Knitting, Unknitting and Reknitting

Well then.
I think it would be gross to fill those bunny nuggets with salsa.  They would get all soggy.  Eew.

I finished the latest ruffly scarf, the one with the German directions.  I tried it on and it seems short.  I can't loop it around my neck and still have enough to hang down enough to look lovely.  There was no specification in the directions for how many stitches to make for the scarf, so I used eight, since that was what I had used for the girls' scarves.  Now I think eight was too many.  So I un-knit it.  Boo.

Using my wicked math skillz, I decided that if the scarf were 4 feet long (just an estimate, I didn't measure) with eight stitches, and I decreased to six stitches, then the length would increase by a quarter.  Whether it's really true or not, just go with me here.  It makes sense to me.  If it were eight and I went to four, wouldn't the scarf be twice as long?  That's my logic anyhow.

So I've started again with six stitches.  I'll take it with me when I go to my soccer coach class this week and see how much I can get done during our down time.  I may be too sore at the end of the day to do anything but take a hot bath and go to bed.  We have to play soccer all afternoon.  I'm not in shape for that.

I also started on a pig, but it's on double pointed needles, and was a little trickier to start than I expected.  We'll see how that one goes.  Pig is on hold until scarf is done.  Oh, and I promised to finish the second little log cabin quilt for a silent auction on the 12th, so I have to get that done soon!

1.75 hours for me Saturday and yesterday, 9.5 total.

Margie

5... 5 fabulous seams!

I had in mind that I would do 10 seams today, which would finish the third and fourth blocks of 12x2, and then sew up three of the big blocks to make half of the quilt. However, I had a really frustrating time with the 6th seam - sewing it three times and removing the stitches three times as the fabric moves a bit after pinning each time - and so decided to take a nap. I did finish the third 12x2 block, but the rest will have to wait. Grump.

2:40 today, 33:40 total
Catherine

Meeting adjourned!

And now I am back at home, to tackle the increasingly annoying quilt. Today I sewed up the two 8's and two 4's to make a single 12x2 block, then sewed up 6 squares of four to make another 12x2 block. I had grand plans to finish two more of those, and perhaps even sew three of the big blocks together (to make half of the quilt!), but I got stuck on a seam that refuses to obey the laws of physics. Here is a picture.

For reals - I measured the 7 inches from the middle seam on both pieces of fabric, and then stuck them together and sewed it just like I wanted, and then measured again (just for fun, you know) and suddenly the distances were 6 and 7/8". ?? So I took it out and remeasured and remarked everything and resewed it, sewing (again) just like I wanted, and then measured and suddenly everything is 7 and 1/16".

????

Clearly a sign to call it quits for the day.


4:45 today, so 31 hours total.

Catherine

P.S. Yes, the bright and colorful pants! Clown pants, almost. I loved them too, but they wore out.

I Love Scientific Meetings

Especially when Catherine is the one attending them!

Mwa-ha-ha!

I took advantage of time at the eye doctor, dance class and my doctor appointment yesterday and today to rack up a whole...90 minutes of knitting!  Wild and crazy, I know.

I'm getting close to finishing the last ruffly scarf.  Luckily for me, I ordered a set of double pointed needles that I can use to make Bunny Nuggets.  That's right, bunny nuggets.  Here's a picture:

I tell you what, they're pretty cute.  I may put catnip in some and give them to the kitties.

I also have some farm animals to make for Smallest, and a beaded scarf for Middle.  We bought yarn and beads, but I couldn't get the beads to go onto the yarn, which makes it rather hard to make a beaded scarf.  So I will have to go back to the Yarn Store.  Gee, what a shame!

Anyhow, that's all I have for now.

1.5 hours for me, 9.25 hours total (that 7.45 should have been 7.75, as in 7 and 3/4).

Margie

Yowza!

Look at you go!  You need to go out of town.

I'm trying to think what patchwork pants you mean.  Perhaps those horrid green and black ones?  What a mistake those were.  Oh, maybe the very bright and colorful pants that I loved so much.  Darling didn't like them much, but that made them even more fun to wear.

I got to knit for 45 minutes while Smallest was at her ballroom lesson on Saturday.  Woo-hoo!

I think I'm in trouble here.

Soccer starts again tomorrow night, which will also cut into my free time.  Sigh.

Anyhow, I am tired and need to go to bed.

45 minutes for me.  7:45 total.

I did start teaching Smallest how to knit on Friday.  That should prove entertaining!

Margie

Germs, begone!!!

I send them out of you. Get better soon!

I had a most frustrating sewing day. I was hoping to finish sewing the pairs and the fours, but the seams for the fours were being ornery - I ended up sewing some of them more than 3 times before I could figure out how to get a seam that was perpendicular to the other axis and didn't make a giant mess. I think I finally have a good system figured out (the last two seams succeeded on the first try), but I'm calling it quits for the night. I did finish the last column of pairs, and did 2.5 columns of fours, so more than halfway done with the fours. Blergh indeed.

My machine also started squeaking again - this time we (i.e., me and evil twin) figured out how to get access to the moving parts and so used grease instead of spray to fix it. A bad side effect was that a nut fell into the machine and it was much work to retrieve it and put it back in place.

All of that took 4:30.

I also have a bit of hoarding to report - on Monday I took a look at my existing quilt (made from T-shirts of high school performances and such), figured out where the holes/worn pieces are and went through my fabric stash to find some replacements. Fortunately almost all of the problems are at the edge, so I hope I won't have to disassemble the whole thing. The funny thing for you, seester, is that some of the fabric I might use is from an old pair of patchwork pants you had and gave to me. The pants went out of style but I loved the fabric and kept it just in case!

That took about 30 minutes.

So, 26:15 total.

Catherine

Blergh

I have some illness creeping up on me.

Oh well.

I have been working on the next fluffy scarf.  It was the least intuitive yarn of the three, and the instructions on the band were all in German.  Not helpful when you took French in school.
I found the directions on the website of the yarn maker, so I'm on my way.

Not very fast though.

Maybe this weekend.  It's a holiday on Monday, which means I don't have to spend Sunday preparing for a class I'm teaching this semester.  Cutting severely into my fun time.

I spent too much time today on the Ikea kitchen planning website.  Evil!  We are buying a house, and I think it's better to redo the kitchen before we move in than after.
Just earlier this evening, I went to the Container Store website and was playing with their Elfa closet system planner too.  The closet in my bedroom is a converted other room (from an earlier renovation) and it's a little sad.  Would be nice to have something spiffy and pretty.

Anyhow, that's about it for me.  I'm not being very accurate with my time keeping.  Oh well again!

45 minutes recently, 7 hours total.

Margie

Pairs of squares are nearly theres

Well, finishing a quilt is harder than I thought. First my ambition, as mentioned yesterday, was to get all the squares hooked up (actually, my real ambition, which I didn't bother to put into writing, was to finish the WHOLE thing - sewing up the borders and putting on the buttons, etc. Glad I didn't put those naive plans on paper, except that I am now... oh well). Anyway, after a couple of reality checks, I thought I would just get all of the squares sewed up into sets of 4 (i.e., a bigger square). Then I thought I would just get them all paired up. And finally, where we landed, is that I would like to keep my sanity, so I'm done for the night. I have sewed up 9 columns of squares into pairs, 1 column is still as single squares, and the last two columns have been sewed into 4's with two of the 4's sewed into 8's. The plan is that I will sew the remaining two 4's into a third 8, and then sew up the 8's, so I have a double column (of 2x12 squares). Lather, rinse, repeat with the other 10 columns. Perhaps I can hope to have the complete matrix in place by the end of Saturday?

5:10 today, 21:15 total.
Catherine

On yer marks...

Dear Log Cabin Pattern,

That would just be cheating.

Love,
Catherine


Today I laid out all the squares to decide what the quilt will look like, and stitched the first 6 seams between squares. My plan is to group them all into pairs (and then maybe squares of 4 squares?), just aligning things as best as possible, and then be more precise about having them be 7 inches apart when I sew the next set of seams together. I'm also hoping that, by the end of the day tomorrow, I'll have one big piece of fabric containing all of the squares. We'll see!

1:20 today; 16:05 total.

Dear Catherine Quilter

Maybe you should have made your squares bigger.  Did you ever think of that?
I'll be waiting for you, you know you really love me.

Love
Log Cabin

Dear Log Cabin Pattern,

I'm sorry to have to tell you some bad news. We've been together for a long time now, 144 squares worth to be exact, and I have to say that I just don't want to see you anymore. It's not anything you've done, it's just that your pattern is extremely repetitive and I might poke my eyes out if I have to do any more in the foreseeable future. We can still be friends; after all, I'm planning to sew up those of you that I already have into one big square. However, I hope you will understand that we just need some time apart.

Sincerely,
Catherine

(5:10 hours, 14:45 total)

The most boring post in the world.

I sewed some more squares. I know this comes as a big surprise.

I am up to 131 finished squares (the last two aren't ironed and pretty yet, though), and am halfway done with squares 132 and 133 (doing them simultaneously, you know). Squares 134-137 are cut into pieces, and then I only have 7 more! It's a mir-kle.

I do have a fun picture to share, to make this post less boring, though it's not of something I did. Last year I gave evil twin some yarn so he could knit himself a hat, and he did, but it wasn't very warm and he didn't like it much. So this week he took it apart and knit it again, and loves the result. See?

4.5 hours today; 9 hours, 35 minutes total.

Catherine

P.S. The fluffy scarves are totally fantastic!

Not So Fast!

So...you think you can just sew your leetle squares and take the salsa from me, do you?

Well!  I have for you TWO fluffy scarves!

I bought the yard in Brugge during our summer trip with the soccer team.  The woman in the shop was somewhat rude and was very upset when I started touching the yarn, so I bought three balls.  One was the blue and green, one was the green with pom-poms and there's another light green-blue color that I haven't started yet.

The yarn is actually a wide fishnet-like band and you only knit the top part of the band, leaving the rest to hang out and be fluffy.  I had started the blue and green one for Middle, but then set it aside for a while.  I worked on it for 45 minutes last week while Smallest was at an appointment, and then finished it up on Friday night, in maybe 30 minutes?

The green pom-pom scarf I started at the beginning of the A&M/OU football game Friday night and should have been almost finished when the game was over if I hadn't lost a stitch somewhere along the way and had to go back.  Then, my needle kept slipping out and this yarn makes locating and picking up stitches really difficult, so I would have to go back a couple of rows.  Irritating.  So I worked an extra 30 minutes after the game just to get back to where I thought I should be.  I finished it this afternoon, probably about 30 minutes more.

I'll be working on Catherine's Christmas present from Middle shortly while The Boy plays computer games online with our brother.  Our brother is a Bad Influence on The Boy and got him hooked on this game called Team Fortress 2.  Sigh.

Anyhow, here is a picture of the fluffy scarves, and one of Smallest wearing hers as a hat today in the car.

6.25 hours total

Margie

I win?

Here are two squares I sewed up tonight. You can see the new green fabric I like in the center of the left square, and the two different fabrics on the outside of the right square are new as well. I need to work on my posture while sewing - after only 45 minutes, my back is tired again. Then again, the massage was not as fabulous as hoped, so maybe I'm still wound up from the weekend of sewing.

The title of this post is inspired by the embarrassing/encouraging discovery that, after the time added tonight, my efforts thus far have already beaten my efforts in 7 of our previous 12 contests. And, in four of the remaining 5 contests, I won the coveted salsa. Can I do it again??

5 hours, 5 minutes.
Catherine

Phew!

My back is tired from so much sewing! I made 8.5 squares today, and cut another 8, and had to tear apart some other fabric strips. I'm up to 121 squares total; only 23 to go!!

The big adventure for the day was that my machine randomly started squeaking VERY loudly (after the needle smushed a pin, but otherwise just between one seam and the next). Fortunately Evil Twin had some silicone spray and served as my sewing machine repairman. He's so handy! My sewing machine is from a prehistoric era, but it works (for now) so I am happy.

I am also happy because Evil Twin bought me a massage for Christmas. It's tomorrow. Then my back will feel better too.

All told, 4 hours, 20 minutes.

Catherine

P-L-N

This post is a bit delayed, and would count as hoarding except that I've been texting Margie with my hour count over the past few days (the computer has not been accessible). So, here's a recap: I have been frantically working on my quilt over the past few days, since it was my new year's resolution. I picked it up for 2 hours on Nov 25th (sorry, should have posted that one), sewing together some squares that I had pieced out in some previous lifetime. This Saturday (29th) I finished sewing up those squares and cut out some more (getting to 102 total, I think; 6.5 hours), and realized I didn't have enough fabric to get to the end. I also returned to the question of how many squares I needed - originally I was going to make 144, for a 12x12 quilt, then decided that was too overwhelming, so narrowed my ambitions to 11x11 (see picture - getting close!). However, my new idea, given how raggedy my old T-shirt quilt is and how much of a pain it's going to be to fix, is that I could make this into a comforter cover that could be removed and cleaned/repaired as needed. And, it turns out that comforters come in very specific sizes. The one I want is 88"x88", so I really need the 12x12 quilt (should measure 84" square). So then I really didn't have enough fabric!

On Sunday (30th), I went to the LFS - a great place in Chinatown, should anyone ever need fabric in Boston - and found some of my same fabrics again as well as some new ones. I made a mistake (I realized later) in not getting something plain that could go with anything, but they do generally go nicely together and there's a lovely green one that is my current favorite. I also (now with the comforter plan in mind) got a bunch of white fabric that I will use as a backing to the log cabin pieces and as a small border around the squares, and some cute buttons that I will use to close it up. After a trip through the washer and dryer, I was back in action. I spent a lot of time ironing, ripping fabric into 2 inch strips, and piecing out new squares, and sewed up 2 or 3. I didn't count the time at the LFS, per our rules, nor the washer + dryer time (because that would be silly), but the rest took 4 hours.

Yesterday (31st), I started bright and early sewing up the other squares I'd pieced out, and replacing them with new squares. I got up to 112.5 squares and have another 8 ready to go, but then it was time for New Year's Eve silliness. So, 4 hours, 20 minutes.

Today I'm hoping to get to 121 at least (meeting my one-time goal of squares), but I have a nice routine going and so could do more. Even though I didn't finish in 2012, I do see the light at the end of the tunnel, and so hope I can stay on track!

All told, 16 hours, 50 minutes. I can has salsa?

Catherine

P.S. The title of this post is inspired by a Terry Prachett book, so you'll understand it soon enough. :D