I didn't realize, until I adopted feedly as my all-in-one-place-and-don't-need-to-remember-or-fave-the-urls blog reader, that my very own blog was one of those annoying ones that doesn't display all of a post in the RSS reader.
I'm sorry for the truncation.
I've stopped the short form and gone full version. If you're using a thing like feedly, you won't have to click the button to go to the site to see the full post anymore.
And also, I know that blogger sometimes has a hard time with images. When I am writing a post, it all looks good. When I post it, something happens and worlds collide and babies cry and pictures break. I try to then fix them within as short a timeframe as possible. It's not like I'm a narcissist who has to go read her own blog for personal satisfaction - I'm checking it.
I'm sorry if you're a quick reader who had the annoying experience (ever) of reading a post with busted-ass pictures. It sucks.
ps - have you noticed your spell-checker correcting anymore to any more? I'm finding it annoying. I know some stuff about words and when I want to say that I don't look at the short feeds anymore because I don't want any more of them ... that's what I'll say. And you'll never catch me typing alright. It's just not a word that I can get behind. All right then.
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Aug 13, 2015
Aug 12, 2015
sew much stuff going on
So, let's start with the knitting so it doesn't feel left out. I'm using up odds and ends of sock yarn in a pair of crazy socks. I realized once I'd cast on that my choice of slightly bigger needles and the accidental repeated stitch count of my last pair meant that I would have socks that wouldn't fit me.
Enter random friend. She thinks I'm knitting socks for her. I tried to explain the subtle difference between knitting something for someone and knitting something that will later be given to someone, but the subtlety was lost on her. She's still happily believing that I'm knitting socks for her. I'm not. I'm knitting socks because I want to and because it's fun to use up scraps, and she'll happen to get them in the end. It's different.
I'm doing an afterthought heel, so while they look like they may be close to done, they are a little less close.
The cherries there are what I made my knitting project bag out of quite a while ago. LOVE IT.
Now then, on we go to the specimen below. I struggled to quilt this little gem for my sorta-cousin's younger son, and it came out goodish. Ish. I think he'll like it, regardless.
The bit that looks purple is actually gray. Thank you, artificial light. And thank you for real, my accommodating teenager. The quilt is a creeper from the pixely game Minecraft and was the lad's choice. He doesn't realize that he's getting it this month, though. Muhuhuhahahaha!!!
In my usual way, I didn't really plan for the back very well. So when it wasn't wide enough, I had to get creative. I didn't like the idea of a stripe; I needed to break the pixel mould.
Shhhh! Don't tell him!
In other news, I've had enough of my sewing machine skipping stitches when I quilt, when I go fast, when I use Heat n Bond Lite, when I use spray baste..... It's wimpy and fussy. I needed to upgrade.
Cynthia. We will blame Cynthia. We can also blame a really good sale, and the fact that my Nan started me on my first only-mine machine and it was a Janome and I loved it. Who wouldn't love on-board feet?
I've only wound a bobbin and sewn two seams, but I'm in love. Just the size of the armpit (throat) is enough to make me squeal. OMG. And the features are amazeballs. This is like a Caddy compared to a Lada.
I'll be knitting tonight because it's too hot to use the iron, but you can bet that I'll be itching all day tomorrow to get home from work and get sewing ... Oh, and I'll be itching because of this 4-day-old tattoo, but that's another story for another post.
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Enter random friend. She thinks I'm knitting socks for her. I tried to explain the subtle difference between knitting something for someone and knitting something that will later be given to someone, but the subtlety was lost on her. She's still happily believing that I'm knitting socks for her. I'm not. I'm knitting socks because I want to and because it's fun to use up scraps, and she'll happen to get them in the end. It's different.
I'm doing an afterthought heel, so while they look like they may be close to done, they are a little less close.
The cherries there are what I made my knitting project bag out of quite a while ago. LOVE IT.
Now then, on we go to the specimen below. I struggled to quilt this little gem for my sorta-cousin's younger son, and it came out goodish. Ish. I think he'll like it, regardless.
The bit that looks purple is actually gray. Thank you, artificial light. And thank you for real, my accommodating teenager. The quilt is a creeper from the pixely game Minecraft and was the lad's choice. He doesn't realize that he's getting it this month, though. Muhuhuhahahaha!!!
In my usual way, I didn't really plan for the back very well. So when it wasn't wide enough, I had to get creative. I didn't like the idea of a stripe; I needed to break the pixel mould.
Shhhh! Don't tell him!
In other news, I've had enough of my sewing machine skipping stitches when I quilt, when I go fast, when I use Heat n Bond Lite, when I use spray baste..... It's wimpy and fussy. I needed to upgrade.
Cynthia. We will blame Cynthia. We can also blame a really good sale, and the fact that my Nan started me on my first only-mine machine and it was a Janome and I loved it. Who wouldn't love on-board feet?
I've only wound a bobbin and sewn two seams, but I'm in love. Just the size of the armpit (throat) is enough to make me squeal. OMG. And the features are amazeballs. This is like a Caddy compared to a Lada.
I'll be knitting tonight because it's too hot to use the iron, but you can bet that I'll be itching all day tomorrow to get home from work and get sewing ... Oh, and I'll be itching because of this 4-day-old tattoo, but that's another story for another post.
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Jul 31, 2015
Pi in 4.5 months
That pi shawl was a lot of round-and-round. It was great TV knitting and for a while was small enough to be travel knitting. Then, once bound off and blocked, I finally got to measure it and it's 4 feet in diameter. None of us realized it was going to be that big, and I'm glad. It's awesome getting a size surprise like that when you're knitting something that doesn't have to fit like a garment does.
Husband takes one look at it laid out on the bed and says, "Holy crap. How are you gonna wear that thing? Is it a cape? Can I be a superhero? Knitting Man. Haha!" Droll. He doesn't knit.
I've had SOOOOOO many people ask me how I'm going to wear a big circle. It's not a table doily. It's a shawl. I will bundle up in this shawl and be the warmest person ever, right there in the dead of winter. I will fold it in half and then wrap it around like you would any scarf. It'll be awesome. I'll post a picture to prove it in the winter. There's no way I'm trying it out this summer. Just knitting on it was almost too much for this heat. Almost.
I hope it's dry by the time I go to bed.
Now, for those of you who are wondering why it's called a pi shawl, here's the lowdown: using pi and its relationship with circle radius as a guide, Elizabeth Zimmerman published this pattern in the Knitter's Almanac. It's a matter of doubling your stitch count after 6, 12, 24 and 48 rounds. Then you just keep knitting until you don't want to any more, throw a border on if you wish (yeah, just throw it on while your stitch count is 576 - such a breeze!), and bind off. And Andy's your uncle. Or maybe Bob is, but not for me.
I can see knitting another of these in the future, but with more patterning throughout.
.
Husband takes one look at it laid out on the bed and says, "Holy crap. How are you gonna wear that thing? Is it a cape? Can I be a superhero? Knitting Man. Haha!" Droll. He doesn't knit.
I've had SOOOOOO many people ask me how I'm going to wear a big circle. It's not a table doily. It's a shawl. I will bundle up in this shawl and be the warmest person ever, right there in the dead of winter. I will fold it in half and then wrap it around like you would any scarf. It'll be awesome. I'll post a picture to prove it in the winter. There's no way I'm trying it out this summer. Just knitting on it was almost too much for this heat. Almost.
I hope it's dry by the time I go to bed.
Now, for those of you who are wondering why it's called a pi shawl, here's the lowdown: using pi and its relationship with circle radius as a guide, Elizabeth Zimmerman published this pattern in the Knitter's Almanac. It's a matter of doubling your stitch count after 6, 12, 24 and 48 rounds. Then you just keep knitting until you don't want to any more, throw a border on if you wish (yeah, just throw it on while your stitch count is 576 - such a breeze!), and bind off. And Andy's your uncle. Or maybe Bob is, but not for me.
I can see knitting another of these in the future, but with more patterning throughout.
.
Jul 20, 2015
on the topic of knitting
Yes, I still do that. Knitting.
I've just bound off these socks:
They're a fairly basic eyelet pattern by Wendy Johnson. You can find it on ravelry.com if you're so inclined.
I did two at once, as usual, using the magic loop method. When one is done, the other is done within minutes. No second-sock-itis for me.
I cast on at the toes because I don't like to guess whether I'll have enough yarn. I do Judy's Magic Cast-on. You don't have to know who Judy is. I've never met her. Just Google it.
I did afterthought heels. They're my go-to heel now because I don't knit enough socks to remember all the steps to increasing, gusset and flap without referring to a pattern. Plus, if I want, I can do the heel in a different colour using the afterthought method. Rad.
I'm nearing the end of the Pi shawl. I have 576 stitches on the needle (yes, I counted) and I'm working Pattern 1 from the Knitter's Almanac, which is also where the shawl formula is. I won't say pattern because it's really not like any pattern you'd purchase from such a famous person today. It's like how my Nan gave me her recipe for curried shrimp - there's no way I could make it the same as she does (which is what I want) without really explicit measurements and instructions.
Anyway, here's a photo just 'cause:
It has been a little hot for turning the iron on lately, so quilt progress is pretty slow. More on that later.
.
I've just bound off these socks:
They're a fairly basic eyelet pattern by Wendy Johnson. You can find it on ravelry.com if you're so inclined.
I did two at once, as usual, using the magic loop method. When one is done, the other is done within minutes. No second-sock-itis for me.
I cast on at the toes because I don't like to guess whether I'll have enough yarn. I do Judy's Magic Cast-on. You don't have to know who Judy is. I've never met her. Just Google it.
I did afterthought heels. They're my go-to heel now because I don't knit enough socks to remember all the steps to increasing, gusset and flap without referring to a pattern. Plus, if I want, I can do the heel in a different colour using the afterthought method. Rad.
I'm nearing the end of the Pi shawl. I have 576 stitches on the needle (yes, I counted) and I'm working Pattern 1 from the Knitter's Almanac, which is also where the shawl formula is. I won't say pattern because it's really not like any pattern you'd purchase from such a famous person today. It's like how my Nan gave me her recipe for curried shrimp - there's no way I could make it the same as she does (which is what I want) without really explicit measurements and instructions.
Anyway, here's a photo just 'cause:
It has been a little hot for turning the iron on lately, so quilt progress is pretty slow. More on that later.
.
Jul 16, 2015
square 1
I've been to Sisters, Oregon for the annual outdoor quilt show and I saw over 1300 quilts hanging. That's a lot!! They were everywhere. With the beauty of the interweb, I knew I could find photos any time I wanted by googling 'sisters quilt 2015' or something like it, so I didn't take a lot of photos. Here are the three I took: one that is meticulously constructed and two fun ones.
Meticulous. Beautiful. I couldn't stop staring.
Day of the Dead. I went back to the store for that fabric a while ago and by then it was sold out. Darn it!
Uh huh. Thank you very much.
And then I came back home and continued cutting and cutting and cutting. Imagine 56 fussy-cut centers with two sets of borders each ... Eight pieces for each one. A few have three sets of borders and a few have one or none, but it really is close to 450 cuttings. Oy.
When my pile started getting teetery, I decided to take a break from cutting and get to some sewing. The result is Square 1.
See what I did there? I totally fibbed. That's was Square 2. The reason I took a break from cutting is below, which was actually Square 1. It was a pain in the earhole because the dummy who cut the middle square (they won't all be squares in this quilt) cut it at 6.25 inches. For those of you playing along, there isn't an easy way to do 12.5 - 6.25 and then divide that in half. I like quarter-inches. So I devised a plan to short-cut half the first border ... And then I forgot the plan I devised (within mere seconds) and cut the lengths so that they went on opposite sides. Of course that turned it into a rectangle, right? Right. So this little gem got set aside while Square 2 was finished first. Having Square 2 then prove that I am, in fact, good at math, I returned to Square 1 and tacked on a bit of fabric on the short side. I made a conscious decision to not unpick to fix this one. It'll be a quirky quilt. Can't you tell by the Jeeps? Wait til you see the rest of the fabrics!
This is Dave's quilt. It will be queen size and it will join us on camping trips. He's looking forward to it. Let's remember that not only are there 400+ pieces to cut, but there are also 400+ pieces to sew and iron. It'll be a while.
.
Meticulous. Beautiful. I couldn't stop staring.
Day of the Dead. I went back to the store for that fabric a while ago and by then it was sold out. Darn it!
Uh huh. Thank you very much.
And then I came back home and continued cutting and cutting and cutting. Imagine 56 fussy-cut centers with two sets of borders each ... Eight pieces for each one. A few have three sets of borders and a few have one or none, but it really is close to 450 cuttings. Oy.
When my pile started getting teetery, I decided to take a break from cutting and get to some sewing. The result is Square 1.
See what I did there? I totally fibbed. That's was Square 2. The reason I took a break from cutting is below, which was actually Square 1. It was a pain in the earhole because the dummy who cut the middle square (they won't all be squares in this quilt) cut it at 6.25 inches. For those of you playing along, there isn't an easy way to do 12.5 - 6.25 and then divide that in half. I like quarter-inches. So I devised a plan to short-cut half the first border ... And then I forgot the plan I devised (within mere seconds) and cut the lengths so that they went on opposite sides. Of course that turned it into a rectangle, right? Right. So this little gem got set aside while Square 2 was finished first. Having Square 2 then prove that I am, in fact, good at math, I returned to Square 1 and tacked on a bit of fabric on the short side. I made a conscious decision to not unpick to fix this one. It'll be a quirky quilt. Can't you tell by the Jeeps? Wait til you see the rest of the fabrics!
This is Dave's quilt. It will be queen size and it will join us on camping trips. He's looking forward to it. Let's remember that not only are there 400+ pieces to cut, but there are also 400+ pieces to sew and iron. It'll be a while.
.
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