whackadoodle coconut

Yesterday was a great day.  I don't think we (as people) say that often enough.  I had a great day.  John picked me up for an outing in Santa Barbara, I met some new people, ate some food (not awesome, but that's okay) and we stopped in Solvang on the way home and I was able to visit Village Spin and Weave on Alisol.  I have been once before when I purchased a nostepinne about a year ago when I first learned how to spin.  I liked their shop, but since I was still pretty new at spinning I picked up just a few ounces of fiber and then head home to practice. I realized after a few weeks of spinning with my "CD on a stick", my fingers hurt like something awful and I needed something a little easier.  Jump forward and after reading and seeing it in action yesterday, I think I might have been doing it wrong.  As the incredibly nice woman who owns the shop says, I have good form, I think I was trying to hard.  As in - storing too much twist, spinning...

This past weekend, I noticed a dropped stitch on my girl not grey sweater.  I had to rip it back to re-knit.  I ended up ripping the whole thing back and re-knitting.  Good thing it only took a week to knit and I'm almost done with it.  Finish the ribbing along the bottom, sleeves (the initial problem) and then the edging/button bands.  I'm actually glad I am taking a second stab at it, since I wasn't really happy with the neckline and it was getting too big.  Also, as a look back, the strips were uber noticeable, and I didn't really like that.  But, over all I did love the sweater, the grey, the fit, the crop and most importantly, because I knit it and I didn't really follow the pattern.

Entralac - one of those fascinating stitch patterns that just ooh and awe the viewer, but is (surprise) easy to do. It's really a matter of increasing and decreasing, picking up stitches and knowing where to do it and when.  REALLY anyone can do it if they pay attention, even if they don't they will still be able to figure out what shape goes where. I was very surprised that it was such a simple technique, because that new book I bought stretches the instructions over 6 pages.  So I wasn't hopeful that it would work on the my first try, but take a look - Note:  please ignore that it looks like a gay pride flag. front facing back facing upclose of the better part.  the red/orange areas were my first attempts this area is what I speeded along and figured out how to properly pick up stitches for entralac.

I decided to work on a beanie for practice in fair isle following the chart and color changes in the round.  I like the result, even if I ran out of yarn and had to change to yellow.  The cap is incredible thick!  I couldn't wear it in our temperate climate in CA.  I will have to make another with lighter weight yarn and get the ribbing right too (I didn't have the right needles). can you see the ribbing bunching a bit? can't tell when it's laying flat, but the stitch pattern is good love the way the top looks

Still working on my practice fair isle charts, readers, and I think I might be getting a little better.  The tension has evening out and the patterns are looking more like (I think) they should. I think I prefer the geometric designs and the fuller curvy designs the best.  It's hard to see these while I'm knitting so the photos help to give the big picture.  Although I still need practice, I think the results are striking in the purple and green.  Better than the red, orange and yellow.

Since my quilting class has closed, I have spent a large amout of time thinking about what my next quilt will look like and what I can use my scraps for.  I have always looked at this site , but never took the next step since I didn't really remember how to sew or have the resources to get a lot of stuff to do it.  Flash foward to cleaning out the garage recently and I found some old stuff, and I thought I would give it a try. this is the zippered pouch - I just used a scrap from my box. litterally a scrap. it was just big enough to sqeeze this out and line it. and a zipper that I cut to fit the dimensions of the pouch. I also repurposed an old altoids tin with a strip magnet I had some leftover from another project I made for my pins.  These pins are pretty old and beat up, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to use them or not, but I thought I would pull them out one more time in the next quilting class to see if they would be keepers.  I will probably make...

Today was the day I was scheduled to choose new fabrics for my next quilt and I was super excited.  I looked online for the last week or so learning more about the kaleidoscope quilt that I would be making in the next class for a stacked 4 square quilt. I wasn't totally sure what I was looking for, even when I went to scope out some fabrics that I liked.  I chose a few that I thought would work well and I found two that I was especially fond of.  One with dragonflies and another that has sort of a paisley asian/indian print.  The dragonfly print was right out once I pulled it, mostly because the background was too dark. The asian print was my first choice (and it was a little pricey), plus since the print was over 24" I needed the largest amount of fabric.  Now let's see those fabric choices! Here together neatly stacked This is my post and binding fabric. Surprise its the same print at the dark green I bought for my other quilt, just a ligh...