Tag: finished object

Mindless knitting, mistakes, and other thoughts.

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I hear crafters talk about it often, the joy of a mindless project. It’s often hard for me to slow down with making, I am so often squeezing it in while I do something else. A big favorite during the winter is hanging out on the couch in the evenings and knitting or sewing. Some projects require more focus, some require less, and some need more focus than I give them.

After I finished the Pink Fizz sweater, I decided to knit my January baby siblings some socks. For some unknown reason, I cast on the later birthday gift first but many they flew. After all that lace and alternating skeins and carrying the mohair, I just couldn’t put these down – the joy of stockinette was strong.

The yarn is from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm in the Gathering Eggs colorway, which came as a set with the contrast color, Golden Hen. The finished socks are just beautiful. I know I knit socks all the time, but some pairs stand out as particularly well done and these definitely fit that bill.

Since I started the earlier birthday’s pair second, I was putting a bit of pressure on myself to finish them fast, just like the first pair. I cast on the first sock and knit the whole thing in about a day. I don’t really recommend that, but sometimes the mood hits. The next day, I eagerly cast on the second and got rolling. Something felt off, so I decided to slow down and give myself some breathing space. I worked on it the next evening and finally started comparing the socks – they were definitely different sizes! It took me forever to realize it but I had used the wrong needles! I knit the fist one on a 2.5 mm and the second on a 2.0 mm – big difference!

Once I figured that out, I pulled that cuff and leg out and started again. One thing I really try to practice is to rip back or fix the problem as soon as I find it. It’s really tempting to put the project on hold, but I try to fix the issue first and then pause it if I’m still frustrated. More often than not, by the time I’ve corrected the problem I’m back in a good mood with my project and will continue on.

A few days later and ta-da! new little brother socks. This is Patons Kroy in the grey marl colorway. It’s so simple but I adore how these turned out. It’s a heavier weight yarn, closer to sport weight, so I like the texture better on a 2.5 mm needle, 2 sizes larger than my usual sock needles.

After finishing all of those socks, I found myself in a really stressful time with work and struggling to focus properly on my Zelda Crop. That colorwork definitely needs attention. So, I did what I love to do, I cast on some more socks.

I’m trying out a fully ribbed sock – it looks so funny and skinny! This is Dark Side EPV #9 from Must Stash Yarns, very very deep stash.

I had a bit of a lull while I was deciding the contrast color for the Dark Side sock’s heels so I started another pair of socks. I’m thinking about trying to work through yarn scraps and already balled up skeins – maybe that’s 2024’s year of? Anyway, I am digging textured socks at the moment so I started some Blueberry Waffle socks in Woolberry Fiber Co’s Moody Pumpkin sock set.

After all of that, I have been plugging away at my sweater. It is not a quick knit by any means, some of the 3-color rows are a slog. As so often happens, I really started flying once I got past separating for sleeves. As you might pick up with this theme, flying meant I made a mistake.

I missed a whole row! It’s tough to see here but at the top there should be a dark green stitch underneath that pink stitch. I’m not really sure how that happened, I checked it off and everything. I had one little moment where I thought of just leaving it, but I went ahead and frogged the two rows back and fixed it. Much like the socks, I was really in a pique when I found that error but by the time I pulled it back and picked up the stitches again I was ready to knit.

Now, I’ve only got about 20 rows of colorwork and then the ribbed hem left before the body is done. The sleeves are only about 8 or 10 rows or something, so the sweater is really close! As this sweater has been chugging along, I’ve really been thinking about my other make nine pieces – specifically the Gypsum Skirt. I’m excited about this little spring outfit.

I had a bit of free time the other day so I really dug into pattern tracing and cutting out fabric. I’ll dive into more detail later, but I hoped to use the leftovers from the Metamorphic Dress to make the skirt, so I needed to cut that out first, which meant I needed to muslin the dress bodice before that… it was a rabbit hole but just the right kind to keep my mind focused and mindful during some quiet time. I didn’t even listen to music or a book, just enjoyed the quiet rhythm of my hands and the feel of the fabrics.

In all honesty, I love a fast project – I like the comfort of a mindless project to keep my hands moving. I’m working on learning to love slow projects as well. We’ll get there, slowly but surely. Today I’m grateful that crafting provides me the opportunity for both.

Happy {whatever speed you need} making!

Pink Fizz.

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I usually wind up frogging knit WIPs if they sit around too long, especially garments. My style, size, gauge, and life slowly have slowly but surely morphed a bit over the years and any one or more of those factors tend to lead me down the way of the frog if something hangs around. This one was different.

Here she is, my finished Pink Fizz! This project’s saving grace is the cozy, slouchy, oversized look that meant a little fudging in those factors up there doesn’t make too much of a difference. And boy is it cozy!

This is the Pink Fizz by Andrea Mowry, knit in Stress Knits Yarn in the colorway, Glow, in the Favorite and Halo bases held together. I knit the 48″ size and it came out a bit larger than that, it measures 28″ on one side, flat. Not sure if that was gauge changes but I strongly suspect I should have swatched the lace to see how much it grew – I think that’s where the extra width came from. I’m currently a 41″ bust, so you can see how much ease there is. The only modifications I made were to knit the body 2″ shorter than called for and the sleeves 3″ shorter than called for. I’m glad I did – everything is plenty long enough!

I started this project on December 27, 2020 and finished it on January 6, 2023 – it feels so good to have this one checked off and in my closet!

That lace pattern is really just a work of art. I wound up getting in a nice groove with it, not memorizable but it’s intuitive enough. And let’s not even get started on this color. This was the day one color for the 2020 Stress Knits advent calendar and it was definitely love at first sight.

This one turned out so cozy and comfy and warm – I’m in love.

Happy making!

Year of WIPs recap.

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Happy New Year’s Eve! This has become one of my favorite traditions, recapping the year in terms of my chosen theme or goal. I started the blog with a year of making and have come back to the “year of” idea the last couple of years. I’ve got a new idea brewing for 2023 but for now, let’s see how all those WIPs turned out. You can check out the original post here, but this is the list today:

Look at all those cross-offs! I wound up finishing 13 total WIPs. The list morphed a bit as I went: I found 3 projects that weren’t even on the original list and I frogged 3 projects. All in all, I started the year with 21 works in progress and I cleared 16 of them off my plate. I’ve been looking forward to piling everything up like I did last year, so here you go, all those finished WIPs:

Let’s take a closer look (with links to the original blog posts for details):

Granny’s Garden

2×4 Quilt

Homespun Quilt

Rainbow Quilt

Split 9 Patch Quilt

Log Cabin Mini

Clamshell Mug Rug

Wook Ewe be my Neighbor?

Kennecott

Yowza! Weight It Shawl

Habitation Throw

StressKnits Advent Socks

Opal Socks

The other 5 projects are in various states. I picked up the Norah Quilt a bit but it’s still only about 30% quilted. I did a bit more on my Fairytale Forest and I’ve got 5 blocks out of 25 done. I restarted the crochet blanket with a new pattern. The last standing cross stitch project has been pulled out of WIPdom. I want to make that project but I’m still not settled on a background color so it’s going back into planned projects. Finally, since I finished the last bit of quilt binding, I’ve been putting time into my Pink Fizz. I’m ready to pick up for the sleeves so I hope to have this one off the needles soon in the new year.

Well there you have it friends, a year of WIPs. I did want to add that I certainly started other projects throughout the year. This process kept me quite contentious of what I was starting though so I’m happy to say that I only have 2 2022 starts rolling over into the new year. I had an additional 19 projects finished that I started this year. Lots of socks and quite a few gifts in that mix. To come out of it all with only 6 projects on the go feels so freeing.

I think the biggest thing I learned this year is that I really prefer to focus on one primary project at a time. I’ve pondered this before, I think at one point I even wrote that big projects sit around until I decide to just dive in and finish them. That seems pretty intuitive so I’ve never given it much true thought. A few weeks ago my little brother mentioned something over Thanksgiving that really resonated with me about project-based time management. You commit your brain power to one project until it’s finished and then you move to the next project.

My professional life doesn’t really go that way but I think my making should. This started to become clear while I worked on the Granny’s Garden quilt. Working consistently on that project helped me get in and stay in the rhythm of it. I had floundered over and over trying to do a block a week or something. Committing to the process and pouring my focus into it made it flow for me. I did this over and over this year and it really made a difference. So much so that I wound up cancelling some planned block of the month projects and just saving all my Avonlea boxes. That’s one of my rollover projects but it’s time will come.

All in all, this was one of my favorite “year of’s” so far. Clearing out brain space and getting beautiful quilts and socks and makes in return is a great exchange.

Happy making!

Bound and determined.

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Buckle up y’all. I’ve been on a binding kick lately and I’m here to share what are probably my last finishes of the year. All of these projects were in my #yearofwips and bring my total up to 13 finishes.

First of all, if you read my post yesterday you saw me finish my oldest WIP. That left this one on the decade plus list:

My Split 9 Patch is complete! The full story is in a previous post and now it’s been quilted (by Wild Phil Quilting) and bound and all done. I found it awfully tough to choose backing and binding fabrics to go with this one. Joshua helped me pick the batik backing and then I just used a warm, rusty red Moda Grunge for the binding. I think it came together really nicely!

Next up, a quilt that’s never even been on the blog. I originally planned this to be a gift but it did not turn out the way I pictured it. Back when I first started knitting, it took me a long time to have a sense of how variegated yarn would knit up. Knitting a million pairs of socks really helped me train my eye and this quilt helped me think of fabric collections and precuts in a similar light.

I picked up two jelly rolls together to try the 2×4 quilt tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. I thought the print – Elizabeth Hartman’s Berry Season – and the solid – Laundry Basket Solids – would mix well and they do. It feels like a bit of a mishmash though. I’d probably prefer these fabrics in a quilt with a true background or even better, pared down to use a few of the colors. Don’t get me wrong, I do like that it’s a little autumnal and I’m happy to keep it for snuggling. The pattern is a gem – highly recommend and I’ll be revisiting it sometime as well.

I used one of the green mushroom prints for the backing and a dark green from the Laundry Basket Solids for the binding. Wild Phil Quilting quilted it with a sunny yellow thread which i really like. One other note, I’m trying to mix in machine binding for practice here and there and this one was a prime candidate. The other night, I set it out by the machine in preparation for early morning coffee and binding. When I got downstairs, the cat had lovingly left a big ole’ hairball right on the quilt. Needless to say, this one has already been through the wash and is nice and crinkly!

Next up, we’ve got a little more than binding to talk about and we’re scaling way down. If you recall, back in March I came across another old WIP that I hadn’t accounted for. It was a needle turn appliqué clamshell panel, which I tried pick up a few times this year and just kept putting it off. Till this week! Happy to report that I finished the appliqué and then since it was such a teeny thing, I went ahead and trimmed it down to mug rug size and got ready to quilt it. I grabbed a stray layer cake square and some bright pink perle cotton size 8 and went for it.

I’ll be honest here, needle turn is pretty challenging for me. I know I need practice and this little bit wasn’t really enough to master it. I love a lot of needle turn appliqué patterns though, so I’m going to have to get around to it more. I used the clamshell tutorial from my favorite fabric shop’s blog, Sunny Day Supply. Once I quilted it, I used some leftover binding and just finished it right up!

It’s so cute! I finished it at 8′ square. I’m so glad that I finally decided to get it done; I started this project in the summer of 2019. It will be my last finish of the year, bringing the full total to 13 projects done.

Now, for the moment that I’ve been waiting so long for. Inspiration struck in 2019 and I cut it out as soon as I got my fabric. Drumroll, please.

Granny’s Garden is all done! Here is the full view:

This is Granny’s Garden by Lori Holt in all Granny Chick fabrics – I used the kit and followed the pattern exactly. The full blog post is here. I sent this behemoth to Wild Phil Quilting for fully custom quilting and she did the most amazing job.

When I started this project, I had never tried appliqué. Talk about jumping in head first! I am so proud of this quilt.

I’ll be back on New Year’s Eve with a final #yearofwips round up. All these projects had a different story, a different journey, and taught me a bit about myself as a maker. One of my favorite parts of crafting is taking those journeys and then having that reminder around as a useful piece of art. Cheers, y’all.

#yearofwips projects finished: 13 of 18

Happy making!

Memory lane.

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Picture this: It’s early 2008: I am a young mom going to community college, living life with this cutie pie:

I decided to pick up a hobby and naturally looked to quilting. My mom had been a big sewist and quilter when I was a kid so I had a general grasp of the idea at least. I remembered a log cabin quilt we had and decided that would be the project for me. I had some crazy ideas back in those days, like machine sewn or quilted quilts look store bought and it’s got to be sewn by hand to be “authentic.” Let’s all take a moment and chuckle at that one. Anyway, mom tried to talk me down off this ledge but I was not to dissuaded. She helped me pick out some fabrics I went home and washed them and cut a whole bunch of 1.5″ strips. I don’t recall if I was following a pattern but I know mom gave me the skinny on making a log cabin block.

This was before I ever even knew about progress pictures or Instagram or anything like that, so bear with me. I took pictures this year and we can look at those. So I got started. I marked a quarter inch sewing line with pencil, sewed my seam, trimmed, and pressed. I used a simple running stitch.

Again, the strips are 1.5″ so the blocks finish (pretty consistently) at 6.5″.

I made a total of eight blocks and started another before I decided to follow mom’s advice and give the sewing machine a whirl. That wasn’t really a dream come true either and it would be eight more years before I finished my first quilt – you can read that story here. Anyway, my dreams of a hand pieced, hand quilted, hand everything’d quilt for my bed were set aside along with this quilt. In 2016, I pulled out all my old quilt stuff but I didn’t even touch these blocks since they were hand quilted. I’ve thought about destashing them so many times over the years but kept them around until this year, my year of WIPs.

I dug out this project and decided to assess the best path to victory. I am far less averse to the idea of hand-piecing today but the real detractor here is the color scheme. Tastes change over time and this project just doesn’t reflect my style anymore. With 8 blocks finished it seemed like a great candidate for a mini quilt. I had a couple of ideas for places that a small wall hanging in these colors might work so that seemed like the way to go. I played with a few layout options:

Before settling on a simple 3×3 mini that would finish at about 18.5″ square:

I just needed to finish that one last block and we’d be golden. Once I did that, I hand stitched the whole thing together and voila! a mini quilt top!

I had this baby basted and sitting around for quite a while but this last week of the year is a motivating time so I finished it up over a couple of days.

I love how it came out. I really don’t remember anything about these fabrics – I know there’s at least one Kaffe Fasset and one Amy Butler print, but that’s it. They were all pulled together from yardage at a quilt shop in Boone, NC that isn’t in business anymore.

I hand quilted it in a really simple on point grid with size 8 pearle cotton in a lovely gold that I seem to use for everything. I used a solid fat quarter from stash for the backing. Please excuse the cat hair, Cosi loves everything I make.

I don’t have anything in stash that really felt right for this so I just used a couple of strips that were for the quilt for binding. Since the strips were only 1.5″ I decided to try single fold binding for the first time – I am a fan! It came out so crisp and flat, great for minis or pieces that won’t get a lot of wear.

If there were one thing about quilting that I’d tell past Cortney it would be that finished is better than perfect. Visions and plans don’t always work out and that’s ok. Sometimes you frog the project and sometimes you decide to just call at nine blocks and be done. I am really pleased that I kept this WIP and got this little mini out of it. It’s nice to have a little piece of the first quilt project I ever started to hang on the wall.

#yearofwips projects finished: 12 of 19

Happy making!

Stop and smell the… projects?

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The blog and I have a complicated relationship. I love her, she’s a great listener when I feel like rambling and she’s the best at reminiscing. We just don’t hang out as much as we used to. Back when we first got together, we wrote together often and it felt great. Over the years I feel like I’ve lost my direction and wind up just dumping a bunch of FO photos on her every few months. This is something I’d like to focus on in 2023 – reflecting and documenting the process and not just the finished projects. It honestly sounds a bit silly but I really enjoy going back and reading through old posts. This is about as close to journaling as I’ve ever gotten and I want a bit more of it.

As we’re winding down (careening toward, more like) the end of the year, I’ve got a few posts planned to get you, me, and the blog all caught up and wrapped up. If you’ve been here before, dear reader, then you know as well I do that there’s a photo dump or two on the way. Let’s get to it.

First up in sock news, these were born out of frustration over the large number of OG socks that I need to darn. I’ll be doing some mending this winter but in the meantime, these squishy worsted weight socks are a bright and warm treat for my feet. I used Summer Lee’s Thicksgiving Socks pattern and the yarn is Knit Picks Felici Worsted in the Aquarium colorway.

While we were on Thanksgiving holiday, I cast on cuffs for advent socks. I used Stressknits yarn in the My Jam colorway, leftover from socks I knit a while ago, for mine. Mom’s cuffs are leftovers from my Zweig Sweater (scroll down for that one) – it’s the Endless Ocean colorway from Woolberry Fiber Co.

Since then, I started strong but got a bit behind. Mom’s are caught up to yesterday but I’m planning to finish mine over our Christmas holiday trip. I’m really digging the contrast colors with the fun stripes. This is the The Cozy Knitter 2022 24-Stripe Advent Skein. It comes in two 50g skeins and I split those in half to have 4 little balls of ~25g and 24 stripes each so that I can use up every milligram of this yarn.

Ta-da! You guys. This outfit is my dream. I’m so glad I went for it this fall. I saw a post on instagram with this general vibe – floral skirt, colorwork yoked sweater, tights, handknit socks, boots and was just in love. I had the yarn and fabric in stash and I was off to the races.

Sweater: Zweig by Caitlyn Hunter in (main) Endless Ocean colorway by Woolberry Fiber Co. and (contrast) Glacier colorway by Farmhaus Fibers. I wanted a more fitted garment than the oversize look in the original pattern, shocker, I know. My bust measures at 40.5″I knit the size 3 (40″). I also omitted the X pattern, knit the body 2″ shorter than called for, and added sleeve decreases in. Full modification details are over on my project page.

Skirt: Estuary Skirt by Sew Liberated. The fabric is a printed cotton poplin, purchased from Blackbird Fabrics. I cut straight size 16 but cut the back waistband elastic to the size 18 length. I just wanted a softer, easier wear than my first one. I think I prefer the longer elastic but may split the difference in my next one – and there will definitely be a next one. This skirt is amazing.

Other outfit pieces:
– Tights – Snag Tights which I highly recommend. Proportionally, most of me is in my legs and butt, and finding good hose and tights has always been a problem. Not only do these fit but they are actually opaque! Miracles
– Socks – knit earlier this year, Stressknits yarn in the Sunflower colorway
– Boots – I finally took the plunge and went for some real boots. These are the Captain from Thursday Boot Company in Walnut – I’ve had them for about 6 weeks now and just love them.

I finished before we left for Thanksgiving and this was my outfit for the big turkey day – even though it was a little warmer than expected down in North Carolina. This outfit was one of those times, rare for me, where I truly felt like myself. Expect more skirts and sweaters in this space.

It warmed my heart to get to spend some time with our families. 2022 has been a tough year and little things like a walk with my SILs just filled my cup. Plus, check out all that knitwear!

Once I finished those advent sock cuffs, I dove into my Pink Fizz sweater. I cast this one on right after Christmas in 2020 and it’s been mostly languishing since. I got a lot done on our Thanksgiving trip and right and got it to this point – split for the yoke and a few inches up the front panel. I had a lot of quilts to finish this month, plus the advent socks, plus some major personal stuff to focus on. This is on deck once the advent socks and quilts are done.

Speaking of quilt binding, at the beginning of December I had six quilts to bind. I’m now down to only two left! Cosi really bemoans the loss of this fluffy stack on the cutting table.

This beauty will get her own full post but I had to share a sneak peek. Granny’s Garden is done!

Three of the quilts I finished are gifts, so they’ll need to wait for their time in the sun. I’m currently working on finishing my Split Nine Patch quilt from yore.

Finally, and this is what I’m talking about when I’m a little discombobulated, my Exploration Station is done. I finished this shawl on August 28 and I just wove in the ends and blocked it a few weeks ago. Mom and I both cast these on back in June on our vacation. I used Red Stag Fibres Highland Fingering in Great Hall (dark pink) and Castle Suri in Gilded (gold), Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok Light in Quartz Crystal (light pink), and Hedgehog Fibers Kidsilk Lace in Teacup (white/cream). This pattern was honestly one of the most enjoyable knits I can recall. I might just knit another one.

I purchased the Red Stag Fibres and the Blue Sky Fibers yarn at A Likely Yarn in Abingdon, VA. If you are ever that way, they’ve got some fun local finds and the people are just so sweet. If southwest Virginia isn’t in your plans, they have just started an online store. That Hedgehog mohair was some deep stash that I dug out at home.

Happy Wednesday from my corner of the world to yours, friends.

Happy making!

Not exactly according to plan.

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This is my year of WIPs. One part of that has been to focus more on WIPs than on starting new projects and don’t get me wrong, I have done that. Mostly. I’ve completed 11/19 so far and then…

You know I started a few things. A gift, a shawl, some socks… and I’ve finished all those things! The gift is obviously not popping up here and I still need to weave in the ends on the shawl but the socks! I finished the socks!

These are Harriet’s socks, made for my mom’s dear friend Harriet. I used some long-hoarded lolodidit in the colorway “Don’t Stop Believin'” – I hear she likes them. I also finished the pink and yellow pair I was knitting back in the summer, but I didn’t take a picture of them… I’ll pop them on here some time.

Happily we had a lot of fun over the summer. We kind of turned over a new leaf – we went swimming a bunch and went kayaking a lot – it was great. My little brother and his wife came up and we took them out on the lake complete with coffee and cool breezes.

While the sibs were in town, I got out my crochet blanket and had a good think with my SIL. In the above shot, the bottom strip is my old WIP. One challenge with that pattern was that I struggled to get in a good rhythm with it as a newbie crocheter. We looked for a pattern that a bit more simple than that, but still different than my granny stripe blanket. I went with the Easy Eyelet Ripple Blanket by Attic24.

I’ve put a bunch more rows on and am now a good fifth of the way in or so. I’m not rushing on this one but I know I’ve picked a good pattern when it’s tempting to just pick it up and add one more row.

I’m thrilled to share this little beauty – a dear friend had a baby this fall and I sent this along for baby snuggles. This is the Trippy Quilt pattern by Southern Charm Quilts. I had never made a trip around the world quilt and this was a fun way to dip my toes in. I have to tell y’all, Melanie of Southern Charm has an online class for this pattern all about accuracy and I found it so helpful! This is certainly not my first quilt but her tips and tricks are amazing! I highly recommend trying it out to learn about quiltmaking or just to brush up on your skills.

I machine quilted it myself and really love how that came out. And last, but not least at all, I tried big stitch quilting for the first time.

How sweet is that? Once I got going this was a joy. I used a perle cotton #8 and just went for it. I am really looking forward to adding this detail to other projects.

Speaking of binding, I picked up the Granny’s Garden quilt and bound exactly one corner of it and put it back down. If you’ve been around here for any amount of time, you know that binding tends to languish for me even though I like the finishing process. I’ve got a stack of four quilts (with two at the long-armer) to bind before the end of the year – I really don’t want them laying around after that. Send motivation!

One thing I’ve really learned this year is how much I enjoy a leader/ender project. If you’re unfamiliar, some quilters, including yours truly, have a practice to “sew over scraps” at the end of a line of sewing. This helps keep your thread from nesting and tangling when you start the next line. These scraps are often called leaders and enders and since you’re already taking the time to sew a few more inches, it’s a good opportunity to make that a real seam for a real block. I did this for my Split 9 Patch quilt over a few months and now I’ve moved on to using my Betsy 9 Patch pieces in the same way. I went on a tear a couple of weeks ago and cut all the pieces and finished up my in-progress blocks.

Pleased as punch that I went with pink – these are coming out great.

I have discovered a terrifying trend… my socks are really starting to wear out. Mine apparently wear most at the ball of the foot and now I have a big pile of darning. I’m thinking of having a little bit of cozy darning weekend over the holidays or in the new year, but in the meantime I’ve decided to start to cast on some socks. These were the first on that list and are first for me – worsted weight socks! I’m using Knit Picks Felici Worsted in the Aquarium colorway.

So all of that brings us to the current state of affairs. I was very inspired by an outfit post on instagram with a floral skirt and handknit sweater that just spoke to me. Around the same time, my craft friends were all talking about knitting the Zweig sweater and I had been resisting but this combination was too much for me to resist. I went to my stash…

I was so excited by this pull that I immediately swatched and cast on the next day.

Now about a week and a half later we’re really cooking with gas.

Can you stand it? This is the Zweig sweater by Caitlin Hunter. I’m using Woolberry Fiber Co in Deepest Ocean for the main color (dark green) and Farmhaus Fibres in Glacier (light blue). I haven’t picked anything up for a moment since.

Well, there you have it. Not as much #yearofwips progress as I’d have been expecting here in November, but the heart wants what the heart wants. And mine wants a new outfit for Thanksgiving.

Happy making!

I guess you can technically throw it.

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One thing I’ve learned in quilting is that I like a pretty specific size when it comes to throw size. Some patterns come in quite small and some quite large. I’d go large if I had to, but for me, the perfect size is around my wingspan wide and around my height long. Just right for snuggling under. My latest finished object is not exactly that big.

This is the Habitation Throw – a pattern by Helen Steward of Curious Handmade. Now, please don’t get me wrong – I knew going in that this would be small and let’s be honest, I have no interest in knitting a blanket that’s any bigger. I really enjoyed this project but I did have a bit of an existential crisis somewhere around the halfway point. I started thinking about my blanket preferences and contemplated making it double size to get to full on throw blanket status.

But then I thought about how chilly my shoulders get sometimes when I’m snuggled up with a quilt but working on something with my hands – and there was the answer. It’s a Throw (around your shoulders) Blanket. Do you have these internal battles with yourself? Sometimes I wind up scrapping a project like this when it’s not meeting my expectations, but sometimes I can reframe and get to a happy place.

I’m glad we made it to a happy place because this guy is pretty sweet. I used the Stress Knits Yarns 2021 advent calendar minis and the Christmas day full skein. I weighed each mini before I attached it and used about 10g before ending with a wrong side row and switching colors. I used a bit extra of the last skien of yarn but I had planned it that way.

This completes another Year of WIPs finish! I’m feeling well on track with this goal and really loving getting things completed. Finishing things really is just as fun as starting them… almost.

#yearofwips projects finished: 7 of 19

Happy making!

I changed my mind.

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My Dad always used to tell a story about me as a very small child, ordering ice cream. I switched my order while we were waiting in line and then was all surprised – “I changed my mind!” – as though it hadn’t occurred to me that I could do such a thing. Many years later and I’ve just had a similar experience. I changed my mind.

I’ve been stitching away on my first cross stitch project for the year of WIPs. As I’ve gotten closer to finishing one, of course I started thinking about the others. Of the four projects, two happen to be Halloween themed. I used to just love Halloween but I’ve moved away from that these days. I’ve been worrying quite a lot about what I’d do with two sizeable Halloween cross stitch pieces that are hardly started.

And then it dawned on me… I can change my mind! Thinking back a few years ago, I challenged myself to a WIP wipeout – I made a big list of projects and either finished or frogged them all. Things change and you fall out of love and that’s ok. I’ve decided to frog the Halloween cross-stitches. I can reclaim the fabric for another project down the line and devote that time to something I do love.

I’ve been worrying about what this means for the year of WIPs but it’s my year, right? Crossing off is crossing off. These guys won’t be taking up brain or drawer space anymore. Speaking of crossing off…

I finished it! This was much faster than expected, especially after I got started. I felt like it was going so slowly. It only took 11 days of working on this in the evenings and we’re all done. This pattern is from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. I purchased this kit back in 2017-ish and started it soon after purchase. It’s hard to see in pictures, but the linen is actually sparkly – so sweet.

I stitched in hand back in the day, so I finished this one in the same fashion. I don’t know how I feel about that method, I think I’ll try my next project with a hoop. It was all crinkly so I gave it a good press today and voila! ready to go the framer.

I suppose this is technically 3 projects off the list, but I’m going to adjust the total (AGAIN). We’re really moving along! I’ve done a lot of hand stitching of late so I think I’ll pick up some knitting next. Can’t stray too far from my first love, can I?

I encourage you to put your energy into projects that you love. It’s ok to frog something, reclaim the materials for yourself or a friend or even to donate. Sometimes it feels great to change your mind!

#yearofwips projects finished: 6 of 19

Happy making!

2 steps forward and 1 step back.

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Greetings! January was a bit of a blur with some big work stuff, so I’m rather pleased to see February come around. I’ve been working hard at work and appliqué, I’m rather pleased to share.

One thing that really held me back on my progress with this quilt has been prepping the blocks. It actually takes quite a lot get all the pieces ready and basted for appliqué. I’ve started committing my early mornings to this prep work each day. I get up with the kids, but they are pretty much self sufficient at this point so I really just make coffee for myself and give hugs as they leave. Since they’re up so early, I have a good hour each morning to myself, which has just been amazing.

Bit by bit, I’m making progress. I just love this little teeny flower. Up this close, you can tell that there is nothing perfect about my work here. But I’m letting it be and taking my flowers as they come. Let me tell you, though – the overall affect is pretty spectacular! I started sewing up the rows as I planned to, and now that we’re over half way there, I’m more motivated than ever.

Ugh, it’s so good! I’m up to block 34 now I think – there’s another row to sew on and then I’ve only got 9 more blocks. And then the border… but I’ll think about that another day. As work really ramped up towards the end of January, I fell off with appliqué just a bit and focused on another project instead.

These socks had been my “hands too tired for sewing but not for knitting” project for a while, so I finally buckled down and finished them. These are my scrappy advent socks from the holidays, all made from the Stress Knits 2021 advent calendar. I knit 5 rows from each mini, and slipped every 4th stitch in an alternating pattern on the first row of each color. I wish I hadn’t done the slipped stitch pattern, it’s so subtle it almost makes the stripes look a bit messy. I finished off with the 25th day skein for the last bit of the foot and the toe. They are sweet and scrappy, and super squishy.

That’s WIP 3 of 18 done! I think that’s pretty good for the first month of the #yearofwips, but I have some confessions to make. The first is a planned project start – this year’s block of the month from DuckaDilly.

Can’t you just?! It’s another log cabin quilt and I’ve just started but my goodness. It’s a beautiful pattern called Avonlea, and you guessed it – all in Liberty. This doesn’t go on the WIP list, but I do want to keep up with it this year.

Now for the real confession – I found another WIP. I had kind of forgotten about them, but starting the Avonlea quilt reminded me of an old log cabin project I had buried in my mind and in the move, apparently. I did some digging, had a bit of a panic when I couldn’t find it, and dug some more before…

I found it. We can talk about the full story when I start working on this, but let’s just say there are 8 completed HAND PIECED log cabin blocks there and a million 1.5 inch strips. Let that sink in and we’ll get to the real kicker. When I found this project in ziploc bags under a bunch of batting scraps in a box in the back of the closet, there were other ziploc bags underneath…

Yeah. That’s another quilt, cut out and waiting. There are approximately 1000 squares. The practice blocks aren’t actually the right pattern, but more on that when we get there. Let me repeat – 1000 squares.

If you’re keeping track – that’s an additional 2 more WIPs that we didn’t account for. These both date back more than a decade, so they definitely count towards the #yearofwips. 3 of 20 is still pretty good, right?

In all of this hubbub, my sister-in-law had a birthday so I made her a thing.

This is the Take Along Tote by Sometimes Sewing made up in some gorgeous Rifle Paper Co. canvas. This is the fourth one I’ve made and they just get easier. Sewing these up is a snap and I can say that I jut love mine – the finished product is a great piece. I used a soft pinky cream print, also from Rifle Paper Co., for the lining and some oatmeal cotton webbing for the handles.

After making up that bag, I gave myself permission to start new projects. One major criteria for new ideas making the cut in the #yearofwips will be gifts. I’m not planning to start anything new in a category I already have going – I’m looking at you, pink socks – but gifts are an exception.

With that, Cosi and I hd a wee fabric pull for a new quilt for mom. He loves our choices very much. You won’t see much on this one for a long while, of course, but it will be quietly in the background.

Well, that’s it. I’ve made a whole lot of progress and piled a bit more on my plate. I don’t imagine that anyone is surprised. I’m enjoying everything that I’m giving time to, and that’s the most important thing.

#yearofwips projects finished: 3 of 20

Happy making!