Cowls, Quilts, Spinning, and Socks

I had a note from a friend this week asking where I was and if I had abandoned this blog. Well, I've been under the weather, buried in two complicated books, and watching Downton Abbey.

First, the books. The parish's book group had a very good discussion about Elizabeth Johnson's Quest for the Living God: Mapping New Frontiers in Theology. I was really glad that I had read the book, the bishops' statement about the book, Dr. Johnson's response to the statement, and the bishops' response to her response. It was pretty dense theological argument for a non-theologian, but it was worth the time spent to read, reflect, and then discuss.

Next, just this morning, I have finished reading Charles Dickens' Bleak House. This is for my other book club. It seemed as though the book took forever, but at the end, I am glad I read this. The characters (and there are a LOT of them) are richly drawn with even minor characters having interior lives and interesting things to do. The plot is carefully drawn, with LOTS of different plot lines thrown out and then all drawn together at the end. I will be carrying these characters and their lives with me for a long time.

After finishing the Christmas knitting, I made a cowl for myself from The Garter Girl's Burberry-like cowl pattern. Here it is:

It's warm, comfortable, and bright pink. Life doesn't get much better!

As soon as I finished it, I started in on a pair of basic toe-up socks from Melissa Morgan-Oakes' book. I am using the dyed sock yarn blank I purchased from Happy Fuzzy Yarns last winter when I took her yarn dyeing class. Here's my progress so far (much delayed because I've been reading Bleak House):

I am about an inch or two up from the toes area.

I have also been spinning a bit. Here are a couple of beauty shots of the lovely silk roving I got at the Fiber Expo back in October:

Finally, I have been working on the Fruit Salad quilt. I started off by auditioning various fabrics for the setting squares, and I still couldn't figure out the orientation of the diamonds.

I didn't like any of these fabrics. Then I got the bright idea of moving away from the standard setting square idea and into a different direction. Here is the start of the notion:

Then, I realized that I had some interesting options from here, including finishing this as a circle. Here is the current state of play - yes, those most recent pieces have to be picked out and moved to new places because, let's face it, a circle has 360 degrees, and a foolish quilter forgets that to her peril.

I am starting to like this piece again.

Finally, here is the requisite cute cat shot. This is the Big Guy - I crept up the basement stairs and set the camera on the floor to get this shot. He is SUCH a cuddler.

Catching Up; Looking Forward

When last I posted, I was knitting as fast as I could. The last week before Christmas, I discovered that one of the cowls simply had no stretch and was continuing to bleed color. So, this one was not in the present mix:

I do want to make this cowl again, but I'll use a more conventional yarn and hope for better results. Soon after I discovered this problem, one of my intended recipients told me she is allergic to wool. At that point, I decided that she and one other person would get something else. That evening, we walked by Mix in downtown Ypsilanti, and I saw the cutest purse. So, yeah, I was one of the people out on Christmas Eve getting the last few items.

On Christmas Eve morning, I finished the Molly Stark scarf for my sister. Here are a couple of pictures of it blocking. I should have taken my camera to family Christmas, but I forgot.

I ended up using Malabrigo Worsted for this because the colorway was closer to what my sister had requested. I really liked the way this turned out.

I also made a cute little scarf for my great nephew from the Toddle pattern on Knitty. You'll just have to imagine that scarf in the leftover teal yarn from the Every Way Wrap I finished back in the summer. My niece has promised to get a picture to me.

Another project I worked on was this:

This was the entrance to my laundry/craft area. The cat litter boxes contain my dyeing supplies. Now this area looks like this:

The next shelf up has the orange bucket and the laundry baskets. I can't believe it took me living here for four years to finally get around to properly organizing this area. We are looking for a new home for the table (it's particle board with a sturdy laminate on top and metal legs; there's an extra leaf that makes the table big enough to seat 6-8 people). I will probably call Friends in Deed so that this goes to a family needing a nice table.

Finally, I have been working on the Fruit Salad quilt. Here is the result of three days of making a lot of mistakes and fixing them. It has almost seemed as though I have been relearning basic skills with this.

The sections aren't yet sewn together, and I want to think about the setting. I have been thinking right along that I would use the white fabric that is along the edges as the setting blocks, and that would really make the dark cherry pieces stick out. I'm not in love with this quilt, but I think it's not half bad.

Now, for the part I've been dreading: A recap of the year's goals and the progress thereof. Here are the goals I listed for 2011 and the progress made:

1. Continue reading serious books - there is so much to learn!  Yes! I did this.
2. Read up on and attend some meetings regarding the drain commission and its work.* No, I did none of this.
3. Get good at spinning with the spindle, smoothing out the yarn and making it thinner. No, I have simply not spent the time with this that I really do want to spend.
4. Be a gracious volunteer coordinator for the guild's weekend of workshops at the end of July. Yes, I did this and had a lot of fun doing it and have told the powers that be I will not continue as volunteer coordinator after the 2012 guild quilt show.
5. Do not volunteer to make soul-sucking quilts - if they hurt to make, maybe they shouldn't be made. Yes, I held to this. I did spend a couple of afternoons with annoying projects for door prizes for the guild's weekend of workshops, but that's part of being a community member.
6. Finish the Cone Nebula quilt. Yes
7. Play with screen printing and other techniques. Yes, but not as much as I would have liked.
8. Finish the Every Way Wrap and make other fun-to-knit projects Of course!
9. Post here at least twice a week - Wednesdays and Saturdays Umm, no. Sorry

Here are my goals for 2012:

1. Read books that are not "assigned" by book clubs.
2. Get back to posting here on Wednesdays - What I'm Reading
3. Pick a community service project and stick with it - will I continue on the condo association board or not? If not, what will I do instead?
4. Schedule an evening a week at the spinning wheel (and/or with the spindle).
5. Make the two "art" quilts I have in my brain. They've been locked up there for too long.
6. Make the socks I've been promising myself since August. I keep letting other projects get in the way.
7. Make a wonderful quilt for my nephew and his sweet wife.
8. Have a lot of fun with my volunteer projects for the quilt guild - running the fabric sale and serving as volunteer coordinator for the quilt show.
9. Finish the rag rug I started in November, 2010....

Oh, the rag rug! My small sewing group gets together during the holiday week, and this is what I worked on during small group day this year.

That's all for now. I need to go read so that I have something to blog about on Wednesday. Thank you for your patience.

Eleanor Cowl - done!

Just a quick post here. I finished knitting the Eleanor cowl and blocked it.

Isn't that a beautiful lace pattern? I am so pleased with it, and I hope that the niece who gets it loves it, too. I didn't have much yarn left over, in fact, I actually didn't knit the last four rows of the pattern.

The little red threads on the yarn is where I was measuring half yards to see how much I had left. This morning at the coffee shop with friends after church, I mattress-stitched the sides together and realized in the middle of the process that the top row (the bind-off row) was tight. Ooops. I tried telling myself it didn't matter, but I knew that the tight top row would keep the piece from being comfortable to put on or wear.

When I got home, I poked through my knitting bag and found the Knitty article about the Interlock Bindoff that I had put aside for a day like this. The technique is well explained, beautifully illustrated, and easy to learn. The resulting top row is very stretchy and easy to wear. Here's the finished product:

In another part of my life, I attended a prayer vigil last Friday evening to help show support for a member of my parish who is facing deportation. I would ask anyone reading this to please look at this website and please consider signing the online petition and calling one of the numbers listed, asking that this mother of three American citizens be allowed to stay in this country. The bishop of the Catholic diocese of Lansing has written a letter to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency supporting Lourdes' petition. There are some terrible injustices going on in our society that are ruining the lives of some of our most vulnerable neighbors. Writing this paragraph is such a tiny thing to do, but if enough of us "ordinary" people speak up, maybe we can start fixing these problems.