Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Buried Treasure

This is my student desk. It was built by my father more than 50 years ago. I've had it my entire life. I use it as a dumping station. I've misplaced a book (I'm certain it is somewhere in the house) and this is where I started looking. I went through everything, recycled what I could and put things away. 
I managed to find the desktop, put things into storage, or out to recycles. Now, I can stack different things on this surface. 
I found some great test sews and embroideries. From center top:
  • self-drafted foundation paper pieced flying geese
  • two versions of the Pokémon Gengar I digitized and stitched out before stitching onto my chosen fabric
  • a very poorly digitized machine embroidery of Firefly
  • a couple test stitch-outs of a 20-sided die that I digitized
  • a notebook cover I drafted and stitched out, it has the cutting measurements written on the pieces
Have you found buried treasures in your creative space? 

Monday, August 29, 2022

Travel Crochet

This was a great take-along project. 
I've reached the end of the cake of yarn and weaved in the ends. This is a nice size shawl. 
The resulting fabric is squishy and soft. I'm not sure what my next crochet project will be. Have you made something with self-striping yarn and really loved the finish? 

Yarn is Caron Skinny Cakes in the colorway Raspberry Ganache.

If you didn't read the last post about this project, the pattern is Kria by Tinna Thórudóttir Thorvaldsdóttir. You can find the pattern on Ravelry. She also has loads of patterns and great tutorials on YouTube

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):


Knit and Crochet Tools (affiliate links): You can read my post about these tools in this post from December 2018

Fiskars 7 Inch Softgrip Student Scissors (snipping yarn)
24 Pack Metal Rectangular Empty Hinged Tins (hold needle, needle threader, and stitch markers)RuMe Bags Baggie All (Aspen) (to hold my hand-finishing supplies: yarn needle, needle threader, scissors, Kitchener directions, stitch markers, etc) 

Friday, August 26, 2022

Summer Travels

This is my "what I did on summer vacation". We took a week and traveled to Idaho to visit family. This is a view of the Snake River near Twin Falls in Idaho. We usually do our traveling in spring and fall just to take advantage of the cooler temperatures. The high desert wasn't my first choice but that's where family is. 
We visited Shoshone Falls Park to see the waterfall. 
I was pleased I captured this view with the rainbow.
The following day we hiked around Dierkes Lake. 
The markers were plentiful. 
We took our time. It was a little later in the morning than I wanted to start and the sun was high in the sky. 
Dusty and tired we went back to the hotel to shower in time for lunch. 

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Machine Knitting

I picked up several of these Caron Skinny Cakes from the big box store. They are discontinued and were marked down to $5. Perfect for learning. 
I did some experimenting with short rows and eyelets. Until I make a mistake too big to come back from. 
I ripped it out so I could start again. This is just part of the process. Yarn is rarely ruined after a single use. 
I used my Stanwood ball winder to get it back into a cake for my next try. Again, I learned quite a bit about working on the LK150. 

Monday, August 22, 2022

Travel Crochet

I found Caron Skinny Cakes on sale at the local big box store. I needed a travel project for a trip to visit family. I packed my project bag with a single cake of yarn, my preferred hook, and my kit. Funny how it matches my project.  
The pattern is Kria by Tinna Thórudóttir Thorvaldsdóttir. You can find the pattern on Ravelry. She has loads of patterns and great tutorials on YouTube
I decided to make a contrasting stripe. 
Self-striping yarn is so great for this kind of project. 
I worked on this mostly in the car while my husband drove us about. 
It was a simple enough project I could easily put it down and pick it up without feeling lost. 
The texture on this shawl is just great! I still have to finish it up so keep an eye out for the final look. 

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):


Knit and Crochet Tools (affiliate links): You can read my post about these tools in this post from December 2018

Fiskars 7 Inch Softgrip Student Scissors (snipping yarn)
24 Pack Metal Rectangular Empty Hinged Tins (hold needle, needle threader, and stitch markers)RuMe Bags Baggie All (Aspen) (to hold my hand-finishing supplies: yarn needle, needle threader, scissors, Kitchener directions, stitch markers, etc) 

Friday, August 19, 2022

Felted Slippers

After the last pair of felted slippers turned out too small I decided to give it another try. I modified my notes to make the slipper wider and longer. 
I knit up the pair on the LK150. 
And sewed them up. I so enjoy the color blocking on this design. It's something you can't do easily while knitting in the round. 
Here is what that unfelted (top) slipper looks like next to the felted slipper I made (bottom). 
Here is how it felted up. Sadly, it is still too small for me. I figure the size is around a ladies size 6 shoe.
I learned even more and I'm going to give it another try. They are just too cute to give up now. 

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Ice Dye

My friend wanted to try ice dyeing. I must admit I spent entirely too much time watching YouTube videos about the process. There are some great ones out there. Nancy Gamon has some great tutorials. This was the first one I dyed. 
This was the second. I made sure to take a photo before I rinsed but after the ice had melted. 
Such a fun result! Have you tried any new techniques recently? I would love to hear how it went. 

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Monday, August 15, 2022

Felted Slippers

I decided to give felted slippers another chance. This was my second attempt. I make major changes to the design I was using and I'm much happier with this style. Yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. It felts up so nicely. 
These are knit flat on the LK150 knitting machine and then the sides are seamed by hand. The color changes are partially a style choice and partially to assist with lining up that hand seaming. 
This time the felting was just awesome! Unfortunately, I didn't knit them big enough so these are really a child's size. I learned so much making them. I learned how this knit fabric felted (so great!) and how many rows I need to knit to get an inch of felted material. The next pair will be so much better! 

Friday, August 12, 2022

Machine Knitting

Sometimes when I get a little stressed I think I need more fabric or yarn. This past week was a yarn week. I popped over to the nearest craft store (big box craft store) and bought some Lion Brand Yarn. Most of this is Shawl in a Ball (discontinued, so if you like this ombre yarn head to your nearest big box store and stock up), with a couple balls of Heartland. It seems I was in the mood for purples. 
I used the Shawl in a Ball yarn to make a couple shawls on the LK 150. I made two different shawls with this colorway.
Both use short rows for shaping. This one, is a narrow triangle shawl that uses short rows with simple increases and decreases to shape the shawl. It also uses an interesting technique to make the fringe as you knit the shawl. 
I still need to finish the fringe. I really like this shape and will likely make another but leave out the fringe. This shawl used less than a full ball of Shawl in a Ball. 
The next one uses short rows to create multiple pie pieces that results in a half circle shawl. The colors of the yarn make this stunning. 
This shawl used more than a single ball of Shawl in a Ball. It is the same colorway as the first shawl and I have very little left over after using an entire ball and what was left over from the first shawl. I used a simple eyelet edging
What I really love about this shawl is the I-cord edging across the straight edge. It was the first time I enjoyed making an I-cord bind off and the results are so worth it. Now I need to figure out how to use this short row technique to make a poncho. 

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Scrappy Bricks

So many scraps! When I trim the backing from quilts after quilting I end up with some strips. I wanted to make some scrappy quilts so I pulled out the bag of strips and separated any piece that was at least 2 inches wide. 
This is the block I wanted to make with those narrow strips. The center square is 3.5" by 3.5" (unfinished size) and each brick is cut to 2" by 3.5". The block measures 9.5" by 9.5" and will finish at 9" by 9" in the finished quilt. I used the same fabric for the center squares. I'm still working on cutting bricks from the scrap bin. 
This little quilt is the first of many. Sixteen blocks surrounded by a 2.5" border will make a great kid quilt. I just turn each block by 90 degrees so there are very few seams to line up except for the blocks themselves. It is a pretty forgiving block. 

Since I finished this top I have cut and pieced another 16 blocks. They are waiting to become another quilt. I have a third one planned after that. Such a simple block. These make a great leader/ender project. New to leader/ender projects? Check out this informative post by Bonnie Hunter about why this method works for her. Even if I don't have a dedicated leader/ender project I always have some small pieces ready to go next to my machine. That way I'm always working on something. It is also a good way to sit down and just sew for a few minutes without an prep work. 

Monday, August 8, 2022

Double Wedding Ring

I started cutting out this quilt in May 2022. I've been working on it pretty steadily for a couple weeks now. 
I've been sharing little snippets on Instagram when I finish a ring. 
Each is unique. 
Then I hit the tipping point where each seam creates a larger and larger piece and you just know the top will be finished soon. 
I finished the top. As with many of my quilt projects, this one will get set aside until I can buy some appropriate backing fabric. This quilt begs for quilting designed specifically for the Double Wedding Ring. I have a couple and I'm going pick my favorite.