Knitting Updates

In the time I have not been blogging I finished a pair of socks:

 These are "Rough Waters" from Lisa K. Ross (Paper Daisy Creations). They are part of the "Socks of Narnia" collection of patterns, and I knit one sock during the Lots of Socks KAL back in February-March. I was able to whip out the second sock fairly quickly once I started on it. The yarn is, I think, Mountain Colors Bearfoot Sock yarn. And I have been working on a second pair of "Non-Euclidian" socks in Patons Kroy, which are for a Christmas present and not finished yet, but I'm liking them so far.

Every so often I go on Ravelry and queue a bunch of patterns. A few weeks ago I impulsively started this yoked cardigan by Lea Petaja: Women's Lace Cardigan using some years-old lambswool/nylon from an unraveled thrift store sweater. I have loved knitting something other than socks for a change, on size 4 needles, and I've already divided for the sleeves and am working on the stockinette body of the cardigan, so the tough part is done. Actually, the tough part for me is finishing the cardigan, but details details... Most of this designer's patterns are free, and they are all quite pretty. I'm enjoying the knitting of this one.

Steve and I finished watching the latest season of The Crown. And with the girls we are working our way through Star Trek: the Next Generation (we finished the original series, but watching them with a modern teenager was quite the experience... even TNG has plenty of cringey moments.) And Monk, and the Great British Baking Show. So these are some of the TV memories associated with these knitting projects. And if I need to stay up late to finish the Christmas socks sometime, I can watch a few episodes of NCIS.

Wake Up, Sleepy Blog!

Yes, I've been neglecting the blog for the past two months. No post November, I guess.

There was a quilt finish during the time I've been away:

"Tone it Down" was from an APQ quiltalong several years back based on the low-volume Burgoyne Surrounded quilt in the Feb. 2014 issue. Designed by Lissa Alexander, I believe.

 I just loved all the pastels and bright colors against the low-volume backgrounds, and I used many of my vintage sheets and some of my reclaimed shirtings. It was a fiddly quilt, where I laid out each block with dozens of different fabrics before piecing it, but it was a completely happy quilt to piece.

 It's 75x93", seems to fit a full size bed pretty well.

 I used Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System idea of 10.5" blocks pieced together for the backing. I had cut a big stack of fabrics up into these sizes and used them all up for this backing and the one I pieced to go with my Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt, which will maybe be the next one to go on the quilting machine.

 I now have three finished quilts that I plan to give to my sisters and step-mother this month. En Provence above...

And Grand Illusion. That's three quilts quilted this fall and I'm pretty happy about that. Of course, it's just in time for the start of the next Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt-along, "Frolic", which you can find at the link. I've been hooked on these since 2011 and Orca Bay. It and Allietare are still on my bed, I gave away Easy Street, Celtic Solstice and soon the two above, and On Ringo Lake and Good Fortune are waiting to be quilted.

 Frolic is supposed to evoke the happy feeling of a field of Texas wildflowers under a clear aqua sky. I have a lot of scraps in the blue colorways, which I think of as "China blue." They are blues, light and dark, with just a hint of heading to the purple end of the spectrum.

 "Framboise" is the rasberry color that makes this quilt pop. I don't have a lot of fuchsia pinks in my stash and since the three quilts just finished all had pink in them, I wanted to make a less obviously girly quilt... so I am probably going for closer to "cranberry" or "cherry" or "watermelon" with a bit of "burgundy wine" mixed in, but I'm not opposed to a bit of pink. All of my reds have to not be leaning toward orange, but maybe a bit toward purple.

 I have plenty of greens in that yellow-leaning, grass-green shade. I am a little short of aquas. I love the little skull and crossbones on that one but I'm not sure how appropriate it would be. I do want to use what I have, but that is the one color in the mix I am tempted to supplement. I thought about changing the colors, but decided to go with Bonnie's.

Here is so far on Clue #1. Lots of cute little 4-patches. They are so fun to make! I do love a variety of scraps in every quilt I make. I am trying to cut an extra strip or two for my Scrap User's System every time I have to cut a piece of fabric. That way I can use up some of the smaller and older pieces in my stash and replenish the variety in my strips. And if I impulsively decide to start a new quilt, I go to those strip boxes first. Of course, that does mean the quilting process is messy and there are scraps ALL OVER my sewing area!

That's the news on the quilting front! I'll be linking up to Bonnie's show-and-tell post on Monday when it goes live. You can check out what other quilters are doing with this pattern, and join the Frolic festivities!