Moda Soiree Quilt

Another quilting project! I did a LOT of catching up when I took a vacation day just to sew basically. I didn't get everything I wanted done, but it gave me the motivation to continue through the weekend and finish up my quilts. Then of course my mom visited and finished up the bindings for me! Yes, I can do them, but she claims she likes to have something to work on while she's here and I'm happy to work on other (knitting) projects instead. :)

I've become a big fan of these lovely pre-cut sets all from one line. Moda is the champion of this. For my Soiree quilt I chose a "layer cake" which is a pack of forty (or more) 10" square cuts, all different prints from their Soiree collection. Add in a 1/2 yard for binding and some yardage for the quilt backing and you're set.


The pattern is... well I don't know if it has a name actually. I think I'll call it wonky stripes. :) It was pretty simple and I took pictures of the process so look for a quick tutorial soon!

The backing is 2 yards of a Michael Miller dainty damask that I had. I was able to stretch it wider by adding the strip of stripes. Plus I love having an interesting back to the quilt also!

Strip Twist Quilted Runner

Another quilted table runner! This was done just in time to decorate the table before Thanksgiving. We're already decorating for Christmas today!

I got the idea of this one from the Connecting Threads catalog. They have tons of lovely table runners and quilts photographed in there. They sell many kits and patterns but this particular one is from a larger quilt pattern called Strip Twist. I thought it would make a great runner if it were only 2 squares wide. I actually didn't buy the pattern, I thought I could figure it out and I did!


The fabric is set of strips plus maybe half yard of the binding and backing prints, also from Connecting Threads. They sell strip sets, FQs and just about any cut you could want too.

I ended up going with a simple diagonal line quilting. The lines are spaced at different widths and there is an occasional line the other way too. I used good old painters' tape as my line guides.


Here is a matching potholder/trivet. It is also my first project attempt at free motion quilting and I give myself a D. If you look at the stitches its a big old mess. Some long stitches, lots of teeny tiny stitches, bizarre jogs in the curve. Just look at the overall pattern please. :)

Felting Class

My mom is in town visiting and I thought it would be fun to plan out some activities for just us. So I signed us up for a Felting class at the local art center. It was called Felting: From Fuzz to Form and it covered needle felting, wet felting and ideas on how to combine them with things like felted sweaters material too. I'd never done any of these and it was a nice change from all the knitting I've been up to!

First we did needle felting. It's just stabbing over and over some wool roving with a barbed needle until it submits to your will. Or turns into something like a cupcake. ;)
Here is my little project:


I also made these little circle shapes, not sure what they will become yet...


Next was wet felting. Just dip clouds of roving into warm/hot soapy water and turn into a ball. Or something. I was most excited for this part but it was NOT a good fit for me. My first attempt wasn't turning into a ball, it ended up more flat. Actually it looked like a T-bone steak! Or a human heart. But DEFINITELY not a ball.



Next I tried wet-felting a snake. Much better!


My mom had much better success with felting balls but she managed to forget all of her projects back at class! The only piece that actually came back with us was this embellished felted sweater piece. The orange and turquoise bits were needle-felted on. Quite cute!

Another Koigu Scarf - Berrylicious

It's hard to go wrong with any of the Koigu KPPPM yarn colors. I went to a local yarn shop with the idea of getting some purple Koigu. Oy, there were at least a dozen options! I ended up falling for this more-pink-than-purple colorway. So pretty!



I had a bit of trouble finding a pattern I loved to use it for. I started a drop-stitch pattern but didn't enjoy it. Too fiddly and slow for me. Then I wore my first shawl, the Feather & Fan Comfort Shawl and I was reminded of how much I loved the finished product AND the knitting itself.
I had wanted to avoid repeating patterns since I'm still pretty new to knitting and love learning new techniques and stitches, but the Feather & Fan was calling to me.
This scarf version is a 4 row repeat - knit, purl, pattern, knit. Easy! So I didn't really learn anything new but I did enjoy it thoroughly. :)



Love love love my blocking wires! Really this scarf didn't NEED blocking but it's never a bad thing. It smoothed and shaped the ends and added a whole lot of length.
Raveled here

Autumn Scarf

Yes more knitting. I'm actually doing very little sewing lately as I've found knitting to be so much easier to pick-up-and-put-down. Plus it's fall and there's more to watch on TV so I can knit and watch. But I do have two quilting projects I will finish in November!

This scarf was knit with Koigu's KPPPM yarn and it's lovely to knit with. Plus Koigu comes in every color under the sun - from slightly varigated solids to tonal stripes to wild rainbows! Really, the prettiest part of a yarn store may be the Koigu section - it's a riot of color.
Here's a few skeins of Koigu, including the 2 that created this scarf:


The pattern is called Sock-it-to-me and is from the 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders book. Yes there are definitely some fluff and silly things in there but there is also a ton of good projects you'd actually make. Good book.



I got through this scarf in just two weeks! I was really pushing to finish it though since I wanted to wear it to our family portrait day last weekend. I hope it photographed well!
Raveled here

Noro Shawlette

What is a shawlette? It's a tiny shawl. Or something that was supposed to be a shawl but the knitter was sick of the thing and decided to quit early. So now instead of keeping shoulders warm, it's just basically a triangular scarf.


This is a lace pattern called Kellokukka that I did intend to make as a full size shawl. However I did not enjoy knittign with the yarn, Noro Kureyon Sock. Ick. It's thick and thin (and I mean blobby, really thick and then thin as thread), it's not soft and I was all done with it. I do love the look of the slow color gradation but I need to find it in a nicer yarn. Did I mention that this Noro isn't cheap either? Definitely not buying it again!


So I had done a decent amount was coming to the end of a repeat. I could have kept going, maybe knit at least one more 18-row repeat but I decided to quit before I hated the whole thing and end it short. At least it's usable as I was able to block it it to 40" wide! In the end I used just over half of the skein. As I said, I just couldn't take it anymore!
Raveled here.

Mittens and Hats

Brrrr! Suddenly it got very cold here and I had to admit that just throwing on a hoodie on myself and the kids wasn't going to cut it anymore. I dug out our box of mittens/gloves/scarves and then scavenged around to see if coats from last year would fit the boys this winter. It looks like we are OK on coats, but Nate only had one mitten. I found a pair of Nate's old mittens that would be fine for Ben but I have vivid memories of wrestling Nate's fingers into them and thought we could do with a easier pair.
Some new mittens were definitely in order!

Now I've been bitten by the knitting bug but no way could I have finished 2 knit pairs in one evening like I did sewing up these fleece pairs:


Fortunately I still had the mitten pattern pieces I used last year when I made mittens/scarf/hat sets for all the toddlers. The pattern is free, but there is some work involved scaling the pattern to the right size for the user. It was great to just be able to cut and sew! For Ben's I just basically winged it. No thumbs on his. I used up all of the blue making Nate's pair and didn't have a good other color for Ben's. So I ended up using this luscious smooth minkee. I used white fleece for the inside to make sure it would be warm enough. (Of course white wouldn't have stayed clean for long on the outside!) These were pretty quick jobs but definitely functional. :)

Then back to the saga of the pumpkin hat. Sigh. I really had a lot of problems with this. My first hat was too big and stretched even bigger. I also didn't love the rolled edge (especially with the stretchiness.) I ended up taking out some bottom rows and knitting a ribbed bottom instead. However, it is too big for Ben and almost too big for Nate! So it's officially Nate's hat now. I started knitting another, making it a bit smaller, for Ben. I finished it and tried it on him (bad idea to wait to the end to do this!) and it was too small now!! My notes for the first hat were wrong and I knit the 2nd one with a much smaller gauge resulting in too small a hat. Argh! I had to put it away for about a week I was so frustrated with it.

But the cold weather made me determined to pick it up again. I undid the bottom, knitted up more rows, put a nice garter stitch edge on and bound off. I was as usual, so very very close to running out of yarn! But it finally FITS him now. (Of course, he still hates wearing hats!) I have a bit more green yarn (no more orange) that I may use to make ties for this still. We'll see.



I shared this project before but I'm really only calling it complete now that I found the perfect button for my hat!


And this won't really be a cold-weather scarf but the fall colors definitely make me want to get it done NOW! It's knit with lovely Koigu KPPPM yarn which is sock weight meaning it isn't a fast knit, though it is fun and pretty easy. I love love love the colors on display here. Only a few more feet to go! ;)