Scrappy Trip Around the World Finish!

 I finally managed to stop cuddling under my quilt to take some photos of it to post here.  It's been a problem and I've wanted to bring it everywhere, just in case the Polar Vortex attacks again.

 And see?  I'm not the only one who loves it.  How could I possibly take a quilt away from this girl?

This is the first quilt I finished at my guild's retreat a few weekends back (there's a great write up of all the fun we had here).  I've had the top done since forever and I knew how I was going to quilt it, but it just lay in a pile.  I don't know why it took so long, but I'm glad it's finally finished.

It's the Scrappy Trip Around the World pattern that got really popular about a year back.  I pulled out all of my scraps (then had a moment of shock at how many there were since it was my first time really digging into them) then started just cutting one slice of fabric off most of the fabrics in my stash.  The result is a snapshot of what I was sewing with at the time, and it's very different from the state of my stash now.

I quilted it in the Dogwood pattern from Elizabeth Hartman.  I've wanted to try it since first seeing it on her blog, but never really had anything that would work.  The second I started making this quilt, though, I realized it would be perfect.  The two inch blocks are a great size for the first time trying the pattern.  You don't have to travel really far, so the arcs don't get too distorted, and since there's so many of them, the mistakes disappear.

I made the back scrappy too, using a couple pieces of leftover flannel from quilting previous quilts.  It's not been washed yet (too hard to get it away from the couch), but it already is super soft and perfect for cuddling under and watching TV or knitting.

Linking up with Blossom Heart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday and Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday!

      

WIP Wednesday!

The Seacoast MQG and Boston MQG retreat was a major success!  I managed to quilt two quilts (one that's been lingering for about a year) and got some serious work done on Pinkie Pie.  Pinkie is back on the list, and close to the top since I'm not dreading pulling her out to sew.  

But the big WIP is to put away all that stuff.  Packing was so easy, just toss stuff in a bag and go, but the unpacking looks awful.  I may just leave stuff in bags and projects and supplies out as I need them.  Not pretty, but better for my brain.  And besides, all the projects I never got to are packed with the supplies I need to finish them.  Why break up such awesome organization?

And while I was procrastinating from the pile of stuff, I decided to bite the bullet and rip out these socks for the third (fourth?) time.  I got mid foot and realized that I didn't like working the complicated cable pattern (I like patterns I can remember and don't need to constantly be looking at the book to get right) and they were probably going to be too big on me anyway.

So I ripped out until I was down to just 60 stitches on each sock (instead of the 68 I had), and put those back on the needles very carefully.  I restarted them using the Seagrass pattern from the book (Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time) which is just a staggered pattern of knits and purls over six stitches.  Way easier, and I can knit them quickly in the continental style, which was impossible with all the cables before.  Hope to have socks before it gets too warm to wear them!

Last on the short list of WIPs is my quilt for do. Good Stitches.  I picked the Pyramid Scheme block by Quilt Dad, and I got the last set of blocks on Friday.  I'm going to just piece them together without sashing, but I need to decide how to orient the blocks, all in the same direction, alternating so the big colored triangles match up, or something else entirely.  Now that I have them all I can really play.

And, speaking of do. Good Stitches, my circle was featured on Stitched In Color, so everyone should check it out here!  The pink quilt in all the pictures was the first quilt I worked on with these women, and I love how it turned out!

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

Friday Finish: The Fastest Raglan Sweater

This sweater is proof that I can't let my hands rest for even a minute.  I was supposed to be knitting up a baby blanket for a friend.  It was going well until I realized the pattern was off an entire ball of yarn on it's supplies list.  So while I waited for my order to arrive (of course, the one time I order yarn online) I made this sweater.

I let the boy pick the yarn and I love the color he chose.  It's Jade Heather from Patons.  It looks green from afar, but close up it has specks of yellow and blue.  And knitting with it was really nice.  It has the right combination of slips off the needles so you can knit fast, but doesn't just slip off the needles and you drop stitches.  Makes sense?  Who knows, but I liked it.

The pattern is an oldie.  I went to ask my knitting partner-in-crime for her Elizabeth Zimmerman books, and she busted out this crazy raglan sweater chart where you just measure the person you're knitting for and follow the column of numbers for your cast on stitches, increases, length of stockinette, etc.  It's kind of amazing.  I've already bought more yarn to use the pattern again, but this time with a few variations.

The one bummer with the sweater is that the sleeves aren't really long enough for him to grow into next winter, so this is probably just going to be worn for a few months before getting sent to his sister's drawer.  I swear I measured and then had him try it on before I added the ribbing, so he must have had a growth spurt overnight.  It's the only explanation.

But he loves it, so I don't care about anything else.  Also, he's a goober who just wanted to eat snow the entire time I was trying to take his photo.  At least he wasn't cold!