Christmas Candy pattern from At Home with Thimbleberries Quilts (1997) by Lynette Jensen

This small table topper or wall hanging is 15″ by 15″

So  far in my quilting journey, which only began in February, I have been making pieced quilt blocks.  I really wanted to do this project to experience all of the steps that go into making a quilt.  It started with creating the applique candy canes using fusible web and then blanket stitch embroidery to finish them.

Oops, the candy canes are facing the wrong way!  It was so much easier to complete the candy canes when I simply followed the directions.  I also thought there was too much black embroidery thread and modified that stitching on the final version.

The four blocks were then machine pieced together with lattice strips and squares.

The next step was to create the pinwheel corner blocks and add the borders. Here is a closeup of the pinwheel and you can see some of the hand stitching too.  I was able to create the mitered corner on the binding. Yay.

I used the red-gold border fabric for the back of the quilt.  The three layers were sandwiched, basted and hand quilted.  The binding was cut and sewn following a video on You Tube.  Many firsts for this novice quilter.  I especially enjoyed doing the hand quilting.  I wouldn’t hesitate to do more applique either.

Metal sculpture

Wingfest Pier 8

Yesterday we took the opportunity to visit the rose garden at Gage Park.  It was slightly overcast, but otherwise a lovely day to walk around taking in the first blooms of the year.

Each garden bed has one type of rose.  The garden is laid out in a pie shape with one half of the pie a mirror image to the other.

There are connecting walkways with a trellis for the climbing roses.

And today a new project is starting to come together.  Christmas planning has begun.

Four sock patterns in one!

Do you prefer knitting your socks cuff down or toe up.  You get to decide with this one.  Charts and written directions for the Hanging Diamond pattern have been included for both directions.  To add a little whimsy knit cuff down using the toe up chart or knit to up using the cuff down chart and hearts will appear in the place of the parallelograms!

This is the latest offering in my efforts to design socks.  I am quite pleased with how well they turned out.   The pattern includes full directions for knitting this cuff down sock.  If you prefer knitting toe up, simply start with your goto toe, follow the chart and add your favourite heel.

The yarn used in this project was dyed by Susan of Slackford Studios.  It is Stalwart Sock in the Golden Sun colorway.  Stalwart Sock is heavenly to knit with and has excellent stitch definition.  The colours to choose from are delicious but if you are looking for this colorway you can contact Susan through the store or on her blog here.

The cuff has been designed to flow into the diagonal lines created by the 1×1 cable and the heel features the Eye of Partridge heel design.

The pattern is available here on Ravelry. Not on Ravelry?  Click on the Knitting Patterns page to purchase my available patterns.

The fourth in the series.

Block number 3 in the series

The second Block of the Month from the Quilt Rack

Antioch

Another fabulous design by Robyn Gallimore of Red Bird Knits.  The pattern for Antioch  is available on Patternfish. I received the kit back in March 2009, when I was a member of the sock of the month club.  Happily I still have more kits to work through.  I love the result of the faux fair isle that is achieved by pairing a solid yarn with a self patterning yarn.

The sock is worked top down and Robyn’s attention to detail on the cuff a pleasure.  This pattern has a garter stitch cuff with bobbles which are really adorable.

I chose to replace the garter stitch at the ankle with plain stockinette stitch and I worked the heel flap in a solid colour.  Even though I dropped down a needle size while working with one colour, the sock still has a tendancy to droop at the ankle.  I would drop down even more next time.

The self patterning yarn is Lang Jawoll Color Aktion and the grey background is Fortissima Socka.  Knit using the Philosopher’s Way for stranding on 2.5mm circs.  This is the first time I have used that process for a complete sock and I really enjoyed it.  I finally found a way to control my tension for a great fit.

These will be a lovely warm pair of socks.

The fabrics are wonderful Civil War reproductions.  Maybe in a year I will have a quilt!

Absinthe

Absinthe appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of Knitty.  I have been waiting for just the right time to tackle it.  For anyone who wanted to make it back then, Knitty revised the charts at the end of June 2009.  Well the Ravelympics seemed to be just the right time.  Lots of knitting time presents itself and the result will be a good reminder of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.   As an added bonus they were entered in four events.  I will add my medals as I get them!

The yarn used for this project is Pathway Sock from Slackford Studio.  It is a 100% merino and a such a rich blue, a nice pick me up to knit with in dull February.  The combination of yarn and pattern felt so good to work on that I had trouble putting them down. 

Now for the specs. The sock is knit toe up and the cables are actually part of the gusset increase.  I knit the pattern as written, so instead of my favourite heel, I knit the wrap and turn heel flap and gusset.  I used the large size on the foot where the cables have the potential to bind and decreased down to the small size for the leg where the lace pattern starts.  I tried going with five repeats on the leg, but the resulting sock was a little to high for me.  Four repeats it was.

I cast on during the opening ceremonies on February 12th and cast off today.  This did interrupt the sock in progress for February, so there should be another post soon.