a thousand pokes

Last night I picked up this quilt again and got back to hand quilting. It's not going to finish itself! It has been draped across the end of this couch for the whole winter not because it was being used, but to remind me that I have to work on it. I had one row of blocks quilted and last night I finished another row and a half. 

Today my forearm hurts a bit presumably from the many many times I gripped and yanked on the needle. I stayed up waaaaay too late working on it, but the progress is fun to see! I have 9 rows to get done, so I'll need to pace myself while still keeping some momentum going. My goal is to be done with this in 2026!

redwood hat, finished

Here's another quick finish. I actually finished it twice. I got this gorgeous shade of rust (aka redwood) at my favorite yarn shop down in Pacific Grove. I had knit a hat last year using the same yarn and wanted one for myself. What I didn't realize though was that I got the DK weight instead of the worsted weight. Ooops! 

That's ok, I thought the original was a bit big on me anyway, so I went down just one size on the pattern and then knit it as-is. I finished it in 3 days and it turned out pretty good. It blocked out even better. I was relieved to see that it grew quite a bit. Of course, the fabric is a lighter weight than the worsted weight version, but I've decided that's ok. What was kind of bugging me though was that it was just a smidge shorter than I wanted. I wore it one day to see how I felt about it and I was motivated enough to go back and rip back the crown to add one more repeat of the slip stitch pattern to the body. What I didn't realize there was that I was actually adding two repeats of the pattern because of the way the crown is worked, but in the end my mistakes still led to a hat that I love nearly as much as the original and that has been on my head pretty constantly since I finished the fix. 

I love this color and I love that I had the gumption and skill to adjust what I wanted. It's giving me some optimism about that sweater I am currently mad at and ignoring... I also really like that this pattern is out of a book I have on my shelf. I definitely have plans to air out some sewing patterns from the shelves; I'll have to find some more fun small knitting projects to tackle from that stash, too. It feels good to use what I've got. 

well that was quick

I cast on the project I saw this weekend on Monday evening and got a few inches done that first night. As predicted, it was quite a quick knit! The pattern is easy to memorize and as usual the striping makes it so easy to think "just one more row". The pattern is Washington Square, and I modified it to cast on fewer stitches and kept it one gauge instead of switching needles as I went for a more rectangle cowl vs the shaped one meant to go over shoulders. I also didn't reference how many rows to do - I decided I would just keep knitting until I rain out of my single skeins of yarn. (The sample at the shop said it was one skein each color, but when I looked at the pattern the "true" project turns out to require more.)
 

I actually had a pretty obsessive relationship with this one, though it was a bit limited by the fact that it was harder on my hands because of the chunkier yarn. Still, it didn't take very long for me to finish it up. I took it to Wednesday knit night - perfect project for chatting and catching up - and finished off the bind off when I got home. I'm not 100% pleased with the Icelandic bind off I chose, I think it's a little bit too loose and doesn't nip in the edge quite as nicely as the long tail cast on does. In the photo below you can tell which the bottom is just by the way it funnels out. I have half a mind to redo it, but I also kind of think no one will know but me? The jury is out. 

Other than that nagging detail I just love it. The color combination is stellar. The warm neutral, while difficult to coordinate with any other gray in my wardrobe, sets off the gorgeous variegated yarn so well. And apparently I was pretty smart when I got this skein of Lotus even though it sat around in my stash for so long. It is such a beautiful combination of some of my very favorite colors. I especially like the squares where the purple and blues combine, it's very reminiscent of clouds at dusk. I am very pleased with it (as you can tell from the "ta da it's finished" photo below) and have already worn it to work today! 

drop off and pick up

I got my quilt dropped off today! I am very excited and also nervous. It will take about 6 weeks to get it back, so I will have a while to stew and overthink whether I picked the right pattern and thread color. The folks at the shop were very helpful in that, so I’m pretty sure it’s going to be amazing. 

I couldn’t leave without looking around, of course, and I found a really great canvas mushroom print that I would like to use for a large Firefly Tote. The snail print on black is AMAZING and will be one of the coordinating prints for that. This shop also has lots of great Tula Pink in stock and those birds were singing my name. I ended up spending some time this evening cutting out fabrics from my stash for a couple of small Firefly Totes, but I am looking forward to playing with these soon. 

My crafty spidey sense told me that Fillory Yarn was close by - a fact I was not sure of but a quick check of the map on my phone told me I was right. Since I’d made the drive and it was just 3 miles away I figured I would pop in. I had in mind that I wanted one more color of the worsted wool I used for my dad’s sweater to combine with those leftovers and some other stash yarns to make a fair isle cowl. I didn’t find the coral color I was hoping for but got a beautiful neutral instead. Then I found a sample of a cowl that felt incredibly soft and was a really great geometric colorwork pattern. Upon inspection, it used two colors of Malabrigo Mecha, coincidentally the same as a few skeins of yarn I have had lingering in my stash for quite some time without projects in mind. I bought a neutral to mimic the sample cowl (which was neutral and yellow) and will be using a beautiful variegated purple and blue called Lotus. 

I finished the hat I started on New Year’s this afternoon (it’s blocking), so it’s a great time to start a new project. Did I pick anything that’s in my queue? Of course not, the shiny new yarn got wound, along with the much older skein to pair it with. I am looking forward to another quick knit. 

 

quilts at the ready

When I sat down to sew today I wanted to make little things, but felt like I had a couple of *ahem* larger projects staring at me from across the room. I finished a queen sized quilt top this time last year and sometime mid year purchased this bright floral fabric for the back. It has sat. So today I picked up the backing and started piecing some long seams. I have decided to have it quilted for me because I would like to use it on my bed this year, I am already hand quilting a queen sized quilt, and it makes me tired to contemplate quilting this on my machine. 

I need 3-6 inches of extra backing on all sides for the long arm folks according to their website, so this presented a bit of a puzzle for me with the 6 yards of fabric I had. I ended up adding a strip of another print down one side just to have plenty of extra wiggle room. I ironed the top again since it’s been folded for a while, and pressed seams open and ironed the entire pieced backing. Getting all of that fabric flat made me really appreciate my decision to have it quilted - so much fabric! I still have a bunch of batting on a roll, so I cut some of that too and all of the pieces are hung up and ready to go to the shop. They take walk ins, so I am hoping I can get it in this weekend or next and have it by February or March. 

The other project hanging around (literally, on my project wall) was this scrappy improv project. I’ve decided to make it into a wall hanging which made it possible to piece a couple of batting scraps together and pick a backing fabric today. I got it all quilted with just very simple vertical lines in the sashing and it is trimmed up. I haven’t bound it yet because I don’t know what I will use, maybe some scrappy strips? That black fabric was really fiddly linen so I think I would hate binding with that. I am also considering tying the middle of each square with some coordinating yarn. Stay tuned!

new year, new project

Celebrated this evening with a new year’s cast on. I did end up binding off my striped sweater last night - happy to have won yarn chicken on new year’s eve - but I don’t like the way the neckline turned out so I need to consider my options before that will be done. Bummer, but I’m not going to let it get me down. Instead I treated myself to the next project, one I’ve had in my mental queue for a bit. This will be the third time I’ve knitted this particular hat pattern, so I know it will turn out great. I’m really enjoying the color and the quick progress. What a lovely treat!

goodbye, 2025

I was pleased to have felt the creative spirit more consistently this year, and I enjoyed returning to this space somewhat regularly to share what I’ve been up to with my future self and others. It’s been healing to look back and catalog the projects I worked on during my writing hiatus, too, and realize that I had only just set down my voice. My hands kept going, albeit at a slower pace than usual. 

A quick glance back through 2025 made me realize just how much of my time was spent hand stitching more than anything else - embroidery, hand quilting, and a LOT of knitting. Those quiet, slow moments have been a nice balance with the more energetic and full aspects of my life in music, horsemanship, and work. I am feeling the pull back to my sewing machine and fabric stash as well, and I expect I will be leaning into the quilting and fabric play with which I started this year. May we continue to seek balance in all things moving ahead into the days to come.