Tag: sweater

Catch-all.

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As I’ve started thinking about my end of year review and next year’s plans, I realized that there a few projects that never made it to the blog. Some are finished objects and some WIPs and a few gifts that have now been gifted. Back in the dim and misty receses of the past, one of my goals with this blog was to keep up with all my makes, so what proceeds is a bit of a catch-all to start wrapping up the year.

Way back in September, I pulled out a skein of yarn and thougth that it looked perfect for Kevin’s mom. I knit up a pair of socks for her and mailed them to her for Christmas. Jackie reports they are nice and toasty. The yarn is Plies & Hellhounds in the Isaac base, a 100% Polwarth yarn. The colorway is “I’ve Been Looking For You” – I think it was one of her 2019 advent colorways. The name is a line from A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas and I just can’t with it.

If we’re going chronologically, I also knit this hat for Kevin over the fall. It was a Christmas gift so the cat’s out of the bag and I can share it here. The pattern is the Tillage Hat by Jared Flood, knit out of Brooklyn Tweed Ranch 02 in the Curlycup colorway. Ranch 02 is one of their single batch releases and is 100% American Rambouillet, let me tell you – it’s a joy to knit with.

Moving right along with another gift for Kevin, this one was part of his advent calendar. Kevin is our D&D group’s amazing dungeon master, so I wanted to gift him something fun. I had some fits and starts with this one and couldn’t find a good pattern for a D20 like I wanted. I wound up self drafting this first as a paper pieced pattern which failed miserably. I went back to the drawing board and wound up machine appliqueing it and I think it turned out quite nicely.

Now for the big guns, I finished my Quilter’s Cottage quilt! This one had been kicking around waiting for me to finish the binding for a while. I am immensely proud of this quilt. The pattern is by Lori Holt and I used the quilt kit to make mine. This was my first finished Lori Holt quilt, and boy am I ever obsessed! Her techniques and instructions really make it so easy to make a beautiful quilt.

Of course, my hat is off to Nicole of Kwilt It! for another example of her beatuiful work. The quilting really makes it come to life. I used some of the fun “cheater cloth” fabric from this fabric line for the backing and it is just perfect!

You may recall from an earlier post that I was knitting on a few advent projects. These socks were my first advent finish, I knit up the toes on Christmas Eve. This was The Cozy Knitter‘s 2020 Advent Stripe, and I knit 1 stripe each day of advent. The only time I “worked ahead” was to add in the heels a few days before the 24th. It was a nice and quiet process to knit these one stripe at a time, but a bit odd. I’m used to just zooming through stripey socks in the “just one more stripe” fashion!

Speaking of advent, I was also knitting a lovely Dust of Snow wrap with my minis from the Stress Knits advent calendar. I started out using some scrap mohair and promptly ordered a couple more skeins to finish the project with. Much to my chagrin, I ran out of mohair yarn about 8 days before the rest of it arrived. After a couple of days of letting the minis pile up, I decided to channel The Crazy Sock Lady and start another pair of advent socks. I striped the minis myself, knitting 5 rows per mini. Once I got through all 24, I just finished the pair out with the Christmas day skein and Voila! Another pair of advent socks were complete.

I mentioned in my Year of Christmas wrap up that I had made the whole family some pj pants, well here we all are! I received a tripod and remote for Christmas, so we had a bit of fun goofing off and taking family pics on Christmas morning. This pattern is the Walk the Plank PJ Pants, free from Patterns for Pirates. Astra and Joshua are both wearing smalls in (very) different lengths – I think Astra’s are 26″ and Joshua’s are 35″. I’m wearing a medium and Kevin is wearing a large, both in 30″. They are super comfy and warm in toasty fleece and cozy flannel.

Finally, Astra got to open the Minecraft quilt! She was sooooo surprised, it was hilarious. You can see the whole making process, including a peek at the ender dragon on the back in a super secret post from the summer. Once again, this was quilted by Nicole of Kwilt It! and she did a great job as usual. I love how this came out. It’s a really fun project and it’s even better that this kid liked it so much.

Last but not least, I cast on a new sweater. Don’t ask why, but I felt like it after Christmas, so I did. This is the barest beginnings of the hem, but I’m already enamoured. I’m knitting Pink Fizz by Andrea Mowry in Stress Knits Yarn, Favorite and Halo bases held together. The colorway is Glow and it was the day 1 advent colorway. I knew from the first minute that I’d need a sweater in that gorgeous coppery pink, so here we are.

Well, I think that does it. I’ll be back later in the week with some goals for the coming year. It’s a busy time on the blog this week, so be sure to stay tuned!

Happy making!

Tying up loose ends.

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It’s that time of year again, my friends. The air turns crisp (sort of, it’s Maryland after all), we’ve got pumpkins galore, and Christmas and New Year’s are nearly here. Now I know that sounds a bit crazy at the beginning of October but bear with me.

I tend to try to accomplish two goals towards the end of the year: knit holiday gifts and finish up WIPs. I like to have clean needles (of the knitting and sewing variety) come January, to varying degrees of success over the years. The crafty readers among you will know that this is no short order. It all takes time, and sometimes lots of it.

I spent a hot minute evaluating the current state of affairs: I’ve got a few long-really long-term projects going, several rather quick wins, holiday gifts, and a couple of upcoming projects. I’m limiting the new starts to the essentials, but there will be a few new projects coming down the line. With that, I was ready to finish up the projects that were just about done.

Anyway, I just dove right in and got started. Binding is kind of at the top of the list. I’ve gotten Astra’s Minecraft Quilt back from the quilter but I need to figure out how to finish that one in secret. The kid’s Christmas quilts will be back soon, so they’ll go on the binding pile as well. But I did have one project that’s been sitting around for months and I finally just up and did it.

It’s a tree skirt! I started this project back in January and just now got around to finishing it. This is the Joyful Jelly Roll Tree Skirt by Fat Quarter Shop – the top comes together pretty quickly with a whole lot of strip piecing. There are a lot of bias edges as you go which did give me some fuss, but I think the finished project turned out just fine.

I used a jelly roll in Little Tree by Lella Boutique, with Moda Bella Solids in Green Apple. I’m typically all about a fun backing but this one is going on the floor, so a solid seemed the way to go. The bias binding is also a Moda Bella Solid in a red I can’t recall. Nicole of Kwilt It! did a great job with the quilting. I’m kind of glad I waited to finish this because I wound up machine binding it. Knowing our cats, I feel as though this one might need to be washed a million times so we need durability on those edges.

If you follow me on instagram, you might have seen that I’ve been sewing along on the Quilter’s Cottage quilt by Lori Holt. I finished ahead of schedule, but have been waiting and waiting for a sunny day to get good picture that does it justice. Finally!

I really, truly enjoyed this project. It was so much fun to build each block step by step. I’m probably most proud of the cottage, so so cute! I used the kit, all in fun Vintage Happy 2 fabrics. Now I’ve got to ship it out to Nicole, and then it will go back on the list for binding.

Take a look at the left most quilt on the “clothesline” – cute, huh? Well the fun thing about that one is the method in the pattern makes a duplicate of each unit. Add to that the bonus pillow pattern that uses those hourglass blocks and I bet you can see where I’m going…

Cute, right? I love this pillow! I used up some scraps from the Quilter’s Cottage quilt and some Lori Holt stash to put this one together in an evening. It’s called the Quilter’s Quarters pillow; it finishes at 24.5″ square and has an envelope back. It’s as big as my chair but boy does it make for a cozy spot.

My final finish of this recent little flurry is my Waiting for Henry socks. I just cannot. They are so pretty! This is a pattern by Tabitha Gandee, I knit them up in the Eloise sock kit from Stress Knits. The main color is Eloise; contrast 1, heels, and toes is Sunflower; and contrast 2 is Pillowmint. This pattern was a joy and I love how they turned out!

Once these were done, I turned my attention to some holiday knitting. That will, as usual, stay secret but things are moving along. I’ve got one other project I’d like to finish up by the end of the year and it’s about 1/2 complete. Buckle your seatbelt, we’re going way back to the very, very start of lockdown when I cast on a sweater. The body is complete but we still need sleeves and a collar. It’s really been lanquishing, but I think I’m about ready to pick it back up again.

Well, that about does it for the end of the year plan. As the weather has gotten cooler it’s starting to feel a bit more natural to be holed up at home. Astra even had the idea to pretty up the front of the house with some fall flowers and pumpkins. We had a fun afternoon at the local produce stand and decorating outside. I’m usually doing quite a bit of travel in the fall, so this is a nice change of pace. Silver linings, eh?

Happy fall, y’all!

and happy making!

One month later…

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Well, I’d venture to say it’s been a fairly crazy March for us all. Four weeks ago today, I arrived in Denver for my organization’s annual meeting and it was canceled that evening. It’s been crazy with work ever since, and now I’m working from full time with the kids and Kevin all in the house. I know it’s a crazy, scary, uncertain time for many. I’ve been really finding joy and comfort in the simple motion of my hands creating things, so I thought we’d have a little photo montage of the last month.

My only finished object since we last spoke, and I don’t really have a picture of it! I need to attach the pompom and take some real photos, but the knitting on my Skiff is all finished up.

I’ve put a bit of work into these socks but not much. I still don’t have much drive to knit patterned socks, but these are sooo pretty that I really want to finish them. One day. The pattern is Rhinebeck Roomies by Crazy Sock Lady.

My first cast on of the month was the Calan Mai cowl. I completely misread the pattern and had to rip back about 3 inches, but now we’re moving on it.

I finally decided to frog my Prim socks, I spoke about my dislike of the yarn base last post. I dug some trusty 80/20 out of my stash in these fun stripes and they kind of zoomed for a while. This is Gynx Yarn (a retired yarn dyer) in the Magical Girl colorway.

Completely out of character for me, it seemed that two pairs of socks weren’t quite enough so some Christmas socks went on the needles! This is Once Upon A Corgie Handmade in the Marie Cutie base (a squishy corriedale nylon blend) in the Christmas like it’s 1882 colorway.

In this flurry of startitis, I also managed to cast on a sweater! I’m knitting the Rosemont Cardigan in Quince & Co. Lark in the Pea Coat colorway. I’m looking for a cozy go-with-everything cardigan and I think this fits the bill.

And then last weekend, I finally finally finally finished up my Happy Christmas quilt top. I’m so pleased with how it came out! This is a pattern from Maker Valley, and I got the scrappy kit from her as well. This cutie is out getting quilted and I can’t wait to get it finished up.

Once I was in the sewing room, I haven’t been able to leave much. I decided to throw together a cute little mug rug for my #yearofchristams plans and this one came together pretty quickly. It’s a single block from Lori Holt’s granny square inspired quilt pattern. I used random scraps of Lori Holt fabric and I think it’s just precious!

While I was at it in the sewing room yesterday, I finally, months and months later, attached the binding to my Arithmetic quilt. Now I’m ready for my favorite part of quilt making, hand sewing the binding!

Last, but certainly not least, I’ve been rather obsessed with my Granny Stripe blanket. I figured out a few weeks ago that is way wider than I intended. That discouraged me for a while with how long it might take. I had a really inspiring talk with Kevin the other night about the process of my making and now I just can’t stop. I’m really enjoying the rythm and the slow progession.

Well. that’s it in pictures. I’ve been kind of all over the place these days with making all sorts of things — I’ve even picked up my applique a few times! — but I’m letting it take me wherever my heart and hands need to go.

Wherever you are, be well and happy making!

The final score: WIP Wipeout 2019

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Way back in June, I took a long hard look at all of my works in progress. I pulled them all out, posted them on the blog, and challenged myself to finish them off by the end of the year. Well, friends, the end of the year is here. How’d I do?

Completely, totally, all finished:

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Jelly Roll Twist Quilt

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Dresden Mini #1

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Layer Cake Pop Quilt

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Lumen

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Quilted Notions Pouch

Overdyed Mathilde

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Dresden Mini #2

4-Patch Hearts Mini Quilt

Rose City Rollers

Ugly Christmas Sweater Socks

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No Frills Sweater

Circular Sock Machine Socks #2

Circular Sock Machine Socks #3

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Divi Divi Shawlette – after a coffee incident on a plane, this baby got frogged

Kinda finished:  (Off my mental list, but something still needs to be done with them in the physical world, i.e. these need to be frogged)

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Dammejaka Lopa – The verdict is in, we’re going to frog this one. It’s way too big for me and I even sent it to a knitty friend and it wasn’t right for her either. I don’t know if I’ll knit the same thing with the same colors, but I do need to reclaim the yarn.

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Circular Sock Machine Socks #4 – The orange/yellow/black/green tube is very, very wonky. Not sure what happened, but I’m going to try to reclaim the yarn.

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Swirl Dress – This version is just going to have to be scrapped. I’m going to toile the bodice but haven’t. I had thought I could salvage this version, but I don’t think that will work. The fabric can be used for something else, but probably not just to redo this dress.

Axed projects – yep, I still didn’t frog this yarn. One day, probably.

Unfinished, not touched, not no how, not no way:

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Julgran – To be quite honest, I have not been taking great care of myself and the result of that is a definite lack of enthusiasm for knitting a fitted sweater.

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Beauty School Top – ditto to the Julgran. The yarn is frogged and ready to go, but I haven’t cast it back on for the same reason.

Ok, so all in total, thats 14 out of 20 finished. If I were in school, I’d be passing, but barely. Add in the “not frogged” items and that get’s me up to a respectable 18 of 20. Not too shabby. I also started 16 new projects and finished 9 of them. That makes my net progress for the second half of the year 27/36 = 75%. Not too shabby.

I listened to a podcast recently about embracing your WIPs as creative opportunities. One thing I learned over the course of this challenge is that starting something new can be daunting. I don’t love the mental clutter of having tons of stuff hanging around, but it’s also fun to be able to pick among things to work on. As they say, balance is key.

With that, we’ll wrap up the year. Happy New Year’s Eve to you all!  I can’t wait to see what creativity blossoms in 2020.

Happy making!

Hawksbill.

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One of the first booths we stopped in at the Shennendoah Valley Fiber Festival was Cozy Color Works. I had never heard of this dyer, but they had the softest yarn and some of the best samples. I haven’t paid too much attention to samples before, but I found them inspiring this go round.

My friend and I were both taken in by a sweet and simple t-shirt sample. In a DK weight it seemed like a great wardrobe staple. After we walked around the whole festival, I still had that t-shirt on my mind.

I cast on a week later and knit this little beauty up in a bit over two weeks. This is Hawksbill by Christina Danaee. Overall, I’m satisfied with the pattern but I made several modifications. To be honest, looking at the pattern pictures I don’t think I would have been drawn to the it without seeing that sample. I think it’s the pocket that pust me off, but patch pockets are easily omitted.

I reversed the decreases and increases as they were written in the pattern. I prefer decreases to “lean in” and increases to “lean out” so I went with that. I also made significant modifcations to the bottom. I really thougth I would like the curved hem, but once I knit the back panel I realized I was wrong. Just wasn’t the look I was going for over my rear. I ripped back and did about a quarter of the called for short rows and I’m much happier with the length and fit now.

The yarn is beautiful. This is Cozy Color Works Merino DK in the Rag Doll colorway. It’s a creamy natural color with navy speckles and a hint of a purple-y burgundy. It reminds me of blueberry muffin mix, when the blueberries break as you stir and you get subtle smudges of purple. I am excited to add this to my wardrobe, it pretty much goes with every handknit shawl I own.

I am thrilled to have a simple, go-with-everything, handknit t-shirt – just like I envisioned thanks to that sample knit!

Happy making!

After the thrill is gone.

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Sometimes it feels so good to really get so into a knit that you can’t think about anything else. You just want to get back to it, just one more row, one more repeat. That’s how I felt about Winter Honey. I just could not stop knitting it.

And once I started really obsessively working on this shawl, in no time it was finished. This is Winter Honey by Andrea Mowry. I knit it in the called-for yarn, Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, in the Hayloft colorway.

Now, I like to finish things. Really, I do. I love the feeling of binding off those last few stitches, weaving in the ends, pulling it off the blocking mats. But to be honest, I was a little sad when this one came to an end.

The thought of an all over (seriously) cabled shawl was a bit daunting, but the rhythm of this shawl was so enjoyable. This may be my favorite process knit to date.  That’s to say nothing about how much I love this big squishy, cozy, piece. It feels like a sheepy hug.

Once I finished this shawl, I dove right in to two new projects. One, Hawksbill, I thought was going to get me back in that must-knit groove. I cast it on and got the sleeves separated last weekend and then… well, I just kind of petered out. I’ve knit on it a bit here and there, but really it’s a DK weight sweater and should be going pretty quick.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like this yarn–Cozy Color Works merino DK in Rag Doll–and I think it’s going to be a lovely addition to my wardrobe. It’s just not calling to me. With Hawksbill firmly on the needles, I cast on something small, thinking I needed a bit of texture in my life.

This is Gully by Jared Flood. It’s a brioche cowl, knit flat and then seemed. I’ll be honest, the texture of the brioche and the yarn–Brooklyn Tweed Vale in the Cobbler colorway- is heaven. It really is beautiful. But laceweight brioche does not exactly fly off the needles. I also found a mistake last night, and being a fairly novice brioche knitter, I just ripped back to before the mistake. So there’s that.

I feel like I’m just in a weird place right now. I think I would be fine if I hadn’t just come off of such a fantastic process knit. It makes other things seem a bit dull in comparison. Maybe I’ll start something new to continue this cast-on party I seem to have started. I’ve still got holiday makes on the brain, so that’s another creative avenue I can try.

In the meantime, I’ll just bask in the afterglow of my new shawl. Maybe I should knit another one…

Happy making!

No Frills Sweater.

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It is finished and fuzzy and fantastic! 

That’s right, my No Frills Sweater is all done. This is the coziest, softest, and warmest thing I own. I can’t wait to wear it this fall and winter.

The pattern is No Frills Sweater by Petite Knit. It is knit holding one strand of fingering double with one strand of mohair. I used Lichen and Lace  Marsh Mohair in Natural and Hue Loco Spun Sock (her merino/cashmere blend) in Pop Sugar. Between the cashmere and the mohair, let me tell you – this sweater is soft.

I actually got the Hue Loco yarn in a mystery bag… She posted mystery sweater quantities one day and I decided to take a chance. It was three skeins of the same color for a great deal. I indicated in my order that I like pastel pink and mint. I could not have been happier when I opened the package, this color is amazing!

I knit everything to pattern, no modifications. I got gauge by going down a needle size and knit the size small. I’m very pleased with the length in both the body and the sleeves. I have to say that holding the two yarns double slowed me down a bit as you had to be paying attention so as not to drop the mohair strand. But the effect is definitely worth it in the end!

I alternated skeins throughout the body, using the helical method. Check out the tutorial here if you haven’t seen this method before, it’s a bit of a miracle. I’ve never really minded alternating skeins, but this really made alternating in the round so much easier and seamless looking.

This is one more project off my WIP to-do list. I am so glad I picked up again, it really didn’t take much time to finish up the body and knit the sleeves. I was hoping to get a cozy, handknit sweatshirt effect with this sweater and I think I landed sqarely in sweatshirt territory.

Happy making!

Whatever I feel like.

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What happened to August? It felt like a whirlwind and here we are, a whole week into September. The kids are back in school and I’m back to cooking in a way that makes me feel good. Something has switched with me this week and I’ve felt motivated to make. Let’s catch up.

I finally finished my Christmas socks! The yarn is Lattes and Lllamas BFL sock in Ugly Christmas Sweater. That’s one off the #wipwipeout list.

I decided to try needle turn applique on soem clambshells. I’m using the tutorial from over on the Sunny Day Supply blog. I still need practice, but they’re super cute.

I finihsed a quilt top! I cut it out and sewed up the rows over my birthday weekend and then finished sewing the rows together a couple of weeks later. I really liek this quilt top, the pattern is great. It’s Arthmetic by Jeni Baker, I did the 4″ square version.

Pretty much as soon as the Arthmetic top was done, I started sewing up some rainbow strips for a bargello quilt. It’s still in the sewing strips together phase at this point.

I did wind up casting on another pair of socks, but these are a gift so I won’t say much.

I’ve been spending a fair bit of time in the sewing room and the stash shelves were starting to look pretty rough. That’s the before…

And this is the after! It’s pretty nice, if you ask me.

As I mentioned, the kids started back to school this week. This was at 6:30 right before Joshua walked off to his first day of high school. Astra was up early for breakfast with us, but her first day of fifth grade was hours away at this point.

Something made me want to pick up my No Frills and knit a row or two and now I’ve been obsessed. I’ve only got a couple of inchs to go till the ribbing now!

And last, but certainly not least, I have started an Everest of a project. This is the first block of my Granny’s Garden quilt, a fully appliqued monster of a quilt. I’m excited but this is definitley a long term project. I’ll have to ellaborate in another post, but let’s just say it took me about 18 hours to cut the thing out. Yeah.

Well, there you go. Not very much making for six-ish weeks but I’m trying to have peace with that. I do what I feel like doing and that’s ok. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I don’t have some quota to meet every year.

Making feels a bit all over the place at the moment, but I’ve really been just picking up whatever feels fun at the moment. At any rate, I’ve got some enjoyable projects going on right now, and I’m digging it.

Happy making!

Off the list, one way or another.

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Do you ever notice how life just seems to get slowly, inexorably busier all the time? At least that’s how it seems. Somehow, I am making progress on projects. I have crossed some more things off my list–four!–all in the last few days. Last week, I wanted to finish my 4-patch heart mini quilt and get my No Frills Sweater past the split for the sleeves. I knew that I was headed on a work trip and that the sweater would provide all of the endless, mindless knitting I would need.

First, I started quilting the mini quilt. I decided to try something new, and not do all over quilting. It was really all going well until I thought I would try a bit of free motion quilting around the hearts. Hard nope. It took me about 2 hours to pick it all out, but I finally did. I wound up going with a very nice grid instead.

On Sunday last, I finally gave up the dream of finishing the mini and got back to the sweater. The rows had gotten long and felt like they took forever so I tried to just plow through. I finally got to the split on Sunday night. I wound up more yarn to take with me on the trip and… decided not to take the sweater. It was just too much bulk with the extra yarn. I had to carry on my luggage–which I hate–and it seemed like I should just take something else.

Enter the Divi Divi Shawlette. This is one on the list that I have been hemming and hawing about. I thought this would give me a chance to really put a dent in it and try to just get it off the needles, even though I wasn’t sure that I even wanted to knit it. I don’t think I did really want to knit it, I was trying to slog through, but it was a struggle.

And then, about 2 minutes after this picture, the lady in front of me dropped something behind her and proceeded to swat around and spill this cup of coffee all over me and the shawl. Decision made. The yarn got soaked pretty good with coffee and we were early in the day of travel, so it dried on. I will try to save the yarn but I’m done with the shawl. Cross it off the list, it’s out of my mental space now. Thank goodness that wasn’t my sweater! I’d probably have cried.

With the rest of my plane trip there and back again, I worked on socks. I’ve not had much sock mojo, as we know, but it was good to just kick back with a good book and put some rows down on a vanilla sock. I finished that first sock and pulled out my rose city rollers. I knit and knit on them and… ran out of yarn.

On the plane, I cast on the second sock for the other pair. When I got home that night, I pulled out a mini and knit the last threeish rows in pink and finished up my shortie socks.

These are Rose City Rollers, a free pattern by Mara Catherine Bryner. I used the last of some Tempting Ewe Yarns in the colorway Saftayy. The mini is from Miss Babs, in the color Hot Shot. I didn’t bring scissors or neeedles on the flight, so I also kitchenered the toe of the holiday socks once I was home.

Once the socks were in order, I went straight back to binding that mini quilt and managed to finish it up. This is the 4-Patch Hearts Mini Quilt by Jedi Craft Girl . I used the same fabric as the pattern, but I had a charm pack instead of a jelly roll. It worked out, although I didn’t have as much red in my quilt.

I love it so much! I am pretty proud of this one. It’s been tucked away in a box for about a year and half because the first block I made came out super wonky. Now my blocks and points are much better. I used some yardage of the same fabric line for the backing. I just can’t get enough of this print.

I also really went out of my comfort zone for the quilting. I really like the effect. I even washed this one to make the quilting stand out. I usually don’t wash minis, but this one was just begging to crinkle up!

Once on the binding train, I couldn’t really get off. I pulled out my bunny mini dresden and finally got it all bound and finished off. This was my first try at binding a circle. It’s a wee bit poofy but overall pretty good. I think it is adorable.

I had made the whole thing strawberry themed, inspired by how much the bunny loves his strawberry. I think this one will be a mug rug for my desk at work. I just love seeing this bunny hanging out. The back is a pretty little strawberry print.

I think that’s it for now. I’m working on my sweater and contemplating a few new sewing projects. I’m down to 8 WIPs and I have been feeling pretty diligent so I’m ready for a bit of freshness.

One other thing, in completely un-crafty news, I saw the pacific ocean! I worked a lot on this trip, but did manage to walk out to the water a couple of times. I’m a mountain girl at heart, but the ocean is just so peaceful.

Happy making!

Sewjo.

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I really feel like assessing all of my works in progress has energized me. We are only a few weeks into my #wipwipeout and I’ve completed 6/19 projects. Pretty darned good.

I will freely admit that I have tackled many of the easiest and/or quickest to finish. The two quilts that needed binding, a mini quilt. The shawl was a fairly big undertaking as it wasn’t even to the halfway mark when I picked it back up. Anyway, I’ve still been picking up partially completed projects and knocking them off the list, and that feels good.

I finally dyed that Mathilde top that’s been sitting around for nearly a year. I was hoping for a blue I liked, and that isn’t really what I got.

This blue just isn’t me. It’s either not dark enough or not light enough and the hue just isn’t something I usually go for. As if that wasn’t enough, the dye did some wierd things, mostly due to user error I think.

Oh well, chalk it up to a learning experience and mark it off the list. Next up, I cast on a new sweater. I hope I can get my sweater mojo back with something oversized. That way if the fit is off by a couple of inches, it won’t be so noticeable.

This is my No Frills Sweater by Petite Knit. It’s knit with one strand of fingering weight yarn and one strand of mohair silk held double and the floof is just to die for. This part before separating sleeves is a bit of a slog but the speckles and texture are keeping me going.

I am currently on day 2 of a 4 day weekend. Yesterday was the 4th of July and thanks to a whole lot of rain, we didn’t really do anything. Which meant that I did lots of things.

First up, I made this lovely bag for my friend Hannah. She’s my bestest knitting buddy and when she texted me to ask if I would sew up this bag if she sent me the kit, I couldn’t resist. This is the Take Along Tote by Never Not Knitting–the kit is from them, as well.

The pattern is well written and clear. I didn’t find anything confusing and the whole project came together in less than 4 hours. That’s pretty good for me on a first time bag. There’s a lot of interfacing (every fabric piece) so cutting and ironing takes up quite a bit of that time. I will definitely be making one of these for myself. This is the large size and the bag part is about a foot tall. It would easily hold a large sweater project.

Once my sewjo was rolling yesterday, I couldn’t be stopped. I pulled out my 4-patch hearts mini quilt and thought I’d just see if my blocks would turn out bettern now. The first one was a vast improvement over the old wonky block. Take a look: the old block is on top and the new one is on the bottom.

Still not perfect, but much better. I think know my cutting and piecing of the half-square triangles was not exactly up to snuff. But I am really trying to take to heart that finished is better than perfect. It’s really all practice, in the end. And I was certainly not wanting to scrap all this fabric! I forged ahead and managed to compete the top last night.

I just love it. I don’t knwo what I’m going to do for quilting, but I think I’ll go for it this weekend. After all of that time at the machine, I was ready for a bit of curling up on the counch with some hand sewing. Enter Quilted Notions Pouch.

This little guy has been sitting waiting for binding and a zipper for about eighteen months. I finally finished him off this morning. This pattern is by Retro Mama and this one is the larger size. It’s still only about 5″ tall, so large is kind of an exaggeration. I used a fat quarter of this pretty cloud print and couldn’t throq out the quote on the selvege. It took some doing to squeeze it on and not obscure the clouds but I’m glad I used it.

I added this cute pink and yellow zipper that’s been hanging out in a drawer for forever and I think it takes the whimsy up a step. And I just love that giant pull ring.

This pouch requires a lot of hand finishing. The zipper is all hand sewn and you have to finish the sides and inside all by hand. It’s very worth it in the end, though. It comes out very nice and neat. I will make more, but probably not until I forget a little about how much work they take.

That angry cloud! I love that one. So far my long weekend has been quite productive. I love finishing up these projects but my head is really starting to buzz with all the ideas I’m getting. I’m feeling the quilting bug coming on strong. We’ll just have to see how long I can hold out. I’ve got 13 more WIPs left!

Happy making!