Design Wall Monday, June 17, 2013

I took the suggestions of others and added a narrow (.5") stop border of green before adding the black outer border. By adding the two borders the size is now 59.5" x 79". It worked quite well. Thank you all! It is now folded and hung on a hanger with the other tops waiting to be quilted.

I made a fast trip to South Dakota last week to pick up this beauty. On the way home, I raced ahead of two rain storms as I did not want to get the tables to get wet in the back of the truck even though they were wrapped with the tarp. This baby, of course, rode inside the cab.

It was set up on Saturday and on Sunday I started playing with it. I began by doing the most basic things: winding bobbins and threading the machine. Then I intentionally messed up the tension so that I could learn to get good tension. As of this writing, I haven't achieved it yet, but I had to stop yesterday to do the housewifey things. *smile*

Along the way, I visited the Crazy Horse Memorial, Mt. Rushmore and then made a side trip to Devil's Tower, Wyoming.

Crazy Horse Memorial. The head that you see here is 87.5 feet high. The horse's head will be 219 feet high. This will be the world's largest mountain carving. The hole is the beginning of the negative space between his arm and the horse's neck.

Mt. Rushmore is, always, Mt. Rushmore. It was crowded with people from all over the world. Each face is 60 feet tall and each eye is 11 feet wide. There is a section of quartz under George Washington's left eye close to his nose that reminded me of a teardrop. Just my fanciful imagination.

The Devil's Tower was impressive. It rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River. It is a sacred site for many native peoples and I saw evidence of this by the many prayer bundles tied into the trees along the trails. I sat on the tailgate of the truck for several hours watching the three rock climbers: two descending and the third ascending. The third one made it to the top!


For other design walls, please visit Judy at Patchwork Times.

Heel and Toe, Part 2

Sherman Heel and Toe

Next up in the heel and toe dance is the Sherman heel and toe. Here is a link for a written tutorial, but unfortunately it references other links that no longer work. I was specifically wanting to know about wrapping the stitches, because the tute mentions two wrapped stitches. But then I found this video on youtube for a Sherman heel. The video does not use wraps at all!

If you want, you can click on the photos to make them bigger. Here is the heel. It looks a bit strange off the foot, but believe me when I say that it is a very comfortable heel. The issue I had with the afterthought heel is not in this one. One thing I did not like in this heel was the single layer of knitted fabric. I feel it will wear thin fast, but it is still a very comfortable heel.

That said, the toe is made exactly like the heel. I did, however, have an issue with the toe. Do you like to do the Kitchener stitch? Neither do I. This toe is worked from the bottom of the sock up over the ends of your tootsies and then, once you have the correct number of stitches back on the needles through increases, the bottom of the sock is Kitchenered to the top of the sock. I had 60 stitches, worked on two circular needle so there were 30 stitches on each. I had to Kitcher 30 stitches! Times two socks. O dear. I do like the way it fits and it makes a very nice rounded toe.

Stay tuned for more heels and, maybe, toes.

Want more knitted goodness? Visit JudyL at Patchwork Times.

Heel and toe, Toe and Heel

If you knit with self striping yarn, you will know that a fancy texture will not show up. In an effort to use up the self striping yarn, I have launched an endeavor to learn new techniques for heels and toes. Sounds like a dance, doesn't it? This green pair is the first pair finished using a new (to me) technique. It is an afterthought heel also known as the Turkish or Peasant heel. I've linked to Melody Johnson's tutorial.

This technique works for top down or toe up socks and is totally replaceable if the heel ever shows wear. The way the heel is worked does not alter the number of stitches in the basic tube of the sock. On the other hand, the heel depth is shorter than usual on a short row heel, but if the wearer has a small, delicate heel this won't be a problem. The corners where the heel has been added is a bit ragged and will need a bit of tweaking when everything is done. Do you like to do the Kitchener stitch? This heel is grafted close using the Kitchener stitch, so be forewarned.

My verdict on this technique is a thumbs down. The socks seem to be a bit loose at the front of the ankle. I don't know about you, but I like a tight fitting sock. Like Elvis, these socks have already left the building. A co-worker saw them and expressed an interest in them.

The sock yarn bin seems to be self-leveling: in and out, out and in. But who can refuse the offer of free yarn? I know I can't, so a big "THANK YOU" shout out to Susan for gifting me with these two sock yarns.

For more knitted goodness visit Judy's blog at Patchwork Times.
Happy knitting!

Design Wall - June 3, 2013

It all started on this trip six years ago. I bought a large scale rose print, a beautiful fabric. And then it sat in the stash for a long, long time because I didn't know what to do with it. Fast forward. Polka dots are 'in' and I'm so glad, because they work wonderfully with that rose fabric.

Add in a solid black and voila!

It really is 'square': 54x72". I just didn't get this hung on the design wall straight. I sure wish I had more of that black fabric so I could do an narrow border, but blacks, like reds, are very hard to match. Do you think another black would be too noticeable?

This pattern is BQ by Maple Island Quilts. I've linked to their website and if you follow the link, the pattern is about halfway down the page.

For other Design Walls, visit Judy L at Patchwork Times.

Dissappointed

I just got a quilt back from a long arm quilter and I am disappointed in it, to say the least. This was the Block of the Month in 2010 from The Quilt Show. This quilter only did half the job! I was wondering why it was so cheap and now I know.

Do you see what DIDN'T happen? The appliques were not ditch quilted. In fact, the swags needed a bit of quilting inside of them. I love what she did in the negative spaces but she fell short on the others.

It is fixable and I am going to do it myself on my DMS. I am saddened about this and I even discussed what I wanted for this quilt, but she apparently didn't listen very well. I doubt that I will be using this quilter again.

Well, the applique is done

This quilt is a very long-term project. The applique is done, woohoo! In fact, the painting and colored pencils are done too! What was painted, you ask? Well, the stars seemed to blend into the background because the values were too close. So out came the Jacquard Lumiere paint and a flat tipped brush. Using a dry technique, the paint was put on the edge and pulled in toward the center of the star. Some turned out better than others.

Next up, is quilting and I will have to think on what I want to do with this. I am thinking just a simple straight line or grid, but I don't know yet. Do you believe I have been working on this since the end of June 2012?

What's on your design wall? For more eye candy, visit Judy's Patchwork Times blog.

OTN Friday - May 17, 2013

Two pair of socks have been added to the finished basket since the last On The Needles post. This yarn is Wisdom Yarns Marathon Sock yarn. I have more of it, sigh. In fact, there is a lot of sock yarn in the yarn storage bin. Does that surprise you? It shouldn't. I realized that not only does the sock yarn multiply, but the downloading of free sock patterns is bordering on the obsessive. To that end, I am trying to pair a pattern that I haven't knit before with a yarn from the stash. And so, I knit the blue socks using Fluted Banister free sock pattern and the black/grey ones are Scales Skin Socks. The SSS link goes to Ravelry and it is now a for-sale pattern, but when I downloaded several years ago, it was free. I changed the top a bit on the SSS socks by doing a K1P1 rib instead of the picot edge, because the yarn is a bit too masculine for a frilly edge.

I promised photos of the steeked sweater. Which is still a WIP, believe it or not, although it looks finished. I CAN wear it this way, but it needs a bit of tweaking still.

It fits beautifully across the shoulders and the neck. And I really ♥ the elbow length sleeves. The steeking* was easy after the first cut. Once the cut edges rolled into the inside, I covered them with a braided ribbon from my stash. There-in lies the problem. The edge stretched a bit as I was sewing the braid on and the bottom front edges formed dog-ears. I need to frog the ribbon and stitch it on by hand, all the while easing in the fabric so the ears disappear. That is a job for high summer, when I can hide in my basement sewing studio.

On the inside, I left little 1" strands of the yarn hanging. Once they felt up a bit from wearing the sweater, I can trim them closer to the fabric. These little 'tabs' are from adding on a new ball of yarn.

The sweater needed pockets and there was enough yarn left over to add a pocket to each side. I picked up stitches just above the garter stitch edging at the bottom of the sweater and knitted on a pocket lickty split . Using matching yarn, I stitched the top and sides onto the sweater fabric.

For more knitted goodness, you can visit JudyL at Patchwork Times to follow the link ups.

*I will post my process of steeking since I shot photos during the process. 'K?