Getting close to the end of these, which is good because I may or may not have fallen prey to a yarn store-closing sale that is now shipping seven new skeins of sock yarn to me as we speak…sorry/notsorry.
As I’ve been knitting on these, my brain keeps trying to make me feel bad about how far behind I am on these, and it occurred to me that I might have a faulty sense of how long it actually takes to knit a pair of socks, thereby dooming myself to always feeling like a failure whenever I knit a pair of socks. As it stands, it feels very comfortable to knit a stripe’s worth of yarn each day on these, and so I counted up the stripes in the completed sock, and it’s 23 stripes. That’s a little over three weeks’ worth of knitting at a comfortable pace. Multiply that by two (because two socks in a pair) and you get 46 days, which equals 6.5 weeks to make a pair of socks for Michael.
In my head…I thought it took four weeks. So of course I always feel like I’m behind when I’m knitting socks for him. It’s good to figure out the numbers on stuff, because numbers generally don’t lie, and I like knowing exactly how things are going to go and numbers are the way to figure that stuff out. It takes seven weeks to knit up a pair of socks for Michael. No wonder I can never finish the “started in December” pairs I always try to make for Christmas. This timetable has been noted in my Christmas preparation notes.
Since I never formally introduced you, let me redress my errors: Meet the Rainbow Coin Strip quilt:
You all know that I’ve been more than a little obsessed with working through my scrap bins for quite a few years now, and this was an effort to push forward on that goal back in 2019. I came across a quilt block in Electric Quilt that just erupted into a full quilt in my mind’s eye and looked like it would do a very good job at handling the little skinny strips of leftover fabric/strings that I found myself drowning in at that moment. So I went ahead and got pretty far on the quilt before 2020 arrived and everything went off the rails.
But it’s back, and I’m making good progress. This is a great quilt for using up pieces of fabric that you just can’t seem to use in anything else, especially those white backgrounds with colored designs prints. I’ve been specifically targeting the fabrics in my bins that I’ve hand on-hand for a long time because they’re tough to fit into quilts due to various issues, and man, does it feel good to use ’em up!
A sweet moment happened Friday evening: Emms came through the craft room and noticed the quilt on my cutting table, and squealed, “It’s the shower curtain fabric!” I laughed and said yes it was, and how fun it was sewing up all the little scraps and bits from so many projects I’d worked on in years past. Emms then took about five minutes looking at all the blocks and pointing out all the fabrics they remembered from the various things I’d made for them over the years and reminiscing about wearing and playing with said handcrafted items. Oh, it made my mama heart happy. Emms celebrated their 18th birthday this last week, and goodness is my heart sore with the pangs of knowing they’re going to be heading on out into the world soon. It was nice to hear of some of the small joys of their childhood for a few minutes. Made me feel like I’d done some things well.
I had been stewing over what to do with this quilt once it was finished; I honesty thought I was going to give it away up until Emms’ nostalgic perusal. Not anymore, this sucker is staying in the house. (Maybe it’ll need to head off to a certain college dorm room in the autumn?)
I’m hoping to get this quilted this week, we shall see…
I didn’t keep it secret, and I let her have it once it was done, rather than waiting for her birthday. She wore it to church last week, minus the witch hat, which she really wanted to wear for the photos. Rachel really likes the “everyday Halloween aesthetic,” so I decided to make her happy and sew up a skirt that fits the description. When I first saw this floral print, I KNEW Rachel would love it.
Details:
Pattern: I’m surprised at how many people have been asking on Instagram what the pattern is, and I’m so sorry to report that this is a massive mishmash of patterns. The pieces are cut from the “Three-Quarter Circle Skirt” pattern found in Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book, and I modified the pocket pieces to be much larger. I’ve made this skirt before, and I think I lengthened it? I was working from my traced pattern, so I can’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure it’s lengthened by a few inches because Rachel is all legs. The waistband is a straight strip of fabric, and I do not know how large I cut it because that piece of paper has gone missing. And then I sewed it all up according to the directions found in Simplicity #1369.
Thread: Whatever that black thread is on my thread rack. Probably cotton/poly or straight poly.
Notions: Dark Grey invisible zipper from that poorly-chosen purchase of “invisible zippers in an assortment of colors” from Amazon, shortened to the correct length.
Miscellaneous: I bought some new hemming feet for my sewing machine so I could perhaps get through hemming this quickly. I used the foot with the 6 on it, whatever that means. I think it was a rolled hem, about 1/4-inch. I have some larger hemming ones that I’m excited to try in the future, but I figured it would be hard to go any larger on the hem of a circle skirt, so I kept it small this time.
Oh, to be a teenage girl with a mom who will sew you cute little things to further your aesthetic. Ha ha. Enjoy it, Rachie Bug.
I aim to knit one stripe a day if I can. I’m now about halfway through the heel flap. The plan is to have these done by the end of the month, which should be an easy goal to achieve. What are you slogging away on?
Still don’t know what hand stitching project I’m going to work on once these are finished. I’m really tempted to just keep cranking this pattern out over and over again simply because I don’t have to do a lot of thinking when I’m working on it. I like that.
In other news, today is Emms’ 18th birthday! So weird. If you don’t hear from me in the next few days, it’s because I’m still crying. 😜
Y’all hanging in there? January’s a hard month to survive, I think. Good job making it to February! Alas, I think February often gives January a run for its miserable money most years, which makes me feel like…
But we’re just going to keep our heads down and go to work on those awesome crafty goals, and we’ll pass this gray, cold month with color in our hands and beautiful stitches to chase away the days. Sounds like an excellent plan! Go forth!
I had a plan for February, but as I went about to start prepping for it, I asked the person I was going to make a thing for if they wanted the thing I was planning to make for them and THEY SAID NO. So…I need some new plans. (It was a dress for Rachel. She’s so thrilled with her new Halloween skirt that she said she didn’t need anything new at the moment, and anyways, that particular dress was something she was “only into for, like, last summer.” 😒 This is why, more and more, I’m against surprise crafting. It often ends poorly. Just ask people what they want and then tell them it’s going to take forever to make. Everyone ends up happy. Even if it takes ten years to finish the thing. Trust me, I have A LOT ofexperience with this.)
I didn’t mention it in my January #craftygoals post, but I want to try to sew up an article of clothing each month this year. (I didn’t mention it because it would have hinted that “Rachel’s Birthday Gift” was a piece of clothing. Which ended up not mattering because I had to spoil the secret anyway. Gah.) I like the idea of making well-fitting clothes, but it’s a very new skill for me and I avoid it because it’s still kind of difficult to do well. It’s way more gratifying to crank out quilts because I’m already good at them. Clothes, though…eek. Practice, practice, practice.
1. So, with Rachel’s dress off the table, I need to come up with another clothing item to make, and I need a little time to figure that out because reasons.
The other #craftygoals for February are:
2. Finish the Rainbow Coin Strip quilt. I don’t think I’ve ever posted about this quilt, but I started it in December 2019 as a kick-off for the coming year being devoted to sewing up my scraps, and almost got the top completed, actually. And then my first shipment of Blank Quilting fabric arrived and the Rainbow Coin Strip quilt went into hibernation very quickly. The Convoluted Formula™ dictates that it be the next thing I work on. I’m pleased it’ll be completed soon. It’s cute.
5. Clementine Quilt Along Month 3 & 4. I didn’t quite finish the Month 3 blocks last month because of my back, but they’re close. Hopefully I can railroad through the fourth month’s blocks, too.
6. Berry Blocks. Not even started, annoyingly.
7. HST Leaders & Enders. Also not started, extra annoyingly. But we’re not going to worry because Scrappy Thursday is for working with scraps at the pace that I can work. There are no deadlines in the Land of Scrappy Thursdays, just a love of scraps. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN, DARN IT.
Hand Stitching-wise, I’m still knitting away on Michael’s Building Blocks sock, and really should be able to finish those up by the end of the month.
I have NO idea what I’ll work on after that. I think I need a portable project for taking to work, and an “at-home” project that is more involved or larger or whatever. Maybe a pair of vanilla socks for work, and resume working on the Stalagmite socks that I started three years ago? Or the Better Days Sweater? I don’t know, but it’s gotta be something yarny. My fingers are so cold in the winter that I have a hard time with hand sewing.
January’s #craftygoals went really good. I finished the Cat Lady quilt, Rachel’s Halloween skirt (pictures coming), the Mini Charm Chiffon Baby quilt (pictures waiting on delivery), and was able to start working on the Far Far Away quilt.
Scrappy Thursday-wise, I got the Brick House blocks for the month done and almost finished the Clementine blocks. As previously stated, I did not get to the Berry Blocks or HST Leaders & Enders. Not much I can do about that. Hopefully everything cooperates in the universe and I’m able to work on them this month.
You guys, I did it! I completed all the crafty goals I needed to complete this month in order to grant myself permission to FINALLY start on a quilt that’s been brewing in my mind for YEARS. I mean, I barely squeaked through with getting to work on this before month’s end, as I only got to start cutting it yesterday, but whatevs man, I’m working on my Far Far Away quilt!
I’ve been collecting fat quarter bundles of each of Heather Ross’ Far Far Away fabric collections since…2015, I think. The first collection popped up in a Fat Quarter Shop flash sale and I made a noise not of this world when I saw it, and grabbed it up because I LOVED those unicorns. We all know how often we actually get to working with spur-of-the-moment purchases, so that fat quarter bundle was still sitting on the shelf when the second Far Far Away collection came out, and I decided that I’d buy that one as well and do a compilation project someday.
And then Far Far Away THREE came out recently(ish) and I knew I needed to buy it as well. To be honest, all three of these fat quarter bundles would probably still be chillin’ in the stash if not for my new #craftygoals system that I’ve put into play this year. There’s so much more to it than I’ve explained because I don’t want to scare y’all off with my convoluted reasons for why/how I choose the projects to work on next, but it takes into consideration how long something’s been in the stash vs. how new it is and things like that…and, following the Convoluted Formula™, the “Far Far Away Quilt” was up next.
So I sat down mocked-up a quilt that would work with the number of fat quarters I have on-hand:
And now I’m cutting the fabrics. Oh my goodness, I love everything about these fabrics.
It IS the end of the month, so the #craftygoals rollover will start tomorrow and I’ll have to set this aside until I finish up February’s list to the point where I can work on this again, so you probably won’t see this again for a few weeks.
But oh my goodness, does it ever feel good to start working on this beautiful project.
(And nope, it’s not a gift for anyone. IT’S MINE. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!)
Now that the Nereid Mitts are finished for my bestie, I’m moving on to the pair of socks I had hoped to gift to Michael for Christmas. I really love the idea of knitting him another pair of socks each Christmas, it seems so homey and cute. This/last year’s socks are a little more bold than I normally go for him, but I unearthed this yarn in my stash, and, eyeing the atrocious shipping times on everything last autumn, decided to work with the yarn I already had on-hand.
(A little funny: I was in the midst of deciding whether or not to use the stash yarn or order new yarn, and I mentioned it over lunch with the kids. Nathaniel said I should definitely use the stash yarn because it would “make your husband glad you didn’t spend any more money, which might feel like another gift.” Which made me laugh, but then also made me wonder what’s going on in that kid’s head regarding husbands and wives and their money?)
Socks-in-progress for the husband, made from KnitPicks’ Felici Sock Yarn in “Building Blocks” colorway
So, this is my hand-stitching project for the next little while, and I’ll update you with its progress each week until it’s done! I’ve got one sock already finished, so I just need to power through this one.
The real question is: What hand-stitching project will I work on next? This is the last hand-stitched overdue Christmas project, so I can kind of do whatever I want after this. Work on a UFO? Start something new? Decisions, decisions. Maybe I need to dredge up the list of knitting UFOs and my Ravelry queue, so I can make an informed decision. I am monstrously green-eyed as I scroll through my IG feed and see the many oh-so-lovely knitting WIPs going on at the moment. Hmmm…there’s also EPP and historical sewing to consider, so there’s a lot of potential projects to choose from. What’s a girl to choose?
Yeah. They’re finished. And it never would have happened this fast if I wasn’t publicly shaming myself to get through them. Blogging is awesome.
I hope they bring you joy, Denise.
It’s so funny to read through other people’s write-ups of this pattern. Not many like it. It’s not a bad pattern at all, it’s just finicky and brain-consuming, and a lot of knitters knit in order to zen out. This is not a “zen out” pattern at all.
I’m also worried that they may have turned out a tad small. Which would be highly annoying, seeing that it took me almost ten years to make them.
Monstrously behind in my crafting schedule, but there’s just not much I can do about freak nerve pinchings, and I really needed to get that COVID booster shot. This week has a little bit of extra free time in it because the kids don’t have school on Thursday and Friday, so I’m hoping to get a little more crafting done on those days. We shall see.
Rachel’s Birthday Gift: In-progress, near completion. With the loss of almost two weeks of creating time, I had to give up on the idea of keeping this secret, so Rachel knows about it. It’s another circle skirt, this time made from the “Cast a Spell” floral print in the “Spooky & Sweeter” collection that Art Gallery Fabrics put out last year. It works well that she knows because I needed to measure her and then I figured I’d ask her if she even liked the idea before sinking hours of time into making it. It’s been super cute–she “wanders” into the craft room and stands behind me while I’m at the sewing machine and watches as the skirt gets stitched, and then wanders away, only to reappear an hour or so later to check on my progress.
Mini Charm Chiffon Baby Quilt: I ran into a hiccup on Rachel’s skirt and needed to take a break from it, so I went around and gathered up the various materials I needed to work on this and prewashed everything that needed it. Ready to baste. Could potentially finish this week.
Far Far Away Quilt: Also prewashed everything for this with the Chiffon stuff. It’s A LOT of fabric! So excited to hopefully get to working on this.
Brickhouse Quilt: Blocks 1-4 done.
Clementine Quilt: Almost done with Month 3. Probably finish this week.
Berry Quilt: Haven’t started, but will probably start this week.
HST Leaders & Enders Quilt: Haven’t started, probably won’t get to this month.
Nereid Mitts: Done! Need to photograph and blog.
Building Blocks Socks: Putting in the time, so they’re coming along.
Skirt with pockets!
It was a very productive weekend after many weeks of feeling poorly. It’s amazing how much you’re actually capable of doing when you finally start feeling better.
