watched the mile markers passing

A week's vacation let me finish the yoke on this sweater. Now if only I could get my act together to graft the underarms, sew in the ends, and block! (I have a few flights later this month and plan on only bringing this along so I can force myself to do so. Someone on this blog suggested that strategy to me once, and it has served me well since. Unfortunately, the timing of these flights may mean that I'm not awake for much of them.) Before blocking, I think it looks way prettier inside out, without all that distracting puckering. Will post details when it's actually wearable!

A host of color

Decided I would attempt to make a baby quilt for some friends, and after much hemming and hawing, decided to basically make it up as I went along.  The colors already in mind for this kid are yellow and grey, so I picked my quilt fabric pieces accordingly.

 

Pretty!

 Yep, had to add a little turquoise in there. I'm actually really really enjoying this color scheme, though it's not one I would have chosen for myself.  I managed to get a bit of Kokka (the moons at the bottom) which also made me happy. 

The plan is to make 6 12 in squares in different styles and then sash them together with some darker grey fabric (not yet in my possession.)  I felt like I made good progress this weekend, not only acquiring the fabric but making up two of the squares this morning!

These are in the log cabin style (you start with a center square and then sew fabric on, one side at a time. A nice easy place to start.  This picture isn't great, but you can see there's a thin strip of fabric around the top block?  I somehow miscalculated the width of the strips, so I had to add a bit more on the edge.  It was kind of a pain, but I like the look!

The other four blocks will be different styles.  I've been inspired by the Summer Sampler Series being hosted by three impressive seamstresses (hmm, sewers? crafters?), so I may very likely copy one or two of the blocks they have laid out for the rest of this blanket. 

I'm excited so far, but there are still so many unknowns!  The actual "quilting part", figuring out the backing (maybe a flannel?), not to mention the binding and the cushy-part that goes between the top and back quilt layers.  The fact that I cannot remember the word for that part may be a bad sign! 

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.)

but I never had to hold you by the edges

I've been very lucky over the last few months to get to knit for a dear friend who not only appreciates handknits, but is also not attached to traditional color schemes for children. (Indeed, I'm a little worried that the blanket above will have a little bit too much pink for her taste.) Lately, I've been attracted to incredibly simple knitting as a salve for too many things that are too complicated in other areas of my life. So I decided to scrap my usual (honestly, pretty simple) baby blanket recipe because I couldn't bear the thought of doing the math for the seed stitch sections. Completely pathetic, but I thought that it would work out just as well to knit more squares and seam them together. And it would also then be completely mindless. I did not change the yarn that I tend to use, sticking to the old favorite of Blue Skies Dyed Cotton (or Worsted Cotton, or whatever they're calling it this season).

However, the seams did not provide enough structure to avoid some serious curling. And one row of i-cord border (all that's needed on the regular baby blanket recipe) was not sufficient to fight that curling.

Above, you can see the edge with one row of i-cord (along the bottom) which is still entirely wonky. The edge on the left side shows the solution: a double i-cord border. I knit the first row of i-cord in one direction and the second row in another direction, which gave a nice garter stitch in between the two cords. (Since I always have to remind myself how to work attached i-cord, I found this purl bee tutorial very helpful.) It also largely dealt with the curling, although not all of the blanket's general wonkiness. Nonetheless, it will still be a cozy blanket for a little girl and I'm guessing she won't mind too much that not all of the squares are exactly, well, square.

The second project in the non-traditional-color-scheme knitting was a little cardy, attempted to be sized for a 2 year old. After blocking, I'm hoping that this kid is pretty broad shouldered, but hopefully, it will work out.
The yarn is Spud & Chloe Sweater, which may be my new favorite yarn for baby knits. (I don't feel too bad saying that in the same post where I've included Blue Skies Cotton, because they do, after all, have the same parent company.) Like the Blue Skies Cotton, it is incredibly soft and machine washable; unlike the Blue Skies, it is about half wool and half cotton. The wool gives the yarn a nice resiliency that makes wonkiness block out better, clearly something that I currently need.

I knew that I had to knit a stripy cardy, since this is the same friend who won a handknit sweater on another occasion and was then very committed to the idea of a stripy cardy, so it was a lot of fun to pick out colors that were out of the ordinary realm for a little girl. I'm hopeful that this will be one that can be passed down to other babies, regardless of their gender, since I think the color scheme works well for either. And if those babies happen to have linebacker shoulders, all the better.

but now the snow is gone

If I'd finished this before she started walking, it would have been much easier to get a non-blurry picture. As it was, I had to sneak up on her as she woke from a nap, pull on the cardigan, and hope that she was too drowsy to move too much.
It's an improvised design using Madelinetosh Sock in Rhubarb and Jade. I planned this one to fit her next winter and it looks like it probably will. That also allowed me to use similar sizing for another baby cardigan which should make its appearance on the blog by the end of the month.

How I Miss You

 My mom sent me some pictures of the shawl I knit her for Christmas last year and I thought I'd show off how lovely it looks in action.  Thanks Mom!!

 Isn't she elegant?

 

Just right for a Texas lady.

And then here's an "action shot" of my new cowl.  Knit with many Plucky fingering weight yarn, it has carried me from February to March with only a light jacket.  Snuggly warm cowl, I heart you!

 

Check out the iconic doubledecker bus in the background! (Oh, and like, Big Bend or something, whatevs.)

This is just a picture of ponies.  Semi-wild ponies living along the Welsh coast. When can I go back?