House Scarves
Dec 22, 2005 Knitting
Several months ago I decided to knit Hogwart house scarves for my nephew and niece. I started Octoberish. I slowly knit them. Knitting in the round forever isn’t very exciting. About 2 weeks ago, I finished both scaves. I scaled down the Ravenclaw scarf for my petite niece.
With the scaves finished with time to spare, I decided to push myself. I had enough leftover blue yarn to make a hat. I’ve never made a hat before. I followed the guides from Ann Budd’s The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns. I didn’t like my first attempt. I thought it was too thin. I ripped it out and started over with two strands of yarn, much better. These kids live in Michigan. Their little ears need protection from the wind. Finished hat:
The Griffendorf hat required a trip to LYS. I purchased an additional skeing of Burnt Sienna, #999. Status?
The hat is still on the needles. I only need a couple of hours to complete it. While there are 3 days until the 25th, I’m struggling to find the time. Family moments fill my calendar. I should have a couple hours on Saturday morning. If not, I’ll need to sacrifice sleep.
James’ Quilt
Dec 20, 2005 Quilting
While it may appear that I’ve disappeared from the blog world, in reality I’ve been very busy with Christmas presents. Yesterday, I completed my FIL’s quilt by shipping it to him. Here is the finished product:
I’m quite proud of this quilt. It is the largest quilt that I’ve machined quilt to date. Before I give myself too much kudos, I should explain the process. The finished quilt measures 90″x90″. I knew that I couldn’t quilt it on my home machine without losing my sanity. Instead of going to the insane asylum, I rent time on a long-arm machine. I loved it. It took about 9 quilting hours to complete, which seems like a lot. However it would have taken about 40 hours to complete on my home machine.
What did I learn?
- Prepare as much as possible before hand. I based the back and the quilt to the pole leaders before hand.
- Get good help. While I had some vague ideas about quilting designs, the store manager was great in helping me select quilt designs.
- Don’t do too much in one day. I tried to finish in one day. Then I realize it wasn’t going to happen. So I took my tired self home and came back the next day.
Would I do it again. Yes! While there was the expense of $10/hour, I concentrated on the quilting instead of how to manage the quilt bundle.
Regrets? I wish I had a better picture. My pictures were a last minute stab. I wanted a wall picture. The quilt was too heavy. It kept falling out of the ACCO clips. Our bed is the largest flat surface in the house. I wish it had pillow shams for picture. I’m going to miss this quilt. I need to go and visit it.
Next post: Knitting update.
