finished: tiny tea leaves cardi, first socks

Tags

first socks, tiny tea leaves cardi

I always let knit finishes pile up a little before I take photos and post them to Ravelry. And then, I don’t want to do SO many knitting posts here, because most of you-all are quilters.

But the way that I got interested in knitting was reading other quilters talk about their knitting projects. So, here you go.

1. Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan for Lucy

Pattern: Tiny Tea Leaves cardigan, available for purchase at the Madelinetosh website

Yarn: Madelinetosh DK Twist, Mag Society colorway Doe Eyes (insider info: there was some general griping on the Ravelry discussion board re: this color. Some squeaky wheels said it looked too undyed, and one person even said it looked like a band-aid. !!! I love this color for a basic staple garment, like I hope this will become for Lucy. Plus it makes her hair look super-blonde.)

Notes: I made the smallest size, which turned out a little big for Lucy. I can’t decide if it’s because she is pretty tiny (she is) or if my gauge was like half a stitch off (it was). At any rate, for knitted garments for a child, too big is okay. Maybe we’ll get two winters out of it.

I think she likes it. We are living (what I dearly hope is) the hottest week of the year in Massachusetts, and she fought like an animal flatly refused to take this sweater off to go run our errands. She wore it all the way through her toddler dance class, facepalm.

She’s got sweet moves.

2. First Socks

Pattern: A Nice Ribbed Sock, by Glenna C, available free on Ravelry

Yarn: The Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet, Princess Phone

Notes: Not many. These are cuff-down (as opposed to toe-up) socks. I used size 2 40” circulars and knit one at a time using the Magic Loop Method. They fit fine. I screwed up the second toe by not reading the pattern (a theme here at l n’ l) and frogged back to re-do. I love how they feel on my feet–more handknit socks are in my future.

 

Ravelled here and here!

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towards handmade

Tags

colette ginger skirt, constellations washi, tiny tea leaves cardi

All the cool kids are doing it, you know.

Lizzy House is. (Consider the above Constellations Washi–my third Washi!–an homage to her inspiring handmade wardrobe.) Carolyn Friedlander is (follow her on Instagram, she is posting some amazing garments and home dec projects made from Architextures. And you thought you were just going to quilt with it). Jeni Baker is. (Her Nordika garments? Unreal.)

Suddenly, we’re all making dresses and skirts, not just bags and quilts. Or is it just me? Has everyone been doing this all along, and just not really saying much about it?

All through vacation (it was lovely, I am not tanned, and I am way behind on everything blog-related, so thank you very much), I plotted and planned and dreamed, and even bought a little bit of fabric.

And when I got home? The second thing I did (after going to guild meeting on Saturday, natch) was sew up my Tsuru motif madness Ginger skirt.

I’m still a zipper chicken, but I managed to install the invisible zipper in this skirt with a minimum of teeth-gnashing. It doesn’t look awesome, but it looks fine, you know?

Zipper-gnashing and cutting included, I sewed this skirt start to finish in 2.5 hours. So much payoff, for so little time invested.

When I first tried it on, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if the high waist was flattering on me (Lucy left behind some serious luggage, if you know what I mean), and I thought the print might make me look…crazy. Keep your thoughts to yourselves re: the crazy, but I’m wearing this skirt for-real today, and I love it. Going to make the next one out of some Liberty. Yep, sold out, I cleaned ’em out again.

I didn’t forget Lucy in my wear-homemade mania.

I’ll put this on her and take real photos as soon as I sew on the buttons–but this is her Tiny Tea Leaves Cardi, knit from madtosh DK Twist, Doe Eyes (the April Mag Society yarn club “neutral” colorway). I tried it on Lucy yesterday to see how big it was on her skinny shoulders, and she flatly refused to take it off. Good sign!

And…of course, there’s still quilting going on. Plenty of it. I have 20 out of 36 x-plus blocks done. I have the last 16 cut and ready to go. Need to apply my rear to the chair and just get them done.

How about you? Are you making garments too? Have any favorite patterns to share? I’m particularly interested in patterns of the “flattering blouse” variety.

nothing to see at all

Tags

tiny tea leaves cardi, washi dress, x plus

Only, everything, all at once.

Putting some sleeves on some things: Tiny Tea Leaves cardi for Lucy, in madtosh DK twist, April mag society colorway doe eyes.

And, another Washi (for me!) lacking only sleeves, bias tape, and a hem. I’d like to wear it tomorrow so I’d better get a move on.

Trying to figure out which one of these x-plus blocks is my favorite. (Tutorial here, using these cutting directions to achieve a 12” finished block.) Six down, only 30 more to make!

Helping out just a little bit with Quilts for Boston. (I heard they got enough blocks to make, like, 100 quilts.) (100 quilts. That is crazytown. I make a lot of quilts, maybe 12-15 a year–I can’t even think what 100 quilts looks like!)

And Instagramming like my life depends on it. (I’m littleandlots over there, too! Would love to see/hear from you!)

Finally, I’m still hopping in the Let’s Get Acquainted New Blogger Blog Hop. I’m meeting so many lovely people (hello!) and having fun learning about some people I’d already met. Below is the list of this week’s featured bloggers; visit them and say hello!

Friday, June 21st

Leigh Anne @ Ella’s Cottage

Stacey @ The Tilted Quilt

Sarah @ Quilt Candy

Jackie @ NW Patchwork

Liz @ Beadqueene’s Bits And Baubles

Erica @ Happy Fabric

Stephanie @ Simple Sewendipity

Lauren @ Seraphym

Amy @ Cloud CouCou Crafts

ETA: linking up with the Plum & June Monday LGA link-up, hosted this week at Ange’s Heart of Charnwood. She has a seriously bucket-list kind of hexie quilt on the go…come check it out.