Baby Love

So, a few months back I posted the beginning of the GLA quilt. I started out thinking that I would do a re-run quilt and make the hand embroidered quilt from Last Minute Quilted. Remember this one?

I had some great fabrics picked out from Purl Soho...

.....that I ended up not loving together.

So I decided to forgo the new fabric for the awesome pink pansy fabric that I used for the first hand-quilted baby quilt. That plan came to a screeching halt when I heard from Fiancee's friend (who is having the baby) that they aren't really into pink. So that meant no Alexander Henry bright pink pansy print.

And thank goodness... because otherwise I wouldn't have gone into my favorite city quilting store - Quiltology - and I would not have seen an urban Amish quilt hanging on the wall... and I would not have fallen in love, all over again, with Amy Butler.... and I wouldn't have made my new favorite quilt:

So I LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. this quilt. Everything about it. The colors. The rounded corners (I had never done that before... I did it using a rotary cutter and a tupperwear lid. Not suggested.). The fact that I wrote "welcome" in stitches at the bottom corner and it is possible that no one will ever see it. The fact that after all these quilts, I still can't seem to cut my corners at 90 degrees, so this quilt is much smaller than it started. I can just imagine a new little baby hanging out in the middle of this blanket. Loving life. Drooling. Looking cute next to the awesome Amy Butler prints. (:

The baby swag does not stop with a quilt, of course. I say "of course" because, as a former buyer for a swanky children's clothing store, I take pride in finding awesome baby gifts. Lookie:

The Bummas are soooo smart. I guess the hospital sends the baby home with disposable, non-chemical wipes that the parents are supposed to use for a few weeks. I guess new booties are too sensitive for normal wipes. So these are cute, eco-friendly alternatives to what the doctor sends home. I think this is an especially appropriate gift, since the father of the baby-to-be is a gastroenterologist (I guessed on that spelling...).

The onesie? It's just flipping cute. Go to www.lovesweetpeas.com to order it. My former boss will appreciate your business. Also from Sweetpeas, my favorite non-handmade part of this gift. I forgot to take a photo, so the stock photo will have to do...

Gorgeous, no? If I had a bajillion dollars, I would outfit my future children's rooms in Serena and Lily, exclusively. Beautiful products for moms and babes. They also have a really great book out about decorating your nursery. Check it. I admit, this is a lot of baby swag. Even for me. But, in my defense, the mother-to-be is Fiancee's best girl friend from his childhood. And this is her first child. And that is a big deal.

Alright. Time to sleep. I get to go see my niece this weekend and I need to build up a reserve of resting hours. For some reason, as a 16 month old, she doesn't understand the importance of her aunt getting a full 8 hours! The nerve! (: I also get to go to my sister's classroom (she teaches 2nd grade) for their Halloween party. I think I am going to dress up as my sister. I think they'd get a kick out of it. That, and I have no idea what is relevant to a 7 year old, so I think it is the only costume they will understand. Any other suggestions are more than welcome. Happy weekend!

Knitting Explosion.

Something has gotten into me. I keep starting and finishing projects. Highly peculiar. Wanna see?

Pattern: Whirligig Shrug
Designer: Stephanie Japel
Source: Interweave Knits Weekend Knits, Fall 2009
Fiber: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in Light Winter White
Amount: Barely over a skein
Size 12-18 months

This sweater took me just over 2 days of intermittent knitting. So little time for something so stinking cute. Obviously this is not for my kid, because I have none, but I would definitely slip this on over a plain onesie all the time - the sleeves are short enough that they wont get in food, because it is a shrug, the drool doesn't actually touch the sweater, and it is so easy to put on and take off. Love it. The only thing I would change about it is I would do it in a washable fiber to take all the fuss out. I have some left over Cashmerino, which is washable, and I think I'll be using it to make another for a new baby.

The pattern is very well written with no mistakes that I noticed. I really love the designers adult patterns, too. Check them out on Ravelry. The model is Jayden, who is turning 1 year old on Monday. Time. Freaking. Flies.

Pattern: Habitat
Designer: Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed
Source: Brooklyn Tweed
Fiber: Beverslide Dry Goods, McTaggert Tweed
Amount: Less than a skien
Size: Medium

So, this is the 4th (I think) Habitat that I have made. Every one is just a little smaller than it needs to be, as they don't cover the ears all the way. So I made this one with a chunkier weight... but then I got scarred that Fiancee would be drowning in it, so I just did the medium. Boo. It is, once again, too short. But I still love the pattern. Still love the fiber. I'm not too mad.

Pattern: Angora Baby Booties
Designer: Joelle Hoverson
Source: Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Fiber: Diamond Angorissima... or something like that.
Amount: Half a skien

I've also made these on multiple occasions for different babies. They are so fast, so easy, and so extremely cute. They took me 1 episode of Mad Men and 1 episode of The Biggest Loser.... so 3 hours. Well, off to pull my sources - 2 weeks until publication! WOOOOT!

Would ya look at that....

I actually finished (FINALLY) my hoodie! I even have proof! Look:

Don't judge, but... this is the first non-accessory I've knit that I could not wait to wear. I did a load of laundry last night just so I had a shirt to wear under it today. And I hate laundry. Particularly laundry on a Friday night. This is a GREAT fall piece.

There is this phenomenon that occurs in the city that I don't think happens in places where people drive. It's called Winter Sweat. Winter sweat happens when a person is walking dreadfully fast toward their mode of public transportation during the cold months. You walk so dreadfully fast (because if you aren't in a hurry to be somewhere, why leave your house in the midst of cold weather?!) that you don't realize your body temperature starts to go up. Then, once you reach the train platform/bus stop/taxi, and you stop moving, you become keenly aware of just what a work out your walk was. The indicator is generally a bead of sweat dripping down your back in a slow, agonizing fashion. Why am I sharing this truly useful information with you? Because sleeveless sweaters help keep the Winter Sweat Keeps my warm, but not so warm that when I get to where I'm going, I'm reaching back in my memory, hoping to find an image of myself putting on deodorant. (: An overshare, sure, but I just want to make clear how much I loooooooove this sweater. On with the show.

Pattern: Heather Hoodie Vest
Source: Interweave Knits, Fall 2009
Designer: Debbie O'Neill
Fiber: Beaverslide Dry Goods McTagger Tweed
How much: Eh, a little over 4 Skeins.
Size: Small
Mods: I made this thing two inches longer.

This is the only photo of me looking taller than someone else.
Detail shot. Of the sweater. Not the ring. Can you tell fiancee took this photo?

So the pattern was super easy. I mean idiot proof. I don't know what else to say about it, because it is that awesome. I think that is all I have for now. Back to doing homework!

Slight distraction

I promised a hoodie vest. But.... Something distracted me...

We got engaged this weekend! I go back to law school Monday, so I am trying to get as much in place as I possibly can in the next few days. Forgive me?

Riddle You This

Question: What is the most logical thing for one to do when one has only a single seam left to finish on the Heather Hoodie vest?

Answer: Make two quilts.

(I would also accept "finish one quilt that one has been staring at for a year and begin a new one.")

Ahhhh yes. The life of a procrastinating finish-a-phobe. Do you remember when I laid out the fabric for my zig zag quilt last summer? Remember? In July? Of 2008? Well, a year later, and two zig zags fewer, here is the outcome:

The Marsha Quilt

Design: FREE from Purl Patchwork
Fabrics: Mostly Amy Butler, some Joel Dewberry, one Jennifer Paganelli
Bought at: Quiltology in Chicago
For: Follow me here, Boyfriend's Cousin's Sister-in-Law's New Baby

Other than totally sucking at picking out colors for this quilt originally, I really liked making this quilt! It was very interesting learning how to do the triangles, and then the zig zags from the triangles. Oh, more pictures? Okay, okay.

I really haven't mastered the art of taking pictures of quilts. Always a little to much texture in there. Anyone have any suggestions? There is really not much to say about this one, except that it made me want to start making a new quilt immediately upon putting it in the washing machine. I talked a while back about making another hand quilted floral quilt for our friend's baby-to-be (GLA, remember?). I threw that out the window when the mother reminded me how much she didn't like pink. Ooops. So here is what I came up with instead.


Just the top is done so far, but I'm pretty proud of myself. I did it in only one day. Personal Best time, for sure. I got the pattern from Quiltology. This is one of those "Urban Amish" quilts. The way you piece and make the blocks makes me want to go buy more fat quarters and make this baby a king size. It was so easy. And it means that from now on I don't need another Amish quilt pattern because, well, now I get it. (:

Well, I have 7 episodes left of Mad Men, Season 2 to watch before tomorrow night's Season 3 premier. As a result, I can fulfill this promise: The Heather Hoodie Vest will be DONE and up on this blog tomorrow! (:

Selfish.

Something has come over me in the last week. Something ugly, unexpected, and totally not the norm. For the last week I have become a most selfish knitter. I have socks to finish for my dad's birthday, a wedding shawl that I wanted to have done by now, and the sweater I was making for my mom's holiday present that needs only about 3 inches of trim sewn on. And what do I do? I go and cast on for a new sweater for little old ME.

It all started when I decided to get a KnitScene last week.... which corresponded with the first painful knitting experience I ever had. See, between the lace shawl and the socks on size 0 needles, my hand - the part that runs from my pinkie to my wrist - has started to get crampy. So I decided that, while I couldn't stop knitting (G-d forbid I'd take a break), I could relieve the pain and still scratch my knitting itch by making something out of thicker yarn and bigger needles. And oh shucks. KnitScene answered the question of "but what?!" I actually started by casting on for this guy:



But I relized that I was making yet another project that I seriously would not wear. Ever. Even though it's adorable, it would just sit in my closet until I gave it to my sister. And I was feeling selfish. Remembering that I still have a billion skeins of Beverslide Dry Goods McTaggart Tweed, I searched the ravelry database for something I would wear. And what do you know. It was in my new Knit Scene.

Pattern: Heather Hoodie Vest
Designer: Debbie O'Neill
Source: KnitScene, Fall 2009
Fiber: Beaverslide Dry Goods McTaggart Tweed
Color: Oatmeal-ish
For: Moi.
Size: 35


It's going to look like this:

This thing is knitting up quite fast - which I love. And, I should add, quite painlessly. The amount I have done so far was completed with less than a skien of yarn. Kind of amazing. But here is the problem. Now I want to knit more for me. Here is what I have on tap for fall.

Pattern: Minimissimi Sweater Coat
Fiber: Malabrigo Worsted in Paris Night



Pattern: Old Penny Cardigan (Interweave Knits, Fall 2008)
Fiber: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Peat Mix

I'm not showing a picture because all I can find are Flickr photos that have all rights reserved and I'm too lazy to ask permission. See? Selfish. To a fault. This is the sweater that makes me want to knit the pattern.

In unselfish news, here is an update on my dad's birthday socks. I'm trying to leave you without the bitter taste of self interest.

TGIF.

I'm blushing.

Oliver + S (aka: designer of the cutest kids patterns ever) have a blog. They have been doing a series about principles of fabric selection. I just realized that they featured Misha's dress in this week's post.

That pretty much made my day.

Quilts in the front, Knitting toward the back.

Just a quick post today. For those of you that read for knitting, I put a new WIP at the end. (: This should be my last quilting post for a while.... **sigh**

Evelyn’s quilt turned out great. More forced attachment therapy for Misha. Here is the quilt and its new owner.





Jayden’s quilt. Well....we are fighting. I pre-washed my fabric, I promise, but the red binding bled and made some un-invited pink dye ripples. I was really disappointed, as I’m sure you can guess. I went to a quilt store to ask if there was anything I could do. And, gasp, there was. Cue the hero music. Shout Color Catcher is a truly amazing product. (I promise, I’m not one of those blogs who is getting paid for mentioning products... don’t worry, friends). You just stick in the drier sheet-looking thing with your quilt and it takes up the “loose dye” from the quilt. I admit that it did not take out all of the dye (unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture), but it did take a substantial amount out of the white areas. Oddly enough, I received an email blast from Purl Soho this morning that was singing the Color Catcher’s praises as well. Looks like Purl is selling it too so it must be good. (:

Anyway, I dropped off Jayden’s quilt today and her mom and dad loved it. I am fulfilled. If only for today. Here are some photos.

Quilt + Chicago = a few of my favorite things

Oh, you come here for knitting? Okay. Commencing knitting discussion now. My mom bought me a new book this weekend: Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. Ummmm. Love it. I am making my dad some socks for his 61st birthday. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.....er... maybe not.


This is my first project using Malabrigo Sock yarn. Currently, I see no difference between Malabrigo and Kuigo. I'm so unfortunate to have to work with two truly lovely yarns. (:

The color is Chocolate Amargo, purchased at Red Sock Yarn Co. in Door County, Wis.

In any case, I am thrilled to have a fun distraction from the lace knitting, which is going...on...forever. It’s going to be gorgeous. Or at least I really truly hope that it will be. I decided that I will not give it to the bride if I wouldn’t wear it myself, because to do otherwise is cruel. A little peeeeek perhaps?

Speaking of unfortunately gorgeous fibers - if you ever have the chance, use this.

News Flash: Old dog learns new trick

So, after a year of sub-par machine quilting and oogling others' quilts via the blogosphere, I finally made myself have the attention span to learn how to free motion quilt today. I have tried many times before but my tension was all wrong and I was too annoyed from hours of seem-ripping to figure out how to fix it.

Today I took some good advice from my friend Taylor, who smartly suggested I make a practice quilt sandwich and try different tensions on there. Well. That worked. Thank you Captain Obvious. Here is the result!

First Up: The Evelyn Quilt

Okay, so this is not done. In fact, neither of the quilts I am going to show you are done, but I was really proud of myself and couldn't wait any longer. (: This quilt is not exactly a masterpiece of color, but it means a lot to me. A few months ago I blogged about my Great Aunt Evelyn dying. She had some awesome stuff that a few people wanted dibbs on. Can you believe I got her used hankies without a fight?!? So lucky. (: So I made a little mini quilt out of them.

Evelyn was 96 when she died, and I believe that her hankies were about the same age. To help with the construction I used an iron on interfacing for each square. Other than that, I just squared off some edges and sewed it all together.

I love that she had her first initial on a lot of her hankies. Here is one example.

So this was my first go at free motion quilting. I'm calling it a success. My second quilt of the day was much larger. Does anyone else have achy hands after doing this free motion thing for too long?

Quilt 2: Jayden's Birthday Quilt

This quilt was supposed to be a first birthday quilt. Like, first ever, day of your birth, you are a new human, quilt. Now it will be a happy first birthday quilt instead. Ooops. It's all because I didn't have the patients for learning this free motion SOB.

I really love the squiggles. And actually, I haven't seen very many ways, other than the squiggle, to do free motion quilting. Loop-d-loop is next on my list of "things to conquer." Unfortunately, my summer break will be over very soon, and machine quilting will go back to the place where I put activities that cannot be done simultaneous to homework.

One more project to show. Actually, just fabric. TGIFP (Thank G-d It's From Purl) fabric to be exact. I was delighted to open the box and see this:

Friends of ours are having a baby. At first, before they knew the gender, they were calling it BLA - short for Baby Levin-Albert (the hyphenated being their last name). Now we know it's a girl, so here is the fabric for GLA's quilt:

No free motion quilting for GLA. Going back to my favorite quilt of all time: Hand quilted floral quilt, found in Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. Also found somewhere on this here blog.

Okay, no time for elaboration. Boyfriend and I are walking down the street to get some Indian food. Vegetarian Samosas and Papdi Chat.... mmmmm.

Happy Birthday Misha! (I actually sewed for this one!)

I went up to Michigan last weekend to celebrate my niece's 1st birthday. That's code for "I ate 3 cupcakes a day for a totally valid reason." I always have trouble figuring out what to get 1-year olds. Clothes are always a good fall back, but I wanted to give Misha something special. So, I decided to only get her presents that relate to me. Her favorite Aunt. How selfless.

I present to you, the Parade of Presents
There are knitting and Sewing FOs at the bottom for all of you who don't care much for the other stuff. (:

Woolbur, by Leslie Helakoski

I would describe this book as the on about the A.D.H.D. black sheep (literally) of the family. This also happens to be how I would describe myself (the A.D.H.D. being the literally portion in this instance, as I am not an actual farm animal). Woolbur is an awesome book about parents trying to figure out their "free spirited" son who does things like card his own wool.... while it is still connected to his body. And playing with the sheep dogs instead of being scared of them. Highly suggested. It's more of a 3 or 4-year old appropriate book, though, as it has LOTS of words. I ordered from Amazon, so I didn't realize.

Different Like Coco, by Elizabeth Matthews

As a semi-proud holder of a B.A. in Fashion Business, I find Coco Chanel's story to be one of remarkable female entrepreneurship and fashion innovation. I hope that Misha is equally inspired by Coco's story.... and I hope that she is a total clothes horse so we can shop together someday. She's going to have to stop using her dresses as food catchers and drool bibs before we go anywhere near Chanel, though. A good thing, since I currently can't even afford Target, and this will give me some time to find a very lucrative career.

Knitting Nell, by Julie Jersild Roth

This book is relevant for obvious reasons. Not going to lie - and thanks the the 1st Amendment, I don't have to - I didn't like this book. Amazon didn't tell me I wouldn't like it. I'm upset about the lack of 1985/Big Brother technology involved with online book ordering.

Pattern:
Oliver + S
Tea Party Sundress and Bloomers

Fabric:
Net of Jewels (orange) by Joelle Hoverson
Cake Rock Beach (green dots) by Joelle Hoverson
No idea about the sea shells. I tried.
All fabrics purchased at Purl Soho

This pattern was super easy to follow and the instructions are idiot proof - meaning I was only slightly challenged. Liiiiiiike with the seam allowances. I happened to make them 1/4 instead of 1/2. It was only a problem when she put it on and it was huge, which is why I don't have pictures of her in it. My ego came out unscathed, though, as everyone loved the outfit.

Pattern: Elija by Ysolda Teague
Materials: Malabrigo Worsted (almost the entire skein) in Blue Stone
Time: Less than a week, probably 8 hours of work in total.

This pattern called for a much finer yarn and smaller needles, which I disregarded. We (my family) calls this little animal Ellie. As long as I am with my niece I require her to hold it. I call it forced attachment therapy. Anyway, the pattern was super easy to read. So super easy, in fact, that this was actually my second go at it. Here is my first:

Sorry for the crappy cell phone picture. I finished it as we were driving to the baby to whom it now belongs. I used the correct needle size and yarn weight (left over Bliss Cashmerino) this time. It was lovely and very well received.

Well, now I am working on a lace shawl. I am really bad at lace shawls, primarily because of my Woolbur like qualities (see book 1 description). But we'll see how it goes. I am making it for a wedding, though I don't know if the bride will like it, and I don't know if I feel comfortable giving a gift for use on the wedding day. Seems a bit pushy. What are your thoughts? I'd really like to know.