It’s time for another cast on. This time I am working a group knit along project organized for the Blogville Knitters group on Ravelry. Alissa has chosen this shawl by Sylvia McFadden.
While the designer was going for a watery look, with insets of lovely lace, I have chosen two yarns that give more of a chocolate cake with pink icing sort of feel.
For my main color, I have Wisco sock yarn in colorway Dark Plum by Ewetopia. The contrast color is an alpaca rayon blend by Berroco called Folio in colorway Cardinal.
Here you see the first swirling lace inset. Doesn’t it remind you of waves? There will be six sections like this in between the garter ridges. So far I find that the stitches required to make these waves are a little tricky, and need to be worked at a much slower pace.
The plan is to finish by the end of June March? It’s doable.
GOTCHA. Okay, I have some personal business to share before I tell you about the last challenge of the Stay at Home Round Robin. Yes, today is my birthday. Mr. Mouse and I were celebrating this occasion, but he has a math problem for you. (I’m not telling my age. But I will give you a clue. I have a 12 year old grandson.) If you like math problems, chew on this: The first integer of my current age times the second integer plus 20 will give you how old I turned today. Good luck!
Now to the quilt top. At the end of the last round I had added log cabin squares to each corner. It looked like this:
I was happy to hear that because I like unity in my work. The center block has a sort-of pinwheel, and now I can echo that shape in the final border.
Of course, I had never made a pinwheel square before. Here is my first one.
The technique I chose was quick, but I ended up with bias edges on all sides of my pinwheel. This meant I needed to be very Careful Not to Stretch them out of shape. And I had 31 more to make, if I wanted the pinwheels on all sides.
Long story short, after careful cutting and lots of spray starch, the pinwheels were done. I sewed them into a border and attached the border gingerly to my quilt.
Close up of corner
My finished top is 60 inches square. I’m so pleased! Now I have until March 29th to get it quilted and bound before uploading images to the last link party. I also need to give this quilt a name. Two different thoughts come to mind:
The spinning pinwheels, the combination of hot and cold colors and the scattered stars suggest to me “The Expanding Universe.”
On the other hand, when I studied the patterns and shapes, I think of ancient maps, at a time when the far reaches of the earth were unknown. “The Earth is Flat.” or “Here be Monsters.”
I’d love to hear your choices. Also, anyone who does the math and guessed my age will receive a hand-painted postcard.
You may recall that I was back to experimenting in water color paint earlier this week. Working with carbazole violet, I laid down a wash and then lifted the paint back in vertical lines. Because these looked like tree outlines to me, I added some pencil lines to accentuate the effect.
Yesterday I returned to this sketch. Deciding that I would continue with one color, I started to layer up violet washes between the white lines. This went pretty well, except for the fact that some of the white trunks and branches got covered up. In my mind the painting was ruined. Instead of giving up on it, I let the paint dry and then, following the lines of the trunks, lifted up the paint to find some branches. I stroked some paint horizontally in the foreground to suggest tracks in the snow. Finally I dabbed water and dots of paint in upper area of the paper, splashed on more water and let it dry again. Now I was willing to sign this one.
GHOSTLY TREES
It’s interesting how much I am learning by doing with these little pieces. I guess it’s the idea that there is no price to pay for failure.
I got started on this project because of a problem I encountered during the recent SuperSnow event. It was SO cold for SO long I found myself wearing my hand knitted wool socks night and day. Don’t get me wrong, I love wearing cozy hand-knitted wool socks. But at the end of the cold snap, I examined both pair and noticed that the soles were thinning out. Unless I got busy with repairs, I would be down at least one pair for the duration. So I decided that I needed warm cozy wool footwear that would hold up to walking many miles on our cold hard tile floors. Hence the dorm boots.
It has all the characteristics I needed: Thick soles, fast to knit and used a miniscule amount of yarn. I rummaged through my stash and found some nasty beige acrylic-wool blend in a heavy worsted. The pattern calls for holding yarns double, so I worked from two skeins for the sole. My stash rummage also yielded a sturdy pink wool harvested from a too-itchy scarf and a tweedy, wine-colored Italian wool orphan ball given to me by knitting friend Kathy. I held these two double to work the upper and the cuff.
It was magical how quickly the first boot came together. You could knit the pair in two evenings if you concentrated on your work. I took a more leisurely pace and did this pair over four evenings, including a sit and knit session on Tuesday.
Sadly, I lost track of my rows during the sit and knit. So my booties don’t match.
No matter. They are purposeful items. Good looks come second.
If I were in need of a last minute Christmas gift, this pattern could come to the rescue. Just think, with a bit of focus, I could fancy them up with different colors, stitches and possibly a pompom or two. Wouldn’t that cheer up a loved one, popping out of a Christmas stocking, on a cold and snowy Christmas morning?
It’s been over a month since I worked in watercolor paint. I’m disappointed in myself for dropping out of a self-imposed daily practice. Even though I am busy with two quilts, the desire to improve my painting skills is ever present. It’s time to pick up my brush again.
To that end, I signed up for a 10 week program of in-person art classes. The instructor is Ross Meyers, who is offering the classes at our local art association. After my first lesson (drawing), I got all ambitious again, remembering that I wanted to paint some snow scenes this winter.
Winter Woods
You may recall that I am working on 4 by 6 inch pieces of Fabriano Studio cold press paper. In this little painting I am practicing with carbazole violet. I like the way that shadows on the snow pick up cool hues of blue and violet. The reference photo I am looking at is by Catherine Arcolio, who posts under the name Leaf and Twig. In her posts she combines beautiful photography with a brief poem.
The second painting is another experiment with violet. I laid down a graduated wash and let it soak in briefly. Then with a rigger brush, I lifted the paint vertically.
The resulting image reminds me of snow blown onto tree trunks. I added some pencil marks to accentuate this impression.
For the next layer, I will come back with full strength violet and a rigger brush to make grasses in the foreground. I will use a dry brush technique and maybe some black paint to further refine the tree trunks.
After my next art lesson, I’ll write about what I am learning, and whether I think it is worthwhile.
Daily Fiber 