Welcome home, babies!

Happy year 2010! I’m glad to announce the arrival of my nephew. In addition to a grateful  and excited family, he was greeted with the following:

Quilt made from my treasured fabrics of the Aviary line of Joel Dewberry. I’m still holding onto a full quilt’s worth of the pink/green colorway.  The pattern used on this tiny quilt is Nest by Tula Pink (for her Nest line). I modified the original block size down to 11.5 inches. The binding is My folklore by Lecien.

Here’s the back of the quilt, together with Wave blanket from Loop, knit with three colors of fingering weight merino, two strands held together.

Now, I wanted the baby boy to have some toys for comfort and play to come. First I made the Scotty dog from a mix pack of Anna Maria Horner scraps in home dec weight. While it looked delightful it seemed a bit large for a newborn’s cot. So I made its companion bunny.

I hope the wee one and his family enjoys these humble offerings. For future notice,  all may be machine washed at 40 degrees.

On the homefront, I upgraded my sewing machine. While my partner hoped I’d choose one “with a bigger tv” (an embroidery machine with large screen) I got a Quilt Expression 4.0. In the plans: stippling and larger quilts. As soon as I learn how to maneuver it! See below for practice runs: appliques for t-shirts for the bigger kiddos in my life.

 

Holiday tree

Two of these ornaments are flying with me across the Atlantic in 10 hours. Some gift delivery has been outsourced, too. Happy holidays! P.S. Look at that apple up there!

 

In the dark

I haven’t knitted in ages. These socks were finished sometime this fall. The yarn is The Unique Sheep’s  Tinsel Toes in the colorway Spiced Apple. Very fitting for this time of the year, no?

The pattern came from a blog but I’ve misplaced my printed pattern, can’t seem to locate the pdf and my googlefu is failing me miserably. I’d like to give credit where it’s due so help me out. What pattern is this? It’s a cleancut two by two zig zag rib and I think the eye of partridge heel was my addition. Maybe it’ll come to me…

Here are some of my souvenirs from Vancouver. Fleece Artist Nova socks and Hand Maiden Casbah (colorway Hemlock). Not even intended for knitting yet, just admiring. I think all pretty yarns should be put on layaway for a while so you can decide on a pattern and cause worthy of it.

Not a lot of light around. I can feel the hibernation mode coming on. I’m ready to be snowed in!

 

Woof

I wanted to learn a new skill this year. Now, I’m not entirely sure I could claim that I know how to weave so I’ll let you decide. I bought this baby from Fibrecrafts and my friend of the amazing biceps hauled it to Finland. No, it didn’t fit into my suitcase. Yes, I thanked her. No, I didn’t thank her enough. Thank you!

She’s a 15 inch Schacht Flip folding rigid heddle loom and I am in love. The first few weeks I just started at the parts from the couch. Sizing them up, getting ready for the battle. One glorious Sunday I put her together and placed her on my coffee table. A perfect match. Some petting of the ever so smooth maple wood finish ensued. It took me another week to even think about warping. It was rather straight forward, as I followed the (you guessed it) direct warping method. A few adjustments to tension and I was off. This is the second thing to come off my loom. The first was deemed a sight not suitable for children.

Facts: The warp is undyed fingering-weight Knitpicks Gloss and the weft is Noro Silk Garden Lite in colorway 37. I used 150 g of both yarns for a scarf that’s 72 inches long and 13 inches wide. The finishing is an improvised hemstitch done in both directions for symmetry.

More facts: I love it some much I never want to wear other scarves. Plus it got me more attention in Vancouver than I could have dreamt of. Thank you random bus driver on Kingsway! Oh, and “woof”? An old term for weft. I just thought it funny. :)

 

Shades of autumn

I managed to do some late autumn dyeing despite nature’s insistance that it was too cold. Frozen fingers and mushrooms will not stop me, ha. Besides, it was nice to be out in the crispy air at 7 am by myself. I can’t take credit for picking these beauties, though.

I’d picked a couple of kilograms worth of cortinariius semisanguineus on a couple of occasions and even found some cortinarius sanguineus with the help of two foxes. People like to pick mushrooms with me because there’s no fighting over the loot: I just want the poisonous ones.

Here are the results, please excuse the fleeting light. All second dyebath skeins are missing as thosed were done way after sundown. From left to right:

1. semisanguineus stems (feet) on wool, 10:1 mushroom:fiber ratio, pH 5
2. semisanguineus stems (feet) on silk-wool, 10:1 mushroom:fiber ratio, pH 5
3. semisanguineus caps on wool, 10:1 mushroom:fiber ratio, pH 5
4. semisanguineus caps on silk-wool, simultaneously mordanted, 10:1 mushroom:fiber ratio, pH 5
5. semisanguineus caps on silk-wool, premordanted, 10:1 mushroom:fiber ratio, pH 5
6. semisanguineus caps on silk-wool, 10:1 mushroom:fiber ratio, pH 9
7. sanguineus on silk-wool, 5:1 mushroom:fiber ratio, pH5

It was fun to see what difference resulted from different fibers, mordanting, mushrooms and their parts and dyebath pH. The best discovery, prompted by the amazing new mushroom dyeing book by Hjördis Lundmark and Hans Marklund, was the heightened pH in the semisanguineus dyebath. Not an expert in the chemistry but it seems that the yellow color agents don’t work in high pH baths. The result is a gorgeous cold pink with no yellow undertones.

While cooling my dyebaths I noticed one of the containers was a suprisingly good match for its new contents. My tastes in mushrooms surely have hanged over the years!

 

Coming along

They are, I promise. Aunt Stina will be ready.

 

Summer memories

1. puzzle, 2. anyone home?, 3. seaside, 4. sea, 5. blooming, 6. for sauna, 7. beach, 8. jungle, 9. fresh pickings, 10. ready to go, 11. jaws, 12. beetle and berries, 13. august sunset, 14. water swirls, 15. dog dreams, 16. heathers

 

Summer Wonderland

Long time, no post.  I can’t even pretend that I’ve been too craftasticly busy to post, nah, I’ve been slacking. However, here is something finished.

It’s a new bedspread for my goddaughter who is suddenly a big girl. The quilt measures 43 x 63 inches. I quilted it in simple straight lines a 1/4″ away from the seams using a pink cotton thread. The quilting pattern, in fact the whole quilt, was completely inspired by this charm pack quilt. The Wonderland line by MoMo included a cheater print, and I skipped all piecing work. The colorway for both front and back is Sugar. I almost like the back more than the front. The binding is a brown-on-red dot print from the same line.

The quilt was recieved with thanks, and some immediate “cover and hide” play. She recognized the birds and butterflies, irons and air moisturizers require some training still. I think it fits her bed nicely, if I say so myself.

Thanks to my photographer for the good shots, I am to blame for the bad ones!

 

Summer or not?

It has been a sunny day. As my foxy friend already pointed out, it’s way too warm to be wearing these:

But I had to show them after working on them for a long time. Who knew that Noro Kureyon sock with 72 stitches on 2.25 mm needles would take a while? That knitting heels twice takes another while? If I’d only learn to take notes of my heels…

The one knot in the yarn made me unhappy but I’ve decided not to let it bother me. The flow gets interrupted by the heel anyways. I do like almost all the shades the colorway includes. True to my ways, I’ve misplaced the wrapper so I haven’t got a clue which colorway this was.

I think it’s time to let the wool rest and work with cotton. Not of the yarny variety though. I’ve had these beauties out on my floor for a week, as I’m trying to decide on a sashing color.

Paint-by-number deers and sunshine filtered through the blinds. What could be better?

 

Delta E quilt

I saw the Morning call collection by Hoodie in December and immediately bought six different prints and matching Bella solids from Fat Quarter Shop. Color matching was done with the scientific scrutiny and involved meticulous calculations of color differences (thanks to my expert consultant!).

The basic blocks are from Amy Butler’s Pink Bliss quilt but I made more of them and improvised the layout and the vertical strips. The finished quilt measures 54 x 80 inches (137 x 203 cm). The back is a gray Egyptian cotton sheet. I quilted the thing in the ditch, randomly following the rectangles in the quilt top.

The binding is made out of the red spoon and fork print. I like the way the white and black utensils alternate. Extra points for those who spy the duck amongst all that wonky quilting!

Well needless to say that it took me a long time to finish this quilt. I started piecing it in February! During the spring I fell out of love with the fabrics, mostly due to growing annoyance at my own laziness. But have no fear, the finished quilt has found a loving home nonetheless.