16 Squares

This is what I've been doing lately:













It's the top of a quilt, which I finished piecing and ironing today during reruns of America's Next Top Model. Nothing like being unemployed on a weekday.

The fabrics are of somewhat mysterious origin: all from my stash, all purchased at different times and at different stores for different forgotten projects. The pattern is of my own devising - I charted it out on graph paper, trying to make the most of the odd amounts of fabric I had (1 yard of yellow, 1 1/2 yards of blue-green, 2 yards of blue). With the sashing, it's almost 5' square, and I'll probably be adding some wide borders to try to squeak up to 6'. It'll likely see duty on the sofa rather than the bed, but the bed seemed like the best place to spread it out for a photo.

Tuesday Evening

Introducing Tuesday Evening, a new free pattern from iknityouknot:

What have we here? It's a chunky lacy cowl knit in Mirasol Yarns Cotanani, in color Denim (aka dusty purple).

The yarn is held double throughout, making this a super-fast project, and the 60/40 cotton/wool blend makes it a substantial yet wearable accessory.

I knit this one in about three hours.

Enjoy!

My New Spring Skirt

Here's how I spent a good bit of the morning:

Pattern: Great Fit Gored Skirt from Indygo Junction.
Fabric: part of an "irregular" Ralph Lauren sheet (bought years ago at Filene's Basement)

Lovely comfy waistband:










The only elastic I had happened to be the perfect width and length.
I put it on to take photos, and haven't taken it off since. I still have to figure out how I want to finish off the bottom edge, and now I'm wondering if I could add pockets without too much fuss. Maybe I'll keep this one as it is, and add pockets to some of the many more skirts I'll be making with this pattern.

Recently Completed: Lace Ribbon Scarf

Yarn: Dream in Color Starry
Pattern: Lace Ribbon Scarf by Veronik Avery
Visitable at: My Sister's Knits in Chicago, IL












I was really skeptical about this pattern as I was knitting it - it curled like crazy and seemed really narrow. Blocking it worked wonders, of course, and now it's smooth and broad and gorgeous. Suddenly I don't want to give it up. (But don't worry, Carol, I will!)

Gail/Nightsongs

I finished this shawl a few weeks ago, and I just love it.













It's Gail/Nightsongs by Jane Araujo, aka Mawelucky. I used a lot of these suggestions/modifications and was quite pleased with the results. I don't know how many repeats I knitted, (maybe 6?) but I was using smaller needles (size 4 US) and ended up with the perfect small shawl-or-scarf size for wrapping once around the neck, like this:














This yarn, Yarn Treehouse Bloom, is wonderfully light and airy, and the color shading is lovely, especially when held double (knitted from both ends simultaneously). It shifted back and forth between warm and bright, from red-orange to yellow-orange and back, and basically made me happy just to look at it and work on it. Thanks Ann!

All my friends live in Awesometown

This arrived in the mail on Thursday:














It's some of Ann's handspun Weaverknits Awesometown, which is sometimes available here in her Etsy shop. It's also an heirloom bread recipe, Bread for the People, which I am itching to try. Thanks Ann - your very own copy of my heirloom bread recipe (Bollar) will be on its way to you in short order, possibly hand-delivered.

When it Rains it Pours

Recently on the blog I bemoaned the unavailability of Cadbury Mini Eggs (my favorite candy ever) in Hyde Park. I also recently made a deal with the lovely Kate to trade some of my Araucania Nature Cotton for some thrifted/recycled cashmere/silk in a beautiful sky blue.

Today I got a package in the mail containing this assortment:


















Don't you just love those teeny mini-skeins? I think it's funny that I also got some vegetable seeds, presumably to balance out the 40 ounces of milk chocolate. Maybe I should plant one of the eggs and try to grow a Cadbury tree.

Thanks so much Kate, this really made my day. I laughed for a long time.