April projects

[Captain Catnip]

I finished my first pair of toe up two at a time sucks with a short row heel. It took me forget to figure out the heel for some reason, and it's not perfect, but they are done! I started another pair so hopefully it gets better.  The socks I've knit in the past were on DPN with flap/gusset heels. Once I figured out the heel this was so much nicer. 

[aprilsails]

Lovely Captain Catnip! I’m just finishing the second heel on my socks that I restarted. I love two at a time socks! I made my first two socks individually and it would take me months to finish the second sock after the first took like two weeks (I’m a slow knitter, but the second sock was murder).

I’m all over the place right now but making a lot of progress! I am about finished my first English Paper Pieced project (a mini quilt for a swap) and I have the binding almost done on a double bed sized courthouse steps quilt for a friend. I’m almost done quilting my first quilt that I get to keep!!! Pictures soon!

[audette]

I am still working on the sock of insanity. But, it's well over halfway done. I have a bit of plain knitting, one more decorative band to knit, and then an afterthought heel. (yes, sock, singular, because it's for display, not wear)


I also received my super-special handmade portuguese knitting needles a couple days ago. I need to knit up a swatch or two with them to see how they handle differently. They're a set of double-points with points on one end, and hooks on the other.

[mrs.jacinthe]

I did very little in March. I got like, a whole inch done (so 2" down, 2" to go before I have to decide whether to short row or afterthought the heels) on R's socks. I think I might have done about 2" on my scarf project. Other than that, I've done nothing. Things have gone absolutely crazy and I can't bring myself to make the time. Halp.

[bunnies]

After making 6 pairs of socks (!) since mid-Jan, I'm taking a very short break! But I am about to start a new pair so that I have a small project for my plane ride on Sunday. In the meantime, I started a We Are Knitters cardigan, and it's been quite an awkward adjustment going from my tiny 9" sock circulars to long needles!

Here are socks 1-4 (I haven't posted 5-6 yet), and my WAK swatch

[bunnies]

Apr 5, 2018 7:37:48 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Lovely Captain Catnip! I’m just finishing the second heel on my socks that I restarted. I love two at a time socks! I made my first two socks individually and it would take me months to finish the second sock after the first took like two weeks (I’m a slow knitter, but the second sock was murder).

I've been combatting second sock syndrome by knitting the first sock to just before or just past the heel and setting that aside. Then I start the second sock and take it to completion. Once it's done, I only have half a sock to finish!  

[mala]

Just finished these two. The yellow body one is for B, the gray body one is for as-yet-unnamed #2 (who is at this point a day overdue).      

[Captain Catnip]

Apr 5, 2018 16:34:19 GMT -5 mala said:

Just finished these two. The yellow body one is for B, the gray body one is for as-yet-unnamed #2 (who is at this point a day overdue).      

Start a baby blanket and announce it needs done before the baby comes. You'll then go in to labor.

[bluelikejazz]

I need to find myself back into this board. Right now I'm working on a sunburst granny square blanket for my toddler. I only get about 2 squares / week completed, but I'm using up A LOT of excess yarn.

[shortcake2675]

Leila turns 8 today! She asked for a shirt with Happy Birthday, a dolphin and a balloon. It took a week for a design idea to click at the last minute. It was 30 out this morning and she was being a trooper.

[Michelle]

I made this quilt top for my employee who is expecting a boy and loves wiener dogs. All but the wiener fabrics are from connecttheblocks.com and the wiener dog fabric is from fabric.com, I THINK. The appliqué is original and was fun to do. 


ETA - the only thing I don't like about this quilt is the pattern ensures colors are randomly distributed. That makes it wackier and kind of fun. But then you have to trim the sides so each panel is 50" across. That resulted in the orange coming completely off the top row. That really stands out. I also kinda wish I had purchased more of the blue fabric with the silver hashes through it and used that for the sashes. This came out much more orange than planned. I hope she doesn't hate orange. I do love the orange fabric though - it has hearts throughout it which is so sweet.... Sigh. I'm never fully satisfied!

Attachments:

[audette]

I finished my sock of insanity. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.




The original I was trying to reproduce:


The original was found in Fustat, Egypt, and is dated to the 12th-13th century.

I presented it at a regional competition over the weekend, and won. Which means I will likely be asked to display it at an invitational competition over Memorial Day Weekend. (I'll get confirmation on that in a week or two.)

[Captain Catnip]

That is amazing and awesome, audette! Congrats!

[AJL]

I have been in such a sewing funk lately. I don't think I've sewn anything of note in months.  Today I made a small wrist-held knitting bag (for standing and knitting) and the first of 20 red hens for my Little Red Hen quilt. 

The bag has a skein of yarn and my current project (a hat) inside of it. The bag is leaning on the water bottle (it's not in the bag.)


Little Red Hen from Farm Girl Vintage (Lori Holt)

[cmeon]

Clay work is just such a long, drawn out process. I bisque fired a loaded kiln on Sunday, and still have more to fire (wasn't dry enough). I need to sew our little-ish dog another collar, and decided I needed to dye some webbing. And you don't break out dye for a few feet of webbing, so I added a second dye color, threw a couple yards of fabric in each, and after the first run- decided to dye a clothes line I've had laying about (for baskets- who did those?!) with the dye that was left in the bath. And to give myself a break from glazing, I whipped up a little basket- and that's all I have to show so far for an entire month of crafting.
 

I think I'll be able to get a glaze load or two done before the end of the month- and I'm definitely making a few more baskets (so quick and fun)!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Oh, my GAWD, audette, that thing is AMAZING. Are you making a second one in order to wear them at some point, or was one enough?

[audette]

Apr 24, 2018 23:52:28 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Oh, my GAWD, audette, that thing is AMAZING. Are you making a second one in order to wear them at some point, or was one enough?

It is meant for display. I used 2/8 cotton, so it would wear thru really quickly.

Thanks!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Apr 25, 2018 6:58:16 GMT -5 audette said:

Apr 24, 2018 23:52:28 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Oh, my GAWD, audette , that thing is AMAZING. Are you making a second one in order to wear them at some point, or was one enough?

It is meant for display. I used 2/8 cotton, so it would wear thru really quickly.

Thanks!

I'm in awe.  Seriously.  You amaze me.  

[aprilsails]

audette that is the most amazing sock I have ever seen! I am very glad you won since you clearly deserved it. You whipped it up so fast as well!

I’ve had a productive month and have completed two double bed size quilts! No photos to date of the second one but I finally grabbed some shots yesterday of the first. It’s an oversized courtyard steps pattern that I started in November for a friend’s wedding.

[Michelle]

audette, simply "liking" your sock doesn't suffice. That is amazing!

Aprilsails, I shake my fist at you. TWO double sized quilts? You make me feel like a slacker. Do you work outside the home too?

I did also lead 3 GS Saturday meetings in April including planting a raised bed garden at the local head start school. It's not crafting but I am basically trying to make myself feel better. :-P

[aprilsails]

Apr 26, 2018 13:55:29 GMT -5 Michelle said:

audette, simply "liking" your sock doesn't suffice. That is amazing!

Aprilsails, I shake my fist at you. TWO double sized quilts? You make me feel like a slacker. Do you work outside the home too?

I did also lead 3 GS Saturday meetings in April including planting a raised bed garden at the local head start school. It's not crafting but I am basically trying to make myself feel better. :-P

The second one was started in November of 2015 so I am no speedster. It just so happens that I had reasons to push through and bind these this month, and the weather was miserable so I spent DDs nap times alone in my sewing room. (It helps that our basement reno finished so DH got a shiny new mega tv and has been holed up watching a sci fi movies and playing video games to his hearts content).

[cmeon]

I am really blown away by your sock audette, that sounds so funny to say- but, it's just incredible. And it inspired me to learn about socks and their history (wow)!

That's one of the weird things about "crafts"- how long people have been knitting, crocheting, sewing, weaving, pottery-ing (so not a word)- making. And we're all part of the select group who keeps these skills alive, passes them down- so very awesome. <3

Anyway, I really love your sock.

[audette]

And, the sillyness I've been working on since last weekend, after the competition for my sock...

[cmeon]

Apr 30, 2018 20:33:42 GMT -5 audette said:

And, the sillyness I've been working on since last weekend, after the competition for my sock...

A-ha! YOU HAVE MINIONS! Now, it all makes sense.

You are seriously a quick knitter, they're awfully cute!

[audette]

May 1, 2018 13:06:37 GMT -5 cmeon said:

Apr 30, 2018 20:33:42 GMT -5 audette said:

And, the sillyness I've been working on since last weekend, after the competition for my sock...

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A-ha! YOU HAVE MINIONS! Now, it all makes sense.

You are seriously a quick knitter, they're awfully cute!

They're a fast knit - I think the biggest one is only 6 inches tall (the big blue-fuzzy-hatted one is a plush gnome DH bought a while ago, and he can be squished into DH's car's cup holders)  I'm using leftover sock yarn.  It's a great way to use the stuff up...  (and, boy, do I have a lot of sock yarn bits)  Eventually, I'll get tired of the fiddleyness of sewing the bits together, but so far, I'm still amused by them.  I think I might be trying to figure out "what's next" for bigger projects, so this is hitting a good spot in my knitting habit.

The pattern is: www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/never-not-gnoming

[mrs.jacinthe]

Finally blocking this shawlette I finished back in, I don't know, October? (Yes, I straightened out the far end after I took the photo). I hate blocking so much, and this pattern's called for finished size doesn't allow for the aggressive lace blocking it calls for, so I went with almost 10" too long in order to get the lace to show, and even then, I think I could have been more aggressive. The lace just doesn't pop at all, which is frustrating. Edit: any tips to get the lace to open up better without making it ruffle? Also, I'm out of blocking pins. I've got all my blocking pins, t-pins, and 3 blocking wires on that board, so if I need to do more to get the lace to open, it might have to wait until I've bought more pins.

[audette]

May 3, 2018 14:05:14 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Finally blocking this shawlette I finished back in, I don't know, October? (Yes, I straightened out the far end after I took the photo). I hate blocking so much, and this pattern's called for finished size doesn't allow for the aggressive lace blocking it calls for, so I went with almost 10" too long in order to get the lace to show, and even then, I think I could have been more aggressive. The lace just doesn't pop at all, which is frustrating. Edit: any tips to get the lace to open up better without making it ruffle? Also, I'm out of blocking pins. I've got all my blocking pins, t-pins, and 3 blocking wires on that board, so if I need to do more to get the lace to open, it might have to wait until I've bought more pins.

Have you considered getting blocking wires?  They can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but for a few lace projects, they have made blocking _so_ much easier.  I tend to run the wires thru the points _before_ getting the knitting wet, which is awkward, but I prefer to find the points while the project is dry.

Alternatively - are you sure the front edge of that shawlette should be straight?  A lot of narrow shawlettes I have seen are curved.   That might help stretch out the lace a bit more, while keeping it flat, too.

[mrs.jacinthe]

May 4, 2018 9:30:43 GMT -5 audette said:

May 3, 2018 14:05:14 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Finally blocking this shawlette I finished back in, I don't know, October? (Yes, I straightened out the far end after I took the photo). I hate blocking so much, and this pattern's called for finished size doesn't allow for the aggressive lace blocking it calls for, so I went with almost 10" too long in order to get the lace to show, and even then, I think I could have been more aggressive. The lace just doesn't pop at all, which is frustrating. Edit: any tips to get the lace to open up better without making it ruffle? Also, I'm out of blocking pins. I've got all my blocking pins, t-pins, and 3 blocking wires on that board, so if I need to do more to get the lace to open, it might have to wait until I've bought more pins.

Have you considered getting blocking wires?  They can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but for a few lace projects, they have made blocking _so_ much easier.  I tend to run the wires thru the points _before_ getting the knitting wet, which is awkward, but I prefer to find the points while the project is dry.

Alternatively - are you sure the front edge of that shawlette should be straight?  A lot of narrow shawlettes I have seen are curved.   That might help stretch out the lace a bit more, while keeping it flat, too.

I do love blocking wires - there are three 55" wires in there. They were a pain in this case because the edges are rounded, not pointed, but they did make it slightly easier to pin. And yeah, it's a straight edge. At least, based on the photos in the pattern.

[Michelle]

Finished wiener dog quilt. Sorry i don't know how to make the pics smaller.