Eleven Stitches

Knit, Sew, Quilt

That's what my plans were for this long weekend!  How did I do?  Well, let me show you.

I've made a lot of progress on Betty.  I just finished with the armhole shaping, and I'm about finished with the colorwork band.

At the movies (Star Trek!  Such a good movie.), I almost finished up my second Trekking sock.  All I had to do when I got home is knit the toe.

I feel pretty meh about this pair of socks.  I know there are a lot of people who really like Trekking, but I don't think I'm one of them.  I'll see if my feelings change once I start wearing these socks next fall.

In the sewing department, I finished up a dress.

This is Simplicity 4116, an out of print pattern that I really like. This is the second time I've used this pattern, and I really like how nicely it fits and how easy it sews up.

The cantaloupe-colored fabric is pretty simple, and I love the Peter Pan collar.  I added a little bit of topstitching in the hopes the facing won't shift around too much after it's washed.

I made my own bias tape to finish the armholes, and I added pockets to the dress.  I also appliqued on a flower!

And finally, I got started on a new quilt this weekend.  I've admired Chawne's Blue Whimsy quilt so much that I thought I'd try to make something similar.

I've got some bread rising for tonight's meal (and this week's lunches), and I have a few more hours of crafting to fit in before the work week comes.

Sweater Report: After The FO Post

Now that sweater season is really over, I thought I'd do a review of some of the sweaters I've knit.  When a sweater is first finished, it's sometimes hard to know how much it will be worn.  Here are some of my thoughts about a few finished sweaters.

Phyllo Yoked Pullover

I really like wearing this sweater.  It's flattering and I always feel nice when I wear it.  I did discover that since the yarn is superwash wool, I actually need to wash and dry it in the washing machine/dryer.  As I was carefully handwashing it, the sweater got longer and longer, so that it was tunic length and I had to roll up the sleeves to see my hands!  The washer and dryer do the trick, though!

Piedmont Park Hoodie

I love the way this sweater fits.  I love the buttons and the short sleeves.  I do NOT love the hood.  I feel like the hood makes the sweater too casual to wear to work, and so I just don't wear this sweater.  Since I never have much use for a hood anyway, I've decided that I'm just going to remove it.  I'll have a little more Rowan tweed, and a more wearable (for me) sweater.

 Cobblestone, Venezia, and Beet Sweater:  I love all of these sweaters, and they fit well.  They are too hot! I wear them on really cold days (or in really cold houses), but other than that they stay in the drawer.

Baby Cables and Big Ones Too

This is my most favorite sweater I've ever knit. (Although the recently finished Whisper might tie.  Time will tell.) I didn't realize how much I'd love this sweater when I was knitting it!  The skinny yarn at a loose gauge make the sweater snuggly and lightweight.  It always looks really nice.  Have you ever had one of those days when you come home from work, immeditately put on your PJs, and THEN your husband wants to go out?  When that happened to me, I would put on this sweater. Love it.

So that's this season's report!  I didn't want to include my 2009 sweaters in this list because I haven't had enough time to really wear them yet.  I'd be interested to know what you think about your sweaters after you've had some time to live with them.  It's hard to know right away!

Log Cabin Experiments

My very first quilt (of 2001 vintage) was a log cabin quilt.  I've been fond of that pattern ever since, and it's been fun to see it cropping up in the past couple of years.

I decided to start using scraps from all the clothes I've been making, and to put them into a quilt.  I wanted to do a log cabin, but I thought I'd experiment a little bit with the blocks this time around. 

First I did just a straight log cabin block, with inch-wide strips.

Then I did one that still has straight lines, but the strip widths are varied.

I tried a wonky block.

And I finally went back to the straight inch-wide strips block, with some strips pieced.

It's been so fun to use all of my sewing scraps!  I think I like the first and last blocks best-- I'm still a log cabin traditionalist I guess.  But I'll keep experimenting until I have enough blocks for a quilt.

Whisper

This is my newest cardigan, and I love it!

Pattern: Whisper Cardigan by Hannah Fettig, from Interweave Knits 2009
Yarn: Newton's Yarn Country Cashmere
Needles: US 7, US 4, and US 2
Time to Knit: April 20 (ish?) - May 5
Modifications: Um, none.  That's kind of weird for me.

A few years ago, I accidentally won a blog contest and acquired a cone of hot pink laceweight yarn.  It's cashmere and soft, but I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I'm not very into lace or shawls, and I didn't think that if I did want to knit a lace shawl, I would want it to be hot pink!  I'm happy to see that there are a lot of laceweight sweater patterns now available, because laceweight sweaters are so very nice.

The pattern is mainly knit on size US 7 needles.  The US 4's are used for ribbing, and the US 2's are used for only 3 rows to create a gather across the back.  I think some people are intimidated by this pattern because they see laceweight and they assume it's mostly on size 2s.  It's not, and the knitting is airy and quick!

You can read a little more about the construction of the sweater here.  One thing I didn't realize before I knit the sweater was the bottom front kind of wings out with increases every other row.  I wasn't a big fan of this detail before the sweater was blocked, but now I kind of like how the sweater curls up at the sides.  I wonder if the front was knit straight (without the increases) if the sweater would curl up towards the back instead of having a small curl right at the side.

I wore this sweater today with a skirt in 70-degree weather, and it wasn't too hot.  I love how lightweight it is, and the drape makes it feel pretty and fancy. 

I love this sweater!  If you've thought about making one, I hope this post pushes you over the edge.

Festival

Thanks for all of the nice comments on my Owls sweater, and thanks to all of you who complimented it at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival!  You know, I spent so much time on my Rhinebeck sweater, and the one I wore to Maryland just happened to be the last one I finished.  I was so surprised (and very pleased!) at the response I got to it at the festival.

It was a rainy morning, but then the weather cleared up enough to be pleasantly cool.  I went with Christy and Jody, and we enjoyed a very laid-back festival.  We didn't visit all of the barns, and that didn't bother me.  I made sure to hit all of my favorite places, of course.  In the afternoon, the three of us pulled out some camp chairs and spent quite a while just knitting. 

I did pick up some yarn.

From left to right: 3 skeins of Tess' Twinkle Toes.  I'm hoping to make a Dulce de Leche with it. Next is some heavenly soft alpaca/bamboo from Maple Creek Farms.  Then it's a new sock yarn (Zauberball) that I couldn't resist picking up.  It's supposed to be an ombre fade from the top of the sock to the bottom. 

I was on a mission to find some kelley green yarn.  I finally found it at the Cloverhill Farm booth.  We found this wonderfully soft (like Malabrigo sock) sock yarn in some really beautiful colors, called Wullenstudio yarn. I was considering buying a skein just because I liked the color and softness so much, even though I haven't been knitting very many socks.  And then Jody found the kelley green, and I bought all four remaining skeins so I could make a sweater with it.
 

I already cast on for Betty Jean McNeil, using the green and also the purple above as the contrast color. 

I decided a few months ago that I really, really like knitting sweaters with skinny yarn.  So I decided that at this festival I was only looking for skinny yarn.  With four types of fingering and a DK weight yarn, I think I did a good job!

Along those lines, I was knitting a Whisper cardigan while I was at Maryland Sheep & Wool.  I found it impossible to photograph well while it was in WIP status, so I'll give you some pictures soon when it's finished blocking!