Happy May, y’all! Spring has sprung for real around here. I’m finally planting my back porch containers planted and I’ve been enjoying beautiful evening walks after work. May is one of (and might just be) my favorite months. The weather here in Maryland is perfect, everything is in bloom, and of course the month culminates in the birthday of one of my favorite people. School is winding down and the anticipation of summer is at it’s peak. Mother’s day was last weekend and my sweet child treated me to the nicest evening with a fun dinner out and a lovely walk around the lake.
Of course, not to be forgotten, the first weekend in May is the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. On Saturday, I went with a dear friend:
We had a blast talking, petting sheep, and just generally enjoying a sunny day surrounded by fiber friends. On Sunday, I went back with Astra:
We had a blast too! I think we looked at every stall!
This is Astra’s haul – yarn for hats, some charms, custom made earrings (the lady made them right there in front of us!), and of course, some goodies from The Bee Folks. The yarn here is – (pink/black) A Hundred Ravens NTOA base in the Styx colorway and (blue/black) Canon Hand Dyes William Merino DK base in the Neon Rainbow: Poolside & Black (2 color stripes) colorway.
And here’s my two day yarn haul. I also picked up some honey from a few local apiaries – The Bee Folks and Snyder’s. The yarn is (left-right) Canon Hand Dyes Bruce Yak Fluff in Naked Bruce and Beatrix Alpaca Silk in Fuzzy Bunny, Feederbrook Farm Entropy DK in Qu, and Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm Squishy Sock in Longbottom Leaf. The grey and purple are all destined to be a Rad Plaid Cowl – a fun new pattern by Andrea Mowry that I can’t wait to cast on.
Speaking of knitting – I’ve got a few projects to share! I’ve finished two of my make nine projects so far and only just taken nice pictures of them – look for posts on those projects soon.
My next make nine start is the Mount Pleasant top. I’m knitting it in Backyard Fiberworks Prairie in Shell. This is my second attempt. I decided not to swatch because I’ve recently knit two sweaters on the same weight yarn at the same gauge. I got about 3 inches into the body before realizing it was coming out way too big, so I frogged it and started over. I’m now only a few inches from the sleeve separation – I can’t wait to wear this over the summer!
I’m on the home stretch of these sweet little socks – I used the Blueberry Waffle pattern (a fantastic free sock pattern) and this is a Woolberry Fiber Co. sock set in Moody Pumpkin.
Last but not least, we watched The Fellowship of the Ring and so I cast on a pair of socks for movie knitting. you can tell that we haven’t watched the next movie yet because there isn’t much done on this sock. This is A Homespun House yarn in Hobbitses. Fitting, right?
There you have it, a peak into what I’ve been up to this spring. I hope you are having a little sunshine wherever you are in the world.
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.
From time to time, I find myself looking back over a particular year of making. Something will spark my memory or interest and I’ll reread the blog or scroll through my instagram grid and reminisce. I found myself deep in the long ago of 2018 Cortney’s making adventures the other day and came across my finished Make Nine from that year. There’s just something about a little grid of completed projects that is so satisfying.
The idea got to rolling around in my head and I pondered doing one this year. Of course it would all need to come from stash but I’m not really hurting on that front. In all of this mulling over I had the thought that nine items could be a bit of a mini-capsule wardrobe. I’ve got some patterns in my library that have been waiting for me to try them out as well, so… I went stash diving, as one does.
I started with a pretty big initial pull and edited from there (something I am learning in quilting). I pulled everything in my apparel fabric stash that went in this mauve, purple, olive, mustard palette and that felt right together. By that I mean, the fabrics themselves are all soft knits and sturdy but drapy wovens – no fluid challis here. The yarns came from sweater and shawl quantities that seemed to work with these fabrics.
I arranged and futzed and thought and looked at patterns and thought some more and then, after one terrifying moment where I considered doing two make nines, I made some decisions. The plan:
Gypsum Skirt by Sew Liberated in a 30/70 linen viscose blend from Blackbird Fabrics in “Wysteria” (planned for leftovers from Metamorphic Dress)
Stasia Dress / Tee by Sew Liberated – here’s we’re things get a little hinky – This pattern has a tee option and a dress option, I want to do both so I’ll likely start with the tee as a bit of a muslin/test case and then go on to the dress. I’ve got a handful of stretchy knits from all over the place so if I like the pattern, I might make multiples.
And there you have it! Nine projects to make one dreamy, cozy wardrobe of layered dreams. I’ve already started my first project! After my Pink Fizz, I was just itching to start another sweater so I did! This is my Zelda Crop – so pretty already!
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.
Well, we’re really getting into January and I’ve already been getting into my stash and doing even more dream-making.
Over holiday break and last week, I really focused on my Pink Fizz sweater. I also dug out my Madewell Cardigan, which I hadn’t worn in ages, and between working on a sweater and wearing one, my mind has been churning. I think it won’t be too long until I just can’t stand it anymore and start another sweater project.
I did manage to finish this one last Friday night, so there is a lovely late night bathroom picture for you. It’s a bit more oversized than I had in mind but maybe that’s what I get for finishing it 2 years after I started it.
It has been a bit chilly in the sunroom where I block knits so that sweater isn’t quite photo ready yet. Once I got it off the needles, I had been planning to pick up my Norah quilt to finish it’s hand quilting but… I just wasn’t ready for another big project. All my current WIPs are big projects so I headed down to the stash and came up with a new sock project.
I’ve finished the first sock and am nearly done with the cuff of the second. After having only worked on advent socks last month, it was just satisfying and gratifying to knit a whole sock in a weekend. This yarn is from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm and is their Corriedale base in the colorways Gathering Eggs (main) and Golden Hen (contrast).
The amazing Tera of The Quilting Smith – she’s the amazing longarm quilter who did my Green Gables and Homespun quilts – is releasing her first quilt pattern in February and I am honored to be testing it with a fun group of quilters. I spent a very long time on my fabric pull – this quilt could be made up in so many amazing ways! – but settled on this one:
I did edit the pull just a bit once I got into cutting but this is still the color scheme. I am quite happy – I even used my color wheel! Since I’ve been focusing on the sweater, I decided to just work on this bit by bit in the mornings. I tend to get up pretty early and like to take some time to myself before work starts up. Lately, I’ve just been putting a half hour into this project which slowly but surely keeps me rolling.
This morning I worked on trimming up my flying geese, which is not my favorite task but it’s not too bad in half hour chunks. I’m getting close to block construction so I’m thinking I’ll focus on this quilt over the long weekend. I’ve got a few kid commissions that I’ve been promising for a while, so those are probably up next after the test quilt is finished. On that list is a weighted blanket – check back here to see how that goes!
I also wanted to share these two beautiful books that I’ve been eyeing for some time and finally picked up. They are incredibly inspiring to flip through, the projects are just gorgeous. I think something will need to come out of each of these this year and I can’t wait.
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.
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.
Well friends, it finally happened. I got COVID. I’m staying tucked away in the house, nice and isolated, which isn’t the worst thing since we’re smack dab in the middle of this east coast heat wave. 99 degrees F outside? No thank you. Thankfully, I’m vaxed and boosted so even though I feel poorly, it’s like a bad cold.
As I sit here on the couch all day, I’ve realized that I’ve hardly posted to the blog at all! You know what that means – less text, more pictures! Cue up your 80s music, it’s montage time!
First off, I finished up my travel socks – these are in Stress Knits Yarn in the Sunflower colorway.
I finished my other travel socks – these are in A Homespun House in the Sugared Sweeties colorway
Last sock finish – Mom’s Mother’s Day socks. I knit these out of some Norah George Yarns in Apple Blossom – pretty deep stash from at least 4 years ago.
Kevin and I went up to Boston for a concert and I cast on another pair of travel socks. This is their current state, but it’s been a bit since I’ve worked on them. The yarn is A Homespun House again – main color is Pastel Paint Princess and the contrast is Marigold.
In early June, I took a little trip with my Mom. I had planned to make us both dresses, but only hers were successful. And really only one of hers was successful. This is the Popover Dress from the book Gertie Sews Jiffy Dresses. I just didn’t love the finished product on me and I made one of mom’s dresses a bit too small. Anyway, the green and purple one turned out great and mom loved it! She’s such a cutie patootie!
We really had a blast. We took walks, had port in the library every evening, and generally enjoyed just having lots of time together. Oh, and we went yarn shopping.
That’s about how far we got on the trip. Once we got home, I became obsessed. I have loved knitting this shawl. I made one yarn substitution, switching out the beige. All my current colorways are listed on my Ravelry project page.
This is the current state of the shawl, about halfway through the third section – so enjoyable.
I tried to balance shawl knitting with hand quilting my Norah Quilt, but it really didn’t last.
Continuing in the world of log cabins, I put together another month’s worth of blocks for my Avonlea quilt.
Next, I took a quick interlude to bind these two beauties, which you can read about here and here.
Looking for another quick finish on the #yearofwips, I finished hand piecing one final block for this ancient (oldest WIP I own) log cabin project. I hand pieced the blocks together and voila!
It’s a mini quit top! It’s currently sitting all basted and ready to go for some hand-quilting, which I just haven’t gotten to. Quick finish, right.
Not feeling like hand quilting, I picked up some this WIP. Needle turn applique is still pretty slow for me and I haven’t gotten any momentum going on this project, either.
Last but not least in this little train of get out the project and promptly put it down – we have Fairytale Forest. I finally decided to trim and assemble all the blocks I had done – a whopping 6 of 25.
They are pretty, though aren’t they? I am looking forward to getting back into this one.
You may be wondering what on earth I’ve been really been doing with all this a little bit here and a little bit there. Well, I have been working on these socks – they’re a secret gift so I can’t spill who they’re for – in some mega deep stash (dare I say 6 or 7 years old?) from lolodidit in the colorway Don’t Stop Believing.
I’ve also been obsessed with this quilt I’m making for mom. She knows I’m making it and has even picked out some of the fabrics, but that’s it so this is about all I can show you. Cosi really likes how the quilt is turning out and he’s helped a lot.
And there you have it folks – months of making in a flurry of pictures. I hope you are having a great weekend and until next time!
Happy spring! I am writing from my hotel room in New York City, I’ve got some downtime during my work trip and thought I’d better write before I finish all my trip knitting in one go.
You may recall that I cast on a new pair of socks for my trip to Charlotte back in February. I’ve kept them solidly to travel knitting since, but they are coming along. I just adore that color – Sunflower by Stress Knits Yarn.
After I finished my Habitation Throw, I had a craving for more knitting. I decided to just pick out something happy and speckly and here we are. This is Sugared Sweeties by A Homespun House. I powered through that first sock before I decided it was time to pick back up on one of my year of wips projects. Since the last two were pretty easy wins, it felt like the right time to go back to a project that’s a bit bigger and more challenging.
That’s right, I’m back to hand quilting. I’ve finally started to get my rhythm going with hand quilting on this full size quilt. It’s been a real struggle in the past, I’ve tried a bunch of different techniques and none have really felt right. It is definitely not perfect, not even particularly neat, but it’s coming along and that’s what counts in my book. I do want to try to get the stitches a bit smaller but no bother. I’ve got a fair chunk done now!
Isn’t it great? Speaking of quilting, I have a sneak peek for you! Just before I left for this trip, I got my Granny’s Garden quilt back from the long armer – it’s so amazing!
That’s pretty much it for today. I’ve made a good bit of sock progress since I took those pictures last weekend so how about one more update before we go?
Nothing like a rainy evening in the big apple to cuddle up with some cozy sock knitting.
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.
Knit 1, Make 2 