Something Old, something New – August edition

Finally, more than halfway through the year,  I am able to report that I had a pretty good month in achieving some of my plans.

My list for July was long compared to other months – perhaps that’s what spurred me on!
Actually, I think it was having all my fabric and yarn sorted and in the right places that made it easier for me to be productive.

So, let’s look at my focus list for July.

1. The first of my “Something Old” projects was to repair the toe on one sock of the first pair of hand-knitted socks I made for WM. Back then, I didn’t know how to graft properly and dropped a stitch. That toe has been unpicked, ripped back to the dropped stitch, re-knitted, re-grafted and blocked and looks good. Mind you, he hasn’t worn it yet, so I don’t know how much the re-knit stitches will stretch! From my point of view, goal accomplished!
   
2. My second “Something Old” project was a pair of socks I knitted, frogged and re-knitted. They have been hibernating for (literally) years because I thought the legs were too short and I couldn't face ripping back past the heel again. I think I’ve gotten more ruthless since all that de-cluttering before we moved; I made a decision to just get them finished and stop agonising! Goal accomplished!
   
   Note to self: don’t use a variegated yarn for a subtly patterned item!
   
3. The smallest of my “Something Old” projects was to knit one man-size fingerless mitt to match the one I finished two years ago (I may not have ‘second sock syndrome’ but mittens are a different matter, it seems!) I did not even cast on for this one; I got too excited about other knitting projects (subjects of another post).
   
4. My biggest “Something Old” project was my Country Houses quilt. This has been in hibernation since I decided it was too big for a single (twin) bed but too small for a queen/double (full). I didn’t have enough of my original dark green fabric to add more to the quilt so it went into hibernation. For a long time I couldn't decide what to do with it, then I couldn’t find any fabric that I liked. Finally I settled for a very subtle beige on white stripe. I thought I would add some of the checked fabric I had used in the houses as a border for the central part of the quilt (thus making it wide enough to fit a full-size mattress) then add the striped fabric to hang over the bed. I would stitch houses onto the fabric to tie in with the central panel. It all seemed good in theory but it didn't work! Even from a distance of only a couple of metres, the fabric read as white and the beige colour I had chosen for the stitching disappeared into the fabric.
   
   I really, really didn’t like it! I tried to convince myself that six hours of work had been done and it would be okay but I knew it wouldn't and there was nothing for it but to rip out all that stitching – slowly and carefully as the fabric seemed a lot more delicate than it should! However, I had to use that fabric, I had bought four metres of it (What was I thinking?) and fabric in Australia is around $25 a metre (40”) so I knew I couldn't waste it. It It is still waiting for the day I can face ripping out all that work! In the meantime I realised that I would have to cut the ‘white’ fabric into smaller blocks and that I would have to appliqué houses to them. I considered hand embroidery but the appliqué would have more substance, hide quite a bit of that white and probably be faster! All that to say that the Country Houses quilt is still a work in progress and will, hopefully, be completed in August.
   
5. My “Something New” project was a blue Bargello table runner that I only work on in class. That meant only two lessons during July so the fabric was selected, pressed, cut, seamed, pressed and made into two tubes ready for the next cutting step. I only planned to get started on this technique, so goal accomplished!
   
6. I listed my Keyboard Scarf, which is knitted in a shadow (illusion) technique, as a “Something New” project even though the technique itself was not entirely new and I had started (and frogged and restarted) the scarf in June. Following a chart for the technique was new so it was, sort of, a “Something New” technique. The scarf was not finished in time for the workshop I tutored but it was long enough to take as a sample. It was finished last week. Goal accomplished!
   
   What do you mean you can only see stripes? LOL
   That’s why it’s called an illusion! Does this help?
    
   
7. The biggest goal on my focus list was to sort and store my yarn stash. I wrote a post about that here so I won’t go into more detail except to say: goal accomplished!
   
8. Then came a WIP – Socks for Someone #4: they were finished on the first of the month.
   Goal accomplished!
9. Socks for Someone #5 were cast on immediately. I like to always have a pair of socks on the needles, they make great travelling knitting and I have lots of sock yarn! The first sock was finished and the second cast on before the end of the month. This was another project I only planned to start, not finish so goal accomplished!
   
10. Another WiP was my Nouveau Log Cabin blanket which I finished knitting in June but the ends still needed to be sewn in before I could say “Goal accomplished!” That happened on the evening of the 30 July and I’m glad to see it done!
    

As you can see, a pretty good month. There were other sewing projects started which I mentioned in this post and other knitting projects completed (but you’ll have to wait until next week’s post to see those).
Yes-sirree, I’m a pretty happy stitcher this month!
Now can I carry the momentum forward?
What about my plans for August?

1. Something Old: I’m embarrassed to type this: I’m going to finish the curtains I started in 2011! I think the fabric print is too young for the boys now but DD wants them so wish me luck!
2. Something Old: man’s fingerless mitt (see item #3 above)
3. Something New: I’m going to learn how to make a quillo, then I’m going to make a second one – I have two grandsons so one is not enough. Because this is my “Something New” project, they don't have to be completed, just one has to be started and some progress made.
4. WiP: finish the Bargello table runner.
5. WiP: finish the Country Houses quilt   **sigh**
6. WiP: finish the Green Scrappy Strippy quilt top started last week.
   
7. Grab Bag Challenge: Taupe Buffalo Shawelette – I knitted six repeats of the pattern in two days; it’s a very easily memorised pattern. I am trying to decide if I have enough yarn to knit a seventh pattern repeat. I plan to finish this one.
8. WiP: finish piecing my curved blocks (20 to go)
9. WiP: Green Stripes and Triangles – make at least two blocks to add to this one (I need 35 altogether)
   
    

There’s a lot of sewing projects in there, seven out of nine items; as opposed to last month when it was seven knitted projects, one sorting project and two sewing projects! It will be interesting to see how much I actually get done – I’m pretty sure this list is Way. Too. Ambitious.

What about you?
Did you achieve your goals for July?
What do you have planned for August?

Link here with the URL of your blog post so we can visit and see what you’re up to. Thanks.

Something Old, something New – July edition

What a month June turned out to be: five days staying with my mother, three weeks with bronchitis, another three-day trip away to tutor two knitting workshops (“stranded colour knitting” and “using slipped stitches for colour and texture”) and hosting a couple who were billetted with us for four days! Needless to say, not much sewing happened during the month.

My stats show that less and less people are signing up for Something Old, something New each month; in fact, less and less people are visiting my blog period! I am tempted to stop the linky party right now but I need something to keep me working on my old projects – they have a way of wearing me down after a while! Just knowing they are there, in the background, whatever life throws at me, makes me want to get them finished! So, Something Old, Something New will continue, despite the fact that I seem to say the same thing -- “almost no progress” -- every month!

In June, my “Something Old” project was to have been a pair of curtains I started way too long ago. Those poor old curtains never even made it out of the cupboard! What little time I had in front of the machine (not a lot when you’re coughing ‘fit to bust’) was spent working on the Country Houses quilt, which had been my Something Old project earlier this year. I was working away on it, making reasonable progress, when I found a small hole right on the seam line of one of the central blocks! I had to unpick some quilting, and open the backing and wadding (it’s a quilt-as-you-go project) to access the seam in question. I really didn't know what to do so I took it to my quilting teacher. I hadn’t been in class for weeks because I hadn’t wanted to share my germs so it wasn't until the very last day of June that the hole was repaired! (Sorry, I forgot to take a photo and the repair is almost invisible!)

I did spend some sewing time at home practising my curved piecing

and in class (after repairing the hole) on foundation piecing so at least some progress was made on my Something New techniques!

My crafting plans for July are as follows:

1. Something Old -- repair the first pair of 4ply (sock weight) socks I ever knitted: they were for WM and I dropped a stitch while grafting the toe; I have had to rip back several rows to find that stitch!
   
2. Something New -- sort my yarn stash, decide what's staying and what’s going then update my stash records on Ravelry! (There’ll be a separate post about this so no photo here)
3. Works in Progress -- sew in the ends of the pair of socks I finished knitting this past weekend (Socks for Someone #4); it took me eight months to knit the first sock and less than a week to knit the second! They were completely finished on 1 July.
   
4. Something Old -- graft the toes of the Tidal Wave socks I started a long time ago (the original pattern can be seen here on Ravelry). According to my Ravelry notes, the socks were in hibernation because they were possibly too small (too short?) but it's time to get them off the needles and move on!
   
5. Something New -- shadow knitting: I’m currently making a scarf which has the illusion of a piano keyboard (Ravelry link)
6. Works in Progress -- sew in the ends of my Nouveau Log Cabin knitted blanket (seen in this post about knitting)
7. Something Old -- finish the Country Houses quilt (you’ve seen this often enough – no more photos till it’s finished!)
8. Something Old -- knit one fingerless mitten (man size)
   
9. Something New -- a new quilting technique for me: Bargello
10. Something New -- cast on Socks for Someone #5 (I always have socks on my needles) -- I cast on last night while I was wastching television; I didn't have enough light to cast on navy mitts (the colour in the photo above is nowhere near dark enough) and I can't sit there doing nothing!
    

I have decided that I will do all ten of these things in July, which is quite ambitious considering how little I usually get done! Some of them are only little projects  so I think it's possible to get it all done... I have listed them here in the order I plan to do them but, who knows?!

What about you?
How did you go with your plans in June?
What are your plans for July?

Remember, your “Something New” project can be to start something new or learning (or practising) a new technique! (This month I'm doing both!)

Please link the URL of your specific blog post here so others can come and check out what you’re up to!

finished: two blankets

On Tuesday, my friend, D., from the Blue Mountains group of the Knitters’ Guild of NSW visited to help me sew some of the donated squares into blankets. We took a while to sort squares into colour groups then to decide on a layout for our first blanket.
We worked together to turn 28 squares into one blanket. D. sews faster than me but still it took us several hours to bring one blanket almost to completion. D. very kindly took all the crocheted squares home with her so my dining table looks a little less cluttered.
During the following days, I sewed the last ten inches of seam and darned in all the ends. I have named our collaborative blanket Scarlet Diamonds – for fairly obvious reasons!

I have also finished my Winmalee Blanket, which is a variation on the Moderne Baby Blanket, from “Mason-Dixon Knitting” by Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner. I needed mine to be much larger so reinvented the pattern for my own needs. What should have been the length of the baby blanket became the width of my single (twin) bed topper and then I recreated the same layout in mirror image.
 
The photo was taken on a dark and dreary rainy day and the colours are wrong. It’s purple not inky black and the border is a lovely bright teal. I think knitting a whole blanket in just 38 days is pretty amazing (well, it is for me anyway)!
I am linking this post up with Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday.
It would have been good if I could have written it last week when I was hosting but it’s really good to approach the end of the month with two finishes, even if only one of them is completely my own work.
And now, with the bushfire emergency over and the need for blankets passed (even though I still have a pile of squares on the dining table), I think it’s time to turn back to my UFOs and WiPs and see if I can end the year in style with 2013: The Year of the Finished Project.

a tale of good intentions (part 2)

Well, as I said in yesterday’s post, the past two months have been full of good intentions.

I intended to deal with most, if not all, of my UFO's but I got distracted.

I intended to make a number of things for the Charity of the Month (NSW Women’s Refuges) for March. I finished a beanie started by DD and two slouch hats (both modifications of original patterns on Ravelry). They didn’t work as well as I had hoped so I knitted one. from. the. pattern.

Yes, you read that correctly, I followed a pattern. I should have finished the hat in two days but I was away on a creative retreat at the end of March and, you guessed it, I got distracted. More of that in a later post.

The hat was finished last night. There is a deadline looming and a promise is a promise. This model has never appeared on my blog before. She is twelve years old but looks much older but it is the hat you came to see, not her.
However, there have been other distractions from UFOs and charity knitting.

The biggest distraction through March was my research of my family history. One of my great-great-grandmothers married my great-great-grandfather before she was twenty-one. Five weeks before she gave birth to their only child, great-great-grandfather James died of pleuro-pneumonia. They had been married about fifteen months. Great-great-grandmother Emma remarried several years later. She and step-great-great-grandfather George had five children. It was the descendants from that line that I was researching and I found some previously unknown cousins, some of whom I have had contact with, which has been very exciting. But I have gone as far as I can with that family line for now so I have dropped the research for a while.

Back on the crafting front (here comes the quilting, Cindy):

Last weekend, Caring Hearts Community Quilt Group, of which I am a member, held their annual Airing of the Quilts. DD and I worked at the show as volunteers on Sunday. Apparently it had been much busier on Saturday but we had a steady flow of visitors for much of the time. I worked on our fabric sale stand and had to work hard with my maths. It’s amazing how fast we lose our skills when we don’t use them all the time! Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera so have no photos of the day.

But the busy time was the lead up to “the Airing”. I had to baste, quilt (in the ditch around both sides of the turquoise sashing and about every four inches between the strips), sew in all the ends and learn how to do a binding with mitred corners; then there was ten hours of hand sewing the binding down. Now that I have learnt to do needle-turn appliqué, my hand stitching has become even finer and I found myself sewing the binding every eighth of an inch (or less)! Because I didn't take my camera, I have no photos of the finished quilt but you may remember the finished top (48” x 64”):


DD and I also finished the quilt we had on the quilting frame but, once again, I forgot to take photos and we no longer have the quilt. It turned out very well considering the troubles we had.

We also made eight wheat bags with calico (muslin) inner bags and removable cotton covers.

The other very pleasurable distraction has been my renewed interest in embroidery. I started monthly embroidery classes with my current sewing teacher on 14th March. My second class was last Wednesday (11th April). I have been enjoying it so much that I took it to “Sit and Sew” class on Monday this week instead of the project I should have been doing.

Here is my progress so far:

Stitches used: stem stitch, whipped stem stitch, back stitch, whipped back stitch, fly stitch, buttonhole stitch, lazy daisy stitch and coral stitch. Only the last was new to me, I just needed to be reminded of the others. There has been some deviation from the teacher’s pattern – I just can’t help myself! The choice of colours are my own.

My teacher is off on a tour to Canada and America next week, including a trip to Paducah, so there will be no embroidery class next month. I hope to have this project finished and sewed into a cover for either my fan heater or my cutting mat before Kerry returns.  I’ll try to remember to bring you progress reports as I continue to enjoy the process.

Now, I'm off to make some pink scrappy blocks; care to join me?

Feeling flat? Finish something!

 eta: I'm linking this post with Thank God it's Finished Friday seen this week at Quilt Matters. This is my first contribution - I hope it won't be my last.


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Last week, the constant grey skies were making me blue and I lacked enthusiasm to do anything much.

So I urged myself to finish something.

Look-ee here!

A bound flannelette quilt (36" x 54")

I finally found some dark flannelette (black to be precise) to do the binding.


But wait – there’s more:

a finished blanket (afghan)

 All the ends from those one, two or three rows of colour have been tied off and hidden inside the binding! (A trick I learnt in a workshop last year with Liz Gemmell.)

The grey skies are back but I’m too busy to be feeling flat!

What was I thinking?

Every year I donate* four 'blankets' to the Wrap With Love challenge at TAFE*. I thought I had completed all four blankets (70 inches x 40 inches) for this year but realised last week that I had, in fact, only started the fourth and not completed it. Nowhere near completed it, in fact; I have knitted 130 of the 700 rows necessary!

I also realised that I would have to sew in the 1400+ ends that will come from knitting this blanket. Whatever possessed me to think this was a good use of small scraps of yarn?

You see, every one of those 700 rows is knitted in a different coloured yarn. Every row has a beginning and an end = 1400 ends! But some rows are knitted from shorter pieces of yarn so they have ends in the middle of the rows too! Am I insane?



I have knitted 130 rows, meaning that the piece I have produced so far is 40 inches wide and about 13 inches high and has more than 260 ends to be sewn in (a daunting task when one sees it in reality)!

Not having enough scrap yarn at the moment to complete it, gave me a good reason to abandon the project and think on it some more. I know I've said in the past that sewing in ends is therapeutic for me, but is this really how I want to spend the minutes of my life? I could almost knit another blanket in the time it will take me to sew in all those ends!

Because it started life as a blanket, this project is knitted in 8ply (DK) on 4.5mm (US 7 ) needles to give a drape-y fabric. I still want to use up that scrap acrylic yarn so I am considering frogging it, tying the ends together to make a huge scrap ball, knitting it on much smaller needles to make a denser fabric and turning it into a bag! I may even leave the ends hanging out as a design feature or I might embroider them on the outside as colonial knots! I can't put knots on the blanket (even if they are pretty) because they would pull through the looser fabric and Wrap With Love states "no knots please".

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**TAFE = College of Technical and Further Education; a tertiary instiution which once existed for the purpose training in trades. TAFE is my employer; I teach English to recently arrived adult migrants and refugees.

*This is not meant to be a boast; it is just a statement of fact that this is what I do with my knitting.