Striped City Quilt Top complete. Design and fabric by Kaffe Fassett. Pattern from the book Quilts in Sweden.
Seedstitch Cowl/Wrap Pattern
I’ve been a tad bit obsessed with seed stitch lately. With some lovely natural wool in my yarn stash, I knit up an extra long cowl that I can wear several ways. This is a super easy pattern that is quick to knit up.
Supplies that I used:
6 Skeins of Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica naturals in color 702
32 inch US size 17 circular knitting needle
crochet hook
Pattern: Double up on the yarn so that you knit with two strands of yarn from two skeins at all times to make this an extra thick knit. Cast on 155 stitches then follow the pattern knit one, purl one across the needle. Place a marker. Begin knitting in the round for the next row continuing the alternating knit one, purl one pattern. Continue until the cowl measures 10 inches, then bind off the last row in the continued knit one, purl one pattern. Use the crochet hook to weave in the loose ends.
DONE!
This extra long cowl gives you many styling possiblities. A couple that I like are shown below.
Hmong Love
A couple of years ago I stumbled across this beautiful bag on etsy and made it mine. I cannot tell you how often I am stopped in the grocery or about town and inquired about it.
Since then I have fallen in love with Hmong hand stitched fabric and embroidery and have invested in several vintage pieces. Earlier this year I converted a Hmong baby carrier into the purse above and designed a bag around a vintage remnant shown below.
Today I received a package in the mail containing new vintage pieces. I can’t wait to start creating with them.
Monday Musings
While my work schedule is not traditional, Mondays still mean the end of the weekend, the start of the kids’ school schedule and back to homework for us. I often muse about previous vacations and places I would rather be. Are their places you dream about on your Mondays? (Happy Veteran’s Day! We will be celebrating today, watching our kiddos march in our town’s Veteran’s Day Parade. Picture is from Pt. Reye’s National Park.)
Making Malas – A Tutorial
Malas are Tibetan Buddhist prayer beads strung with 108 beads. The necklaces/bracelets are traditionally used to help keep count while reciting or repeating a mantra. I am neither Buddhist nor Tibetan but I love the look of Malas and a few years ago started making them for myself and friends.
As I start gearing up for the holidays and begin making presents for friends and family, I have pulled out all my beading supplies and thought I would share my Mala Making methods.
Recommended Materials:
108 beads (best if 5mm or less)
Bead Cord with a self threaded needle (I typically use No 10 in a color to match the tassel)
Needle nose tweezers
Embroidery thread to make a tassel or a premade purchased tassel
Needle
Scissors
To begin your Mala, make a knot near the end of the Bead Cord and begin threading your beads. In between each bead, tie a knot while using the tweezers to pinch at the top of the bead. This will make the beads and knots fit tightly together
When all 108 beads have been tied on the Bead Cord, tie the two ends together into a circle. You are almost done!
Next Decide if you want to make your own tassel or attach a premade tassel. I like to do it both ways. Over the year I have been collecting vintage Turkish Tassels and repurposing them on Malas. I use a strong nylon thread to attach them to the beaded loop.
If you choose to make a tassel, grab some embroidery thread and your beaded loop.
Cut one looped end of the embroidery thread and tie it in the middle to the beaded loop using the left over Bead Cord.
Grab one loose thread on the right side and wrap 5 times around all of the threads
Using a needle pull the loose wrapped thread through the top of the tassel and pull down hard to tighten.
Repeat the wrap and thread pull through with a loose thread from the left side of the tassel this time wrapping in the opposite direction. Dampen the end of the embroidery thread and trim to desired length.
Enjoy your Mala!
Knitting Weather
As the temperatures drop and the days shorten I find myself more and more drawn to my stash of yarn and knitting needles. This weekend the Manos del Uruguay wool grabbed my attention and I started up what I hope to be an original cowl/wrap. We shall see how it evolves. As much as I am liking knitting this up, I’m equally delighted with how it looks in “The Doctor is in Bag” I sewed up this summer subbing as a knitting bag. 🙂
I Heart Cow Spots
Awhile back I began knitting an Intarsia style Cow Print Sweater for my kiddo. Unfortunately she grew faster then I could knit it up and I was stuck with a half knit sweater in a pretty cool pattern.
The pattern was too cute for me to throw away so I decided to wash and dry the pieces into a nice felted wool. I then needle felted a little heart on the front and stitched up a little bag and lined it with a red linen. It tickles me to repurpose materials and it is inspiring ideas of cow prints in other projects.
Monday Musings
While my work schedule is not traditional, Mondays still mean the end of the weekend, the start of the kids’ school schedule and back to homework for us. I often muse about previous vacations and places I would rather be. Are their places you dream about on your Mondays? (This is one of the back canals in Venice on a Gondola ride with my daughter. We were there this time last year and Venice is BEAUTIFUL!)
Mustard is the New Black
While it seems every major retailer has moved on straight from Halloween to Christmas, my mood and home decorating vibe is still well entrenched in the fall.
Last year for the house I made some big Lotta print pillows and knit up a yummy blanket to match. Although it is hard to see in the pictures, I did freeform machine quilting of the pillows, one in an expanding circular pattern and one in a rectangular one. The Eleventh Hour Blanket pattern is free and found at Purlbee (http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/2011/11/29/whits-knits-eleventh-hour-blanket.html). I have made two of these blankets and can’t say enough how comfy and warm they are.
This year it appears, I still have mustard on my mind as I added two pillows and a quilted blanket. The pillow design was strongly influenced by a pattern and some pillows from Quilts By Emily (pattern can be purchased here http://www.etsy.com/listing/156462057/double-plus-modern-quilt-pattern-instant?ref=related-3)
Lately I have been finding inspiration for quilting designs in the textile art of Louise Bourgeois. My husband was kind to make me a plastic 30 degree template that allowed me to make the Dodecagon pattern in the quilt below.
Thank goodness I have another month to relish these colors before turning to red and green.
Jane Fell in the Brambles Quilt Top
Woot! Woot! It only took me 6 months but this latest quilt top is done! It is an adaptation of Elizabeth Hartman’s Sparkle Punch Quilt (the directions for a Quilt Along can be found here: http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2012/01/sparkle-punch-quilt-along.html). I used Heather Bailey’s Nicey Jane fabric stars with Alexander Henry Ghastly Bramble fabric in the background. Hope to try concentric circle quilting for the first time and found a great tutorial here: http://bloomingpoppies.net/tutorials-2/quilting-concentric-circles-tutorial/.
Entropy Always Wins 