works in progress

A couple of days ago I was working in my sewing room and thinking about all the different projects I had going on so it seemed time to share them.

I describe a WIP as anything I have worked on in the last three months. With the exception of the Hearts quilt,  every project I will share with you today has been worked on in the last four weeks.

Why don't I start with my knitting projects? That is how this blog started after all!

The older of the two knitting WiPs is a pair of socks I cast on in October. I knitted the first sock to the heel turning then stopped -- turning heels requires concentration which, for me, means solitude. Last weekend, as I waited for the workshop I was tutoring to start, I began turning the heels (and put them away when I got to the part where concentration was really needed). For those who care about such things, I use an hourglass heel (from Lynne Vogel's Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook) as my "go to" heel. It was the first heel I learned to make and, even though it was difficult to teach in my workshop in 2012, is still the heel I prefer to knit.

 

My other knitting project, which was started on Christmas Eve and is now too big to work on in the current hot, humid weather, is my own design. I've called it Nouveaux Log Cabin. It was inspired by the Moderne Baby Blanket (from "Mason-Dixon Knitting" by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne). It is based on Fibonacci numbers, given that each section is based on the numbers 1, 2 or 3 -- 1 being fifteen garter stitch ridges. The finished blanket should be approximately 72" x 42". I have worked the sections out to get these dimensions and have the same number of sections across the blanket as down its length.  I particularly like the look of the one garter ridge done in white at the beginning of each section.

I have worked on three different quilting projects in the past four weeks; four in the past three months.

The Hearts quilt is the only project in this post that I haven't touched in the last four weeks. I need to make a decision about how I'm going to quilt it and get to it! It remains 30 disconnected blocks.

The project that has had the most attention this week is Violet and Friends quilt. I made the crumb blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (SoScrappy blog) during 2011 and 2012 but only started putting the blocks together into a quilt top last month.

This week I have been working on making the backing. It never ceases to amaze me how much time it takes to press fabric, cut strips, join strips, press seams, pin strips to blocks, sew strips to blocks and press seams. It took me all my sewing time on Tuesday (several hours) to do the above (and press the whole flimsy now that I have a new iron which gets hot enough to do the job properly!) and all I added were four 2” white borders to the flimsy seen above, and two long strips to the backing panel.

In class last week, I finished a block for the Sampler Quilt I've been making (on and off) for a year. It took me the better part of three hours to finish about half a block! I'm not the world's fastest patch-worker, that's for sure! This block is called Weathervane. It looks very tricky but really, it's just a fancy nine-patch (as are all the blocks in the sampler some of which you can see here).

My newest project in terms of deciding what to do is really the first of these four to have got started. Back in 2011, before I started classes with my current teacher, DD and I used to attend all-day Saturday classes once a month. At one of these workshops, I learned several ways to make half square triangles (I documented it here and here). when I read about the Relaxing Robin (SewUQuilt2 blog), I decided to make one of these orphan blocks my Relaxing Robin project. I won't go into too much detail here, this will get its own post later this month.

I have one hand-stitching WiP – my Dutch Cap Hexies. This is a very long term project given these are 1.5” hexies and diamonds I’m sewing together. This is what I’ve done so far (not the final layout):

 

I have a pile of “hexie triads” ready to go, and over the last few days have basted all these diamonds (I’ve run out of papers so I have to wait for LQS to get some more). Plenty of sewing to be going on with.

Finally, my newest baby, brought into the world on 12 February: when finished it will be a large pin cushion done in candlewicking using colonial knots and some stem stitch on homespun with perle cotton.

What about you?

What projects are you working on?

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced blog and Yarn Along at Small Things blog.

Edited to add that I am also linking up to Hexie Weekend at a Quilting Reader's Garden blog.

I have also joined the EPP QAL group on Flickr. 

still here, still searching, still crafting (a little) – only a little doped!

Family history research is a very absorbing hobby – absorbing of one’s time, that is!

In the past couple of months, I have added over 400 people to my extended family. I try to include the parents and siblings of all my blood relatives’ spouses. Families with ten or more children are not uncommon among the working class from which my ancestors come so the numbers add up quickly.

So, if you’ve been wondering why I’m not reading and commenting on your blog – or writing my own – my computer time is almost totally devoted to family history research these days!

I’m not one for resolutions (and it’s not New Year) but some self-discipline is called for and I am now going to limit my time spent on family history research each day. I have friends who deserve my attention, followers that expect somewhat regular posts and craft projects that need my attention.
~~~~~~~~~~
There are photos coming but they have all been taken with my iPad so I apologise in advance for the quality!

Ah, shingles; yes, I was diagnosed with that mysterious virus four weeks ago. I spent the first week doped up so high I couldn’t walk a straight line. I was taking anti-viral medication and a daily dose of125mg of heavy-duty pain-killers (pregabalin for those who need to know such things) for post-herpetic neuralgia. But the good news is that the rash has almost completely disappeared and I am down to 25mg (one capsule) of the pain-killer a day so I’m thinking relatively clearly and almost ready to drive my sewing machine again!

I have been doing some crafting. A week after I was diagnosed I was supposed to teach a workshop on knitting with variegated and hand-painted yarns. I worked diligently through my fog to prepare for that workshop but, alas, it didn't happen; there's no way that I could get my befuddled mind into gear and teach! But samples were made, ripped out and made again.

Why do my mitred squares never come out square? This one will be ripped out!

I even managed to knit a whole dropped-stitch scarf in a commercial variegated acrylic yarn that I’ve dubbed the “brussell sprout” scarf because of the colouring.

In theory, knitting this scarf should have made the blotchy tendencies of this yarn less obvious but, unfortunately, this scarf is still so blotchy the pattern is almost completely obliterated!
 
If it wasn’t acrylic, I’d consider over-dyeing it. I’ve been successful in dying white acrylic yarn but I’m not confident that I can get colours dark enough to overdye this one!  Never mind, the scarf will still make the journey west to Mudgee next week when I tutor a workshop on “knitting with dropped stitches”.

A new project, called the “Mudgee Wrap”, has also been started for the same workshop but there isn’t much to show yet.

I haven’t been courageous (or foolish) enough to use my sewing machine while taking painkillers with that famous warning: “This drug may cause drowsiness. Do not operate machinery.” The idea of sewing through my finger is not at all appealing! But I have paid for classes so attendance is “mandatory”. Bring on the hand stitching…

In the past month I have made quite a few hexagon “triads” from scratch (the photo shows my intended layout although not the final position of the “blocks”)

– which basically means I have drawn and cut hexagons from 4” fabric squares, basted those hexagons and joined them in sets of three to create thirty of these:
  
There has been some humming and hawing over setting these triads but in the end I have decided to go with my original plan and have stuck with my “Dutch cap” shapes which I talked about in this post. In reality, there is quite a lot of fiddling around to create these shapes because each diamond is added separately to the triad then the diamonds are joined together.

So far I have made only one. I hope it will get easier with experience, otherwise I’ll be ripping them all out and looking for an easier setting!

So that’s my last four weeks summed up. Not much to show for it but I am supposed to be taking it easy and concentrating on getting better. The thing is that I just don’t feel “sick” and most of the time forget that I have been ill.

Onwards and upwards, as they say! In other words, back to my Mudgee Wrap which I ambitiously hope to finish in one week!

works in progress (or not)

Warning: poor quality photos – I had to use my iPad because my camera batteries were all flat!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the beginning of December, I published a list of my December WiPs. It looked like this:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt
2. Christmas Tree wall-hanging
3. Cardigan for Me
4. Deb’s Diamond Blanket
5. Merlot Toe Up Sock
6. hexagon project bag
7. Scrappy Rainbow improv quilt

Then came the fiasco which was my packing of craft activities for my week away.

But I did manage to finish the second Merlot Toe Up Sock while I was away. Not having my basic knitting tools with me meant that I had to wait to sew the ends in till I came home!

I also mentioned that I took my appliqué heart blocks away with me instead of the hexagon project bag that was on my original WiP list. With stitching time on the train, at embroidery class last week and sewing class this week, I have managed to finish the appliqué on the last few blocks (three of which are shown here).

The ten-hour travel time also gave me a chance to think about the setting of these blocks. I am going to try setting them alternately with the four patch blocks I have made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and use the Rainbow String blocks for a piano-key-style border. Well that's the theory anyway!

An incredibly busy and tiring week followed my return home – I am so tired that I don’t have the energy for most craft activities and so fall back to my good old stand-by: knitting.

I have done a little on the right front of my cardigan.

But this lace pattern, as easy as it is to memorise, requires concentration. I can’t knit it when there are people around!

And so, I have been working on the Drop Stitch Scarf I started while away. I don't really have to think, except to count the yarn overs in one row out of four.

The scarf is progressing quite quickly considering my lack of enthusiasm for this project – the acrylic yarn is not pleasant to work with!

And so my list now looks like this:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt (no progress)
2. Christmas Tree wall-hanging (today’s project)
3. Cardigan for Me (some progress)
4. Deb’s Diamond Blanket replaced with Purple Dropped Stitch Scarf (much progress)
5. Merlot Toe Up Sock (finished)
6. hexagon project bag replaced with appliqué blocks (finished)
7. Scrappy Rainbow improv quilt replaced with Scrappy Rainbow “hearts and four-patch” quilt

Just as well I realised at the beginning of the month that there was no way I was going to get all these finished by the end of the month. The list was supposed to focus my activities and, despite my swapping some projects for others, I have managed to stay focused and achieve some progress. At least I swapped and didn’t just add to the list – six or seven is the limit; after that I become overwhelmed!

stitching along

I have been stitching -- a bit of this, a little of that -- but not much that's interesting to show.

My last "stitching" post self-published while I was away last weekend at a very enjoyable Christian women's conference at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. The conference speakers were interesting, all the food was delicious (especially the Chinese banquet on Saturday night), the accommodation was comfortable even though very basic and the shower was hot -- which is always a bonus!  But I think the best thing for me was the group of women whom I met -- what a great bunch of ladies. Thank you so much, M, for inviting me to go with you. I am looking forward to next year already!

Anyway, back to the stitching progress. My sewing machine has not even been taken out of its travelling case since class on Monday 3 September. I had a very full week last week, with no time for machine sewing. Unthinkingly, I allowed myself to become dehydrated over the weekend of the Conference so by Monday I had a raging headache and couldn't attend class.

Although there has been no machine sewing, there has been some handwork. 

I completed the blanket stitching around two hearts at the community quilting group meeting on Thursday last week

and almost finished my second Christmas Tree embroidery in class this past Wednesday, but I'll leave a photo of that for another post.

On the knitting front, I completed one hat while I was away last weekend and another on Sunday night after I got home. The first is a twelve row k1, p1 ribbing followed by stocking stitch -- I didn't want to have something that required my concentration while sitting around the fire (okay, it was a gas heater) last Friday and Saturday nights. Turned out to be the right choice; as I said, the ladies in our group were great company.

I don't know where the green came from - it is not on my original photo!

The second hat was knitted at home in front of the television -- I was obviously tired because I had to tink back more than once in the first few rows! The pattern is the Crenellated Hat (Ravelry link) by J Wilson from Brainfork blog. I found the pattern on Ravelry and thought it was a good unisex pattern to go with my choice of chocolate brown yarn (which is nothing like the colour on the photo). The pattern called for two repeats of the Crenellated pattern but I only did 1.5 repeats -- WM thinks its big enough and it will certainly fit someone even though it's not as long or slouchy as the one on Ravelry! WM and I both like close fitting beanie-style hats.

I have been working almost daily on my intarsia blanket (I am looking forward to completing it, I feel like I've been working on it forever!) but I won't bore you with more "in progress" photos.


I have also cast on another Blankie for an animal adoption agency using yet more of the Patons Cedar yarn which was donated to the knitters at my MIL's retirement village, where they only knit baby items and I get the unwanted yarn. I didn't really want another knitting project on my needles just yet but DD and family came to visit yesterday and having twenty skeins of yarn within reach is just too much excitement for Younger Grandson; who is also fascinated by the metres of different coloured yarns hanging off the blanket. It's just easier for both of us if I have a one-yarn-project on the go when they're here!

Here is a small piece of knitting (16cm x 8cm) I started on Wednesday and finished on Thursday. It's in linen stitch which I had forgotten is very stiff and tight and should be knitted on larger-than-usual sized needles. I didn't and this is almost rigid but that's okay, I think it will suit the purpose for which it has been made .... Stay tuned! ;-)

These are the two sides of the fabric in close up. The left photo shows the correct side of the linen stitch but I also like the reverse side!

Today I will wind my new skein of yarn into a yarn cake and cast on my "secret" project -- my entry into the One Skein challenge run by the local group of the Knitters' Guild. These items will go on display at the meeting on 20 October and the winner will be chosen by popular vote. As I understand, no one is supposed to know who knitted what and since several people from the Guild read my blog, I need to be very secretive indeed! LOL

Are you doing any hand stitching?