Sew I See!

Remember the quilt-style curtains I was making for the kitchen? They're done and in the windows! They have been for weeks, actually, but I only recently took a few photos for "show and tell". The main attraction curtain is basically a doll-size mini-quilt-- a rectangle to go in the window of the kitchen door. I chose to make a carpenter's star (sometimes called "carpenter star", without the possessive) as the focal point, with a simple chevron for the bottom edge and a row of random half-square triangles along the top. The fabrics are a selection of greens and deep blue-greens as the darks and a white-on-white print for the lights.   I made a scrappy binding (my first!) from a handful of the same fabrics. The backing is just leftovers from a pale cream sheet I had on hand.  White might've been a more ideal choice, but you'll never see the two sides at the same time, so this is fine. The batting is 100% polyester leftover from a qui...

Here's another finished object with photos, at long last. This is one I knitted in a couple of weeks, back in the late summer of 2015-- but I only recently got around to blocking it and taking some photos. "Mermaid's Tears" Pattern:   "Petits Trous de Printemps" by Berangere Cailiau (Free on Ravelry, in English and French) Yarn:  Knit Picks Aloft, "Tranquil" One ball made a nice-sized scarf.  I'd estimate it's about 64 inches long. The pattern doesn't call for adding beads, but there are several projects on Ravelry (with accompanying notes) that include them.  My own notes mention the modifications I made (and the Raveler whose notes I found helpful). This was my first time working beads into a knitting (or crochet, for that matter) project, but once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed the process.  I'd definitely like to work glass beads into more projects.  They add an elegant touch of sparkle, a...

Yet another finished object is finally getting its moment in the spotlight!  ;o) "In Anticipation of October" Pattern:   "October is for Spinners" by Sharon Emery (Pattern free on Ravelry) Yarn:  Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, "Natural" (hand-dyed with food color gels) I've forgotten most of the ups and downs of this project, but I did blog about it fairly early in the process.  There are also a few notes on my Ravelry project page . What I do remember is that it was fun and exciting to knit the spider and the first intentional holes. The "end" of the scarf (the part without the spider) is very chaotic and messy-looking.  I had to block it pretty severely to get it to the right width (or "close enough"). I'm afraid this project shows that I am prone to "rowing out", which is generally thought a bad thing.  I try not to worry about it, though.  It might be a technical short-co...

Here's another long-overdue finished object report! This is a project I've written about multiple times before, back when it was still in-progress.  Basically, it's a Catherine wheel pattern worked in two colorways of the same yarn.  The whole thing was inspired by this lovely scarf , which the crocheter called her "Rhubarb Scarf", because (if I recall correctly) the colors of the yarn and the ruffled edging reminded her of rhubarb.  (I think you have to sign in with Ravelry to see the scarf at the link above.) I dyed my own yarn, and because of the crazy colors, my resultant scarf bears little resemblance to its inspiration, but it was an interesting project, all the same. "Rhubarb Scarf Wannabe" Pattern:   "Noro Catherine Wheel Scarf" by Michelle Mooney (Pattern free on Ravelry) Yarn:  Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight Solids, "Soft White" hand-dyed (see below) I think I used three skeins, though there was prob...

This is a... unique (shall we say?) finished object post, because I started knitting this shawlette back in April 2012.  (Good grief!) The shawl went into a long time-out, but was finished in October 2013.  Then it took me another few years to finally block the silly thing.  And now, only five years from the starting date, I've made the effort to take photos of the finished project.  (Talk about a snail's pace!) "Obsidian Multnomah" Pattern:   "Multnomah" by Kate Ray. (Available for free on Ravelry.) Yarn:  Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight Prints, "Obsidian". (It took about two skeins.) This is definitely a small shawl, though I think there are tips on how to make it somewhat larger. Glancing through my project notes, I see that I had a lot of trouble with this project, with multiple "rippings-back".  I'm quite a bit more confident in my knitting, these days, than I was in 2012, and I'm sure it w...

"Pineapples & Crowns" Pattern by Patricia Kristoffersen (from Pretty Pineapple Doilies ) Thread: Cébélia size 10, "223 Medium Dusty Pink" (I love Cébélia.  It's a quality thread with plenty of body and a lovely sheen.  Always a pleasure to crochet!) I honestly don't remember much about this pattern... Looking at the finished doily, I'd guess that it wasn't particularly challenging.  It's not a highly textured doily, like some of PK's patterns are. I like this style of pineapple for a change from the usual "mesh" pineapples-- and the crowns (from the pattern name) are there, too, though they're fairly subtle. I had some leftover yardage from that ball of thread, so I made one of PK's "little doilies". "Doily #64" Pattern by Patricia Kristoffersen (from 99 Little Doilies ) I love the way this doily looks!  Square doilies require a little more focus than the "...

I've been machine-piecing many four-patch blocks for a quilt I want to make.  It's a version of "Rainbow Rows" from the APQ 2015 Quilt-Along.  I don't have a copy of the pattern, but I'm winging/reverse-engineering it, based on photos .  I think I can get a reasonable approximation-- or at least some version of it that I'll like. I'm using this method for making my four-patch components-- though mine aren't so tiny as the ones in the tutorial (and I didn't press the seam allowances open, on the final step). I must've miscalculated, somewhere along the way, because I ended up with (more than a few) more than I needed.  That's ok.  I'll either use them to make the quilt bigger or save them for another project-- maybe a crazy mix-and-match quilt, somewhere down the line. In addition to pointing out that either I'm scatterbrained or bad at math (or both!), this project has demonstrated that I really need to improve the accura...