My personal quilting history - a story of cursed yarn.

Roughly 11 months ago I bought some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. And by some, I mean about 11 skiens. No shit. I had just learned that my one and only sister/sibling was pregnant with my first niece and wanted to make something fantastic. My sister is a third grade teacher and so I thought that the Debbie Bliss Alphabet Blanket would be exactly perfect. And it was.... but my yarn? My mountains of cashmerino? CURSED.

Every time I felt like I was getting somewhere with the blanket I would realize I had two too few or too many stitches which, if you look at the blanket, throws just about EVERYTHING off. I was trying not to be obsessive about the blanket's short comings, but my perfectionism got the best of me and rip rip rip - the blanket was done for good. And I was left with lots of expensive cursed yarn.

Still wanting to make the most special blanket I could, but not willing or able to use the un-knittable yarn, I began my slow descent into madness. My Legal Writing teacher, my favorite teacher of all time, actually, is a quilter. A ferociously talented, unapologetic quilter. And a sassy attorney to boot. I was sitting in her office discussing my appellate brief one spring day and we started discussing an article she was contemplating about the trademarking of quilt designs. Until then I didn't really understand how cool a quilt could be. That they didn't have to be all forest green and burgundy and that quilting can be modified by the quilter's own creative style just like knitting. EUREKA. I would make my sister a quilt.

I wanted my mom to be a part of it too, to make it even more special. So before spring break I went to Quiltology (one of my favorite places in the city) and picked out my fabrics and a design. After 3 days of cutting and trying to figure out how to "square off" corners and what a seam allowance should be, we had a beautiful quilt top. It took me quite some time to find the courage to bind the quilt... in fact, it took me about 4 months from start to finish with this quilt. But I am so happy we took on the adventure. Here she is.

I used minky on the back - because I can't help myself with that stuff. The consequence being that Misha will be 12 before she is strong enough to carry the quilt around if she so chooses. Now she uses it for tummy time and for when my sister gives her bed time massages (must be rough). I decided that I love the look of hand quilting, so, starting with the Misha quilt, I have always hand quilted a little on each of the quilts I make. Can you see? Around the two green flowers? In any case, that one quilt created the monster that I am today and sparked all sorts of new sewing projects that I will share soon.

But what about my cursed yarn? Well, I got out all the kinks during the making of.... TA DAAAA!

Pattern: Clapotis (pronounced "clap-oh-tee")
Designer: Kate Gilbert
Get it: Here
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (about 4 skeins)
Model: My Beautiful Big Sister

This pattern is really an amazing piece of design work. The texture is made by dropping stitches, which are knit on the bias. It actually won Design of the Year on knitty.com (well deserved). The dimensions of the scarf are incredible: A little over five feet long and about a foot wide. It's squishy, warm, and practical. I love it. Oh - and the pattern is free. SCORE. This scarf will be going with me everywhere - especially the cold, lonely library. (:

Something more about the designer, Kate Gilbert. She's great. She and friends came out this last month with a new knitting magazine (maybe just on the web?... webzine?) full of trendy beautiful designs. It's called Twist Collective and you must, must, MUST check it out. I have never seen a knitting publication with so many "hits" and, really, not a single miss. I have picked out 2 projects for Moi, one for my mom, and I'm hell-bent on making the "Daniel" sweater but have yet to find a man in my life that will wear it. It's a goal of mine to make a friend that will wear it (and get A's in school and learn French).

I am in Michigan visiting my sister, bro-in-law and (of course) Miss Misha. My B-I-L is at work, and Sasha (sister) ran to her class room for a few hours. I've got the run of Babyland and all she wants to do is sleep.... for once. OOPS! As always, I spoke too soon. She is starting to fuss. I'll leave you with a shot from bath time last night. We call her The Michelin Man for a reason.