Quilting Lessons

I took a very long bridge-the-gap weekend. Wednesday I had off for the fourth, and by taking Th/Fri off I get a 5 day weekend. Nice! I spent the majority of it learning how to quilt and making a wall hanging.

Yes, there will be pictures. But not quite yet.

This weekend I knit 4 kitty hats (rather, four bases, but not the ears yet). Also 6 or 7 rows of the Mystery Stole, which is a piddly number but I have a whole day tomorrow to work on them. I also knit another bit of a square for the baby afghan.

Much more importantly, I finished a wall hanging to give as a wedding present to a very old friend of mine getting married in two weeks. By finished, I mean I completed the piecing, got the backing on, and my mom was sweet enough to baste it and add the binding. All that's left is to quilt the sucker! Mom taught me the basics, and my stitches were looking almost acceptable on our practice placemat after a few hours, so hopefully another couple hours to practice and I'll be able to whip through and mail the finished project off. I also learned some neat tricks for making squares of two fabrics on the diagonal, without cutting triangles. I hate cutting triangles, so that was a godsend. This got put into use for another quilt project, which is super secret for now.

I also received my craft exchange project from Dallas's exchange group- crafted by the ever amazing and talented Dallas herself. Again, I have pictures to post later, but it is the cutest thing ever! Adorable bag, exactly the perfect shape to use as a purse and stick a small knitting project inside. It fits exactly under my arm, so I don't need to worry about things falling out. It has a cute little rosette flower attached (in hot pink, of course). Best of all? The whole thing is reversible!! I can do sophistocated black, or an amazingly cute and bright swirly print, a bit Pucci-esque. I love it! In fact, I'm already using it as my purse. I went with black for my night on the town tonight, but I suspect that print is going to get a fair bit of use this summer.

One more day of freedom. By next weekend I hope to have a bunch of kitty hats done, and to have completed the second MS3 clue. Here's hoping! Otakon is almost here... so I definitely need to get cracking on those hats, if I ever want to make back the yarn costs...

Craft project complete and some other fun

Instead of reading a silly book for my book discussion group on Wednesday, I have had a fruitful evening. I picked up my dry cleaning, went to the library, went to the fabric store, got groceries, and even cooked dinner. Soon I get to have angel food cake with whipped cream, strawberries and raspberries. All in all, a success. Except for the 340 pages left to read, I suppose.

The craft store had exactly the ribbon I was looking for to complete my craft project for the exchange! It's so pretty, but I dare not post the picture until after my recipient gets it in the mail. Check my Flickr, if you're a Flickr contact of mine, for a sneak peek.

This seems to be a pretty typical bed-full of things to play with:

Note the annoying book front and center, and a hidden Eoin Colfer book hiding in there as well. I've been reading loads of comic books and children's books lately, which may account for my rebellion against biography. Even good biography.

I have also been working quite a bit on a baby blanket gift. I need to work faster; there are three babies due starting in August. Yikes! Here's one:

They will hopefully block out to the same size- I have faith. Each square gets a crochet border before they are crocheted together. If I have enough yarn, I will do a lace border as well.

I began the June sock club kit from the Celtic Knot Yarn Shop, one of my favorite local spots. It's a nifty little ankle sock, and I am adoring the Ultramerino. I am not really enjoying the pattern, however, as it seems rife with mistakes. I may rip back to the picked-up stitches again to fix an error I made in the pattern. The plus side of making an ankle sock? It took me less than an evening to start the sock and turn the heel!


Finally for today, we have the pink yarn barf

Which now looks something like this:


I wish I had a significantly better camera. I've been doing some soul searching about money lately, however, and decided that I will not go on the Stitch 'n Beach cruise this upcoming February (because it's a bit of an extravagent expense, considering my travel plans for the next year). On the other hand, after trying to watch the first disc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season One, I have determined I can't wait any longer for a television. The color is so far gone, and the brightness so completely shot, that I actually couldn't see most of the show! Horrors! I guess it's not that surprising that my old trusty television has given up the ghost- I bought it pretty early on in college. After 8 years it is time for something I can carry (no big tube tvs!). And something that is bright enough so I can play video games again. In case I decide to. If I can ever break away from my knitting long enough to play Zelda.

I have no project fidelity

My Schaeffer yarn came in. OH YES. For a shawl. OH YES. Funny thing is, that I'm about to start the Mystery Stole project... will I be able to do both?

I've nearly finished the craft project, so I'm timely with that. And I finished 3 squares of my cousin's baby afghan, plus another couple rows of crochet for my coworker's baby afghan. Surely I can start the lace shawl today?? Hmm.

Too many projects. Too little fidelity. But I think it's time to head up to Rockville and pick up that gorgeous yarn right now. And cast on. What better things do I have to do??

I've been alternating projects- one repeat of lace, one row of crochet, one repeat of a baby afghan square, one repeat of Brian's sweater. It's fun, but I may never get everything done this way...

Here's a tease of what's on the needles:

The baby owl sweater (back is done, I started knitting the two fronts at the same time. Haven't worked on this in a day or two, though, since I can't knit from two balls simultaneously on the metro.


And the beginnings of something new, though a bit blurred:


I absolutely adore the KnitPicks Options set. In fact, I am currently using 3 of the 4 cords. (again, no project fidelity). Note also the awesome chart keeper- this is so amazingly useful! And I love that it can stand on its own.