Friday, December 29

Secret sewing

Hello! I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. Congrats on all your progress, Margie!

Since July, I have:

- Finished two squares of the flower cross-stitch and made a bit of progress on others (photo below; compare the last time I posted a photo of the whole thing, in June)
- Cut up MANY (though not all) of the hexagons I'll need to make the flowers in a Grandmother's Garden quilt for my brother-in-law & his family (see initial sewing below). I realized these would be perfect for all the travel I've got planned, so prioritized them ahead of other things. And I just bought a little book light so that I don't have to turn on the overhead light (very bright and annoying to others) on planes. 
- Not made any progress on the heart quilt. HOWEVER, it was my New Year's Resolution to finish this quilt, and I have three days to knock it out. Hopefully before the end of Sunday, I'll have another post about that. :D

- Catherine


Monday, December 18

Swatching

 Well...

Where do the previous projects stand?

The hat was tried on and approved.  It looks great.

The socks for Smallest are complete.

I decided to go with the bigger needles for the armhole, but I haven't finished that, even though it would take less than an hour, I bet.

If you look at the post from earlier in October, there are two sashiko coasters.  There's a line omitted in one, and I've fixed that.

New stuff - I started some socks to give away.  They are toe up socks.  I followed the directions and they are too short in the foot.  I got frustrated (and I broke a needle while trying them on) so I have put them in time out.  Instead, I started a Savage Heart cardigan while in Colorado for our visit and the funeral.  I am mostly finished.  I sewed one of the seams last night, which allowed me to properly try on a sleeve and it seems too small.  There is some acrylic in this yarn, so I'm not sure how it will do with blocking, but I've decided to _try_ blocking it before I unravel it and start again with bigger needles.  The gauge was definitely different than my original swatch, which is frustrating and would also explain why one of the other sweaters I've made for myself turned out too small.  Swatches lie!


I noticed that when we were in Colorado, Sarah's hat (that I knit last year) was leaving marks on her head, so it's probably too small.  Perhaps I will make her a bigger one.

Other than that, I was looking at a prayer shawl that Jeff's mom had started probably early in her dementia and it's looking more like a parallelogram than a rectangle, so I need to undo it and redo it.  I really don't like working with this yarn, so maybe I'll pass it along to someone who would want it?  

I'm not sure what the next project will be.  I need to make another Darjeeling top for Smallest, so perhaps that will come after the Savage Heart re-do (if needed)?  I should finish the Lantana sweater for sure.  It wouldn't take any time at all!

Other random things - I made the neopolitan checkerboard cookies for a cookie exchange party.  They were easier than I expected and very tasty!  I tried making peanut brittle to send to my parents because Gaga used to send it to my dad every year.  Attempt #1 was a failure.  It didn't get that nice brown color and it was not brittle.  I'll try again later.  We're putting insulation up in a space above our balcony ceiling, which is part of the floor in Middle's room.  It always gets cold in their room in the winter and I suspected the problem was no insulation.  Sure enough, that space is totally empty.  Middle comes home on Wednesday, and I'm hoping we can have it fixed before they leave in January.

Look!  No insulation!


I think that's what I know!

Margie