WIP Wednesday

Last Wednesday I had WIP pictures taken but ran out of hours in the day to post them. So today you get double the WIP's. A nice comparison of what I was actually able to get done in a week. 

Last week's progress of my Salita shrug. This is after one pattern repeat.

And here it is this week, with another pattern repeat done. There are suppose to be five pattern repeats, each 40 rows.  It's a surprisingly fun, quick, addictive knit.

Close-up of the lace pattern.

This is the only WIP from last week that I haven't worked on at all this week, so it hasn't changed. This is the beginning of a Hello, Hello shawl.

My daughter really liked the brain hats we saw at the March for Science in April. I finally started making her one, aiming for her birthday (which is tomorrow) but won't get it done in time. Here's where I was last Wednesday.

My I-cord Brains.

Made some progress this week.

Last week I had 26 Scrappy Bento Blocks done.

This week, I have all 70 done. Time to start putting them into rows. They will become 2 quilts for charity.

Last week I had ironed and cut fabrics for my Rin quilt. Since I was using fabrics from stash, I didn't have enough of some and cut smaller squares and discovered I can still use the templates. The brown cut is from a 12 inch square.

This week I've folded and ironed all the squares. Still need to decide what shapes I'm going to cut. Maybe this week. There is a Rin quilt-along going on which you can read about here and here.

However, this week I got distracted and cut some other fabrics to make some single Rin blocks. This one uses a Canada themed fabric for the background. And I hand-basted for the first time. Not too shabby.

I hand appliqued the inside edge and my circle was a little off. Undid the stitching and the basting and redid it.

Much better. And if you can't notice the difference, please don't tell me.

I'll be adding a circle to the middle. I'm almost done appliquéing the outer edge on the big circle.

And I cut this very Canadian themed block, as well. I'll be tackling it next. Something to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday on July 1st.

I think that's everything. The youngest is now on summer vacation and we have 3 weeks to get into a routine before the older kids join us. Hoping my crafty time doesn't suffer too much this summer.

Tomorrow is the beginning of Camp Loopy. I'll be joining in the fun again this year. Tomorrow I'll share my yarn and the pattern I'll be knitting. 

Friday Finish!

Not sure where I've been the past two weeks, but I'm back today with a finished quilt. I gifted this today to my son's preschool teacher. She also taught our two older children so we've been blessed with five wonderful years with her (over the past 12 years). I really don't have the words to express how much her friendship has meant to me personally as I found my footing as a parent of a preschooler - 3 different times for 3 very different children. The pre-school is a co-op so I assisted roughly 20 times each school year in the classroom. A great crash course in dealing with how wonderful and difficult a preschooler can be. Anyway, she totally wasn't surprised when I showed up today with a quilt for her - and I love that.

Pattern is Spin Cycle by Allison of Cluck, Cluck, Sew. It was one row longer but it felt kind of long, so I took a row off.

Free motion quilting over the blocks and little loops in the sashing and border. 

Backing fabric is from Allison's fabric line, Wallflowers. 

Front and back together. 

I really love this quilt and glad I gifted it to someone so special. I have a row of blocks leftover that might become a wall hanging for me. 

Linking up today at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday! You should go see the finished quilt she is sharing today. I think it is going on my to-make list.

Friday Finishes

This week I am sharing two cowls, finished months apart. 

This one was made in November. I used some tutorials found on pinterest. It's been so long since I made it, I have no idea which one. Just search infinity scarf and a ton will come up. 

The then 3 1/2 year old wanted to be part of the pictures. Note the short hair - he reappears later in the post.

My mom gave me the fabric for the cowl. When I was little, she had made a jumper for me (my sister might have worn it first) and one for our dolls, shown above. I still have a bit of the fabric left and am trying to decide what to do with it.

And here's the now shaggy haired 4 year old crashing my Duvessa cowlette pictures. He insisted on being included. Didn't realize how much he has grown until I compare photos like this.

Got a hug, too.

And his attempt at taking a picture. Not bad.

Detail of the lace. I made several changes to the cowlette. You can read more about them on my ravelry project page, if you're interested. 

WIP Wednesday

A quick WIP Wednesday post for a couple WIP's this week. I finished my Duvessa cowlette on Sunday. It is currently blocking on the floor of our bedroom. I started the test knit for Sarah of Imagined Landscapes but she asked that no pictures be shared online yet, so you'll have to trust me on that one. Here's what I've been working on the past few days.

I finally got the Spin Cycle quilt under the needle this morning. I played around with a couple different designs, ripping out lots of stitches when I didn't like it, so I'm not as far as I would like to be. 

Think I have it settled though. I'm doing these lines with loops in the sashing. And I came up with a quilt design for the blocks but haven't taken a picture. Not 100% sold on the idea yet.

And I started a Salita shrug, Sunday night. Shannon extended the deadline for the Tops, Tanks and Tees KAL to the 22nd, so I'm giving this a go. I had started a Seaboard tank but didn't get past the first 6 rows. Love the design, just don't feel like knitting with lace weight yarn right now.

And Camp Loopy for 2017 was announced yesterday. Last night I spent way too much time deciding on a pattern and then yarn. I'll share once the yarn arrives. 

And I wish I had thought of this idea. I might have to try making one soon.

Friday Finishes

This week has been all about catching up, so here are some finishes... from February. 

I made these socks in February for my mom's birthday in March. I know I waited to post them until they arrived at her house, but I don't know why it's taken me almost two months after her birthday to get them on the blog. Oops. Anyway, Kroy sock yarn bought at Michael's. Used 2.75mm needles and 56 stitches. I think. Happy to report that my mom likes them and wears them.

Used the Fish Lips Kiss heel again. I still haven't made a pair of socks for myself with this heel. I hope to cast on a pair of socks for myself this month. I've been itching to knit a sock but I have plenty of other projects on the go.

I made 3 Hussifs in February as well. This was a free pattern, Sarah Fielke gave to all BOM 2017 participants in January (?), I think. I made one for myself, my sister-in-law and my sister (in that order above, in real life I made them in the opposite order). You can buy the pattern here.

Close-up of my sister's at the top and SIL's on the bottom. Mailed them both in February and they arrived safe and sound.

All three together. Mine is at the top and has been used a lot since I made it. It was a great pattern and I've been trying to figure out if there are more people in my life who need one.

Think I only have one more past finish to share (from November 2016!) and then I'll be caught up. Guess I need to start finishing some more stuff!

How about you? Are you avoiding Spring Startitis and finishing up some WIP's? Or are you starting all the things? I think I'm finishing up knitting WIP's but have quilt stratitis. Oh well.

WIP Wednesday - 5 Quilts and a bit of Knitting

It's been almost a month since my last WIP post and some of those WIP's don't look much different. I blame Camp NaNoWriMo for stopping my WIP's from becoming Friday Finishes. Now that my brain can fit something other than my novel into it, it is quickly filling up with all the crafts I want to make, and surprisingly a lot of those are quilts. 

I finished making the Spin Cycle quilt earlier this year. I picked the backing fabric which I need to cut and piece to fit (doing that today). I'd love to baste this today but making cookies for teacher appreciation week comes first. It wasn't until I looked at the selvedge of the backing fabric that I realized I am using Cluck Cluck Sew fabric, too. Fabric on the front is an assortment of fabrics that aren't Cluck Cluck Sew. Really dropped the ball there. This quilt is a gift for my son's preschool teacher. She also taught my two older children when they were preschoolers. She deserves a quilt. Her birthday is Sunday, but I'm aiming to gift her the quilt when preschool finishes at the end of this month. Have no idea how I'm going to quilt it. Ideas? ( I had one leftover block, which you can see. Using it on the back as a label and have all three kids sign their names, and maybe a little message, too.)

This fabric is for another Cluck Cluck Sew quilt pattern. My daughter and I fell in love with her Basketcase pattern. I bought it and some fabric and plan on making it for my daughter's birthday next month. Need to get busy cutting and sewing this one.

My Bento blocks have been ignored for weeks. I still need to iron these block halves. I think I got a little depressed about this project when I recounted and discovered I need to make 5 more block halves. It's hard keeping track of so many pieces - there are over 1,000 pieces cut - but in the end they will become 2 quilts for charity. Need to refocus and finish them.

This crazy collection of fabrics is for the Sarah Fielke 2017 BOM. I'm behind on this one too. Need to iron some fabric and then do some paper-piecing this month. I'm a little scared.

And this was a quick fabric pull this morning to make a Rin quilt. There's a QAL going on for this one that I saw on Instagram. And there was something about the pattern I couldn't resist. Not sure when I'll make time for this but the QAL doesn't start until May 17th, so I have time to finish up some other WIP's before then.

And here's the little bit of knitting that's keeping me busy. I'm about to start another test knit for Sarah of Imagined Landscapes.

And I've been working on my Duvessa cowlette. Above I am 2 rows shy of finishing chart B, with only chart C and the border left. The KAL ends on Friday but something was bothering me about the design.

The bump down from the garter section to the lace section. I didn't like it. I want to keep and wear this but that little design element had me thinking I was going to give it away. And that kind of pissed me off. There must be something I can do?

So I started over, working the first part in stockinette instead of garter.

But since I'm not sure I'll like it, or if it will even work this way, I haven't frogged the original. They're both still connected. Not sure I'll get either of them finished by Friday, but I'm going to try.

What have you been working on?

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What happened in April?

The blog was a little quiet last month. I'm kind of sorry, and kind of not. Life wasn't extra crazy and we weren't sick, but I put my focus towards something else for April. My writing. April is one of the Camp NaNoWriMo months. Writers can pick what they want to write and their word goal. You can write scripts, non-fiction, poetry. Or you can do what I did, which was edit. I gave myself the goal of editing and moving 60,000 words from a first draft into a second. I ended up having to rewrite several chapters so I probably ended up writing 30,000 words and editing 30,000. 

Yep, I did it. Finished just before 10 last night. I spent most of the weekend at my computer as I was about 11,000 words shy of my goal on Friday. A lot of new chapters, for the new ending, were written on Saturday and Sunday, and a lot of it wasn't very good. But now that the words are written down, I can edit them and make them better. In February, I started editing the first draft and I'd send a couple chapters a week to my sister-in-law to read. By the end of March I only had 11 of 30+ chapters done. It was taking too long and I'd lose momentum if I didn't edit everyday. So I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, hoping I'd finish and I did. And I'm pretty thrilled about finishing. Winning for editing feels a lot better than winning for writing 50,000 words in November. I'll be rereading the whole thing starting Wednesday and then I'll be sending it out to some Beta-readers next week. Kind of scary but necessary. May's focus? Catching up on all the knitting and quilting that was ignored in April and researching agents and publishers to send my manuscript too (that's super scary). First up - this blog post and then mending my husband's shorts that have been sitting beside my sewing machine for two weeks.

I finished crocheting this afghan in April. (Ignore my face, I was probably yelling at the 3 year old who was outside with us and getting into trouble.) I used all 9 skeins of yarn I had and then did 3 rounds in blue for a border. Yarn was some acrylic stuff from Michael's that is perfect for afghans. It should hold up really well. And after washing became surprisingly soft.

Feels great wrapped around shoulders.

Got to love how colorful it is.

Back inside the 3 year old and I made sure it was good for snuggling under. It passed. The afghan will be a Christmas gift this year.

Other things that happened in April? My daughter and I marched for Science.

I crocheted a ton of button flowers. There are 72 in this picture if you're looking for an exact number. Only have 12 left to make!

And I have been slowly knitting my Duvessa cowlette. The KAL for this ends on Thursday so I have some knitting to do.

I'm halfway done chart A. Still need to knit charts B and C. So I will be doing that today and tomorrow.

I have several pictures waiting to get posted that I hope to do this week and next. It would be nice to feel caught up (does that ever really happen though?).What have you been up to?