Tuesday update - 14 August 2018

The big news this week is that I finished my "Goblin King: a Labyrinth quilt"!

This was a quilt along with Fandom in Stitches 2017. I wanted the black fabric to look like a stone wall, and the walkway to be pebbled. Thanks to Lori Kennedy's tutorials (The Inbox Jaunt), I think I succeeded.

I am still working away on the Moon Garden BOM, and got month four done over the last couple of weeks:

This is a Primitive Gatherings/Lisa Bongean BOM. I just got month 5 in the mail, but won't start it until I get caught up (again) with the Patchwork Barn BOM. Cutting out the rest of August's blocks now.
Then I have been knitting. I finally finished the scarf I have been working on for months, off and on, mostly off. This was the leftover yarn from my Old Shale Shawl I made last year, using a Caron Big Cake (Blue Macaron).

And I finished a pair of simple socks. These were knit on size 00 needles, using a skein of Opal's Harry Potter yarn (Harry and Ron colorway) from a long time ago. It was released along with the Goblet of Fire movie. I still have several skeins to go.

I have been trying to make my way through James Joyce's "Ulysses", hence all the handwork, my book club meets this Thursday, one long chapter to be discussed, so more knitting in my future. I read about the chapter, then listen to the chapter, sometimes following along in the book, sometimes doing handwork. It has been on my bucket list, but I will be so glad when I am done! Currently knitting on my Feather Chic sweater (cast on this week).

Knitting another Noro striped scarf

I needed something easy to bring along on the New York trip, so grabbed my last skeins of Noro and needles and started this in the airport. This is the fourth Noro striped scarf I have made, and probably the last.

Painted Circle Scarf

While sorting out yarn this last weekend I came upon my cache of Lion Brand Homespun yarn that I bought as a newbie knitter. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to Lot number, big mistake! And a lot of the yarn was missing its label anyway. So I have some random skeins, and some colors with 4 skeins each. Anyway, I ran across this one skein that I had started something with, then ripped it out, and I don’t know where its label is and wanted to start something while waiting for my sweater needles to show up, so I started the Painted Circle Scarf from the Lion Brand website. It takes two skeins, but I don’t think a lot change will matter that much in this pattern, or maybe one skein will be long enough (directions were originally one skein). Fairly mindless, like how it is coming so far, but really not a fan of knitting with this yarn. I do like how it feels when knit though!

This scarf is to go with a hat I made for my daughter earlier this year. Fairly simple pattern that I found on Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/seaweed-stole-scarf), and I was so glad when I finally finished it! Made with two skeins of Sirdar Crofter Dk (60% acrylic, 25% cotton, and 15% wool).

Knitting - getting some of that done too

Taking the bus to work is helping with my knitting. The scarf was done mostly on the bus, the sock and washcloth, not. But still, knitting is getting done too. Also been working on the KAL - Stripes Alive - no picture yet, but fun socks.

sock from the Little Box of socks

February mid-month knit-along

Jared Flood Noro Striped scarf - this is my second one, fun to make, each one is different, this is now half done.

Knit along and socks too

The Skacel KAL fingerless mitts are done! Now I am working on a second pair for my daughter.

Also finished the second sock of the Opal Masked Ball yarn. Yeah, another blue pair of socks.

Knitting - socks and mitts

In addition to quilting, I have been knitting. In January I heard about the Trekking KAL sponsored by Zitron and Skacel, and led by Michelle Hunter (KnitPurlHunter.com). I started late with the January KAL, and ripped out the first attempt. I decided that two circular needles would be easier, got some, finally, changed yarn, and started again. Meanwhile, I started a simple sock to take along with me when I go places, using Opal Masked Ball color 3005. So when the KAL got to the heel (and my KAL sock wasn't there yet, still isn't), I tried the new-to-me technique of short rows. You can see it was a success! I really like these, no picking up of stitches after the heel flap! One down, one on the needles, barely started but a couple of rounds done. Meanwhile my January KAL sock is about to be ripped out again, more practice for knit from the toe up.

The February project for the KAL is fingerless mitts, more learning, but KnitPurlHunter has great videos on her website, making it pretty easy to learn the new techniques. I have Part one done for the first mitt, and started for the second. I hope to keep up with this one and have them both done by the end of February.

Knitting - socks and washclothes

I am getting a bit more adventurous with my socks. These are from Knitty - Sunday Swing by Kristel Nyberg. Yarn is Lorna's Laces Parry Hotter in Gryffindor colors. I made a simple pair for me a while back, these are for my daughter (foot model).

The washcloth is this months mid-month Knit-along. I made it a bit longer, using Peaches and Cream color 172 Newport. I love how the colors made a strippy look! Totally serendipity :)

Knitting

Lately it seems knitting rather than quilting/piecing has consumed my life. I got some fabulous yarn the other day, Arucania (70% merino wool, 20% alpaca, and 10% silk), handpainted in shades of brown. This got turned into a scarf and pull-on hat in record time. Part of that, I am sure, has to do with the fact that a friend lent me the Battlestar Galactica series on DVD and I have been glued to the TV, rather than my sewing machine. Watching a whole series at once has some advantages. Like not having to wait a week or months for the next episode! I used a pattern for the scarf, then having a bunch of yarn left decided to make a pull-on hat, kind of made that one up as I went along, after looking at several hat patterns. I have a bit more yarn left, maybe some fingerless mitts?

Then I have also been continuing with socks. I have another pair on the needles right now (a very dark blue with flecks of lighter blue and teal, alpaca and wool) that is giving me fits because I cannot see the stitches very well, too dark and too small. So I managed to make a mistake about four rows back and will be undoing that shortly (in my chair with the bright light and magnifying glass!) Shown is the pair I recently finished, Opal yarn, Harry Potter - Ron coloring. Fun to wear . And I got the self-striping yarn to match up pretty good too!

Knitting Socks

I have been knitting a little over a year now. I finally took a knitting class a couple of weeks ago to make a pair of socks. The class had some rocky moments, but I finished up my socks last night! Thank goodness for online videos. I used knit witch's kitchener stitch video to finish the socks, nice and slow to show each detail. In that two weeks of knitting socks I have tried various methods, short double pointed needles, longer dpn, and two circular needles. On another sock I tried a single 9" circular needle. The circulars are easier to carry around cause I tend to pull or push stitches off of the dpn when pulling the sock out of its storage bag. I have been bitten by the sock bug.

Still Quilting

The last few rounds of quilting have been doing the boring cable around the last two sides of my DJ border. I've done 3 rounds, and the fourth on one side. I am going to do the fifth cable line on the third side so I can do some free motion for a while. This is just too boring.
On the non-boring front, I went to see Wicked Tuesday night. I loved it :) But it was a very late night, and I was very tired the next day. Very little quilting got done last night. Tomorrow should be better, it is Friday and a short day at work. Saturday is Stitches West, well it started today, but I am going Saturday. Since I am just a beginning knitter, this is rather intimidating, rather overwhelming actually. I have been plodding away at a little washcloth the last couple of days, getting my stockinette stitching better. Cotton is very unforgiving. I need to get a winder, and maybe a swift. We'll see. I can wait on the swift.

Another Knitting Needle Case

Somehow quick and easy knitting needle cases are not in my repertoire. Again, I used up leftovers, this time from my High Country Garden/Cube Lattice quilts. I still have a few more fat quarter-ish sized pieces, but I think they will just go into the stash at this point. Most of these are pseudo-solids, the one fireworks print was the backing for HCG. I cut out one side of a shopping bag from the fireworks fabric, so that could be the tote that goes along with this set. The first knitting accessory zippered bag was from this same group of fabrics, more or less . It is about 22" wide and 18" tall. At this point, all of my needles fit in these two cases, so I can hold off on making anymore and actually knit. I am still working on the wool scarf for the troops, and a shawl (or two) for me. Along with sewing of course.

Needle Holder and accessory bag

I've been knitting. And buying yarn. Buying yarn for socks that I am afraid to start in case I make them the wrong size. So I signed up for a sock class and this week I went back to the store to get supplies, yarn for socks, and needles, lots of double pointed needles. The teacher wants us to bring needles for the guage on the yarn, along with one set bigger and one set smaller. I have used DPN on occasion, and circular needles, and I much prefer circular needles. So while there I discovered 9" circular needles that can be used to make socks. So I bought some of those too. I've been thinking about a needle holder for a while, in fact I have even blogged about making one (still to be made, actually). But today I made a needle holder for all of those tiny needles. I still need one for the larger ones. And I made another accessory bag to go with it. All from leftovers from Katie's quilt! The size was determined from the leftovers, I had made 12 1/2" strips from 2 or 3 fabrics for the blocks, and had the bits left after the cutting the blocks (12.5" by various widths) that got combined for the outer fabric. I had one large piece (2 fabrics stripped together) that became the lining, and various other bits that became the pockets. I use the lovely crane fabric for the accessory bag and the binding and ties of the needle case. I had a long piece about 6" wide of the cranes. And I used batting that had been trimmed from a quilt after it was quilted. The only thing that wasn't a scrap was the 7" zipper for the accessory case, and that I had. The case fits nicely into the upper right pocket.

Essential knitting accessory case

Beth got me the Yarn Harlot “never not knitting” 365 days of wit and wisdom for Christmas. Today’s bit talks about an essential knitting accessory case that contains stitch markers, a darning needle, little scissors, Post-it notes for marking your place in a chart, a pen and paper for taking notes, some waste yarn, a row counter, and a measuring tape.
I was thinking of using more of the leftover bits from the cube lattice/high country garden quilt for a knitting needle case (or two, this morning I was organizing my needles a bit…). After reading this, I realized that the little zippered case I made with some of the same scraps would be perfect for the “essential knitting accessory case.” I am thinking of using some of the leftover bits to practice making Half Square Triangles using a new method. I can use the resulting squares to make the outside of the knitting needle case pieced rather than a plain piece of fabric. Perhaps I can even make a knitting bag (using my shopping bag pattern) using the same fabric. Tonight's project (if I am not too tired).
At least I got the Christmas decorations packed away last night.

Day out in San Francisco

Today DH and I went to San Francisco to see the DaVinci drawings at the California Palace of the legion of Honor - that name is just too long! They were sketches that he did in preparation for other things, paintings, sculptures, and inventions. They had one of his notebooks showing his backwards writing, which actually made sense since he is left handed, easier to write right to left than left to right so the ink doesn't smear.

We also went through the rest of the museum, it had been a while since we had been there. Another special exhibit was "The State Museums of Berlin and the Legacy of James Simon" James Simon donated around a 1000 items to the National Museums of Berlin, including the famous bust of Nefertiti, funded archeology digs, and was a Jewish philanthopist, one third of his income was donated to the public, funding the first woman's hospital in Berlin, among other things. The exhibit included Egyptian, Babylonian, and European areas, which were all fascinating. http://www.famsf.org/legion/exhibitions/exhibition.asp?exhibitionkey=929 is a link to this exhibit.

We also went to a yarn shop in San Francisco, Noe Knits, fueling my new passion in knitting, and my Harry Potter interest. They had a custom dyed sock yarn by Lorna's Laces called Parry Hotter, using the Gryfindor colors of gold and red. I got enough for two pairs of socks, one for me, one for my DD.

Then we got lunch at a delicious Peruvian restaurant down the street. Fun day!