Monthly Archives: February 2015

Perspectives and Finish Lines

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Ok so for the first part of this post there’s going to be a bit more non-kniting/quilting stuff, so if you get bored or you just came for the crafts, scroll down to the quilt picture, and I won’t get offended, because frankly I can’t tell if you scrolled past or not anyway!

My non-traditional Ruby Wedding Ring. (Mid finger because its being sized atm)

My non-traditional Ruby Wedding Ring. (Mid finger because its being sized atm)

In the spirit of “out with it!” the news is… I got engaged on Valentine’s Day! (insert squeals and wedding march hums here).  My fiancé and I have been together for quite some time, and have decided to formalize the situation with paperwork and pageantry.  Because we have been together long enough that the only answer to the query of how long we have been together actually is, “long enough” we are planning to get married this year in a smaller ceremony with our parents and closest friends.

This means that I am now on a 6 months to wedding plan and making lists of things to do.  Do not fear dear readers, I still think I will have time for updating my blog in my usual “sometime every month” schedule. But, it does bring me to the perspective portion of the blog.

I have been rather noticeably in a bit of a GO!GO!GO! rush mode as I make my list of all the things needing to get done in time for an August Wedding.  And yesterday, after booking our photographer my fiancé (woo!) sweetly reminded me that in the past 10 days I had managed to settle on the date, book locations, and get the photographer.  I had been spending all my time looking at the to-do portion, I hadn’t appreciated the scope of the done part. So I am passing it on, and telling you… take a moment to change the perspective, and look away from your to-do, and appreciate what you have finished.

And speaking of finished….. (way to segue there!)

The third Star Trek Quilt!

The third Star Trek Quilt!

I have finally finished the Star Trek Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt I first teased about in June of 2014.  The quilting on this one is a clear indication of some attempts at something more than just stitch-in-the ditch.  The central blocks are stitched in an echo around the Star Trek insignia, with the outside blues and reds in decorative horizontal and vertical stripes.

The backing and binding is a space/stars print with glow in the dark stars.  (I did attempt to get a glow photo, but its not super great.)  I used a different technique on the binding, that I’m sure has a real quilting name, but I’m calling it a fold over binding, instead of making the binding a separate piece.  After quilting, the batting is trimmed to the edges of the top, and then the backing is folded over (at least twice to give a nice edge) and then seamed down.

A field of stars to navigate by
Twinkle Twinkle
32″x48″ final dimensions

This one is currently homeless.  This quilt has found a home! The idea came from a commission request that fell through.  Now down to 13 planned quilts on the idea board. 

The January 1000

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Believe it or not… I knit 1000 yards in January.  (Yeah I know, I hardly believed it myself)  The whole month I was in “I’m never going to finish all the things I want to get done this year” for a mindset which may have helped but then again was a bit stressful at times.

So let’s see… first we made socks that I’m putting firmly in the category of “will wear for benefit of the TSA.”  This is a silly idea of mine that since we have to take off shoes most often to travel, and since the TSA officers then get to see a myriad of socks, I shall wear socks as if it were a sock contest.  Previously this was novelty holiday socks, but now I have these beauties checking in for the first 200+ yards:

No officer, a clown did not puke on my feet.

No officer, a clown did not puke on my feet.

 

That pattern probably would look a bit better in a less variegated color, but it was a nice simple repeat suitable for taking in the car or when concentration isn’t as needed.  Which means it offset my lace and beads shawl project.

2nd bead project!
Golden beads on russet
This project has a nice soft drape
A nice shallow cresent

The pattern itself was only available for a very short time called Dance With Dragons.  I used about half of my Secret Santa yarn, so I shall need to find another project for the remainder, but overall I am loving how it came out.

Next up… it was the January Cold Sheep challenge… find the oldest yarn in your stash and knit it up.  Technically I’ve other yarn that was in my stash for longer, but due to the time of year and the plans for it, I went with actually probably the oldest yarn.  A vintage Dazzleaire from the era of when it was “new” that may even predate my own existence.

Dazzling Yellow Dazzleaire

Dazzling Yellow Dazzleaire

This yarn joined my stash from another knitters stash.  The idea of what to do with it went through several considerations and I really do like the colorway.  But when pressed for an idea… I decided to make my very own design Neck Cat.

This kitty loves to travel.

This dazzling kitty loves to travel.

The essential design idea is a cat themed neck/travel pillow, and I’d say that while its comfortable, and obviously a cat, this fella needs a second go through the design phase.  The next iteration I plan to aim for a more curved and less square body shape, with feet that are a part of the main pillow.

Now at this point I was just shy of both February and 1000 yards. I wasn’t yet ready to start another beaded shawl.  Another person shared some mosaic knit dish/wash cloths, and I am sitting on a stash of quite a bit of cotton so….I churned out a pair of cloths myself.

Coral and Peach Partners

Coral and Peach Partners

Technically the photo above is at the one and a half cloth stage, but I thought it was a nice showcase of how you can just swap the two colors around and get a mismatched yet still matched pair.  It successfully made two skeins of cotton exit the stash and so now I’m starting another mosaic pattern for another pair.

Mosaic knitting is where you slip one color while working the other color across the design.  When you get back to the start of the design, you swap and work the other color while slipping the first color.