Knitting a Baby Blanket

Waves from triangles - the latest knitting project!  I scouted around on Youtube for some ideas, and came across a video showing how to knit this design.

This has to be the knitting equivalent of hexies, something to build up a little at a time.  Each triangle is only 18 stitches at the base, but the way they are attached stretches them into a wave shape.  Each wave is made by picking up stitches from the side of the two triangles immediately below, so there are no seams to sew, only tails to weave in.  Also, you can change the colours to vary the pattern.  At the moment I am working across the bottom of the blanket to make it about 26 inches across, and just working in the two shades of blue.  I am undecided as to whether to wait until the shops reopen in about a fortnight's time and seeing if I can buy more of the same, or improvising with wool I already have and throwing in some different colours.  My inclination is to stay fairly restrained with this blanket, and go a bit wild with a pink blanket.  The possibilities are endless... 

A Picture for Sunday - The Big Rabbit in the Sky

Do you see a rabbit?  For some reason men seem less likely to.  Have fun with your friends and family and tell me what they see.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 281 - Still Knitting

Ever so nearly finished, but I am thwarted by the lack of buttons, so this little cardigan will have to wait until the shops are open again.  It is almost completely stitched up, but I have yet to finish off under the arms and weave in all the tails.

I was pleased with the overall effect of the random pastel yarn, and the way the pinks and greys matched the mauve of the rib.  I was considering putting in a few stripes of the mauve around the shoulders, but decided against it because this is a V neck cardigan, and I always think a bit of contrast on the chest looks better on a round neck cardie.

So I have started a round neck cardigan, which meant a bit of frantic searching.  After taking copious notes last year when I was devising the pattern for these cardies, now I can't find the notebook.  The obvious place to look is the sewing room, which is still stacked up with furniture.  I managed to climb over a kitchen dresser and into the corner where I store my books, but no joy.  However I did manage to find the graph paper notepad where I worked out the neck shaping for the round neck cardigan in different sizes, so knowing I was in business, I cast on.  I was looking forward to trying this combination of random blue and random neutrals with a grey border.

My husband wasn't as wildly enthusiastic over the baby girl colours as I was (I wonder why), but he loves this combination.  Shame it's not his size.  Anyway, he's a jumpers man.  He shies away from cardies.

We are still waiting for a start date from the decorator, so I don't expect we will be anywhere near back to normal until some time in July.  In the meantime this blog will temporarily transform itself into a knitting blog, and I should make a concerted effort to finish the instructions for the knitting pattern.  Just think, if I had put all the instructions on the blog last year, I wouldn't have had to climb over furniture earlier this week.

Here goes for week 281:-

This week's featured project is Rebecca Grace's Spirit Song quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

A Picture for Sunday - Rose Chafer

Cetonia aurata, or rose chafer.  This is the most beautiful beetle I have ever seen, and I saw one for the first time yesterday.  It landed on a flower at the allotment, and obligingly posed for photos for a couple of minutes.  In the bright sunshine it was dazzling emerald green.  It's not often that an insect makes my day.

Subtle or Grey?

After stacking the sewing room with half the contents of the dining room, I had the urge to start a project.  Fortunately, I had made sure a few essential items were within easy reach, for instance knitting needles, yarn, and not much else.  On Thursday I started a little baby cardigan using the pattern I devised last year.  It is very enjoyable working on a tiny item and being able to make quick progress.  There is a slight snag though.  This is the time of year that I am busy with the allotment, and end up with permanently grimy hands and fingertips like sandpaper, which fluffs up the wool.  I have to get my knitting done in the morning while my hands are still clean.

Combining a random pastel yarn with a yarn of alternating white, grey and cream was a bit of a risk.  Once you are more than two feet away the eye combines it into grey.  I am hoping that the mauve-pink rib lifts the colour, and am debating whether to put some pink around the chest.  I probably will.  

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 279 - Reorganising

Ramming furniture into the sewing room is nearer to the truth.  Reorganising will come later.  For the moment, we are in a state of cheerful chaos, secure in the knowledge that now the dining room ceiling has been replastered, we needn't worry about half a hundredweight of 90 year old plaster landing on our heads.

Rather than show a photo of the sewing room stacked to the gunnels with a kitchen dresser and cardboard boxes, I decided that this photo of my aunt would be far more interesting.  Here she is at some time in the 1920s, when my dad was very young, looking very calm and self-assured in one of her own creations.  My dad remembered her being very keen on sewing, and fussing about with bits of tissue paper, as he put it.

Shortly after deciding to post this photograph, I received a video from my sister in law of my great niece with her brand new sewing machine, which she received for her fourteenth birthday.  Within two days she had finished a cover for the machine, and seems to be raring to go for her second project.  It was a delight to see her so full of enthusiasm.

Here goes for week 279:-

This week's featured project is my co-host Andrée's lovely bubble quilt, which she quilted in next to no time.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.