WIP Wednesday - 1/29/14

I've slowly been whittling away at what's left of a Terrain layer cake. Among other small projects, I've used the fabrics for a dresden plate quilt and my recently finished Sprocket Pillow. That leaves me with quite a few funky-shaped scraps and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do some improv piecing.



I know I've still kept my lines nice and straight, but there was no plan to the design. Just randomly added scraps as I went. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it... maybe another pillow to match the Sprocket?



I've also been making little quarter square triangles with some Kaffe Fassett fabric. I'm not usually drawn to these fabrics, but I love the quilt on the cover of Material Obsession 2, so I thought I'd try out using these fabs in little patches. My favorite fabric pairing is there on top.



I started out with 3" squares, so when I trim them down they'll be 1.5". Tiny!

More Knitting

Because what else can you do when it's -3 degrees?

I've knit both of these patterns several times before. They are my go-to's when I just want to knit something and not have to think about it too much. First up, my favorite basic hat pattern: the Kim's Hats pattern from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.



I used Martha Stewart Extra Soft Wool Blend yarn in Lilac. I don't know if these photos do it justice, but it's a lovely grey-purple. I love this yarn because it's soft and priced for a knitter on a budget, like me! I've used this yarn for a Sophia Cowl and a Brattleboro Hat. It knits up beautifully.



It's big on her, but she makes a much better model than me:



Next up, another Palindrome Scarf. Cables look fancy, but they're really not difficult. If you want to give cables a try, this is the pattern to knit.



I love the thick, squishy fabric created by the cables. For this one I used Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable in color Winery.

Fighting the Winter Blues...

...with bright, pretty fabrics!



This ridiculously cold winter has been a tad soul-crushing. Maybe I'm being over-dramatic, but I've never dreamed of moving south more than I have in the last month. So something happy and bright was in order! I grabbed some of my favorite fabrics and made a Sprocket Pillow using Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial.



Fabrics are from Kate Spain's Terrain collection and they just make me happy to look at them. I'm a *bit* of a Kate Spain fan (see my two favorite Christmas quilts here and here!).





Okay, so maybe I've even got a Kate Spain nail file. :)



And on the back...



And in other pretty fabric news, I visited my local quilt shop this weekend and made a few purchases (yay for Christmas gift certificates!)...



I was looking for fabric for K's birthday dress and couldn't decide between these two prints, so I got them both! And, yes, that bottom fab is another Kate Spain fabric. Her birthday isn't until March, but last year I was still sewing buttons on her dress an hour before the party, so I'm trying to think ahead!

Boxy Pouch

I was looking for a quick-finish project this weekend and a search of my Pinterest boards led me to this Boxy Pouch.



I think I must have some sort of winter-induced brain fog going on, because I had to use the seam ripper on this little project more times than I care to count. Maybe that's why I chose this summery fabric-- I'm subconsciously counting down the days until spring!



Instead of making fabric tabs, I used a flowery grosgrain ribbon for the zipper pulls and I added a handle for easier carrying.



It's a great size to hold a small knitting project. I'm well on my way to finishing another Palindrome scarf!



The boxy shape makes it easily collapsible. It's pretty cute folded flat too! Next time I think I'll make it a bit smaller in laminate fabric for a make-up pouch.

Wisp Scarf

We've been under house arrest by the Polar! Vortex! that hit our area this past week so I've had plenty of time to knit. Extreme weather, or not, January always seems to be when the knitting bug hits me again. The post-holiday lull and cold temps just make me want to cuddle up on the couch with some yarn.



The yarn is Kidsilk Haze by Rowan and I feel so fancy for having made something with it! It's been languishing in my yarn stash for quite some time, originally purchased with a capelet pattern in mind. But after working on the capelet for quite a while, I realized that I'm not a "capelet person" and there was no way I was ever going to wear it. So it was frogged and put away until a more suitable project came along. After searching on Ravelry, I settled on the Wisp scarf and whipped it up in a few days.



It's a tad fussy to work with and I had a false start working with metal needles. But I started fresh with a wooden set and I didn't have so many problems with the stitches slipping off the needles.



In the 10+ years that I've been knitting, this is the first time I think I've properly wet blocked a finished pieced. What a difference in made in bringing out the lace. Perhaps I should follow the rules more often!