Author Archives: Patti_is_knittinginflashes

About Patti_is_knittinginflashes

Living and crafting between the hot flashes

Curling mist

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Helen Stewart’s Handmade Sock Society season 4 got underway earlier this month.  The first sock pattern, Curling Mist, was a joy to knit with an all-around texture.

(c) Helen Stewart

Knit Picks Hawthorne Multi yarn in the Cully colorway (color discontinued) is a soft green with hints of blue.yarn colorwayI pretty much followed the pattern except for the heel flap.  I have two favorite patterns that I like to use: the Slip-stitch heel flap and the Eye of Partridge heel flap.  I decided on the slip-stitch one as it would flow better from the ribbed pattern into the heel flap.

Helen suggested in her pattern to reverse the cabling from leaning to the right to the left for the second sock so they would be mirror images.  So I did that as well.

The socks fit my feet perfectly.

Isn’t it funny that you can look and look and look at something and not see a missed stitch until you have a picture of it?

And with that missed cable crossing (oops) I will keep these for myself.

Do you have works-in-progress or finished anything lately?

Patti

Twist again

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The Twist Again Shawl was finished at least a week ago and blocked…twice.

I blocked the shawl wrong the first time.  What?

The points were supposed to be where the bobbles are, not in between.

So I kept the wires in the top, dampened (soaked) the bottom edges, and reinserted the blocking wires through the stitches under the bobbles.

Now the bobbles pop out more.

The yarn is Hacho by Mirasol Yarn (DK weight) in a multi-green shade.  I used 170 grams or about 470 yards.  I started on January 25 and finished it on February 5, 2021.  Not bad.

The pattern consists of stockinette sections with reverse stockinette ridges.  The lace pattern was fairly easy to figure out.  The rows with the bobble stitches were not difficult but I had to rest my hands after each of those rows.

This shawl will be perfect to throw over the shoulders of my green wool winter coat for more warmth on these cold, winter days.

Speaking of cold, winter days…we just got through the third winter storm so far this month. We are very grateful that we did not lose power or water.  I hope you are safe, warm, and have enough to eat.

Patti

No-go mojo and a sneak peek

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Even though my knitting mojo was a no-go for a few weeks, I did manage some relatively mindless knitting making more scrubbies.I love the top one but dealing with two balls of this scratchy yarn in one row was too much for my hands.  All were made with Red Heart Sparkle Scrubby yarn.

So all the others were two or three color blocks.  Much more interesting than a solid color.  They do hold up well and the best part is they dry quickly.

Craftsy was hosting a week-long series of Valentine crafts and I decided to make a heart-shaped scrubbie.  The pattern is free but you might have to sign up to get it.

My mods were to stop increasing after 36 stitches (34 rows), straight knitting for 10 rows then follow the instructions for the decreases.  It is just too cute for dishes!

I also signed up for the fourth season on The Handmade Sock Society and already have the first sock started.  More on that later this week.

While waiting for the first sock pattern, I decided to sort through all my yarn stash for something suitable.  I found some DK weight yarn leftover from the cowl I knit for my grandson that was enough for the Twist Again Shawl from the Deep Fall 2014 issue of Knitty.

Here’s a sneak peek of the finished shawl.

How is your crafting coming along so far this year?

Patti

Quilted cover

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Sewing is one of my more regular craft-type pursuits.  Quilting is a more recent one and I’m willing to experiment with my sewing machine.  Specifically the quilting, free-motion, or darning foot.

Without getting too technical when using this particular foot, the feed dogs are lowered and the pressure on the foot is set to light.  This allows the sew-er to gently maneuver the fabric in any direction while sewing, not just in a straight line.

I wanted to experiment with free-motion quilting and our heating pad needed a new cover.  No one would ever see this so what better way to learn than to practice!

I layered a piece of 100% cotton batting between two pieces of cotton fabric and pinned this all together before taking it to my sewing machine.  The total size was 12 inches by 27 inches. I began stitching in the center and made my way out toward the edges.

My stitches aren’t even as I moved the fabric around.  Going slowly gave me better control of stitch length.  You can see some longer stitches and very short stitches as I tried to make this star.

I drew a leaf with pink chalk and tried to go over the lines here.

More leaves and a heart.

Can you see the hidden messages below?

 

All quilted.

I added binding around the entire piece (don’t look at the horrible corners!) then folded it in half to make a padded envelope for our heating pad. I also made a new flannel cover to conceal it all and make it removable for washing.

I do need lots more practice using this foot on my sewing machine before I tackle a regular-sized quilt. It was fun and I learned a few things.

Do you sew and have you tried using all of the feet that came with your machine?Patti