World Down Syndrome Day, and Lots of Socks

So, World Down Syndrome Day, 3-21, was Thursday, and so was the meeting of Young Life Capernaum. I've been taking Tertia there in recent months, and she really enjoys it. It was Disney Day for the theme, so naturally she dressed as Belle. They had a "dance or dare" contest and of course she chose dance! Improvising moves to "Try Everything" from Zootopia, I think she was a hit! Even when her tiara needed adjusting.

 The Lots of Socks knitalong hosted by Lisa K. Ross is over and drawings for prizes will be held next week. I finished a total of 10 socks, including this one of Flower Shock by Anna Friberg. This is the first time I've ever purchased a pattern (or anything for that matter) in Swedish Kronor. It's a lovely lace pattern that is more fun for me to knit than most lace, and I'm excited to make the other sock soon. I used a mystery yarn from my friend Joyce and color segments from two different half-balls of Chroma. The heel is an afterthought, which is the first time I think I've ever done one. You knit with provisional yarn, and then you go back and knit with your regular yarn, and then you have to put pick up stitches and knit them from both sides of the provisional yarn, then decrease the heel, then Kitchener it together.

This is what it looked like after picking up the stitches on both sides. Kind of cool!

 Grellow Love by Clare Devine. I'm calling mine "Grumpkin." It uses a "fleegle" heel, which is pretty similar to my standard toe-up gusset heel, but in a contrast color. I've already started the gusset on the second, so this will be a pair soon, hopefully next week.

 These are my single socks that still need a mate.

 And these are the socks I wore on Thursday; Lots of Socks and Non-Euclidian.

All told, the Lots of Socks knitalong raised more than $18,000 for Down Syndrome International, which will help support people with Down syndrome in various countries of the developing world.

The plum tree is quite happy for the arrival of spring.

I am quite happy too; we have daffodils, forsythia, Daphne and camellias blooming now.

Speaking of spring; I was surprised that we had the Equinox and then a full moon in the sky, but this Sunday is not Easter. (Because my mother taught me, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring). Steve figured it out for me with some googling: the exact moment of the full moon was actually a little before the exact moment of the vernal Equinox. So although I was quite prepared to channel Bede and complain about the improper observation of Easter, I bow to the astronomers who have these pesky technical details all figured out. Unlike me... I still have a difficult time with editing my photos for the blog; probably one of the reasons I haven't been blogging as much.

Speaking of the blog, I reverted to my original dandelions blowing in the wind theme. I never quite enjoyed the clean-cut blues I have had. Maybe that will spur me on to blog more. And yes, today is Randomday, so by my own blog rules, I can blog about whatever I want. Since I was blogging about a specific subject today, I'll save most randomness for a future date.

Knitting Lots of Socks, and Taking Stock

Since the beginning of February, I have been knitting socks. Lots of Socks for the #LotsofSocksKAL hosted on Ravelry by Paper Daisy Creations. Together, we have raised a good bit of money for Down Syndrome International to use in providing support and advocacy for people with Down syndrome in developing countries. We have until May 21, World Down Syndrome Day, to knit our socks and enter them in the prize drawings. Personally, I have bought 11 patterns (I think) from 7 different designers, finished three matching pairs and two individual socks, and am working on socks 9, 10, and 11, for a total of 8 different patterns attempted. I want to knit more, but there are only so many hours a day to knit and binge-watch Marie Kondo, West Wing, Designated Survivor, and NCIS.

 Lots of Socks by Lisa K. Ross is the title featured pattern designed by the hostess of the knitalong. It was immediately a pattern I just had to buy... mind you, until this knitalong I had never bought a sock pattern, just a few books in the past and free patterns from the early days of Ravelry. Truthfully, I was kind of in a rut when it came to socks, just doing toe-up socks for Steve and the boys mostly. I had to learn a special cast-on by "Tillybuddy" which is stretchy like the Twisted German (or is it Old Norwegian?) but is done two stitches at a time, so goes kind of quickly. I also loved knitting the mosaic pattern on these... it is fun and fast with color-changing yarns in the same way that I find knitting my diamond lattice dishcloths entertaining.

The resulting sock fabric is warm and very squooshy. I used Knit Picks Chroma for the color gradient, which is a single yarn, but it hasn't disintegrated yet after two wearings. I knit these socks one at a time, so though it was the first sock cast on in February, it was not the first finished pair.

 Here is my first completed pair: Non-Euclidian by Sarah Jordan.

These socks feature a clever diamond/triangle heel shaping designed to not break up self-striping yarns. This is some Knit-Picks Hawthorne and doesn't have stripes, but it's a great vanilla sock recipe I will definitely return to again. I used Tillybuddy's cast-on again for its stretchiness, and once again had the chance to practice Kitchener stitch to close the toes. I don't have it memorized yet, it's on a 3x5 card, but with these two techniques there's no reason to fear top-down socks anymore. I definitely would like to knit these first two patterns again.

 Short Attention Span by Shannon Squire. These toe-up socks knitted up rather quickly because they were in Socks that Rock mediumweight, but the first sock was a little harder because I had a hard time memorizing the flying geese pattern and doing the heel at the same time. This heel used the W&T (wrap and turn) short row technique, which I had to research with you-tube videos before I attempted it. Every time I do wraps, I get very confused. I think I did them differently on the second heel, but I can't tell.

 And on to the single socks. This is Rough Waters by Lisa K. Ross again, from her collection of 4 sock patterns inspired by Narnia. It is toe-up and features a dropped stitch pattern and the thing I had to learn with this sock pattern was how to do German short row heels with something called a double stitch. This was completely new to me, but I'm glad I struggled through it. It was a struggle -- Emma had a nasty stomach bug while I was working on this and I was sleep-deprived, so very little made sense when I was trying to figure it out.

In the end, it is a very neat way of doing short rows and I will probably try to use it instead of the wrap and turn method in future socks. I look forward to completing the other sock in this pair.

 This is Epitome of Me by Megan Williams. They are toe-up also and feature a twist on either side going up the foot. I had to relearn twisted stitches, and the heel is something called an OMG (one-needle mock-gusset) heel that also uses German short rows with double stitch. So it was a great opportunity to practice that kind of short row in a very different configuration.

One done - these may be for Emma when they are finished. Also in progress but not pictured yet because it took me long enough to blog the socks so far -- Sara Elin by Vikki Bird, Grellow Love by Clare Devine, Flower Shock by Anna Friberg. I might just be able to get one of each of those socks done by March 21. I bought some beautiful Madeline Tosh Twist Light sock yarn and am thinking of buying yet another pattern by one of the featured designers, Coffee Talk by Traci Millar, and I really also want to cast on Voyage from the Narnia E-book by Lisa K. Ross. That's a lot of socks!

So, on to the "taking stock" part of the blog. I didn't finish any of my UFO goals for February (they were finishing quilting Celtic Solstice, and finishing my Rosalind sweater, as well as cleaning my craft area thoroughly and making a few baby quilts). But time marches on, and the UFO challenge # for March is 8. That means, for fiber arts, "spinner's choice" (I could theoretically justify ordering fiber), or I could just work on last month's neglected project. And for quilting it's the 1996 Piecemaker's calendar quilt, which needs quite a bit of applique before assembly. Or I could just knock out the machine quilting and baby quilts that need to be finished up from last month. Truth be told, I will be content with a lot of socks finished and new techniques learned, but I will definitely try to do some cleanup and organization in the process.

Here's to averaging more than two blog posts this month! Cheers!

Good Fortune Quilt - Final Link-up, Plus Sock Knitting, Prom, and Wildlife

Today over at Quiltville, there is one last gathering of the Good Fortune quilts made since Thanksgiving of 2018.  Mine is a top, not quilted yet, but I am very happy with it:

 I was dubious at first when I was putting it together about my choice of colors, but I ended up loving it. I have seen so many different combinations and I like them all.

I'm afraid I am still not making progress on machine quilting anything. My Celtic Solstice is still on the frame and I am distracted by other projects.

Primarily, I have been knitting socks. There is a really fun knit-along hosted by Paper Daisy Creations on Ravelry, Lots of Socks -- in support of Down syndrome awareness. The fifteen sponsoring designers are offering great discounts through Friday on selected patterns, and donating profits to Down Syndrome International. Lots of fabulous prizes are being offered as well. The knitting goes on until March 21, which is World Down syndrome day. So far I have bought several patterns, cast on 4 socks, and finished one:

Emma had a great experience at the Night to Shine prom last Friday:

 I couldn't believe it, but there was an entire tent full of formal wear that had been donated, and this dress was free to us! All it needed was shortening the spaghetti straps.

It's just about the perfect dress for her!

We have had a little snow in recent weeks; the wildlife remains undeterred.

 I love this hummingbird feeder that I bought at the county fair last August. There are two regular customers but they don't get along with each other at all.

 I don't love the raccoons, but the tracks are kind of cute.

Smudge is not in this picture, but the Other Cat comes by regularly to eat whatever he leaves. Muffball, as an inside-only cat, is powerless to chase him away, but she sure tries. After watching the Tigers of Scotland documentary on Netflix, I've come to think of him as a Scottish wildcat.

January Finishes and February Plans

As I gradually make my way back into the world of blogging, I am comforted that, even with all the cultural craziness and political rancor, I still have the ability to make beautiful things with my hands, and this is relatively uncontroversial.

January was a productive month for me. I finished up the Good Fortune Quilt top from Bonnie Hunter's seasonal mystery.

 I changed up the color scheme from Bonnie's, leaving out the orange and bringing in yellow, and switching the colors around. I was a little unsure at first but I really like the way my version played out.

 I had to wait for a dry and clear day to hang the quilt out on the tree for this picture session!

 I especially love the green/blue outer border. Those colors together always make me think of Grandma Maffett.

The red chain blocks really stand out. But after you get through looking at them, you notice the cheerful yellow/green pinwheel blocks, and they make me happy too.

Overall, a very successful mystery quilt. I hope I can get in gear and crank out the quilting on the many quilts I need to work on. I enjoyed every single clue of the mystery, and had less than usual trouble in matching the corners when I was sewing the whole top together. Or maybe I've just loosened up on my perfectionism a bit. Either way, it's a win!

 I randomly chose "3" as my number for UFO work in January. I was supposed to spin this roving from Dicentra Designs, and I did.  No idea what I will make with it yet. I was also supposed to sew a knitting bag pattern that has been on my queue for several years and my countertop for several months. No, that went untouched. Instead, I have nearly completed my sewing-room cleanup and organization campaign, and I'm happy with that. That could be another blog post in itself.

 I finished the first of the Bovary socks while Quarta was at orientation for St. Jude Leadership society, and forged ahead with Kitchener stitch to close the toes. However, my memory was not so great. I vastly prefer toe-up socks for this reason. By the way, if you are looking for a worthy cause, there's hardly any one worthier than St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Quarta's donation page is here. I was able to remember the Old Norwegian cast on for the next sock just from muscle memory, so the second sock is about 2/3 done. I'm okay with that pace of knitting but I would prefer to get it off the needles because...

There is a "Lots of Socks" knitalong on Ravelry that is in support of International Down Syndrome. The idea is to knit socks from the 15 participating designers, and post them by Down Syndrome day (March 21). A different designer's pattern will be promoted each day for 15 days. Today is the first day and I bought the "Lots of Socks" pattern by Paper Daisy Creations, because it is really stunning. Here is my plan for main and contrasting colors. I am not sure about the Chroma yarn, a single that is prone to felting and pilling, but it is what I have to work with and I have already cast on the first sock, using a rather clever You-tube video by Tillybuddy for an extra-stretchy cast-on. I somehow doubt I will finish LOTS of socks in the next month and a half, but maybe one pair? But if all the designers have such pretty patterns, I may have a hard time picking. Plus Bovary, of course, just to get it off the needles.

So plans for February already include knitting socks and finishing the cleanup of my sewing area. Also I have some quickie baby quilts already half pieced. I am going to have to finish quilting Celtic Solstice, already on the frame, very soon or I will not be able to get anything else done. Also, the APQ UFO challenge picked "6" as the random number for February, so that means (she runs and checks her list)...

A machine quilting finish (good, I was already planning on that) and
Rosalind (a really pretty summer sweater that has been languishing for far too long). It's all good.

New Year, New Goals

So it's 2019, and 2018 wasn't my best year for either blogging or crafting. I did finish several pairs of socks and a few other knitting projects, but no quilts during that time. The coming of Thanksgiving and the mystery quilt with Bonnie K. Hunter served as a welcome kick-start to get back into both sewing and blogging. But it also was a kick in the pants to me to organize my scraps and long-neglected projects, both of which were in a shocking state.

When I had to make blue string blocks, it forced me to organize my strings. And not just the blue ones.

 I have a 3-drawer plastic unit; it goes beside my sewing chair so I can just reach down. Top shelf is cool colors, middle shelf is warm colors, bottom shelf is neutrals and browns. The above photo was taken when I was almost through sorting the cool colors drawer and dumped out a bunch more.

I thinned it down considerably. I stirred up a LOT of dust and had to take frequent breaks. I threw away strings I disliked or were too small for my purposes, and now my three drawers are reasonably tamed. I also started the process of organizing my other small scraps. All of this was in the week immediately preceding Christmas. I ended up getting my entire sewing area thoroughly vacuumed and the storage area under the Megaquilter much neater. I will probably do other purges and take more pictures to document this in the future, but I took a break from that when Christmas came.

This was Daniel's gift to me, and I got them on the wall for the Last Noel.

I was detoured right around Jan. 1 with a friend's post on Facebook about "Bullet Journals," and I fell into a rabbit hole thinking about ways to apply them to my life. I took a notebook I've had since 2011, a gift from a student, and had been using very sporadically as a quilting and knitting journal. If you look back in my blog, you may see some of the WIP and UFO reports I've made in the past were based on notes I originally made in this book. So far, I have not really caught the desire to write in a bullet journal daily, nor to make it look pretty. I did pick 12 knitting and 12 quilting goals (loosely defined) for this year and entered them down in the notebook. But for now, my "bullet journal" is just experimental and I don't think it would make a good picture at all. However, I will post my year's UFO goals from it here on the blog.

The way it works is I select a random number from 1-12 each month, and that number is the project I work on during that month. Then I will have to report on goals achieved or missed each month, and maybe connect with one of those awesome link-up parties that some bloggers are still doing.

UFO or stash reduction projects (knitting/fiber) randomly chosen each month.

1. spin the light green/silver roving from Sock Summit
2. spin the autumnal Dicentra Designs "Black Bottom Stomp" roving in merino/Tussah
3. start a new pair of socks
4. Manu cardigan
5. Manu cardigan (it's in fingering weight, I figure two months are necessary)
6. Rosalind cardigan
7. Mint Chocolate cardigan
8. spinner's choice (may order fiber if that is what I want to do that month)
9. small gifts for gift stash
10. On Your Toes cardigan (or bail and frog it)
11. start new cardigan from reclaimed yarn stash: boyfriend or favorite color(?)
12. any knitting finish
13. (bonus) design my dream colorwork cardigan 

UFO quilting/sewing projects randomly chosen each month

1. classical tote bag
2. bowling style bag
3. linen blouse
4. machine quilting finish
5. machine quilting finish
6. machine quilting finish
7. machine quilting finish
8. 1996 Piecemaker's top
9. mariner's compass hooked rug
10. rainbow star quilt (applique)
11. frugal patch quilt
12. felted wool blanket
13. (Scrappy trip)
14. (LOTR paper piecing)
15. (Baltimore album quilt)
16. (Extra baby quilts)
17. (Spare block quilt "scrap soup")

Numbers beyond 12 are "bonus" choices that can be substituted for another one if it comes down to getting nothing done, or can be done in addition to a completed month's project.

These UFO's are an extension of my yearly urge to clean up my sewing and crafting area. I am assuming I will be working on one quilt and at least one knitting project of my own volition each month; these are in addition. 

So this month I chose the random number 2: the Dicentra Designs spinning fiber was very easy to find and my spinning wheel was easy to dust off and get going again, while Steve and I watched a few episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. 

 It was incredibly fun to get back into spinning. I love these autumnal colors.

 And, believe it or not, the two bobbins of singles plied perfectly; they worked out to exactly the same length! Now to figure out a fun future project to knit with this yarn.

The bowling-style knitting bag is still in pattern pieces on my work counter from more than a year ago, and I will attempt to get to that. I know where all the supplies are.

My current sock project is the Bovary socks, top-down socks so a little out of my comfort zone, in some "Vixen" Hipster Knit sock yarn I bought at Sock Summit in ...2011? I am approaching the toe of the first sock; it has been fun to knit, although kind of slow. I would like to finish both socks by the end of January, so I can join the World Down Syndrome day knitalong. 

My current sewing project is obviously, finishing the Good Fortune quilt top. Hopefully by the end of January as well. Then it will join my 5-7 quilt tops awaiting quilting. I seriously need to get some machine quilting mojo going. But for now I am happy to have my goals lined out.

Quiltville Mystery Reveal - And Happy New Year!

Bonam Fortunam omnibus vobis opto! I wish good fortune to you all!

Happy New Year to all stopping by my corner of the internet. It's a very busy week for our family with party planning for our "Last Noel" party on Friday, but I wanted to sneak a few pictures of my quilt progress in here, and it turns out it's the first post of 2019. I resolve to blog more frequently this year than last, how about that?

To see more wonderful examples of this truly lovely quilt, hop on over to Quiltville where the link-up party is going on. And if you love scrappy quilt patterns, and haven't yet done so, get her instructions for this year's Good Fortune mystery while they are still freely available; they will disappear at the end of January. I have participated in every mystery since 2011 and Orca Bay, and this year's, well, I would like to make it again in two or three different color combinations. It's particularly fun when people all over the world are making it at the same time.

I have pieced all the blocks for the central part of the quilt, but haven't started on the pieced borders yet. That will be a challenge for another week. I have not the best lighting in my quilting corner, but playing with the settings on my photo editor might have helped a bit.

 I made two blocks (on the far right) in the recommended colorway, but I am happy with the way I switched up the colors. I was a bit unsure at first, because the spinning star blocks in green and yellow are generally much lighter in value than the string chain blocks in red and blue. I was worried the red/blue would overwhelm the green/yellow. But I love all of those colors, and as the number of blocks grew, I noticed the alternate blocks create a lot of fun diagonal motion in the quilt, which is something I like a lot. I was a little worried that the reds and greens would end up next to each other and it would look too Christmassy, and that didn't happen. One block is patriotic, and one is what I think of as Hobbit colors. There's a really pretty red/white diagonal lattice, and sunshiny whirligigs in between. And I like it in just about every color combination I've seen.

 

My quilts have gotten so much scrappier with every passing year. I don't know if there's such a thing as TOO scrappy, but I will say, there are some fabrics I would like to use up and never see again, and some that I love and wish I had a bunch more of. I think I cleaned out and cleaned up enough fabric this mystery that I could justify a few trips to quilt stores in the coming year. I have been limiting my fabric purchases for a few years now. But a side benefit of Bonnie's mystery this year was that it forced me to work through all of my scrap boxes, and I quickly realized I needed to get them cleaned up and better organized. It's a great feeling! (Although stirring up the dust caused a lot of sneezing).

My "best nine" photos on Instagram last year were all from either On Ringo Lake or Good Fortune. 

 Spock is wishing you good fortune, or as he would say, "Live long and prosper." Also found in this quilt (although not necessarily in this close-up), are Kermit the frog, Curious George, Olivia the pig, Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales, Nancy Drew, Dr. Who, Rey from Star Wars, dinosaurs, traffic cones, maps, bugs, sheep, lots of flowers, some of my mom's old curtains and aprons, my alphabet skirt fabric from the 80's, some vintage sheets, and quite a few bits of recycled shirts. I know there is at least some fabric from the 70's, and probably a few bits from as far back as the 50's from my mom and grandmother.  I tried not to repeat too many fabrics on each block, and that was not hard.

So, thanks to Bonnie Hunter for a great mystery! I hope I can get the whole top together sometime in the next month or so.

Clue 5 Mystery link-up

I'm quickly blogging this week's progress on the mystery quilt and sharing it here

 So last week, I ended up doing a thorough clean of my string bins, which led to a clean-up of my entire sewing area. Then this week's clue made me realize that I had some units left over from On Ringo Lake (the pieced border triangles that got trimmed away) that could be trimmed for the blue triangles I needed for this clue. Very exciting!

 I think that bit of extra blue adds some extra interest.

 I eventually finished the clues for this week and played with them a bit. I like my yellows and scrappy blues in this mix.

Clue 5 as I am interpreting it is very restful with the greens and blues. Restful is good the week after Christmas! And blues and greens together are my happy colors. I'm looking forward to seeing the next clue, which will be coming out tomorrow. Just barely made this post in time.