February Schnibble

The Schnibble quilt for February was called Sunday's Best and had lots of cute bow ties. This was a fun quilt that I thought would make a great baby boy quilt. I used all stash for this quilt, love that! Since I don't have a baby to give this to any time soon I am not in a rush to get the quilting done. I've always thought it would be nice to have baby quilt tops on hand so that when I want to give a gift I will have one almost done. I guess this quilt can get me started on that.


I love the look of a quilt swaying in the breeze.

I have a few more hours to work on my Olympic socks before the end of the closing ceremonies. I will be back tomorrow to show you how I did.

DQS#8

I joined the Doll Quilt Swap again this round. I've done it every round since DQS#4. This is such a fun swap. The Flickr group is so active that I can barely keep up! Here is the quilt I made for my secret partner. My partner has no idea that this quilt is going to be hers.


I had made a braid first thinking it would be on the front but I ended up using it for the back and coming up with a new idea for the front.

I love the Doll Quilt Swap because I get to try techniques or designs that I have always wanted to but on a smaller scale. I love the look of the zig zags so much that I am tempted to make a bigger quilt for me. I used a Hello Betty honey bun and some white muslin for this quilt.



I am really excited about the binding. My guild had a 'make it and take it' night last year where they demonstrated this faux piped binding. I love the 3-D effect.

And of course I had to add one of my labels to the back.

The deadline for sending this little quilt is the end of the month. I think I will enjoy it for a few more days before I say goodbye.

Locks of Love

This was me yesterday.


I grew my hair out so that I could eventually donate it to Locks of Love. I have had it long for quite a few years now and I have really enjoyed it. But it has started to annoy me and I have been ready to cut it for a couple weeks. Too bad I couldn't chop it off then. I had to wait for my hair appointment. As it got closer I got more nervous and attached, but in the end I didn't chicken out. I was able to donate about a foot (12 inches) of my hair.

This is me today. (wow, I look a lot blonder in the sunshine)

It feels weird to have it short again. I wonder how much weight I have lost since a couple hours ago. Haha! Fun to have a short cut that I can style.

It might take a little getting used to, but I am glad I did it!

Olympic Update

I am finding that fair isle is slow going but so much fun. I love seeing the pattern form and I love the colors I picked. I made a my own copy of the chart in Excel with the colors I am using and as you can see I made it nice and big. I am using my chart keeper which is a must have when knitting from a chart.

I haven't seen any of the Olympics since watching the 4 hour opening ceremonies on Friday night. We all sat down together but my husband wandered off halfway through the parade of nations. I worked on my sock but only got the cuff done and ended up on the computer shopping the 35% off sale at Fabric Depot. I got myself some Kona solids to make a quilt that I fell in love with from the latest American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. My kids stuck it out the entire time until just before the torch was lit at midnight when they both fell asleep. So sad. Luckily I recorded it on my Tivo so I replayed it for them the next morning.

Saturday I went to Madrona with my friends Lou and Ginny. We walked and shopped the market there. So much gorgeous yarn it was hard to resist. In the end I only bought a sweater pattern. I am so proud of myself! I ended up talking to a woman there who was what I would call a fair isle expert. She gave me great advice on knitting fair isle and I have already used some of her tips when knitting my sock.

My plan today is to work on my DQS#8 quilt. The deadline is fast approaching and I have finally decided what to make for my partner.

The Knitting Olympics

Thanks for your sympathy for my holey sock. The other one is right behind it with the yarn being so thin it would have just taken a few more steps to look like the first. A lot of you suggested darning which I had thought about but figured it wouldn't be worth the trouble for a pair of socks that fit a little too snug. Remember they were my first pair ever. I have fine tuned my sock knitting skills since. But after looking into the art of darning, I am thinking about trying it. It doesn't look like that big of a deal. Why does it seem to have a reputation?


The Winter Olympics start tonight and we are very excited. At least I was until I saw that the opening ceremonies are about 4 hours long. Yikes! I regret getting my kids pumped about watching it. It could be a late night. If you aren't familiar with the online knitting community then let me tell you that we look forward to the Olympics for another reason as well. The Yarn Harlot started the Knitting Olympics years ago. The idea is to cast on a new and somewhat challenging project during the opening ceremonies and try to finish it by the closing ceremonies on February 28th. That gives me 16 days.



So I decided to try fair isle which I have never done and it should be rather challenging. I looked through my sock books and chose this fun design and looked through my stash and picked out some yarn. I am using Knit Picks Essential in Navy, Calypso Heather, and Edamame. I am excited to see how these colors work out. I have never chosen yarn for color work before so this should be a learning experience in every way. Wish me luck!

Tragedy

A moment of silence please for the first casualty of my sock knitting. I knew this day would come but it doesn't make it any easier.

I got a lot of good use out of these, my first pair of hand knit socks. I will miss then always.

Round Robin

The Round Robin is in full swing. My block has been passed on to my friend Susan. Thanks for all your comments on helping me decide if I should put the striped border on or not. I ended up putting it on. I really like how it looks. I plan on binding the quilt with the striped fabric and wanted to make sure it was in the quilt top as well. I am hoping that by the time my quilt is done that the center block will be on point.



This is my friend Ada's block. I love dresden plates. Looks like I get to have some fun with some 30's prints.

Now I just need to figure out what I am going to do for the first border. I have two months to decide then I pass it on to the next member of the group. I will show you what I end up doing before I pass it on.