Another crafty week

I bet non-crafters mark the success of their weeks in terms of business meetings attended, after school clubs ferried to, dinners cooked, rooms Marie-Kondo'd etc.  Lucky we crafters have more tangible achievement markers, eh?

Today I've just finished the set of placemats made from the instructional video I posted about a few weeks ago and we will enjoy using them hopefully for a long time.

After the experience with the prototype in non-pre-washed furniture fabric/wadding, I decided to go with pre-washed quilt weight cotton using pre-washed Hobbs 80/20 wadding.  By the way, do not pre-wash the Hobbs in a front-loading washing machine on 'super quick' cycle unless you are purposely making cobweb-tatters for your Halloween party.  I pre-washed the replacement batch by hand which was much more successful.  The placemats are dead easy to make although a bit tedious, but the end result is good.  And hopefully as it was all pre-washed first, they won't wrinkle up too much when they are subsequently washed.  They are reversible so I have a different red print on the under side.

Yesterday I posted off another set of little knitted clothes to my friend's daughter, the owner of the knitted doll I made last year from the book by Louise Crowther.  These are in 4-ply cotton from Susan Crawford Vintage. From time to time I quite like knitting toys.  I hope the doll's large hands and feet are going to go through the openings as I didn't have the doll to try them on.  I'm sure Mum can help if the owner can't manage.

I'm now sweeping up previous furniture kits from the Japanese dollshouse so I put together kits for  two low tables.  I also used the table kits as templates to make a third table which I have turned into a Japanese kotatsu, or heated blanket/table.  So the owners will have a cosy room with a fire pit and an electrically heated blanket/table to sit round. Inspired by the Italian blogger who made this house, I even glued a printie of the heater grille on the underside of the kotatsu.

Yesterday I attended the Rushden Lace Day for several hours of peaceful lacemaking.  It's hard to take a clear picture but I hope you can see that the end is literally in sight now on my Bucks Point hexagon.  The line of pins and lace at the bottom of the picture (under the loose threads) is where I started the project a year ago.  So it was very exciting in an ultra-slow-motion kind of way to be working down towards the start point.  When I reach it, I will be connecting the working threads back to the beginning stitches, hopefully unobtrusively and ideally almost invisibly but it's tricky to do. I hope I don't wreck it.

A few weeks ago I tried out a workshop at Coleman's Craft Warehouse over in Rushden to make a Japanese-style apron, just for a bit of fun.  It was a nice few hours out - I miss having a regular quilting group to go to.  Their 'new' workshop mezzanine is well appointed and nice to work in (when it isn't roastingly hot as they attempt to keep the main shopping floor above freezing), and refreshments, fabric and thread were included in the price.  The tutor was good and it was nice to just sit and sew in company.  I chose a lightweight denim, and embellished it a little with some embroidered hearts that are a programmeable stitch on my machine.  I'm not sure when I will wear it.  I prefer waterproof aprons for cooking, and I wouldn't want to ruin the new apron by dollshousing in it (my dollshousing apron is covered in glue and paint) or gardening.  It would be suitable for housework if I ever did any of that  :)  The apron slips over the head with no ties, and is finished with a double hem all the way around.

My Mohs surgery on my nose takes place this coming week.  I'm so not looking forward to it.  I watched a Youtube video about the procedure made by an American surgeon, which provoked much cringing and shrieking aloud through fingers clamped over my face.  So I am now both more informed and more grossed out about what's going to happen. It's got to be done though, the alternative is the tumour getting bigger and eventually eroding my nose which would not be a good look.  Wish me luck!  The upside is I get to stay home from work the rest of the week so once I start recovering I hope to relax and work on some projects.

The most critical item to pack for a trip

A few posts ago I recounted the adage I had heard, that if you have your passport and credit card then you are good to go for a trip abroad and not to sweat the rest of your packing list.  However I think for crafters there is a third essential item:  what craft project are you taking?  Or in my case, what knitting project?

After much consideration of factors such as weight/bulk (needs to be small), longevity (most knitting time for weight of yarn carried) and complexity (need to be able to pick it up/put it down but it shouldn't be boring), I've decided to knit another pair of Sanquhar gloves.  This is the pair I knit eight years ago in Jamieson & Smith 2ply laceweight using the 'Duke' pattern.

Ever since I saw another pair in cherry red/white, I've been thinking of reknitting in that colour combo, so I've decided to go for it.  Although they look complex, the motif pattern is easily memorised.  The only minus factor is that they are  knit on very fine 1.5mm steel double pointed needles.  For airplane projects I always take wooden needles or bamboo for passing through security, but they don't make wooden needles that thin (I guess they would be too breakable).  So I'm going to see if Security will let me through with a set of fine steel pointy things.  For backup, I am also taking a 1.5mm metal circular needle for the plane, and for double backup I am taking another set of 1.5mm steel needles in my checked luggage in case both the aforementioned get confiscated on the flight.  As a triple backup, I will take a couple of extra needles from a fourth set just in case the first two get confiscated and I lose a needle from the third set (easily done when they are this fine).  I was explaining my reasoning to DH and DS.  They were both looking at me with identical expressions like I am crazy but I'm sure you knitters out there can follow my reasoning!

I ordered the laceweight from Jamieson & Smith and it's turned up now so I will cast on and knit a half inch or so to get the project started, so I can at least show Security some knitting in progress for additional credibility.  The flight is 11.5 hours so I sure hope I can do some knitting on it because I can't sleep on planes.

In other knitting, I decided to turn my Winterland Mittens into fingerless mitts because I wear those a lot more often as a commuter than full enclosed mittens which don't allow you to fish out your train ticket easily etc.  So I worked some ribbing at the point where the mittens would have tapered, and now I am working on the thumb.

I reached a crisis of confidence on the 30s Sampler Quilt regarding the accuracy of my block sizes and the inevitable final assembly problems.  So I spent a couple of hours re-measuring and fixing all the blocks so far.  Most of them weren't as bad as I remembered, perhaps a quarter inch out which some coaxing with a steam iron could remedy.  A couple I needed to unpick and resew a seam or two.  One applique block was so short in width that I have sewed some additional background to one side although I'm not sure if it is going to look terrible when I sew the blocks together, we'll see.  So they are all fairly reasonable now size-wise. 

I also put some thought into why the problems were happening.  I think it's because I was just blindly following the instructions without engaging my brain.  The minimal instructions rely heavily on the method of "add 7/8th inch to the finished measurement" to specify cut square sizes which you then cut diagonally into two half-triangles or four quarter-triangles.  The problem with this method is it leaves almost no room for cutting/sewing errors.  The instructions also don't specify any sizes for the sub-units to allow you to check accuracy as you build sub-assemblies.  So I spent some more time bending my brain to arithmetic (very difficult for me) to work out the sizes of the sub-assemblies for the remaining blocks in the quilt.  I've also started cutting triangles using a Fons and Porter Half/Quarter scale triangle ruler which is a lot more accurate for me, and cutting things over-size where appropriate so I can trim down to the final unit size after seaming.  For the red block below, I used Thangles papers to get accurate triangles.

As a result of the above improvements, I've managed two six-inch blocks which came out the right size first time! So I'm feeling more optimistic about this project now.

I finished the balcony railing for the fourth porch of the Japanese dollshouse and then assembled the shingled roof which for some reason gave me a lot more trouble compared to the first three porch roofs.  Got there in the end, although I still need to add the decorative end roof beams.  Then it will be time to hinge both 2nd floor porches to the main structure.  After they're hinged on, I will install the inner sliding doors to each porch. Then the main structure (pre-roof) will be done.

Kits 90 onwards are to build the big elaborate Japanese-style roof, but before I start on that, I will backtrack to sweep up a half dozen furniture kits that I had put to one side while I worked on the main structure.

It's turned quite cold here now.  Our old house can be a bit drafty inside so I am wearing my recently completed Itineris Shawl a lot around the house as extra warmth around my neck, it's nice and cosy. For outside I've upgraded to DEFCON 1 on my handknitted hats, which is the Windproof Hat I knit a couple of years ago in double-stranded chunky pure wool with a deep ear band. It's so warm I can only wear it in the coldest weather.

Stay warm!

Wildlife garden

We're in a busy area of town so our garden normally only attracts urban birds such as sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons, blue tits, collared doves and pigeons.  DH called me excitedly this morning to come and see an unusual arrival.

It's a sparrowhawk, clutching the sparrow it has just caught.  According to DH's bird book, these are usually only found in rural areas and seldom venture into town.  DH's first clue was when every bird in the garden suddenly took wing and flew off in a hurry.  Well, obviously not this poor little guy who wasn't fast enough.  The hawk took its time to devour its meal over about 30 minutes before flying off.  Hope this hasn't grossed anyone out!

This week I finished the Christmas yarn socks.  They're just plain vanilla socks.  I usually knit socks in fingering weight so these DK socks seemed to go really quickly.  They fit well. 

I'm getting on much better with the Winterland Mittens now that I've shifted down to a 2mm metal needle.  I'm still struggling with the really long floats and at the moment there are some pretty wonky stitches.  But I plan to tighten those up when I deal with the floats at the end.  It's definitely a huge improvement from the mitten I unravelled.

Now that the Christmas socks are done, I needed a new commuting project.  I rooted around in the knitting room and found two balls of pink Excelana DK by Susan Crawford, which feels like a really nice yarn.  After a protracted trawl through my collection of tear-out patterns, I've chosen a pair of lacy fingerless long gloves.  I had to chart out the lace pattern because it was written out row by row, which I hate because I always get lost.  But the pattern wasn't too hard to chart as it's pretty simple.  I had one false start on the knitting where I felt the needle size was too big so I shifted down to a 3mm and now it is looking pretty good.

I'm still working on the fourth porch of the Japanese dollshouse and am currently attaching the balcony structure.  I've made one block for my 30s Sampler Quilt this week:  a 6-inch Card Trick block.  I tried really hard to be accurate on this one and it has come out better although as you can see still a bit wonky on the lower left  - I might unpick and redo that lower left block.  It's at least square but is slightly undersize.

I was watching this video on making placemats while I was doing some bobbin lace and decided to have a go as it looked so easy.  I was however sceptical at her use of unwashed fabric and Hobb's Heirloom 80/20 because I know that combination shrinks up.  I made a prototype using some unwashed furnishing fabric and Hobbs wadding and ran it through the washing machine to see what happens.  It indeed came out very wrinkly and determined steam pressing could only get it this flat:

I might try preshrinking the batting and fabric first and then try again to see if it makes a better result.  Because the placemat is a nice size and feels like it would really protect the table, and I've got lots of Hobbs wadding scraps left over from previous projects as well as quite a bit of furnishing fabric scraps.

Have you had a crafty week?

Back to work, although not when I expected

So I dragged myself out of bed on the morning of New Year's Eve, got dressed, made my lunch, and trudged the mile down to the rail station at 7:30am in the dark and cold - all while the family were still fast asleep since they had the sense to book the day off.  I vaguely noticed a lot of buses as I arrived at the station, but did not put 2+2 together until I went inside to get warm and discovered that there were no trains running.  Apparently it was planned engineering work which I suppose they announced during the Christmas week when I was at home.  It never occurred to me to check in advance because a) I was going to work therefore everyone must be, and b) I haven't worked New Year's Eve for years so am out of the habit.  I am not so dedicated to my job that I was going to spend three hours on a bus to get there, so I trudged back home again and phoned my manager to swap my days this week.  At least I ended up having a longer holiday after all.

I used the extra day to take down all the Christmas decorations and pile them in the front room, where I gradually put them away over the next several evenings.  We bought a couple of plastic storage crates on sale at Wilko so we have finally retired some of the tattered cardboard boxes we've used for about 15 years or more.  So things are a bit more organised now. DH took the trees to be recycled at the dump yesterday.

This week I've been working on the other porch of the Japanese dollshouse.  I've got the room box portion assembled and am just adding the windows, and I made the two tatami mats that go inside this porch as a unique touch compared to the other three porches.

I've made four more blocks for my 30s Sampler quilt.  The last one (which is the top picture) is quite wonky again even though I was trying hard to cut accurately and my seam allowance should be ok now.  I'm also careful with pressing so as not to distort the triangles.  I hate triangles.  It's discouraging to have a block come out polygonal and smaller in some dimensions than it should be.  I blasted the block with steam at the end and got it to be a bit bigger although still not square.  I used to be good at this.  Twenty years ago quilting was my main hobby and I was sewing for hours every week.  I guess practice makes perfect and then when you stop practicing, you lose it again.  Grrr.  I may have to re-make some of the blocks in this quilt or it's just not going to go together because it's a real jigsaw puzzle of different sized blocks.

In knitting this week, I finished the Scheepjes Secret Garden Shawl and wet blocked it.  I was a bit worried that when it was washed it would get a bit crispy and scratchy because of the cotton content, but in fact it has relaxed into a lovely soft fabric which I really like.  It reminds me of the old Rowan Summer Tweed but without the scratchy bits that were spun into that yarn.  I wonder what this yarn would be like in a garment.  There were a lot of ends to weave in as I was playing yarn chicken with some of the colourways that came in the kit and at the same time trying to cope with unhelpful variegation (like when the two alternating yarns both variegated into a very similar colour so there was no contrast, which happened a few times).  So I was having to break the yarn and rejoin at a more appropriate part of the colour progression.  But I like how it's come out.

I've now returned to two hibernating  knitting projects.  The Drops Leaf Yoke top down sweater which I started over two years ago has been sitting inside the drawer of my knitting table in the front room almost untouched.  I don't like knitting top down sweaters for several reasons, one of which is that knitting the body just feels like knitting wallpaper.  But I was knitting on it occasionally when I wanted a change from my other projects and finally achieved sufficient length on the body and have now knit the garter hem and bound off.  I've tried it on and it looks very lumpy as it hasn't been blocked, hopefully it will even out and relax a bit once wet blocked.  Now I need to continue knitting both the sleeves.  I also went up to the attic and rescued my hibernating Winterland Mittens which I started five years ago.  They were abandoned for the same reasons that several other people have expressed in their online project notes for this design:  these mittens come out huge, and the floats are really long so no matter how you try to deal with the floats, you end up with peek-through.  I remember having a few goes and I was never happy with the huge lumpy spotty result - thus the hibernation.    So I have now unraveled the mitten back to the cuff, and I steamed the yarn to remove the kinks so I can re-knit with it (I also managed to drop it on the hot burner and have it catch fire, twice.  Did you know burning wool smells like burning hair?).  I've gone down a needle size and am not going to weave in my contrast yarn at all on the back of the hand where the main design is.  I'm just going to leave all the long floats and see if that improves the knitting, and then deal with the floats afterwards.  I know I read one knitting designer's blog where she said that in a pure wool, the floats soon felt and attach to the inside, so she never weaves them in either.  Or there is the machine knitter's trick of latching up the floats on the inside.  We'll see.