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.