Other than Knitting

While I've spent most of the week continuing on Seamus' scarf (almost to the end of the 3rd and 4th balls) I couldn't work on it *all* the time. Knitting seems especially rough on my wrists, so I need to take some breaks.

The plaid shirts I collected so far were joined by a few more and cut down to 1.5" strips.
I'm sticking with blue/green/gray plaids, to keep it cohesive--they are seem to be the easiest colors to find in thin cotton (not flannel) shirts. I'm still not sure whether I want to do a simple diagonal strip block, or a log cabin. Have to wait and see what the light/dark ration is like.
Strip of each shirt, and the 7" paper foundation. I use phonebook paper because it's free, and it tears away from the fabric easily. It's the fastest way to make strip blocks. If I make log cabins I probably won't use it.
And, excitingly enough I started filling in my tape lace piece. This stitch is called the 'pea stitch' I think I'm going to alternate it with a looser stitch.
Right, now I'm back to knitting!

Scarf Keeps Going, and Growing

If I had known when I started knitting this how much of a pain this much 2x2 checkerboard was going to be, I probably would not have done it, but it looks so nice...
According to Seamus, the "Tessalated Pavement" checkboard represents life and death, triumph and despair, good and evil. Working on this for him has been interesting--normally I am used to pulling imagery and symbols from my own fictionalized 'library.' I have both general and fairly specific rules and meanings behind the colors, shapes and materials that I use in my garments and what they mean in the fictional world they are created for, and to the characters that they belong to. Making this for him means working with pre-exsisting symbols, from the very rich visual language that Freemasonry has developed.

The tape-lace experiment continues on:
The bias strips were laid and stitched down to a dark backing fabric-so I can see what I am doing. When the whole piece is finished, I'll cut the green basting stitches holding it down and lift it off the backing fabric. Here it is not yet sewn to itself, so you can see some rough edges.
Joining the separate pieces of tape together. There will be some raw edges on the reverse, I'm not totally sure yet how I will deal with that.
Anddd, all joined up and a it cleaner looking. Now I'm ready to start the lace. I'm not sure yet if I'm just going to do an alternating pattern in every other compartment, or a bunch of different ones...
I've also started hoarding plaid shirts for a quilt, this time, I swear, queen sized to keep me warm this winter. Pattern I'm not totally sure on yet, but tonight I'm cutting them into 1.5 inch strips. I will probably just end up doing a string quilt, but I could also do a nine patch or something with the strips...

Small Post for Small Progresses

Well, I finally have a day off, after a very busy work week. Our assistant manager went on vacation, and boot season is finally starting to happen, so we're getting busier every day. So not too much got done on the sewing/knitting front, but I've been keeping up steam at least.
The keystone for Seamus's scarf is taking shape. I really do not dig this yarn, it's so poofy, and I feel like it's always getting in my mouth, but it was soft enough for him to like it, and not acrylic, so I won't get that squeaky feeling when I work with it.

Back, with the checkerboard that looks a bit more like houndstooth in the knit. This is going to be one thick, warm scarf.
The quilt is pieced. Came out much smaller than I had hoped--only about 50 by 40 inches. I'll put a little border on it, I suppose, but not much, I'll just keep it small. Whatever I do next, I'm going to plan out to get a queen size. On this one, I was just winging it with chunks of fabric I dyed.
And something new, something art-related, hurray! Breaking out my Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Fashion in Detail (an awesome book) inspired me to get back to exploring old embellishment techniques, in this case, tape lace, or Battenburg lace. I pulled apart one of the few linen mumu's I've picked up from the thriftstore. The bottom half is remaining as yardage, the front top became thread (as the bright white of cotton thread would look weird) and the back was cut into bias strips to make the tape. We'll see how it goes...

Warm Things for Cooler Weather

Once the temperature dips below 80°, it's time to start wistfully stockpiling/making warm cozy things for the nippy weather that's sure to come soon. Only then the temperature jumps right back up and see-saws for two more months. Ugh.

The purple vest is finished! My first non-scarf garment, I feel quite accomplished. Starting with a new medium leads to some nice instant gratification.
Little cable around the neck. Dunno if I need to block it really, the silk just sort of hangs nicely.
Laid flat, you can see how simple the shape is, it's really just a big old rectangle with arm holes.
I made a "Fetching" fingerless mitt from Knitty to get the hang of putting in a thumb. Was much easier than I anticipated. I knew the gauge was wrong from the start, so they are huge, but no problem, my boyfriend Seamus has much bigger hands then me. Now to make the other, and move on to mittens and full gloves.
He's also getting a scarf for his birthday! I actually had to go out and buy yarn (usually I scour for appropriate sweaters to unravel) because I needed specific colors. This stuff is a little fuzzy for the colorwork I wanna do, but it'll work.
The body of the scarf will be black and white check, worked in the round, and then one of each symbol at the end. The designs are both symbols of the Holy Royal Arch, the masonic group that he's joining this fall. Considering how tacky a lot of the masonic stuff (rings, ties, shirts) is today, I think it's pretty classy.
Sample of the checkerboard pattern (also my gauge swatch)

In non-knitting news, I've picked back up my double-four-patch quilt. I put it away for a bit in frustration. I had sewn it with one seam allowance for one part, and a different one for the next step, so I had to pick out a lot of seams and re-sew.

Now I've got 2 more colors to go, then I can start putting it together. Two possible orientations:

I'm leaning towards the first, it looks a bit like plaid. Thoughts?


And finally, I scored a pretty incredible thrift find this week.

Yes, it is a child's bed comforter in a completely awesome moon-and-stars celestial print, something that's been rather trendy in the last year or so.
A la Christopher Kane Resort '11. But I've always loved astronomical imagery, I have more than one of those cheesy "Universe" picture books you find on sale at Borders. So I think it's going to have to become something cozy and warm. I'm debating about the shape now--drapey blanket coat, peacoat-ish style, cape? Not sure yet.