Posted in knitting

Unravelled Wednesday: 3-11-26

Posted on by Laura Kate

Joining As Kat Knits and others to share updates on my reading and knitting efforts for the week.

The project I cast on last week is quite a bit further along.

This interesting vest in a mosaic stitch is knit on big needles with bulky/chunky yarn. You see here the front and, peeking through the front opening, a bit of the back. I am within a few inches of finishing the back. The next step will be I-cord edgings around arms and outer edges. My big decision will be which of the three colors to use for the edgings – light gray, dark gray or gold. Do any of you have a favorite?

I’ve gone through most of the balls of yarns (no yarn chicken game is expected, as I have another ball of each color still in reserve.)

On to reading. For those who are Michael Pollan fans, I can suggest his latest book: A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness. Ever since I read In Defense of Food, I have been a big fan and consume everything he puts out. This topic was a bit unexpected, until I read the preface, in which he explains how he came to write about it. I was dubious from the start. After all, scholars and scientists often can’t even agree on how to describe the state of being conscious, let alone how to study it. Most often, that effort is compared to a fish trying to describe water. There’s no way to get outside of it. It’s impossible to be objective or to apply the scientific method. Anyway, I got through the first two chapters as a sample on my virtual library. As soon as a copy is available, I’ll carry on where I left off.

This post is linked to As Kat Knits Unraveled Wednesday 3-11-26.

Posted in knitting

Unraveled Wednesday 3-04-26

Posted on by Laura Kate

Joining As Kat Knits and the others Ravelers to update my current projects and reading. This week I have cast on a project that has been in my queue for at least a year. It all got started with stashbusting.

At left, take a look at the gold yarn. I have two of these left over from a sweater I made way…… back. Of course I no longer have the label, which tells where I got the yarn and what it’s made of. I do know that it has a large percentage of llama. Like its cousin the alpaca, llama fur is soft to the touch and doesn’t make you itch.

For more than ten years, I have wondered what to do with it. The color is overly rambunctious. It occurred to me that toning it down with neutrals might be the way to go. Hence my choice of Kate Harvie’s pattern, Color Chat – Chunky Version.

© Kate Harvie

It’s an interesting knit. Using a slip-stitch pattern, the yarns are switched every row. This tactic works only when the knitter uses three balls. The neutral companions I chose for my Color Chat vest are Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca Chunky in colorway Light Gray and Wool of the Andes Bulky in colorway Cobblestone Heather. All three yarns are 100% animal fiber, so should play nicely together. Incidentally, Knitpicks now sells Berroco yarns on its site.

As for my reading efforts, I am really all over the map. Nothing currently is under my eyeballs. While on vacation, I picked up Memoirs of a Geisha from the shelf of one of our hosts and got very engrossed. Reluctantly, I left the book with its owner, but delightfully, I found the title at my virtual library so I could finish my read.

This book, written back in the 1990’s, is a novel, but presented as if it were a biography. It’s the tale of a poor Japanese daughter of a fisherman who was sold into servitude to a geisha house in Kyoto. Against all odds, she succeeds in rising through the ranks to become one of the most successful geishas of her time. Keeping within the dramatic romantic narrative, she falls in love with a rich patron who frees her. This book gave me insight into how few options women have in patriarchal societies and what sort of choices must be made just to stay alive.

Linking this post with the March 4 2026 As Kat Knits post.

Posted in painting, quilting

SAHRR Challenge 6: Monkey Business

Posted on by Laura Kate

This week is the final challenge for the Stay at Home Round Robin 2026 quilt along. Anja Quilts is our host today. She most generously and kindly suggested that we each choose a block for ourselves. That’s right, it’s Quilter’s Choice. This makes me happy, because now I can monkey around.

One afternoon, our little group was hanging around the villa in Costa Rica when we heard lots of rustling noises in the forest. Dashing outside (with cameras in hand) we were greeted by a gang of spider monkeys, working their way noisily across our view. Specifically, they were squirrel monkeys. Bill got some good images. He shared several, and I chose three to use in my “Monkey Round.”

It took me three days to come to a conclusion about a block to use. I will need three blocks for my row, each featuring one photograph. The centerpiece was easy – it will be an applique block of the brave monkey climbing out on a limb. But what about the others?

I started to think about monkeys in the context of quilting. In researching several standard quilt blocks, I learned that the Churn Dash block is sometimes called the Monkey Wrench – Eureka!

I traced the photos to produce a pattern for each “side monkey.” They will look like portraits in the center square of the churn dash blocks. My backgrounds will be left-over hand painted fabrics. After fusing and stitching down the cut pieces, I compared my two blocks to the photographs.

This should come out just fine. Next, I took a little time to prepare the center panel. I will have to paint a background for this one (no more leftover painted fabric.) But I did prepare the applique of the monkey.

He is standing on a pattern I traced for the palm fronds.

Putting the center panel aside, I got busy painting details on the other two monkeys. My textile paint of choice is Jacquard Textile. The paint dried quickly, allowing me to sew up the churn dash blocks using pieces I had cut yesterday. They finish at 7 inches.

Here they are side-by-side.

Finishing the center block will have to wait a while.

To see what other quilters selected for their sixth round, visit Anja Quilts.

We now have until March 25 to do all the finishing work in time to add our quilts to the quilt parade. That round will be hosted by Kathleen McMusing. I invite you to check back then to see how my Costa Rica quilt turns out.

Posted in knitting

Unravellers Wednesday 2-24-26: Gifted

Posted on by Laura Kate

Making good on my promise to Bill at Christmas, this week I finished knitting this pair of socks for him. The lovely, self-striping yarn is Regia by Schachenmayr, made in Italy for a German company. Once I popped open the yarn strap, I was surprised to learn that the manufacturer offers a 10 Year Guarantee! That includes a free replacement if the yarn does not meet my high standard after washing and wearing!

So far, the pair meets Bill’s high standard for fit and comfort.

I can’t speak quite as highly of the pattern I used, to the point that I’m not going to link you to it. Unfortunately, the Vanilla Socks on 2 Circs pattern that I used for this knit was a bit vague and contained at least one error. Instead, I would direct the would-be sock knitter to a terrific pattern called Hermione’s Everyday Sock, available via Ravelry.com

More than 44,000 knitters have made socks using this pattern, so it must be good. The pair I knit a few years back using this pattern by Erica Lueder, came out very well indeed, if a touch big for my skinny feet. And if you haven’t yet signed up to be a member of Ravelry.com, this free pattern should be a good incentive to do so. Membership is also free.

So that’s what was on my needles most recently. Under my eyeballs during the same time was Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown. This biography of the 1936 Olympic eight-man crew gold medalists is not a typical fit for my reading tastes. It was recommended to me by a friend. By a strange coincidence, I saw the book on a prominent shelf at my local library within a few days of getting the recommendation. I was clearly meant to read it. The author does a masterful job, telling the story about young men growing up in hardship during the Depression, and how they triumphed by learning to trust each other while pursuing their shared goal of Olympic Gold in Hitler’s Berlin.

This post is linked to As Kat Knit’s Unravelers post of Feb 25, 2026.

Posted in quilting

Stay at Home Round Robin Re-Entry

Posted on by Laura Kate

After a nine day trip to the west coast, I am jumping back into quilting. It’s crystal clear that one cannot do a stay at home round if one doesn’t stay home…….. hm. I departed just as Pieceful Wendy’s revealed her challenge: Use Curves. My curvy round will be delayed until next week. I’ve got a few cute animal images to work with that are chock full of curves. I arrived home one day after Quilting Gail’s prompt, so I will jump in there.

Gail told us to use any two colors, adding some background fabric if needed. Considering that my quilt is about a rain forest, I will use lots of green to represent all the leafy plants that grow in great profusion there: ferns, bromeliads, palms, vines and grasses. My second color will be yellow. I will need a background fabric as well.

To challenge myself, and to keep it interesting, I decided to use foundation paper piecing in constructing my round 5 blocks. Inspiration and instruction came from quilter Amy Friend’s book:

Amy’s goal is to tell stories with her quilts, utilizing fussing cutting and foundation paper piecing. Each chapter is a project. The project’s templates are included at the end of the book. I chose the project Grasslands.

And this is the template I will use.

I love the idea of the zebra hiding within the grass. Since time is of the essence, and I am a rank amateur at paper piecing, I won’t attempt to insert any rain forest animals into my grass blocks. It took me several hours over two days and a certain amount of seam ripping. Eventually I managed to sew up six blocks.

Inserting this row into my project will be easy. The background fabric will blend into the “ceramic tile” row and the pale yellow strips will blend into the coati row.

And here is the lower half of my Costa Rica quilt.

If you are now a fan of the Stay-at-Home Round Robin quilt-along, please follow along by visiting the Linky parties. This week’s can be found at Quilting Gail’s post.

Here is where you can check out all the past weeks’ work, and see what will come next.

  • January 14   Each of the co-leaders will be sharing their centre blocks (you will have to visit each of their blogs to see them). I will host the first linky party where you can show your centre block.
  • January 21:  1st Round:    Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • January 28:  2nd Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • February 4: 3rd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
  • February 11: 4th Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 18: 5th Round:  Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 25: 6th Round:  Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • March 25:   Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!