Obligatory Progress Post

I know I have been awfully quiet -- it's not because I have been idle, but because what I have to show isn't that interesting. My garter stitch cardigan has been progressing fairly quickly, but isn't very photogenic, yet:


And my Rockin' Sock Club socks are very Fraggley, but I am at the point where the second one looks much like what I've already shown you of the first:


The only exciting thing is that I finally put up my quilting frame (which takes up merely about half of the remaining floor space in my bedroom) and pulled the Fresh Squeezed Quilt out of oblivion. I had agonized long and hard over how to quilt this one (and am still not one hundred percent decided what I am going to do on some parts of it) but began with some little leaves. How cute are they.

Fresh Squeezed Quilt

Despite a little bit of angst and some frustratingly mismatched points while sewing (one of which I redid four times before I decided it was just meant to be crooked) the fabulous Fresh Squeezed quilt top is done.

I like it quite a bit, despite its imperfections. If I did it again, I would try to pick more suitable colours for sashings (i.e. the watermelon orange strips between the patchwork diamonds) and for the little single diamonds connecting the sashings. The way I have it, I think the sashings are tonally too similar to the patchwork diamonds, and some of the little diamonds between them are tonally too similar to the yellow background, making them disappear a bit. I suppose every quilt is a learning process, though. Perhaps I need to get out graph paper and pencil crayons and plan things out a bit more, in the future.

It is still a bit garish, although I think having it bounded by the relatively solid fabrics of the sashing and background helps to tone that down a bit. I still love the brightness and cheeriness of it. I wish this photo did the colours justice -- it looks a bit washed out by the flash, toward the bottom. Clearly I need more practice with the camera...

All I need to do now is get some batting and plan out a quilting design for it. I am thinking of trying something a bit fancier than in the past, so I am getting some books on hand-quilting designs from the library. Wish me luck.

In knitting news, the lace edging on the Mystery Shawl is two-thirds done. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I will have pretty much finished it, so I can block it and show it off. After all, it won't surprise you to know that I have more quilting and knitting projects waiting in the wings, to be started soon...

Back in the Saddle

That next step of picking up the sashing and carrying on with Project Quilt Top Completion got put off for a couple of days... I ended up seeing The Dark Knight that night, instead (which is gut-wrenchingly perfect and really takes the whole saga to new and interesting places -- Christopher Nolan just might be a genius. I know I don't need to say anything about the performances, since it's all been said already. But yeah, jaw-droppingly perfect.)

And then, having finished the last (current) baby project, I picked up the Mystery Shawl again and have been voraciously working on it. Although it is a bit slow-going, I've gotten up to 60% finished the fourth clue. It is getting really difficult to show off, since there are so many stitches on the needles that I can't spread them out really well. Another week or so, maybe, on this clue, and then I get to do a nice finish around the outside edge...


As for the quilt, here is a photo of some more colourful little diamonds, laid out in the order they will be sewn to sashings, which is the next step I have to deal with along the way of finishing the quilt top. Today I will actually start this (promise) and then I can get the previously promised photos up.

In the meantime, I've been cutting out hundreds of little paper hexagons for another project... but I'll get to that later.

February Baby Sweater

Well, I am finally giving away one of the baby projects I was working on, so y'all finally get to see it. It's Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Sweater on Two Needles (ravelry), better known as the February Baby Sweater, from her Knitter's Almanac. This is the first one I've ever made, and very quick, easy, satisfying. I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Socks that Rock in Heavyweight for it, and I really like how it turned out. The variegated colour pools a bit and stripes a bit and is random for a bit, but I think it looks cool. And the shiny little taupe buttons that I dug out of the bottom of my sewing kit are just about perfect. It's a bit bigger than I had anticipated, at this gauge... If I make another, it will more likely be in the light or medium weight instead. But then, babies do come in all sizes.

As for the quilt, I have spent a couple of days just Being With It. Once I arranged the diamonds and partially sewed them together with some sashing, I started to get concerned that it was not just bright and cheery, but perhaps... dare I say... garish? Like on the verge of clowny? Oh dear. So rather than panicking about whether it will turn out beautiful (since I can somewhat recognize that this is just the moment in my relationship with a project where I start to think it might be regrettably horrible and unwanted by the recipient) I have instead decided to just live with it and look at it for a few days without judgement and worry. (Particularly since the recipient is me.) Likely tomorrow I will grab the rest of the sashing and take the next step toward sewing the top together. I will take some photos when I can, and let y'all be the judge.

Some Leisurely Progress

Things are still plugging away here at Chez Crafty. I've sewn all the little diamondy strips into even diamondier diamonds. I don't always like the patchwork look in quilts, but this really appeals to me. Maybe it's the colours... maybe it's how awesome (most of) my matched points turned out... Even a minor mismeasurement setback today didn't put me off for long. I've started sewing some sashing strips to the diamond blocks, and then I get to actually start to plan the layout of the blocks with each other. I have to say, I've been working on it for an hour or two a day for a week or so, and I'm glad I didn't try to piece it all in a weekend, as the pattern says one theoretically can. I guess I'm doing things at a slower pace than a quilt pro might.

Speaking of slower paces, the entrelac blanket is totally in hibernation, and even the lace shawl has been set aside for some more baby knitting that I can't show you yet. Baby season never ends.

Happily, I am content with my slowish pace, despite the many things I have in my queue. So nice to work without deadlines, isn't it?

And So It Begins Again

What -- did you think I'd take a while to rest before starting a new quilt? Guess again. I have at least three that are knocking at my brain every day, wanting desperately to get out. So in the last few days I sewed and I cut and here are a bunch of diamondy strips just waiting to be sewn some more. I'm sure you can see from this photo how bright and sunny and cheery this one will be. It puts me in a happy mood, just working on it. Having the new Fratellis album playing in the background doesn't hurt, either.

The Chevron Love Hat

Okay, well here she is in all her glory. There are a few little imperfections which I won't dwell on (like the hem being a bit crooked which skews the knitting to the side a bit) but overall I think it's pretty cute. It fits more like a watch cap than like a cloche -- I was anticipating it would not be so snug at the hem but would bell out more. If only I had seen more of them on Ravelry, I would have been aware of this. Perhaps in the future I will make another one and change the pattern slightly to allow for it to have that lovely shape. Even just using bigger needles at the bottom and progressing to smaller ones at the top would probably accomplish this... I would also need to use a firmer yarn than the drapey loveliness of the Louet Gems I have used for this one. Hmmm... *begins to plot one out*

In fabric news... because I didn't get my fabric fix when I was in Portland (and had planned to spend oodles of money on crafty goodness) I went online for a little fabric shopping to make up the difference. Imagine my delight to come across this beautiful fabric collection by Sandy Gervais, called Fresh Squeezed.
The patterns have a lot of citrus colours and shapes, with a bit of watermelon pink and blueberry blue thrown in for a lark. I grabbed a jelly roll of strips plus enough fabric to make this adorable little diamond patterned lap quilt. It is certainly more of a challenge to put together than the hexagon ones I've been making (though the pattern assures me that the top can be sewn in a weekend) but I think I can handle it. *crosses fingers* Watch for this one to show up when I am a bit closer to finishing the hand quilting on Requiem. I find that the hand quilting makes my relationship with each quilt a lot more personal. It also prolongs the process of completing it, which is probably the only thing keeping me from making a new quilt every couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I have been working on some secret little baby projects which will be revealed when the time comes... and now I find out there will be twins! *dusts off her EZ books again*