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. 

yarn chicken

It's the waning days of the year, the time warp post Christmas where days run together and vacation vibes are at their greatest. I'm spending a lot of time knitting on my couch playing yarn chicken. 

This was the second sweater I cast on this fall and it has come back to my hands now that the mossy green Rift is done. The body is done up to the sleeves and it's time to get the sleeves made and attached so I can get back to the relaxing stockinette in the round on my circulars instead of fussing with the DPNs. I knew when I bought the yarn that I bought less than I used the last time (and much less than the pattern called for for the size I am making) but it's only 80 yards less and that sweater ended up a bit big on me because I used the wrong needles (4 mm - US 6 instead of US 4 oooops). I continue to hope both that diving head first into this sweater without swatching is going to turn out ok in terms of size and that I will have enough of the dark blue yarn to make it up to the neck using the correct needle size this time. Doing ok so far, and still really enjoying the stripes. 

seed packets and pouches

It is Christmas Eve, and in true procrastination style (or: I had a sweater to finish before the 17th) I am a little late on getting friend gifts put together. I have been saving seeds from my garden all year and am going to share them with folks that I know are fellow green thumbs. They all also happen to be horse people - I wonder if the two are connected. 

I had my box of labels, bags, and bows out already so I took out the winter scrapbook paper deck I keep in there (for the occasional tag) and worked out how to make some seed packets using folding and a few pieces of scotch tape. I was pretty impressed with myself! 

I also decided they should be delivered in pretty fabric pouches. I used an easy drawstring bag tutorial and some larger fabric leftovers. In the future I will have to remember that a 5-inch wide piece of fabric ends up being kind of a pain to sew around the opening on my sewing machine. The purple print was 6-inches wide to start and much nicer to work with than the other three. Still, it was all improvising and scrap play so little snags are to be expected. 

In the end, each pouch held the seed packets just fine which is the most important part. The seeds included Chocolate Cherry Sunflowers, Grandpa Ott Morning Glory, Yellow Giant Sunflowers, and Black Knight Pincushion Flowers. It's great to be able to pass on seeds from my own garden, and I'm looking forward to seeing them thrive elsewhere.