Woolly Interlude

No, it’s not a beret, but I still think it looks vaguely like a raspberry.

• Pattern: Cap Karma Hat
• Needles: US 7
• Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool, 023 Purple, 2 skeins

I made this hat for one of my many aunts named Rose, who recently underwent chemo in a state with record snowfalls. How does that not call for wool? Particularly very soft, very machine-washable wool. This hat was a quick knit; it took about a day and a half, and the pattern was easy to memorize. I hadn’t used Mission Falls before, and the wool was quite nice. What else… oh, I don’t use purple very often, so that was a nice change of pace.

This evening I picked my second German Stocking again. I know I said before that I wanted to have it done in time for Christmas, but that really didn’t work out. But I’m confident that I’ll keep working on it now, since I really want to be able to wear these socks!

I promised more details on the quilt, so here goes!

I don’t know the exact measurements (sorry!), but the quilt is laying on a queen size bed in the above photo. When I’m back home, I’ll check the numbers. I made my own pattern for the quilt, but it was inspired by the commercially-available Turning Twenty pattern. So why didn’t I just use the pattern? Well, I didn’t actually know it was a pattern that could be purchased, as I was very new to the quilt world when I conceived the idea of making one. But in the end, I like my version better, as the squares are smaller. After finishing the 35 blocks I had planned, I put on a border of 4″ squares followed by a 6″ border of white fabric interrupted with some piecing, since I was running low on fabric.

The piecing was all one in Fall 2006; then I had to wait until I could afford 5+ yards of fabric for the back and a big piece of batting. The wait was worth it, though, because I found one of my favorite prints for the back.

I love the little white flowers on all of that red, and I love the batting I got (Warm and Natural 100% Cotton). Look at those great wrinkles! I had originally planned to machine quilt this on my little sewing machine, but in the end, I decided I wanted to hand quilt it. I’m glad I changed my mind, because the actual quilting was so much fun! I even enjoyed the last step, tacking the binding down by hand with little tiny blind stitches.

Since I finished this a few weeks ago, I’ve nearly finished a miniature quilt, and I’ve got my plan and fabric for the next big one. But not to worry, I’ve been knitting, too! I’ve got a hat to show off next time.

Ahem. Sorry about the prolonged absence. My life has recently undergone a major upheaval, and blogging fell very low on my list of priorities. I have been keeping very busy, though, and have a whole lot to share.

First up, some Christmas gifts (sewn, not knitted).

1. Scarf Laid Out, 2. Chaotic Coasters, 3. Coasters, 4. Scarf Rolled Up

The coasters were for various family members, and the scarf was for my sister.

Next up, I threw a big dessert party for my roommate’s 25th, and here’s the spread.

1. The Spread, 2. Cupcakes

We had chocolate-cherry cupcakes, chocolate filled croissants, orange truffles, almond-vanilla truffles, clementines, a crepe cake, and pomegranate limeade. Everything except the limeade, croissant dough, and cherry cupcake mix were made from scratch over the course of, like, three days, and were ridiculously fun to create. And most fortunately, we only had six cupcakes (and clementines) left over.

And the last thing I’ve got photos of right now is my first quilt, which I finished up last week.

1. First Quilt, 2. First Quilt, 3. First Quilt, 4. First Quilt

I’ll try to get some full-quilt photos this week, and give a full FO report soon. I have to say, finishing this was immensely satisfying; it’s funny, from start to finish, I worked on this for about 15 months, and yet if I had worked on it for a few hours a day on consecutive days, I could have finished this in under two weeks. Hand quilting really doesn’t take that long!

I’ve also finished knitting a vest, of which I have no photos, started and ripped out a sock, and started and ripped out a hat. And bought more fabric to piece another quilt top. And made a mini-quilt. Ahem. Have a great weekend!

… in the Crochet Pattern-a-Day Calendar, that is.

I crocheted this afghan as a gift back in May of 2005, and wrote up the pattern to share on Crochetville. Then I submitted it to the calendar, and now I’ve got a free one. It’s probably the only design I’ll ever have published, so I was hoping you all would celebrate with me!

Have you ever designed something to knit, crochet, or sew? Do you improvise your patterns? Leave a comment, and a link if you’ve got one, about something you’ve created, or even something you wish you had created, and you’ll be entered into a contest to win a set of Megan-designed coasters and a skein of sock yarn from my stash (although you won’t get them until after the holidays). This post will be open for comments until the end of next Thursday, so you’ve got a week to enter.

Also, I don’t know how many of you guys crochet, but I’m going to try to format the pattern nicely and offer it as a free pattern here. If you’re interested, just stop back by soon!

When last we saw the German Stocking, it was 70°F and I had a nasty cold. It is, therefore, apropos that I unearthed the second stocking last night, as today it is again 70°F and I am beginning to feel the effects of a cold.

At this point, I’m nearly done with the ribbing, and then I’ve only got about two inches of stockinette before the twisted stitch cables (and the decreases!) appear. Experience tells me that after the big cable medallion at the top of the calf, the rest of the sock will fly off of the needles, as long as I don’t end up ripping and reknitting a good 11 inches of leg. I’m not off to a great start on that, though, as I’ve already cast on twice. That might not sound time consuming, but I used a tubular cast on for 138 stitches on US 0 (2.0mm) DPNs, so it took about an hour each time. That is a vast improvement over the 4 hours it took for the first sock, but is still nothing to sneeze at. Believe me, I tried.

While these stockings are certainly not going to be hung up to collect Christmas gifts, I would really like to have the pair finished before I head home for the holidays. That leaves me ten days to work two jobs, do a bunch of laundry, welcome my friends’ baby into the world, finish sewing coaster sets, make truffles, and knit a knee sock. Sadly, I actually think that is manageable; supporting my delusion is that it only took about 10 days to knit the first stocking (spread out across a couple of months), and that includes the 4 hour cast on and knitting basically the entirety of the leg and heel flap twice.

Speaking of coasters, these are some of the prototypes I whipped up the first weekend in December.

They’re quick and easy, and it’s a lot of fun to come up with fabric combinations. I’ve been improvising on the piecing, and using a 4.5″ square template to cut down the results. I still need to finish 7 sets on Saturday, and my ever-optimistic nature is saying that scenario is totally reasonable, and will leave me plenty of time to work on my sock. And if I don’t finish all of this, well, feel free to leave unsurprised comments.