woolies – Knit-Spin-Quilt

Knit1Geek2 Swap Package!

I participated in my very first Ravelry swap this fall as part of the Knit1Geek2 podcast group. I’ll link to my swap package later, when my recipient gets their box, but for now I’ll just squee about the box I got in the mail today!

The guidelines were:

Something handmade
Something local
Something geeky

Man, did my swapper do a great job!

Here are the wrapped packages:
Wrapped2

Itemswrapped

Here’s a closeup of the pin she included, which is knitted and embroidered and just knocks my socks off. It’s even more beautiful in real life:
MallornLeaf

Then there are the contents of the packages. Yarn first:

The colorway is “Call me WonderWoman”! It’s Corriedale/nylon sock yarn, and I LOVE it.

Geeky items-wise, this swapper outdid herself. First up, an Avengers Age of Ultron lunchbox, which held all the other items, individually wrapped.

Then a bunch of little geeky owl bookmarks, delicious chocolate, and T-pins and a Captain America tin of candy to use to hold stitch markers!

I just love the Cap owl:

But best last: the handmade item. I got a BEAUTIFUL alpaca lace shawl. Oh my god, the picture does not do this justice. I am SO DELIGHTED, I had to wear it today. It is SO LOVELY. It glitters in the light, and the pattern is just beautiful.

In summary: Thank you, swap partner! You rock!

WIP Wednesday

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and to the Small Blog meet-up at Lily’s Quilts. If you’re stopping by for the first time, you might be interested in learning more about me, or in looking at my finished quilts. If you’re interested in any particular kind of project, check out the tags in the lower right sidebar.

This is a remarkably picture-poor post, largely because it’s a to-do-list of the various projects I have in progress right now. Never let it be said that I’m a monogamous crafter? Projects are arranged in (sort of) order of least-work-to-be-finished.

General To-Do List:
-Tape a large piece of batting up on the tops of my two really tall bookcases and pin things to it, in an attempt to create something that sort of resembles a design wall
-Clean crafting stuff off my desk so it’s actually usable for schoolwork.
-Likewise clear books out of crafting space so I can actually sew w/out moving piles of stuff.

Test-Drive Mabel Bag To-Do List:
-Be proud of inside pockets and the fact that the lining actually (mostly) fits inside the exterior of the bag.

-Attach strap and strap extender once bag hardware arrives in the mail
-Sew around the opening, matching lining to bag outsides
-Turn it inside out to end up rightside out & sew up lining bottom
-Iron (and maybe topstitch?) for a finished, professional look

Mini Dresden To-Do List:
-Back of mini Dresden quilt: alternating tumblers in a variety of fabrics across a brown background: figure out the right size of tumbler
-Finish the corner fans of the mini-Dresden quilt, and arrange so that they will look all right after binding
-Binding of mini Dresden quilt: probably in a darker brown, but possibly in a scrappy series of colors. I’m torn between wanting to make it more cheerful and wanting the focus really to snap to the middle medallions
-Quilt & appliqué!

Simple Math To-Do List:
-Finish trimming all blocks from 6-and-almost-a-half-ish-inches to 6″ square

-Re-jigger design to figure out yardage needed to make a double-bed quilt out of slightly smaller blocks
-Pick out sashing & binding fabric (next week, with L, hopefully!)
-Cut sashing
-Piece a scrappy border, alternating white and blue
-Piece entire top (ugh!)
-Figure out backing for the quilt (!?!?!)
-Sandwich, quilt, bind
-Give to mom on October 18

Kitchen Window To-Do List:

-Cut the black 1 1/2″ strips for the “frames”
-Order more Kelly green and cut green strips for “borders”
-Cut about a dozen more organizing cards, number all 36 of them from 1-36
-Start laying out all 36 blocks, figuring out which ones need to be oriented vertically and which horizontally
-Piece blocks
-Arrange blocks on (hopefully!) “design wall”
-Piece top & figure out backing and binding
-Baste, quilt, bind

Knitting To-Do List:
-Subway socks (Malabrigo Monkeys)
-Red NaNo Sweater started in *cough* 2010: finish arms, finish torso. Yes, it’s fiddly cables: suck it up and knit it already.
-Modern Baby Blanket: finish while watching Olympics. Hope I have enough yarn.
-Finish the legs of those red socks already. Give them to mom on October 18.

Spinning To-Do List:
-Get cracking on that yarn for mom’s sweater. Finish it up by December, for a Christmas present.
-Spin exclusively from stash: maybe some merino/yak? Or the lovely greens from MA Sheep&Wool.

More spinning

I picked up a good bit of fiber at the Mass Sheep & Wool fair two weekends ago. The majority came from the Spunky Eclectic booth, where I sort of fell down on my credit card, and got four braids of beautifully dyed top. They had a merino/superwash merino/silk blend that was just beautiful to the touch, and a merino/yak that caught my eye. I picked up two of each, in reds and in greens.

But wait — that’s only three! Well, yes. I got impatient and spun up one braid before I even got home:

It was 4 oz. of the merino/superwash merino/silk and it practically spun itself: it was absolutely gorgeous, and such a joy to work with. I just spun on my “default” setting for yarn, which was easy and fun, and got a yarn that’s somewhere between a worsted and a DK.

I didn’t just fall over in the one booth, though. I also picked up some sock batts (10% nylon, hooray — otherwise I go through socks like they’re made of tissue paper) and some beautiful autumn-colored silk at A Touch of Twist. I have no idea what I’m going to do with the silk, but it just called my name so nicely, and it will be a lot of fun to spin up.

I’m already looking forward to Rhinebeck, in October. Hopefully by then I’ll have spun most of this, so I can justify picking up a little more.

MA Sheep & Wool

Last weekend I visited a friend in Holyoke, MA, and on Sunday we went to the Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair. There, we saw a whole lot of sheep (as expected).

Some were very curious:

Some had horns, though I didn’t get pictures of the ones that had four horns:

And some were clearly destined to be sheared for spinning wool, and had silly jackets:

As for me, I liked the bunnies:

We trawled the vendors barns as well, and I picked up a bit of spinning fiber, but I don’t have any pictures of it just yet. Back to quilting on Friday. (Schedule change: updates twice a week, on M/W/F.)