It's been a busy summer on the non-craft front (when one has a house on a lake in Maine, one also tends to have a fair bit of company over the course of a summer, so I can easily claim say that one of the things I've been working on is post-guest laundry......) but that makes my limited craft time all that much more important for my sanity.
Follow me over the orange scrap yarn barf for bits of what I've been working on....
What Are You Working On?
All things hand-made, home-made, and creative in a variety of mediums.
Most of my sewing has been annoyingly practical this summer ~ repairing torn curtains and the like. Plus, the sewing machine is just noisy enough that (unlike the more quiet knitting needles) it's hard to do with guests here :-(
I did make it to a wonderful quilt show for inspiration (see diaries about it here and here ~ yes, there were enough gorgeous quilts to more than fill two diaries!).
There were so many amazing quilts at the show that it would be impossible to pick a favorite.... but this one was in the running:
Maybe now that company season is winding down, I'll have the time to use my sewing machine for some fun and creativity.
Good friends had a baby come a month early ~ poor wee bairn is still in ICU at ten days old and may be there for another couple weeks, although she is doing well. SO I'm feverishly working on a sweater for her.... had just bought the yarn when I got the text that she had been born. A favorite pattern (King Cole 2980, big enough to stay on but no buttons to fuss over {or for toddler brother to pull off.....}, plus feminine without being frilly.....), I'm doing this one in Cascade Heritage Silk (85% superwash merino, 15% mulberry silk ~ meant as a sock yarn, it's machine washable) in raspberry ~ a much better choice for these parents than traditional pastel pink ;-)
I so make one minor change in the pattern: provisional cast-on, instead of picking up cast-on stitches to do the edging. Much saner and a prettier result ;-)
A previous version several years ago I did of the same pattern, to show what the final product looks like.
Two of this summer's projects were gifts..... both were a pattern (Swoosh) that a woman in my knitting group designed. Body is pretty much straight stockinette, except for three stitches added at the beginning of each knit row, so excellent knit night work. Then the lace edging is an easy finish to look really nice ;-)
First, in a black/grey/white version in made-in-Maine-with-amazing-colors Tess Yarns (quality supervision by Hobbs ~ he's the reason I use a locking plastic box much of the time as my 'knitting basket', as he can get the drawstring back shown in the in-process baby sweater picture open if I leave it out.....):
Secondly, in a beautiful Socks that Rock yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts (oh, such incredible colors!):
Had actually posted this picture with two possible projects on Facebook in the hopes that the intended recipient would comment about which she liked better ~ yeah that she did ;-) So it was still a surprise for her!
So.... what are you working on this summer?