A Quilt made with Love

I’m pretty sure every quilt is made with love but this one is very special to me. The book it’s from is Scatter Garden Quilts by Pamela Mostek and I designed it for my mom. I used Patti’s Quilt pattern, but of course took it in my own direction with fabric selection.

Each of those tiny squares (Do you see them?) are 1 inch x 1 inch and the rest are 2 inch x 2 inch squares. Those are really small and that’s a queen size bed!

It took me a couple of months to make it and then, oh, four years to find someone to actually quilt it so my mom could use it. But a couple Christmases ago I finally got it done and now it’s where it belongs – with my mom.

My Grandmother was a quilter and I want to keep that in our family.

Meet Fanny, my newest loom

Say hello to Fanny.  She’s a Model F Leclerc 4 harness counterbalance loom I found on craigslist in Lincoln, NE that was too good of a deal to pass up.  In 1953 (when she was born) this model was called the Model F but since then they have changed it to the Fanny so that’s the Canadian name for it, not mine.  I think she’ll have another name soon enough.  She is tucked in a corner at the moment and I need to replace some cords and such but overall this loom is in really great shape.  I can’t wait to learn how to use her!

Taking the Inkle Loom class with the PFA really helped me get excited about weaving.  I never thought I would get into it but now I am crazy about weaving and want to learn everything I can about it.  =)

Tiny Dino Studios giveaway on Tangled Happy

Check out the awesomeness of Marla and Sara!  These local fiber artists in Topeka got together and want to bestow upon us mere mortals some awesome hand dyed yarn.  Check out Marla’s Etsy page for all the yarns you can choose from and run over to Tangled Happy to comment before 9pm March 17th.

TINY DINO STUDIOS YARN GIVEAWAY

This blog needs more Alpacas!

Alpacas at Orchard Hill Farm to the rescue!

Glory looking beautiful in the mid-winter sunlight.

Frankie munching on some grass.

It’s a beautiful day

Local Fiber Arts Activities

Say hello to the PFA (Potwin Fiber Artisans) if you haven’t already. We have so many pots on the fire it’s hard to know where to start.

• First thing:  Fiber Arts Classes – we have a big focus on education so we’re already going strong on the classes.  March Class Schedule
• Second thing: May 4-5 is another Fiber Arts Bazaar. It’s going to be awesome! And again it’ll be at the Potwin Presbyterian Church in Topeka.
• Third thing: The PFA is going to be at the Topeka Farmer’s Market in downtown Topeka with demonstrations, activities, and local awesomeness to sell.

A new market bag

Summer is the time for farmer’s markets, fresh air, fresh vegetables, homemade jam, bread, mmm the list goes on!  This leads me to think I need more market bags for going to the Saturday market.  I’ve made some in the past, generally all different patterns and most of them, while easy to make, go from a normal size bag to one 4 feet deep when you put one thing in it.  It isn’t so functional, sadly.  So I tried one with gussets yesterday of my own design.  Basic, of course, but I had a plan.

I made a rectangular base in single crochet worked in the round starting with a chain of 26.  Then I started the open work part by *chaining 2, skipping 1 stitch and then single crocheting into the next single crochet* and repeating across one long side of the rectangle.  On the short ends I wanted to continue the width of the base as a solid piece up through the strap so that part wouldn’t be as stretch. Roughly, the ends were 6 single crochet across and then I went back to the openwork pattern for the other long side.  And repeat.  There was some finagling on each end to keep from increasing and to keep the strap the same width, but those are minor details.  Near the top, I worked one round of *chain 1, skip 1 stitch, single crochet into the next single crochet* (smaller space) and then I worked 3 or so rounds of solid single crochet to make it sturdy.  Then I just worked a 6 stitch single crochet strap long enough when stretched to be a cross body strap and slip stitched it to the other side.  I only used 2 balls of peaches and cream cotton, not quite 200 yards so it isn’t huge, but I’m quite fond of it and I’ll be trying it out this Saturday!

Casting on for Ribbing

So I wanted to cast on a project that starts with ribbing and after watching The Knitting Glossary from Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen (that’s another post coming soon) I had a new cast on to try.  Actually, it’s long tail cast on but you do it backwards for the purl stitches.  Hmm, that might not make sense.  Here, I made a video!

And here’s what it looks like.  Can you see two little purl bumps and two knit stitches, sort of?

The Unblogged Cardigan

Silly me, I’ve had something to blog about all winter and I never thought about writing anything or taking any pictures.  Last Fall, mom and I decided to knit the same pattern for ourselves.  After looking through a lot of patterns, we decided on the Sitcom Chic spring cardigan.  It was simple and only had one button.  We both modified it to be more of a cold weather/Fall cardigan and made it out of wool with longer sleeves.  I think I made the Medium and she made the Large from the pattern, it just depends on how you want it to fit, but I think they both work.

In cotton, I suppose this would make more sense since it isn’t supposed to come together at the bottom.  In wool, that doesn’t make quite as much sense… and only one button to keep me warm.  It’s just going to be a layer and I certainly wear a lot of brown, tan, and blue so I think I’ll keep it busy this next winter.  I tried to knit a little tighter although the yarn I used was still a light worsted weight (slightly bigger than dk weight) and my needles were size 8.  One of these days I’ll make a project that uses smaller needles and finer yarn… and probably love it.  The tighter it is, the better it will wear and that is important to me.  I want things I make to last!

Mom and I model our handmade knit (and matching!) cardigans.

The Birthday Hat

I had to get a picture in here of this hat/cap mom made for me for my birthday!  It is so sweet and warm and seemed like a really quick knit.  What was the pattern mom?  You should post it in the comments.  =)  I helped her pick out the yarn over the phone but I didn’t really know what the project was going to be and we decided to go with a color that was different than what I usually wear.  It’s just an accessory so it supposed to stand out a bit.  And then I wore it over to the Brookside Art Fair (which was super great and FREE) and it kept my head toasty warm.

Thanks mom!  I love it.

Alex and I smile for the camera after our birthday cake.