Deep Water Ashton -- On the road

Since I was traveling last week to see my family and friends in Florida, I never blogged about my newest Ashton. I finished it in the car on the way back home and blocked it upon my return. I used one of the Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn skeins that I bought at the big yarn sale and a US size 5, 47 inch circular needle. For all of the pictures, I pinned the finished shawlette on my blinds so that you can really see the pattern. Unfortunately, the brightness of the color is somewhat diffused, but the picture on the right shows the color much better than the one above.

Because of the nature of the yarn, the pattern is somewhat wonky as the yarn thickness varies from lace weight to as thick as worsted weight in a few places. I like the wonkyness as it makes any mistakes in the knitting disappear.

I think I am hooked on lace knitting for the moment. In fact, I have already started another Shawlette from a different designer. But that is a post for another day.

Happy Knitting!

Autumn Days

I have been trying to finish this quilt. I have been so involved in knitting, that I have been ignoring this quilt. But I have to get it done soon as the baby is already 4 months old and I haven't got her quilt done! Since I last posted about "A is for Autumn", I have gotten a little done. I have finished the three other motifs that I wanted to do on the quilt: pumpkins, a basket of apples and a squirrel gathering nuts. I have not put the top or bottom boarder on the quilt as it is less fabric to get the blanket stitching done in the center.



I use a sewing machine to apply the blanket stitching as I am not very fast when doing it by hand. Actually, I think that sewing a blanket stitch by machine is two slow and would prefer waving a magic wand. But since magic wands are expensive, I make due with a machine.

The thread that I use for the blanket stitch is mettler silk finish cotton thread. I must have about 30 different colors. It helps give some dimension to a bunch of red apples in a basket if you have more than one red.

But the blanket stitch is more than just a design element. It also helps keep the fusable edges of the quilt motifs from fraying and falling apart. I always tell the recipient of the quilt that if it falls apart, they should bring it back and I will fix it. Either people are really shy or the blanket stitch works because I have never gotten a quilt back from anyone to fix.

Happy quilting!

Snowtop Mountain Shawl -- My Ashton Shawlette is all but finished!

My Ashton Shawlette is stretched out on my spare bed drying! I am so excited about the results of my first lace project and I am already itching to get started on the next one.

I wet blocked this project. After I finished binding off, I carefully washed the shawl in lukewarm water and shampoo. I know that there are other soaps or cleaners that are good for wool, but shampoo is what I had on hand. I carefully rinsed it and laid it out on a towel, rolled it up and squeezed the water out.

I followed a suggestion I saw on Knitting Paradise and used cotton twine to stretch the top edge of the triangular shawl. I carefully wove the twine in and out of the yarn overs. I then stretched the tip at the point of the triangle and finally pulled out each of the points on the bat wing.

The worse thing will be waiting for it to dry.

Happy knitting!!