More House Blocks

My little house block neighborhood is growing.  I'm debating whether to make one more and make an 18 x 18 cushion, or keep going and make more blocks for a quilt of some sort.

I'm still having fun with these:  I made the pink house yesterday to mark all the rainy weather we've had lately.

Of course I had to make a dog house.

And I confess I had way too much fun making this little house on fire.  Hmm...decisions.

Free Pattern Friday: Looped Dishtowel

I ran across a great pattern for a crocheted potholder, but the part I liked about it the most is that circular loop, which makes it perfect for hanging.  I figured it'd make a perfect dishrag or even a dishtowel, one that had its own loop for hanging.

So I made the pattern, but just kept crocheting, using a whole ball of kitchen cotton.

This is perfect for hanging next to the sink so I can dry my hands.  I may eventually make some actual potholders from this pattern,  There are some helpful notes on Ravelry that describe how people doubled the thickness so that you can actually use them to grab hot pots.  But for now, maybe I'll just make some more hanging towels.

Pencil Pouch

My daughter was home between semesters at college and asked for a new pencil pouch.  I was, of course, happy to oblige.

These were made from a tutorial on the Simply Notable blog.  The instructions are crystal clear, and it was fun to let Allie pick from my stash of quirky fabrics.

These can be made with three coordinated fabrics-- the pouch is fully lined--so this is a scrap-friendly project.  Looking for zip pulls in my embellishment stash was also fun.  I may make more of these for gifts.  I'll be scouting the thrift stores for 9" zippers.

Free Pattern Friday: Knit Night Hat and Camp Out Fingerless Mitts

It's nice to have coordinated sets of knitwear.  I often find myself in a mishmash of odd pieces, that while warm, don't always create a stylish image.  From one ball of Malabrigo Rios yarn, and less than one hundred yards of Elsebeth Lavold Favorite Wool,  I knit both the Knit Night Hat, and the Camp Out Fingerless Mitts.

The hat pattern runs big, a good thing for me because I have a large head.  The mitts pattern is fun because it uses a few special techniques: the provisional cast-on, and the 3-needle bind off, that make it interesting.  It made my thrifty heart sing to use the leftover Rios to trim the mitts, since the yarn is so special.

Stitching House Blocks

 I've always loved house blocks, and I even bought a set of templates, Marti Michell's Small Schoolhouse 6" set, a long while back.  I recently thought it'd be fun to make up a few blocks, and they're quite addicting.

 

 It's been fun finding images to go into the doorway and window.

And of course, the sky is also fun to choose fabric for.

I've got a fantasy of a large quilt made up of these little scrappy houses.  A girl can dream, right?

Free Pattern Friday: Swiss Cheese Scarf

I've starting knitting a lot more scarves.  They're very fashionable, while still being warm, although when you've done 70 inches of the same pattern, it can be a slog at the end.

This pattern had enough variety to keep things interesting.  It's a riff on Winnie Shih's Swiss Cheese Scarf.  I used half the number of stitches in the pattern.

CO 48

Row 1-6: Knit
Row 7: k3, (BO 6, k6) 3 times; BO 6, k3
Row 8: k3 (CO 6, k6) 3 times; CO6, k3
Rows 9-14: Knit
Row 15: BO 3, k6, (BO 6, k6) 3 times, k3
Row 16: BO3, k6  (CO 6, k6) 3 times, CO 3
Row 17: K to the end, CO 3

Repeat Rows 2-17 until desired length.  Bind off all stitches.

My scarf was knit with one skein of sport weight wool on #7 needles.  I used almost all of the 370 yard skein.

Scarf Weaving on the Rigid Heddle Loom

One of the things I wanted to do over my vacation was to weave.  So I made up these two scarves on my Cricket loom.

 This purple scarf was a scrappy project.  I warped the loom with leftover Lion Homespun and eyelash yarn, and I wove the weft with some thrift-store sourced chenille.  The texture is very soft and fluffy.

This second scarf was made with one skein of Lion Homespun.  I've blogged about weaving with this yarn before.  It's very splitty and unravels if you look at it sideways, so it's a bear to knit or crochet with, but it's wonderful for weaving.  Just make sure to knot and/or apply fray check to any cut ends.

And because I have a lot of small WIPs, I made two more Japanese Knot Bags from the free on-line BHG pattern.  It's been fun using some of my more playful prints.

The three bags fit nicely in a basket and I can grab one and go when I need a bit of knitting meditation.