Knitting UFOs and one finished project!

The Paris-Roubaix mitts pattern is from Knitspot, and are being knit from extremely soft Ambrosia yarn from Knit Picks, which is a baby Alpaca and Cashmere mix from my stash. My hands have been so cold lately, that I'm anxious to finish them. (I'll have to take a better picture when they are done.)

This cowl is a gift I'm getting ready to ship. It's a bit late, but better late than never :-) The pattern was free online, but of course I can't find it right now - sorry.

One of my road trip projects is a pair of Serpentine Mitts by Miriam L. Felton that I'm working on . It is a free pattern on Ravelry, but you might need to be a member to download it(membership is free). The second one is in progress, but it may take a while for me to finish as I can only work on the easier parts on the road, and the rest at home between other projects. The yarn is Louet Gems sock yarn (and of course these would also be nice to keep my hands warm).

The Baby Surprise Jacket has made some progress, and is now waiting for me to weave in all the tails from changing colors. (I do know how to weave them in as I go, but hadn't decided which would be the right side until I finished the knitting, as I liked both sides.) I'm thinking it should have a hood, instead of collar, and am planning to try to use the hood from EZ's Tomten jacket pattern. Good thing the baby isn't due for a while, so I'll have time to get it finished.

Seattle Boat Show interesting exhibit

Built with junk, an interesting display built to call attention to the plastic trash affecting our marine environment.

Artistic Free Motion Online class in February

If you've been wanting to take a class with me, but have been unable to make it to a regular class, come join my Artistic Free Motion Online class in February! The class will be on the Quilter's Keep Learning website over the course of four weeks, so that you can work when you have time, and have more time to digest all the information. There is also a quilting video , so you can see how I quilt, not just read about it.

These pictures are some of the samplers that I've stitched using continuous designs that I like to use as fills, but we will also go beyond what you see here, as well as all those details that you need to know to make your life easier, and your quilting stitches better.

Urban Scraps - almost finished quilting!

Almost there.....

and I thought you might like to see the quilting designs that I've decided to use. Above, you can see part of the border, but the main thing is the all over teardrop design that I'm using for all the rail fence blocks.

For the quarter square triangle blocks are quilted with feathers coming out of the center, and is a new quilting motif learned online in the Longarm University mystery quilt class (and no, I have barely begun to piece the project - but at least I can say I'm applying the lesson).

And this floral design is a larger version of the one that I put on Donnie's quilt. It's more difficult for me to do it on a 9" block, and this one might be the first one I did, but I wanted to take some photographs during a quilting break).

The outer border is a combination of outline quilting the flowers, feathers, and a little stippling to fill in between them. Now back to quilting, so I can get that outer border finished and the next step, which as we all know is binding. If it wasn't going to be a pattern, I wouldn't add a sleeve, but this one will get one, to make it easier to display.

No, you won't get to see the whole quilt until it is finished and I am able to take proper pictures, you'll have to stay in suspense.

Baby Surpries Jacket - supplies used

I guess I forgot to mention what yarn and needles I'm using... Oops!

Anyway, the yarns are Berroco Comfort Dk, in orange#2731, white #2700, and the rainbow yarn is also Comfort Dk, in color#2813 that I purchased locally. I chose this yarn not only for the wonderful colors, and soft feel, but because it is also easy care - it says to machine wash inside out in warm water, gentle cycle, and machine dry on low - so it will be easy for the mother of a new baby to care for it.

Green Leafy Lace Shawl - thank you and more info

First, thank you for the compliments!

Judy asked about the pattern and if I used blocking wires. The pattern is Leaf Lace Shawl by Fiber Trends, that I purchased locally. I actually purchased three shawl patterns at the same time, because I liked all of them, and couldn't make up my mind which I wanted to make first. Some of them have measurements and supplies for more than one size yarn, and that is really helpful, and this one can be made from lace weight yarn, up to DK weight. The next one is all kitted up by me with some dark turquoise / teal yarn that I handspun, and am anxious to try out, but it is waiting for me to finish other projects (I don't even want to know how many UFOs I have).

Like Paula, I finally purchased blocking wires from Knit Picks, and wouldn't have been able to block this shawl, or my large scarves without them, as the projects are larger than my blocking board, which is also indespensible, both for blocking knitting that it was intended for, but also for quilts that will fit on it. For this shawl, it was pinned with the neck edge centered, and as close to the long edge of my blocking board as I could get. It took two wires (overlapped) on each of the three sides, and I just pinned as much as I could to the board, and left the points hang past the edge, pulling the lace out the best I could. It worked so well, I can't even tell where it went off the board.

Urban Scraps - progress

Wow, this one is taking much longer than the smaller quilts I've been making in the past few years. I was hard pressed to find floor space large enough to pin baste it, but managed to do half at a time in our entry. Of course, only being able to tape half of it down, means I could only tape on three sides, which really isn't the way I like to do it, but sometimes you have to just do the best you can with what you have to work with. Once the first half was basted, I pulled it up, turned it around, taped and basted the other side. While I'm quilting, I'm finding that there are a few places that I'm not so happy with, and I think it is due to not being able to hold the backing as well as I'm used to, but again, I'm doing the best I can - at this time - while mulling over my options for the next large quilt. Right now, I'm thinking maybe when I have others that are too large for my floor space, I should try having it basted by someone with a traditional long arm - after all, this is a full size quilt, and I have some king sized quilts for our beds that will eventually need to be quilted. Now, I wonder, how much does it cost to just have one basted????

In case you're wondering how large this is, it was about 90" square before I started quilting, and I'll have to see how much it shrinks with all the quilting I'm doing. Each block pattern has been quilted with a different pattern, and now I'm working my way out, presently quilting the red, innermost border. When I'm finished, I'll have to find a place large enough to photograph it flat, as it is going to be a quilt pattern - yeah, another challenge (good thing I like challenges).

Baby Surprise Jacket

I've seen many pictures of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket online, happen to own some of her books, and thought about making the adult version that is in one of them (someday), but still had questions. This past year I purchased Meg Swansen's video (has printed instructions included), and at the end she does show the adult version, and talks about her modifications. One of the biggest questions I have is how to figure out where to change colors to make attractive stripes, and so I had considered making a baby jacket for no reason other than to help answer this question - until about a week ago. I've learned that someone I know is going to be having a baby, so of course my first thought went to making the baby jacket for the gift - hey, this is a win, win situation - they will get a hand knit baby jacket, and I will finally be able to see how the striping works out! Well, this is how far I am, and I don't think I'm doing too bad - the baby isn't due for a while, and it's only being worked on between other projects.

If you're looking for the book(s), the Baby Surpries Jacket pattern can be found in Knitting Workshop, but both the Baby Surprise Jacket, and the Adult Surprise Jacket can be found in The Opinionated Knitter, along with more color pictures than the other book has.

Water quilt - finally more pictures!

It's busy around here, but we're just about caught up after all the storms, delayed deliveries, so I was able to get down to the gallery and take more pictures of my Water quilt. I'm hoping the full quilt photo is a bit clearer than the one I took at the opening, and you will be able to see the details in the close-ups.
Here, you can see a close-up of the quiting as well as a closer look at the beading,

and in the next two, you should be able to see all the details, down to the thread and each tiny bead - just about as close as you can get without looking through a magnifying glass.

Green leafy lace shawl

Here is a UFO that is finally finished!!!
I've been knitting this in the background, when the mood strikes, or sometimes during road trips, and I pulled it out on Christmas, deciding it would be finished and ready to wear, instead of taking up space in my studio (besides, I need more space for quilting). Above is a photo of it before blocking, and below is after blocking. What a difference!

Because it was so large, I figure you'd like a closer view, so here are a couple more pics, so you can see the details: