For those that don’t know, tinking is un-knitting.  I am seriously thinking of tinking my hemp sweater. I don’t like how it is finishing up, I thought if I just kept knitting it would evolve into a sweater I would wear.  The pattern isn’t well written, which might be part of the problem.  It’s vague in many places, and I don’t have enough sweater construction experience to figure it through.  The pattern has you make three tubes, a body and two sleeves, then somehow they are knit together and the yoke is formed.  I am having trouble with the pattern interfering with the diagonal decreases.  I think it is in part due to the centering of the pattern on the sleeves.  In short, it’s a hot mess.

Happily, Curious Handmade  has released the first shawl pattern of the Shawl Society lll.  It’s called Maytham, part of the Secret Garden theme this year.

From the pattern notes:

THE MAGIC OF The Secret Garden takes place high in the Yorkshire Moors, in the grand and gloomy Misselthwaite Manor and its rambling estate. Frances Hodgson Burnett found the inspiration for her story almost 20 years before she penned its first lines, when she moved to a noble but slightly shabby country house, Great Maytham Hall. The sprawling, overgrown walled gardens which surrounded the house sparked a passion in the author, who immediately set to work bringing them back to life, ripping out the wild brambles, digging out old hedges, and planting masses of roses. 

I am using three skeins of Malabrigo yarn in plums and eggplant.

In quilting news, I got the Storm at Sea on the frame yesterday.  I decided to try 80/20 batting with this quilt.  It’s a little lighter weight and a bit puffier than Warm and Natural 100% cotton.  I’m quilting simple wavy lines to accent the illusion curves of the pattern.  These lines will run diagonally, so there will either be lots of scrolling or stopping and starting.  Decisions, decisions.

I am also working on my That’ll be the Day.  PIQF quilt.  I have a basic pattern drawn to size, but I need to color/shade it in with colored pencils to figure out fabric placement.  Then I think I can trace it on to vellum and cut out a bazillion pattern pieces.  I need to figure out if I am going to use wonder-under or glue.  I was recently on Susan Carlsons website, she makes and teaches fabric collages.  There is a tutorial there called Why Glue?  which is intriguing to me.  I would like to try it on this project, as it is a show quilt and not a “to be used” quilt.  More decisions to be made.

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for “Can I get a Whoop Whoop?” Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday, and Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday.

It’s Saturday, and it’s quiet here.  Last Monday the demolition of half of my living space started.  They get here at 8am and pack up at 4pm.  They took down the fireplace, all the walls and windows and the flooring, we are left with an empty shell.  They’ll be back Tuesday.  Unfortunately they have turned off the power to my sewing room, I could run an extension cord, but this will force me to finish the quilt currently on my frame.

I did finish the center of the Storm at Sea, here it is all de-papered and pressed.

I received the fabric I ordered for my PIQF entry.  I ordered a bolt of Wonder-Under, which is on its way, and 48″ wide paper to draw my full size pattern on.  I’d like to get the pattern drawn this week, and figure out my fabric layout/usage.  Simple enough, right?

I joined the Shawl Society lll KAL, it starts 5/31/18, six shawls in six months.  I picked up a few skeins of yarn while I was in Half Moon Bay this week.  There is a nice yarn shop there called Fengari, I found two color ways that I liked together, there were so many options.  This first shawl is a large one, 1200 yards, I may use a “life line” for this one, as mistakes are sure to ensue and ripping back rows of 400+ stitches isn’t fun.

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for “Can I get a Whoop Whoop?” a day late today.

I am diligently working on the Storm at Sea quilt.  I finished all the components (441) for the blocks this week and started to piece the blocks (49) together.  I have found the tearing the paper off at the four way intersections is helpful in lining up the seams.  I am also thinking that it will make removing all the paper easier, as there won’t be any that is caught in those intersections.  I did accidentally discover that having wet fingers help to remove those papers.  I am thinking that when to time comes, I’ll rig up a sponge in a saucer of water to use while ripping all those foundations off.

 

I am thinking of entering a quilt in this years PIQF show.  The theme is “That’ll be the day…” they also have a Mid Century Mod section again.  I entered my MCM quilt last year,  there were about 20 quilts in the category.  I thought that most of them ignored the mid century and just went with modern design.  Lots of negative space, solid colors, and lots of quilting.  Here are a few that I liked, but didn’t think were especially indicative of MCM.

 

The entries are due 8/29, I might be able to come up with something.  The Buddy Holly song keeps running through my head.

Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye
Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry
You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie
‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die…

Sorry for the ear worm 🙂

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for “Can I get a Whoop Whoop?” today.

My design wall is blank today.  I haven’t been working on anything new, just sewing the endless pieces for the Storm at Sea quilt.  Only 78 more to go.  I broke them into piles of ten, so I can sit and sew for a bit and feel like I accomplished something.

I bought some fabric last week.  I saw this pretty panel in the connecting threads catalog, and found it, along with coordinating fabrics, at the Fat Quarter Shop .  The line is called “Santa Fe” by Sarah Watts for Cotton and Steel.

I have a design brewing in my head, I want to see if I can work it out in EQ8 and actually produce a finished design of my own.

I have been knitting on my hemp sweater sleeve.  I had to re-start it, as I figured out that I wasn’t increasing enough stitches and my sleeve was too long and narrow.  The instructions were a bit vague, something like “increase at each end”. but the sleeve is knit in the round, so technically there aren’t two ends, just a beginning.

I am also trying to decide wether or not to join the Curious Handmade Shawl KAL this year.  It starts next week, six shawls in six months.  I am currently involved with the Sock KAL, but that is a pair of socks every two months.  I may just get the pattern set and keep it in my library.  Helen Stewart patterns are so well written, and the resulting knitwear is very nice.  The price works out to be around 20.00 for six different shawl patterns.  Her blog is at Curious Handmade  she also does a regular podcast that is interesting.

Linking up with Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday today.

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I have been working on piecing this week.  So many pieces.  It’s beginning to feel like a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  Make 150 of these, cut 475 of these, combine these to make this.  I’m happy that this is just a double bed size quilt.  I also went and got more paper foundations printed, the right size this time.  When did printing get so expensive?  I went to a mailing center for the first set and it was 18 cents a sheet, I asked for a discount, due to volume and got them at 16 cents.  This time I went to a chain printing shop and used their DIY machine for 13 cents a sheet.  I am wondering if it is cheaper to just print at home.  The ink cartridges are so expensive, and laser toner is too.  Quick math: a black ink cartridge for my machine is 38.99 and it will print ~480 sheets which works out to about 8 cents a sheet.  Answered my own question there.

 

In between the sewing marathons, I have been knitting a sweater pattern called “All Over Lace”.  I’m using hemp yarn, which isn’t the easiest yarn to work with, but I didn’t know that when I bought it.  I got the yarn/pattern from Lana Knits at Stitches West back in February.  I saw and felt the sample sweater and really liked the drape and look of it.  I didn’t realize that the sample sweater had been washed and handled into its soft drape-y-ness.  Hemp yarn is a lot like linen, crunchy feeling, sometimes I feel like I could fold and crease it.  This company has a few different kinds of hemp yarn, AllHemp and AllHemp Lux are the ones I got.  The Lux is a bit more processed, so it is softer to begin with, sort of like new jeans compared to old broken in jeans.  I started the sleeve yesterday, hoping I don’t end up with a one sleeved sweater due to Second Sleeve (sock) Syndrome.

I did some straightening of my sewing room, not quite spring cleaning, but now there are a few less piles and a bit less clutter.  I changed out a short book case for a taller one, and got the books in it organized.   I am trying to get a list together of all the projects I have in my to-do box.  These are projects that I haven’t started, and aren’t UFOs.  That’s a different list.  I try to keep things together for each one, but as time passes, the ideas/patterns get lost, or separated from their pile.  I thought a Master list might help, it seems to be having an eye opening effect as well.  So many projects so little time, so much fabric…nah, that’s not a problem.

Linking up with Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday today.  Judy is finishing up her Dear Jane quilt, only three more blocks, wow.