TCB

I've been making some progress on the previously mentioned UFO pile. I'm focusing on the sweaters, as I've got a few plans for FUTURE sweaters, and I'm not to start them until I get through the unfinished batch. So: PROGRESS! First up, this HY-SCF-SE combo handspun version of the Tourist Sweater. This was a super simple knit, and my main delay was that I was working the sleeves at the same time as the body in order to keep the progression true throughout. A couple of snow days, some wintry weather, and HUZZAH! Like that, a sweater is born. It's super comfy and warm and delightful. Next up: Sweet, Sweet Coventry. This is knit up in Quince&Co "Chickadee" and it's got a delightful drape. This being cables, I had to pay a bit more attention, and it featured a lot of scattered decreases. The scarf portion was nearly the death of me - I HATE knitting scarves, and rarely, if ever, finish them. The bell sleeves on this are wonderful, it's a great color, a great weight, and I think I'll be wearing it a ton. I'll likely run a ribbon band behind the buttons and along the button band so it will hold it's shape a bit better. And then there's this Caramel Sweater. It's tosh merino light and JDMS and it's fantastically light and airy. It was a pretty boring knit, but I like to have a simple knit for in the car and watching intense movies. The only problem with this one is that the yellow bled PROFUSELY during the soak and block (and re-soak. And re-soak. AND.......etc.) It's not so bad that I won't wear it, but it's sad and disappointing nonetheless. There are 2 more sweaters that are in need of completion, but they're on hold for another week while I take care of some contract knitting. Which is a nice break at this point :)

FO: Coffeehouse Pullover

Months ago, I was lucky enough to get on the special order list for Southern Cross Fibre. I knew for sure that I wanted to make a colorwork *something*, but I wasn't certain of just what. I toyed with the idea of a little bit of EVERY color from the Spring/Summer 2012 Semi-solids collection, then narrowed it down to something like 8 different 2-color combinations. In the end, I decided on "Java" and "Silver Sconce" on Shetland. I set out to spin yarn that as similar in hand to Jamieson's Shetland 2-Ply - I had been eying the Schoolhouse Pullover by Meg Swansen in the book "Knitting in America" for YEARS. This seemed to be just the right time - and yarn! - for it. Adding to that, I had a wedding anniversary right around the corner. I decided that I'd make this for D as an anniversary present. The pattern calls for a purl-when-you-can border, but I read that many people still had the lower edge curling. I opted for a turned cuff, and decided to sneak in a little bit of personalization on that edge - I put D's name, my name, the year knit, etc. The body of the sweater went quite quickly. The patterns are easily memorized, and the whole thing is knit in the round. When it came time to steek the armholes for the sleeves, I decided to work a crochet steek and to pick up and begin knitting the sleeves down BEFORE cutting the steek. This was just a little bit of insurance to make sure the stitches wouldn't pull out from the strain of picking up stitches. Things slowed down a bit on the sleeves knitting, as it became very hot and humid here (once again, ugh) and at this point I had to have the entire sweater on my lap while working on it. There is an I-cord detail worked along the top of each of the sleeves, and the decrease shaping is ingeniously worked under it. The collar gave me a bit of trouble - it turned out to be quite boat-necky, even with my having made it smaller in the knitting. I knew D wouldn't wear it if it was too wide. I worked an I-cord bind-off, and then picked up inside of that to work a turned hem mitered collar. I think the double bind-offs around the neck give it some much-needed structure and shape. And it fits! And he loves it! I'm thrilled to have finally made this sweater, and I can't wait to see it worn. Hooray!

Everything's Coming Up Rabies! I Mean Babies.

I'm in mega-making-things-for-babies mode.  Yet another racket!  Crib sheets are all sold in overpriced sets, everything is too precious.  Taking a hint from knotty bits, I picked up some fabric and made some crib sheets (so fast! so easy!).  Next up: The Quiltening.



Baby quilts are so fast and fun and easy.  It's great to be able to pick out a pattern knowing that you don't have to commit to making enough to cover the whole bed.  I tend to not be as fidgety with baby quilts either because I know they'll just be covered in bodily fluids instantly.  And they're easy to run through the machine for fast machine quilting!  And you don't need mega-yardage.

Anyway, this one.  I picked up that adorable bear fabric awhile back.  I had wanted to make a Carpenters Square Quilt for quite some time, and this seemed a reasonable opportunity to try it out.  It's a piece of cake!  Though I will say that before it got that brown stitching it was a little bit retina searing. 

Next up:



This is one of those Faux Chenille Baby Blankets and Boy Howdy is it easy to make.  And pretty fast!  It is super plush and delightfully soft and cuddly.  I think the rounded corners are charming as well.

I took a break from the quilting and moved on to some knitting and made this little Snug:



This was a super fast knit.  I think I knit it up on US7s?  The yarn is a 3-ply explosion of Hello Yarn goodness in 3 colorways and fibers: "Kale", "Fresh Start", "Spring Loaded" (Falklands/SAF/Merino).  I spun this up 2.5 years ago with no real plans for what it would end up as.  This seems as good a knit as any.  The pattern is clearly written and it is FAST.  It is also *almost* seamless.

I travel next!  Expect adventures and knitterly visits, cheese and mustard, and maybe some Big Sky :)

Oh, Procrastination.

Dress knitting is complete, and I've moved on to the sewing portion of this extravaganza:


First, the petticoats. I made these with all new stuff, though I had Kathy's petticoats to work from and utilize, as well as 2 other wedding dresses that people offered up for me to use or cut up. All keeping in line with my last post :)

The next step is the under-dress. I'm using some green taffeta, which is a beast to work with, and I've been doing a Very Good Job of procrastinating:



I made this bag, which has been in my queue for quite awhile, and I even had the straps for it! My main issue with the pattern is that it called for large grommets, but I couldn't find any grommets large enough to accommodate the width of the leather straps. I ended up getting some plastic rings and buttonhole stitching all around the holes and the rings. Seems to be working out alright so far.



In my excitement to be knitting anything that was not 1. linen, 2. a dress, 3. white, I cast on for the Druid mittens with some madtosh Vintage in "Maple Leaf". I originally knit the first mitten with the cuff (as written) but it turned out to be too gauntlet-y, and no one needs that. I ripped it out - I'll be adding a ribbed cuff and lining to each of these.



I've also been working on a few random crafty jobs - this is a paper-cut I made for a friend's massage business (I'll link once this is approved and all okayed). We're toying with type to go with it, which *may* be cut out as well - NO PAPYRUS, I promise! (Why do so many massage places use that?!?!?!)
There's also a full-leather memorial binding that's in the works, 2 guestbooks, and a couple of albums - pictures to come later once they reach their intended recipients (and I complete them).

Busy-ness, assorted.

Things have been a hodge-podge of busy over here. We got a new couch, which involved getting rid of the old couch (and chairs), taking down a ton of shelves, and basically re-configuring the entire living room. Behold, comfort:

...and excessive shelf space:


It totally opens up the room and makes everything fabulous.

Of course, this was just one stage of numerous home-repair projects. A month or two ago we helped a friend move, and managed to score 6 new-to-us dining room chairs. They're comfortable, and fit wonderfully in our dining room, but the seats were a blase beige (and dirty!) microsuede. Not so much. Off to IKEA! A staple gun, some fabric, and a half hour later, and we've got stellar new chairs:



I love that they are each a little bit different from one another but all play well together.

There was also some smaller crafting going on (the quilt is on hold for a bit as it's been a bit too warm to work on the hand-quilting) - these shoes:



Someone pinned these a few months ago and I haven't stopped thinking about them. The originals were Marc Jacobs for Vans, but they seemed easy enough to replicate, no? Air-erase marker, fabric marker, and a half hour later.....I have awesome new summer shoes! Hooray!

There's also been some paper-cutting:


These were sent out to have plates made in order to letterpress invitations and miscellany. The plates came out WONDERFULLY and I can't wait to get printing. Oh! Also in paper-cutting news, the Ignite presentation I gave a few months ago is now up online. It's all those 80s papercuts.....

There's been some knitting too:

Saartje's Booties, HelloYarn Fat Sock leftovers.


Damask, handspun HY "Winter Storage" singles spun by the most delightful Sparkcrafted. I'm knitting this up for her.

And thinking about knitting a Stripe Study with these:

That's Malabrigo Lace on the left, and Spunky Eclectic "Orchard" Romney handspun singles on the right. The mal lace is....felty and pilly. ALREADY! Grumble.

Topflappen Swappen!

The end of April means potholder swap! This past Saturday was swap day - which included a drive out to snowy western MA - and many many potholders:



Maryse, Cheryl, and I were hosted by Adrian to sort and divvy ~500 potholders. And eat delicious food and laugh, of course.



I managed to come home with lots of great potholders, but also a vicious sinus infection/cold, which left me pretty useless and crabby for a few days. I only had enough energy and concentration to work on mindless things, which was perfect for getting a few more (loooong) rows in on this giant granny square afghan:



This is all sorts of odds and ends of handspun yarn and assorted worsted weight bundles. There's a lot of Cascade 220 leftovers, ends of handspun projects (some are fingering-weight or so, I've been using them doubled up), and things that I've picked up and collected along the way. It's slow going, but I figure it's a great way to deal with some of the ends and miscellany that accumulates around here.

I also finally - FINALLY! - cleared off all of the bobbins. My final bobbin was about 1/4 full of a sweater lot of SCF "Alexandria" in Cheviot wool:



I filled up 4 bobbins and managed to get about 1100 yards of 2-ply out of it. It's quite plump, and has a great drape. I'm debating sweater patterns currently, but I hope to have something completed with this by this next autumn. We'll see. I still need to finish this:



...my "Coventry" sweater. I'm on the second sleeve, but not very far into it. I'm hoping to finish up the sleeve in the next week or two and join up for the yoke portion. This sweater also features a keyhole scarf neck, which is REALLY going to be the pits. My tolerance for scarf knitting is very very very low!!!

I'm trying to stay focused and not wildly cast-on for 264362 projects (which is what I really want to do) - MUST. FINISH. SWEATER! And work on giant granny afghan a bit, too.

Catching Up

I've been quilting up a storm recently - I decided to make YET ANOTHER Color Wheel quilt, from "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts". I believe this is the FOURTH one of these that I have made, but I just can't help it! They are really fast, and very satisfying.



I also cut out the arc pieces for 3 more of these while I was in fabric-cutting mode, and those are being distributed to some lucky quilters. One of the sets is heading out to Chawne, who is a gigantic quilting inspiration with all of her lovely, incredible, adventurous, tiny, meticulous sewing. I'm doing a trade with her for a mini-quilt - my end of the bargain was simple: fingerless gloves.



I opted for Eunny Jang's "Endpaper Mitts" (again, knitting these for the FOURTH time) because I ADORE mine and wear them constantly. I love the length of them - there is no chilly exposed wrist when wearing them with a jacket. I knit them to be fairly snug, knowing they may stretch out a bit. The yarn is SCF Club from forever ago, in the "Hades" colorway. It's Polwarth/Tencel, and has a most delightful sheen to it. I spun it up as a 3-ply last year during the Tour de Fleece. I hope she enjoys wearing them as much as I enjoyed making them!

I've been teaching a bit:



Limp Vellum, my favorite binding structure to teach, and such a satisfying book when done.



I've been converting people to "Settlers of Catan", it's such a great game, and has been perfect for kicking the winter doldrums.

Chop Chop

I've been teaching a bunch lately, mostly the same basic courses as usual (Non-Adhesive Bookbinding, Cloth Case Bookbinding, &c.) and I recently had a student contact me about a paper cutter that had come his way. He was looking for a long-arm style paper cutter, like this Kutrimmer, but his neighbor ended up giving him a guillotine paper cutter. It really wasn't going to work for him, so he asked if I'd like it and of course I would! Here it is (blade off):

This puppy weighs about 50 pounds. It could use a little bit of oil to make the cranks turn a bit smoother, and the blade is tip-top shape. I was able to trade him a disused Ingento-style paper cutter that I have been moving for about 12 years. Everyone wins! I'm excited to cut some stuff.

In other news, I've been spinning and knitting (surprised?) - I'm back up to speed on my Coventry cardigan, which I'm knitting in Quince&Co yarn (Chickadee) in the "Snap Pea" colorway. Boy Howdy, this yarn is delightful. It really has great stitch definition and holds it's shape well. I'm about 8" in after a horrid mis-reading of the decreases and a ripping-back incident (5" worth) and it's proceeding smoothly and quickly.


And I finally got around to spinning up all of my "Alpine" Romney (Hello Yarn Fiber Club, July 2009) into this lovely, drapey 2-ply, for about 1500 yards. I don't have a specific sweater planned for it yet.


Also, The Pork. For Christmas, we gave most of my family the gift of pork, specifically pork from our friend Inga, who is Farm Girl At Large. It turns out that it costs more to ship 60 pounds of pork halfway across the country than it does to fly someone out here with it, so Inga came to stay with us for a few days, and we took a quick jaunt down to Jersey for pork distribution. Here's what 60 pounds of pork looks like:


And here's a little glimpse of the Paterson Falls in the snow:


We visited the Falls, discussed the late Alexander Hamilton (a LOT), and ate lots of pork with family a friends. Delicious, and delightful.

Some Things, Completed!

I've actually managed to FINISH some things these past couple of weeks. This may or may not be snow related:



First, this gigantic bundle of handwoven Wensleydale came off the loom. This is handspun Hello Yarn Club Fiber from August 2010 in the "Heirloom" colorway - I spun it into a 2-ply and wove it up on my rigid heddle loom. I currently have one looooong piece of cloth, at about 10 feet x 22 inches (or so). I'll be starting the process all over again in order to get enough cloth to cut up and make a cute swingy jacket. Eventually. Hey, I'm halfway there, right?



Second, I finished this Golden Wheat cardigan, using handspun made from leftover test bundles when I co-dyed with David at Southern Cross Fibres. Mods? Of course. I knit this on US 7 & 9 needles, made it a little bit longer, and I'll be adding a buttonband backing of grosgrain ribbon this afternoon. This sweater is so comfortable and soft! The yarn is delightful - I had some concerns about the skeins not blending well enough, but I'm pleased as punch with how it looks. The fiber that I started out with had no business plying together into something this awesome.



Third, these divine mittens! Okay, I made these a few months ago but they were a test-knit so I couldn't talk about them. BUT HERE THEY ARE NOW. "Flocked Mittens" from Adrian Bizilia, knit in Quince&Co. "Lark" in Split Pea and Glacier. The lining is some brown alpaca that I had hanging around. These are super comfy cozy warm. These have become my go-to shoveling mittens around here.

All of this spinning and weaving and knitting (and teaching!) has been fantastic, and completing things is a good feeling. But I've also got one project looming, this quilt project:



A few weeks ago I made the mistake of fabric shopping with Kelly & Maritza. Kelly had this luscious bundle of solids out, and we each decided to get a half yard of each color to make one big quilt with. So all these rich colors, and white. Those are the only rules. I've been thinking maybe a double wedding ring quilt? Any ideas, suggestions, thoughts on this or OTHER quilts would be great!

End of August

While most people are panicking about the end of August signifying the end of summer, I am breathing a sigh of relief. This summer has been so abominably hot and unbearable, and I am pining for cooler days (and nights).



I finished up this woolen vest, and I am anxious to wear it! It's a handspun blend of 3 Southern Cross Fibers (“Deep Thought” - Oatmeal BFL, “Homeward” - Falkland, “Desert Sky” - Polwarth)with a wee bit of Cascade 200 and unknown wool to finish off the collar and sleeve edges. I knit this completely in the round and steeked it, which I really feel is the way to go with things like this - so fast! So fun! That daring edge of CUTTING your knitting! It's delightfully squishy.

And then I kept knitting.....



I've been wanting to make the Fresco Legwarmers for ages, and when I got my order of the new Quince & Co "Chickadee" yarn I figured it was finally time to cast on. With a few mods for color, and then again for almost-running-out-of-yarn (whoops!), these legwarmers FLEW off the needles. The Quince yarn is wonderfully plump and squishy, and made for a lovely fabric on both US3s and US5s. The stitch definition is wonderful and even - and this is all before blocking!

And I've kept up the quilting, but with a twist:



This is a test square (18" - for a pillowcase) using origami crease patterns. I recently saw the documentary "Between the Folds" which is all about origami and the people who make it. Many of the crease patterns for some of the more complex pieces can be found, and I loved how they looked, so decided to try my hand at translating that to a quilt. This is The Garden Spider. I'm going to try out a few more pillow cases before going big and making a full-sized quilt!

Here it is being sewn:

Actual FOs. Yes. Believe It Or Not.

DONE.



The bird quilt, completed. Just needs a delicate wash and dry, and I'll get some big pictures.

I ended up handquilting the entire thing - I figured I had already put so much time and care into it, a little hand-quilting wouldn't kill me. I didn't use a frame or hoop. I quilted just inside each of the bird squares, and created similar squares in the side panels. I also echo quilted around each bird so there was more stability to the sandwich - the bird squares are each 9.5" and they needed to be quilted down a bit more in the centers.



I've also been test-knitting a bit - I knit this lovely, simple, fast, beautiful shawl for Kirsten Kapur of Throughtheloops:



This the Roma Shawl pattern. I knit it up on some merino/silk sock yarn from Nakedly Knitting, with Koigu KPPPM for the bottom detail and edging. This pattern is delightful - easily memorized, quick, and lovely. This shawl has a GREAT drape to it.

TdF Wrap-Up & OSBeeeeee!

As happens this time every year, I have been obsessively watching the Tour de France and spinning for the Tour de Fleece. This year, as most, was EPIC! My goals for the Tour de Fleece were to spin as much as possible, and attempt to get caught up on my Club fibers from Hello Yarn, Southern Cross Fibers, and Spunky Eclectic. I also had some bits and bobs of random fiber around that I was hoping to take care of. A few weeks before the TdF I (finally) invested in some more bobbins for my Majacraft Rose, bringing my total up to 14, and mid-way through the tour I replaced the entire head assembly of my wheel, which had been giving me some difficulties (and being LOUD) for some time now. I learned that my wheel is 10-12 years old! Next on the maintenance list is a new drive band.

But the spinning! I spun the equivalent of a CAT this year!



That's 8 lbs, 03 oz. of fiber, for a total length of 8489 yards (15,648 yards pre-plying). I've got 2 sweaters' worth of yarn in there, a honking skein of color progression laceweight singles, some low-twist singles slated for a woven project, and much much more. My stash runneth over!

I did take some breaks from the spinning - I worked on my first assignment for One Scrappy Bee! Julie Frick requested some Vortex Blocks featuring bunneh fabric:



I couldn't resist giving him fangs. But then the second bunneh seemed to be lacking.....



..so this one got sexy lady eyelashes. I believe rabbit embellishments have been added to her OSB Assignments :) I'm really enjoying this Bee - I love seeing everyone's interpretations of the assigned patterns.

Oh yeah, I knit something too:



This is the Annis Shawlette from a recent knitty. This was a great stashbusting project - I have had this 300 yard skein of alpaca from Touch of Twist for a few years now, and this pattern seemed simple enough, and while it used slightly more yardage, I opted to knit it anyway and go down a needle size. As it is now, it's lovely and light and ethereal, though a bit of an odd size - neither here nor there.