Snow Day Updates!

I can't believe it's been over a year since I've posted here!  My only defense is that I've finally succeeded in landing a music teacher job (back in August) so most of my time has gone to that, instead of writing here or creating patterns.
Since today is a snow day, I thought I'd post some of the projects that I've recently finished:

Animal Adventure

One of my college friends is having a baby (really, really soon!) so for her shower, I decided to make her a crib-sized quilt.  Of course, given my time-management skills, I managed to finish everything but the binding by her shower party, so I had to bring in the quilt, covered in pins, and then take it back home!  However, now it is done (including a label) and completely pin-free!

My friend and her husband decided to be surprised about whether the baby will be a boy or girl, so I tried to pick a print and colors that were gender-neutral.  First I found the print (used as the border and the backing) and then I picked a bunch of solid/semi-solids from the print's different colors.  Roughly I ended up with 7 yds of print and 1/4 yds of each solid/semi-solid except for the brown border, of which I had a 1/2 yard.

The pattern is called "streak of sunshine" (I though of it more as a 1/4 trip around the world as I was putting it together) done with 3.5 in squares ( 3 in finished) and 1 in brown border and a 6 in print border.    The binding is a bias-cut green and white plaid (not the most sturdy binding, but just as soft as the rest of the quilt).  For other ideas on the "streak of sunshine" quilt pattern, check out quiltville's tutorial here: http://quiltville.com/streakofsunshine.shtml.

I used my Bernina free-motion foot to quilt a basic stippling pattern over the border, and paisley hearts over the squares.  I tried to keep the pattern fairly loose, so that the quilt wouldn't get too stiff.

For fabrics, I chose flannel because I want this blanket to be soft and cuddly, the kind of blanket where the child sleeps with it until they are 18 and off to college!  (Although I know plenty of college kids who brought their blankie/special stuffed animal with them to school).  Well, I can hope, right?

Heart Table Runner

My man's mother is a February baby, so for her birthday this year, I made her a heart-themed table runner.  (One of her friends made her a darling watermelon/4th of July-themed runner, which she has out all the time.  I figured that she could rotate between the two of them now).  I was really pleased with how it turned out; there is something beautiful about the different reds against crisp white.  Of course, digital cameras don't take solid primary colors very well, so the whites ended up looking kind of pink.  (If I had more time, I would experiment with taking pictures of the table runner with yellow and blue in them as well, to see if I could get a more true-to-life red color).

For the pattern, I took the pattern for the lap quilt,  "Hearty Blend Lite", from Coffee-Time Quilts by Cathy Wierzbicki, and altered it so that I was just sewing the center 4 blocks, on the diagonal, of the pattern.  (I've used the book several times now, and I've always found the directions and measurements fairly good for an intermediate quilter).  I quilted twisty hearts on all the red sections, and a tight stipple stitch on the white sections.  The center hearts are hand appliqued and the binding is a bias-cut plaid.

The Red Scarf Project

About a month ago, my mother discovered this great charity knitting project, the Red Scarf Project, which provides care packages and (you guessed it) red scarves for college students from foster care.  (The project is an offshoot of Foster Care to Success, an organization which provides assistance to former foster care children, including college scholarships).  As a college student, I remember how great it was to get care packages from home, and can only imagine how important these care packages are to students who have little or no family support.  Each knitter may send up to 5 scarves (at the appropriate collection time; check their website for specific details) and Mom has already finished 3!

This led to the following phone call:
"ring ring"
Me: "What's up?"
Mom: "Do you want to knit some scarves for the Red Scarf Project?"
Me: "Sure, I guess, if I have time."
Mom: "Oh good, I'm on my way back from the yarn store; I bought you a bunch of red yarn to get started!  Come get it later today!"
Me: "...okay.."
Later that day... she hands me a bag with 7 skeins of various yarns.
(I have lots of phone conversations with her that involve her calling to ask the one question that just occurred to her).

Grandpa Scarf

After looking around at several scarf patterns (there are some great suggested scarf patterns on the Red Scarf Project Ravelry group page) I found this one up for testing.  It features a braid cable border, and a rather intense (if you haven't worked cables before) cable in a cable center panel.  The pattern is entirely written out, which I found slightly irritating; it was my fault though, for signing up for a knit test marked "written out pattern" only.  (I will now take two seconds to voice my profound love of charted patterns, especially for cabling, because you can visualize where each cable is supposed to go while knitting.  This prevents the I-cabled-the-wrong-way-and-just-noticed-after-knitting-40-more-rows-issue from occurring.  Which may have occurred when I was knitting this scarf. Gold stars to anyone who can point out which center cable repeat I screwed up!   I took the mistake as a from the universe that the scarf was not destined to be perfect and have ignored it since it's discovery.  But my point is, I like charts).

Apart from this, the design is really lovely; there's a cute little XO (hugs and kisses!) cable, hidden in the last bit of the braid cable edging.  I love that it's a secret message to your scarf recipient!  I do recommend dropping down a needle size, as the scarf has the potential to be very wide.  (It's the kind of scarf you wear outside when it is -40 degrees).  The original pattern calls for size 8 needles; I used size 6's and got 7.5 inches across.

I used 4 skeins of Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice yarn in cranberry for the scarf.  Vanna's Choice has never been one of my favorite yarns, because it is acrylic and tends to fuzz with use.  It holds up better than Wool-Ease, though, and fit the parameters of the Red Scarf Project people just fine.  If I was going to knit the scarf again for someone special (and not as a RSP) I might consider using something like Cascade 220 or KnitPicks' Wool of the Andes, which would show off the cables beautifully.

As for the Red Scarf Project, I'll probably knit a few more scarves this year, probably with more simple patterns.  What would you knit for the project?

Test Knitting Adventures, Part 3

And we're back, again, with one more test knitting adventure!

Most of the test knitting opportunities available on Ravelry offer knitters a free working pattern in exchange for feedback, but if you look hard enough (and respond quickly) there are some tests which include yarn support!  I was lucky enough to find such a test for Interlacements Yarns, a small fiber arts company based out of Wisconsin specializing in hand-dyed yarns and rovings.  Tracey, (one of the owners) was wonderful to work with!


Sweet Feet

I was sent two skeins of Sweet Feet, a merino/Tussah silk blend sock yarn in two colorways; Mountain Jewel (blues, greens and purple) and Grape Harvest (purples and green).  Tussah silk, for those of you who were wondering (I was) is cultivated from wild silk worms living in tropical environs.  The silk they produce is brown or beige and is generally more resilient than the white silk produced by domestic silk worms.

The yarn itself is wonderfully soft to wear or knit, with a lovely silk sheen, but it can be a bit splitty if you are not careful.  However, the yarn really stands out in terms of colors.  All the colorways available feature rich, vibrant colors (more so in real life than on the computer) perfect for luxurious socks, shawls, mitts, etc.  (Check the Ravelry test group here for more pics of the colorways).

The sock pattern which I tested (not yet available for purchase) was a fairly basic cuff down sock with a simple picot edging for the cuff, and flaps sewn to the sides of the sock, through which a leather lace can be drawn to tighten the sock up around the ankle.  The simplicity of the pattern allows the beautiful colors of the yarn to really shine, but I did run out of yarn before completion of the flaps.  Although, this could have been because I was knitting a size 9 pair of women's socks, which felt like the larges pair of socks ever knitted while I was working on them!  Any smaller size sock would probably be finished without fault.

Test Knitting Adventures, Part 2

My last post was starting to get really long, so I decided to break it up into sections.  Here is another test knitting adventure!

Like other social media sites, Ravelry has the capacity for connecting a multitude of people across oceans and continents.  I am especially impressed with how you can use it to meet knitters and designers local to your area, as well as work with foreign designers (like my next test knit project, which I did for a Swedish designer).  It makes the world seem like a smaller, friendlier place.


Jolnir Mittens

In early December I was pattern-surfing with the idea of finding something quick to knit for my sister for Christmas, when I can across these beautiful Scandinavian-style mittens by Emmy Petersson (available on Ravelry).  I had knit socks, sweaters, cowl and gloves for my sister, but not mittens (and I'm really glad I did given the crap-tastic winter weather WA has received over the past couple weeks).

Her favorite color is green, so I chose a forest-y green and white color combo, reversing the main and contrasting colors for the left and right mittens for a funky look.  (Have you noticed how knitters are doing this for socks?  That was my inspiration!)

I used sock yarn for the mittens for several reasons; 1. Sock yarn is the right weight for the pattern (can you imagine how cool the mittens would look with a solid and a variegated?  I want to try that next.)  2.Mittens (just like socks) wear out, so if your yarn has a little acrylic or nylon in it, it will wear longer than if it was knitted out of 100 percent wool.  3. The doubled thickness of sock yarn creates a warm, dense fabric, perfect for keeping your hands toasty!  (I would, however, strongly recommend against using Serenity Sock Yarn, as it is very slippery and split-y, making it hard to work with in a Fair-Isle setting).

My favorite part of the pattern, is that the thumb is actually charted (unlike many Fair-Isle mittens that I've seen) with a cute column of hearts.

Both mittens knit up pretty quickly (except for the mental freak-out moment I had where I didn't follow the main color/contrasting color color key, and used the wrong needle size) and have fairly basic construction.  Although this isn't a beginner pattern, if you've knit mittens and you've done stranded knitting, you could handle this without any serious problems.

More adventures coming up in Part 3!

Test Knitting Adventures Part 1

As explained in my last couple posts, I've been doing a lot of tinkering around on Ravelry which has included test knitting for three different designers.  I'd like to say that my initial thought in test knitting was that I would gain experience in what makes a good tester/designer relationship (for when I get my current designs ready to test) and expand my networking contacts in the woolly-world.  But really, what went through my head each time I signed up was "Ooo!  Free pattern/I want that!"

The Testing Process
When a designer has completed a pattern for design, it's really important that the pattern be checked for errors and comprehension (the same way that you would have someone else proof read a research paper).  Apart from any obvious errors like spelling and grammar, or incorrect stitch counts, there is the bigger issue that knitting has it's own language.  Sure, there are some pretty basic instructions, like knit or purl, which can only be interpreted one way.  But you also have more vague instructions like "cast on" (did you mean "provisional", "long tail", "cable" or "wrap"; each one has a different look and feel), "increase" (knit into front and back of stitch or knit from bar below, or yarn over?) or "decrease" (knit two together, purl two together, slip stitch and knit next stitch and pass the slipped stitch over?).  It's enough to make any novice knitter want to cry!  Add to this the added confusion of abbreviations which are sometimes universal (K for knit) and sometimes specific to the designer or design source, and you can see why the process of pattern writing can be so complicated!

So, what should the aspiring designer do?  Be as specific as possible in your initial pattern, define all abbreviations (even if you think they are obvious) and provide good quality photos or illustrations.  Also, have your design test-knit by several knitters.

Test knitting is the phase where a group of knitters try out your pattern.  They are the ones who will try and reproduce your creation, while making constructive suggestions and catching errors.  As a test knitter, it is really important that you be in constant contact with the designer (so they know what/how you are doing; no news  is no news), be very clear with any suggestions or questions you might have, knit to the gauge recommended and make no alterations to the pattern without designer approval.

My favorite part of test knitting has been finding errors and then figuring out what to do to fix them (this may actually be more of a tech editor thing).  There's something really exciting about that "aha!" moment where you confirm that the issue is really with the pattern and not you, and that there's a way you can solve it!  It immensely satisfying to have figured out what is going on in the designer's brain, while they were designing.

Sophisticated Scribbles
The first pattern I test knitted, by Elizabeth Rislove Elter, available on Ravelry, is a simple knee-high sock with adjustable shaping for the calf and ankle and intarsia detailing.  Having never done intarsia, I figured that this would be a good pattern on which to learn.  So, I checked a couple YouTube videos on basic intarsia (you really only need basic intarsia, even though the sock will be worked in the round: this was the most helpful video that I found) and cast on!

The socks knit up pretty quickly (I ended up frogging a lot of the calf of the first sock when I miss-read the shaping instructions).  (As a side note, in each pattern that I've tested, I've had this mental freak-out moment when I either have no understanding of the pattern, or I read it wrong and knit the next 40 rows wrong, which is weird since I don't have this problem when knitting for myself).  My favorite section to knit was the foot, because of the interesting zig-zag cabling.  That, and after knitting what seems like an endless leg the foot feels like it finished super fast!

Probably the best feature of the pattern is the shaping.  Although I may be designer-friendly-sized (I wear Small for most Vogue knits, and have never knit a sock pattern that didn't fit my ankle, as is) I have several friends who have complained about the lack of sizing options in most sock patterns.  Liz, the designer, has accounted for this with 3 basic sock sizes based on ankle and foot circumference (I made the medium) which all call for customized calf shaping.  You measure your calf and then do some math (she explains it all in a non-scary way, I promise!) and voila!  A sock that fits and won't fall down!

If you give a Knitter Food Coloring...

Last week, while enjoying some indoor time and a warm cup of coffee, I was browsing back issues of Knitty and came across an article about dyeing wool with Kool-Aid and food coloring.  This, of course, made me wonder if there were any Ravelry groups for dyers (there are) which led to perusing photos of beautifully hand-painted skeins, which led to reading articles on different food dyes and coloring techniques, which led to a realization; to dye my own beautifully colored wool I need only:

1. Wool (easily procured from my mother's infinite stash; she was even so kind as to donate a skein of her own hand-spun!)

2. Vinegar (to the grocery store we go)

(3. I already had McCormick's food coloring, water, a wooden spoon, meat thermometer, rubber gloves and a crock pot at home)

This led to my kitchen yesterday, set up like a mad science laboratory, and Mark praying for the safety of our white carpeting (for the record, no surfaces, carpeted or other, were harmed in the dyeing process).  Having read and re-read the Knitty article on food coloring dyes (which you can find here; I found it very helpful) I decided to try the dip-dye method for a teal gradient.  Following the instructions carefully, I re-skeined the wool (using the kitchen table for a longer pattern repeat) tied it loosely and frequently and soaked it in water the night before (I actually washed it first with a little Dawn dish soap) and set up a dyeing station with my crock pot.  I added 8 cups water and 2/3 cup vinegar to the pot, mixed in 30 drops blue and 6 drops green and turned the heat to high.  And then I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  (I know the flipping crock pot can get water to boiling, as I've boiled apple sauce in it before, it just took a long time to get to the right temperature; about 160 F). 

After an hour of waiting, the crock pot reached the right temperature (if you don't have a meat thermometer to check with, just wait until you can see steam rising off the water) and I dunked most of the wool in the pot (swish, swish) and pulled 4-ish inches back out and hung it over a stainless steel bowl, and stuck the lid back on the pot. 

The author of the Knitty article mentions that you don't need to dunk the whole skein to get the light pastels at the very end of it, because the wool will suck the dye/water/vinegar mixture from the crock pot.  What she doesn't mention, is that the wool will continue to suck the mixture and drip it everywhere (or in the bowl, if you're prepared) until there is more water dripping out of the wool, than is in the crock pot.  This means that you either need to add more water to the pot as you dye, or take the mixture that dripped out of the wool and add it back to the pot.  Either way, every time you add more liquid to the pot, the temperature of the mixture goes down, so the wool is not getting as much heat as it may need.  Also, I have discovered that (surprisingly) with wool hanging out of a crock pot lid, the lid doesn't seal and heat escapes.  The upshot of all this temperature fluctuation is that (at least with my crock pot) it would be almost impossible to felt the dyed wool by accidentally boiling the mixture (the temperature will not get that high).  This strikes me with a certain degree of hilarity, as the author of the Knitty article states that accidentally felting your wool is a big concern, and that for this method, using superwash would be the dyer's best bet.  Right...

Moving on, I left all but the first 4 inches of wool in the crock pot for 15 minutes (added back the water that dripped out) and puled out another 4 inches.  And repeat.  And repeat.  And repeat.  (Here are my actual times: 15, 25, 25, 35, 35, 45, 60 minutes).  I added in another 10 drops of blue, and 2 drops of green along with a splash of vinegar about halfway through, when the mixture was starting to look pretty clear.

The good news is that the crock pot can just sit there and cook the wool, without you having to stand over it.  The bad news is you have to stay by it to continually pull the wool out (this may be a good opportunity to catch up on your knitting, or movie watching, etc.).

After the last bit of wool had been in the pot for an hour, I pulled it from the pot (I highly recommend using rubber gloves for this so you don't have blue and/or burned hands) squeezed out some excess water and left the last bit of the skein to cool.  This is an especially important step with wool!   After 20-ish minutes, the skein felt cool to the touch, so I washed it in cool water with a little bit of Dawn, until the water from the skein was clear.  (It was probably 6 or 7 washes).  You can wait until later to wash out the dye from the wool, if you're lucky you might end up with blue knitting needles!

After the wool finished bleeding, I placed it on a towel and rolled the towel up, squishing it gently, to remove most of the water.  Then it was time to hang the wool to dry, and wait some more!  (This waiting was better, because I was asleep). I used a towel hook in the bathroom, although, if you're worried about water puddling from the skein you can always hang it from your shower head.  Just be sure that the non-knitters in the house know, to prevent any interesting shower occurrences or extended dry times. 

Once the wool is dry, take off the ties from the skein and wind it up into a ball for knitting!

And now, I need another skein to dye...

The Best of Christmas 2011

In no particular order, these are my favorite Christmas-related things for this year (prepare for the over-use of exclamation marks!):

1. Hanging out with friends and family: It's always great to catch up with my college friends, and my sister when she's back from WA!  (I have to admit, I'm not always great about staying in touch; should fixing that be my New Year's resolution?).

2. Teaching music students: There is nothing more satisfying, as a teacher, than seeing/hearing your students improve and encouraging their love of music!

3. Warm Weather and Christmas Day Running: As a runner who only runs outside (due to finances) this has been the best December in my memory for running outside with all the 40 and 30 degree temperatures!  Also, spending Christmas morning running a couple miles with my sister was way more fun than loafing in pajamas by the tree!

4. New Books:  One of my favorite things about Christmas is that my mother, the librarian, always finds interesting books for my presents.  This year I got Sheepish by Catherine Friend (which you can find on Amazon) which is a hilarious account of the author's conversion from city-dweller, to farmer, to fiber freak!  It's a pretty quick read (I think I finished it after 2 days) but includes some interesting historical details on knitting and sheep.  Who knew that by taking up knitting I was saving the planet? 

5. Pajamas: For as long as I can remember, I've received one new set of pajamas for Christmas every year (which, when you add it up, amounts to a lot of pajamas).  This year's set is a purple sheep-y pair! 

6. Running Watch: No, my watch is not running away, but I use it when running!  My racing goal for the new year is to run at least 1 half-marathon, and this watch is waterproof, and doubles as a heart monitor.  Bring on the rainy/windy/snowy/cold/hot days; I'm ready to run!

7. Sweaters: I am slightly embarrassed to admit, as a knitter, that I frequently fall in love with mass-produced sweaters.  Pretty much anything that's wool, has cables, is cream and/or has a graphic Fair Isle design makes my heart swoon. 

8. The Sound of Music: Who doesn't love this musical? 

9. The Hobbit Trailer: Thank you Peter Jackson!  As a Hobbit fan, I first had it read to me when I was 6, and have re-read it since many times, I am super excited to see the film when it comes out next Christmas!  Yessssss, preciousssss.  (If you haven't seen it yet, you should!)

10. Baking: I finally have a Kitchen-Aid (best kitchen tool ever!) which I have been enjoying by making stollen, rolls, biscotti and other delicious things!

Ravelry and other Procrastinations

It’s been a while since I’ve last posted any knitting (or other) updates here.  My goal this year was to post updates at least monthly, but that’s kind of out the window now, and here is why:

It all started in October, when one of my friends from the horn ensemble I play with asked me to cat sit for him, which involved me spending cat time at their house.  Because there is only so much time I can spend patting and playing with the furry guys, I stopped by the library to pick up some reads and happened across The KnitGrrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear (which you can find on Amazon). 

 I imagined that the book would be mostly about the logistics of how to start designing (gauges, mathematics, sizing, etc.) which would be helpful to me, as I had been contemplating how to start doing some designing.  I’ve got really good knitting skills, and am good with numbers, and, not being employed full time, I have lots of time which I could devote to design work.  However, the KnitGrrrl Guide is actually more about the business end of design.  There are sections on where and how you can sell your patterns, shipping codes for Etsy sellers, recommendations for design software (or cheap alternatives), general advice for legal issues like copyright, and interviews with successful designers.  The book is also organized very clearly, so if there’s just one subject you want to address, you can find it easily.  There is also a section on media and advertising, with the biggest piece of advice (that I came away with) being to create a Ravelry account, friend people and join groups to create a design-base.

 I had avoided Ravelry, mostly because I didn’t want to start another account (there are already so many social media outlets out there that I felt like I didn’t need another one) but at the book’s advice, I signed up and joined a couple groups including a designer’s group and a testing group.  Since then, I’ve been busy working on test-knit projects, finding new patterns and yarns and new knitting people (instead of updating here).  So far, everyone that I’ve talked with and knitted for has been really pleasant and inspiring!  And I have done absolutely no new design-work.  Go figure!

Be ready for more project updates soon!  If you can't wait though, check my project page on Ravelry (ID: Vivaciousknitter).

Twinkle Tunic

As fall wears on, we have finally started to get cool weather in the Chicago area (rejoice long-distance runners!) ushering in the start of my favorite time of year: Sweater Season!  My love of sweaters has only increased with knitting experience, and it usually takes all my willpower to avoid spending my entire paycheck on the first ones of the season that I see!  (Reminding myself of the entire dresser I have that’s devoted to sweaters usually helps).  Cables and bobbles and Fair Isle all beckon me dangerously.  Must resist urge to knit!

Bobbled Tunic

While flipping through my many back issues of Vogue Knitting, I came across one of my favorite (visually) sweaters in the Holiday 2006 issue.  It is a beautiful chunky tunic by Twinkle featuring the characteristic use of reverse-Stockinette stitch and big yarn (the pattern calls for Cascade’s “Magnum”) for a quick knit.  The pattern features a cabled bobble pattern down the front of the tunic, a bobble vine down both sleeves, a front sweatshirt-like pocket, ribbed detailing and a yoked collar.  

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a thing for Twinkle sweaters; this pattern especially appealed to me because of its stylish ease (it is proportioned to fit like your favorite sweatshirt, but is infinitely more stylish) and the bobbled texture).  However, I had avoided making it because of the expense.  Magnum is a beautiful yarn, but at $20.00/skein (that’s an $80.00 sweater even if you are super skinny) it’s out of my price range.  Then I wondered if I could achieve the same expensive look and texture of the sweater, but with something a lot cheaper.

Enter the purple Vanna’s Choice by Lion Brand Yarn at the bottom of my stash basket.  I’d had this yarn for a couple years as a birthday present from my grandmother, but hadn’t found the right sweater to make from it.  I started playing with it, and discovered that when two strands were held together, the knitted texture was almost as big and fluffy as the texture in most bulky Twinkle knits.  I used 7 skeins to complete my sweater (with plenty of leftovers) at $2.50/skein (Michael’s seems to have the best sale prices on commercially prepared acrylic yarns) which adds up to a $17.50 sweater.  Hello bargain knitting!* 

For the bobbled tunic, I used a size 15 needle; the original pattern calls for a size 17, but I found this texture with the double Vanna’s to be a little loose.  Because I used a smaller needle size, I followed the stitch directions for the large size, and the measurement directions for the small size (my size!) for the body.  However, when I tried knitting the sleeves in this way, they were much too loose, so I followed the stitch directions for the medium size on them. 

The pattern also had some weird measurements for the collar portion of the directions; the pattern suggests that for all sizes, the collar should be worked in Stockinette stitch for 4 inches after the initial decrease round, before completing the rest of the yoke shaping.  However, when I did this, the point where the stitching texture switches from reverse-Stockinette to Stockinette fell directly on my bust line instead of above it.  So, I ripped back and worked 5 more rounds of rev.-St. stitch (logically extending the cabled pattern at the front) including the first round of decrease shaping for the collar.  I then switched to Stockinette for 2 rounds before following the yoke decreases.  The pattern suggests that the final collar measurements for all sizes should be 11 inches, which seems pretty silly to me as the distance from above the bust line to the collarbone will differ for taller or shorter women (and different sizes).  My completed collar measures 10 ½ inches, with all shaping worked over 4 inches.

Overall, I’m very happy with the way the tunic turned out.  It knit up really quickly (I finished it over a couple days) and is warm and cozy, perfect for the Chicago fall!

*Note: Generally, when knitting, I prefer wools over acrylics because of the lasting quality 100% wools have over acrylic and acrylic blend yarns.  The sweaters that I’ve knitted in acrylics and blends (especially Lion Brand wool-ease) may be easy to clean and cheap, but they fuzz, loose shape and wear noticeably over time.  I’m hoping that Vanna’s will wear much better because it is 100% acrylic.

Pillowcase Pattern

It’s October, and signs of the fall season are now totally unavoidable; everywhere there are trees bursting into colors, there’s a nippy chill in the air, and my annual favorite, the pumpkin spice latte, is back at coffee shops everywhere!  So as you dig out your sweaters, woolly socks and heavy quilts, consider getting out your flannel too, for some cozy pillow cases!

Flannel Pillowcases

On my first year out of school I decided to make a quilt for my man’s birthday, and to ensure that he would like it, I had him choose the fabrics (sewers and quilters of the world rejoice, a non-sewer entered a fabric store without much complaining and eye-rolling!).  After dragging him away from the polar fleece several times (I tried explaining that polar fleece is not suitable for a quilt) he settled on some manly flannels.   The subsequent quilt was a huge success, so much that he has only allowed it to leave his bed to be cleaned once!

This year, with fall coming on, I started looking at the leftover fabrics from his quilt and realized there was enough for two cozy, flannel pillowcases.  I took my measurements from a standard pillowcase and sewed up both pillowcases in a matter of hours; instant gratification is delicious!  This would be a great project for a beginner sewer, or a quick housewarming gift since it would be very easy to personalize the pillowcases with almost any kind of fabric.  Please note that the fabric amounts are for two standard pillowcases. 

Important Notes:

·         All seam allowances are for ½ inch.

·         All measurements are in inches.

Fabric:

Main Fabric: 1 ½ yard (I’d recommend buying at least 2 yd for one way, stripe or plaid designs; as you can see on my pillows, I did not have enough fabric to match up the plaid pattern.)

Contrast Fabric A: ¼ yd

Contrast Fabric B: ¼  yd

Cutting Instructions:

Main Fabric:

                 Cut 2 rectangles measuring 22.5” x 39”

                Cut 2 rectangles measuring 9” x 39”

Contrast Fabric A:           

                Cut 2 rectangles measuring 4” x 39”

Contrast Fabric B:           

                Cut 2 rectangles measuring 3” x 39”

Pillow Assembly:

1.       Wash and dry all fabrics thoroughly; this will prevent odd shrinkage and/or dye bleeding later on.

2.       Iron all fabrics.

3.       Cut out all fabrics according to the listed dimensions.

4.       With right sides together, pin the large main fabric rectangle to the contrast fabric A along one of the 39 inch edges.  Sew this seam.

5.       With right sides together, pin the small main fabric rectangle to the contrast fabric B along one of the 39 inch edges.  Sew this seam.

6.       With right sides together, pin the contrast fabric A to the contrast fabric B along their remaining 39 inch edges.  Sew this seam.

7.       Iron all previous seams flat, so that the seam allowances are towards the small main fabric rectangle.

8.       Finish all seams (I would recommend using a surger to finish the seams, or using the zig zag stitch on your regular sewing machine).

9.       Fold the pillow in half, matching up the seams, and corners of the pillow and pin the edges together.  Sew these seams (along the closed end, which is 39” and side of the pillow, which is now 30.5”).

10.   Finish these seams.

11.   Pin the remaining raw edge (the pillowcase’s opening) at ½ inch, and iron.

12.   Pin the folded edge of the pillow to the nearest seam allowance (from the seam between the small main fabric rectangle and contrast fabric B)so that the folded edge is lined up just below the seam, so the seam’s stitches are visible.

13.   Hand sew (using an invisible stitch) the pillowcase’s folded edge to this seam allowance.

14.   Turn the pillowcase right-side out, and iron.

15.   Repeat directions 4-14 for your second pillowcase.

16.   Congratulations, you’re done!  Put your pillowcases on your pillows and take a celebratory nap!

Apron Sets

My old college roommate is an awesome girl.  You know, the kind who dragged you to frat parties, who plotted revenge on your ex-boyfriend when you broke up, who took you to the doctor’s when you had scarlet fever, and was generally your best friend.  My roommate is exactly that kind of girl.  It’s been a few years since college, and we’re not as close as we used to be (a big part of this is that she lives in another state now) but still good friends.  She’s been married for over a year now, and recently closed on a beautiful house with her husband, which has provided me with the impetus for my next project.

My roommate has always been into creative activities like knitting (she’s part of the reason I am so obsessed with knitting; we had so many late-night knitting parties on campus) sewing, cooking and gardening.  And, while her husband may not knit, he does cook and do other fun things with her.  So, I’ve made up a matching “his and hers” apron set for them as a housewarming gift (let’s face it, who does not need a cute flippy apron for their new house?).  I bought the fabric for both aprons at Hancock Fabrics and found both patterns online, for free!

Vintage Apron

The Vintage Apron is double-sided with hand-made bias tape (I’ve become hand-made bias tape obsessed lately; it’s really easy to make from fun stripy fabrics, and looks funky) and detachable ties. 

The pattern, which I found here, was easy to understand with very thorough directions and pattern pieces (very home printer-friendly).  I would only alter it by sewing the button holes before applying the bias tape; I had some trouble maneuvering my machine with the added thickness.  You could also eliminate the button holes and use grommets instead.

Garden Apron

The Garden Apron is also double-sided (the pattern does not call for this, but as I was using a lighter weight fabric than it recommends, and I thought the resulting garment would be cleaner and more durable) with the same bias tape that I made for the Vintage Apron.  I love that it has a bunch of different sized pockets suitable for gardening, kitchen, craft or sewing tools (it seems pretty versitile). 

The pattern, found here, has sewn-in ties (if you made the ties longer you could make them detachable like the Vintage Apron as well) and sectioned pockets as well (I sewed the dividers with two lines of stitching for durability).  This pattern was not as clearly explained as the Vintage Apron pattern, for example, you need to measure and cut each piece as not pattern pieces are provided.  However, the author has provided lot of photos illustrating each step.

I was very happy with the finished result from each pattern; I might even make another Vintage Apron because it’s so cute! 

Vampires and Other Rants

This summer has been a great reading summer for me; I went through the Harry Potter series again (in honor of the last film’s debut) and attacked several books on my “To Read” list including Dune, The Hunger Games series and Twilight.  I’ve always enjoyed a good Sci-Fi/ Fantasy read, and as a chronic middle school teacher, I thought it would be good to read some teen literature.  While I found The Hunger Games to have some vivid, assertive characters and an engaging story (albeit written for a teen reading level) Twilight was pretty bad.  Really bad.  Let me rephrase that, it was like word-vomit.  I’m left totally astonished that Stephanie Meyer could take a potentially interesting idea for a story (vampires) turn it into utter garbage, get it published and develop an international following!  I’ll leave the excessive story bashing to other reviewers (there are some hilarious ones on Amazon, which you can find here) but my main issue with the book is that it is an example of poor writing, with a limited vocabulary, transparent attempts at foreshadowing, under-developed characters and a boring, predictable plot.  (I also disliked the book’s insipid “heroine”, Bella, and found her relationship with the vampire, Edward, eerily similar to the Police song “Every Breath You Take”; complete with bad boyfriend flashbacks from my own horrible dating history!)

Moving on…

Vampire Knits

At the same time that I picked up Twilight at the library, I also checked out Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller, a collection of vampire-inspired knitting projects.  Some of the patterns are Twilight-specific; mittens modeled after Kristen Stewart’s mittens in the first film, knitted totes with expressions from the book (“Be Safe”, “Team Edward”, “Team Jacob”) etc.  Others are more loosely inspired and range from the ridiculous (blood type beer cozies and a “Got Blood? pillow) to the sublime (scarves, hooded capes and socks).  My favorite knit was the Lore Hoodie (featured on the cover) by Cirilia Rose. 

The sweater is knit flat, from the bottom up with the sleeves worked separately in the round (cuff to underarm) and then attached with decreases evenly spaced across the garment as in the yoked variation of raglan shaping.  The ribbed border is knit separately (which felt like it took forever, since you're knitting 90 some inches of ribbed border) and then seamed on all around the front edges.  The leaf lace pattern was really simple to knit, and was outlined in a chart (yay!).  All in all, the sweater-coat would be a good first sweater for the beginning knitter.

I knitted the small size and started with 7 skeins of Di.ve Autunno yarn (100% merino, in color 25761) but realized when I got to the hood that I needed a few more balls to finish the project.  So, I did a few searches on the yarn with the horrible realization that this particular color was not only not being manufactured, but also was impossible to find (admittedly, I brought this on myself, starting a project with a smaller amount of yardage than the pattern called for, and using yarn that I bought 5 years ago).  Fortunately, I found that WEBS Yarn was still carrying Autunno yarn in a similar color (25762) which I used to complete the sweater.  I split the hood with every other row in the new yarn, and used it by itself for the ribbed band.  You can see the slight difference in shading because of the different yarns (which my camera didn't pick up) but I don’t think it looks unpleasant. 

Apart from the “do I have enough yarn panic?!” Di.ve Autunno was wonderful to knit with (why, oh why is Cascade discontinuing it?!).  The wool is so soft on your hands that it almost feels like knitting with clouds, although you may split the yarn if you aren’t careful.  (I didn’t have too many problems with this, but a beginner knitter might.)  The finished sweater is relatively lightweight, but warm, and soft enough that you can wear it against the skin without itching or scratching.

The button loops were crocheted and then sewn on to the garment (the pattern calls for them to be 5 inches long, but I found that to be too long, so I knotted them) and the buttons were from Color in Stitches, Inc.; I saw them at Stitches Midwest over the weekend (they have some fantastic designs and materials). 

Halloween Quilt

Searching through my stash one day last fall, I came across a Halloween print featuring children dressed in a variety of costumes: vampires, cowgirls, pirates and princesses!  It was so cute, that I thought it should be put it a whimsical, child-like quilt!  At the same time, I was working through Coffee-Time Quilts (by Cathy Wierzbicki), a quilting book featuring coffee-inspired quilts and quilted projects as well as coffee related recipes.  I happened across the Cappuccino Crossroads pattern (pg. 28) which features blocks of print, Nine Patch blocks and Rail Fence blocks.  The original pattern features four fabrics; a print, a light, medium and dark.  It seemed that this could be the perfect pattern to use for the Halloween print, except that my fabric stash didn’t include enough of one particular color way for all the blocks.  For this reason, I chose to break the quilt up into sections of green, orange and purple.

To keep the quilt from becoming too much of a color-splotion, I bordered the blocks with a sparkly black over which I hand appliquéd the “Trick or Treat” and the Halloween objects.  I printed up some patterns using Microsoft Word’s Cooper Black font at 400 pt. for the text, and then surfed the internet for fun Halloween images.  These patterns seemed to work really well, and (best of all) were free!  To finish them, I did a blanket stitch around the edges in different colors using DMC embroidery thread.  (In hindsight, I would have done the appliqué on the black strips and squares before sewing the border on to the quilt; the border seemed to be distorted perhaps because of the tensions I put on it when doing the hand sewing). 

The quilting was done using a free-motion foot, and features pumpkins and leaves on the body of the quilt, and stars on the borders.  I had the idea for both designs from The Free Motion Quilting Project (a fantastic blog by Laura Day) which has a wide variety of free-motion designs and tutorials in varying difficulties.  I’ve really come to enjoy free-motion quilting, except that when I’m at it for too long, my back really hurts (not sure if this is because my sewing table is at the wrong height or if I have a bad chair). 

The binding bias tape is from a striped green and black fabric (courtesy of my mom’s fabric stash; guess how big it is!  Hint: the sign over her stash reads “She who dies with the most fabric wins”).  I’ve lately found myself making all the bias tape bindings for my projects; I think they give a more original touch than using Wright’s and sometimes it’s cheaper (if you find a good sale fabric).  Once you’ve got the knack for cutting the strips for the tape, it becomes a simple matter of sewing them together, and then slapping it on the quilt! 

I suppose that before I call the quilt finished, I should stick a label on it (although I kind of want to wait to title it until I know what I’m going to do with it).  This has been drummed into my head for years by my mother and her quilter/appraiser friend; knowing who, where and when a quilt was created adds to its value.  However, once the binding is done, I’m not very motivated to add anything more to it.

The backing fabric features a purple Halloween crow print (the crows have little hats and carry pumpkin buckets!) and the same star print as is used for the cat applique.  Both fabrics are thanks to my mom's stash again (she has so much fabric!).  It all makes for a finished quilt of 59 ½ inches squared Haloween fun!