The Sky Didn't Know What to Do

So I've recently been obsessed with reading about quilting.  Something about the idea of piecing in particular really appeals to me (at least in theory) so this weekend I finally decided to try my hand at a wonky log cabin pillow case.




I had two bright orange fat quarters from when I was browsing in the fabric store in December and my sister gave me a set of darker but pretty fat quarters from Purl Soho.  These are the purple shades from that set, and I like how they look together.

Here's the close up shot.



This was a pretty easy project, though I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out.  I think it's harder to do wonky and make it look purposeful and not accidental that it should be, but for my first real piecing attempt, I thought it was alright.  I really should make another pillow case to match this one, as I'm giving it as a gift, but while it wasn't hard, it did take most of my evening yesterday, and I kind of would like to get something else done today.  We'll see...

is it always, always raining somewhere?

I may have mentioned before that I am an exceptionally loose knitter. (Wamps, to her credit, is looser than I, making her incredible.)

For the project swatched above, the pattern called for US 8s with worsted weight yarn. Not wanting to swatch more than necessary, and knowing that I would likely need to size down by at least two sizes, I started knitting a swatch on US 7s. I hadn't made it more than a few rows before I decided that the gauge must be much too large and promptly frogged it to begin the top swatch, knit on US 5s. I loved the fabric made by the 5s, but it was unfortunately smaller than gauge so I tried again with 6s, pictured in the middle. Still smaller. Actually, it was still considerably smaller than gauge, which led me to knit the bottom swatch on 8s.

Which was still smaller than gauge.

I couldn't deal with the thought of sizing-up for gauge, since that would be contrary to my self-proclaimed exceptional nature. So I decided that the rest of my non-knitting life must be taking a toll on my gauge and that it would return to normal as the summer progressed. Keep your fingers crossed for me. (If this theory works out, I may have stumbled on a new use for swatching. Why take your blood pressure? Just see if you're making gauge.)