{Alora's Quilt is DONE!}

Oh my gosh I'm so excited to show you guys these pictures.  I love this quilt!  It's so fun and soft and warm and smooshy!

fabric: Sunny Day by Connecting Threads 

 pattern: Strawberry Fields by Moda Bake Shop

I did the binding in the perfect shade of pink satin.  OH my gosh it's so soft!  But let me tell you... cutting that stuff was a such a pain in the butt! My ruler kept sliding around and I could not get a straight bias cut to save my life. lol  I don't think you can tell too much in the end though. hehe

Then, you may notice that the quilting is ... minimal.  I decided to do this because where the blocks come together are the only straight lines in the quilt and I don't have a quilting foot.  I keep putting off buying extra feet for my machine because I'm pretty sure I'm going to want an upgraded model soon, and some of the new machines come with those things, so I don't want to be buying stuff twice, ya know?

(as an aside: if someone is selling a used Brother machine, I'd be thrilled if you put me in contact with them!)

I can't wait to get it in the mail!

{New Commenting}

Hello Lovely Friends,

I played with my commenting settings yesterday to make it so they appear below the post.  Can you let me know how that goes? lol  Do you like the commenting system here? I wish for it to be the least annoying possible.

Let me know what you think?

Sarah

{Casting On Advice, Please!}

Starting tomorrow, Friday, Mr. Pie and I are headed to the cabins at Douthat State Park! YAY!  It's the park where we got married, so it's a very special place to us, and it's promising some dark and dreary weather, which is perfect for having a wood fire all day!    Knitting in front of the fire at the cabins may be my very favourite thing ever.

So of course this morning, when I should be worried about getting dressed and getting to school to work on my final paper, instead I'm worrying about what yarn to bring for a new project to cast on!  I'll have lots of knitting this time weekend, (and lots of writing time...hopefully) so I'm excited.

Dark and Stormy is one option - this is what I was thinking of using that Vanna Heathered yarn on:

(c) 2010 Splityarn

  This cardigan is top down with worsted weight yarn, so I wouldn't think it would be too bad for cabin knitting - nothing overly fussy and such, so it holds good possibilities. I would have to buy the pattern today though. $6.50 isn't too bad for a sweater pattern.  I would probably have to fuss with the side seams a bit to put some shaping in, but I've been admiring this sweater for so long!

Maybe a sock pattern?  I have a few sock books kicking around and that killer skein of cashmere sock yarn kicking around that I could probably just cake it and toss it in a bag along with my sock needles and have a pretty easy packing job of it.  I do need to finish the second of Mr. Pie's slipper socks before I cast on for more sock though.  In for a penny, in for a pound?

I also haven't knit a shawl in a while and I have a some pretty lace and sock weight yarns that could be shawls.  Do I want something really complicated?  Usually for cabin knitting it's what i go for since there's no distractions, but if I don't *finish* the project this weekend that means that it'll drag over in to the spring school semester which mean - let's face it - it'll be unfinished until at least May. 

There's IS this one shawl idea that I've had percolating for a while: the Cladonia Shawl pattern in this great colour changing yarn, with maybe a soft grey to stripe it with... 

(c) redpepperquilts

So what do you guys knit when you're getting away?

{New Yarn!}

There's a general feeling out there, I think, that when someone gets something for free, that they don't value it as much as if they had bought it.  

I promise you I'm not that person.   I got my FREE skein of yarn from Eat.Sleep.Knit today!!  

Squoosh Fiberarts Merino Cashmere Sock in color "Bark"

If you are a yarn person and haven't shopped at Eat.Sleep.Knit you are totally missing out! Some of the best customer service, hands down, of any retail experience I've EVER had.   One of their totally cool perks is that with every order you get a little scratch and win ticket and I got one along with my christmas present this year.  And I won this yarn!  I am THRILLED!

In other new yarn news, I ordered some new yarn from Knit Picks to do some nice thick fair isle slipper socks for Mr. Pie:

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Worsted in Fedora, Winter Night and Dove Heather, respectively

And picked up some pretty acrylic yarn at a good sale Michael's was having:

Vanna's Choice Heathers in "Grey Marble"

At 1500 yards of worsted weight for $25, I didn't turn this down. It'll be enough to do a whole sweater for me!  I don't think I've ever knit myself anything in acrylic, and I like how this feels, so I'll give it a try.  I don't want to be labeled a yarn snob, right? :)

How about you, any happy stash enhancement lately? 

{Baby Quilt Top}

Continuing with the theme of baby paraphernalia (hehe) : I started a baby quilt!  I've had these precuts from Connecting Threads kicking around for a while with my baby niece in mind; it's called called "Sunny Day". Then I came across this quilting pattern from Moda Bake Shop called Strawberry Fields Forever !  It was a perfect marriage!

I started cutting right away.  Do you know that feeling where you're so excited about a project that you drop everything and become obsessed? I love that feeling. Today, almost 48 hours later, I have this:

Ta Da! Isn't she pretty? These wonky blocks are right up my alley! No measuring! No matching seams! LOL They came together so incredibly fast.  Now, I need to figure out if I want to use some existing fabric that I have, which while the colours work is a flat cotton instead of the flannel, or if I want to order some yardage from this collection instead so it matches perfect.   Then for binding I think I want that silky/ satiny feeling fabric.  What IS that stuff? lol

It's 40" x 40" . Do you think that makes a good sized baby quilt?  I know this way I wont' have to piece the back. :P   I could add borders, I suppose. But I'm kinda digging it. :)

{Baby Sweaters Galore}

I've had a few friends come out and let me know that they are expecting!! I'm so excited for them (TWINS in one case!) so I've been furiously casting on since the day I found out.  Two down:

and a third on the needles!   Of course, I'm just waiting on buttons.  These two up above were from the Concentric Stripes Cardigan pattern, which is free.  I had fun mixing and matching some left over yarns in my stash and finished off a bunch of odds and ends!  The top one in browns is some wool/silk blend, along with wool for the accent colours and the bottom green one is mostly acrylic with some wool accents.

The next one is done in some Unplanned Peacock yarn and i'm loving knitting it. Updates soon!

{Look Ma, No Rolling!}

Ta-Da!  I picked out the cast off edge, did 12 rows of garder and booya! no rolling.  It's not my preferred look, but I like it better than how it was before, so I consider it an improvement.

And yes, that's the Christmas tree still up.  It finally started snowing last night! and it's sticking! So I couldn't take the tree down yet.  Maybe tomorrow.

{Stephen West is a Genius}

Stephen West is a brilliant knitware designer.  I think the brilliance in his designs are how elegance meets simplicity.  When I went searching for a shawl pattern to show off the beautiful stitch definition in the yarn I got from Mr. Pie for Christmas, I found Boneyard.  Definitely simple knitting, but with a touch of interest in the garder ridges every 12 rows.   Then, at the end, I added a whimsical touch by way of another gift: the book Knitting Beyond The Edge.

I'll let you be the judge of their marriage:

I love how this yarn is such a beautiful semi-solid - tones of orange and even red show through subtly in a few places.    What I don't love about this edge technique is how badly it curls, even after a very aggressive wet blocking.  I've considered steam blocking or picking out the cast off edge to continue with a few more rows of garder, or even just picking up stitches on the edge and knitting some more rows with what's left of the yarn.

I'd love your opinion.   Here's to some very successful knitting in 2012!

The deets:
pattern:  Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West  and
            "Lattice Beauty" from Knitting Beyond the Edge by Nicky Epstein
Yarn:     Have you Any Wool Luxe Sport in Truffle