second sweater start

Am I crazy? I started a second sweater last week. Granted, part of the intention is to get a few projects going past the fiddly cast on/first few rows stage, but still. Do I bite off more than I can chew? There may even be a third sweater coming. Such hubris! 

This will be my second go-round with this particular pattern so I have some great notes in my margins. I am being cavalier and not gauge swatching despite using a different yarn. Part of me feels like it's an awful lot of work to do without checking first, but I also feel like having made this before I have a decent intuition of how the finished garment will behave and it's pretty forgiving. I may be learning some hard lessons about gauge this fall, but I am going to take what the universe gives me and either declare victory or be grateful for the "now I know better" moment(s). 

I have already made my way through the bottom band and much of the front short row shaping. Once that's done, it is on to the back short row shaping. If I didn't like the hem on this so much I would complain more, but here's my little vent. It isn't the short rows themselves, and wraps are fun and magical. It's the PURLING. Nothing makes my hands hurt more than purling. Ok maybe 1x1 rib, but it's up there on my least favorite maneuvers to do with sticks and string. This pattern is a heartbreaker because the band is garter stitch in the round which means loooots of purls to start with. When you're done, ordinarily that would mean flying through a stockinette body knitting in the round. But with short rows, one must turn. And when one must turn, one must purl. I'm enjoying working on this, but it does have a time limit because my hands start to ache. That will change once I get done with this hem shaping though! May it be soon. 

Ah and also the rest of the yarn for my dad's sweater came in the mail today. Just look at this pile! I will not consider how many stitches that represents.... oh boy. Here we go!

mossy green sweater start

Well, here I go on a sweater adventure! Just cast on Tuesday evening and have struggled my way through the first few inches. I quite dislike doing ribbing, especially when it is 1x1 ribbing, but in this case the magic of the tubular cast on looking so amazingly neat down there at the bottom was the consolation prize. It is wizardry, I tell you.

I have found a lovely new YouTube channel to watch with a very creative woman who makes beautiful quilts and things. Her voice, accent, and mannerisms are so relaxing and her aesthetic so charming that I find myself feeling quite cozy and peaceful. Between that and my favorite gardening channel, I have been feeling quite domestic in the little nook on this couch! I got a little over half way through the ribbing that first night and finished the final bit over lunch yesterday having decided that 2.5 inches was close enough instead of the 3 inches it called for. One more row and there would have been mutiny. My hands are a bit angry.

It was a delight to get to the stockinette rows, and I can tell this may go by pretty quickly if I can find the time for it. Worsted weight wool is so quick to work with! I'm a little nervous about gauge since I am using a needle size down. I did do a gauge swatch (well a few rows anyway), but did not block it so I am still guessing, but it seemed to be a good educated guess. I would hate for this to end up hilariously large, and this wool is so springy and tight right now I suspect it may grow in the blocking process. Though, of course as I am knitting in the round now I suspect my gauge is a bit tighter than the flat swatch I did... I may go for it and switch back to the recommended needle size. I don't think this first inch will end up looking weird if I do that, and given the finished measurements cited for the size I chose and the intended ease I may be overthinking this. Glad to have thought that out through my fingers here, good talk! 

I am enjoying the color very much and have already nearly finished one cake of yarn. I have another, but the rest is still on order so I may pause here until I can get the rest of the skeins to see if the dye lots are significantly different. In that case I'll figure out how to mix in this other ball with the rest so I don't end up with a weird color block at the bottom of the garment. I'll be calling the shop today or tomorrow to see if they've arrived. 

summer wall hanging, finished

Last night was a big night - I finished this wall hanging. I really love the colors I managed to pull together for this one and how they work perfectly with the beautiful print I used for the backing. It's a little bit late for summer, I had hoped to have it done by August 1, but it will look great on the wall for the remainder of what may be a steamy September before my pumpkin wall hanging appears in October. 

I had the top completed around the holidays, I sandwiched it up this spring, and it sat around for a while while I decided how I wanted to quilt it. The challenge I have many times is that when I have a lot of negative space I don't know what to do that will look good. This particular time I also paused because of thread color choices. I really did not want to use white thread on the saturated color but I didn't want anything to show on the white. And I was even more reticent to stitch over that amazing appliqué corner! In the end a simple crosshatch seemed like the way to go to just get it done, and I do like the way it works with the geometry of the blocks. I used a light gray on the front and had a bright magenta bobbin wound up near the machine, so I went with that for the back.

  

This was a Natalie design from a Missouri Star Quilt Co "triple play" day tutorial video, my favorites to watch. The theme of the episode was the rail fence block. The whole design has so much movement despite the simplicity and very traditional blocks, and I had a great time playing with the prints and choosing the motifs to feature in the appliqué. That zen pair of scissors just does it for me. I have just a small precious scrap of that print left. I ended up using every last square inch of the floral print for the back as well as the remainder of my ochre trees for the binding. I had just inches to spare! The thing that tickled me in particular about that print is that I have two projects where this unique color was the perfect thing to augment a stack of prints that I had assembled. Who would think? 

I hung it up in its spot this morning and it's going to make me smile every time I walk by! It's gorgeous. 

stashing and starting

Yesterday in the craft room was all about stashing and starting. First, here's a round up of all the fabric I acquired on the "tour" of local quilt shops with my parents. The top row are from Golden State Quilting up in Campbell. OMG. The Charley Harper horsey print! The mushroom and fabulous hippy horse from Ruby Star Society (Sarah Watts and Melody Miller... two of my faves)! They have also always had Tula Pink fabrics when I've gone in, which I resisted this time but mom did get some very cute bunnies and owls. It's so nice to have a shop nearby that you know will have the latest from your favorite designers. 

The bottom row big three are from Back Porch Fabrics on our trip down to Pacific Grove. I got the Anna Maria Parry zinnias and the somehow irresistible mustard/hot pink blender and mom snuck in that beautiful Charley Harper butterfly fabric for me. I thought she was getting it for herself! Monarchs are "a thing" down there, so it's a fun thing to remember the trip with. 

Last are a few fat quarters from my true LQS in Morgan Hill, Quilts and Things. Somehow this visit my eye was drawn to all the pinks and oranges, which is quite unusual for me! The checkerboard print in the middle is not coming through quite as eyewateringly neon in the photo as it truly is in person. I am 99.9% sure that's a Tula Pink blender. I'm not sure what any of these will be used for, but in laying these out I can see an interesting project potential taking shape in that bottom row.... 

Mom and I also spent a loooong time winding yarn. The two balls on the right were wound for me at the shop where we got them (Fillory) and will turn into a sweater for my dad - along with 10 of their closest friends when they arrive on order. Realizing I was going to start that sweater project made me want to line up a couple of others that have been on my mind since the yarn crawl in spring. The blue and coral on the left are going to be another Hold Sway Sweater, and the brown is going to be some sort of boxy summery top. Not shown are the yarn hanks for my next Shift cowl I have planned, also with yarn from the crawl supplemented by that aqua peeking in the background (from a trip with mom to A Pop of Color in town). They won't get made if the yarn's not wound! So we wound. And wound. And wound. 14 cakes! I did not snap a picture of them, but it was a lot. They are all now nestled in project bags waiting patiently for me to get started. I think my plan is to get them all cast on and started a bit so that I can work on whatever I'm in the mood for without the barrier of "ugh casting on" to deal with. 

Also part of the day was spent with mom choosing a gnome. I showed her my book of Gnomes of Grimblewood that I got at the workshop in February and suggested she pick one for me to make. I already sent her some cute earrings, but I have been thinking of starting another gnome so it would be fun to send it along to her house. ( I haven't made one since April! So much for doing one a month ;) ) We did some stash diving and came up with a rainbow of colors to use on one of the tall stripey guys. I've already cast on and knit a few rows, so more to come. 

It feels good to be organized in the craft room again, to have infused a few new things, and to have some plans! It was also really fun to take a tour around my favorite shops with my parents. I am lucky in how many great places there are pretty close by. May they continue to thrive.

quadrant cowl, finished

This cowl just flew off the needles! Five stars, would knit again. It took me just two weeks to work this up and I enjoyed every stitch - even the grafting! This beautiful kit came from Monarch Knitting in Pacific Grove, a splurge if I am being honest. The yarn is a cashmere blend and was very pleasant to work with. I have had it sitting around for years, so it is funny it was such a fast project this summer. Cowl knitting in summer? Why yes. I am willing cold weather to come. 

Knitting this was like eating Pringles, once I started I did not want to put it down. For me having little repeats of things to do (a few stitches at a time, a few rows at a time, etc) makes for a good amount of momentum to keep going. The "just one more row" phenomenon was strong with this one. Despite the complexity in the finished look, the knitting was quite easy and to me just one step up from knitting a stockinette tube. It was great. My hands may have gotten a BIT sore by the middle of the first week, so caveat for next time. 

I'm enjoy the fact that this is a way for me to wear that lovely soft pink without looking like ripe tomato and that the olive color plays off my dark hair quite nicely. I also really like that it's just a one round cowl, no wrapping necessary, and that the Möbius strip twist makes it a) interesting and b) extra cozy and squishy. Here's to many days of cooler weather where I will grab for this to keep me warm!

 

Pacific Grove favorites

Well true to form a trip to Pacific Grove with my folks turned into a tour of some old favorites! We headed down for a day trip to "see the ocean", which included a lovely lunch at a coast-side local park, and pretty much my favorite other thing to do there which is to check out the local yarn and fabric shops. 

Back Porch Fabric recently changed ownership and I am glad to see that the new owners have continued stocking prints that I really enjoy. In fact, it might even be more up my alley than the previous owner which is kind of surprising given how much I liked her choices. Designers I recognized were Charley Harper, Kaffe Fassett, Sarah Watts, and Anna Maria Parry. There are still plenty of batiks, ocean themed prints, and pretty blenders that pop. This gorgeous zinnia print had to come home. There was also a chicken quilt on the wall that was so fun I'm tempted to try it even though I'm not a big chicken person. I'm pretty sure it was Kaffe Fassett prints - so fun to see a traditional topic worked up in bright and busy prints!

I don't think I've skipped popping into Monarch Knitting on a trip down here since the first time I found them. I enjoy the space and the way they've arranged it, the yarns they choose to stock, and they always have some beautiful samples to check out. Case in point, the adorable whale and pufferfish stuffies they had knit up out drew me over to the table where I found this little guy who came home with me. I went in thinking (knowing) I did not need to add to my yarn stash, but does a kit to make a toy turtle really count? I at least have a plan for the yarn. :) 

kits are fun too sometimes

Cleaning up my craft room and "ravelry stashing" my yarn earlier this month got me going on a new project. This is a kit I got from Monarch Knitting, a favorite LYS down in Pacific Grove. I've had it for a while and wound up the hanks this summer so it was sitting in it's box ready to go. I've been missing the simplicity of knitting in the evenings. Embroidery and cross stitch are nice but I find it easier to multitask while knitting!

The pattern is simple enough, though looks more complicated than it actually is - I love things like that - and the fact that it is knitted in the round with a repeat that is easy to memorize has made this really fun and really quick. I am enjoying it quite a lot and have been thinking this is a pattern I would make again. I don't ordinarily find myself drawn to kits, not for any particular reason other than that I like to pick my own colors. I am appreciating though that these are colors I would not have thought of for myself but they drew my eye in combination through their clear box enclosure at the shop. That light pink especially is so pretty and unusual for my palette. I don't usually do well in light/pastel warm tones but I think the combination with the stronger pink and dark olive will make it wearable for me. 

I had intended for this to be an occasional project that would take a while, but it has grown rather quickly! It's been less than two weeks and I am already at the final color shift and approaching the grafting step. 

foxy progress

This weekend I picked up my foxy embroidery again. I was sitting on the front porch with some friends and felt I wanted a relaxing thing to do with my hands. I actually have not worked on this in quite a while, but it has been on a side table in my bedroom waiting patiently. I think I haven't wanted to approach working on filling in that fox. Ugh. But I didn't have a knitting project started, and the hand quilting project was just way too big to bring down so I grabbed this project bag and ended up enjoying the return. 

I continued this evening while watching some Missouri Star YouTube. They had Anna Maria Parry on, my favorite fabric designer, so a must-see for me. I enjoyed the projects I saw and her way of teaching and on-camera personality did not disappoint. I puttered around doing some of the finishing on the flowers - even some French knots! I have now gotten to the point where my only things left are the brown accents on the flowers, which use colors that also accent and appear in the fox, and a cloud of lime green French knots at the top. I'm not sure which I will do first, the fox or the knots, but it's a toss up which one I will grit my teeth through more. 

I think I'll stick with the floral finishing touches for now! 

brambles, finished

Monday's photoshoot also included this lovely finish. I've mentioned the story before, but to recap, I started this piece as a simple (mostly) garter stitch project that I could take to knit night at my local yarn store, figuring I could split my attention between talking and this with little consequence. The yarn is a gray wool I got at the King's Mountain Art Fair at some point and a beautiful variegated cotton that I got from my brother's family for a birthday (along with the cake that turned into my North Sea Ombre wrap. The variegated yarn was over 1000 yards and demanded a great project to showcase the shades. 

I chose a Melanie Berg design from her book Colorwork Shawls that made use of two gradient yarns and just decided the gray was enough as it was. Soooo glad I did! The pattern was perfect for this combination. Well, nearly. I was hoping to use up every last bit of the gradient yarn cake but I have a bit of the darkest purple left. I did consider doing an extra repeat of the lace edge but just couldn't face more lace by the time I was done with the repeats as written. 

I chose not to block it - I don't think it needs it. I'm loving that it's mostly cotton which gives the fabric a great drape and weight and will mean I can likely wear this without itching too much. I do love to knit and wear shawls but so often I end up with red and irritated skin on my neck. It's got quite a wingspan. I have not measured my piece, but the pattern states 7.5 feet along the edge and just about 3 feet deep. I'd say I have that here, and these wonderfully big sizes are a hallmark of all of the Melanie Berg patterns I have made. They take me a long time but end up being such wonderfully architectural pieces that I find it rewarding to finish and I get a kick every time I pull one out to wear. 

Pattern: Grellow is a State of Mind, by Melanie Berg (my Ravelry page) 

Needle: US 3

Yarn: Scheepjes Whirl in 'brambleberry' and Serendipidye King's Mountain Sock in 'smoke' 

shift cowl, finished

I got some great photos of my mom's Shift cowl today. The bright colors were a pleasure to work with through the winter and spring and are now popping in the summer garden. Mom has always had a knack for choosing great colors. We bought these on her trip out here in November. I took her to the local yarn store, which was I think my first time meeting the new owner Kristi who is delightful. In fact much of this was stitched at the Wednesday evening knit group at the shop that I took a leap and started going to this winter - a fun and encouraging group of ladies! I digress. Mom and I saw a sample worked up at the shop and the construction plus the combination of variegated yarns caught both of our eyes.

Mom chose just one variegated yarn, which actually had its own surprise way of working up here. It started out with a lot of fuchsia and turquoise and morphed into that bright blue you see down at the end. So interesting! The other two colors she picked were solids, a bright lime green and a soft toned light purple. They ended up looking quite eye catching together, even if the light purple gets a little lost in the photos. It shows up in person, promise. 

The construction on this piece was pretty creative. It's worked diagonally from a tiny start to a long finish and then seamed up the back to make kind of a bandana shape. You pop it over your head and voila, instant wrapped scarf look without the pesky ends and without worrying about it coming undone as you move about your day. Honestly the seam wasn't that stellar on mine, there was a bit of fudging, but it turned out looking fine. 

We picked out all cotton yarns and I have to say I really like the weight that gives the piece. It will also mean it won't be itchy, and perhaps may even be wearable in the warmer months in Chicago. I could definitely see this peeking out of a winter coat as a fun accessory. 

Pattern: The Shift, by Andrea Mowry (my Ravelry page) 

Yarn: Berroco Modern Cotton DK in 'bristol' (lavender) and '1659' (lime green) and Urth Uneek Cotton in 1074 (purple and blue variegated) 

Needle: US 5 (3.75 mm)

a hand quilting adventure

Yesterday felt like the day to start hand quilting this quilt. Watching a recent video from Pin, Cut, Sew on YouTube got me over the activation barrier and back to thinking "how hard can it be to freehand Baptist fans, anyway?" She does make it look so easy. This may take a while, but I think it will be fun and that I will like the end result a lot more than I would have liked any kind of machine quilting, especially any that I would have been able to attempt on my machine given how large this thing is. 

Pretty tickled that I found a hand quilting thread color that so closely coordinates with the colors. I hesitated a bit thinking the bright blue would be distracting across all the purple sections, but that fear was misplaced. The thread is thin enough that it really doesn't 'pop' the same way pearl cotton would. I'm not doing tiny tiny stitches, but they are close enough together that the pleasant pucker of hand quilting shows up. I am also taking advantage of the structure of the blocks to help me gauge my arcs in a semi-regular manner. Each arc is the width of that HST in the bottom right corner of the churn dash block. Those blocks have geometry where it's easy to see the next arc, and for the other blocks I have fashioned a marking tool using a compass and a knitting needle. The knitting needle marks the fabric with grooves, more like a Hera marker would, and it fits nicely in the pencil holder fixture on the compass. For the wider arcs it's a bit of an imperfect science because the compass is actually too small to open wide enough from the "origin" corner, but I have figured out a work around and the tool does the job much nicer than my eyeballing would. 

So far I am happy with this decision and confident it will look good. Will see in a few weeks if I still feel the same way! It would be nice to have this done by the end of the year, but I won't hold myself to it. I am very pleased to have this stage started, though. 

brambles off the needles!

You guys. I just finished binding off the edge of my "Grellow is a State of Mind" shawl by Melanie Berg. I last updated on this in March when the gradient went from blue to an exciting hint of purple. These projects are huge and have always been a long haul whenever I've cast on. This was no exception - just over 6 months to get it done. I've called it Brambles after the name of the gradient yarn, which is Brambleberry, a Scheepjes Whirl cake. 

This wonky shot is the best I could do for a quick photo to share with the knitting group I'm in, and it's a passable show of the beautiful gradient of the main yarn. Improved photos to come, also including my finished and seamed Shift cowl that's been sitting around waiting for glamour shots. But hooray for a finish!

cross stitchin' away

I started this sometime in early May, just around the time of horse show distraction I think, and haven't shared it yet. I'm in the midst of a fun and sassy cross stitch project that I found in one of the books I checked out of the library this Spring. Most of the stitching has been in the latter half of June. 

Getting through the lettering and one complete plant feels like I am no in the homestretch. The problem is that whenever I want to work on it, it's evening, and I can't see the stitching as well as I can during the day. I used to wonder at my mom when she said "I can't do light colors at night". Ummmmm. I get it now. Darn.

blocking shift

Some of the sections felt like they would never end, but it's finally off the needles! 

I am blocking it to the measurements in the pattern, which looks a bit long in the point to me, but I'm going to not deviate from what I'm told. It should all work out in the end. Given the cotton yarn, I don't think doing the seam up after this is dry is going to be too much trouble. I think the pattern even tells you what technique to use, which is a bonus. 

Now to wait for it to dry!

half birthday eve finish

Last night I put the last hand stitch in the binding of the friendship braid quilt that's taken a very long time to come into being. Better pictures to come in not-evening light, but suffice to say that it's really gratifying to have this one checked off the to-do list. And just in time for my half birthday! 

Gnarley

This guy is pretty rustic looking. I bet he likes to camp and makes a really good bonfire breakfast. Meet Gnarley, my April gnome for the Year of Gnomes by Imagined Landscapes over on Ravelry. 

This was the first pattern I made out of the Gnomes of Grimblewood book I got at the gnome workshop in February, and it was pretty fun. It did take me until the very last day of the month to get everything stuffed and assembled. Somehow I thought this would be a quick one, but I think I am just slow on double pointed needles with tiny yarn. This may also mean I am not going to do a gnome a month - I need a break to work on other things (like so. many. concerts. coming up). 

I used leftovers for this guy. The body is "Jamie Fraser" from Honey Girl Farms and the beard and nose is "Adawehi" from the same. The cabling on the body may be a bit lost in the variegation, but I am pretty pleased with how he turned out. He looks very outdoorsy. Like I want to give him a log to chop. And who knows? Maybe he is channeling a bit of the Jamie Fraser vibes. He'll have a Scottish accent, for sure. 

still going...

I started this knitting project in early January - Epiphany, to be exact. I cast it on as something simple to take to my first foray into the local yarn store's knit night. It's another design from Melanie Berg and another epic journey through an ombre cake of fingering weight yarn that is more than 1000 yards long, similar to my North Sea Ombre wrap that took me two year to finish. 

 

This is where it was when I pulled it out this weekend in the front garden of the place we stayed in Petaluma. I've got a ways to go yet, but the blue has started to shade into purple! The end is in sight, but the rows get longer... it may never end! 

Petaluma

This past weekend brought a getaway trip to Petaluma, which is a charming place in a beautiful part of the Bay Area. I liked it so much I wondered if it was a mild place to live during the summers... worth considering for the long term daydream!

One of the great things about it was the small town feel, made even better by the presence of a great quilt shop. Quilted Angel was a small but mighty space, as so many quilt shops here are, with a wide array of beautiful fabrics, lots of patterns, and a bunch of lovely quilts on display. It also looked like they had a classroom space in the back. The shelf above was my favorite, full of Ruby Star Society fabrics. I also have to mention that the folks there were very friendly. The woman who checked me out gave us a great recommendation for a day trip out to Bodega Bay complete with directions to a delicious crab and lobster themed lunch spot. 

Our last day in town found us at the local yarn store, Fiber Circle Studio. This was a great space with lot of beautiful things. I took these pictures below for my friend Sam who was interested in what kinds of options there were for loom-compatible yarn. The colors are just gorgeous. 

I of course struggle to leave any quality crafty establishment without purchasing something, and I was on vacation so the excuses to splurge a little were abundant. I did not intend to get thematically matching items, but here we have it. I was in a poppy, plum, and teal mood. Quite a nice combination, actually! 

Bay Area yarn crawl

Oh boy did we have fun! Sam and I cavorted all around the Bay Area, from Morgan Hill all the way out to Livermore and back through San Jose, picking up yarn as we went. I think in the end we went to 5 or 6 shops, most of which were new discoveries and some of which I expect will become regular (if infrequent) spots for me. This came at a time when I definitely did not need more yarn, more projects, more ideas, or anything of the sort. But what a fun chance to head out with a friend for a day of crafty bonding and mutual enabling. 

I think I picked up something at each spot we went to, and with one exception (those gorgeous purples) I do have a project in mind for the yarn I chose. The cottons on the left may combine to be a Shift cowl of my own, the browns I hope might make a summery top, the bundle of lovely minis is a kit for a color work cowl, and the navy and coral I intend for another Hold Sway sweater. See? Justified. :) 

One of my favorite spots was In Between Stitches out in Livermore. It was also a quilt shop! Rather than buying fabric with no plan, I got myself a pattern for some really great totes they had on display. I am hoping this will help me with my goal of sewing smaller-than-a-quilt things this year, and the construction was quite unique so it was different enough from anything I already had. 

I think I have my work cut out for me for quite a long time at this point. I always feel slightly guilty after a stash infusion such as this, but also excited for the enjoyment of stitches to come. 

stitch markers for crawl

Bay Area Yarn Crawl is just around the corner, and I recently heard that there will be a stitch marker swap as part of the festivities. I've made some in the past, and this seemed like a great opportunity to dig into my miscellaneous beads and findings and see what I could come up with. 

These yarn hanks are really fun and unique. It's kind of a kick to contemplate all the different colors of yarn on the shelves of a yarn shop and to recreate them in miniature. I have a lot of DMC floss from a very long time ago, and these variegated colors haven't been that useful to me in stitching but are the perfect mini hand dyed yarn. 

These little sparkles look just like oblong skeins of yarn to me. The silver findings in the middle give the impression of the label and the jewels on the end are the squishy yarn bits. 

And of course I couldn't pass up the chance to add some of my sunflower charms to a few. These lovelies are combined with the sparkly yarn skeins and millefiori heart beads to make longer charms that should hang quite nicely. 

I made markers on several different sizes of rings and even included a couple of safety pins (saved from clothing!) to accommodate use in crochet. I'll have to find a good box or tin to pop these in for carrying around during the yarn crawl. No idea how this will go, but it was certainly fun to revisit stitch marker making!