Sewing Plans & Bandwagon Block #10

After a lunch of baked beans leftover from Sunday I drove off to get some birdseed then to check out patterns at Hancock to see if I could find one like the shirt that cda, my roomie at The Clearing had with a handkerchief hem.  I found one that was 40% off, still over $11 (do they think millionaires sew?) but it'll be $1.99 starting Thursday, so I bought it because it was the only one remaining in my size and then just take my receipt back after Thursday and get the difference refunded.  Smart, eh?  I also had to (HAD to) buy enough of this just-right t-shirt knit in red/black/gray stripes.  I'm going to look awesome, also cool.  If it doesn't look like the dog's dinner on me once I get it made.  Maybe I'll get some less expensive, solid color, single knit and make a "muslin" so when I make up the striped shirt it'll fit just right.



I cast on the next Bandwagon Afghan Block #10 the other day.  I keep remembering that I only have to make 3 more (well, 2 1/2 now) before joining the blocks and then figuring out if I want to do the recommended I-cord binding or maybe I'll do a few rounds of single crochet to finish it off.

I got myself a new yoga mat today which made me dig out the yoga mat bag I started making nearly a year ago when I started doing yoga.  I'd hoped to get to working on it this afternoon, but that didn't happen, so I'll hope to find time over the weekend. 



After we defrost and inventory the freezer, of course.

I'm So Over These Hats

I stayed up until midnight last night finishing Hat #3 and it's so cute I can barely stand it.  I hope the person who ordered them likes them.  I'm pretty confident the mother-to-be will because, really, you're so hormonal in late pregnancy your judgement is pretty skewed so that anything for your baby is awesome.  Sometimes I miss being pregnant, or maybe it's just missing being that young.  That's probably it.









Anyway here are the finished hats.  All made with free patterns from stash yarn, all machine wash and dry-able. Ahh.

I Shouldn't Go Into Yarn Shops Either

I think it's the % off signs that are my downfall.  That must be it.  I can walk through a fabric store or a yarn shop and admire all of the full price wares but if I have an expiring coupon or if there's a "__% off" sign on something, I'm a goner.  I was peeved that Red Sock Yarns in Fish Creek is closed.  That was what I wanted to do on my afternoon off from The Clearing, I wanted to steep myself in wool fumes for an hour or two.  I even had a project along so that I could sit and knit, but the weak economy got them and they moved then closed.  Dagnabbit.  So I HAD to stop at Spin in Sturgeon Bay on my way home.  I had to.  And they did not disappoint.  Look at all the goodies I found in their 40% off baskets!  See that red/orange/yellow Dale wool?  There were many more skeins of the lime green/orange/yellow colorway that I didn't buy.  Good girl, Barbara, way to resist.  I have more skeins of other colors of the wheat cotton & silk Svale so I figure a neutral is always a good addition.  Right?  Right.  That Noro Chirimen was also irresistable.  It's cotton, silk & wool, and look at those colors.  You'd have bought it too, I know you would have.  You all know that I am not a blue girl, not at all, but who could resist those skeins of Berroco Blackstone Tweed?  So many patterns are made with alternating colors in two row stripes that I had to buy the teal and indigo to make a scarf or shawlette, besides it's really soft and TWEED.  I love tweed.  That one little skein of brown and variegated roving-type yarn will make another of those addictive purse-stitch scarves I made so many of a couple years ago.  She threw in a free vest pattern.  It's one of those two-row stripe things plus it's got those drapey fronts that are so in style right now.  I am fully aware that by the time I get around to making it that style will be passe but the pattern was free.  *shrugs*


While most of what I did last week was write, I did knit on a few things.  I added my daily Maple Tree Scarf rows and I'm watching for the first leaves to turn so I can start adding in color.  They say it'll come early this year because of the drought.


I finished up the newborn-size rolled brim hat for KL.  It's a lot longer with a lot more brim than I thought there'd be but that'll be good so that it'll fit the new little guy no matter how big or small his head is when he's new.


Last night I cast on the beginning of the thrid hat I want to make for that baby-to-be.  It'll be an earflap hat and I'm making it 3-6 month size so he'll have a new, handmade hat to wear for his first year of life.  I'm knitting them all out of stash and using free patterns I found on Ravelry so I don't have any qualms that I'm overachieving on this request.  I'm having fun.  Leave me alone.

Hat Days

Almost the instant I put down the needles from finishing those cotton hand towels I got a FB chat question from friend KL asking if I'd make a couple of baby hats she can give to a friend at her baby shower.  Of course I said "of course."  Then I had the fun of trolling through the Ravelry pattern files refining my search *knitting* *picture* *free* *worsted.*  I love that you can even select the amount of yarn you have to make a project and they'll offer you what you can make with that.

The first one that caught my eye was Oonagh's First Hat.  It uses bulky yarn and size US13 needles.  Those are some big needles for a baby hat but I plunged in anyway.  I grabbed two strands of my favorite red & orange & lime green acrylic yarn and got clicking.  Everyone loves tiny newborn things but they fit for such a short time that I decided to make this first hat in the 6-12 month size.  It was quiet at work yesterday so I plugged my iPod into one ear and knitted.  Finished!  After supper I wove in the ends (didn't put my scissors & needle into my bag for work, grr) and snapped its picture.  It looks big to me but it's right on gauge for the size according to the pattern.  It probably qualifies as a Toddler hat.


Next up is the Basic Newborn Baby Hat in 100% cotton, to help him keep his head warm when he first arrives.  I'm a sucker for the roll brim look, but now that I think about it maybe it's a bit girly for a boy baby.  I just checked Ravelry again and the same designer has another Basic Newborn Hat pattern that's got a ribbed brim.  It uses the same yarn and the same size needles... maybe I'll rip out the inch I've got and do that one, it's only an inch.  (I hate ripping out knitting almost as much as I hate rewriting, and I really hate rewriting.)  Or I'll just keep going, it's not as if he'll have the wits to yank it off when he's so new.  (or maybe I'll make one of each, I wonder when the shower it...) This one will be the littlest, newborn hat he can wear home from the hospital if his Mama wants him to or around the house for his first few weeks, just until he gets his thermostat under control.

For the third (and probably last) hat, I'm thinking of something with earflaps.  Possibly this one since it's a pretty straightforward design.  I have some variegated yarn to use so I don't need anything design-y to make it more complicated.

Keep Me Out of the Fabric Store

I can't be trusted not to blow my wad.  Really.  I went over to Hancock yesterday afternoon with 2 things on my list: 1. more bobbins and 2. quilt block templates.  I got the bobbins, a 10-pack for 50% off, they didn't have the templates so I got a package of sheets to make my own.  Then I made the grave mistake of trolling the sale tables.  I should NOT  do that.  N. O. T.  You know, you look at the sign and it says "$5/yd" or "50% off" which seems like such a deal.  It isn't when you buy 3 yds. to make a skirt or you find 3 awning stripes, a gorgeous red solid, and a floral you really like,  with the half-price bobbin organizer deal of the day you toss into your basket at the cutting table you get out of there for just under fifty bucks.  Gah.  What happens to my firm determination to stop buying fabric and sew out of my stash?  I don't know.  It's the same thing that happens to my determination to cleave solely to my WW Points Plus regimen and not eat ice cream cones or fried fast food.  I'm weak, let me just put that out there, in those cases I'm weak.  Now, I can avoid smoking and ignore hard work pretty darned easily but I'm toast, a marshmallow when it comes to some temptations.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I need a keeper.

I worked on the cotton hand towel I started in Rapid City and I'm almost done with the button strap.  Then I'll weave in the ends, sew on a button, and voila! a new towel.  Red too.  At the same time I'll weave ends and sew a button on the possibly too small one I made before we left.  There's enough of it to dry my hands on, plus it's just a towel.

The other night I met Z-Dawg at the Attic and while we caught up on our various workshops and trips I made a tiny little pompom to put on the tiniest preemie beanie I knitted on our trip.  I think it looks great on Basil Bison Buffalo.  I don't think he agrees, but I'm the boss of him, plus I think it looks cute.

On my last trip to JoAnn I also fell into the sale fabric trap, just not quite as deeply as I did yesterday.  I bought some rolls of ribbons to use to make straps that I forgot to take a picture of, and I also bought a few 1/4 yd. lengths to use as scarves.  I bought a single knit scarf at a boutique on the riverwalk in Sheboygan in April for about twenty bucks; I got 1/4 yd. of these 3 for less than that total.  You just get some t-shirt knit fabric (it's usually about 60" wide), get 1/4 yd., trim off the selvages, and voila! scarf.  I tie a knot in the ends to give them a little weight and I've frayed the dark coral one's edges (it's woven, not knit).  I'm thinking I'll put some thread in my Pfaff and sew a black key design around the edges to keep it from fraying anymore.  Should look classy and make it less messy.  I am a design genius!  Just ask me.

I Did Actually Knit On Vacation

There was a lot of car time--a LOT--but there was also lots to see while in said car (or van or dark blue aircraft carrier, whatever) so I spent a lot of miles when I wasn't driving holding a camera ready to take a picture or twelve.  There were skies...

 
...fields of sunflowers 




 



badlands that I-94 goes right through...

and finally mountains.  Mountains, can you believe it?  They actually make roads on the knife edge of mountains in places I am certain no self-respecting mountain goat would dare to tread, and of course Durwood had to drive on them and enjoy it while doing it.  I, being the one with the most brains, spent our time on the Beartooth Highway scared shitless and whimpering like any sane person.  The only thing I can say is, thank god it was light when we did that.  I only drove at the end when we weren't 10,000 ft. in the air.  No wonder I was breathless and Durwood was giddy, there's no oxygen up there.  Sheesh.

Like I said, I did knit.  I made preemie hats.  They're easy to knit on and quick to finish so I feel like I'm accomplishing something.  I love this Premier Everyday yarn; it's acrylic so it can be sterilized if need be and parents with too much to deal with don't have to worry about ruining the damned hat, plus the colors are so cheerful and not pastel which to me means "I'm sure you're going to grow up to be a very fun and interesting person" not "oh look at the tiny sickly baby."  Sorry, although I think pastels are sweet, I think preemies need all the power we can lend them to fight the effects of their too early birthdays.  Bright color means power to me.


I also finished Bandwagon afghan block #9.  It's garter stitch so it's easy car knitting.  Only 3 more blocks to go then I can join them and edge it.


We passed a Hobby Lobby in Rapid City and I finally had to stop, even though there are 2 in town that I often pass.  I cruised the yarn aisles and ended up buying a skein of this Monkey Red "I Love This Cotton" and a tan/beige one too.  I cast on a Mitered Towel and plan to switch to the tan when I get to the garter stitch top.  I'm also hoping to learn to count, or press my counter button after each and every row, since so far my counting has been, let's say, flexible.  Not that it matters.  It is only a hand towel to hang from the stove handle, still I'd like to make it right.  Just once.

We passed a yarn & bead store on the road to Mt. Rushmore in Rapid City and managed to stop at, like, 4:45 PM (she closed at 5:00) on our last day in town.  I found a few skeins in the 40% off bin (of course, when did I ever pass up yarn on sale?), a skein of Encore in a variegated I haven't seen to make another boot sock, two skeins of cotton/viscose kids' yarn (to make a scarf maybe), and a skein of Sockotta and some beads to make a beaded and drop stitch scarf like she had on display.  Naturally she didn't have a pattern but she let me take a picture and I'm sure Z-Dawg will help me figure it out.  She's gifted that way.


Oh, and I knit rows on the Maple Tree scarf along the way.  (What?  it's summer, like the leaves are anything but green)  It's week #35.

Now that we're home I've got a few bins of label sewing for Lucie to do this weekend, and I need to enter my yarn purchases into Ravelry and maybe look for a drop stitch scarf pattern while I'm there.  Next weekend the next to last BOM quilt block instructions will be on Craftsy (what do you mean you haven't gone over there and signed up yet?  it's free, people, F-R-E-E.  *shakes head* you guys.) so I can sew them up and be that much closer to making my first quilt.  Squee!

August Block Of the Month Quilt Blocks

After I finished changing out the pullover zipper for a full-length one in Durwood's birthday gift, I got started on the quilt blocks because we're leaving next Saturday morning for a 2-week vacation.

The blocks this month are both stars, Ohio Star and Double Star.  I enjoyed making them both, especially my first foray into making flying geese for the Double Star.





Figuring out how to place the ruler to cut out the center of the Ohio Star took some time but I managed.
 

I'm happy with the contrast of the dark blue, yellow, and the blue with orange (looks kind of universe-ish, I think) in the center.  I was looking for an opportunity to use those three fabrics for months.  I think I made the right choice.



With the passage of each month I'm more eager to get to November when we learn to assemble the blocks with sashing between them (dark cocoa brown) and put it all together with the batting and backing, and in December when it's time to machine quilt and bind it.