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December 1st, 2011 | by Jessie | 
My brother and his wife Morgan got married on July 2nd of this year. They conceived a child approximately 7 to 10 days later, but that is beside the point (of this post)! As a quilter, I see milestones such as weddings (and pregnancy announcements/births) as opportunities… for myself! I can be pretty self-centered – in a giving way? – about life events. Quilts, quilts, quilts! In related news, I’m a nerd-bomber.
I remember as a new quilter over six years ago, getting a free “Jacob’s Ladder” quilt pattern, and saving it, thinking it’d be a perfect quilt for when Jacob got married. He would have been 19 at the time. I was planning ahead!
I didn’t forget about the Jacob’s Ladder pattern, I just didn’t think it was special enough for the wedding quilt. I found a pattern that I did like in an issue of Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine called China Girl, which is a more modern take on the very traditional Double Wedding Ring quilt (here’s an example). I followed the basic block directions but I changed the size and layout as far as the border is concerned. I should have kept better notes, but this quilt finished in the 80ish” square size. Which, seeing the quilt spread out on my kitchen floor (above), makes me excited because that means in the future I’ll have room to baste an even bigger quilt on my new kitchen floor! I had to go to my in-laws’ house to baste this quilt because I didn’t have 80 square inches of floor space at the old house. And hopefully someday I won’t have to worry about that nasty floor-basting business because I’ll have a long-arm quilting machine. Ahhhh, someday.
Morgie’s sister was very helpful in suggesting colors she thought Morgan would like and that really helped; I started planning the quilt and buying fabric in March. I started cutting the fabric just before a quilting/crafting retreat. I spent the entire retreat sewing tiny pieces together and by the end of the weekend retreat, my quilting friends still had no idea what the final quilt would look like, that’s how little progress it appeared that I had made. But even tiny pieces when sewn together make bigger and bigger pieces until finally blocks were constructed and the quilt top was done.
Then, as I mentioned, I basted the quilt and began the quilting process in the basement of my in-laws’ house. I would drag all of the kids there and hope that they would play nicely while I could get some quilting done. It took a lot of those trips to complete the job, but it paid off… the quilt was done before the wedding. In true “me” style, I was clipping threads and snapping a few quick pictures on the way out the door to the rehearsal dinner.
Here are some close-up pictures I took just recently when I borrowed the quilt to take it to another quilting retreat… this time for show & tell. =)
(back of the quilt)
![2011 11 18_0132_edited-1[6]](http://nothinggetscrossedout.com/arts/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2011-11-18_0132_edited-16.jpg "2011 11 18_0132_edited-1[6]")
November 16th, 2011 | by Jessie | A long, long time ago…
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile.
Whoops! Off track. Let me start this again.
A long, long time ago…
I posted out of pure excitement that I was about to begin a sweater project for myself. The pattern was named Paulie <—Ravelry link (need an account).
Well, it is done and I have the finished photos for you today, my friends!
And that’s the last picture of my head you’ll see. Taking pictures of your own project while wearing it isn’t an easy thing to do.
I have more pictures posted to my Ravelry project page along with a few pattern notes.
The reason why I named this puppy Shades of Gray is because I had the hardest time getting a matching skein of the gray yarn. I made the medium size and ordered enough yarn according to the pattern directions, which for the kind of yarn I chose ended up being 2 skeins. I was WAY short of having enough to finish, so I ended up ordering from 2 different vendors in an attempt to find a somewhat close color match and then sending one super-different looking skein back. I love hand-dyed yarns, but they can be difficult to match, so it’s good to buy more than you think you’ll need so the skeins can be best matched from the get-go. The difference in colors in my sweater is noticeable, but it isn’t that dramatic. A person would have to be looking for it to see it, I think. In the end, I really didn’t care too much, because I made it and I’m the one who has to (gets to) wear it.
I would love to make another one of these someday – but DANG! – the yarn gets expensive, yo! When it was all said and done I spent about $85 on the yarn, $6 on the needles, $2 on the buttons, and I guess even more for the shipping plus return shipping of the off-color skein. AND, I got to spend months knitting it! WIN!
But seriously, it was fun, and when you consider knitting as a hobby, you don’t look at it in purely economical terms. I mean, buying a cardigan at Kohl’s for $10 would be cheaper, yes, but knitting is an enjoyable process for me and I got to make it just the way I wanted it.
November 8th, 2011 | by Jessie | I hereby motion for the the Board (you) to recognize this, the month of November, the year of our Lord Two-Thousand and Eleven as my one year knitting anniversary.
When I began to knit, I felt much like the character Happy Gilmore in the movie of the same name when he registers for a golf tournament and says: “I’m a hockey player but I’m playing golf today.”
Except of course, in much more crafty terms: “I’m a quilter but I’m knitting today.”
I felt like a foreigner in a foreign land when I first started knitting. It was a land in which I’d never heard the language; my hands fumbled the needles and yarn awkwardly: clearly I didn’t know my way around. New people, new places, new abbreviations, new techniques and new terms.
But it was a friendly land with helpful people and unlimited [online] resources. These two things helped me acclimate to my new surroundings and eventually I began being productive in this new land.
And now I don’t want to leave.
I was in crafting limbo when knitting came along; it really filled a void that was left behind when I had to put all of my quilting supplies in storage. I love to keep my hands and mind busy as I’m watching tv or otherwise sitting around, and knitting was the perfect, compact hobby for that.
And recently, when we were in housing limbo, I started a project that I will show you today. That’s another thing about knitting: it’s so easy to start a project and put it on hold. It’ll wait for you in a small little bag until you’re ready to pick it up again. Handy!
So, back to the project:
Here is the Ravelry link: Felted Messenger Bag. I included pattern notes on my Ravelry project link (along with a few more pictures): Limbo Like Me.
For you non-Ravelers, some pictures:
I knitted a big, big, oversized bag (mostly) according to the pattern linked above. I put my laptop on top just to show scale.
And then I felted it, which means that I put the wool bag in the washer in hot water and washed it for several (12?) minutes, checking on it every 4 minutes or so. I didn’t plan it this way, but after it was felted, it was a perfect fit for my laptop!
July 14th, 2011 | by Jessie | Last weekend I was looking around on Ravelry and noticed a project that I had added to my queue a few weeks earlier. I suddenly got the burning desire to knit it and to get started right away. Post-haste! But, it was Sunday night and I knew I wouldn’t be making the trip into an actual yarn store… probably until school starts back up again… so I decided to browse online for yarn. Well, browsing turned to buying… and four days later, I have my yarn to start this:
The pattern is called Paulie and I’m so excited to begin! Now I just need the needles I also ordered (from a different vendor) Sunday night. I didn’t have a pair of US 2 circulars lying around the house. Weird. Well, not that weird – being a new knitter, I didn’t think one should knit with anything smaller than a size 4 needle. I mean, really, that’s getting small.
I should also mention that I roped some other peeps into knitting this with me. Well, knitting at the same time as me on their own Paulies. Should be fun! I’ve never done a real KAL (Knit A-Long) before!
This, my dears, is my yarn. It’s exciting to look at it, to touch it, to smell it. I’m using Madelinetosh yarn, colors: french grey and candlewick. It’s Merino Light, a fingering yarn. And now that I’m looking again at the photo above, it’ll be pretty close to matching it, although – after looking at and imagining dozens of color combos online – I did not plan it that way. Maybe subconsciously?
Different angle, different light, somewhat different appearance.
C’mon, needles! Get here. I am planning to knit up a swatch to check my gauge, that’ll be a first for me. This yarn wasn’t cheap and I want to be able to actually wear the dang thang, you know?
In related news, Josh told me last night that he likes that I do old-lady things. I guess that means quilting and knitting. Obviously! What’s not to like? =)
February 21st, 2011 | by Jessie | I ordered my first skeins of yarn online a week or so ago.
They came in the mail Saturday!
It was a happy day.
As you can see, I ordered from Fabulous Yarn, which came recommended to me from a friend.
This will be my first time using this Spud & Chloe yarn as well. I’ve casted on my next project… and so far, the yarn easy to work with.
This color is called “Moonlight”.
I’m going to be knitting my first article of clothing. And only the most adorable article of clothing imaginable… a sweater vest!
It’s for a certain little boy pictured here.
Thanks, Heather, for the project idea, yarn idea & pattern! I hope I can pull it off!
February 17th, 2011 | by Jessie | 
Alright, guys, the more cowls I knit, the more difficult of a time I have naming them. Seriously… cowlgirl? And this is only the second one I’ve bothered to name.
Here’s the pretty cowlgirl:
Pure sweetness and light, this one. My friend Angela here is sporting her new cowl, a belated birthday gift from me. Angela and her hubby Marc are friends of ours who we met through assorted rad people. First they were Fong’s-friends, and now they are just friend-friends.
I wanted to tell you a little about the cowl. First, it’s this pattern called Stacked Eyelet Cowl by Ami Madison. That’s a Ravelry link, because… you all have Ravelry accounts now, right guys? Guys?
This version looks quite different than the ones pictured on Ravelry, though, and that’s not because I’m a total screw-up, it’s all about the yarn.
Speaking of yarn, you might recognize it from…
It’s the yarn from the Goodwill sweater! As in, I totally frogged the hell out of that Goodwill sweater.
The yarn is 100% cotton and it behaves differently from wool or wool-blended yarn. The cotton has some drape; it is not as stretchy or spring-y as the wool stuff. Not better or worse, just different. Cotton is less forgiving in that you can see the individual stiches better than wool. Mistakes are amplified! I guess, in that respect, it is worse.
Here are a few more close-up pictures:
I have PLENTY of this reclaimed sweater yarn left. I’m working on a plain scarf with it now, just in time for… spring!? Oh crap, what do knitters do when it’s warm? I have yet to experience knitting through the seasons, I imagine it’s doable. Is it considered the off-season? I’ve said it before… I have a lot to learn.
February 9th, 2011 | by Jessie | 
I call this one Cowl City.
I did not even know what a cowl was until November 6, 2010. Don’t ask me how I know that.
Ok, I’ll tell you: I was at a quilting retreat and two knitters were talking about a cowl and I was like, “What’s a cowl?”
I think they described it as a neck warmer, which made sense to me. It’s a knitted tube. It’s the warmth of a scarf without all that extra scarf.
This one is purple and it’s like a big, soft, thick and warm necklace. Kind of.
It’s got a little bit of drape, which I like. And I love the honeycomb pattern.
And yes, it’s kind of dangerous, in a fashion-sense sort of way… at least if you are someone who never pushes the boundaries. And if you are a boundary-pusher, well, this is not dangerous at all.
You might even call this one safe. But I group myself in the former category and prefer to think of it as… dangerous. (Imagine my eyebrows rising, my eyelids narrowing, and my lips pursing.)
What I loved about this project is that it was easy and fast. What’s not to like about that? And when I say fast, I’m talking a matter of hours. Less than a day.
Here are the details:
The pattern is on Ravelry.com and it’s called honey cowl (<—Ravelry link which means you won’t be able to view until you sign up for a free account, which you should do immediately) by Madelinetosh. It has a short and longer version, of which I knitted the short. That’s all the yarn I had.
The yarn is nothing special, I picked it up at JoAnn’s. It was the first skein I bought to see if I could do this knitting thing and was about $3. It’s Vanna’s Choice by Lion Brand. And Vanna as in Vanna White, just so you know.
I knitted a second one in a light green color; I might show it to you one day if I ever fix it. I didn’t notice this until I was done, but I got off track and my honeycomb pattern didn’t stagger, which is glaringly obvious. I could fix it pretty easily, I’m sure, but who wants to fix old stuff when you could be working on new stuff? See my dilemma?
You should try to knit this today. Fun times! Or tomorrow, too… tomorrow’s good.
February 2nd, 2011 | by Jessie | 
I came across the Noro Striped Scarf on Ravelry.com – it was one, if not THE, most popular scarves on the site, and I was looking for my first project. The Ravelry page linked to Jared Flood’s Brooklyn Tweed blog, where he details the generic 1×1 rib pattern used to make this scarf.
Even though it is easy, as a total beginner, I still had troubles getting started. I fumbled around for hours it seemed having to rip out and start over several times when it just wasn’t looking right.
Here I will repeat the directions and provide a video showing exactly what worked for me, now that I have a few of these scarves under my belt.
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Directions:
Cast on an odd number of stitches. I would say anywhere from 25-45 stitches would work. The fewer stitches, the narrower the scarf will be obviously. I think I was in the middle range (35 or so) for each of the scarves I’ve made. The type of yarn and size of needles you use will also affect the width of the scarf. Experiment and see what looks good to you with your materials, just make sure you use an odd number.
Row 1: *knit 1, purl 1* and then repeat until the end of the row.
Row 2: slip 1 stitch purlwise, *k1, p1* repeat until one stitch is left and with yarn in front, slip the last stitch purlwise.
Switch yarn
Repeat Row 1 & Row 2 with the new yarn. Switch back to the first yarn used and continue making two-row stripes until you have your desired length.
Bind off.
Weave in loose yarn ends.
***
And here is a video for those of you who are visual learners:
Here are more pictures of the first Noro scarf I made in November, which I hadn’t even photographed until today!
A few words about the yarn: I used Noro Kuryeon yarn for this scarf. I used 2 different colors, each were variegated. I started with one Noro yarn and striped it with a solid charcoal Cascade yarn. After the first Noro skein was knitted up, I used the second (similarly colored) Noro variegated yarn and continued with the charcoal Cascade yarn throughout the entire scarf. This made the scarf slightly more affordable. Each skein of Noro was $9, but the Cascade skein was only $7 and it was enough yardage that I only needed one. So, $25+ for a scarf that you have to knit yourself isn’t exactly thrifty… but it was fun and (I think) pretty. Other Noro scarves that I’ve seen this pattern done in use 4 Noro skeins, 2 of each color. Since both are variegated and “self-stripe”, you’d end up with more color changes than mine.
If anyone actually uses these directions or watches the video for additional help, please let me know if you have any questions. I really hope it’s helpful even though I am not an expert and have LOTS to learn. Feel free to comment!
Pictures of my second Noro Striped Scarf.
Pictures of my third Noro Striped Scarf.
February 1st, 2011 | by Jessie | 
This is normal, right?
I’m ready to let you in on a little secret. A glimpse into my weird little world of… weirdness.
I love to knit. There – I’ve said it. I want to knit even when I don’t have anything I need to be knitting. I mean, even when I don’t have anything in mind that I want to make as a gift or anything, I want to have a project to be working on.
I love my local yarn shop, but when I don’t have anything extremely special in mind to knit, I can’t justify paying high (to me) prices for yarn every time I want to start a new project. I’m not saying that paying retail is not worth it ever, there are some beautiful yarns out there, but every project doesn’t require it.
And that brings me to my big tomato sauce can being cradled in yarn dangling from a clothes hanger.
Several weeks ago, I went to Goodwill and bought 5 sweaters. One was a large (or more likely an XL) green men’s V-neck sweater. It didn’t have a tag in it, but I was pretty sure it was made of 100% cotton. The other 4 sweaters were wool blends of various kinds and percentages. I took the green one (shown above) apart first, actually, that was the only one I’ve taken apart – I netted so much yarn from it that I’m still knitting with it, not needing to unravel another sweater, although I will eventually – it was great fun.
I turned the sweater inside out and with a seam ripper and small scissors plucked out the side seams first. Then I took out the seams around the sleeves and then around the neck. You have to be really careful (if you choose this life) not to cut into the working yarn of a sweater (which is interlocked with the seaming yarn) or you could get lots of short pieces of yarn that aren’t continuous. And that’s no good.
Another tip is when you start unraveling, work from the top (shoulder area) down. It will unravel so easily if you do it right, and that’s such a satisfying feeling. I don’t have any yarn winders or other fancy contraptions, I just wound the yarn in big balls like I imagine a cat would want to play with.
*Even if you don’t knit, I had the idea as I was winding the yarn that the balls of yarn would make a lovely centerpiece or accessory to a room, say in a decorative bowl or tin. So, if you have a sweater that you don’t wear anymore or see a particular color of sweater at Goodwill that you love, use the yarn to decorate with!*
Back to business:
After I had all of the yarn from the sweater wound into balls – I ended up with several balls of varying sizes – I took one ball measured it. To do that, I set up two chairs in front of me with their backs together. I took a tape measure that I use for quilting (made of vinyl, it’s flexible) and spaced the chairs so that when I measured around the bases of the backs, it would be 72 inches or 2 yards. Then I wrapped the yarn once around the chairs and loosely tied it. Then I began wrapping the rest of the yarn around the chair backs until the whole ball was wound around the chairs. I then counted how many times the yarn was wrapped, which was 90 times. Since once go-‘round was 2 yards, I could easily determine I had 180 yards.
While the yarn was still wrapped around the chairs, I tied a contrasting yarn around the thickness of the wrapped strands (you can see the ties in the picture above) just to secure the yarn and keep it from tangling. Then I slipped the yarn off of the chairs. This is what is called a hank of yarn, a loosely wound ring. Some yarns are sold this way at the yarn shop although most of the shops will wind the yarn into a ball for you. You can’t really knit from a hank. Well, you could try, but you’ll probably end up with a giant, tangled mess. So, while in hank form, I washed the yarn in my bathroom sink, after I cleaned the bits of toothpaste from it, of course. I just used a mild soap – maybe even baby soap? – in warm water and agitated it by hand. I then let the yarn soak for about 30 minutes. Yarn that has been knitted up in a sweater tends to be pretty kinky and curly when it’s unwound. The soaking process helps to relax some of that.
After the yarn soaked, I rinsed it in clean water, gently squeezed it and very lightly wrung it. I then wrapped the yarn up in a towel and stood on it to take as much water out of it as possible. And that’s when I got a clothes hanger and set up the contraption you see above. The big tomato sauce can weighed the yarn down, further helping to straighten out its kinkiness.
After it dried completely, I placed it over a chair back (only one this time) and cut the stabilizing ties off. I found the end of the yarn and began winding it around my thumb into a center-pull ball. If you search for “making a center-pull ball” on YouTube, you’ll get many different methods that work.
I don’t have a final count yet, but so far, I’ve washed and wound over 600 yards of yarn, which is probably about half of what the whole sweater will yield. I paid less than $4 for the sweater, which is a great deal in my book! It is a lot of work, but I was so tickled to be getting so much knittable yarn for such a great price. I felt like I beat the system! Huzzzah!
A couple of things to look for in sweaters: make sure the seams are not surged. Surging cuts the yarn while sewing… the seam allowances are bound with thread, which actually makes it really easy to tell it was surged and to STAY AWAY from it. Also, make sure the sweater is in good shape. You should be able to see the stitches. Look under the arms, especially, to make sure it’s not all balled up or partially felted.
I guess I should also tell you that this process of taking out knitted stitches is called frogging (rip-it, rip-it), but you don’t have to tell anyone that.
January 26th, 2011 | by Jessie | I think it was in the year 2006 when I began this quilt. I decided to take a class on paper-piecing which is a sewing technique that uses printed paper as seam guides; you actually sew fabric together onto paper then later the paper is ripped away leaving just the fabric. It allows for very precise sewing. It also think it’s more work and trouble than regular 1/4” seam piecing, so this will most likely be the last big quilt I make that uses paper piecing.
The approximate dimensions are 64” x 78”. Too small for a bed, but pretty perfect for snuggling on the couch, which was the goal. I just wanted to make sure it covered the hubby’s legs and at 6’4” tall, there’s a lot of leg to cover.
This block is called a kaleidoscope block. There are 110 blocks total in this quilt: 11 rows of 10 blocks each. But, it may surprise some to know that it’s just 2 different color ways of the same block that are arranged to give the optical illusion. You can stare at the quilt and start to see different colors of circles emerge. That’s why I like the pattern so much, even though it’s not easy sewing.
I quilted this one like I’ve been finishing lots of my quilts lately: swirl quilting. I just like how the roundness of the quilted shapes contrast the hard lines of the patchwork. That, and it’s one of the easiest all-over, unmarked designs that I could possibly do. And fastest.
Since all of my quilting equipment & supplies (everything) is at my in-laws’ house still, I finished the quilt during the days when Josh was at work. Since all of my stuff stayed there, Josh had no idea that I was working on a quilt for him. I wrapped it up and gave it to him for his Christmas gift. He was really surprised!
This is him wondering what his gift was:
And here he is when he realizes what it is (Jace naturally assumed I wanted his picture, so he’s kind of in the way here):
What a precious expression. I had promised the quilt to him a long time ago, and at one time it was a joke that he’ll never get his quilt, and then so much time had passed that it wasn’t even a joke anymore. It’s so nice to have it done and extra nice that it gets to stay in our house for us to use and enjoy. And a special way to remember our 10th Christmas together.
Oh, and Jace gave me another chance at a picture of just him:
Here’s one last shot of the back of the quilt:
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