Ruffle Scarf Giveaway Winner

Firstly, if you're in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving!  I made a pumpkin pie in honor of the holiday tradition, and will meet for a Thanksgiving lunch with friends.  Yay friends!

Next, I'm happy to announce the winner of this week's giveaway!

toffeepopsMon Nov 25, 07:18:00 PM GMT+1Most of my novelty yarn scarf is still in the form of 2 1/2 balls of yarn... I don't think it will ever see the light of day in finished form. Definitely not good first project material. This scarf looks so soft, squishy and cosy. Warmth without great bulk. Thanks for the chance! :)

Em, you've won a ruffly silk-mohair scarf!  It's ready to go, just write me your full address and contact information, and I'll send it off to you.


Thank you all for entering, and have a lovely Thursday!  I hope to be posting a photo of a finished quilt very soon!!

Craftsy BOM Blue Sampler Quilt: Nearly at the finish line

Medallion style quilting definitely has its advantages.  I was able to comfortably FMQ (free-motion quilt) each medallion which is something I can't do easily with a full quilt sandwich.  But, it also is quite tedious.  Putting together each block in order gets a bit tiresome.  I guess I'm ready for this project to be d-o-n-e!

I show you... progress!

A wild, sampler quilt made with scraps of fabric from all over the place.

So close!  I'm almost there!  What's left?  I've got to sew together 4 strips of the blue stand-in fabric (ran out of the original) and random scraps for the back and then even up the edges.  Somehow even though I measured my blocks and I thought they were all the same, one row of medallions is slightly larger than all the rest.  Dunno what I did differntly, but I just need that last gust of energy to finish this up!

Also, some advice.  Keep your fancy yarns away from enthusiastic FMQ'ing.  Tee hee!
Still not sure how I did that.

Also, don't forget to enter this week's giveaway which ends Wednesday, November 27th.  I'm giving away a lovely silk/mohair scarf!  See giveaway post here.

Finished Object & Giveaway!

I just finished two knitting projects that I'd like to share, and one I'd like to give away.

First, the finished test knit...

I just finished a knitted beret/slouch using a pattern by my friend, Dilettant Knits.

A nice tip when you're blocking a beret.  In order to shape the beret, you can wet block it over a plate balanced on a cup.  The curve of the plate opens up the lace patterning, and the cup allows the ribbed edge of the brim to shrink back so it'll stay on your head.

before blocking, the lace is still a bit contracted

Beret: wet blocking on a plate

Beret: wet blocking on a plate balanced on a cup

The other "knitted" project I finished is this spiral scarf using a novelty yarn product made by Rowan.  Rowan, the maker of KidSilk Haze yarn, also made this limited edition product called Kidsilk Creation. KidSilk Creation is a kind of tubular mesh novelty yarn using KidSilk Haze, but the problem is that it's not a very easy product to work with, and Rowan's team only came up with two projects to make with it... the same spiral scarf in a knit version or crochet version which are practically identical.

In any case, a friend gave me a hank in "smoke" color, and I used it to make this scarf which I now offer to you as a giveaway.  The quality of the yarn is great as it's 70% mohair and 30% silk as per the usual KidSilk Haze yarn, it's soft as a kitten, and light as air.  It would make a lovely holiday gift, and it's warm as can be!
Here are loads of people wearing their lovely scarves.

Shown wrapped once around

Shown folded in half and the ends threaded through

If you would like to win it, just leave a comment below, and confirm your entry using the rafflecopter widget!  This giveaway will close on Wednesday of next week.  Thanks for stopping by!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blue Quilt Progress!

Ack, I thought I had finished more blocks than I really had.  It turns out, I ran out of backing fabric, and I had left some with batting ready to go, but no backing fabric.  I had been using up all of my green fabric as backing for the blue quilt, but I've run out!  So, I'm improvising.  Time to stash bust...

But, I did make some progress.  Even with a bit of the "shaky hands" at the beginning, I got through free-motion quilting six more blocks from the quilt.  Hopefully, I can get all the medallions done this week and get started sewing them together.  There's still binding and washing, too!

little bit of the shaky-hands, but oh well!

Checking In

Hi Constant Reader,

I'm back in the studio, but I'm currently sick. The culprit was/is likely all that traveling that got me down, but no matter.  I've got a lot planned, and a lot to wrap up in the next two months.  You know how it is.  November's shouting out at you on the calendar.  You realize exactly how many things aren't finished that needed to be done by the year's end, and that's where I'm at.  I'm re-organizing my schedule.  I'm not taking on any more knitting-related commissions until next calendar year, and I'll be focusing on my UFO quilting, sewing, and self-publishing projects.


Almost Finished:
Twinsies Boy Blanket (knitting machine project) just needs final panel, washing/blocking
Same Same Cardigan (hand-knitting) just needs blocking

About Half Finished:
Blue Quilt (machine quilted)

- - - -
Not Started:
Twinsies Girl Blanket (knitting machine project)
Sugar Block Quilt (machine quilting)
bras/bralettes project (sewing/upcycling)