Sunday, February 9, 2014

Crossing things off the list

I just went back to re-read my list of 2014 crafting goals and I'm actually quite pleased with my progress so far. 

First if all, I'm sticking with my "at least one post per month goal." Now if I can just get back to responding to comments . . . . I really do appreciate them. 

I've also finished one more sweater and a hat for sprout (AND I found my bin of baby knits from when tadpole was small). 


That's the baby surplice jacket from Knit One, Knit All - the EZ garter stitch collection that came out within the last few years. It's drying on the radiator cover (a fantastic drying spot during cold winter months) with a little hat I whipped up to (hopefully) fit a newborn. The sweater grew a bit more with blocking than I had hoped so I ended up casting on a February baby sweater, the next day. I had been hoping for a nice "coming home from the hospital" size but this will end up fitting better in the long run. 


The yarn here is some Knitting Notions merino sport weight that I'd initially tried in a textured henley pattern but stopped working on because I didn't like the flashes of color. Here the gull lace breaks the color variations up nicely and I'm really enjoying the piece. 

I also finished a quilt last night! The top is part of a project that I'd started back in college and set aside because I'd found some of the steps too intimidating, especially given my less than perfect product. 

 

It was easier to work on techniques like quilting and binding when I told myself this was just a practice piece. (You can't tell it's not really square when I prop it up in the chair). You see, I've finished the top of tadpole's quilt and I didn't want to jump into the new techniques - and possibly screw something up - on that one. 


Just in time on that quilt top, too. We put tadpole's big girl bed together the other night so I'd better cut the fabric for the backing and start basting the layers together. 

Other goals? Well, Mr. Tinks and Frogs' sweater is in the same state it was last month. I have to confess that I've been having so much fun playing with fabrics that I haven't wanted to pull his sweater out. Hopefully this week. 

But I did finish this little lovely (the yarn harlot's pretty thing) a while ago and finally wove in the ends today.   


Quiviut. It feels amazing - not scratchy at all. I used about half the skein and am torn between making another pretty thing as a gift with the rest or whipping up something new. 

I haven't even touched the good camera - these are all cell phone pics. When it's bright and sunny out, I just want to knit, spin, or sew. And I end up doing most of my crafting at night so the pics are often quick progress updates that I text to my mother ("hey look, I made binding!"). Phone pics are better than no pics, right?

I'm plowing through WIPs right now so I may even swatch for a sweater for myself soon. But for now, I'm off to bed. I want to snatch a few more nights of relatively uninterrupted sleep while I still can.