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.