Scribbles & Bits

Knitting and Fabric and Ribbon! Oh My!

  First things first: behold the progress on the back of the cardigan!  That's 2 more inches of ribbing plus 4-6 inches of the actual back!  If I hadn't had to work this weekend, I would be even farther along.  Maybe I can make some decent progress tonight.

Which is more than I can say for the greedy cat bell pull, so instead I shall distract you with fabric and ribbon purchased last weekend that I forgot to take pictures of.  Each group of fat quarters was bundled together and on clearance for $5 (from $8).  I have to say that I love fat quarters with a passion that can't be explained.  I guess it's mainly because they're always pretty inexpensive and they're unique little fabrics.  When I go fabric shopping, I hesitate to buy anything that I can't immediately use because it takes up so much space and I may not have enough on hand for any projects I want to do.  I'm the same way with yarn.  Sure, in both cases I make exceptions, but as a rule....  Anyway, with fat quarters, I find they're usually a great scale for softies (they have to be - you're trying to make a pattern "read" in a small area) and the size is just right for random little projects (I know some of these are going to end up covering books and that's great because I can cover two quarter-sheet books with just one fat quarter).    As for the ribbon, well, I'm just a sucker for ribbon and a sucker for argyle patterns and the first 3 rolls cover both  with the last two just being interesting and cute.  And at $1/roll, how could I turn them down?  I love Michael's special value ribbon!

Now For Something Completely Different

My first painting on canvas EVER!  It's acrylics on a 9x12 pre-prepared canvas.  And it's an abstract peacock.  I've had this picture inmy mind for a while.  I'm glad to finally have it committed.  Bonus: I feel like a real artist now!  Now on to the dog quilt.  Since she has to be outside while I'm at work, I wanted her to have something nice and warm and soft.  I looked at dog blankets in the store, but I knew I could make something equally sturdy (and quite a bit less expensive).  I found this fun fabric for $1/yard. I bought 2 yards (I really have a bad habit of overbuying on fabric) and ended up only using 1, so yay!  I have enhanced the fabric stash!  The 2 other pictures of it are just close-ups on the quilting.  I kept it simple on this - I just folded the fabric in half (right sides together) and sewed up two sides, turned it out, popped in the quilt batting, and seamed the last side.  Then I just did vertical quilt lines along the color columns (does that make sense?).  Anyway, this was a nice way to start to get back into the swing of things when it comes to quilting.  I haven't made a quilt since I was in elementary school (approx. 8x10).  That one was very simple - squares  hand-sewn together and stitch-in-the-ditch quilting.  I really enjoyed the process, but never made another one for some reason, I think largely because I have this "thing" about wasting supplies.  I'm pretty thrifty with mine, but if I'm using someone else's, I go into uber-thrifty mode to the point where I just sort of block up and can't do anything because I'd just feel terrible for wasting some else's money, essentially.  Yep, I've got issues.  Anyway, while I had all my sewing supplies out, I went ahead and made a cover for my serger!  I found this fabric when I purchased the other, so I picked up 2 yards of this as well.  I love the ice cream colors and retro feel.  Don't remember how much I paid for it (not much.  See "thrifty" above), but I have about a yard of that left as well.  It's basically just 5 squares sewn together to make a box without a bottom (thanks, Cap't. Obvious!). 

Of course, all of a sudden, I've really started having this problem focusing on one project at a time (holidays are not a good time for this to happen), so with the other projects I started the other day, I worked on these.  They are knitted squares of wire (currently on stitch holders).  I'm using 28 gauge artistic wire.  This will become a necklace this weekend.  The pattern is from Alterknits by Leigh Radford (ISBN 1584794550), another book I'm loving!  The photography is so lovely!  Well, the whole book is lovely, actually!  There's this thing with the binding - a wavy detail that I can't describe.  Maybe I just need to take a picture of it.  I don't know - I'm just charmed by this book!  And soon I will be working on some arm warmers from it.  I have the wool, I have the ribbon, I have the needles, now all I need is the time and my Bob Newhart episodes! 

Ramblings and Randomness

Yay!!!!  Progress!  Visible progress!  There is light at the end of the tunnel for this project!!!!  Other than finding an error in the chart that I didn't notice until it was too late, there were no major problems this weekend!  Actually, I also lucked out.  I did manage to get to Hobby Lobby and they do sell linen thread in individual skeins!  Woohoo!  I also found pink variegated thread, so I picked up a skein of that to try, just in case....

I also picked up fabric!!!!  I wasn't originally intending to line this project.  However, I can never resist checking out the remnants basket.  I found a pink polyester blend that looks and feels silky/satiny (upper left corner).  There's plenty of it so I can line the project and still have some left over I also picked up the gold striped sheer, a pink cotton with little leaves scattered all over it, a piece of this black cotton with Christmasy pears (that I've been eyeballing but never knew what to do with, so I never picked any up), the little tan bit with darker brown leaf/flower things scattered, and some olive-ish green broadcloth.  I love fabric remnants! 

And to prove I have a life outside of work, I went to a party this weekend and I watched Masterpiece Theatre last night (2 separate thoughts there).  The party was fun with lots of great food and the Masterpiece Theatre was a bit of a let-down.  It was Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking.  Rupert Everett portrayed Sherlock.  There really wasn't any chemistry between him and the guy playing Watson.  They took liberties with the character of Holmes.  Well, I could analyze it all morning, but that would be boring.  Suffice to say, a one-time watch was more than sufficient.