Crackpot Quilters’ Blog

Here are some pictures of one of my two favorite Christmas gifts. (The other will remain unpublished because of the boys’ pictures on it.)

It is a shawl that Rebecca knitted for me. The yarn is wool and silk, and the lace knit is gorgeous. I just love it! The first picture is a full view.

In the next picture, you can see the detail of the knitting. Some project, isn’t it?

And how did she know that this blue was my favorite color?

Here’s another post of a project that many of you have already seen, at least in some stage of near completion. (Except for Rebecca. It’s a bummer that we see you so seldom.) These are the placemats I made for Cathy and Chris for Christmas. They are the same pattern as placemats that I made for a wedding present for friends a couple of years ago. I made a trial mat at that time with a miscellaneous collection of blue fabrics that I had in my stash to make sure the whole idea would work (and that I could piece curved seams). I liked the result and kept it. Later I realized that the blues would be good for Cathy and Chris and resolved to make 3 more as a set for them. Just before Thanksgiving, something clicked and I hauled out my stash of blues and started to play. That was the really fun part! I expected to present them with a work-in-progress gift (it has been done before!), and was amazed to discover that several days at the Cute Little House at Thanksgiving time were all that were needed to get the job well on the way to completion. By the way, the placemats are backed with a lovely (I think) dark blue batik, and they are fully reversible, so Cathy and Chris can set a more formal table if they so desire.

As I previewed several months ago, I’m finally working on my Dale of Norway sweater. The sleeves are done and blocking! I did them first so I could perfect my gauge before diving into the body. I think my gauge is a wee bit off, so I’ll have to do some calculating and pondering to figure out what (if any) needle and sweater size changes to make for the body. The good thing about drop sleeves is that there is no shaped sleeve cap so I don’t need a match between body and sleeve proportions. I made the sleeves from the kids’ size 10 directions and was planning on the size 12 kids’ body (both with appropriate lengthening), so even if the sleeves are a bit wider than I’d planned, they’ll just be closer to the size 12 sleeve measurements.

You might be wondering about me making a kids’ size sweater – these patterns are quite oversized (see the picture of the pattern in my old post), and I’ve chosen the size to more-or-less match the size of the Norwegian sweater that I already own (thanks, Dad, for deciding that you think wool is itchy!). Having a finished sweater with measurements I like has been immensely helpful in figuring out how to do this project).

If I’ve posted the picture correctly, you should be able to click on it to get a larger version.

Here it is, after almost a year of working on it on and off, the top to Nicholas’ big boy bed quilt. Mainly I learned that if I ever touch flannel again, I will spray starch EVERYTHING, especially triangles, before working with it!!!