In a Groove

Sometimes I'm just feeling one process more than another. This week, I was really into the tiny hand piecing of my Dear Jane blocks and knocked out a whole bunch of them. I'm finally feeling like the end is in sight--I've got 5 rows left of blocks, and then it's on to sashing, borders, and triangles. Debating whether to hand sew all the sashings, or take the easy way out and use a machine. I'm leaning towards machine, if only because I know I'll have to hand quilt it, and doing both by hand is the way to madness.

Can't quite remember where I left off last time, so here's most of Row H. Circle-and-bowties was a tremendous pain, but most of the others were pretty okay. I don't think I'll ever want to applique another tiny melon/diamond shape though. My corners are pretty much the worst. 

End of Row H, I-1 and I-2.  Felt like a break, such an easy bunch! Even the applique one was not as bad, at least the pieces were bigger. Peeking ahead there's some multi-piece monsters coming up. 

Also got back on a quick knitting trip since it's getting cold. The scarf I finished last year, but just never got around to blocking. It look so much better now that it lies flat. It feels softer too! I also knocked out a quick hat, but like all hats I make, I get impatient like an inch too soon and start doing decreases, so it's a little small on my head. I swear next time around I'm going to make the biggest, floppiest hat to try and avoid it. 

Gathering Mode

I'm back in that gathering mood. Back to scouring the thrift stores for big chunks of certain things with only a vague idea of what they'll eventually become.

Blue bathing suit bits? Watching too much wrestling has gotten me into a mood to work with spandex and garish patterns. Not that I can really do much without a serger/coverstitcher, but these things might be in my future, I think, and I'm getting supplies ready. 

And for my class, terrible thrift store garments to transform. The theme this years seems to be 'terrible patterns and embellishments.'

Been knitting away at what I think will be a hat, if I've planned right. I'm sort of making a pattern up on the fly--I couldn't find a flat-topped flapped hat design that I liked, so we'll see how this goes. 

Close up. Loving the fair isle so far, should really work more with it, I enjoy the process a lot. Maybe time to break out my graph paper book and work out some designs. These were mostly just chosen at random from a book. 

And what post would be complete without a couple Dear Jane blocks? G-6 through G-10. Nothing too tricky in this batch. Don't know why people find y-seams tricky, I never have a tough time with them. Then again, after doing an enormous bit of hexagon patchwork by hand, I've got lots of practice with them. The pink and blue one here was probably the worst, but it was just tedious, not difficult. 

Keeping it Together

Or at least trying to.

It's been a very difficult week. Seamus has been in the hospital since Monday with some major pancreas problems. It's tearing me up to see him so weak and so out of it.  I've been visiting him as much as I can, but it's a half an hour walk each way, and we're now in 90+ degree heat. Plus the electricity partially went out (taking the A/C with it) at work earlier in the week, so I'm running on fumes, both physically and emotionally.     Understandably, I'm not exactly in the mood to be working on things, but I did get some things done before all this went down, and I've been drawing a little bit too.

Dear Jane G-5 and G-6. Two particularly fussy little blocks. I tried to do the right one as full patchwork first and it was a mess, it worked better as a partial applique. The tiny, tiny star in the middle of the star block was also tough, especially since I'm not paper piecing. 

I did also do some more work on the braid coat, but one un-attached strip of braids looks pretty much like another, so no picture there. However, I am getting back to sketching the finished product a little bit. I'm now thinking it's going to have a kimono-like collar of braid that is wool on both sides, but I'm going to have to make a sample and see if it gets too thick. 

I also did a little bit of knitting this week. When I bought all those double-pointed needles for my Lenore Tawney project, I also bought a chunk of Knit Pick's Palette yarn to get to free shipping, and I've been sitting on it ever since. I decided to finally bust it out a swatch some fair isle. I think I'm going to make a hat, I'm coming up with a shape right now. 

Which got me thinking about hats, and so doodled out this very embarrassing and not at all stylish hat for Sal. To keep his horns warm? Somehow I don't think they get cold. But it's a nice sentiment. 

And a last little drawing, this one's pretty old. Just trying out a more cartoony, thicker lined style. Still not drawing as much as I ought to though. 

Separating and Sampling

So the Lenore Tawney project begins in earnest, I've separated a spool of dark green linen into 24 separate bobbins for my experimental cable knitting fiasco.  I tried to sketch my idea out but it just looked like a mess, so I'm hoping that keeping detailed measurements and notes will do the trick. Imagine a big, cabled tube of knitting separating out into multiple twists, then reconnecting, then fanning out again. I am hoping, with luck, it will recall Lenore Tawney's woven 'convergences' that appear in much of her work. 

Sample of two knit strands joining, cabling, then separating again. I do wish I had gotten something more suitable for this in my 'materials' grab bag though. The dark color means it's harder to see the cables, and it's linen, so there's no 'give,' which makes it harder to work with (especially for twisting the cables) But everything else I got was too fuzzy or thick to work. 

While waiting for my DPN to arrive to truly start the above project, I also whipped out some Dear Jane blocks. It's been a while since I focused on them, and it was a nice break. E-5 through E-9. And man, does E-9 (the gridded one) look crooked. Oh well, I'm not worrying about it too much. 

The Double pointed needles should arrive today, and then I'm banned from working on anything but the Lenore Tawney project and possibly an Xmas gift for Seamus's dad. 

New Friend and Experimental Knitting

In cute news, me and my boyfriend, after talking about it for months, finally adopted a kitty. Barry was being fostered just two doors down from us by some lovely people from PAWS. Seamus had seen him in the window, and knew Barry was the one. He's very affectionate but we've had to ban him from my studio for getting into everything!

In Lenore Tawney Project news, sketching became a little impossible--too many little strands and lines to draw! So I just jumped into making some samples. I'm pretty excited that it's working out so far, but I've realized that I'm going to need like 20 DPNs to continue, so it's on hold until my new needles (size 0 ugh) come in. It's going to continue to split, until, hopefully, it relates to the shape of Lenore Tawney converging woven pieces. 

More Dear Jane, E-5 is complete! Probably work on more blocks this week as I wait for the DPNs to come in. Came out a little warped but I think it will trim down okay.

And I've added a bit more to the rag-rug. Unfortunately, three whole shirts only make it around the oval once now, as it gets bigger, so progress feels a lot slower. 

Do-Over

So you may notice the rag-rug is now in a different shape. The round shape was warping/turning into a cone, so I sucked it up, cut it all apart and started over. The oval shape seems to be working much better. I'm out of material now, it'll have to get put aside until I can find some more old shirts. 

Finally got around to finishing patching my cape. The lining (some kind of fake silk) had shredded around the armholes, and in a couple other spots, so I covered it with some scraps of silk I had lying around. 

And the red cable knit scarf is finally done! I really should have made it a little longer, but I was really, really sick of doing that cable pattern over and over. And I wanted to start quilting my Irish Chain quilt as my 'hand work' 

Still, it's long enough to wrap around a few times. I'm not totally sure I should block it--I've heard conflicting things about heavily cabled designs. But it does curl a little at the ends....

Very exciting things to be happening soon--Leonore Tawney's estate donated a large amount of materials to Uarts, and a bunch of students and alumns (myself included) have been invited to do work responding to hers. It's a bit of a challenge because my work is very different, but I'm in the pondering/sample making stages. This is a bunch of really lovely fine alpaca that unfortunately, makes my nose run something awful. 

And some spools of linen. The projects aren't due until January, so I have some time to figure it out. Watch for updates!

Also, I'm trying to keep on drawing, so have this little doodle--I scanned it in before I started working on color in case I messed up terribly.