But really, reasonableness isn't always the top criterion around here.
4.23.2014
On the home stretch...
Machine-finishing the binding would have been perfectly reasonable.
But really, reasonableness isn't always the top criterion around here.
But really, reasonableness isn't always the top criterion around here.
4.21.2014
The very longest pass
I've been continuing to grab moments here and there for quilting. A few nights ago, I was quilting in the semi-dark in the hopes that the baby would fall asleep in the swing.
It didn't work, but the backlighting from my machine was pretty.
Last night, I finished the last rows of quilting I'd planned and rejoiced and admired. Then I realized that these quilting lines are officially too far apart for the batting. I decided to "think about" adding more - doubling the existing quilting, actually - by putting diagonal lines through the color blocks, too. I knew I'd decide to do it, just needed some time to accept that I was only half-finished.
This morning, I did all of the lines in one direction. I also ironed the yardage that will be binding and got to worrying about whether there will be enough of it.
Stuffing this sucker through the machine hasn't been as bad as I'd expected. It's definitely difficult when I'm in the middle of the longest passes and a whole corner of the quilt is wedged in the throat, but there's still enough room to get my right hand under the bulk to hold onto the part being worked. I go one square at a time and have gotten my machine going full speed for probably the first time ever. Feels good.
Happy crafting!
It didn't work, but the backlighting from my machine was pretty.
Last night, I finished the last rows of quilting I'd planned and rejoiced and admired. Then I realized that these quilting lines are officially too far apart for the batting. I decided to "think about" adding more - doubling the existing quilting, actually - by putting diagonal lines through the color blocks, too. I knew I'd decide to do it, just needed some time to accept that I was only half-finished.
This morning, I did all of the lines in one direction. I also ironed the yardage that will be binding and got to worrying about whether there will be enough of it.
Stuffing this sucker through the machine hasn't been as bad as I'd expected. It's definitely difficult when I'm in the middle of the longest passes and a whole corner of the quilt is wedged in the throat, but there's still enough room to get my right hand under the bulk to hold onto the part being worked. I go one square at a time and have gotten my machine going full speed for probably the first time ever. Feels good.
Happy crafting!
4.16.2014
I prefer "meticulous"
Today's morning naptime found me ironing the top of the gorilla quilt. In little cracks here and there over the past few days, I managed to piece and press the back.
I also used thread snips to clean up the block edges and a piece of masking tape to pull off any stray dog hair. It was taking forever, so I flipped it over to check and see if stray threads were showing through the front. They weren't. Did I stop clipping?
I did not.
So the dining room is in a, shall we say, unreasonable state for a family of four plus dog. There's batting on top of the back now, which is also taped down already. But the batting is not flat, it needs to be smoothed out, which is proving difficult. I may move it and cut down 3 sides instead of two - there's not enough extra along the edge for any size quilt I'll be making anytime soon anyway.
For that exercise, I should find my Decent scissors (as opposed to the Good scissors and the Crappy scissors).
Okay, turns out I'm liveblogging! Or whatever it's called when you write updates but don't publish them all until the end. Baby Overlord seemed sleepy and slept for a bit longer while I Tasmanian Deviled around the dining room.
So, I got smarter and moved the whole piece of batting to the other side and cut along two sides as originally planned. And then I got very smart and figured out which was the long edge of the top before laying it out wrong. Folded it in half, put the center point at the center of the strip of color in the backing, and smoothed out the top from there.
THERE ARE SAFETY PINS IN IT. I'm not done basting, but it's started and I'm cautiously optimistic that I can get the basting done and the thing off the floor before family starts getting home. Bub's out again, so it's back to basting.
Happy crafting!
I also used thread snips to clean up the block edges and a piece of masking tape to pull off any stray dog hair. It was taking forever, so I flipped it over to check and see if stray threads were showing through the front. They weren't. Did I stop clipping?
I did not.
So the dining room is in a, shall we say, unreasonable state for a family of four plus dog. There's batting on top of the back now, which is also taped down already. But the batting is not flat, it needs to be smoothed out, which is proving difficult. I may move it and cut down 3 sides instead of two - there's not enough extra along the edge for any size quilt I'll be making anytime soon anyway.
For that exercise, I should find my Decent scissors (as opposed to the Good scissors and the Crappy scissors).
Okay, turns out I'm liveblogging! Or whatever it's called when you write updates but don't publish them all until the end. Baby Overlord seemed sleepy and slept for a bit longer while I Tasmanian Deviled around the dining room.
So, I got smarter and moved the whole piece of batting to the other side and cut along two sides as originally planned. And then I got very smart and figured out which was the long edge of the top before laying it out wrong. Folded it in half, put the center point at the center of the strip of color in the backing, and smoothed out the top from there.
THERE ARE SAFETY PINS IN IT. I'm not done basting, but it's started and I'm cautiously optimistic that I can get the basting done and the thing off the floor before family starts getting home. Bub's out again, so it's back to basting.
Happy crafting!
4.14.2014
Nap!! Ahhhh!
Here's how my design wall looked this morning. Very sad. I'm tempted to start a project I'll have no hope of finishing for four years, just to have something to look at.
And then the baby fell asleep, and I swung into crazy, hopeful action. As I'd mentioned, I have no handy UFOs that I could pull out and work on in a staid, leisurely way. No pretty stack of blocks or thing all basted and ready to quilt. No, I have the wall hanging needing about 30 hours of hand quilting and the quilt top that turned out bigger than my kitchen.
It has FINALLY stopped going below zero at night, which means summer's coming, which means it's time for a lightweight bed quilt, which means: quilt top bigger than the kitchen, come on down!!
So the dining room got cleared out for a bit and I confronted the two lengths of Kona in Natural that are slated for the backing, couldn't find the pieces I'd cut for the pieced backing, got wise and scrapped that plan anyway, decided to piece the backing vertically instead, and got to trimming, ironing, and piecing.
The dog helped immensely.
And now my design wall is pretty again.
Okay, so I cleared out the dining room so that I could lay out the quilt top and lay the backing pieces on top of it. I needed to measure the top anyway, and don't trust my ability to work out the piecing in my head. This helped me see that piecing vertically would work much better.
I don't know how all these awesome quilters manage such big quilts. Maybe it gets easier with practice? Does anyone have tips for handling pieces of fabric over 44"? Clearing out my dining room is about all I've got at the moment.
Next steps will be ironing the colorful strip and then sewing the back together. And then... basting. And then... quilting. Hoo boy.
Happy crafting!
And then the baby fell asleep, and I swung into crazy, hopeful action. As I'd mentioned, I have no handy UFOs that I could pull out and work on in a staid, leisurely way. No pretty stack of blocks or thing all basted and ready to quilt. No, I have the wall hanging needing about 30 hours of hand quilting and the quilt top that turned out bigger than my kitchen.
It has FINALLY stopped going below zero at night, which means summer's coming, which means it's time for a lightweight bed quilt, which means: quilt top bigger than the kitchen, come on down!!
So the dining room got cleared out for a bit and I confronted the two lengths of Kona in Natural that are slated for the backing, couldn't find the pieces I'd cut for the pieced backing, got wise and scrapped that plan anyway, decided to piece the backing vertically instead, and got to trimming, ironing, and piecing.
The dog helped immensely.
And now my design wall is pretty again.
Okay, so I cleared out the dining room so that I could lay out the quilt top and lay the backing pieces on top of it. I needed to measure the top anyway, and don't trust my ability to work out the piecing in my head. This helped me see that piecing vertically would work much better.
I don't know how all these awesome quilters manage such big quilts. Maybe it gets easier with practice? Does anyone have tips for handling pieces of fabric over 44"? Clearing out my dining room is about all I've got at the moment.
Next steps will be ironing the colorful strip and then sewing the back together. And then... basting. And then... quilting. Hoo boy.
Happy crafting!
4.11.2014
Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
Another Friday Finish! I won't be able to keep this up much longer, but it's been fun.
This is a strip quilt, done using Molli Sparkles's tutorial for string piecing without a foundation. I varied the width of the strips to maximize scrappiness. I wanted my finished squares to end at 5", which they almost did. His tutorial yields 3.5" finished squares, so based on careful math, I determined I'd need my initial fabric strip to be... bigger.
My math was totally correct, but then I did something wrong making the first cut of the second set of cuts (perpendicular to the first set) and was left with a couple pieces that were almost squares, but not.
At first I was thinking about a checkerboard using the darker fabrics of the strips but decided that the center of the quilt was busy enough that the border needed more of a "Go home, quilt, you're drunk" vibe. So the plain white-on-white is like a place for the eye to rest/a lamppost to lean against on the stagger home.
Having not thought at all about the quilting until it was basted, I decided to quilt a spiral out from the center of each square. After burying the brillion ends of the ticker tape quilt, a few dozen no longer seems like a lot. I used to go to great lengths to avoid stopping and starting in the middle - no longer! Then I stitched some straight lines in the border. As I turned onto the second side, I couldn't remember what part of the presser foot I was measuring against. Guessed wrong, repeated the mistake on the other end of the quilt, and called it a design element.
The binding is a 13-color floral print from JoAnn's that I've had for years. It's used in the top, too, and I liked how it was dark enough to provide a nice frame for the quilt, but still variegated. I sewed over half of it down in the car on a long trip to and from the vet yesterday. Not sure me + sewing needle + moving car is the best combination, but it did help me finish in time for this post.
If I ever make another quilt this way, I'll use thinner strips - the biggest finished at a bit over 2", and I like the effect more when they're under 2".
Linking again to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.
Happy crafting!
This is a strip quilt, done using Molli Sparkles's tutorial for string piecing without a foundation. I varied the width of the strips to maximize scrappiness. I wanted my finished squares to end at 5", which they almost did. His tutorial yields 3.5" finished squares, so based on careful math, I determined I'd need my initial fabric strip to be... bigger.
My math was totally correct, but then I did something wrong making the first cut of the second set of cuts (perpendicular to the first set) and was left with a couple pieces that were almost squares, but not.
 |
| Scrappy back - this shot shows the quilting better than the ones of the front. |
The back is something of a mess, but it's a thrifty mess. I threw together a second set of strips, cut more squares that were fully squares, and finished the main part of the top. Then it sat on my design wall for a while, until I made a decision about borders.
 |
| My favorite block is the top left. |
At first I was thinking about a checkerboard using the darker fabrics of the strips but decided that the center of the quilt was busy enough that the border needed more of a "Go home, quilt, you're drunk" vibe. So the plain white-on-white is like a place for the eye to rest/a lamppost to lean against on the stagger home.
 |
| Quilting detail |
The binding is a 13-color floral print from JoAnn's that I've had for years. It's used in the top, too, and I liked how it was dark enough to provide a nice frame for the quilt, but still variegated. I sewed over half of it down in the car on a long trip to and from the vet yesterday. Not sure me + sewing needle + moving car is the best combination, but it did help me finish in time for this post.
If I ever make another quilt this way, I'll use thinner strips - the biggest finished at a bit over 2", and I like the effect more when they're under 2".
Linking again to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.
Happy crafting!
4.08.2014
My Iron Goes Rogue
Like most people, I'd imagine, I'd been happily walking around and thinking of my iron as having two basic settings: "On" and "Off." Well, just recently I noticed that my iron now has three basic settings: "Not Plugged In," "Plugged In," and "Steam."
We should back up.
First of all, my iron is not even really my iron. It was given to my husband by his mother well before he took up with a quilter. He didn't believe me that it had been his when we were discussing the iron/possible demon possession (more on that in a moment), but that's because he probably never used it anyway.
This is a good, hardworking iron and has served me faithfully through such events as The Great Fall off the Table of 2004, and the Orooni Learns Not to Use Well Water in the Iron Mess of 2010.
There's no way for me to tell the rest of this story without looking like a weirdo, but meh, I'm okay with that - will be a nice change of pace from looking like a bumbling idiot. So, my Ticker Tape quilt came out of the wash looking a bit more rumpled than I would've liked, and I decided to try to straighten it out a bit before hanging it up. (It came out this way because I washed and dried it in a lingerie bag that was a bit too small for it because I was worried about threads coming off of the tapes and destroying my new-ish and beloved washer and dryer.)
I plugged the iron in, then put the quilt face-down on the ironing board. (Here's the weird part.) Then, for some reason, I put the iron down on the quilt and pressed a bit. When I lifted the iron off, the quilt was warm. This was curious, because I hadn't turned the iron on yet. Naturally, what you do in this situation is immediately touch the iron to see if it's hot. (Whoops, looks like we're back to looking like a bumbling idiot.)
And yes, the iron was hot!
Given that one of my cardinal quilting rules is to never, ever iron batting or finished quilts, I think I must have been seeing if a cold iron would flatten the quilt out. Otherwise, I have no idea why I was ironing - pretending to iron? - the quilt.
Anyway, I burned my finger a bit and concluded that my iron was now inhabited by a ghost. Or perhaps it was defying laws of physics in new and interesting ways and could be studied for Science. I discovered that it wasn't hot enough to steam, so I turned it to "Steam" and steamed the quilt into a bit flatter state.
Then I unplugged it and gave it the side-eye for the rest of the day. When Other (significant) came home, I told him about the iron being hot despite being off. He asked if I thought it was possessed, and I told him that it had been unplugged for a while, and that he should touch it to see if it was hot/possessed. He did, and sadly there will be no scientific leaps based on my iron for now. It's just broken.
Now, if you're worried about me burning my house down with a broken iron, I don't blame you. That does seem like the sort of stupid thing an Iron-Toucher would do. However, you will be relieved to know that I've never trusted this iron anyway and am in the habit of leaving it unplugged.
Habit will save us all!
We should back up.
First of all, my iron is not even really my iron. It was given to my husband by his mother well before he took up with a quilter. He didn't believe me that it had been his when we were discussing the iron/possible demon possession (more on that in a moment), but that's because he probably never used it anyway.
This is a good, hardworking iron and has served me faithfully through such events as The Great Fall off the Table of 2004, and the Orooni Learns Not to Use Well Water in the Iron Mess of 2010.
There's no way for me to tell the rest of this story without looking like a weirdo, but meh, I'm okay with that - will be a nice change of pace from looking like a bumbling idiot. So, my Ticker Tape quilt came out of the wash looking a bit more rumpled than I would've liked, and I decided to try to straighten it out a bit before hanging it up. (It came out this way because I washed and dried it in a lingerie bag that was a bit too small for it because I was worried about threads coming off of the tapes and destroying my new-ish and beloved washer and dryer.)
I plugged the iron in, then put the quilt face-down on the ironing board. (Here's the weird part.) Then, for some reason, I put the iron down on the quilt and pressed a bit. When I lifted the iron off, the quilt was warm. This was curious, because I hadn't turned the iron on yet. Naturally, what you do in this situation is immediately touch the iron to see if it's hot. (Whoops, looks like we're back to looking like a bumbling idiot.)
And yes, the iron was hot!
Given that one of my cardinal quilting rules is to never, ever iron batting or finished quilts, I think I must have been seeing if a cold iron would flatten the quilt out. Otherwise, I have no idea why I was ironing - pretending to iron? - the quilt.
Anyway, I burned my finger a bit and concluded that my iron was now inhabited by a ghost. Or perhaps it was defying laws of physics in new and interesting ways and could be studied for Science. I discovered that it wasn't hot enough to steam, so I turned it to "Steam" and steamed the quilt into a bit flatter state.
Then I unplugged it and gave it the side-eye for the rest of the day. When Other (significant) came home, I told him about the iron being hot despite being off. He asked if I thought it was possessed, and I told him that it had been unplugged for a while, and that he should touch it to see if it was hot/possessed. He did, and sadly there will be no scientific leaps based on my iron for now. It's just broken.
Now, if you're worried about me burning my house down with a broken iron, I don't blame you. That does seem like the sort of stupid thing an Iron-Toucher would do. However, you will be relieved to know that I've never trusted this iron anyway and am in the habit of leaving it unplugged.
Habit will save us all!
4.06.2014
Sunday Stash
Right now, the quilty blogosphere is reminding me of the knitty/yarny blogosphere before Ravelry came along. I've loved exploring all these great blogs through various linky parties, so I'm making a tiny effort to participate. Today I'm linking up to Molli Sparkles.
That said, I probably won't do many Sunday Stashes because I don't buy new fabric all that much, and because I barely know what day of the week it is anymore.
On to the fabric!
Above we have Little Flowers in Licorice (Ann Kelle) , Buttons in Purple (Jenean Morrison), and Geo in Natural (Dena Fishbein). Surprise! - the buttons aren't really buttons.
Honeycomb in Marmalade (Bonnie Christine), Scattered Violets in Orange (Mo Bedell), and Lace in Red (Doodlebug Designs). Honeycomb was a pleasant surprise - I like it more in person than I did on the site.
And finally, here's Trees in Green (Deena Rutter), Dancing in Waltz (Pat Bravo), and Posh in Bright (Pat Bravo). These top two green fabrics are part of my ongoing green-related quest, but I won't go into that now. I'll save it for sometime when I don't have new fabric and my quilting update reads like: "I got to work on my quilt while the baby slept! I stared at my design wall, thought a bunch, wrote down some numbers on a piece of paper, then slapped some white borders on!"
None of these new additions have specific plans attached. Reading all these blogs and seeing all these beautiful quilts has got me thinking about my fabric stash - given that I tend to do patchworky smaller projects and go for long periods where I can't quilt, I rarely run out of stuff or use up a whole cut of fabric. Buying new fabric thus represents quite a commitment. This little shipment made me very happy. Off to wash them now.
Happy crafting!
That said, I probably won't do many Sunday Stashes because I don't buy new fabric all that much, and because I barely know what day of the week it is anymore.
On to the fabric!
Above we have Little Flowers in Licorice (Ann Kelle) , Buttons in Purple (Jenean Morrison), and Geo in Natural (Dena Fishbein). Surprise! - the buttons aren't really buttons.
Honeycomb in Marmalade (Bonnie Christine), Scattered Violets in Orange (Mo Bedell), and Lace in Red (Doodlebug Designs). Honeycomb was a pleasant surprise - I like it more in person than I did on the site.
And finally, here's Trees in Green (Deena Rutter), Dancing in Waltz (Pat Bravo), and Posh in Bright (Pat Bravo). These top two green fabrics are part of my ongoing green-related quest, but I won't go into that now. I'll save it for sometime when I don't have new fabric and my quilting update reads like: "I got to work on my quilt while the baby slept! I stared at my design wall, thought a bunch, wrote down some numbers on a piece of paper, then slapped some white borders on!"
None of these new additions have specific plans attached. Reading all these blogs and seeing all these beautiful quilts has got me thinking about my fabric stash - given that I tend to do patchworky smaller projects and go for long periods where I can't quilt, I rarely run out of stuff or use up a whole cut of fabric. Buying new fabric thus represents quite a commitment. This little shipment made me very happy. Off to wash them now.
Happy crafting!
4.04.2014
Ticker Tape Quilt
This quilt scratched an itch for me, as well as opening the quilting floodgates - there's a 16-block red and orange string quilt top on my design wall now, and I'm currently hashing over my options for borders for it.
Here it is after thread burying and binding but before washing. Fifty-eight or 59 squares, plus one time when I ran out of bobbin thread yielded about 230 little tails to bury. When I chose a quick quilt, 230 tails were not part of my calculation. I did consider washing the thing and then clipping the tails without burying them, but just couldn't do it.
I enjoyed putting this together, because I've made few enough quilts that I remember what project(s) each of these has been used in, and it's fun to see them all being used together. Some fabrics that didn't make it into the top were used in the pieced binding. The color effect of the pieced binding is nice, but all the seams make it rather lumpy.
Stats:
Title: "I Like THAT One!"
Batting: Hobbs Warm & Natural
Backing: Jo-Ann green floral FQ bought for Daughter 2's quilt and rejected for being too lime
Thread: Connecting Thread Essential white
Finished Size: 16"x18.5"
Notes: First spray-basting used, first pieced binding
In the interest of getting this on the wall quickly, I sewed rings on the top two corners rather than make a hanging sleeve.
Here it is in all its on-the-wall glory. Felt really good to put up some color, and inspired me to get a couple more things on the wall.
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for the first time!
Happy crafting!
Here it is after thread burying and binding but before washing. Fifty-eight or 59 squares, plus one time when I ran out of bobbin thread yielded about 230 little tails to bury. When I chose a quick quilt, 230 tails were not part of my calculation. I did consider washing the thing and then clipping the tails without burying them, but just couldn't do it.
I enjoyed putting this together, because I've made few enough quilts that I remember what project(s) each of these has been used in, and it's fun to see them all being used together. Some fabrics that didn't make it into the top were used in the pieced binding. The color effect of the pieced binding is nice, but all the seams make it rather lumpy.
Stats:
Title: "I Like THAT One!"
Batting: Hobbs Warm & Natural
Backing: Jo-Ann green floral FQ bought for Daughter 2's quilt and rejected for being too lime
Thread: Connecting Thread Essential white
Finished Size: 16"x18.5"
Notes: First spray-basting used, first pieced binding
In the interest of getting this on the wall quickly, I sewed rings on the top two corners rather than make a hanging sleeve.
Here it is in all its on-the-wall glory. Felt really good to put up some color, and inspired me to get a couple more things on the wall.
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for the first time!
Happy crafting!
4.02.2014
Adventures in Spray Basting
I'm on maternity leave right now, and was expecting to be completely sleep-deprived and generally barely-functional. To my cautious delight, however, this baby is not opposed on principle to sleeping, and often does it voluntarily.
Knowing I'd have a tiny one, I sat out this round of Sock Madness and braced myself to go on another crafting hiatus. It's a special kind of pain to spend all your time looking at quilting blogs and Ravelry while not being able to work on anything. These are the periods during which my to do list explodes into hopeless territory.
The fact that we've just moved into a new house, with acres of bare wall just asking to be covered in vibrant fabric isn't helping.
So, what the heck. In one 30-second window, I brought out the scrap bin. In another, got out and assessed my white fabrics. In another, picked one and took it to the work table. Piece by tiny little piece, I cobbled together the top of a ticker tape quilt, meant to hang between the kitchen and living room.
Now, if you ever plan to make a ticker tape quilt, you should really plan to assemble the quilt pieces (background fabric, batting, backing) before determining the placement of all the little squares. Really. I didn't, which resulted in a stupid process of trying to move the top + tapes onto a spray-basted piece of batting, then lots of swearing and cursing of myself, then consulting my camera to realize I hadn't taken a picture of the completed layout, then more cursing.
I could've waited to place everything until I had another pair of adult hands around to help, or I could've waited until I had spray basting to start putting the whole quilt together, but I've decided that if progress is going to be made, I must do what I can with what I have when I have it. Lots of cursing it is, then.
Also in the name of many tiny steps, I've picked my hand quilting project back up. I don't have tons of quilting UFOs, and the two others that come to mind are gigantic projects, not fit for quick wall coverings. This one is a Hawaiian quilt I started way back in 2004, or 2005, or thereabouts. It was done in a weeklong workshop and had only the outline of the applique and the first echo completed. I knew I was waaaaay out of practice with hand stitching, but if this thing is ever going to get done, I've got to keep moving forward, so I just accepted that there are going to be some visible learning curve stitches. And there are. But, the great thing about this type of quilt is that the effect of so much echo quilting is that you don't notice that the second ring looks like it was done by someone who hadn't hand quilted in seven years.
There's a lot left to do here, but seeing progress really helps.
Happy crafting!
Knowing I'd have a tiny one, I sat out this round of Sock Madness and braced myself to go on another crafting hiatus. It's a special kind of pain to spend all your time looking at quilting blogs and Ravelry while not being able to work on anything. These are the periods during which my to do list explodes into hopeless territory.
The fact that we've just moved into a new house, with acres of bare wall just asking to be covered in vibrant fabric isn't helping.
So, what the heck. In one 30-second window, I brought out the scrap bin. In another, got out and assessed my white fabrics. In another, picked one and took it to the work table. Piece by tiny little piece, I cobbled together the top of a ticker tape quilt, meant to hang between the kitchen and living room.
Now, if you ever plan to make a ticker tape quilt, you should really plan to assemble the quilt pieces (background fabric, batting, backing) before determining the placement of all the little squares. Really. I didn't, which resulted in a stupid process of trying to move the top + tapes onto a spray-basted piece of batting, then lots of swearing and cursing of myself, then consulting my camera to realize I hadn't taken a picture of the completed layout, then more cursing.
I could've waited to place everything until I had another pair of adult hands around to help, or I could've waited until I had spray basting to start putting the whole quilt together, but I've decided that if progress is going to be made, I must do what I can with what I have when I have it. Lots of cursing it is, then.
Also in the name of many tiny steps, I've picked my hand quilting project back up. I don't have tons of quilting UFOs, and the two others that come to mind are gigantic projects, not fit for quick wall coverings. This one is a Hawaiian quilt I started way back in 2004, or 2005, or thereabouts. It was done in a weeklong workshop and had only the outline of the applique and the first echo completed. I knew I was waaaaay out of practice with hand stitching, but if this thing is ever going to get done, I've got to keep moving forward, so I just accepted that there are going to be some visible learning curve stitches. And there are. But, the great thing about this type of quilt is that the effect of so much echo quilting is that you don't notice that the second ring looks like it was done by someone who hadn't hand quilted in seven years.
There's a lot left to do here, but seeing progress really helps.
Happy crafting!
3.31.2014
87 Down
My sock-knitting juggernaut grinds towards 100 completed pairs - pair 87 is done and dusted, and will be making the journey to their new home just as soon as I can get to the post office. (Merry Christmas, Lady!)
The disparity in color between the two socks is not a trick of the light, unfortunately. The skein was distinctly darker at one end than the other. I'm not happy about that. The yarn and resulting socks are lusciously soft, though.
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Fierce Scarlet
Pattern: True Love
Modifications: knit cuff-down instead of toe-up, following the chart backwards
This was something of an experiment - I wasn't sure how going the other direction on the chart would turn out. The pattern is distinct enough, but the cables don't look as smooth to me as they do on the original. I suspect I should have flipped some stitch with one in the opposite direction, but for my life I can't grok exactly what that would be.
Two other pairs are on the needles and over halfway done, so even though progress has slowed down a lot, it hasn't stopped.
The disparity in color between the two socks is not a trick of the light, unfortunately. The skein was distinctly darker at one end than the other. I'm not happy about that. The yarn and resulting socks are lusciously soft, though.
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Fierce Scarlet
Pattern: True Love
Modifications: knit cuff-down instead of toe-up, following the chart backwards
This was something of an experiment - I wasn't sure how going the other direction on the chart would turn out. The pattern is distinct enough, but the cables don't look as smooth to me as they do on the original. I suspect I should have flipped some stitch with one in the opposite direction, but for my life I can't grok exactly what that would be.
Two other pairs are on the needles and over halfway done, so even though progress has slowed down a lot, it hasn't stopped.
2.01.2014
My did it!
And all I had to do was neglect more important responsibilities! This was about half from stash and half new fabrics. The border is Sandy Gervais Frolic. Lots of the squares are Riley Blake, which I finally noticed I have a lot of.
The backing fabric is called "Happy Hooters." Really.
I was pretty out of practice for the whole thing - the quilting lines aren't straight, I seem to have forgotten how to iron seams (at least without steam burning myself) and the outside border was kind of a disaster. But the seams lined up pretty well.
The outside border fabric was what I started with, and there was a period where I decided that this quilt top was the ugliest thing in the universe, but some daylight and some resignation that this is finished and ready to go later, I'm okay with it.
1.04.2014
Bicameral Legislature, Indeed
So, I'm a billion months pregnant and we've just bought and moved
into a new house. The toddler is going strong, exerting her tiny little
will on the world. Nearly every organization we've dealt with has been
unable to find its own ass with both hands, and the ones that aren't
mostly useless have been thwarted by the other ones (e.g. propane
company sending us a letter that gets returned to the sender because the
post office is pretty sure our house doesn't exist despite numerous
assurances to the contrary, as well as the profound physical evidence in
the shape of a house at the coordinates at which the address would
suggest).
With the dryer people showing up unexpectedly on New
Year's Day (happy New Year, indeed!), the logjam seems to be breaking
up. We can dry clothes using electricity for the first time in over a
month. Yesterday, we received mail. Today, oh my stars and little
garters, we may be able to access the internet and receive phone calls
at home. Yesterday was the first time that we haven't heard from
various cable companies that they will not be able to come install the
cable because of ice storms, aliens, mysterious internal problems that
somehow result in a delay, holidays, etc. (My favorite -really?- moment
of all of this was when the cable company called our phone number to
let us know that our phone number was disconnected and they weren't
going to be able to re-use it. We did not get that message until we
called the cable company from the cell number that, oh, look, is also in
their records.) (Oh, wait, that's tied with a different cable company
telling us that we just shouldn't have moved, given the problems it was
creating with our account.)
Given all of this, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm
not working on a five-color sock in non-superwash wool right now.
That's what I was wondering, as I was sifting through a gigantic pile of
boxes and came across the Apirka kit from Knit Picks that I'd bought on
wicked sale and then forgotten about.
Oh, haha. I kid. Now is not the time to cast on a
ridiculously complicated and impractical project, with months' worth of
pent-up nesting to do, a late Christmas present (the ONLY knit Christmas
present) on the needles and begging for attention, and a house that
looks like someone pulled the roof off of it, backed a dump truck up,
and poured out everything we own.
No, now is the time to make a baby quilt for Baby 2. CLEARLY.
I got some fabric months ago for this quilt, when I had the insane idea
that it would be good to throw the toddler in the car, drive two hours
to a quilt store, and make a fabric decision in the 2 minute and 30
second window I had before the toddler started acting like a rabid
monkey who wanted to leave the fabric store. It dawned on me slowly
that I didn't have to do exactly the same thing as for the first baby
quilt - charm pack, two borders, flannel back - and that freed me up to
rethink the whole project and then conclude that this quilt needs 42 5"
squares, two borders, and owls on the back. (Owls. Instead of
flannel. Groundbreaking.)
In 5th grade, we had a school project for which we
were supposed to imagine up the best system of government. Surprise of
surprises, most groups' Ideal Governments consisted of three branches
that looked strangely familiar. Electoral College, anyone? I actually
think that maybe some groups branched out and went with the straight
popular vote, although we wouldn't probably have understood the nuances
of state size at that point. At any rate, I'm reminded of my feeling,
after finishing the project, that it had been kind of silly and we
hadn't been all that creative, and there were probably other directions
that nobody had explored.
But look how pretty!
There's this greenish-blue fabric that I love, and that I've been trying to sneak into projects for a long time, and I thought this was my chance to actually use it. Alas, no. It's too green for the blue and too blue for the green. Someday, greenish-blue fabric.
We did get the internet back, and so instead of actually sewing this top together, I knit and looked at the internet. Tonight I will try to sew; found the thread I had in mind and was pretty sure I really owned, and my sewing machine is going strong despite taking a fall (and serving as a cushion for other boxes) during the move - it was packed in its original box with original form-fitting styrofoam, thank goodness.
It may have been rather foolish to get back into quilting, because now all I can think about is possible patterns to use and quilts to make and bare spots to fill up in our new house, at a time when my free time is about to be severely limited again. But, you simply can't make a quilt for one baby and not the next. If nothing else, preventing future guilt trips is great motivation to get off the internet and quilt, already.
3.30.2013
A Sock Retrospective
Don't you love it when
someone asks you to talk about something you've thought about for a
while, and that you're very interested in, and you could talk about at
length? Me too. So today, I'm asking myself all those questions I want
to answer about the socks I've made. I'm asking you, too - please feel
free to take the questions and answer them in your own blog post. (And then leave a comment that you've done so, because I just assume that nobody reads my blog and therefore will not be looking for other sock knitters' self-interviews.) I'd
like to hear what other sock knitters have to say about their
experiences. Most information that's shared about our projects happens
as we're making and finishing them, and I'd like to talk and hear more
about what happens once they're in use.
1. Which pair, of all that you have made, are your favorite?
Ouch, I'm starting with a hard one. I don't know! I'll come back to this one.
2. Which pair do you reach for first out of the wash, and why?
To my surprise, this pair is my Trekking Monkeys. The
colors are pretty mild and go with just about anything, they fit well,
they're tall, they're usually first in line.
3. Which pair challenged you the most in the knitting?
I have two answers for this, because I've gained a lot
of knitterly skills over the course of my sock knitting life. The first
is Pomatomus. Stuff you read about being in "the zone" or "flow" or
optimal consciousness - that totally happened when I was knitting
Pomatomus. I was knitting something harder than I'd ever knit before,
and I was sitting in a Borders cafe doing the first few repeats of the
cuff, and the next time I looked up, three hours had passed. And I was
like whoa.
The second one was knit much later, and it's the
Squirrel Crack is Knit Crack Acorn Socks. In this sock, you make seven
out of one or something. I don't really remember, I just remember
calculating the number of acorns left in the sock and steeling myself
and taking deep breaths. If I ever run into Anne Hanson in the grocery
store, I will look at her sideways, because that woman is crazy. In a
good way. I think.
4. Which pair is the most disastrous/disappointing, but that you nonetheless finished, perhaps against your better judgment?
I
don't know what happened with these, but my Watermelon Tourmaline Railroad Rib socks are a mess. They're too loose, and the foot is
slightly too short, and they pooled differently, and ugh. Pretty much
the last pair I reach for of the ones still in circulation.
5. Which socks fit the best?
A
calculated question - would this pair not be the favorite, or the one
you reach for first? Not for me. To my surprise, my Mad Color Weave
fit the best out of all of my socks. And I do sometimes wear them
first, if they match-ish the clothes I'm wearing that day. I didn't
particularly enjoy knitting these, but they're in my queue again because
I love wearing them.
6. Which pattern could you make again and again and again and again? Other than plain stockinette.
Love RPM, am loving a second iteration of Crusoe. Vroom vroom, honk honk, outta my way, speed knitter coming through!!
7. Which pattern left you slinking away in utter defeat, glaring warily over your shoulder?
Hourglass. Someday, your time will come, Hourglass. Just not today. Or tomorrow. Stop looking at me.
8. Any sock tragedies?
Silkie Socks That Rock. Felty felty. They are now air cozies hiding in my bottom drawer. Sadface.
9. Do you have any crazy sock-related celebrations looming?
I'm so glad you asked! (Interviewing yourself is
underrated!) I am eagerly stitching toward my Sock Centennial, or
Socktennial (OF COURSE). I.e., my 100th pair finished. It will
probably take another year or so, but when I finish my 100th pair,
something good will happen. Haven't decided what. Am open to
suggestions. Upon further thinking about it just now, I think it should
involve socks and cake.
10. Alright, enough stalling: which is your favorite?
Okay,
I thought of the answer as I was answering all the other stuff: my very
first pair. Self-striping Schokenmeir Normatta Regatta Whatever, in
Railroad Rib. The color changed just as I turned the heel, on both
socks, and I was so stinkin proud to finish them and wear them. And
then once I wore them, I was shocked that they were comfortable and
warm, which meant that I was hooked.
That's it! Feel free to ask yourself any relevant
questions that I left out. There are no Sock Knitting Self-Interviewing
Police.
1.21.2013
Bag of cement!!
That's a German swear that in English is not really so scandalous. Rav taught it to me. (We're working on curbing language that could get us unhappy phonecalls from teachers in the near future.)
Why am I reduced to shouting nonsense on what was supposed to be My Glorious Day Off of Peace and Productivity? Well, Dear Sweet Baby Destructor is safely tucked away at daycare, I have two long blocks of time to myself, and I immediately settled in to work on the second sock of a pair that has been an agonizing struggle since its beginning. I resigned myself to finishing the socks and put my head down and have used almost every second of evenings, after Destructor is asleep and we're watching DVR'ed episodes of the Nerd Show,* to work on them. Today was going to be wonderful, because I was finally going to stick a fork in them, and then present them, finished and whole, to my mom, who will be here at the end of the week. I grudgingly realized that there was one more pattern repeat to go until the toe, and then finished it. Chariots of Fire swelled in the background as I prepared to start the toe and free myself from these blessed hellbeasts. Cleverly saving myself the pain of realizing after finishing the toe that I'd left out a repeat, I held the second sock up to the finished one and realized that lo, I was missing a repeat.
In the %^#*4@(!&8^$#(*%#@!$T%^7 bag of cement cuff.
BAG OF CEMENT.
*The Big Bang Theory. We don't call anything by its proper name in this house.
Why am I reduced to shouting nonsense on what was supposed to be My Glorious Day Off of Peace and Productivity? Well, Dear Sweet Baby Destructor is safely tucked away at daycare, I have two long blocks of time to myself, and I immediately settled in to work on the second sock of a pair that has been an agonizing struggle since its beginning. I resigned myself to finishing the socks and put my head down and have used almost every second of evenings, after Destructor is asleep and we're watching DVR'ed episodes of the Nerd Show,* to work on them. Today was going to be wonderful, because I was finally going to stick a fork in them, and then present them, finished and whole, to my mom, who will be here at the end of the week. I grudgingly realized that there was one more pattern repeat to go until the toe, and then finished it. Chariots of Fire swelled in the background as I prepared to start the toe and free myself from these blessed hellbeasts. Cleverly saving myself the pain of realizing after finishing the toe that I'd left out a repeat, I held the second sock up to the finished one and realized that lo, I was missing a repeat.
In the %^#*4@(!&8^$#(*%#@!$T%^7 bag of cement cuff.
BAG OF CEMENT.
*The Big Bang Theory. We don't call anything by its proper name in this house.
1.19.2013
Time has passed!
And so the time that I remember that I have a blog has come again. I finished my Citron:
I did also block it, but didn't get a picture of that. Just imagine it a bit bigger and flatter, you'll have the idea. I used KnitPicks Chroma in fingering weight, Midwinter colorway, and, as a single, it was very much like the Malabrigo laceweight the pattern calls for. People complain that the Mal felts if you even think about it too hard, but I've had good luck with it and really like it.
Sockyarn Blankie continues to grow, with over 100 squares. Triumphantly, I found the yarn I'd been looking for when I remembered starting a square with it and sticking it into a purse I'd since stopped using.
Christmas happened, and my net loss of sockyarn stash was gloriously wiped out in one crazy swoop. (Thanks, Mom!) I didn't get a group shot of everything, but here's a group shot of a future chevron crochet blanket for Baby to basically match her Bliss quilt:
Here are some Christmas socks for Mom - Embossed Stitch from More Sensational Knitted Socks in Knit Picks Stroll, Barn Red, which I got on sale because the color's discontinued.
And here are some others, Crusoe in Claudia's Handpaint fingering, colorway Spring Break. The toes are Smooshy, so that I'd be sure to have enough of the Spring Break for a blankie square. Baby's sleeping through the night-ish, so all cylinders are back to firing-ish.
Well, the baby is punching me in the face, which must mean it's time to sign off. Happy knitting!
I did also block it, but didn't get a picture of that. Just imagine it a bit bigger and flatter, you'll have the idea. I used KnitPicks Chroma in fingering weight, Midwinter colorway, and, as a single, it was very much like the Malabrigo laceweight the pattern calls for. People complain that the Mal felts if you even think about it too hard, but I've had good luck with it and really like it.
Sockyarn Blankie continues to grow, with over 100 squares. Triumphantly, I found the yarn I'd been looking for when I remembered starting a square with it and sticking it into a purse I'd since stopped using.
Christmas happened, and my net loss of sockyarn stash was gloriously wiped out in one crazy swoop. (Thanks, Mom!) I didn't get a group shot of everything, but here's a group shot of a future chevron crochet blanket for Baby to basically match her Bliss quilt:
Here are some Christmas socks for Mom - Embossed Stitch from More Sensational Knitted Socks in Knit Picks Stroll, Barn Red, which I got on sale because the color's discontinued.
And here are some others, Crusoe in Claudia's Handpaint fingering, colorway Spring Break. The toes are Smooshy, so that I'd be sure to have enough of the Spring Break for a blankie square. Baby's sleeping through the night-ish, so all cylinders are back to firing-ish.
Well, the baby is punching me in the face, which must mean it's time to sign off. Happy knitting!
11.09.2012
The Psychology of the Sockyarn Blankie
I've got a pile of projects on the needles - a stocking for baby, a lace pattern blanket for baby in a linen-cotton blend, a Citron Shawl for my supervisor (who, when unbeknownst to her I am staring down about 8 more rows of 500+ sts ruffled edge, remarks to someone how jealous she is of my handknit armwarmers - arg), a separate pile of Christmas knitting, etc. - and all I can think about at this moment is my Sockyarn Blankie. The blankie I started years ago and have been chipping away at here and there for what seems like eons. The blankie I resolved to make out of approximately 847 separate squares and then magic together somehow when the time came, in the oh-so-far distant future.
The future is now! Well, I want the future to be now. It's not, really. Of course it's not, did you see the list I just made of stuff with actual deadlines? Also, I will need to obtain about half a pound of black sockyarn, possibly more, although half a pound seems like a good start. I've got my eye on some, but haven't made my move yet. I've got a good quorum of sockyarn squares - last count was about 90, which doesn't seem like a lot compared to others' 800-square blankies, but a) my squares are a bit bigger than these, I think, and b) I'm not going for a twin size, I'm going for a throw that I can fit under if I tuck myself into the most compact fetal position I can muster. Right now the squares are laid out and are about fetal position size, and that will grow a bit when the black edging/connecting/crochetmagic happens.
So, I got out the squares and used my now-pretty-much-unused office
to lay them out beautifully on the floor and assess where we are, and
then I got out a bunch more sockyarn ends that I can use to create more
squares. And it turns out that recently I have violated my long-held
rule of making absolutely sure that I would have enough yarn left over
for at least one blankie square before finishing a pair of socks.
Twice. No, three times. This means that, horrors, I'm going to have
two different sockyarns in a single blankie square. Oh, how the mighty
have fallen! Also, I can't find the rest of a ball I used to make my
mom a pair of socks about two years ago, which is driving me crazy.
I
blame all this on the addition to my life - no, the swallowing of my
life - by the babychild. It was miraculous enough to be finishing a
pair of socks that something had to give, and sockyarn blankie
considerations are what fell by the wayside. We've gotten through the
period during which the babychild had to be held - by me and only me -
every waking second. This is a huge victory and allows for more
knitting than the furtive middle-of-the-night, in-the-dark Citron
sessions that were happening a few months ago. There was a very small
window between the Holding All the Time period and the Eager Drooling
Living-Room-Destroying Chaos Vortex Baby Godzilla phase, which I hear
doesn't end until they're about 18. Or 4, maybe someone told me 4.
Let's go with 4.
So now I can knit three
stitches after removing the remote from the babychild's mouth, then
another four as she goes for the bookshelf, then a few more after
removing a paperback from her surprisingly-coordinated hands. There's
actually a lag between when she obtains something that shouldn't go in
her mouth and when she decides to put it into her mouth, so that buys me
a few stitches. If I play my dinner card right, I can let her throw
stuff out of the high chair for several minutes and knit in between
bites. Some ground prep, like filling the coffee table with objects
that are both throwable and put-in-mouth-able, buys me at least 60
seconds, although I still have to be vigilant for flying debris and
accidental faceplanting.
So there is more knitting happening, but it is much more harrowing and exciting. Amidst all of this, I'm standing there thinking, Yes. Now is the time to finish SockYarn Blankie and revel in its sentimental glory. Which, if you've been following at home, you can clearly see is completely unrealistic.
Also completely unrealistic: the idea that the blankie can be finished now - today! - and also include ALL of my sockyarn, even the stuff I haven't made into socks yet. Because that yarn is part of my yarn story, perhaps even more dwelled-upon than the sockyarn I've already used to make socks out of. How many ideas have I had for what to make my STR Falcon's Eye into? A skrillion. I can't have a sockyarn blankie without the Falcon's Eye! And yes, I believe I did just type the words "my yarn story." I haven't slept for 8 hours straight for over a year, people*. It's a miracle I'm still using punctuation.
ANYWAY, here's another weird thing that's happening. You know how people (nutritionists, doctor people, commercials for speed, whathaveyou) use that barrel and hose metaphor to illustrate the set point for your level of body fat to explain why diets don't work? I've never quite understood exactly how that barrel and hose worked, but I do now realize that there's totally a similar set point for sockyarn stash. Because I've done serious feats of stash strength by using up three skeins of sockyarn that have been available to be knit up for literally like 5 years, and now all I can think about is needing to replace it. There are over 20 other skeins to make into socks, and my finished socks to stash ratio has still been dropping given the lovely willingness of my mother to give me piles of sockyarn as gifts, and not having the Brick and Turquoise in my stash anymore has me feeling like I missed a meal. Noooo, self! Drill that hole lower in the barrel, or whatever metaphorical thing that would make sense in this analogy!
Clearly the answer is that I need to knit up 20 pairs of socks and then finish the sockyarn blankie. And the stocking, the primo heirloom lace blanket, the smashing Christmas gifts, and the Supervisor Citron. Perhaps a padded room for Baby Godzilla is in order, although after ten minutes she'd probably just eat her way through the door.
*Literally. This is real, I'm being real about this. No period of sleep lasting at least 8 hours for OVER A YEAR. Fear my giddy, non-sensical logic! Fear it!
9.01.2012
Thaw My Stash
I've mentioned before how half the fun of knitting is thinking about and planning which yarns to pair with which patterns, and this is especially true of sock yarn because you don't really have to worry about yardage. But I've been acquiring yarn at a faster rate than I can knit it, and it's gotten to the point where I think "but if I knit that, I won't have it in my stash anymore!" And that's crazy. So, we're not stopping with the Fleece Artist Melon from 2007, and if I'm to come anywhere close to success with the 26 Pair Plunge, more stash is going to need to move on into the next phase of existence, i.e. sockdom.
Sock Knitters Anonymous has "Knit All in Red" as its challenge for this month's Sockdown, and I just happen to have a beautiful skein of Brick in BMFA lightweight that's been chilling in the stash for at least 5 years. So now is the time.
Now is also the time for Christmas knitting, especially given the fact that I really have lamentably little time to knit these days. Oof, I miss it. There are extravagant plans in the works for Christmas, and there's more time to think about knitting than to actually knit. In desperation, I've considered pulling out the sock on the commute to work, but don't worry, I didn't. (The drive is so short it wouldn't be worth it.)
Here are two strikingly similar tales:
One: I worked my fingers off last night finishing the Menehune Cobblestone Slogs I'd started in black yarn for Other back in May. It was August, the month of finishing SIPs for SKA. I finished weaving the last ends in at 11:53pm on the last day of August and pulled out the laptop to post a finished pic in triumph. And of course the internet wasn't working. I restarted the computer, troubleshot, cursed August, and generally anguished, the clock struck midnight, and I went to bed having failed. Got up this morning, noticed that the wireless button on the keyboard was orange when it's usually white, pushed it, and viola: internet. Steempy, you idiot! I said to myself.
Two: I chose to compete in the Ravellenic Games with this WIP from a zillion years ago (well, 2008.) I finished the knitting, wove the strands, finished more knitting, wove in a billion ends, wet-blocked it, then a) didn't post it for a prize, and b) realized that this is so scratchy that I won't ever be able to wear it around my neck, which is unfortunate given that it's a scarf. And that for the amount of work in it, I could've made an afghan instead.
The yarn is part alpaca, which I don't really get along with, even supposed baby alpaca. Perhaps that's the part that makes it seem scratchy to me? Perhaps this would feel like the pelts of baby bunnies to a normal person? I don't know. I may bathe it with some conditioner (which has tamed even Jamieson's Sheltand Spindrift, which I thought was impossible) and put it up for sale.
Finally, in a story not thematically tied to the first two through incompetent boobery, I have finished another reeeeeaaally old Work In Progress:
and the dog says thank you very much. The squares are from our old clothes, the back is part of an old sheet that one of the dogs put a big hole in many years ago, and the batting is the nice puffy, lofty stuff I use for dog blankets these days. (Our dogs are old.) Much of my free crafting time the last couple of weekends has gone towards repairing the other dog blankets I've made because they've taken a beating recently. Luckily, I love how patches look. And I hope that many years from now, the quilts I've made that actually follow the conventions of good quilting are the ones that survive, because I was seriously just making up techniques and going with "I Have 10 Minutes to Fix This" Chic for some of this stuff.
Now to finish the laundry before Baby wakes back up. Yay for naps!
Sock Knitters Anonymous has "Knit All in Red" as its challenge for this month's Sockdown, and I just happen to have a beautiful skein of Brick in BMFA lightweight that's been chilling in the stash for at least 5 years. So now is the time.
Now is also the time for Christmas knitting, especially given the fact that I really have lamentably little time to knit these days. Oof, I miss it. There are extravagant plans in the works for Christmas, and there's more time to think about knitting than to actually knit. In desperation, I've considered pulling out the sock on the commute to work, but don't worry, I didn't. (The drive is so short it wouldn't be worth it.)
Here are two strikingly similar tales:
One: I worked my fingers off last night finishing the Menehune Cobblestone Slogs I'd started in black yarn for Other back in May. It was August, the month of finishing SIPs for SKA. I finished weaving the last ends in at 11:53pm on the last day of August and pulled out the laptop to post a finished pic in triumph. And of course the internet wasn't working. I restarted the computer, troubleshot, cursed August, and generally anguished, the clock struck midnight, and I went to bed having failed. Got up this morning, noticed that the wireless button on the keyboard was orange when it's usually white, pushed it, and viola: internet. Steempy, you idiot! I said to myself.
Two: I chose to compete in the Ravellenic Games with this WIP from a zillion years ago (well, 2008.) I finished the knitting, wove the strands, finished more knitting, wove in a billion ends, wet-blocked it, then a) didn't post it for a prize, and b) realized that this is so scratchy that I won't ever be able to wear it around my neck, which is unfortunate given that it's a scarf. And that for the amount of work in it, I could've made an afghan instead.
The yarn is part alpaca, which I don't really get along with, even supposed baby alpaca. Perhaps that's the part that makes it seem scratchy to me? Perhaps this would feel like the pelts of baby bunnies to a normal person? I don't know. I may bathe it with some conditioner (which has tamed even Jamieson's Sheltand Spindrift, which I thought was impossible) and put it up for sale.
Finally, in a story not thematically tied to the first two through incompetent boobery, I have finished another reeeeeaaally old Work In Progress:
Now to finish the laundry before Baby wakes back up. Yay for naps!
8.12.2012
Baby + Blanket
She likes it! Of course, it helps that she's at an age that she likes just about anything that she can cram in her mouth and has not yet discovered that she can express color preferences, so I figure I'll enjoy this while I can. This quilt is cheery and a nice size, and it doesn't match the beautiful nursery my family help me put together the least bit, not even with the biggest stretch of imagination.
Okay, let's see, what else. I finished socks! Here they are!
And then, oh, ha, this is funny. You know how I have pretty much no time, what with the job and the baby and meeting the basic necessities of living what's considered a civilized life these days? Well, I thought that this would be the opportune time to commit myself to the 26 Pair Plunge. This is as opposed to the 52 Pair Plunge (a pair of socks a week for a year). See? Sane! In comparison.
It started 7/1/12, so I'm actually kind of on-track-ish, having just finished my third pair of socks. Observe:
Game plan for the remaining 23 pairs involves more pretty simple rib patterns, ancient stash yarn, and then, if necessary, finishing pairs-in-progress that have been abandoned for various reasons, and then, if true desperation sets in, baby socks.
And one more thing. I spent my glorious Birthday Me-Time making a little tag blankie for the babe:
Okay, baby's hungry, I'm out!
7.15.2012
I'm back, baby!
Where have I been? Thanks for asking! I've been off having my ass handed to me by a sock. Well, a pair of socks. That makes it better somehow. They are ganging up on me.
And I had a baby! Yay! She is lovely and wonderful and my whole life has changed and whereas before I could put up a decent fight with a pattern and come out generally whole and with a successful pair of socks on the other side, now... my defenses are down. I've only recently been getting enough sleep to function relatively normally, and it's been months (7, I'd say) since I got 8 hours of decent, uninterrupted sleep, and hey! Sleep good! Sleep make orooni function like person! So. Now knitting a pair of socks is a bloody, protracted battle with many long, dark nights of the soul and froggy froggy frogs and despair and wabu sabi and all the rest.
Looks pretty, doesn't it? Oh, it would, the filthy sneak. That picture was taken in a moment where I'd won many battles and, in a horrifying moment, turned around and realized I'd accidentally invaded Canada. Or something. And the Canadians are all like why, why are you doing this to us, and I'm all like, there! Take that! Roar! And then I realized that the sock would be way too long if I kept up in this direction, given that the triangle-y stockinette part was nowhere near close to being done but the cuff was bordering on too long. And then I had to, like, give back a bunch of Canadian towns and build hospitals and release statements about regrettable actions and convince everyone not to bicker and argue about 'oo killed 'oo, etc. Or, non-metaphorically, rip out a bunch of the sock.
And doing that was very painful and difficult for me, because I had used a lot of car ride time (just about the only knitting time in the first 4 months or so of baby's life) and 96% of my available brainpower on getting to this point. So I took a picture before frogging, to make myself feel better. And from this vantage point, the point at which I have finished all but the grafting on both socks, the above picture doesn't really look all that impressive, but that knitting was hard-won. I had knit that sock and was wearing clean-ish clothes and the baby was fed. WINNING.
Only not, because I wasn't shooting for thigh-highs.
Also, there was a sickening moment about halfway through one foot where I decided to try on one sock and thought that perhaps if it didn't fit somehow I'd probably give up knitting. It did, though, thank the muses.
So, I frogged this sock after knitting 1 1/2 repeats of the first chart because I read a bunch of comments on project pages and decided to knit a S instead of a M (60 sts instead of 66) and agreed that the M seemed very big and stretchy. And then I ripped out another whole repeat of the first chart, on both socks, because the cuff was coming out too long.
And pretty much the only reason I kept going on these was because I love this yarn, think it's the prettiest yarn on the planet, and already had partially knit it into socks that didn't make it onto their own project page and I didn't want to be beaten by a second pattern with the same yarn.
Am I still talking about these socks? I am? Sorry. Also, I haven't taken a more recent picture and there's a baby asleep across my lap so this is not a very exciting entry. And I haven't even linked the socks. So here. These are Solid Socks Mystery Feb/Mar 2011. Barring a terrible, unthinkable disaster, I will graft their toes sometime in the next week.
Okay, here are some socks:
These are Hermione's Everyday Socks, kind of - I didn't even read the pattern for things like ribbing, heel, or toe instructions because right now I'm functioning in a world where anything outside of my heel stitch heel flap and normal normal normal sockmaking means that the designer probably wants me to die. If there's arch shaping, it's because they want me to suffer deeply before I die.
Uh-oh. Babychild's awake, which means that it's time to get ready for bed. More to come, now that I remember that I have a blog.
And I had a baby! Yay! She is lovely and wonderful and my whole life has changed and whereas before I could put up a decent fight with a pattern and come out generally whole and with a successful pair of socks on the other side, now... my defenses are down. I've only recently been getting enough sleep to function relatively normally, and it's been months (7, I'd say) since I got 8 hours of decent, uninterrupted sleep, and hey! Sleep good! Sleep make orooni function like person! So. Now knitting a pair of socks is a bloody, protracted battle with many long, dark nights of the soul and froggy froggy frogs and despair and wabu sabi and all the rest.
Looks pretty, doesn't it? Oh, it would, the filthy sneak. That picture was taken in a moment where I'd won many battles and, in a horrifying moment, turned around and realized I'd accidentally invaded Canada. Or something. And the Canadians are all like why, why are you doing this to us, and I'm all like, there! Take that! Roar! And then I realized that the sock would be way too long if I kept up in this direction, given that the triangle-y stockinette part was nowhere near close to being done but the cuff was bordering on too long. And then I had to, like, give back a bunch of Canadian towns and build hospitals and release statements about regrettable actions and convince everyone not to bicker and argue about 'oo killed 'oo, etc. Or, non-metaphorically, rip out a bunch of the sock.
And doing that was very painful and difficult for me, because I had used a lot of car ride time (just about the only knitting time in the first 4 months or so of baby's life) and 96% of my available brainpower on getting to this point. So I took a picture before frogging, to make myself feel better. And from this vantage point, the point at which I have finished all but the grafting on both socks, the above picture doesn't really look all that impressive, but that knitting was hard-won. I had knit that sock and was wearing clean-ish clothes and the baby was fed. WINNING.
Only not, because I wasn't shooting for thigh-highs.
Also, there was a sickening moment about halfway through one foot where I decided to try on one sock and thought that perhaps if it didn't fit somehow I'd probably give up knitting. It did, though, thank the muses.
So, I frogged this sock after knitting 1 1/2 repeats of the first chart because I read a bunch of comments on project pages and decided to knit a S instead of a M (60 sts instead of 66) and agreed that the M seemed very big and stretchy. And then I ripped out another whole repeat of the first chart, on both socks, because the cuff was coming out too long.
And pretty much the only reason I kept going on these was because I love this yarn, think it's the prettiest yarn on the planet, and already had partially knit it into socks that didn't make it onto their own project page and I didn't want to be beaten by a second pattern with the same yarn.
Am I still talking about these socks? I am? Sorry. Also, I haven't taken a more recent picture and there's a baby asleep across my lap so this is not a very exciting entry. And I haven't even linked the socks. So here. These are Solid Socks Mystery Feb/Mar 2011. Barring a terrible, unthinkable disaster, I will graft their toes sometime in the next week.
Okay, here are some socks:
These are Hermione's Everyday Socks, kind of - I didn't even read the pattern for things like ribbing, heel, or toe instructions because right now I'm functioning in a world where anything outside of my heel stitch heel flap and normal normal normal sockmaking means that the designer probably wants me to die. If there's arch shaping, it's because they want me to suffer deeply before I die.
Uh-oh. Babychild's awake, which means that it's time to get ready for bed. More to come, now that I remember that I have a blog.
12.31.2011
Happy New Year!
I feel like I've been knitting away, yet have barely finished anything. However, the fact that I've also been neglecting the knitting blog for a long time means that I've finished enough to justify a post.
So first! Here is the Sunny Baby Blanket (ravelry link) that I made for a friend who was due near the beginning of December but had her baby much closer to the middle of December:
The pattern was easy and quick, which was just what I needed. The yarn is KnitPicks Swish Worsted in Caribbean, a color that I believe is discontinued. I got it from another raveler in a very sweet deal. I'd heard negative things about Swish, so I'd never used it before, but this is a baby born in December in the Northeast, and I wanted wool rather than the Crayon (cotton) or Shine (cotton/modal) that is my normal go-to for baby blankets. I did not love the number of bad joins and knots in every single ball of the stuff, but it spit-felted well enough and it was a good enough deal that I can't complain too much.
I machine washed and tumbled dry in the way I expect the recipient to care for it, and was very surprised at how nicely it came out of the dryer. It was stringy-feeling and limp and thin-looking after it went through the wash, but the dryer fixed it up nicely and the pattern pops a lot more now than it did before washing.
The problem with giving away all these baby blankets is that it's hard to know how well the yarns I use actually hold up. I hope they look good for a long time, but I'm not sure I'd hear about it if they didn't.
A project I'm determined to finish this weekend is my Night Owl Mittens:
which are actually a lot further along than this picture would have you know. Both mitten bodies are done and I conquered one thumb today. If my luck holds, I may have a FO shot tomorrow, although they probably won't be blocked yet.
These are going to be a gift for a coworker who has handed-us-down a TON of baby stuff so far, with promises of more to come. We're very grateful for this, and because I'm a rather socially awkward knitter, I'm choosing the "say it with mittens!" response. This is very similar to the "say it with socks!" response, but with fewer sizing problems. (I hope.)
The pattern calls for one ball each of MC and CC palette. I made a pair a couple years ago with Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift Something Something, and needed two balls of each color, so I got two balls of each palette color, and unless something truly crazy happens with the second thumb, I definitely could've gotten away with only one ball of each, despite lengthening the ribbed cuff. Whoops. Anyone want to trade a couple balls of palette for a couple of different balls of palette? The colors are black and whirlpool.
Also, the first pair I made were too small for me but fit my mom perfectly, so once I'm done with these, I'm casting on ANOTHER pair in a nice dark red and oatmealy sort of heather. Because despite having knit for years and years, I don't have a decent pair of actual mittens.
These mittens have helped me confirm that I love colorwork and hate thumbs.
There's lots of other stuff on the needles or ready to be finished, but I don't have good pictures, so maybe there will be more tomorrow. Hope your new year is safe and warm!
So first! Here is the Sunny Baby Blanket (ravelry link) that I made for a friend who was due near the beginning of December but had her baby much closer to the middle of December:
The pattern was easy and quick, which was just what I needed. The yarn is KnitPicks Swish Worsted in Caribbean, a color that I believe is discontinued. I got it from another raveler in a very sweet deal. I'd heard negative things about Swish, so I'd never used it before, but this is a baby born in December in the Northeast, and I wanted wool rather than the Crayon (cotton) or Shine (cotton/modal) that is my normal go-to for baby blankets. I did not love the number of bad joins and knots in every single ball of the stuff, but it spit-felted well enough and it was a good enough deal that I can't complain too much.
I machine washed and tumbled dry in the way I expect the recipient to care for it, and was very surprised at how nicely it came out of the dryer. It was stringy-feeling and limp and thin-looking after it went through the wash, but the dryer fixed it up nicely and the pattern pops a lot more now than it did before washing.
The problem with giving away all these baby blankets is that it's hard to know how well the yarns I use actually hold up. I hope they look good for a long time, but I'm not sure I'd hear about it if they didn't.
A project I'm determined to finish this weekend is my Night Owl Mittens:
which are actually a lot further along than this picture would have you know. Both mitten bodies are done and I conquered one thumb today. If my luck holds, I may have a FO shot tomorrow, although they probably won't be blocked yet.
These are going to be a gift for a coworker who has handed-us-down a TON of baby stuff so far, with promises of more to come. We're very grateful for this, and because I'm a rather socially awkward knitter, I'm choosing the "say it with mittens!" response. This is very similar to the "say it with socks!" response, but with fewer sizing problems. (I hope.)
The pattern calls for one ball each of MC and CC palette. I made a pair a couple years ago with Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift Something Something, and needed two balls of each color, so I got two balls of each palette color, and unless something truly crazy happens with the second thumb, I definitely could've gotten away with only one ball of each, despite lengthening the ribbed cuff. Whoops. Anyone want to trade a couple balls of palette for a couple of different balls of palette? The colors are black and whirlpool.
Also, the first pair I made were too small for me but fit my mom perfectly, so once I'm done with these, I'm casting on ANOTHER pair in a nice dark red and oatmealy sort of heather. Because despite having knit for years and years, I don't have a decent pair of actual mittens.
These mittens have helped me confirm that I love colorwork and hate thumbs.
There's lots of other stuff on the needles or ready to be finished, but I don't have good pictures, so maybe there will be more tomorrow. Hope your new year is safe and warm!
11.12.2011
GAH
I was all excited to come on here and say hey, I finished the Neverending Baby Blanket! Because I thought I'd finished the Neverending Baby Blanket. Turns out, during its photoshoot, I found six more (six!) (more!) mistakes in it. In a baby blanket consisting of a 3x3 rib row and a resting row. Six more. The "more" there implies that there were some there before, and correctly, because yes, there were, and they took me HOURS to fix. Hours because of course they were on about the 20th row of a zillion-row blanket. Are these Six More mistakes also on about the 20th tow of a zillion-row blanket? Of course they are.
So now I get to unpick the bindoff (for the second time, actually - I BO way too early before because I didn't realize how wide the blanket was turning out, and couldn't handle a squat-rectangle-shaped blanket) and spend more hours (probably six) dropping a stitch down a meelion rows of knitting and picking it back up.
Self, what happened on Row 20? Why have you not looked closely at Row 20, a row you knew to be problematic, until after you bound off for the second time?
See the mistakes? The really freaking obvious ones? Sigh. There goes my afternoon.
Hey Orooni, you haven't posted for a while, surely there is some other stuff you've screwed up royally in the last month or so, isn't there?
Of course, dear reader. Let us turn to the Thank-You Hat.
As awesome as this picture is, I fear it doesn't hide the ladder, the strange misshapenness of the pom-poms, and - well, it may hide the weird hugeness. (A new camera entered my life, and although I have figured out how to take terrible pictures with it, sometimes it does well in spite of me. This color, for example, is dead-on.)
Also, this hat is for a boy. And I'm telling myself that it's red, not pink, but it might be pink, and really I should probably stop thinking about it.
So, a friend of Other's e-mailed us up one evening and asked if we'd like tickets to a David Sedaris reading that night. HECK YES, we would like them, so we picked up the tickets and went and it was awesome and the tickets had obviously been expensive and so we wanted to do something nice for the friend. They couldn't use the tickets themselves because they couldn't get a babysitter for their (adorable) 14-month-old, so the obvious answer here was to knit something cute for the kiddo.
After a quick trip to the local-ish yarn store, I was armed with a lovely skein of (superwash) Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red. And the Pompom Bear hat knit up quickly on size 9 needles, and also it unfortunately knit up huge on size 9 needles. Quick test, yes it does fit my head, my head is probably much bigger than a 14-month-olds, ergo: froggy frog frog.
CO the next smallest size. Knit knit knit, halfway done, wait this is still huge, froggity frog frog frog.
Go down 2 needle sizes. CO same size as last time. Knit knit knit, yes, this looks like the right size, onto the pompoms.
Lesson: pompoms kind of suck, and pompoms made out of slippery superwash yarn are ridiculously easy to pull apart. Ergo: this gift is terrible, an embarrassment really, and why is this stupid yarn so slippery and drapey and GROW A SPINE, YARN, and really, I've been knitting for seven years and am being thoroughly pwned by a baby hat.
I would say, self, stick to baby blankets, but we've seen how those go.
That was the low point. I quit knitting for about a week in protest, then pulled it together, used a surgeon's knot in sewing thread and a surgeon's knot in non-superwash malabrigo in a similar color to cinch the pompoms as much as possible, sewed in the ends, blocked it, and shipped it off to the recipient, who is lovely and gracious and who refrained from saying any mean and obvious things about the hat to Other's face. Yayyyy, victory.
Here is a dramatic shot of the Rufus Textured Cardigan I'm making out of KP Swish DK in Sugarplum.
This is all the progress I made during my 3-hour gestational diabetes torture test, which of course I had to frog once I realized that my gauge was off. I'm now knitting it on much smaller needles, so good news! It will be windproof! If, of course, I ever finish it. There are lots of steps involved - seaming, decreasing at regular, predictable intervals, producing parts knit to specific lengths and widths - all of which are more taxing than making a stupid pompom or several feet of 3x3 rib. Maybe if I live long enough it will be finished in time for a great-grandchild.
Anyway, I passed the GD test with flying colors, so at least my pancreas is doing something right.
So now I get to unpick the bindoff (for the second time, actually - I BO way too early before because I didn't realize how wide the blanket was turning out, and couldn't handle a squat-rectangle-shaped blanket) and spend more hours (probably six) dropping a stitch down a meelion rows of knitting and picking it back up.
Self, what happened on Row 20? Why have you not looked closely at Row 20, a row you knew to be problematic, until after you bound off for the second time?
See the mistakes? The really freaking obvious ones? Sigh. There goes my afternoon.
Hey Orooni, you haven't posted for a while, surely there is some other stuff you've screwed up royally in the last month or so, isn't there?
Of course, dear reader. Let us turn to the Thank-You Hat.
As awesome as this picture is, I fear it doesn't hide the ladder, the strange misshapenness of the pom-poms, and - well, it may hide the weird hugeness. (A new camera entered my life, and although I have figured out how to take terrible pictures with it, sometimes it does well in spite of me. This color, for example, is dead-on.)
Also, this hat is for a boy. And I'm telling myself that it's red, not pink, but it might be pink, and really I should probably stop thinking about it.
So, a friend of Other's e-mailed us up one evening and asked if we'd like tickets to a David Sedaris reading that night. HECK YES, we would like them, so we picked up the tickets and went and it was awesome and the tickets had obviously been expensive and so we wanted to do something nice for the friend. They couldn't use the tickets themselves because they couldn't get a babysitter for their (adorable) 14-month-old, so the obvious answer here was to knit something cute for the kiddo.
After a quick trip to the local-ish yarn store, I was armed with a lovely skein of (superwash) Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red. And the Pompom Bear hat knit up quickly on size 9 needles, and also it unfortunately knit up huge on size 9 needles. Quick test, yes it does fit my head, my head is probably much bigger than a 14-month-olds, ergo: froggy frog frog.
CO the next smallest size. Knit knit knit, halfway done, wait this is still huge, froggity frog frog frog.
Go down 2 needle sizes. CO same size as last time. Knit knit knit, yes, this looks like the right size, onto the pompoms.
Lesson: pompoms kind of suck, and pompoms made out of slippery superwash yarn are ridiculously easy to pull apart. Ergo: this gift is terrible, an embarrassment really, and why is this stupid yarn so slippery and drapey and GROW A SPINE, YARN, and really, I've been knitting for seven years and am being thoroughly pwned by a baby hat.
I would say, self, stick to baby blankets, but we've seen how those go.
That was the low point. I quit knitting for about a week in protest, then pulled it together, used a surgeon's knot in sewing thread and a surgeon's knot in non-superwash malabrigo in a similar color to cinch the pompoms as much as possible, sewed in the ends, blocked it, and shipped it off to the recipient, who is lovely and gracious and who refrained from saying any mean and obvious things about the hat to Other's face. Yayyyy, victory.
Here is a dramatic shot of the Rufus Textured Cardigan I'm making out of KP Swish DK in Sugarplum.
This is all the progress I made during my 3-hour gestational diabetes torture test, which of course I had to frog once I realized that my gauge was off. I'm now knitting it on much smaller needles, so good news! It will be windproof! If, of course, I ever finish it. There are lots of steps involved - seaming, decreasing at regular, predictable intervals, producing parts knit to specific lengths and widths - all of which are more taxing than making a stupid pompom or several feet of 3x3 rib. Maybe if I live long enough it will be finished in time for a great-grandchild.
Anyway, I passed the GD test with flying colors, so at least my pancreas is doing something right.
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