Little Done and Lots to Do

 The owl blocks are all fused to their background blocks 

so next is a lot of stitching with invisible thread to cover all of those raw edges!

 The doll sweater still needs the button bands.  

I want to do it on the machine;  it is a new technique for me and I want to learn it!

I am now in week 4 of the ribbing class and I still have a two samples to do from last week!

I hate getting behind.

In every area of my life, I can't stand the pressure that builds when I am delinquent!

It is hard to grab a quick 5 minutes in this area like I can in quilting or piecing--I need time and room to think and these are in short supply for most days!

 I have these rows to sew together and two long strips of the background color to be sewn to the sides.  I also need to cut the coral strips for another border so I can then send this to the frame.

But even there, I am bogged down with this little bird wall hanging!

Sigh.

Time to roll up my sleeves and get to work/play in the studio!!!

A Thumb in the Pie

 While the first mitten is finished....

I wasn't happy with the 'pointy' thumb.

I understand it is more the style f the Nordic mittens but the fit is not great on this one either.

 I ripped it out by cutting the tip off and ripping back to the place before decreases.

And then I reworked the thumb to make it longer and rounder.

Stay tuned!

Two Hoots

Aren't they full of fun?!

I have another two appliqued owls traced and cut out and hope to iron them to their blocks today.

Some are fancy and some are plain but they will all make a very interesting quilt!

Each of the steps are easy to do and easy to execute;

stitching the edges takes the longest but even that 

has its own rhythm.

Tip Top

I am decreasing for the tip of the mitten!

It is going much faster now that I have the thumb stitches on waste yarn.

I am enjoying the colorwork so much,

I am glad I have another mitten to knit!

Orbital Dreams

 Two pillowcases for some aeronautic grandsons!

I purchased the fabric while visiting one of the shops during the hop.

 The accent fabric, the hem fabric and the body of the pillowcase are basted together first.

 Then I lay the fabric out and start to roll the main fabric up towards the hem fabric.

 When I am close to the seam, I bring the hem fabric up and over to the same seam 

and sandwich the rolled portion inside the tube!  

 Let the pinning begin!

Here's the rolled up sandwich ready for seaming--

This time on the serger.  

 Once serged, I reach inside and begin to turn it right sides out.

 Almost accomplished at this stage! 

Now it gets a good steam press from both sides.

All that's left now is to fold it in half and seam the end and one long side!

After turning it right side out, I give the whole thing a heavy press and fold it up--

so I can surprise two grandsons on Monday with this 'out of the world' pillowcase!

I had forgotten how much fun these are to make!

*standard pillowcases are 20x26" but I made these for a queen sized pillow (20x30") because the pillow won't sneak out with the extra length!

It's Just the Thumb!

I'm enjoying the stranded colorwork mitten-even though I had to rip out 10 rows 

because I forgot to add the thumb gusset increases!  

Just a minor glitch and I have made up the delay and then some.

I do enjoy a good knit like this mitten!

Who's Been AWOL?

 My neighbor, Millie and I have planned this two day marathon 

to drive to all 10 quilt shops for a long time and now,

400 miles later, we did it!

We received a block from each shop 

and just happened to pick up some other treasures to keep us busy for a month!

The blocks will be completed and joined into a quilt within the month 

because that is when the next shop hop begins!

Recycle or Upcycle?

 I wanted to join in on the sock KAL with Vera and Dee but I have no sock yarn in my stash!

Yes, lots of handspun which isn't practical for my warmer weather sock needs 

so I went to KnitPicks and picked out a yarn....

then I remembered the skein I liked looked familiar and sure enough, 

I  had knit a one skein shawl out of it a few years ago.

 But here's the thing, I never wear the shawl.

And I really like the yarn.

And I wear my socks almost every day of the year.

Yeah, it was obvious I was going to rip out the shawl and make socks instead!!!!

 I soaked it overnight.

I wound it on the yarn winder and hung it by the fire to dry.

I am now ready for the knit-a-long!

See me smile?!

Done and Close

 The girls' sized 8 sweater is completed;  

the ribbing at the neck was done by hand , the rest all done on the LK150. 

 The Lion Brand Mandala yarn gives it a nice soft hand and interesting color!

In fact, I was able to stitch the AG doll sweater together so it isn't a pile of curled up pieces anymore!

Next, I have to do the button bands which will also go up and around the hood 

but that will be a lesson for another day!

(Buttonholes ? Oh, my!)

A Sweater in a Day!

Almost.

I started this yesterday morning and almost managed to finish it in one day.

I will seam up the sleeves and sides and add ribbing by hand  to the neck!

Today will see the big finish.

The only problems I encountered this time were the many knots in this cake of yarn-5!

Which really makes a snarl while knitting by machine-fixable, 

but a halt to production for a bit to do so!

Did You See This?!

 Sunset last night gave a glimpse of the rosy moon to come!

 The third try on the colorwork mittens had to be ripped out again!

Oh, yeah, it's pretty but it just fit over my hand and it is for a man-it's a no-go!

Upon closer inspection, the pattern I had chosen was for DK yarn not fingering!

 Yup, painful but necessary frogging took place.

After a lot of knitting  on a new pattern and a compromise on the design colors,

it is working out to be easily knit because of its wonderful symmetry!

And the cold night gave me a clear view of the blood moon!  

In the same colors as my mitten!

(the stars don't show in the photo taken with my cell phone but I know they are there

giving me the perfect palette match!)

Playing with Yarn

 I still knit by hand-a dishcloth just rolled out from under my needles!  

A basketweave design of k3p3 for 6 rows and change...

Premier cotton on #6 needles.

 Continuing on my Ribbing Class, I did this sampler of 1 x 1 rib on the bottom 

moving into English Rib followed by Fisherman Rib at the top;

  noting how each rib works at a very different gauge over the same number of needles!

 This stitch is called Waffle Rib;  it looks like a common 1 x 1 rib on the back.

 This is Double Waffle Rib which is the same on both sides-

a real squishy rib and easy to work;

I think this would be a good all over pattern for future sweaters.

 And with my homework done, I did a pinwheel dishcloth with two different colors changing colors in the center so there weren't a ton of ends to work in when I finished the circle!

And this is the first cuff of the mittens but I should've used red for the stripes 

and I forgot to change colors

 and now I have to rip it out so I guess I will have to grin and get to it!

Going in Circles!

 So, I thought I would try to convert this common dishcloth pattern to a machine knit one!

And it worked!

Now usually this is knit in all garter stitch but that is not so easily achieved on a knitting machine.

I hand manipulated the 3 stitches on the edges so it wouldn't curl--

it was fun to grab a few minutes to knit a wedge!!!!

 The work took place over a small number of needles-17-20 throughout the knit

 since you work on only half of the diameter at a time. 

 I did have to work out how many rows per wedge (8) 

would equal what percentage of 360 degrees so I would knot how many wedges!  

It works out each wedge was about 25.7 degrees 

so 14 of them were needed to make a circle!

I kept bringing the finished wedges up to see where I was for closing in on the complete circle!

All in all, a good exercise in a 'what if' train of thought.....!

Cause and Affect

 When the morning looks like this...

 ...you know that last night looked like this-

 and this-

 and this!

And finishing the dickey means I can start on these!