A Couple more finishes and WIP's

Finished my husband's sock. Going to make him one more but in a different pattern. He usually wears mismatched socks.

When I got the sock out yesterday I discovered that all the stitches on needle 3 had fallen off. I did my best to save them (while in the van) but got these funky looking stitches. Sorry for the bad lighting in these photos. It was 9 pm, in a hotel room with very little natural light or nice background options.

Finished this skirt for my niece's 3rd birthday next week.

Finally have all the pieces done for this skirt, including the very long I-cord. Just need to put it together. This is a Christmas present for a different niece.

I also brought this cardigan along to finish, which I don't think I have shared on the blog yet. I made it in my size  and I am hopeful that it will fit. I had finished the body of it before we left on our trip. It is crocheted.

I finished the first sleeve today. I was 2/3's done. Also did the ribbing at the wrist, as well. Might piece these 2 pieces together to give me motivation to complete the second sleeve. The pattern also calls for a hood and zipper.

A Finish From the Road

I finished the Boneyard Shawl on Friday after another long day of traveling. This is a Christmas gift.

My mother was kind enough to model it for me. It still needs to be blocked, which will happen at my parents house. (the colour in this picture is closest)

The yarn is 80% wool and is nice and warm. I'm very tempted to keep it for myself.

Day 1 - sock knitting

Got a lot done of my husband's sock today (finished the leg and heel and started the foot). It was day 1 of our trip across Canada. We spent 11 hours traveling. Tomorrow will be less time driving so I'm not sure how much I'll get done. It would be nice to finish the sock, but we'll see.

Friday Night Sew-In?

So last night was Friday Night Sew-In... I didn't sew. I spent 3 hours booking hotel rooms for the trip my kids and I are taking across Canada with my parents. We leave on Monday and should get to their home by the end of June. 

I was able to get an inch of this sock knitted. I was trying to get it done for Father's Day tomorrow, but I don't think it will get done. My husband will understand.

I ran out of yarn for this shawl and had to order some more. It arrived yesterday and I was able to get it from hank to ball before I went to bed last night. I literally started winding it at midnight. Lucky for me, it went smoothly and I should be able to finish the shawl on our trip.

Go to Bobbi's blog to see what everyone else did last night

Frustration

Today has been one frustration after another. Perhaps it's because I'm trying to rush and get a lot done before I head out of town for a few weeks or maybe... it's because I'm filling my time with what I think needs to be done instead of what I want to do. The yarn above was the first major frustration of the day. I don't buy yarn in hanks very often since winding them into balls isn't one of my favourite things to do. The green yarn is from knitpicks and each was over 400 yards. They took about 15 minutes each to wind. The purple yarn is about 220 yards and took almost 2 hours. Not sure if I started with the wrong end or what, but with about 15 yards left it became one tangled mess. But, I got it all untangled, eventually. 

Second major frustration. Yes, that is a quilt on the floor. This quilt had been going so well but adding the side rows is not turning out. I have a date with my seam ripper.

So, after tossing the quilt on the floor in disgust, I did the dishes and some thinking. I began to wonder why I do the projects that I do. It's not always what I want to work on or where I want my etsy shop to go. I'm more,  "when I get ______ done, then I can work on the stuff I really want to do". But the thing is, the list keeps getting longer and I don't spend much time working on the things I want to make.  And maybe because my shop is full of all those "when I" projects and not what I really want to make, the sales are slow. I keep telling myself this fall when both kids are in school all day, I'll be able to make time for myself but I wonder, why do I have to wait? Admittedly I don't have a lot of time this summer to work on my own thing, but I'm going to try and stop with the "when I...then I will...".

I have found myself looking at this a lot the past couple weeks. I made this before I had an etsy shop. I've always loved it and haven't been able to give it away. (sorry for the bad picture, it's tricky to get in the frame so I just left it in). It use to sit on top of the fridge and no one ever saw it. I decided to put it on the mantel in our current home. It reminds me of the joy quilting use to give me. I just hope I can rediscover that joy

What a dollar can get you

Did you know you can find quilt books at Dollar Tree? Well I just happen to find the above book there and I figured for a $1, it couldn't hurt. There's only a handful of projects I really like and if I had to pay more, I probably wouldn't have bought it.

I like this table runner.

Love this tree quilt.

I like this fall quilt too. I have a lot of fall fabrics so this one might get made in the near future.

Here is the Mystery Shawl, blocked and ready to be given as a Christmas gift. It's super soft. There's even enough yarn leftover I can make myself a short pair of socks. 

The Sewing Machine is Unpacked!

Finally got the sewing machine out of its box yesterday afternoon. Put the binding on these 2 mug rugs that have been waiting months to be finished. The top one was picked by my daughter to give to her piano teacher.

I picked out this pot holder that I made some time last year.

Gift all ready. Added my favourite tea and cookies. She loved her gift.

And since the sewing machine was out, I did some more sewing. I used some of the hst's leftover from the Glow Happy quilt to make these Dutch Pinwheel blocks. Need to be pressed but haven't found my iron yet.

Had enough leftover to make 2 little pinwheels.

Still have the red, aqua and pink fabrics to do.

And then add the bigger hst's to make a quilt top. I have some leftover fabric if I need to make more. Not sure what this is going to look like in the end, just having fun.

I kept quilting after the kids went to bed. Waited til this morning to take pictures though. Sewing machine spent the night on the dining room table. I was able to quilt the yellow, purple and green fabrics of the 4 blocks on the center row. Need to do the blue and cream (today?) and then the 2 sides need to be done.

Front. I am really liking how the quilting is turning out. This quilt might be hard to give away.

The other 2 blocks.

Pictures of the back of the blocks.

Here's why I am quilting at the dining room table. My quilt table is in the garage. There is a table under all that mess, right? I need to find my iron - is it on the table? I did hang up my rulers and a clock, now I just need to find time to finish putting stuff away. The plan is to keep my machine in the garage and perhaps quilt out there when the kids are bugging me or I need to concentrate, (the door to the garage is just off the dining room so with the it open, I can still hear them) and bring it into the dining room table to quilt as well. I'll be able to leave this space a little messy and to be honest, it's really nice not to look at my machine all the time. Before I could see it from the kitchen, dining room and living room, and sometimes I just wanted it and the mess to disappear. This way I can still be part of what is going on or go off in the garage by myself. My fabric stash is being kept upstairs to avoid getting a garage smell. Only current projects will be kept in the garage.

New ironing board waiting for me to unwrap it and find my iron and put it to use.

In Progress

I was able to get a bit more of this quilted before we moved. Lucky for me, this project, ufo #8 on my list was the one picked for June. Since I wanted to get this done before we leave for Canada - in 2 weeks! - I'm glad it got picked by Judy. I did loops in green thread on the green, white lines on the cream and of course you can't see what I did on the blue.

The center panel is now completely quilted. I bought thread to finish it and now just need to find the time.

Back of the quilt. You can see the leaf pattern I did on the blue fabric. All free hand. I find if I try to draw my design first it never turns out. I guess I can draw with a needle and not with a pencil.

And since I finished 2 shawls (see previous post) it was time to start another. This is another gift and is made with a wool mix. It is going to be a nice warm shawl for winter. I may have to make one for myself. It is a very easy knit. Do stockinette for 11 rows, then knit a row. Repeat adding 4 increases every odd row. A nice mindless knit to work on while moving and unpacking.

Close-up. So far I have repeated the pattern 7 times. Aiming for 12 and then do the final border, but that will depend on how much yarn I have. This shawl is called the Boneyard Shawl and the pattern can be found here.

Some Knitted Finishes

A couple shawls finished and waiting to be blocked.

Mystery shawl by Knitting Like Crazy. A very nice shawl. Going to be a gift.

Detail of the middle medallion.

Traveling Woman Shawl. Also a gift. I really liked this one and may do it again, but make it longer.

Detail picture.

A top for myself. 

Kids thought this picture was pretty funny.

Detail picture of the top. I would consider making this top again with a few alterations. 

It wasn't long enough, for me, and so I added a crocheted edging to the bottom. I'd probably make the bodice section longer too for a better fit. A very quick knit.