A Tisket a Tasket, a Shawl and a Basket

I must be going through a purple phase.  When I uploaded these photos I noticed that I had a color theme going here, including the African violets I picked up at the market last week.

This shawl is the second project I've made with my Ashford Rigid Heddle loom.  I warped all the spaces in the 8-dent heddle with two skeins (about 520 yards) of TLC, an inexpensive acrylic.  Then I wove with more of the same recycled variegated acrylic and wool yarn I used in my first project.  The results are a large (22x64" excluding fringe) and drapy shawl that I took to my mom when I visited my parents over the weekend. 

I'm still practicing getting my edges even, but I think for my next project I'll bring out some of my better yarns and make myself a shawl.

I also made a second fabric basket, using the same very helpful Craftstylish tutorial I used before.  This time I coordinated the colors: green and violet, one of my favorite combinations. The straps are attached with kilt pins so I can carry it like a tote, but I think it may end up as a cat bed.  I've got lotsa cats, and they like soft sunny places to hide out and sleep.

The Hard Stuff

This is my new toy, a 24 inch Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom.  RH looms are the knitter's gateway drug into weaving.  They're relatively inexpensive as looms go, and are very user friendly.  They also help one to use up the stockpiles of yarn many knitters acquire.

The Ashford comes with a very handy booklet that lets you start weaving as soon as you get it out of the box.  I warped my loom with some ancient sport weight acrylic, and I wove with a fuzzy yarn I recycled from an acrylic and wool unraveled sweater. 


The warping, which scares lots of people, was a simple process I completed in about an hour and a half:  not bad for the first time.

Then I wove this scarf in a couple of sittings. 

This is going to be really fun: I'd like to make shawls, hand towel, place mats, pillows, and table runners.  When I get tired of that, I can weave yardage and make garments. 

Quilt Smackdown!

I made these blocks yesterday as part of Debra's Quilt Smackdown, organized to make quilt tops to be donated to a veteran's service program.  Debra and others made pyramid quilts, but I got inspired by a pattern I saw in an old magazine and decided to use up some of my big stack of 5" squares.

I set out these basic nine patches made up of the 5" squares. Choosing mostly greens and blues, I decided on red stars.  I had a lot of olive greens and the stars are a rusty red, so I avoided it looking too Christmas-y.  I really love the pops of turquoise and orange.
 

For the star points I sewed red 2.5 inch squares to four of the patches.  You could make the points from larger squares if you like.

Sew the small square to the big square diagonally.  I have one of these sewing guides designed to let you do this without marking, which does make things go faster.

Press the small square over toward the point.  Some people would clip away the layers under the small square, but I don't bother.

Voila!  A simple star block.  Eight down, only twelve more to go. 

Summer Travels and Summer Knitting

I went to Austin this month for the CantoMundo workshop for Latino/a poets, which I went to last year in Albuquerque.  Like last year, it was an inspiring and informative experience, and most of last year's fellows returned, so that says a lot about how much everyone values the experience and the community of participants. 

I had a free day before the workshop, so Debra and Sophie came to visit, and we spent all day together, chatting, walking in the million degree Texas heat, and visiting the UT campus.  I only have two pictures to mark the visit: the one above, taken by a waiter, the the one below,  which Sophie took as we serendipitously passed by a mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Debra says we have so few photos because we had such a good time visiting and I tend to agree.  There's nothing like talking quilts to a fellow quilter.  No one else understands exactly the feelings we have for the process and the products of our work, and this sharing forges profound friendships between kindred spirits.   

I needed some airplane knitting for the trip, so I cast on the Wraparoud Eyelet Shawlette by Tess Young, a pattern I bought on Ravelry.  This is a pattern I will make again: it combines mindless and mindful knitting in a balanced way, and the the finished shawl is very drapey and wearable.

I made mine out of some thrifted light blue wool, and some leftover Knit Picks Palette.  The designer includes specifications on the amount of yarn each plain stripe requires so that you can also make this shawl alternating scraps with a background color.

I cut my head out of this picture because I make funny faces when I try to model and take my own picture at the same time.  It's kind of like the face lots of people make while putting on mascara. 

Before I left for Texas I finished my Linen Stitch Shawl.  This was made out of scraps of different mostly red yarns and the pattern is from Sally Melville's book The Knitting Experience Book 3: Color.

I love the effect, but this shawl was slow to grow and I was really glad to bind it off.  It will be a warm shawl for winter.

I've got a few more weeks of vacation and I'll spend part of it continuing my shawl-knitting jag.  I also have a quilt in the works.  Pictures will be forthcoming.

Fabric Basket

Some time ago, I cut a lot of my smaller fabric pieces into strips of varying widths.  I've been incorporating them into quilts, but recently, I found this excellent tutorial on making fabric baskets, and I had fun making a scrappy basket of my own.

I used 1.5" strips that I folded over on the exposed edge as I wrapped the cotton clothesline rope. This eliminated the raw edges that could produce a lot of loose threads.  You could also cut strips on the bias.

I used up lots of narrow strips, and a lot of neutral thread. The finished basket used 96 feet of rope.  I also went through several needles before I realized that using the needle down setting was bending them.

I love the swirling colors and it was very meditative winding the fabric around the rope and sewing around and around.

While I was making this basket I bought 100 feet of cotton cording from JoAnn Fabric (with a coupon) for a second basket.  I think I'll coordinate the colors on the next one.

This made a nice sturdy basket and I used up a staggering amount of fabric strips. 

I'm using this one as a knitting basket, though I can see making cat beds and tote bags using this technique. 

Cheap Thrills

I found these goodies on a recent thrift store trip.  I spent all of $4, and I came away with some minor treasures.

 

I got a bag of the tiniest white buttons, some fine crewel embroidery wool, and this ceramic hand.

The hand rides that fine line between creepy and cool.  I keep thinking one day I'll find one of those hands that are meant to display and store jewelery, but so far no luck, but this one isn't a bad substitute.

I'll use this hand, which is life size (hence the creepy element) to hold beads and buttons.  Remember Thing, that hand in a box on The Addam's Family?  Like Thing, it can be my crafty helper.

As long as it doesn't move around the house on its own like Thing.

I also finished this Deirdre shawl, a free pattern  by Linden Heflin on Ravelry.  It's a fairly plain knit, in that androgynous style so popular these days. 

It has a very simple lace edging, which I'm not sure I did right, but I think it looks fine nonetheless.  I had to knit the lace section twice when I dropped a bunch of stitches in the last row and couldn't pick them up properly, so I ripped that part out and re-knit.  

It was that or toss the whole thing in the back of the closet, and I've run out of room back there.

The yarn is two skeins of Deborah Norville Serenity sock weight in "Teal Tease."  It's a great bargain for a wool, bamboo and nylon blend, and it comes in some nice self-stripping colors.   I'll put this one aside until the fall, or perhaps save it for a gift.

147 Pyramids

My Pyramids quilt started enthusiastically when I went through my stack of 3 inch strips and pulled a bunch in purple and green to make a Thousand Pyramid quilt using Debra's amazing tutorial.

Once I had a bunch of these on my design wall, I stepped away and sighed.  Though I love the look of the Thousand Pyramid design, the thought of all that repetitive sewing gave me hives.  So I went back to my pile of 3" strips, and decided to to do a strippy version of the Thousand Pyramids quilt.

I also decided that instead of starting yet another big project, that's it's okay to stockpile a few baby quilt tops.  There are always babies coming along that need a quilt.

 

This is not quite a thousand pyramids, but I like the way the prints blend and contrast, and the way it's both geometric and floral.  For me 147 pyramids (more or less) were quite enough, thank you.

Bistro Apron and a Finshed Sweater

 It was Allie's birthday this week, and I decided to make her a couple of bistro aprons as part of her gift.  She cooks at a restaurant, and likes the long half aprons.  Since they're pretty casual at her job, I took out some fun fabrics I knew she'd like.

Fabric: Alexander Henry's "Las Señoritas"

These are a cinch to make, and you can easily get one from a yard of fabric.  The finished size is  29.5 inches wide and 34.5 inches long, so cut a rectangle a little bigger than this, fold narrow hems all the way around, and top stitch them down.  Also cut two 1.5 inch wide strips the length of the apron, fold in half along the length of the strips, and then fold and press the long raw edges toward the center and top stitch.  Attach a tie at each top corner, reinforcing each one by sewing an "x" over the spot where the tie meets the apron.   You can add an optional 9X9" pocket at the top.  Press nicely, and you're done.  I'm glad to get some of these fun fabrics out of the drawer and into the light of day.

Fabric: Alexander Henry, "Los novios"

I also finally finished my Top-Down Raglan Sweater, knit from a bag of Noro Kureyon that I treated myself to. 

I got a little carried away by the buttons for this project.  I had stashed a bunch of these bee buttons, and when I began this sweater, I decided to see how many I could use.  Because of all the buttons, the finishing, with the button band and buttonhole reinforcement, took a little while.

This yarn has long lovely color changes, but I cannibalized a few skeins to concentrate the light and dark colors in the most flattering places.  In our cool summer weather, this sweater is my new jacket substitute.

The Bitter with the Sweet

  

My dear cat Fatty died over the weekend.  She was 15 or 16 years old, and came to live with us after the neighbors she'd lived with moved away and left her behind.  They'd adopted her from a shelter, so she had an uncertain early life, but she had great spirit and a big personality, that helped her maneuver in the world until she landed at my house.

  

The neighbors named her Cleo, but giving nicknames based on physical attributes is a Mexican sign of affection and familiarity, so she became Fatty to me.  Ironically, when she got sick over the last few months, she shrunk down to half her highest weight.

She was very photogenic, and she liked to "talk" and "sing."  Here's a favorite post I wrote in 2007 about Fatty, with one of my favorite photo sequences of her.

 She's in the Spirit World now, but I'll always remember her with great love.

Wedding Bells and the Honeymoon Shawl

Michael and I were married May 20 at my house with my kids as witnesses.  We've been moving toward this step in our relationship for some time, but hadn't quite set a date.  Then in May we booked a vacation cruise to Mexico, and readied to leave town on the 21st.  Suddenly The Right Time had manifested itself, and our vacation turned into a honeymoon, with visits to my parents and to one of Michael's sons and his family as bookends.

The wedding itself was hastily arranged.  I only had a dress because I'd bought one for the trip.  We got the license that morning, and I called my kids at noon to tell them that the wedding would be at 2.  Troopers that they are, they showed up right on time (both on their way to work)  for the short ceremony performed by a local judge, a friend of Michael's, who also gamely agreed to perform the ceremony at my house on short notice.  We would've gone to his office, but he insisted that a less bureaucratic location would be much better.  

That night I put my tennis shoes back on and we went out to dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant.   Though the arrangements were very casual, we were both very happy.

The cruise was wonderfully relaxing.  We stopped at Cabo San Lucas and at Puerto Vallarta, where we enjoyed the hot weather, shopping and the beach.  On the ship we spent time reading, getting sunburned, listening to music, and otherwise honeymooning.  It was very romantic.

Looking back on the photos Michael has noticed how happy I look.  Yes, definitely happy.

And there is a fiber-related angle here too.  I started knitting a simple shawl to take on the trip, a variation on the Kid Silk Haze Shawl pattern.  I used some anonymous thrifted mohair yarn on size 11 needles.  If I'd known I was going to get married I might have planned a more elaborate project, but as it is, I finished the shawl, not before the wedding, but on the long drive to Sacramento before our flight to southern California and the cruise ship.

So this is my Honeymoon Shawl, and it worked perfectly as a lightweight but warm shawl for the nights at sea.  It's very much a reflection of our whole wedding experience: it's plain, thrifty, yet cheerful and not without style. 

Mother's Day Aprons

I've had the idea for awhile to use some of my vintage linens and fabrics to make aprons, and Mother's Day provided me with the inspiration to make one for my mom and one for my sister.  These were quick projects that went into the mail the other day, and hopefully they'll arrive on time.

My mom and sister actually wear aprons when they cook, so this is a functional gift.  I usually only wear an apron when I'm going to be cooking for a holiday, when I plan to be in the kitchen for a long time involved in a big cooking production.  But lately I've been wearing a couple of aprons the kids made in middle school home ec., and I think I may make myself a new apron too and expand my choices.

 

The fabric for this first apron is probably from the 70s.  It reminds me of a Marimekko print--remember those?  It has that bold graphic and bright colors.  This fabric was a tablecloth someone had roughly hemmed, and making the apron allowed me to cut around a couple of stains and the ugly hem.  The pattern is one a I copied from an apron that belonged to my grandmother.  That poor apron is threadbare, but I outlined each piece onto waxed paper and I've used it as a pattern.  Even the bias tape is vintage.  The pink tape came in a package with a 15 cent price printed on it.  I've noticed that some vintage aprons mix and match the bias tape colors, so I did that here too.

The my sister's apron is made from a commercial pattern, the Sassy Plus Size Apron Pattern, which runs from sizes 14/16 to 26/28, which allows for a generous apron that covers more than just the front of your clothes.  The paisley fabric is new, but the flounce and pocket were cut from a pillowcase.  These aprons can easily be made from odds and ends, I used a third fabric for the ties and neck straps.

I've got a big stack of fabrics piled up to make a few more aprons.  This is a very satisfying project.  I may have to join the campaign to bring the apron back into widespread use so there will be a reason for all this sewing.

Happy Mother's Day to all!