Saturday Morning Stock taking

Having rediscovered clay, my sewing time has been somewhat curtailed, but last night I did start a table runner.  I just discovered the StringThing quilt along blog and almost jumped into starting a full-sized quilt, but caught myself just before I started cutting strips.  
The idea for the pattern is from a free download on the moda free patterns page, here
this is the quilt:  

 It is called Modern Workshop, by Oliver and S:
 (Of course, I didn't look at the pdf of the instructions until just now, so I can see that I am sewing it in a whole different way, which I actually had thought of doing, but dismissed, since I thought for a table runner it would be easier to mix up a more limited range of fabrics if I sewed it this way, )
I just sewed 3 strip sets that are about 20 inches long, using 2-1/2" strips of fabric,-- 3 grey strips and 3 colored strips in each set:  (I'm using grey for where the white is in the one above)

 --cross cut them into 2-1/2" sections.  When I counted them up, there were 24 of them, and so I just pieced one more from squares to get 25, an odd number so that the corners would work out the same. 
To 13 of them, I added a colored square to the ends, and to the remaining 12, added a grey square to the ends.

 I put them up on the design wall, and see that there are quite a few of them, so i might have 2 table runners when I finish.  now I need to sew a grey strip between each of the pieced ones!!
In working on a knitted project, I am happy to report that I have been happily knitting along on my very simple stockinette stitch sweater.  (alliteration :) )

 I have all the main sections finished and am now doing the front band that gets sewn all around the front edges.  I am now avoiding the blocking of the pieces before it gets sewn together.... should I wash them and lay them flat? or lightly press them?

If you feel the need to see close-ups of my first batch of mugs, you can switch over to "my life in clay" blog, on the links in the sidebar!!

Sunday Morning Reflections

Aren't weekend mornings the best time to think about all sorts of things?  things that happened over the past week, what you might want to accomplish over the next few days, gaze out the window and see what show nature is putting on today...

 My orchid is blooming like mad right now, and it even has a double bloom- like an egg with a double yolk.

I sewed a bit on my bonnet girls quilt yesterday, and pieced the center quite simply:

 I decided to use only 12 of the blocks, and so I have 3 leftover,

they are pretty too, and could be nice sewn into another project, but I'd rather stop at just making one project with these blocks.  If anyone else would like to have them, either to sew something, or just to study the way the applique was done, just leave a comment below, and send me your snail mail address in an email and I'll pass them along. 
The applique is done quite nicely, you can see some pencil outlines on the white background to show where to place the pieces, as well as on some of the lighter fabrics, I suppose to show where to turn under the cloth to sew it in place.  Sort of like a match-up puzzle.

I started a new knitting project,  (well, actually two of them)
It is going to be a cardigan for me.

 It will be a tweedy dark blue.  This picture shows how far I got with the first ball of yarn.  It is on 4.5mm needles and it is a simple stockinette stitch-- that's about as easy as you can get!
This is a photo of the goal:

from the book, "Knitting at Home, 60 Classics from Ella Rae Designs", by Leanne Prouse

 It is going to be quite a big project for me, and so I am not going to take any chances in it shrinking later, so I am using a Superwash wool!

 You can see that at the moment, the live oak trees are shedding their old leaves.  Every day Richard blows off the deck, and every day more leaves drift down, pushed off the tree by the new leaves,

 And this morning, there were several cardinals darting around,
I tried to get a photo of them but I was quite far away, and I don't have a zoom lens on my camera, so I apologize for the blurriness,
Cardinals are quite new to me, since they don't travel as far north as Saskatoon.  I had only seen them in books before, and I think they are really pretty birds.

I hope you are having a great weekend too, and storing up lots of energy for the week ahead!

the Felting Continues, plus my Art to Heart quilt

 Alongside the crocheting I was doing, I also keep a knitting project going.  I have been making a tote bag using 6mm needles and two strands of Cascade220 in this striped pattern.  I had started it from a book I have,

  



But when I started it the first time, It had said to cast on 150 stitches. I did this, as you can see above, and I knit about 5 inches before ripping it out.  When I took the needles out, the circumference was about 60 inches!! So, I took it down to 80 stitches and started again.
 This time, things went a bit more quickly.

unfelted

felted

 

 

I washed it up and was quite pleased with the end result!  It measured about 14 inches wide and 19 inches tall when it was unfelted, and now it is still about the same width, but it is quite a bit shorter. 
What I particularly like is the way that the handles curled over to make a nice rounded piece to hold onto.

 And on the sewing front, lest you think that I have forgotten my quilting--
Yesterday I worked on the border for my Sampler with blocks and applique:

 I had finished all the buttonhole stitching around the appliques, but realize that some of my birds have no legs. :-(

 I decided to do quite a simple border.  I had sewn a whole bunch of the squares, because I thought I would put on 2 rows of them in a little running four-patches border.  When I put them next to the quilt they were a bit too heavy, so I dropped it back to one row.

 I got it basted as well, so hopefully I'll get to some quilting on it today!

 Have a great day!

Some Knitting...

Well, as you know, I love to knit.  This week I went to a couple of places where I knit with some other knitters.  I was surprised to find out that many other knitters get bored with easy knitting projects!  They like to do really complicated things!  Not me.  I like to do easy things.  I also like to do small projects so that they don't take too long.

These are my two most recent knits. They are cushions.  I wanted to use these really lovely soft yarns and try out some textured patterns.  The pink one is on big needles, maybe 6.5 mm, and the blue-green one is on size 5mm, I think. 

 I think I love them.  But not as much as I love my pink camellia.

Concerning the Hand Warmers, Heidi

Well, this is what I know about the fingerless mittens/gloves.
I have knit 3 pairs now, all on 4.5mm needles.
This is the latest pair.

They are a really nice yarn, containing cashmere, which is very nice next to the skin.
I used a pattern by "Ella Rae" in a book I have, but can't quite find at the moment, but is was a pretty easy pattern.  I just varied it for different cuffs and hand edges.
I did a quick search on Ravelry (if you are a knitter and don't know about Ravelry, well, that's something you'll want to remedy right away!!!) and found a couple of patterns that are pretty close.  Unfortuneately, there are all sorts of other patterns that look like a lot of fun!! Cables!

This one is a free pattern by Knitting at Knoon 
and you can find the pattern for the ones below here

Look at these!!!, by Eunny Jang, on ravelry
 and these, by Erica Lomax:  (more free downloads!!!)

What a lot of fun!!
Good thing that I've been finding new homes for some of the ones I made already -- the orange ribbed ones and a couple pairs of the recycled sweaters! Hope they do their job.  I'm enjoying the grey ones!

Wool, and more wool

 I spent a very happy day this week dyeing wool fabric.  These are the pieces that I took to the shop to be sold in the 6" x 13" pieces.  I was pleased with some of the colors, except I had some trouble with browns.  They kept turning out sort of maroon or purple.  I have more off-white wool, so perhaps I'll try again soon. 

 I am trying to overcome my knitting ailment- the Second Sock Syndrome.  I decided I just need to develop more perseverance.  So I just started on that second sock, and knit at it in and around other activities, until I finished it today!  Another victory is that I think I have finally got the Kitchener stitch into my brain.  I have had the worst time trying to figure it out, with directions and diagrams and even my friend coaching me step by step.  It has taken a long time, but finally it seems to make a bit of sense, and both toes of this pair of socks are successfully grafted together! Hooray!

 You might be able to detect that we are up at the cabin this weekend.  It is gorgeous weather, and very sunny.  We went out this morning down the road to a neighbor's and had a nice visit.  She was just baking cinnamon buns!!! They were amazingly light and delicious!

I will close now with another knitting project.  I have some quilting stuff to do too.  Do not fear that this is turning into a knitting blog.  I quilt. lots. 
However, on my last trip I picked up a couple of balls of this soft as soft can be, alpaca yarn.  I started to knit a scarf.  I intended to make a rectangle, then go all around the outside edge with another color yarn in an edging, but that didn't transpire.  Instead, I found a pattern for a cowl that had this leaf edging that seemed to be a nice idea.  It is an interesting construction, because the edging is knit right onto the scarf, perpendicular to the other stitches.  I've never done this before, but it is surprisingly easy.  One of those things that sounds tricky when you read the instructions but makes perfect sense when you just do it. 

 A closeup so that you can see how soft the yarn is!

 I can tell now that I will probably run short of yarn.  well, that happens sometimes, I guess.  I'll have to look up where to order it from, since I bought it quite far away, and I'm quite sure that I can't find it in town. 

You know, this would make a nice front edge and collar for a cardigan!

New Slippers

 I have been working on felting slippers with Matt-Garn and another wool called "Quebecois" which is a bit lighter. The two pairs shown above are both the same number of stitches, both on size 6mm needles with 2 strands of yarn, but the Matt-Garn ones are definitely larger.  They all still need buttons sewn on to the straps for decoration. 
This is the evolution of a slipper:
1. Knit them big

 2. sew up the ends

 3. tack down the straps

 4. wash with hot water in the machine

5. put on your feet

sigh of relief

well, we can all rest a bit easier now that I have a new keyboard. It's  much less challenging to type on, and to read too!  It is not a plastic roll-up one, but it is very small, and only about half an inch thick at it's tallest point. 
plus, it's wireless,
We had a pretty full day today, and there was no rain! hooray!  we went up to Aurora to look around, and came upon the most amazing rose bushes all in bloom, and some of them smelled divine!  I took some photos, but have left my camera out in the car tonight. 
Later, I happened to drop in to the yarn store, and noticed that they were winding these teensy little balls of yarn in many colors and textures.  In conversation, it turned out that they were preparing for a "yarn tasting" on Saturday morning from 10 to 12!   What,, you  may ask is a yarn tasting? well, who knows and who cares, I signed up for it.  I will tell you on Saturday night or Sunday!
(maybe some time we'll have a "fabric tasting" at the shop-- but first I'll need to find out what it is)
Plus, they had so many beautiful yarns... I came somewhat prepared this time, as you might remember I made copies of some of the projects I thought it might be nice to make, so I'll take them along then too, I might be there for several hours....
I am looking forward to chatting with my friend Linda when I get home, because she was going to the workshop in Muenster last weekend for some knitting sessions,.. and it sounded really interesting, did any other of you knitters go?

Sunday Outing

We went to Gardenscape this afternoon to soak in some pre-spring flower displays and garden atmosphere.  I drooled over some of the pergolas that the vendors used for their booths.  R drooled over the saunas that are amazingly easy to use compared to those in the past.  
Then we ended up at Calories for a cappucino and cake.  Amazing.
We got home and I tramped around the yard for a while, which altho it is brown and dusty, was 17 degrees C, after all, and so quite pleasant.  I marked off a spot by the house where it would be quite agreeable to have a conservatory, and sat there for a while in a chair. 

 These are some lovely stone eggs I got a year or two ago; I love polished stones, and polished stone eggs are even better. 
I started this scarf, and liked how it curled around on the needles to make different shapes. 

Sundays are a good day. 

New Yarn

 Yesterday I stopped in at our Local Yarn Store, since it was on the way to where my sewing machines were waiting to be picked up and taken home.  There were some lovely things, of course, and some of them came home with me!

 

 Well, not all of these are new, but the 4 on the right are.  Last night I wound the wool I had in these hanks into balls using my new ball winder.  What a great invention.

 I already had this wooden thing, which I don't know what it's called, but that holds the wool and spins while you wind it into a ball.  I had just been winding them by hand, but just recently I got this ball winder, which you just turn the handle and it spins around on an angle and makes really nice cylinders of wool.

  This shows one of the hanks, and the other one wound into the ball.

 And this shows what a hand wound ball looks like compared to the ball winder ball:

 They stack really nicely and don't roll around.  I would be tempted to re-wind all my hand wound balls if I didn't know that was sort of crazy. 

 So, after I wound up all these balls, I started to knit a scarf with the really soft and pretty light blue alpaca.  It is so soft!  I think the scarf won't take too long to knit since it uses 6mm needles and it's only 20 stitches wide.  I've wanted to make something with cables for a while now. 

 And now it's Friday already! Have a great weekend, michelle