mercury sock number one done

Do I have other things on the needles? Yes. Other projects in different crafts I want to do? Absolutely. Did I cast on another pair of socks the same day I finished the last pair? You betcha.

I'm still on the quest to see if I like to knit, and to wear, hand knit socks. This is my third pair of the summer and the third weight, technically. The first pair was also a fingering weight yarn but a "light" version and in a non-wooly fiber. This is a more typical sock yarn, so it probably represents the best prototype I will have for "hand knit sock". I'm using a yarn I bought on a LYS trip with mom while my folks were visiting. We both picked up the same pretty looking skein and I decided to just get it. I did not know it would microstripe like this, which is pretty cool! I kind of wish the stripes were a little thicker because the colors are so pretty, but I don't mind. 

    

Again, the tiny circular needles are making this a truly effortless project that is easy to put down and pick up. It's taking a bit longer for this pair (four days for the first sock instead of two) but that is largely because I am actually doing other things. Tonight was a good night, though. I did most of the foot and finished the first sock. Will probably cast on the second sock tomorrow before work. 

my first satsuma street

I have the itch to cross stitch! Mom got me hooked on some FlossTube channels and has also made me some very pretty pieces lately so I have felt inspired to return to this craft, quite possibly my first craft? Satsuma Street is a designer who uses color and whimsy in a way that appeals to me. Not only are the colors bright, I enjoy the way she combines her colors in the designs. Some of her work, the cities and some of the season samplers, are geometric and bright in a way that gives me It's a Small World vibes.

Mom told me just at the end of last month that there was a Xmas in July sale going on, so I popped over to see what I could see. I quite like the small ornaments she has designed for Halloween and Xmas when I have seen them on the various YouTube channels I now follow. When I looked through the sale collection, I saw two bird themed ones I particularly liked. Turns out they were individually available but also bundled up with two others, so for just a little bit more cost I got four charts instead of just two. Yes please. I have a partridge with a pear, two lovey doves, a hen with an Eiffel Tower (so cute), and four birds on a telephone. That last one just totally got me with both whimsy and color. 

I resisted the impulse to go with the exact colors called for, despite the fact that I enjoy her colors, and instead opted to dive into what I already had to see if I had colors that were close. I was pretty pleased to be able to pull satisfactory colors for everything, even some of the actual called for shades. I already had appropriately sized Aida as well, so away I went. 

 

I really enjoyed starting this chart. This is just one evening of stitching! The last time I worked on a cross stitch project, my proud plant parent sass, it seemed like it took forever even though it was relatively small. For some reason this one has been more enjoyable and I could not put it down. The phone is starting to take shape and there's a couple of birdie bellies making an appearance. I am pleased to be using my newest project bag, also with birds on it.  This will definitely be done by Xmas. 

neptune the mystic socks, finished

Neptune the Mystic is the subject of the final movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets. It is an ethereal treat for the ears that scintillates with mystery and magic. As I worked up this yarn and considered what it was telling me about itself as I went along, this mystical character and soundscape came to mind in the deep purples and blues gently interrupted by subdued, but somehow still sparkly, pinks, greens, and browns. 

I started these the evening of August 1. After a successful day in the sewing room, I had a peaceful evening downstairs in the soft light of the living room enjoying the iridescence of the yarn as it worked up into a cozy fabric. It was wonderful to have a full and varied day of deep creative time with my hands and mind. 

    

It did not take me long to finish the first sock, just another day, and just a couple days after that I finished the second. DK weight socks certainly do work up quickly and I can understand the appeal of a slightly thicker more slipper like sock. These are slightly on the short side because I was uncertain how much yarn one sock would take in a DK weight situation. A bit of research on Ravelry suggested that my size might be kind of close to the whole skein, so I went conservative on leg length because the idea of running out of yarn at the end of a second sock is very unappealing to me. 

They turned out looking great both in dim light and in bright sunshine today where the colors can really show up. They'll either be for me to keep or as a gift for my sister in law. I think her feet are slightly larger than mine though, so they may be staying here if I can't block them bigger when I get her measurements. Such is the risk of starting socks for someone before you're sure what size they are! 

pyramid pincushion

I found myself sewing up a storm this weekend, especially Sunday. I've been enjoying watching Pin, Cut, Sew on YouTube for a while now and one of my favorite things she does is suggest small projects you can whip up with scraps. The tutorials are engaging to watch and inspire me to spend some energy making little things that are both fun and functional. This pin cushion is one of those things. I think it was an older tutorial, but another pin cushion tutorial she posted lately made it come to mind. Making the zippered bag earlier in the day and actually using pins made me feel like it could be useful to have a pin cushion. Like the kindle plops I made last winter, I just needed time to be convinced it was useful for me. 

  

These are all scrap fabrics, many of them from the Bohemian Ponies quilt that is currently gracing my bed in all its glory. That is an epic project totally worth commemorating in pin cushion form! The bottom is a piece of pink corduroy from my rehearsal tote which was kind of fun to incorporate, and the tab is from some really great twill tape I recently purchased for bag making. It kind of reminds me of Fruit Stripe gum. 

I had bought a large bag of poly pellets to use for my future knitted gnomes, and it came in handy here for weighing down the pin cushion so it doesn't poof away when poked with a pin. The suggestion was to use rice, but I had the pellets so went with those. It's a bit wonky and perhaps slightly overstuffed, but it works to hold pins and certainly fits nicely into the chaos of my sewing table. Very pleased with this and would love to make a list of sewing friends to share more with!
 

boxy banded pouch

I am having a lovely sewing centric weekend. With the wall hanging finish and a clean card table, I felt I inspired to keep up the fabric play and dive into my pattern stash. I've had this pattern for a boxy zipped pouch in my drawer for a long time and this was a fun experience learning a new zipped bag/pouch construction. 

It's an old school paper pattern, so it felt a little nostalgic opening up the tissue paper, trying not to tear it while looking for the pieces to cut out, pinning the pieces to the fabric, and using scissors - not a rotary cutter - to cut everything out. It was written for pre-quilted fabric, so I did have a bit of prep work to do making a sandwich with some batting and a couple of coordinating prints. I used two layers of batting here, which I think was a good idea given the need for structure, and just a simple cross hatch quilting pattern using gray/silver thread that was already on my machine. It looks more complicated than it actually ended up being, and I had it done in no time. It feels quite retro! 

I have had this pretty peach and red print in my stash for a long time and haven't really known the best use for it. There is a big, beautiful border along one side and then the peach background print takes up the rest of the yardage. It felt a little wasteful cutting out just part of the intricate border for this added band on the bag, but the tulips look so cute marching along the sides. Either my cutting or my seam allowances were slightly inaccurate because it's not quite "true" on the ends and sits a little bit wonky, but it's still a serviceable pouch and would be good for pencils, threads, maybe even a small single skein knitting project like a Sophie scarf or a pair of socks.

I would say now that I have made it once as intended, I could think of a few ways to modify or add to it. Perhaps a pocket inside, definitely would like to add a strap to one end, and I think a fun zipper pull would be a nice touch. There are definitely more of these in my future to be made for family and friends. 

scrappy rainbow gallery wall hanging, finished

This piece has been hanging on my design wall for such a long time patiently waiting for binding inspiration to strike. 

It finally came in the form of the rejected borders on the mushroom pillow mom and I started. The strips were just the right size for a binding and, despite being linen and bound to be finicky to work with, were pretty perfect for the job. This felt like a nice project to start off the month and get me back to sewing a bit. 

I can't remember when I decided that hand sewing binding on to the backs was preferable to doing a zigzag on my machine, but it is a very strong preference now. I used to do it all the time, but it feels so cavalier to think of machine finishing a binding now! I also remFunny how we change over time. 

It's done, and looks so good. The teal binding pulls out the green-blues in the middle and emphasizes them more, which I quite enjoy. The irony is that I'm not sure where I'm going to hang this, so it's back up on my design wall but at least it is finished! 

I remember the first night of playing with squares, the frustration of dealing with that black coarse linen for the sashing, and the joy of deciding it didn't matter if it was perfectly lined up - it was a scrappy experiment and did not have to look a certain way. I like that I found a good home for this large scale Amy Butler print I've had since the beginning of my stash. And there are lots of memories in those little scrappy squares - of places, projects, and phases of life. A fun finish, to be sure. 

afton shrug, finished

I am both happy to have this finished and unsure how I feel about it. It's nearly impossible to take a picture of it especially if it's not on, so the contortions below are really rather humorous and I have no idea how it looks on me. A fun July start and finish nonetheless. 

As expected, it was an easy knit (with one exception, read on) and a good pick up/put down project. In fact, it got put down for a bit because I got distracted by socks and because at one point when it was evening knitting it was lulling me to sleep! Talk about being a relaxing knit. This was a Blue Sky Fibers pattern, and Blue Sky Fibers cotton yarn which is incredibly soft. 

My one gripe, at least the way I knit, is that second sleeve. I switched to the smaller needles and ripped out the bind off multiple times and it still flares and lays/springs differently than the first line of ribbing which behaves very well. I ended up doing a sewn bind off, pulling rather snugly, and then weaving a double ply of sewing machine thread around the edge just under the bind off to get it to sit a little more like the cast on edge. I'm not sure if that's going to be a long term solution but it improved things a bit and I can't really tell there's thread. Not wildly different in terms of size/width, but definitely different in terms of springiness.

Even in the picture above I can tell, and that's annoying mostly because the cast on sleeve is so much better behaved than the bind off sleeve. Oh well, I bet it will all work itself out! I am hoping this looks nice with a navy and white polka dot dress I have. Of course it's in the 90s for the near future, but maybe some day I will want to have a layer over a dress again.