Finished Lace Scarf and Starting A Hat

   Finishing this scarf makes me want to make a bunch of these in lots of colors.  Love the simplicity of the pattern and the finished scarf.

    This is not a flattering picture but I was trying to get the full length in the picture.  I think I stopped knitting at just over 6 feet in length.   I did not use the full skein of the second skein that I started, so I have leftover yarn, but I still love the scarf.  This scarf fits doubled around the neck perfectly.

   And this is close up of the stitches and how pretty they are.

I started another knitting project with a yarn I have had for at least two years when I bought six skeins of it because I loved it so much.  I made a couple of items with it in 2016.  I made a knitted neck warmer and a crocheted scarf with it and now I need a hat to complete the set.  This is Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in the Cappuccino colorway.  It's so soft and pretty.  To use up this yarn I decided to make my go to hat pattern "The Boyfriend Hat" by Stephanie Nicole.  The pattern link is here.  I'm going to use up the last four skeins of this yarn on this hat so I'm knitting this with double strands and I will knit this hat until it's gone so this will be a stocking cap style hat.

Knitting Project and Confession

    I've been enjoying my knitting lately and thinking about sock knitting.  My One Row Lace Scarf is coming along nicely.  It's 5 feet long now and I want it to measure 6 feet.  This scarf is being knit with KnitPicks Brava Worsted in Silver colorway on size 10 circular needles.  I knit one ball of this yarn and got a little over four feet of scarf with one ball which is great to know.  A one skein scarf would make a nice handmade gift. 

   

  Here is the knitting confession portion.  I started to knit a sock last year, I think it was February.  And this is how far I got before I put it up and promptly forgot about it until a few weeks ago.  This is KnitPicks Stroll Fingering yarn in the Make Believe Hand Painted colorway on KnitPicks US size 1 (2.5mm) nickel plated circular needles with a 40" cord.

 

    I've been trying to figure out why I didn't continue with knitting this sock.  I have decided that this yarn is too dark and I can't see my stitches.  Whenever I knit a round I can't see if I'm knitting the ribbing right and I feel like my stitches are all messed up.  I will be taking this cuff off these needles and try again, but with a lighter color yarn.  I just ordered some bright yellow sock yarn and I'm hoping that will help with getting me through knitting a pair of socks.  I also bought two books to help me with my sock knitting. 

     I already have "Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks" by Melissa Morgan-Oakes and I love this book.  I made a sample pair of socks two at a time with this book and they turned out pretty good, but I want to explore all the different ways to make socks.      

Just Getting Over The Hawaii Jet Lag

   Wow, it's taking me awhile to get over the time difference while I was in vacation.  I finally got some of my things back to normal in the house.  I had to clean up my bedroom because when I went on vacation I moved a bunch of stuff into my bedroom to make room in the rest of the house so the cat sitter wouldn't have to search for the cats.  I also shut my bedroom door and put a do not enter sign on it.  It was one less room that the cats could hide in.  This morning before work I also took time to clean out the winter clothes from my regular closet to move into my storage closet.  I even threw away some old clothes that don't fit anymore.

  Here is the lone hexie flower I worked on while I was flying to Hawaii.  Once we landed I never picked this up again.  On the plane rides back, I was too busy sleeping to do any sewing.  I fell asleep every chance I got.  I slept in airports, on flights and even slept on the car ride back home.

     Here's an old project.  I made this quilt several years ago.  It was gifted to my brother and his wife.  I used some of her favorite colors in the quilt and she loved it.  This is the Sugar Flowers quilt pattern by Jera Brandvig of Quilting in the Rain.  It's a free pattern and you can find it here.

Couldn't Resist

   I know I haven't worked on my grandmother's flower garden much.  I did take those made up hexagons to Hawaii with me but I only worked on one flower the whole trip and unfortunately I never had time to finish it.  I'm going to try to break out that quilt this weekend and add to it.

    I really love the grandmother's flower garden but I'm starting to itch to sew something new quilt wise.  So when I saw this charm square set, I couldn't resist.  It's called Home Sweet Home by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda.  It has a Goldilocks and the three bears theme and the colors are beautiful.  Just the right shades of pastels.  I love it.  I bought six packs of these to make a simple quilt top and some yardage to sash the blocks with.  I should have enough charm squares to make up blocks for the back as well.  I may not start this until I finish the hexagon quilt top but I know it's waiting for me and that may be enough to get me going on the flowers.

Souvenir Fabrics

  I have just returned from vacation.  I was treated to a trip to Hawaii by my daughter for my sixtieth birthday.  She rented a condo on the beach at Kona and an SUV.   We drove all over the island looking at sites.  We went to Volcanoes National Park and spent six hours hiking and having lunch at Volcano House.  We went to a black sand beach.  We drove to Hilo to see the Lyman House, Akaka Falls, and Rainbow Falls.  We went to a luau at the Marriott in Kona.  We swam at the beach at Hapuna State Recreational Area and we went star gazing on Mauna Kea.  It was a beautiful trip.  She even made time for us to do a little fabric souvenir shopping in  Honokaa at a little shop called Too Stitch. Here are my finds.  I bought two yards of each of these. 

Reminiscing and Making

    One day about five or six years ago when I was just getting into quilting, I started to recall my very first real sewing project in my seventh grade home economics class.  I never had any formal sewing instruction before and I had never used a real electric sewing machine, I had only sewn little doll projects with a needle and thread by hand and they were not pretty.  I was a very eager student, and even though my projects were not perfect, I was always happy with my makes and I would wear them.  I took sewing in place of cooking whenever I could.  I only took cooking one semester and it was because the school made me take it.

    The teacher was starting from scratch with most of us and she had a genius half apron pattern that was made with gingham fabric that she taught us.  I can't recall what size gingham it was, I want to say it was 1/4".   We were told to buy a certain amount of fabric in whatever color 1/4" gingham we wanted.  I remember I picked out a lovely lavender color. 

    To make the pieces for the apron we measured by counting squares of the gingham.  It was a one size fits all pattern.  It was super simple and all the students had a finished apron at the end.  It was a easy way to learn how to cut pieces for a pattern. then the teacher could concentrate on teaching us how to use a sewing machine to sew our pieces together.  I have looked on the Internet for an apron pattern like it but I can't find anything.  Darn it.

     I was so nostalgic for that project, that I decided to create my own half apron loosely based on that gingham pattern.  I cut a large rectangle of fabric for the skirt, large enough to gather it up to give it some flow and make it feminine.  Then I cut three long narrow rectangles about 6 inches wide for the waistband and ties.  I even put a patch pocket on it.  I ended up using every inch of the piece of this fabric I had.

     I thought this dachshund fabric was the cutest.  It was designed by M'Liss Rae Hawley.  It was about this time that I learned a very valuable lesson about designer fabrics and that is once a design of fabric runs out, it will probably never be available again.  That was a sad realization, because sometimes I find fabric that I want to make into everything so now when I find a fabric that I love I try to buy enough to make bags/potholders/towel toppers or whatever else and also have enough to add into scrap quilts so I don't feel deprived.