MOONSTITCHES

74-26 in a Haze

My first Hourglass Sweater did grace me with not less than nine left over balls of Diasilkombrer which I was not so happy with anyway. Given that it needed only six balls of that yarn in the first place (I sure bought enough yarn to not run out of it), I felt really bad about that part of my stash.

The problem with the yarn was that it quickly, after just a few times of wearing the sweater, looked misty or hazy. It also pilled quite diligently. About three weeks ago I thought (while thinking about my stash - you do that too, don't you?!) why not put the Diasilkombrer in a pretty haze deliberately, knitting it two stranded with some super fluffy mohair like the Hamanaka Parfait I used for the border of my Fancy Kerchief?

I did a swatch right away and was very happy with the result. Clearly a way to rescue two yarns from my stash at the same time!
As for the Parfait I should say that while I love this yarn for borders or accents when crocheting (in combination with some straight and honest unfluffy rustic wool), I clearly do not like mohair in general. I did have four balls of the Parfait because I once thought I would use it for a lace shawl, but as it seems one of the things I feel most uncomfortable with is knitting lace with light, fluffy mohair.

I then looked for a pattern on DROPS and settled on 74-26 because it looked as it would be roomy enough for my not so thin arms. Et voila! It was the right pattern. I did knit myself a nice, little cardigan. So happy and excited about it! I changed the neckline a bit, made the cardigan in size M and am quite content with all the haze around me. The Diasilkombrer seems well protected and also a bit hidden and I really like the colours together.

The shell buttons are from some piece of clothing I have been throwing out about 15 years ago, perfect size and shade, all minty-purple-shimmering...

I couldn't be happier about this cardigan!

Oh, and I start to get used to that new composer here on Typepad.

Thanks for reading!

Center and a Border

This new look of the compose editor here on Typepad keeps disturbing me, seriously disturbing. I guess I would have got used to it if I'd be posting more often but as things are, it doesn't feel like being at home. So, better come here more often to adept...

The new quilt in my life... I have been working on it.

Not much to say about it... Liberty, leaves, lots of tiny flowers, white. All from stash. hence the different shades of white fabric...
The center block was comfort zone, I did what I like to do, making lots of tiny stitches by hand while appliqueing. But then came the border... machine piecing, which I really am not used to. Never conquered it although having tried often... Anita's great instructions led me, step by step, to the finished border. The result looks just fine, but machine piecing still feels like walking blindfolded to me. It is so strange not to sew on lines like I do when hand sewing my Popstars or the Jane feat. Rotkaeppchen blocks... until the final seam I was not convinced to end up with a decent result.
The reason for this mistrust in what I was doing simply is that I normally don't work precisely, I just go with the flow and react to things, build in bumps, don't plan too much - as long as I don't sew on lines, which is pretty much like paint by numbers.

Sewing this first border was quite a challenge for me. I guess I must work on precise cutting to be able to trust myself more when it comes to sewing.

Also I must work on keeping focus. This might save me from having a stiff neck in the future... Didn't I say I would work on my quilts I oh so urgently wanted to finish?! I got sidetracked, again, started knitting a cardigan two weeks ago... finished it yesterday (obviously could focus on that project, at least!). Now that that project is off the needles, I will return to quilting my Liberty Leaves. I really would like to see them finished and on my bed.

Hope you are all well!

Back soon with the cardigan.

Prendre la Liberté

Prendre la Liberté is what I did last week. And I am not just talking Liberty here, actually I finally, after a long time of not crafting on a daily basis (aside from knitting which I do everyday while being on the kindergarten's playground) I enjoyed one whole week of cutting, machine piecing, hand sewing and quilting, planning more quilts, making sketches... I am now dealing with what has been neglecting during this fabulous week, but I think it was worth it. At the beginning of the week I finally took the plunge and started quilting the Liberty Leaves. It'll be a rather dense quilting, so it takes some time till all is done.

While working on the leaves I was thinking that this quilt was supposed to be a quick one which had been started as a simple, machine pieced quilt that could be finished almost instantly... while working on my Pop Stars (which I planned to finish during the first half of 2008)... Seems I find myself in a sort of patchwork spiral because on Friday last week I had the brilliant idea of squeezing in a simple, machine pieced quilt that could be finished almost instantly... this time, however, I am pretty certain I will succeed... but let's see where we are at the end of the month ;)

I took the scraps that were left over after cutting the leaves from those striped sheets, cut small squares, cut strips of solids I had in my stash and made Courthouse Steps blocks in a Denyse Schmidt's What a Bunch of Squares manner. This block really is a quick one and so I had my twelve blocks done in a day. It's a pretty uninspired project but I love simple blocks like the Courthouse Steps or Log Cabin and never get tired of them. And as I said, that one shall really be a quick quilt.

And if I wasn't busy enough, over the weekend I started another quilt... a rather slow natured one, yes, another one of those, because I love accumulating long term quilt projects which make me worry if I will be living long enough to finish them...

It will be the center of my Medallion Quilt. Again I am using leftovers from the Liberty Leaves, seems a bit unoriginal and you may already be fed up with all those tiny flowers, but I feel good using up all those scraps and no doubt it will turn out pretty. So? Why not.

And speaking of scraps: the lovely Kristine of Townmouse recently sent me a wonderful selection of precious Liberty bits... *sigh* Once again, Kristine, thank you so much for this generous and inspiring gift! And you, dear readers, be prepared for more tiny flowers projects...
And while we're at it, I would like to finally introduce this adorable guy we got about two years ago. Of course I have been thanking Alison before, but I always intended to blog about him, so, eventually, after all this time, here he is!

And because this blog is for taking record of my all my crafty endeavours... some nicely bedded owls I made a few months ago for an exchange of sweets with Josie over at mr. monkeysuit (oh, what a cute picnic they just had!)

The end.

Have a nice day!