Yarn, Quilts & A Sweater Arm to Boot. Does it get Better than That??

Yarn:
The woollen spun yarn came out so nice, so Squishy. And it was so fun and quick to spin. I think I Really, Really like spinning woollen. I think I will need to practice for some more before I get it exactly correct. It is amazing how much faster it goes than Spinning worsted. The motion and the feel of the yarn is just so different when you are spinning this way. I am really surprised and happy to be challenged again.

I spun a 2 ply 120 yard from 2.25 oz (65 gms) at about 11 WPI.


Baby Quilts:
Yes, more completed projects! I finished the 2 other baby quilts for the 2 ladies at work coming back from maternity leave. They are for boys, so Fish and Bugs. I like them both, but i love the Green and Purple one the best. The colors are just so striking!


And the Free motion quilting was fun. I was really getting the hang of it by the end. I was fighting the machine at first. I had it into the shop to be cleaned and they tightened up the bobbin tension. When I tried the free motion quilting at first my machine kept missing stitches, and no matter how I adjusted the tension at the top, I could not do anything more than forward straight line quilting.

So I after about a day of stewing on this, I realized that when I first got my machine, I had this problem, and I took it to the shop and the lady helped me to adjust the bobbin tension (I loosened it just a tiny bit) and WOW, Free motion quilting in all directions. As Alison Rosen says....It's like Butta!!!

Finally a Baltic Sweater Update:
I missed my goal...But no big deal, it's still too warm to wear a wool sweater, so I extended my goal to attempt to finish my Baltic sweater by the end of September....Or maybe the end of October. I only have 1 sleeve to go. If I really buckle down, I could finish it in a couple of weeks, but I have been distracted again by a more challenging project.
But more to come on that later!!!! And yes, those are my toes holding down the bottom edge of the sweater so you can see the colorwork pattern.

Sewing & Project planning

Sewing
I have been back to some quilt sewing. It seems that many people around me are having babies and i can whip out a baby quilt in a weekend. I find this more efficient than knitting a blanket. And it's something I don't have to worry about if it will fit!




I got this one done. It needed to complete to be completed by this weekend for the shower. It took me 3 days. I forgot about the the immediate satisfaction you can get from a sewing project. I used the Eleanor Burns method of using fusible web to applique the fish. Her method is really a great method, but it was a bit fussy because the fish had some tight spots. But once I got the fish turned right side out it was simple.



I also finished the second quilt top, because it was using up the same fabrics with just a few changes. But this time I decided that the applique was not necessary. I still have one more, but i have not decided on the colors yet. that will be this weekend.

Knitting update:
Since I have finished the swallow tail shawl (No, I still have not blocked it yet!) I've gone back to knitting on the Baltic. Before I put it down earlier this summer, I was right at the point of where I had to split the front and back and start the back and forth knitting. So this week, I got the front yoke and one shoulder done. My goal now is to complete this sweater by the end of August.


The also finished the Linen/Rayon Shawl/baby/lap blanket (what ever you want to call it). It's just in straight stockinette stitch. So it was totally mindless and somewhat boring. I decided to complete the edging using a crochet chain stitch. The one where you crochet 4 knitted stitch together and then chain 4-7st, repeat. It used up all my yarn!!


Planning the Next Sweater:
This is the exciting part....well sort of. I am starting to think about what my next sweater project will be. I have about 3 more quantities of sweater yarn that I want to use up. Universal Worsted Tonals (Variegate blues tones), a recycled Alpaca Merino yarn in brown/gray variegated color (Sport weight). A chunky Maroon/wine colored.

I also have 2-4 more skeins of various colors of Cascade EcoWool (but I've already knit with these yarns, and because I don't done have enough of 1 color to do a sweater project, I will need to figure out how to incorporate a second (and maybe third) color into a sweater. Too much thinking for now!

I'm leaning towards the Corduroy (Lisa Lloyd - A Fine Fleece) in the Universal Worsted Tonal yarn (blues). A nice simple sweater to showcase the yarn. Another sweater is Rhinebeck in that same book with the same yarn. It has a little bit more patterning, and I could use a cardigan. I've been a bit on a pull over rampage this year. I feel I could really motor through the corduroy with worsted weight yarn.

The final sweater this year may be the Flyingdales in the recycled yarn. I found the sweater in a thrift store last winter. Really nice yarn!! And the perfect weight for me. Nice and thin about a light sport, I have not measure the WPI or done a swatch yet though. I got about 2000 yards too!!

By the way....Total yardage knit this year 6000 yds!! That is 3.4 miles!