One of six children, I was raised by a busy mom, who instilled in me a love of fabric. Though I learned to sew and knit at a young age, it was the arrival of my first grandchild that pushed me into action. A long-time knitter, I am now ready to explore all things fiber.
This past week, I completed a 4-week drawing class. The final lesson involved sketching from life. This is my rendering of a pint of grapes sitting on a book with drapery over top and in the backdrop.
When we had finished our drawings, the teacher asked us to add one or two colors with pastels or pencil. I chose the yellow to highlight the container, and purple to pick out a few luscious grapes.
This lesson was so fun and relaxing. It made me wonder why I don’t stick with graphite instead of beating myself up with watercolor painting.
My goal was to make a loose and decorative wrap and this project is just that. It is a mash-up of two patterns. I used the slip stitch chart from Cozzy Shawl…..
The result is a garment unlike either of them. I threw in a few random stripe sections and eyelet rows. I also cast on way more stitches than the Cusco pattern called for to create more length.
An unplanned bonus was doing the photo shoot in the snow.
I’m really happy with both yarns I chose. The periwinkle is Rowan Felted Tweed. (and did you know that periwinkle is a Pantone color of the year for 2022?!) The variegated yarn is a discontinued one – I can’t even remember its name. But if you make this with the Rowan yarn, choose any variegated yarn that is a sport weight or dense fingering weight to match the gauge.
While I enjoyed standing in the snow (briefly) I fervently hope that today’s is the last snowfall of the 2021-22 winter – even though the end of winter means putting away all my lovely woolens until next fall.
The cool thing about top-down construction is that you can see very clearly how the sweater will look when finished. If your model is near at hand, you can even try it on the little darling.
Since my model is not, I will have to use my imagination.
The sleeve cap stitches are on waste yarn. I have reached the bottom of the yoke section and started the cables at the top of the skirt.
Buttonholes are knitted into the band simultaneously. So far, I have three buttonholes created at a spacing of 16 rows.
I keep going with skirt and button bands until the piece measures 7 inches from the arm hole opening. Then I come to a screeching halt while I knit in waste yarn for two after-thought pockets.
It’s all going swiftly, the same way Spring marches in following Winter. (Oh! That simile works for most year, just not this one.)
The email came in with the following request from my sister-in-law:
“Our dear niece is getting married this May. The couple had said “no gifts,” but we want to make them a joint patchwork bedspread from all of the family. Would you be willing to make and send a six by six block that will be incorporated into this gift?“
Would I? Without a doubt. But I needed more information to make it personal. I asked, “What are the hobbies and interests of the happy couple?” When I heard the answer (the bride loves ballet and the groom is fond of dogs, especially his collie, Harvey,) an image came to mind immediately:
Dog in tutu !!
My sister-in-law had sent a photo with the fabric palette. (See above.) All I needed was some similar fabrics and a reference image.
DONE
The first step is to convert the photo to black and white, print it and make my edits.
Next I traced it, used the tracing as a pattern, and cut out each pattern piece. The pieces were attached to fabric treated with fusible webbing, cut out, and then fused to a piece of raw silk. Using Jacquard Textile paint and the reference photo as my guide, I painted the collie’s fur and features. Black micron pen rendered his little face beautifully. (sorry, I have no photos of these steps.)
Here is my block after the fusing and painting were complete.
Ballerina Collie after assembly
I chose a light color background fabric in a cotton damask. It’s no coincidence that the background fabric was left-over from a bed spread that I made several years ago.
For final touches, I machine-stitched all the edges, added a few ruffles to the tutu with pale peach thread and brushed in some metallic paint for the crown.
Ballerina Collie Completed
This will go into the mail on Monday, along with a few extra pieces of fabric, which the patchwork makers may find useful.
Whimsical and fun. So satisfying to make. I hope that the recipients are pleased.
The weather is so glorious this morning that I moved outside for this photo shoot.
Today I am starting a coat/sweater for my granddaughter. You see my swatch, which turned out with the correct gauge on my first attempt. (I was lucky.) I wanted to make a big sweater, with cables, pockets and a hood – all the design features that a northern girl needs to keep warm while playing outside in early spring. I was fortunate to find the perfect pattern by Elena Nodel on Ravelry
For the yarn, I chose Wool of the Andes Superwash by KnitPicks. Just last year I used it in the Weaver’s Square vest knitted for my daughter. It has become a favorite of mine for hard-wearing garments.
The sweater is worked from the top down. It features ribbed and cabled sections, with a knitted in seed stitch button band. All of these features are set up in the first 12 rows. When you take into consideration knitting raglan increases on either side of the sleeves, it makes for a somewhat complex start to the knit.
Oh, I forgot to mention the provisional cast-on. I used the crochet chain method. This allows for the hood to be added by knitting up from the neckline.
Whew! Now that I have established each section, the next couple dozen rows should follow without incident. I’m so happy to be working on a big, size 7 cable needles, after what seems like months of working with sock needles.
Daily Fiber 