I-Beams

I found some free time this past weekend to sew up another quilt top! This is I-Beams by Purple Pineapple Studio. I found this pattern at my local fabric shop and loved that it used only 1 fat quarter/beam. The background was quite a bit of yardage, but I certainly got a lot out of each of the six fat quarters!

This was also the first time that I selected the colors/patterns myself. In hindsight, I think that I could have gone with at least one more bold (darker gray? tan?) color between the coral and multi-color far left beam. I am learning!

I hope to drop this top and the batik top off with my quilter later this spring - I'm excited to be building up a nice stack of homemade quilts for our family. When these last two are complete, it will bring the grand total up to 6! I figure I will need at least 3-4 more so I won't miss them so much when the girls take one with them as they grow older.

"Once more with feeling!"

One of our local craft stores is going out of business later this spring. I am sad about this and have been stopping in to pick up a skein of sock yarn here and there while I still can. What I loved about this yarn store was the huge selection of yarns! They carried yarns from most of the big companies, but also many local Wisconsin producers and small batch dyers too.

This is "Once More with Feeling" by Brew City Yarns, knit up in the Hermione Everyday Socks pattern.

As you can see, I was still working this sock with DPN's - maybe I'll give the second sock a try with two circulars?

From the toe up

One of my New Years resolutions was to learn how to knit a sock from the toe up (with a bonus of learning how to knit a sock using two circular needles). I'm proud to report that I have tackled this project and also learned Judy's magic cast-on.

This book has been a huge help, and I am following the ribbed ribbon lace pattern for this first pair. The yarn is "The Upside Down" by Leading Men Fiber Arts - I love that I am learning how to knit this pair of socks "upside down!"

I have been playing around with different circular needle lengths too - I found 9-inch to be too short, 16-inch to be comfortable, but a bit unwieldy, and 12-inch to be about perfect. I am enjoying these 12-inch driftwood needles by Lykke for the time being.

Milet mittens

These gorgeous mittens and kit were a Christmas present to myself. I LOVE how these turned out. As with most of my mittens, I lined these with cashmere from a thrifted sweater. They are perfect for the 10-25F degree days we've been having this winter. It's been comparatively mild so far this winter.