A Little Sewing

I’ve grown a tiny bit obsessed with project bags after my friend Barb insisted that I should no longer be using Ziploc bags for my knitting. I was in the mood to sew, too, so I made a few bags, with the help of my sister, who is a much more intuitive and patient sewer than I am. Here’s what we’ve made recently:

And here’s a peek at the insides:

As usual, don’t look tooooooo closely or you’ll see how wonky I sew. But they’re fun little projects nonetheless. As far as knitting, I’m working on a sweater — wish me luck because, as has been chronicled many times on this blog, my sweaters have less than a 50-50 success rate.

 

FO: Quilt + Craft Fair

I finished the flannel quilt I’ve been working on.

As usual, it’s still pretty funky since I’m a self-taught quilter. But it’s definitely one of my better ones and it’s sooooooo warm and cozy. And last weekend I sold knit hats at my kids’ school craft fair — my 10th and final year.

Unlike other years, the hats didn’t sell well. I’m not sure why. But that means I’ve got lots of inventory on Etsy!

 

FO: Quilt + Yarmulke

 

 

 

 

First off, I finished my quilt. I’m dubbing this my first non-hideous quilt. I love the colors and although it’s far from perfect, there are only a few truly egregious errors.

 

I also finished a yarmulke for a very special boy whose bar mitzvah is just around the corner.

 

Meanwhile, I also started the 365 Project. Just like the Giants have won the World Series in the last three even-numbered years, I tend to do this project in the odd-numbered years. I started in 2011 on Flicker and did it again in 2013 on Instagram (#gordon365, a hashtag I share with my sister). I’m back at it in 2015. Feel free to follow me on Instagram. Speaking of Instagram, I’m always interested in who other people like to follow on that platform. If you follow someone great, let me know! Happy new year!

 

FOs and WIPs!

I finished the Plum Tree Hat by Never Not Knitting using Cascade 220:

I started some new socks. I was inspired by the Knitmore Girls to try some self-striping yarn.

I used the last of my Hanukah gift certificate to Imagiknit to get a sweater’s worth of yarn. I’m planning to make the Pinup Queen sweater.

When the car maintenance place is near a Joann’s, this is what happens:

I’m going to make a new quilt, inspired largely by this:

 

FO: Quilt

While far (very far!) from perfect, this is definitely the best quilt I’ve made.

These pictures don’t show the puckers on the back or the wonky binding.  But it’ll serve its purpose and I’ll keep at it to improve my skills.  Speaking of quilts, I love this one from the very talented Erin at House on Hill Road.

 

This and That

So I made some hats (two of them are in new school colors for a graduating 8th grader and a high school senior)…

 

…and I started a baby blanket (the Fetching Fibonacci pattern from the 60 Quick Baby Blankets book, a pattern that didn’t appeal to me when I bought the book but appealed to me when I was trying to pick a blanket that a certain expectant mom would like)…

…and made an impulse buy (a Modicum Mitts kit from Jimmy Beans Wool in the Lemon Ginger color way; the teal is scrap yarn onto which the little balls are strung so I keep track of the order)…

…and continued working on this quilt (the blue painters tape is to help guide me while quilting).

What are you working on?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Quite as Bad as the Hoodie, But Almost

After many, many months, I finished the quilt for my daughter.

While not quite as bad as my recent failed hoodie, this project only looks good from a distance — nothing is straight, the binding is so wonky that I had to finish some spots with invisible thread, and the back is hideous. But it was a good learning experience and when I checked on my daughter late the night I gave it to her, she was happily wrapped up in it.  And at least there was this, an AWESOME review of Elementary Hats!  🙂

 

In Progress x2

The Entangled Vines cardigan…

…and a quilt for my daughter…

 

Two Knitting FOs and a Quilt!

So as seen in the photos in my Stitches post, I finished the Rayures cowl from the kit I got at Nine Rubies.  People, at the risk of sounding like Rosanne Rosanna Danna, I thought I was gonna die.  It’s just simple stockinette but that’s the problem — it’s endless stockinette.  On teeny tiny needs.  (I bumped up to a size four from my original size two but still…)  The end result is pretty — very pretty, as evidenced by many compliments I received at Stitches — but what a PITA.  Like the Cedar scarf, it almost wasn’t worth it.  What a slog.  It didn’t help that I chose to make it longer than the pattern called for because I wanted to end up with as few leftovers as possible.  The good news is I followed up that project with a quick, clever, beautiful little project from Botanical Knits, the Oak Trail hat:

I used Madeline Tosh Vintage in the Thyme color way and size 5 & 6 needles.  In contrast to the cowl, I enjoyed this knit a lot.  I’ll be gifting this to my son’s advisor at the end of the year.  It’ll look super cute on her.

Meanwhile, I finished the charm square quilt I made for my son.  I’m pretty pleased with how this turned out.  I am still a totally sucky quilter, but I am improving.  In this quilt, I used a fusible batting for the first time.  (I think I bought it by accident but I figured it was worth a try.)  I have fewer wrinkles and puckers but that may just be because I’m getting better so the jury is still out on that method.

I also tried invisible thread (my world almost came to a standstill when I learned there was such a thing!) for machine-knitting the binding to the back side.  OMG — it looks so totally terrible.

Even in that blurry photo, you can clearly see what I mean.  UGH!  I may still use invisible thread for bindings in the future but I think I have to stick with hand-sewing the back side.  My hand-sewing is bad but not as bad as that hot mess.  I’ve already started a second charm square quilt  — this one, for my daughter.  We’ll see if it turns out any better.

As for Stitches, my purchases were minimal but I love what I got: a pair of square needles to try, some skin stuff from the Barmaids (which I’ve long heard advertised on the Knitmore Girls podcast — the stuff is awesome!), some buttons for the Entangled Vines cardigan from Botanical Knits (next in my queue) and, finally, an awesome pattern: the Grown-Up Hoodie.  I would never have looked twice at the pattern online but I tried on a sample of the actual cardigan at Stitches and it is SO CUTE. I can’t wait to knit it.  With those cool pockets, it reminds me of the Farmer’s Market Cardigan, which I have long coveted, but far easier to knit.

 

OMGGGGGGGGGG

The Rayures cowl is taking a looooonnnnggg time and it is so tedious.

I love the way it looks but it is an endless knit.  Fortunately, I got an out-of-the-blue order in my teeny tiny Etsy shop (seriously, I sell like two things a year!) so that forces me to take a break on it.  I think I’m going to use the proceeds from the Etsy sale to purchase Botanical Knits, another stunning creation by Alana Dakos.  As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been really wanting to attempt another sweater and I think it may just come from this collection. Also in my queue: socks from my last shipment of the Cookie A sock club, a knitted deer trophy, knitted flowers and a loooooong-marinating design project.  Meanwhile, I’ve also been quilting!

It’s a small quilt for my son made with neutral charm squares from Connecting Threads.  In most cases, the corners actually line up pretty nicely.  I still suck — but I’m getting better.  The back is pieced with scraps my friend gave me:

In other news, this week I’m taking a baking class, which I’m really excited about.  I’m also keeping up with the 365 Project on Instagram and…working on my next novel. Phew!