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.
It’s been a while, but I finished a knitted garment this week. These socks were started as a travel project to fill the long drive to and from Ohio.
I picked up the yarn on sale last summer. It’s a typical superwash wool + nylon sock yarn, but one new to me: Static by Knitpicks. The colorway is Paradise.
I rarely make socks with self-striping yarn, but now I truly understand why it is so popular. It’s weird how many people that see these socks think they are Really Good!
Using a very basic sock stitch pattern, one can achieve a sock of great interest.
To me, the only skill I demonstrated was matching up the stripe pattern on each foot.
Yep. They match while I’m standing up in them too.
After observing how she built it and how it is used, I am totally on-board. Here is where I am with my quilt after the end of the fifth round.
To summarize, I made five blocks built around vintage weaves and organized them in a Nine-Patch configuration. That leaves space for four in-between blocks. A few weeks back, I decided that I could create transitions between the corner blocks with Around The World strip-pieced blocks. The thought of connecting all of the elements in this manner inspired and delighted me.
And of course, it leaves room for the Shoo-fly blocks.
The more I look at the shoo-fly, the more I think of it as a symbol. To work this into my design, a shoo-fly will be placed at each cardinal point of the compass:
North, east, south, west.
Let’s get these made!
First come the half-square triangle. I made four in each of my primary fabrics.
I liked Chris’s design, where the middle row was half the width of the other two rows, so I made my blocks the same. The center block will give us the “sign,” telling where we are headed.
This way to the Lake!This Way to the Sunset!This way to the Forest!This way to the Campfire!The South PointThe East Point
In this photo you see four blocks, including the center block, the fire block and the two transition blocks that are finished.
I have cut my background fabric an extra two inches bigger in the transition blocks. Eventually I will add enough background fabric to the edges of the corner blocks to level up the quilt. This will bring the finished piece up to 62 inches square.
If all goes well, I will have the whole thing pieced together quite soon.
To see the other round robin quilts, go to the linky party:
Daily Fiber 