia!