Fourth Daughter

Our fourth daughter arrived earlier in the week. Please excuse my absence from this space while I dress her up in handmade woolens (we're having a cold spat here) and cover her with kisses.

Quick and Dirty

Or at least that is how it felt to get this quilt done. I am starting to go a bit nuts with waiting on this baby and needed to do something to distract myself; something to get my mind off every twitch, twinge, contraction and ache. I decided cleaning up the sewing space was in order and that's when I (again) unearthed this quilt-in-progress. It is actually the first quilt top I ever pieced, before I understood anything about cutting, sewing, quilting, fabric or the like. In fact, I think that this top has been pieced and folded up for just under 6 years. So I pulled it out, spread it out and did the best I could to sandwich it with a back, and pin it, while being 40 wks. pregnant.

It didn't turn out great. The quilting is haphazard, wonky, imprecise and pulled and puckered in all the wrong places. But the quilt is done. I also tried out a fully machine-sewn binding (fantastic tutorial here) this time around. I love it and will definitely use the technique again!

And in the end I don't really mind the way it looks. The monochromatic purple, while arguably overwhelming, is soothing to me for some reason. I like the squares, the rows and rows of shifting color and pattern. The quilt has been washed and was quickly appropriated by my youngest for her use. In fact, she accompanied me the whole time I quilted it, giving me positive feedback now and again, "that looks GREAT mama!" she would say to me from time to time. Underneath her sassy exterior, and often-times challenging modus operandi, she can be my biggest cheerleader.

Maybe there is something in this last bit of pregnant frenzy that is teaching me about what life will be like with four little ones. It won't always be perfect, the way I planned, or seamless, but it will be full of fun, and full of unexpected pleasures in unforeseen places.

Big Sister Cardigan

I finished up her cardigan about a week ago. She has worn it almost every day - only taken it off once to be washed. I think that it is the perfect sweater for her. Easy to pull on and off - and the red is just so 'her.' The best part? Whenever she sees it around the house she runs over and gives it a kiss. It is that precious to her, and hence, all the more to me.

The pattern is sweet peasy (rav link), a child's version of an adult sweater pattern that is also available by Heidi Kirrmaier. I loved the pattern, but did switch things up for construction and made this a seamless top-down knit; also knit the arms in the round. The cotton linen blend washed wonderfully, but it did shrink a bit in length (these photos are pre-washing). I still think it will look cute for many months to come.

WIP Thursday

I have three different projects on the needles at the moment. Two are for me and one is for my youngest daughter. They are keeping me busy and happy and each offers a different knitting experience. I like it like this.

Typically I am a end-product knitter. And one of these projects fits that bill. The other two are process pieces and I am enjoying learning about how I react to them - and when I turn to work on them, or not.

Here is a photo of the cardigan for daughter #3. This is the product piece, and I can't wait to see her wearing it. She is 3 years old, going on 5, and she takes every opportunity to show you as much. Physically she is taller than her sisters were at her age and thus I am making her a size 5 cardigan. It will be big, but she'll get a couple years of wear out of it.

I really enjoy connecting with her through this project. In the beginning I picked out three patterns I was interested in knitting, left them at her chair at breakfast time, and let her pick out the one she wanted. Then we turned to the magic of the internet and picked out some yarn (Knitpicks CotLin) that would suit the pattern. She got to pick the color - a striking red. I am about half-way done with the piece and hope to finish it off shortly. It needs 3/4-length sleeves and some finishing details. We've already begun calling it her big sister sweater.





This next project - arguably soon to be out of season - is very much a process piece. I am knitting up some mittens with silk (inspiration here). I've never done anything quite like this and love, love, love it. It is very organic, very raw and very rustic.

The silk comes in a hankie (or roughly 11-inch square) that is as thin as a cobweb. Termed mawatas, these hankies are made from the the cocoons of silkworms (DO NOT FOLLOW THIS LINK IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH ABOUT BUGS/WORMS). The cocoons are degummed, flattened, layered and then dyed, if one desires. Mine were dyed by the very talented folks at Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

For this project I am using the silk as is, no spinning or processing. I simply stretch out the sticky hankie, split it in one place and ply the end of one to the end of another. Then start knitting. Voila!

The width of the 'yarn' is all over the place, but that is one of things that I love about the project. The variation adds so much character. But stretching each hankie as I needed it caused me to stop too frequently, so instead I stretch about 10 hankies at one sitting and then wind them onto a spent paper towel holder. This allows me to work the yarn much faster and with fewer interruptions.





This last piece has been going for some time now (see here), but has been temporarily abandoned while I work on the two above. This scarf will take forever to finish - it is knit from three balls of sock yarn. Each ball gives you roughly two small socks so this scarf is the equivalant of knitting 6 socks. But the beauty! The colors! The new-to-me stitch pattern! It will be a happy spring scarf if I gather the energy to finish it. It would also make for a stunning fall accessory don't you think?