Are Crackpots permitted to post political statements on a quilting blog? Of course! We’re Crackpots! Anything goes, as long as it’s not nasty. And besides, pumpkin carving can be at least a craft and possibly even an art form, although not in these hands. I am very proud of these. They lasted through election night and then were ceremoniously deposited in the compost bin the next morning. 
Archive for the ‘NaBloPoMo’ Category
Barack-o-lanterns
Friday, November 7th, 2008Not Quite Pink Spirit Doll
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
I’ve been working on a couple of Spirit Dolls. This is the front of the Not Quite Pink one. She is beaded on fabric backed by a stable-in-all-directions interfacing. The fabric without the beads looks strangely like James’ legs.
The beads are mostly size 11/0, with some 8/0, 6/0, and 15/0. There are also a few hexes and bugles. Nearly all the beads are sewn on with the backstitch.
I tried something new with this one. Rather than stitching around the edge of the shape to be beaded by hand, I did it by machine with a small stitch. It’s all that garment sewing that tells me to reinforce inward curves where I will need to clip. I did the same thing on the back. You can see it here.
The back is the same fabric, but I painted it with some Lumiere Halo Pink Gold, or whatever the official name of the color is. (You don’t want to make me go down to my laboratory to look for the official name, do you?)
Next I’ll turn the edges under along the stitched line and press. I’ll press the beaded side from the back, while it’s face down on a towel and covered with a pressing cloth. Then I’ll whipstitch the front and back together, leaving a hole for stuffing. After I stuff it with fiberfill, I’ll stitch the opening closed. The final step is to add a beaded edge. I’ll post another picture when it’s done.
For more adventures in beading (including my rant about not quite pink), see my Crackpot Beader Blog.
More baskets
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Here are some more of the baskets for my quilting group. You can see I made a switch to brighter colors!
Quilted Baskets
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
Several of the crackpotty things I’ve been working on lately cannot be published at this time because they must be kept secret from one or more of my fellow Crackpots. However, here is something I can share. My quilting group is working on a project where everyone has a different basket block which she makes enough of for everyone in the group, and then we’ll swap once they’re all done. Here is my block: it’s a combination of piecing and applique. The first three I made in muted colors, using scraps and fabrics from my stash. I like how they turned out, but after three, I got tired of the calm colors and went for brighter fabrics, but I’ll save that for another day…
Half a Hat
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007It’s not NaBloPoMo, and I’m still posting!
I’m over half done with the hat for myself.
It may look completed, but I’m working on the lining. The good news is that I tried it on after finishing the outer part, and it fits perfectly.
I failed in my goal to finish my Fair Isle cardigan in November, but the arrival of winter weather pushed hat-knitting higher on the priority list.
Last Day of NaBloPoMo
Friday, November 30th, 2007Here are a few things that I recently knitted for afghans for Afghans. The socks are by a friend of mine.
The hats and mittens are all made of leftovers from other projects – you may recognize the rainbow hat as a cousin of the propeller beanie. The olive green hat started its life as a hat I made to practice knitting cables without a cable needle, with the yarn I used for a sweater involving cables – I don’t think I’ve blogged about the sweater because I haven’t been able to get a decent photo of it. The hat turned out way too short to be functional – so I added more depth and earflaps to make it wearable. I hope these things will keep some kids in Afghanistan warm this winter.
Quilt Pink Blocks
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
Here are Cathy’s and my completed Quilt Pink blocks. I think you get a nice secondary star pattern in the middle. Cathy gave me hers when I was there at Thanksgiving, and I finally got mine done, too. I mailed them off yesterday, so they should be at Quilt Quarters in plenty of time for the Dec. 1 deadline. (Sincere apologies to Rebecca for not getting a kit to her! I have it here and kept meaning to mail it but never got to the post office and then it was so late that I figured that by the time you got it you wouldn’t have time to sew it and send it in by the deadline.)
Ornament Exchange
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007Each year the fiber arts guild has a Christmas potluck and an ornament exchange. 2007’s exchange will be a week from today. I’m working on my ornament, and it is top secret until the exchange. This is what I made for last year’s exchange.
Only two more days of NaBloPoMo. So post, somebody else…
Fat Quarter Exchange
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007With all the Christmas lists floating around in cyberspace, it’s time to consider the Annual Fat Quarter Exchange. Do we want to do it again?
For those who don’t know, the Annual Fat Quarter Exchange occurs at sort of Christmas. Each of us brings several fat quarters. They are all put into a bag, and we take turns grabbing one out. The idea is that we each will take home as many fat quarters as we bring. Or something like that.
After that, the guidelines are a little loose. Some of us use this opportunity to create some temporary open space in the stash. Others give up leftovers from a completed project. Someone may contribute a sample of “I loved it once, but I can’t remember why.” There have occasionally been rumors of shopping for fat quarters to go in the exchange.
As far as wrapping goes, that varies, too. Some of the fat quarters are wrapped; others are not. After much pondering, I have concluded that the wrapping (or not wrapping) depends on whether the wrapper (or not wrapper) (not the rapper) has a very young child or has to bring the fat quarters on a commercial airline.
When we are not all together for Christmas (as opposed to not altogether there), a surrogate usually grabs for the absentee. The traditional way of conveying these fat quarters is in the tastefully decorated round oatmeal box, via USPS.
It’s a tradition, sorta… So what’s the plan for this year? And who has the oatmeal box?
Hat beginnings
Sunday, November 25th, 2007I’m a little nervous about this hat turning out too small, but it’s too early to tell… I cast on Friday evening (start delayed due to that annoying need-to-work on Friday).
The pattern is Syncopated Caps from the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits. I am knitting a lining, so instead of the ribbing at the bottom, I’ll just have an extra repeat of the colorwork. The lining will be with the light blue yarn that I used for the cast on row (look to the bottom right of the photo). The variegated yarn is Colinette Jitterbug.
I bought the Jitterbug yarn on a whim last month. I had discovered that I like wearing handknit socks with my black dress shoes. However, my existing handknit socks are colors that are somewhat less appropriate for business wear (such as not-at-all-subdued red). I decided that I needed to buy slightly more sedate sock yarn for my next pair of socks. The Jitterbug caught my eye at The Sow’s Ear, and since there was only one skein of that particular color, it would surely be gone if I waited until I was finished with the pair of socks I’m currently working on.
I later read some reviews of the Jitterbug online which raised concerns about its durability, and also read the washing instructions – which, while they technically allow washing in the washing machine, don’t meet my requirements for socks – i.e. that I can throw them in the washer with the rest of my laundry. Were I to use the yarn for socks, it would be quite some time before I would knit them – the currently-in-progress pair of socks has been stuck in the state of single sockdom for months, and I’m positive that the first sock was started in some year other than 2007. It turns out that socks are not my favorite thing to knit. Therefore, I’m using the yarn for a hat for myself – which I definitely do need.