Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Early Fall Garden Album



Here are some snapshots of scenes in my tiny garden.  Shawl pattern: The Lonely Tree Shawl by Sylvia Bo Bilvia, free on Ravelry.  Yarn: 1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted in Stonechat, and 1 skein of Elsebeth Lavold Favorite Wool in oxblood.


A moth whose wings form its own autumnal shawl.


Smokey the cat.




Some red lettuce gone to seed.


More lettuce growing.


Escargot with your kale anyone?



Suz, who I tagged in the Around the World Blog Hop will be posting once her technical problems are solved.

I'll be off line for a couple of weeks.  See you on the rebound.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Nineties Called and They Want Their Sweater Back


I've been saving this horribly out-of-date sweater for awhile.  It's so out of style Louie the cat can't look at it without wincing. 


It's not flattering on me, but the fiber is wonderful, mostly lambswool and angora.


I decided to make it into a cardigan.  I won't repeat the instructions, because I've written them up here.

I'll just show you the pictures of the steps.


Unlike in my 2010 tutorial, I cut the fabric on the straight of grain this time.  I figured it would be okay since it wasn't going to go over any curves.



I can't tell you how much I've been wearing this sweater now.  It's very cozy and much more flattering. 

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

Organizing


I quilted the Forest Creatures quilt.  It got the black fleece backing after all, since the orange fleece was too small.  Free motion quilting is not easy with fleece, so I'd hate to do a big quilt  with a fleece back.  I think this quilt will go to one of the step-grands.  I have another small top for the other child, which I'll expand a bit and then back with fleece as well.

I realize that I'm organizing my space and supplies these days.  I unravelled three sweaters for their yarn, a steel gray Shetland wool fingering, a peal grey dk lambswool, and this very cheerful pink

worsted weight.  I wash and hang the curly hanks and then either leave them in skeins or wind up balls for storage.  Then they'll be ready to knit up when I am.  I feel the fall in the air here, so the serious knitting season will soon be upon us.

Economy Block and Large-Scale Fabrics

Recenlty I decided to take out and use the stash of Asian-themed fabrics I'd set aside.  Many of them are large scale, so I wanted to fe...