lindsey marcella

back me up

cleaning out my scraps counts as cleaning, right?

stacked

 

I've been doing some cleaning because we'll have 'guests' this weekend (Super Bowl party). I decided to sort through and fold all of my large pieces of fabric. It was fun, and didn't take too, too long. Derek was helping me clean and asked if going through all this fabric gave me lots of ideas for new projects. I said no, but it's yes! I want to make another bed quilt. Maybe I'll use my scraps though. I have enough of them, and if I get some cheap solid fabric it would be a good stash buster. Oh - and looking at all of this fabric I realized how much of it I didn't purchase. A lot of it was gifted (thanks mom!)...and the stuff I did buy was from a few years ago. I've been good! :)

first quilt of 2009

 

Here's my first finished quilt of '09! This was hte baby quilt I made for my supervisor who's due to have a boy in a few weeks. I wanted to keep it very simple, so I used some light tan fabric I already had pre-cut into squares (who knows why I did that...but it helped save time now!). I went through my fat quarters and found some nice green and blue fabric and voila! The back is solid navy, and the binding solid green. I was excited to wrap it so I didn't get too many pictures. I used a bamboo/cotton batting which is my new favorite. It's lightweight but the finished quilt is nice and solid feeling.

 

I did a big no-no for the quilting. Well, it's something engrained in me that is not ever to be done - use a different color thread for the bobbin. I didn't want tan lines on the back of solid navy, and didn't want harsh navy lines on the top of the quilt. So tan on top, navy on bottom. It's fine, but if you look closely you can see bits of the navy pop through on the top. I think it worked out the best though.

I had been ready to start this since early December, but I keep stalling out. I think it was because I was making a "boy" quilt as a gift. I don't think a quilt has to be very gender specific, but I do feel like I lean that way when making a gift. I only put in a few florals, but even then you never really know how it will be accepted. Oh well, in the end it was fun to make! I never took final meaurements, but I think it was around 36"x40" or somewhere around there. And I made sure she knew that this was to be used and not just put away! Sometimes I think people have a tendancy to protect handmade items like quilts, but they really are for use!

some recent things

waking up with no internet isn't fun...means i can't post anything! so here's a recap:

 
cosmo likes yarn (especially alpaca)

 
that yarn became the trim for these mitts. not practical when scraping off my car though.

   
i actually finished this neckwarmer (ravelry) before christmas, but didn't get the closure until a few weeks ago. to that point it was being closed with a bobby pin.

i am currently knitting a pair of socks, but those have been put on hold for a quilt. tomorrow is a baby shower for my supervisor at work so i've made a baby boy quilt. i just have 1/2 the binding left to sew down. she also has a little girl, so i've got another (already made) quilt for her. it's one i've always loved but didn't have anyone to give it too.

i still haven't transitioned into my new role at work. not for another week or so. too much left hanging in my other job, but it's nice that everyone can agree it's for the best!

i am a knitter

 

There. I said it. I am still a sewer, don't get me wrong. It's just that I feel I am now a knitter too. I've accomplished enough projects that I can say it. And I enjoy knitting, and it's portable nature. Love being able to work on the current project at lunch (work) and get funny stares. And then sometimes get the inquiring questions, or hear from other people who like knitting because their grandma knit. It's fun. Plus knitting blogs are great!! I thought craft blogs were fun...but it seems like knitters have a whole 'nother (humorous) side to them. Not trying to impress anyone...just being...funny. I love it! I can spend hours, days, weeks going through archives.

Anyways, these are some felted slippers that went to Derek's mom for her birthday. I loved knitting them, but really loved felting them. They worked perfectly. I made them to fit me (a 6.5 shoe) because Derek has felted slippers that stretched a bit, so I'm hoping these fit her because she has slightly bigger feet. If not I can always wet them and stretch them a bit. We'll see. I've also made some mitts. Here's what happened when I told Derek:

Me: I'm making some mitts.
Derek: Mittens?
Me: No, mitts. Fingerless gloves.
Derek: So, mittens.
Me: No...Gloves with no fingers.
Derek: ...
Me: Here, look at the picture.

Is it weird that I call them mitts?

happy 2009!

To celebrate the new year, I made a hat. Not just any hat though; a nice, big, chunky, neon green hat. I had ordered some "navy" Malibrigo yarn from Loop Yarn, and when it came it was bright green. I wondered why it was called Apple Green on the site, but was a lovely blue color. Not one to waste yarn, I used it up. I made the tam from the fall/winter Knit 1 magazine. I've heard a lot of people say they don't like the hat once it's done, but I like mine! Excuse the photos...Derek took them for me, but it was pretty bright so in all the pictures I'm kind of squinting.

 

Yes, it really is that bright of a green. I hadn't blocked it when I took these pictures so it's still a little bumpy and bubbly looking. The crown is really pretty:

 

Nobody warned me that I would want to cry when I went from size 8 needles to size 11. That wasn't very fun. I did like cabling though - this was my first cable project. I started this on Jan 1 and finished it Jan 3. No significant mods; I had Malibrigo so that's what I used, and carried 2 strands. I didn't have the right length circulars for the ribbing, so I used size 8 circs and did magic loop.

I had a little Christmas money left (after I saved some, of course), so I purchased some yarn to make 2 more projects from Knit 1. The yarn's not here yet, which is good because I'm using up some stash in the meantime. And I don't have a large stash so it's fun.

 

I don't really have any New Year's resolutions. I start a new job Monday with a different department, so of course I'd like to do good at that. Now that I'm full time (don't get me started on how that has severely limited my crafting), I would really like to see what I can do at work. There are so many great opportunities there.

Other things I'd like to do at some point: go to France and Japan, and open up a retail store. I think a yarn store so I can follow my grandma's legacy. I'd have to name the store the same as hers (it had an awesome name!), except with a "2" after it of course. Before I do that though I'd need to have quite a bit more money and be a better knitter!