Memoir inspiration

My husband picked this book up for me at the book store just before our baby was born. Based on the cover he assumed it would be something I would like. Of course he was right. Light reading is a life saver when you are exhausted & nursing every two hours. This book, "Sweater Quest", is about the journey of a mom knitting an amazingly intricate Fair Isle sweater in one year. When I started this book I had just finished knitting my baby's blanket and had nothing in the wings. You can't read a memoir about knitting and not having a knitting project in the works. It was only a matter of moments before I decide to make a slouchy tam to go with a new jacket. I of course had no pattern, but just a general idea of what I wanted. Something chunky that I could hopefully make with a Malabrigo yarn. I am totally infatuated with this brand of yarn, because not only are the colors beautiful, but it is just so darn soft! A quick scan of Ravelry and I found exactly what I was looking for! It is slouchy, chunky, cabled and worked in Malabrigo which means I wouldn't need to worry about futsing with conversion. It is a love fest, the book, the yarn, the pattern, the baby, and just the act of knitting in the fall. The only things that could make this better would be a fireplace and a breve...

Baby & blankie

Here is my new baby enjoying his newly finished blankie. I'm very happy with the result of both endeavors. :) Since this is my crafty blog I will talk about the blanket and let you deduce from the picture how great the baby turned out. The blanket turned out to be a great size for him. It is about 26x32" and is heavy, warm, but also very breathable. It is great for a little guy to cuddle in. It is also remarkably soft and luxurious for a cotton. I fell in love when I saw a whole shelf lined with the stuff and determined something must be made from it. Then, as any good yarn store has, there was a sample knit in it. The sample that happened to be this blanket. I took creative liberty and did my own color combination, which I think if very "little manly".

Whew, it's done!

I think it is going to work! Here is E's completed quilt top. I actually really love it, and more importantly, so does she. It was such a long journey of confusion and self doubt for me to finally arrive at this pattern and combo of fabrics, but I am really pleased with the result. Just another confirmation to always listen to my gut. I think it is really sweet, does justice to the lovely fabrics, but doesn't overpower. And for as busy and bold as the fabrics are up close, I think they present a really almost subtle affect. I was so determined to finish this quilt before baby #2 arrives and I'm so glad I did. Now to save up for the machine quilting required to actually have it finished and ready for use! It is huge, there is no way I'm quilting that myself! I'm a little crazy, but not that crazy!

You just have to go with it

I decided to try hanging some batting to stick my fabrics on, just to see what was working or not and what should go where. It was pretty slick. So this is what I have ended up with for my daughter's quilt. I ended up pulling a different fabric than the one I thought, and I think it is good. So now all I have to do and sew, sew, sew!

Major Rueage

I finally took the dive to commit to a pattern for the much - agonized - over quilt for my daughter. I decided to pull a few fabrics out, bring an "editing eye" to the project and also greatly simplify the over all design. I'm still happy with that decision, however, after doing all the cutting I, of course, had to lay out a few blocks to get an idea of the effect. Here enters the problem. Instead of the lovely pinks, my daughters favorites, coming out, they are completely over powered by what I thought would be the secondary and merely complimentary fabrics. As you may see from the photo, the pinks really do recede when alongside the greens. This does not make me happy. I may have found a solution in pulling in the fabric that is along the bottom, which seems to bring a bit more equilibrium to the pinks and greens. I plan to substitute it for the most grievous green (in my opinion) which is the furthest to the right. When you take a few steps back, this one, believe it or not, stands out the most above all the other fabrics. How can it be that that sweet, subtle polka dot print could pop so much next to those bold busy pinks?? If you know, please enlighten me to save me from repeating this error in future!
Addendum: I neglected to mention that all of this cutting and progress only happened because of a quilting day with my good (and only) quilting friend. Cutting goes so much faster with two! Thanks B!

Finishing things

I decided that after having a baby I would probably want some pretty loungy things to wear. So I pulled this unfinished project out and finished it off yesterday. I started this one a long time ago. It was another one where everything was all cut, I just had to sew. Having already made this robe twice, it was a bit of a no brainer, which was good for me yesterday. I didn't have much brain to spare. I did manage to have enough to add pockets to this robe where they didn't exist before. I love pockets and am usually bothered when I don't have them. I found a good photo tutorial online to help me out when my brains started to let me down. I also cut out a pair of pants to go with this. I am hoping to crank those out this week. We shall see. I mean, what good is a pretty robe without matching pants, right?

T.C.B.

I managed to get this quilt top sewed together. A few snags with squares not being the right size. I should always make notes if I am going to "set aside" a project. I remembered that there had been a problem - simple to fix, but I didn't figure it until I was a little far and had to rip out almost 3 rows. Once I got that resolved and finished the piecing I set it aside for about a week just to work myself up to pinning the whole thing together. It went well, both times. Yup, the first time the back was not straight, and because it is so close to the width I need, there was no room for that kind of a mistake. So, I unpinned it, straightened it and re-pinned. (quite an accomplishment when you are 8 months pregnant!) Now it is ready for machine quilting. Now I can set it aside again!

I also had to get a pic of the little baby blanket I have been working on. I'm about 3 rows from the half way point. I think it is turning out really cute. Thanks to my hubby for advising me on how to arrange the stripes. It is pretty sweet to have a guy around with such a great eye!