|
|
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:
January 24th, 2011 | by Jessie | 
Here is another scarf I made for my soon-to-be sister-in-law for Christmas. Yesterday I posted another version of the same scarf with the pattern link and more details.
M is for Morgan:
January 23rd, 2011 | by Jessie | 
Now that I have your attention…
Before my extended leave of absence, I mentioned that I’ve been into knitting lately. It’s still true. I don’t know how long I’ll be on this wild ride, but it’s sure been fun.
As a brand new knitter, I got a hot tip from my friends Heather and Jessica – to join ravelry.com, and am I ever glad I did! The new fascination probably would have worn off by now otherwise. If you are a new knitter, or have an interest, this is your site. Srrrsly. There are tons of free (and for a fee) patterns to just about anything you could imagine. Way beyond sweaters and scarves, people.
And really, it’s so easy to knit. If you have the slightest interest, pick up a pair of needles some yarn and just give it a try. YouTube is there for you. I watched a few *short* videos over and over again until I got it. Sure, there was a little bit of a learning curve (see my malformed “scarf” here).
To date, I’ve finished 4 scarves, 3 cowls, and one stocking hat.
I’ll share one project that I finished just before Christmas for my oldest son’s kindergarten teacher.
For this scarf I used Noro Kureyon yarn (don’t ask me which color, I didn’t think it was important at the time) and striped it with a solid color variety of Cascade, both wool blends. The Noro yarn was variegated so it looks like I used more yarns than I actually did.
I really liked the colors of this one. I guess I tend to gravitate to colors I like, even when making gifts for other people. I want to like what I’m working on, after all.
This scarf was really fun to knit, I’ve done 3 scarves now in this same pattern – I’ll share the different color ways/pictures another day. The pattern is called Noro Striped Scarf (<—Ravelry link). It’s super easy, even for a beginner.
November 22nd, 2010 | by Jessie | I spent a lot of time knitting this weekend, only a fraction of it fruitfully. That is to say, as I was starting, I couldn’t figure out the pattern and ripped several hundred stitches out when all was said and done.
And just this morning, I finished the quilt top I started at the quilting retreat I went to a couple of weekends ago. It’s for Jett, my 4 year old.
November 17th, 2010 | by Jessie | I’m totally knitting, guys!
I didn’t plan for it to happen, yet here I am.
It started with this quilting/scrapbooking retreat I went to over a week ago. It was so much fun! There were a couple of totally hip moms there who knitted in addition to making quilts. They had some pretty gorgeous knitted things.
Fast forward to a week later, we had two house showings in one day. Translation: my house was clean. All of my quilting stuff is still at my in-laws’ house, and I was worried I wouldn’t have anything to do.
So I went to JoAnn’s and bought some cheap (Vanna White) yarn, watched a couple of YouTube videos and got started.
This was the first thing I did:
Heaven help me! It’s not supposed to be curvy, just so you know. It was supposed to be a scarf. Now it’s an abortion of a scarf. I stopped the madness and restarted another scarf with a looser grip on the needles & yarn and this one is actually working out. I’ll wait until I’m done to show you a picture.
I’m excited to go shopping for some nice yarn once I have my practice project done.
Scarves for EVERYONE for Christmas this year!
August 9th, 2010 | by Jessie | In an effort to link to my completed quilt projects on the left sidebar of this Arts & Crafts section, I discovered that I had forgotten to share yet another quilt that was completed during the Great Blog Drought of 2010.
So here she is:
I love the way this quilt turned out; it was one of those projects that I was a little unsure of until I put it all together.
My first cousin Ashleigh and her husband Derek welcomed their first baby – a little girl named Emma – on April 7th. We had a baby shower for her in May and that was the occasion for this quilt.
Emma, of course, is a doll with such fine feminine features; I can’t go on another sentence without sharing a picture of her with you.
I really love this next picture! It’s of Emma in her 5-generation picture with Ashleigh, her dad David (my uncle), our Grandma Bev, and GG:
So now that you know who this pretty little lady is, I’ll get back to the quilt.
I asked Ashleigh if she wanted any certain colors or styles for the quilt and she thought pinks and browns were nice. I think they are nice, too.
I went to my local quilt shop, Adel Quilting & Dry Goods, and found the perfect fabric (in the center of the picture):
Not only was it brown with cute polka dots, some of the polka dots were heart-shaped. Too precious. But apparently, many others thought so, too, and that’s why the only remnant of the fabric in the whole shop was a single, solitary fat quarter. A fat quarter, to the uninitiated, is a 18” x 22” cut of fabric.
Even with the small amount of fabric I had to work with, I still knew that I needed to make it the focal point of the quilt. So, I picked out several other fabrics I already owned that coordinated with the brown polka dot fabric and set out to make it work.
As you can see, I set the brown polka dot fabric apart from the coordinating prints by surrounding it with white fabrics. You can’t see it really well in the picture, but all of those white fabrics are different. I love using as many fabrics as possible in a quilt.
I used the coordinating prints to act as a sashing of sorts, but I also wanted to add interest by offsetting the blocks, creating a staggered effect.
Really, even though this quilt did take a lot of sewing, the layout and construction could not be simpler: it was 480 – 2 1/2” squares arranged by colors to show a pattern. No difficult sewing with weird shapes or seam intersections, just straightforward, honest to goodness straight seams. It would be very appropriate for a beginner. (This is so appropriate right now.)
I quilted it using freehand spirals like I have for a lot of quilts recently and again – it turned out pretty well. The swirly pattern is pretty universal and looks good on many different quilt tops.
I had just a few lengths of the focus fabric left by the time I was done so I cut them into binding strips, added it to a solid brown binding strips that I already had, and used the combo to complete the binding on the quilt.
Hmmm… have I made any more quilts that I’m forgetting about?! I think this was the last one… I haven’t quilted in a few months now and I miss it so much. I hope to get up and running again in the near future.
August 5th, 2010 | by Emily | 
She’s the only thing I have left of my art show. Amazingly everything sold but her. I now cherish her.
There is a funny story here. At my debut, I was overwhelmed that I sold so many paintings. Never in a million years did I think I would. My brother-in-law Josh quickly took me off my high horse (no pun intended). Well, yes, I did intend it. He didn’t mince words. He told me it was the worst one. I thought it was hilarious.
Earlier this week, I went to Ephemera to pick up some sold paintings for other people and they told me she was the only thing left. I knew Josh would be smiling.
Who would have thought, a painting I thought was sweet, and perfect for a girls room was the most hated of the whole show?
Oh Black Beauty, to me, you’re now the most precious.
July 28th, 2010 | by Jessie | I posted this quilt on Facebook a while ago, but that was during my extended break from blogging and I just realized that I never shared it on here.
What prompted my memory?
The girls I made this quilt for are in Africa right now!
Two teenage girls from our church decided to raise money so that they could go on a missions trip to South Africa working with HIV/AIDS affected youth. Pretty incredible, huh?
Somehow – and I admittedly don’t know all the details – their trip was inspired by a movie called Beat the Drum. Click the link to see the official website for the movie, including the trailer.
I wanted to do something to help and I thought that making a quilt to auction off would bring more money than what I could just write a check for (wrong).
So, I made this:
I didn’t have to buy anything new to make this quilt, I had all the fabric, batting, thread… everything! I wanted the quilt to be appealing to women and men, that’s why I chose the colors and the pattern, which was essentially the same pattern I designed for this quilt. Also, red, black and white are school colors around these parts.
The scrappy back.
I loved the swirls that I quilted the last time I made this pattern, so I kept that element, too. It was a lot of fun to make.
I’d never auctioned a quilt before so after some thought, I decided eBay would be the best bet. I figured the largest audience would see the quilt on eBay. Also, as I mentioned before, I posted the information on Facebook so my friends and church family could see it. I set the auction to run 10 days with a reserve set at $100. I had no idea what to expect. When I was taking orders in my custom quilt making business, I would have charged over $300 for a quilt this size (approx. 60” x 70”).
After it was all said and done, the quilt sold for exactly $100. The good news was that a family from our church bought the quilt. The bad news was that the eBay fees ended up being over $18, so I won’t be doing that again! Ha ha! Well, I shouldn’t say that… I would definitely make a quilt for charity again, but don’t know if I’d go the eBay route again, or I would have set a higher reserve.
Ah, live and learn. In the end, the girls going on the mission trip met the amount they each needed to raise and they are in Africa right now caring for the orphans and the sick and the oppressed. How is that a bad ending?! It’s not! And the quilt is now being enjoyed by a family that I love, so classic win-win.
June 15th, 2010 | by Jessie | 
I made this little quilt recently for friends of ours who are having their first child in August.
I’ve made a lot of quilts lately entirely (or almost entirely) out of 2 1/2” squares of fabric. I have a lot of fabrics and the smaller the squares, the more I can use – I love that scrappy look. I just realized that I haven’t blogged about some of the quilts I’ve made lately. Jeeeez-o, I took a long vacation from the blog, huh? Sorry, friends, I’ll catch you up soon.
Here is a picture of the back of the quilt. It contains phrases such as: “it’s a boy”, “nine months”, “bouncing baby boy”, “a new life”, “our little miracle”, “boy meets world”, “we’re expecting”, etc.. So appropriate.
Baby quilts are my favorite. I think I’ve mentioned this a time or two. Especially when a person has limited room to sew and quilt (think kitchen table) the smaller sizes are so doable.
|
|
