Fine Finishes

The April Sunshine Socks are finished and on my feet.


The pattern is "Sunshine" from Sock Innovation by Cookie A. Yarn Regia 4-fädig in "00017." I plan to make most of the socks from this book.

Not one to let grass grow under my feet, or DH's, for that matter, I immediately cast on a pair of socks for him, using the "Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks" by Ann Budd, from Favorite Socks 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave. The diagonal goes in the opposite direction on the other sock, which should keep me entertained while knitting it, not that I ever have to worry about "Second Sock Syndrome." I'm using Stroll Tweed in "Rabbit Heather." I'm almost to the heel, but this photo, taken about halfway down the leg, will give you an idea. The color is much warmer, however, more a warm tan than the gray it appears in this photo. It may be the background that makes it appear gray. The color in the photo on the KP product page (follow this link) appears very accurate on my monitor.

Also finished is the Pine Burr quilt top:


The pattern for the quilt is McCall's Quilting May/June 2012 "Pine Burr Made Modern," although my quilt is very different from the one in the article. (This quilt is paper-pieced, in case you missed my earlier posts about it.) Common Threads gave me the opportunity to call upon Ellen and Karan to hold up the quilt top for a photo of the whole thing. 

We met this week at Margareth's. She has remodeled her loft to make a new place for her loom, so we had a tour.


She has her portable loom set up there, too.


There is a door that leads out to a little balcony. When the weather is nice, she can take her portable loom out there to weave and listen to the birds. Inside, she has a nice couch and a fireplace.

Most of us were knitting. Karan is almost done with her "Flying South Cardigan." She made the long-sleeved version. I have this in my queue on my Ravelry page. 

That evening, Ellen and I went to the monthly quilt guild meeting at Davidene's. Our topic was panels. We looked at a number of the panels the shop had available and brainstormed what you could do with each one.


We also looked at some finished quilts that used panels in them. We talked about what we liked or didn't like about them. Most of them were very nicely done.


One we liked was this monkey panel:


Someone turned it into this charming quilt, in which Snail's Trail blocks are used to represent the tails of monkeys.


These two quilt tops showed how important contrast can be. The design on the left has some nicely executed stars that unfortunately don't show up well because of the choice of fabrics. They needed more contrast between the fabrics. Also a problem was the choice of a fabric with a large, high-contrast pattern.


Most people stuck to the topic for their show-and-tell. For this holiday/winter quilt Bonnie used a panel and some homespuns.


Lynn showed us this pirate quilt she had made for "Talk Like a Pirate Day," September 19th, which is my DH's birthday. (He is a pirate, after all. Arrrrgh.)

Jill loves Twister blocks. She used some tiny ones in this quilt top.


This was supposed to be the back, but we thought she should make a separate quilt out of it and quilt it herself. (She's been practicing with her walking foot.)


Colleen made this to commemorate the fun she has with her golfing buddies.


Dianne is making a quilt using this "Sawtooth Cats" paper-pieced block. The tails are paper-pieced and appliquéd on. (This is not made from a panel.)


I tried to pass my Pine Burr quilt off as a panel, but they weren't buying it. At least it was paper-pieced, so it fit in with Dianne's kitties.

We finally got a really typical winter snow. The accumulation was eventually about 14" at our place, but the resorts on the other side of the mountain (Solitude, Alta and Brighton) got close to 28".

I hope that finishes winter for us, but we could still get snow through the beginning of July. The local resorts have closed for the season. Downhill skiers will have to journey to the other side of the mountain if they want to enjoy the snow and have access to lifts. Cross-country skiers and snowshoers will still find snow to enjoy for some time yet.


What's on my needles: The Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks for DH. Ready to CO his "March of the Fibres" cardi.

What's on my Featherweight: Starting work on the third block for the First Ladies Quilt.

What's on my wheel: Still Full Circle spinning fiber in "Pigeon."

What's on my loom: Still some warp for another scarf.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Mississippi Jack, because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. Now I'm looking forward to the sixth book in the series. In the meantime, I've started Mariana by Susana Kearsley, also from the library on the Overdrive app. Still reading Jennifer Coburn's Tales from the Crib, on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Foxhorn Vineyards Merlot, the big bottle, for very big thirsts.

What's my tip of the week: Need to measure butter for a recipe? Use a glass measuring cup big enough for about twice the amount you need. Fill it to a given amount with water (say 1 cup) and then add the butter until the water level reaches the measurement of the water and what you need in butter added together. Pour out the water, and you have the right amount of butter. This is more accurate than cutting up a stick of butter, and perhaps your butter doesn't come in stick form. It also works for other semi-solid ingredients, like cream cheese. If you're adding a liquid (milk or juice), you can use that instead of water. Then you can expand the technique to measuring yogurt or sour cream.


Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.