Juliet Sweater done!

(Please excuse my mirror, it is clean now!)

This is my attempt at Juliet. I am not sure what to say. It was challenging to make. I started in the fall of 08. I guess I had to much going on to stick with it. If I remember right the pattern part of the sweater was off and I got mad and just put it away. Fast forward to March 09, I felt like getting it off my list of UFO’s. So, I frogged back to the yoke. I started over and it seemed to go better. I think I had a few issues now looking at it. For sure, I made it way too big. I made the large. Should have started out with a medium neckline and then went into a small. I opted for the cropped length and that part is ok.
You can really see on this photo that the bottom 4 rows are right and the top half something is off.

The sweater kind of swallows me up. It is really full. Again, all going back to the size choice I made. I used wool and it is heavy the pattern calls for knitting with two strands. I would certainly use different yarn and size down.  I think this would be so cute for summer evenings when you will be in air conditioning. I always get cold  in a movie theater, or restaurant.

I will call this  a learning experience.    My grandmother would say a man on horseback… so, I am going with that.

note to self, fix crooked buttons…

Hand knit Spring Sweater… check!

My first completed knit of the year… is the Soulful Hues cap sleeved Spring top. When I saw this post from JC Handmade I knew just what I wanted to do. I know I am such a copy cat, but sometimes you just don’t know until you know…. I picked up 3 skeins of Malabrigo yarns (YUM!) last fall and man do I LOVE it. I made a cowl out of one skein, and just had the pink and brown hanging around.

This little sweater is fast, easy and fun to make. I started on Thursday and finished up last night. I was kind of confused in my own mind when I started and I realized much much later that I should have done the neck rib in a smaller needle then what I used, otherwise I think it looks just fine. For the sleeves I added a simple single crochet to help prevent the curled sleeves.

It was super fun to make.  It boosted my confidence a bit as well, I have not really been producing that many knits.  Some scarfs, some cowls, but not many other wearables.  There are just so many things I seem to be into and  I just  can’t do it all.  I end up gettting frustrated and overwhelmed.  This little sweater just helped change my feelings so that is a good thing.  I do seem to  have a few UFO’s sitting around, maybe this will help me work up some gumption to finish??

Most important though a little girl I know really likes it her sweater and really isn’t that what really matters?

I think so!

Look Ma!! I made butter~

When I was a child my favorite favorite books were all of the Little House on the Prairie books. I just  LOVED them. I read them all probably no less then 1000 times.  Seriously! They were  my go to books when I did not have new books to read.   My dad would take us to the library every Saturday where we were allowed to check out stacks of books.  I was an avid reader when I was a young girl.  After I finished reading the  books I would go back to my Little House books.  Every  Sunday after church  I would eat my Ramen noodles and read one of the Little House Books.  Oh those were good times..

Some of the best things about Little House on the Prairie books are the vivid details of the ordinary tasks they would do. Remember when Ma would churn the butter? She would  color the milk with a grated carrot. Then churn the butter and then put it in her butter mold with the little strawberry and 2 leaf design. Oh, I loved those stories.

So, I was reading here at Amy’s and then found this. Well, I had to do it. I just had to.. it goes back to Little House of course…   This is what turned out… it is so easy and really good!

So, here it is in all of its glory, home made butter (minus the churn), buttermilk and a little bouquet of bulbs from the garden.  Homemade bread is baking.. yum!  Thank you Laura!

Crochet Bag to chase away winter blues…..

One of my favorite new blogs to visit is Lucy’s Attic24. She is such a creative and colorful lady! You have to go and visit! I believe she lives in the UK in an old Victorian house and the scenery is unbelievable..

I was so inspired by some of her projects, it has certainly been awhile since I have crocheted anything, but I gathered some colorful cotton yarn and gave it a go…
It really is no comparison to her lovely bag, as I did not want to invest a lot of money in case I couldn’t make it/finish it, whatever.. so I kind of used what I had on hand to give me a similar feel.
I did not quite finish the whole pattern, it seemed the bag was getting big, so I stopped a little too soon I think.  I made the adorable flowers also from her site.  It is just so happy!

I am already on to my next project of course inspired by Lucy ~a lovely hexagon pattern so stay tuned and please go visit, you will be so happy you did!

~Whirligig Quilt~

I was lucky enough to be commissioned for another baby quilt… I really enjoyed making this one.
I was not quite sure which direction to go in at first. I felt that I wanted to work with yellow and blue… after seeing this, this, this, and all of these examples here, I just new I had to make a whirligig quilt. The tutorial I used is this one. I am not exactly sure why but my blocks were slightly off kilter. I just trimmed them up so it worked out just fine in the end.
I used an eclectic mix of fabrics, my favorite being the new Anna Marie Horner Good Folk Fabric. I actually was planning on using that fabric for a quilt for my youngest daughter, but  I  had to use just a bit.
I love,love, love that fabric, a little drop of Heather Bailey, and then bits of my favorite blue fabrics from my stash.  Here is the front~

a few blocks close up…

some of the fabrics are home dec fabrics, but it all works for me..

I really love the back, it is very simple, very plain. It reminds me the matlessaie quilts that I love so much~it is a solid sunshine yellow with an embroidered design. I new when I saw this fabric exactly what I wanted to use it for.

I also love the gingham binding

I like the border with the binding right next to it, I have not done that before, and I like the look of it.  I love this quilt, it feels fresh and fun to me.

I hope new mama and baby will as well.

~Craft Hope and other goodwill projects~

Craft Hope This seems like such a good cause. I am a wee bit late getting my size 12 shirt for Lindsey sent off. I have been told I have until the 5th … it is on it’s way.

I like feeling that my projects have a purpose and a point. Another wonderful project I have my eye on is  Mountain Baby Blankets this is a project  started by Rachel. You should check out her  blog and if you have the time watch this report by Dianne Sawyer on the Children of the Mountains. It really touched my heart.
I have 2 quilts just sitting here in my house not keeping anyone warm..  So it would seem a perfect choice.  I also would like to add a few baby blankets in as well.  I am in search of the perfect baby/receiving blanket project.   All tips/links ideas welcome!

Do you ever feel called to give?