New Knitting Projects

I am as passionate about my knitting as I am about my quilting, well, except for maybe this past year. I finished a measly five quilts last year, compared to 28 knitting projects--several dishcloths, three sweaters, several pairs of socks, and bunches of hats, cowls, and shawlettes. I taught myself how to do toe up socks last year too. Not nearly as difficult as I imagined.

The Willow cowl, a pattern available on Ravelry, was finished right at the end of the year. The pattern calls for decreases as you work upwards, and I thought it was interesting the way the yarn started pooling right at the top, an effect I don't mind. In fact, I wish the whole cowl had worked up like that.

This is the way the cowl would look if you were wearing it. The rows of stockinette sort of collapse on themselves, and the lace sections look like coils. And I love that picot edge.

I've started a pair of plain socks with self-striping yarn for my sister-in-law who visited just after Christmas. I thought I'd try out a 9" cable for the cuff before putting both socks on one longer circular. The 9" cable takes a bit of getting used to, but it's fun to just knit round and round.

I love learning new techniques, and I saw workshops for Swing-Knitting on Ravelry last year but didn't get the time to try it out. There are eight different workshops plus two sock workshops, and the author wrote that you can learn all the basics in the first three workshops. So I purchased the first workshop a few weeks ago. The project for the workshop is a pair of wristlets, sort of like leggings, only for your arms. Never knew there was such a thing. Fingerless mitts never made sense to me either until I actually made a pair and wore them.

Anyway, swing-knitting creates these interesting asymmetrical curves through the use of german short rows. I think it's similar to the construction of the Dreambird shawl on Ravelry. The author likens the knitting to music--there are "stanzas", and "pauses", and you "swing the beat". I couldn't grasp the terminology until I'd knitted a bit, but the knitting is not difficult. It goes quickly and is really very absorbing.

The wristlet is knit flat, then the long seam is closed with Kitchener stitch. I could probably do Kitchener stitch with my eyes closed now. The edges are a little unattractive, so I'm going to get one of my knitting pals to show me how to add a little crocheted edging.

I may be the last to know, but I discovered Craftsy last year and have taken several of their knitting classes. They're very reasonably priced if you wait for a sale, and the instructors and videos are fantastic. I will be expanding my knitting skills even more this year. Right now, Lucy Neatby is offering a free Sock Knitalong on Craftsy. Besides the instructional videos, instructions for three patterned socks are included; and one of those is for a pair of toe up socks. Great time to learn the toe up method, if you're so inclined. Craftsy also offers a bunch of free classes and tutorials, and they have lots of quilting classes too.

Quilter At Work

I'm glad the holidays are over, but I hated to take down the Christmas tree because I was enjoying the lights in the evenings. So we just took it down Tuesday, in time for pickup on Wednesday.

I've been a busy bee in the sewing room the last week and a half, organizing and lining up projects for the month. There are six, including three UFOs, but some will be ongoing. First up is a Stack 'n Whack, from a Bethany Reynolds workshop back in 2008. I actually blogged about it back then, and it's languished. It only needs one more side of the binding stitched down, and it will be finished.

 

Candystripes is another UFO from a very long time ago. The project is from an issue of American Patchwork & Quilting, and it was originally to be for my niece. After I made over 100 of the four patches, I realized that it wasn't really suitable for a kid her age, so... it languished. Now our quilt chapter is working on quilts for incubator babies, so I'll make small quilts, about 36" square or so, until all the four patches are used up. This is the first--6 rows of blocks x 9 blocks down. Maybe I'll have enough for three little quilts.

The Twisted Ribbons quilt I started last year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was resurrected and is the last of the UFOs to be worked on this month. There were 12 ribbons in all, and I'm working on the 6th, so it will be an ongoing project for a few more months. I decided not to start this year's RSC until the Ribbons are finished.

Moonglow is a Block of the Month pattern from Jinny Beyer that's been around for a decade or more, maybe two. A knitting pal of mine started it when it first became available, made three blocks, then it languished. Last year she talked to me about helping her get it finished because she'd invested quite a bit for the kit. She'd made the first three blocks with templates, and she'd had a little trouble with them; so we ripped them apart, and I taught her how to paper piece. Her sewing skills are rusty, so I wound up remaking the first one for her and will remake her next two, then start her out fresh with block 4.

I'd always wanted to make the Moonglow quilt too, so I found a kit at Plum Creek Quilts for a ridiculously low price and bought it. My first block is finished too; but I have to say, I much prefer the colors in my friend's quilt. Unluckily most of her fabrics are no longer available.

Project Five is Talkin' Turkey, from Bonnie Hunter's string quilts book. One of my dearest friends and I decided to work on this together in the new year. Late last year she was diagnosed in stage 4 cancer; but she's decided to forge ahead with me, so Sundays will be our Turkey Tracks (as we're calling it) days. The plan is to make 10 of these string-pieced blocks at a time until all 120 are done, then we'll move on to another kind of unit. I made a few blocks for the border too. Her treatment program gives us hope, so we plan to see this through to the end.

The first Quilt of Valor in a series of six this year is in progress. It is from a kit purchased two summers ago at MaineQuilts. The pattern is from a Thimbleberries book and is so simple to make. The fabric does all the work in this one.

That's good, to have a quick one for this month, because I have other projects to finish! I have at least two more QOV's that will be made using panels, but I'll alternate them with ones that are all pieced.

A Fresh Start

New Year's is not a holiday we celebrate particularly, but I look forward to it because it's a chance to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Even so, I don't typically make New Year's Resolutions because I never keep them. Oh, I think about the same things everyone else thinks about--exercising more, dieting, being kinder to my fellow man; but I know myself pretty well, and I'm as likely as not to let those things fall by the wayside pretty quickly. (Well, maybe except for the last one.)

 

There are a few things in the quilting studio I really want to accomplish this year. The first might be to start blogging again. It's been a very long time since I blogged. I didn't quilt hardly at all after the beginning of summer last year (although I knitted like a possessed woman); and generally if I don't quilt, I don't blog. I contemplated whether I should delete my blog, but I am loathe to do it after writing it for seven years. I also realized how much I missed reading the quilting blogs, hearing from a few favorite bloggers occasionally, and being part of online challenges. Most of the time it's hard to get my quilting friends locally to work together on a project, and that is something I especially enjoy. I can do that with quilting bloggers online. So I'm having another go at blogging. If I could post once a week, I'd feel like a Resolution had been met.

 

Another thing I'd like to do this year is make six Quilts of Valor, beginning this month, and making another every other month. I subscribe to Fons and Porter "Love of Quilting" magazine, which prints six issues a year, and there's a QOV in every issue (which I may or may not use). As a veteran, I appreciate very much that they do this; and it's something I'd like to be part of. I've started on the first one already--a very quick and simple quilt with a large center panel. Photos to follow.

 

I'd like to do the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again this year (although I can't think why exactly since I haven't finished the last two!). I like the quilt that Angela (I think that's her name) has devised this year, a column quilt, which I think will be fun to work on.

 

Of course there's the perpetual Resolution to finish more UFOs, and I have an abundance of those (don't we all?). And I would very much like to have the discipline to limit the number of quilts in progress so as to actually get things finished. That's the hardest thing for me. We'll see where it all goes.

 

Happy New Year to all!

On the Design Wall

I swear I don't know where the time goes. The color of the month for May for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was green, and I finished up my green ribbon this morning. I stayed mostly on the cool side of green; and since green will appear in my quilt more than once, I set aside a pile of warmer greens for future use.

This green ribbon is adjacent to the blue one and is also the last one on the right side of the quilt, so there are plain squares at the edge that make a border on that side of the quilt. I'm getting a little more daring with multicolor prints in these ribbons because it seems to be more interesting than plain tone on tones.

See what others are working on here.

I also finished up the yellow Dakota Farmer blocks from last year's RSC and started sewing some of the blocks together. This block was from Bonnie Hunter's "Addicted to Scraps" column in Quiltmaker magazine, and she has a layout for it on her blog. I just realized this morning, looking at the picture, that there's a border of 3" dark blue half square triangles around the whole quilt. Not sure yet if I'll actually add that border, but probably. Perhaps it will look unfinished otherwise.

Orange is the last color that goes in the quilt, and I've started cutting for those. All throughout the quilt, I tried to use background prints that were white or off-white with motifs matching the same color as the stars and not repeat them more than twice. I've managed to pull that off so far, but I just don't have enough background prints with orange in them to make this last batch of seven blocks work that way. Sue Nichols uses all those fancy embroidery stitches built into her machine to create her own backgrounds, so I might try that with a few of mine. Coincidentally there's an article in the Quiltmaker magazine that just hit the newsstands with the very same idea.

I have a little bit more quilting to do on the Cascadia quilt. I'm just doing some quilting in the ditch as it doesn't really need much to hold the layers together. Sometimes I wish I had time to do some hand quilting, but I'd never get it done. Besides I'm not sure I could hand quilt without a hoop, and this little quilt measures about 16" x 17".

This colorful fellow showed up at the bird feeder the other day. I was very surprised to see a pair of Baltimore Orioles at the feeder last fall, and evidently they've come back. The photo doesn't do that gorgeous orange color justice.

Purple Ribbon

I have been awfully busy (aren't we all?) the last month and a half with spring cleaning, a trip to Maryland, knitting and quilting (of course), and a myriad of other tasks. The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was purple, and I did actually get the purple ribbon finished last month. Just never got it posted.

The purple ribbon adjoins the yellow one, and now you can more clearly see the two different blocks that make up this quilt (bottom photo). Simple, eh?

Onward to green!

See what others are working on for the RSC here.

It's Not Plaid!

I finished up the triangles for the outer border of the triangles quilt and got it quilted and bound a few days ago. This was the leaders and enders project I worked on while I was finishing up Patrick's Plaids. It was such a nice respite from the many hours I spent making plaid blocks that I decided to name it It's Not Plaid! Two finishes for March! Yay!

It's Plaid

My friend's quilt, now called Patrick's Plaids, is finally quilted, labeled, bound, de-linted, photographed, and packaged for delivery. I promised her it would be done by the time she came home from Florida, and I'm so pleased I've met this deadline.

I quilted it with a feather pantograph called Paris. Then I worried all the way through the quilting process that the thread color was too dark, but everyone who has looked at it so far seems to think it's okay. I emailed pictures to my friend, and she seems very pleased.

My friend Chris has come into the yarn shop on many occasions with a couple different versions of this crocheted handbag, and I have admired them. I asked if she would make me one in exchange for working on her quilt, and she agreed. She gave it to me early on in the quiltmaking process, and I decided I wouldn't use it until I finished her quilt. So this is my reward, and I'm excited to be able to finally use it!

Part of the appeal of Chris's crocheted bags is that they're lined with old denim jeans, and she does a perfect job sewing in the linings. Mine has five pockets inside the bag, and it tickles me that the zippered pocket is the fly from a pair of jeans.