Block of the Month progress

I have had this star border done for several weeks now, but I have been putting off trimming these borders so I could move forward on this quilt. I had to do a bit of reconstruction on some of the blocks so that they would all play nice together. It appears that my effort worked nicely and all fits together fine. It is now on to the flying geese border, that I have not even started yet.

Potato chip scarf ala Sal

A PC scarf can be knit or crochet. I choose to knit when I have the choice. I also modified the directions that I had been told because I wanted my scarf to twist more.

The size of the needles should be between a #9 and #11. It depends on how loose you want your stitches to be. I used short 10” needles #11. The yarn I used in the pictures was Bernat Baby Bouclé which is knobby and soft. It was a large 10.5 oz skein and I’m estimating it took about 4 oz. to make one scarf. My scarf is about 4 feet long.

Cast on 12 stitches.
First row knit 4 (K4)
Second row K4
Third row K3
Fourth row K3
Fifth row K12

Repeat these 5 rows until the scarf is the length you want.

The scarf will start twisting after only a few rows and because you are turning so often to go back and forth on 4 and then on 3 stitches, it will be real easy for a stitch to fall off, so be careful when you turn that you don’t drop a stitch. To figure out where I am when I pick the scarf up after a break… you can tell if after the first three stitches there appears to be a space, then when you knit the fourth stitch and there appears to be another space, then this means you are on the row that needs to be knit all the way across. If the stitches look uniform, you are on the row that you knit 4 then turn and knit 4 then turn and knit 3 and turn and knit 3 turn. I try to never put the scarf down between the K4 rows and the K3 rows, that way I can pretty much tell where I am when I start… it is either knit 12 across or start the knit 4 row.

One of the pictures is a close up of one end to show that you will have holes, but they are part of the pattern. The third picture is to give an idea of size.

Merry Christmas

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

Two Kitties

My latest project was inspired when I picked up the bag that was left behind from my quilting group that was here for our Christmas luncheon last week. Linda brought panels that pillows can be made from and asked us all to take what we wanted. I had enough projects going, so I didn't even look... besides I was busy being hostess. Well as I was picking things up I discovered she left what no one else took... in the bag was this panel with two kitties. I decided I could make this into an interesting project.

The kitties have cross-stitches for accents, and I quilted the lines. I had the wooden hoops for a long time... they were just waiting for these kitties.

Potato Chip Scarf

OK, here's a new one... a scarf made from potato chips. Only kidding, but that is what it is called. The other day I went to a birthday brunch for a friend who moved to Alabama and was back here for her birthday and Christmas, so a bunch of ladies were invited to brunch to celebrate Jean Evelyn. Jean Evelyn has become quite the knitter since she left Texas to become a full time grandma. She has been knitting lots of goodies for her grandkids, and lots of other special people too. One of the things she learned was how to make a potato chip scarf.

Jean Evelyn gave us a brief description of how it is done and I went home to look for a skein of yarn to try it out. The blue scarf pictured here is from one full skein (3 oz.) of Lion Brand Jiffy yarn. It really would be better if it was longer, but I wanted to complete one quickly so I could try a different one.

This is really simple to do. I used #9 needles because that was the largest size short needles that I had. I cast on 15 stitches. All rows are knit, and they are short, so it goes quickly. First row is knit 5, turn and knit 5 back, then you turn again and knit 15 to the other end. That is it, you knit 5, turn, knit 5, turn, knit 15, turn, then do it again, and again until it's as long as you want.

I started thinking that I would like it to swirl more, so I modified what I thought the directions were. I cast on 12 stitches onto #11 needles... they were long and get in the way, but they work fine. This time I knit 4, turn, knit 4, turn, knit 3, turn, knit 3, turn, knit 12, turn. and I found that it did twist more, and it went a little quicker because the needles were bigger. The gray on the right is the one from my modified directions.

Block of the Month

In August I decided to subscribe to The Quilt Show, an on-line TV show that features Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. The first "show" that I watched featured Marti Michell and I learned alot. I explored the site a bit and liked the BOM, block of the month, quilt and decided to go for it. It started in January, so I was way behind when I started. I did not opt to buy the kit, and have been using fabric from my stash. The image of the center is how far I got by the end of September... and that is with being gone for a couple weeks for our trip to Colorado. For eight months all you do is make blocks that will be put together to make two different borders. You do eight of the small sawtooth stars (72 in all) for an outer border and four of a larger border star that will go on next when I get all 24 done.

I finished the 24 blocks and put them together with the setting triangles and trimmed the borders to size, then tried laying the borders around the center to attach them, and nothing was lining up at the corners. I decided I should have made sure they were all the correct size before I started putting the setting triangles on, and I ended up taking the blocks apart from the setting triangles. Some blocks I had to actually take completely apart. Making sure your seams are all exactly the same width is crucial when you have so many pieces in one block. Anyhow, after reconstructing the blocks and squaring them up... making sure they were all exactly the same size. When I put the setting triangles back on... I had to cut new triangles... the borders are all the proper size. With Christmas just around the corner, I have been quite busy with meetings and parties and quilting for others, that I haven't had time to get back to my BOM. That will hopefully be the first project I attend to once I am back to a more normal schedule.