just a quick tote

I'm in love with this motif from Norah Gaughan's Vol. 2 pattern booklet from Berroco. How fun is that? What a stylin' tote bag! The other sweaters in that collection are pretty darn cute, too. My other projects are coming along, but I'm just waiting to post on those when I get a chance to snap some blog-worthy photos!


Pictures from Berroco.

patchwork dreams

So we're moving ... and buying a house ... which means new furniture ... and has me thinking, time for a new quilt for the new bedroom! Yup, this is how my brain works. The quilt currently gracing our master bedroom was my first ever ... not perfect, made with a LOT of help from Mom, but my first nonetheless!



Pretty bright, huh? I wasn't so hot at picking colors with light and dark contrast, LOL. I'm finding that my present tastes are leaning more towards the minimal. Like this cool, modern quilt in an old Sundance catalog:





And I love all the white in the Purl Bee's Zig Zag quilt:



And I have REALLY been inspired by Erin's x's quilt. Look here and here. I love the idea of making it mostly white dominated, with a pop of yellow or green or some other fun color randomly thrown in throughout. Hmm ... I'll need to keep it simple, since my skills are totally beginner. This is something I won't seriously pursue until we've finished the move and are semi-settled in in Mississippi. Until then, I'll just keep dreaming!

earthy inspirations

Some inspirations for the new Project Spectrum element, Earth.

the not so manly mitts

The Not So Manly Mitts ... done! So soft! And warm and cushy! I used maybe 2/3 each of two skeins of Cascade 220. Really fun first colorwork mittens for me. I can see how mittens can get addicting! I'd love to try making some thrummed mittens after seeing Ashley's and Grumperina's.

Long time, no see

Wow, March really passed me by, didn't it? And most of April, too ... yeesh. I suppose news like moving to Mississippi will do that to you, huh? It's been a crazy couple months of househunting, breaking the news to everyone, and general excitement! And as you might expect, although the blogging got put on the backburner, the crafting didn't! So I have much to update y'all with (just practicing the new lingo).

Remember me? I am thisclose to finishing Surf 'n Turf, my first sweater! And just in time for warm weather, and moving to an even warmer locale! LOL!


So I finished all the pieces, successfully made my first-ever buttonholes, and embarked on seaming it all together ... honestly, the part that intimidated me the most. This time, I actually referenced a knitting manual for seaming techniques, instead of treating the pieces like sewing two pieces of cloth together (wrong sides facing, stitching with a seam allowance). Which, as you may have guessed, was not so successful in the past. I'm so happy with how it turned out! Guess I should read the directions more often ....



I seriously was not expecting these results on my first try! My shoulder seams still need some work, but that's fine by me!


I've discovered that it's more difficult than I imagined to really capture the beauty of this yarn's color changes in a photograph. This one is the best so far.



The only bummer? Get everything seamed, ends weaved in, and try it on to find ... the sweater is a little more cropped than I expected! Everthing else was perfect, so I referenced my handy manual again to learn how to pick up stitches from a bound off edge, and now I'm adding a little length. I think I have just the right amount of yarn leftover to pull it off.