Stripped and Braided

I ripped the coif I had started in the last post, and started over once again. This time around is better, and at least I know the shape that I wanted works. But I need to get it a little closer to the face, so I'm going to make the face hole a little smaller, and then increase some stitches at the top of the hole to curve it back out and cover more forehead. So it's back to the knitting needles again! I think this is why I didn't do much knit work in college, it's just so fiddly to get the shapes right, and I have to keep starting over.


I'm finally dipping into my little shoebox of precious dyed silks. I hoard every scrap, sample and dye mistake from my classmates, my students and myself, and I'm breaking them out for Mariah's coat. Like with the horns, small areas of color (unlike the all-over color of the others) but really concentrated, bright, colorful. On this I'm breaking it into cool and warm, to avoid the rainbowishness I wasn't sure about on the horns.
I'm doing a little strip of braid quilting, one cool, one warm, probably to go on either side of the button up front of the coat's lining. The silk is a pain in the butt to sew, very shifty/stretchy, but it's going okay with the foundation strip.Close up--it's really a challenge keeping them centered, they just want to stretch all over.


I was also making more blocks for my log cabin quilt, which is why there's not quite as much other work this week as their could have been. Now I'm up to 60, shooting for 150. Guess it'll be good for next winter, I think I'll still be working on it through the spring and summer.

Tiny Gift and Trial and Error

First a small gift for Seamus for Valentines Day's (which is also our anniversary, approximately, makes gift-giving easier!) It's the symbol for Chapter of Rose Croix in the Scottish Rite of Masonry, which he has recently joined. It's truly a tiny gift, only about 1 3/4" diameter. Done in chain stitch with sewing thread. I'll probably go back and fill in the little white bit peeking through on the rose, I didn't notice it until looking at the picture.
I recently de-plied a whole ton of white three-ply rug/needlepoint yarn (the type pre-cut into yard-long lengths) and wound them up on cardboard. I really wanted to knit my under-horn head covering with them, but I was having some problems with the sturdyness of it if I just held two strands together to join.
So right now I'm knitting a mock up in some frogged sweater yarn (a super soft wool/cashmere blend, I really want a hat made out of it for myself) and debating whether to just make it in this yarn, or re-try it in the salvaged yarn. Not certain yet, though I love the variation in the de-plied yarn. Thoughts?

Annnnnd Done

So I swallowed my fear of color a bit and finished the other half of the embroidery on the horns in teal, then sewed up the other sides. I don't have a head form right now, so you get treated to my tired head modeling it. The balaclava/ski mask I'm wearing under it is not what will be used in the end, just giving you an idea about how the piece will look over one. And without it, you could barely see the horns against my dark hair.
I am particularly pleased with how they look from the back--that I'd really not been able to see as I was working on it.