Moving Along

I’m finally making progress on my “Delectable Pathways” quilt. (I’m calling it “Peggy’s Sistine Chapel.)

However, I took time out this week for a doll dress for Dolly for the April KAL, “Sisters,” in the Götz Doll group on Ravelry.

The project page on Ravelry is here.

The instructions were for knitting the dress parts in sections and sewing them together. Some of you knitters share my distaste for sewing up lots of extra seams, although doll clothes tend to have very small seams that go together quickly. I didn’t like the look of the side seams interrupting the pattern on the sides of the skirt, so for this project so I decided to have just one seam in the back. That led me to knitting part of the bodice (up to where it splits for the front opening and then the sleeve openings) in the round, as well as the sleeves. The only seams I ended up with was the back of the skirt, the two shoulder seams and setting in the sleeves. I need to make another one for the other “sister,” Gabi. I’m going to switch out the turquoise and green colors. (I’ve done the math, and I should have enough yarn.) This time, I’m going to try to work the skirt in the round and pick up the sleeves stitches to work down, rather than having that seam. That should take the seams down to just the shoulders. I didn't have any black yarn, so I used black sock yarn, held double.

We got more snow early in the week, but it’s almost all melted now.

Wednesday evening DH and I went out to dinner at Aristo’s Greek Restaurant in Salt Lake City, followed by a show at Pioneer Theater, “Cowgirls.” It was very entertaining, about six women who perform in a western bar. The three hired as a “cowgirl band” turned out to be classically trained, not “country.” They "made do." All of the characters evolve during the story. Fun, entertaining story and music.

The pups and I had a nice walk at a lower elevation on Saturday, and I didn’t even need a jacket. Spring is here...until the next snowstorm.

DGD1 did get the final paperwork signed and it’s official: She owns her own car. My car goes in today to have the interior cleaned and de-perfumed. No point in doing the outside until the winter weather is over. Just a regular carwash with the undercarriage sprayed clean will do for now.

Here’s an update on the new Ravelry group: "The Frog Prince and His Knitting Community Orphans:” We’re up to 42 members, as of the time I'm writing and scheduling this post, as more of our Knitting Community friends are finding us. It's so nice to have such a pleasant lily pad to land on.

There was no minigroup meeting this week because it was the fifth Thursday. Common Threads meets this week, though, so I should have some photos for next week’s blog.

Friday we went to the funeral for the husband of the amazing director of Park City Singers. He passed away just a few days after he performed in The Messiah Project on Palm Sunday evening. Most of us who participated in that performance came to sing two pieces from it, and our director, who is an amazing soprano, sang several songs of different origins. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It was a very moving experience.

What's on my needles: Still hand-quilting the “Delectable Pathways” quilt and working on the second April “Sisters” KAL dress.

What's on my Featherweight: Making aprons for the dolls.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor and then A Lady at Willowgrove Hall by Sarah Ladd. Still reading A Lady of High Regard by Tracie Peterson on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Lindeman’s Bin 50 Shiraz 2015. Fruity and nice.

What's my tip of the week: Although yarn comes in some general sizes, there are some variations within a category, so it’s a good idea to knit a gauge swatch before starting a project. (A pocket lining or sleeve makes a good swatch; doll clothes and socks can be their own swatch, as long as you check your gauge after you have a few inches done.) If you don’t have the yarn called for in the pattern, you can usually substitute a similar weight. Ravelry and YarnSub are good resources for making substitutions. In a pinch, you can hold two strands of some yarns together, as I did with the black yarn for the Sisters dirndl dress for Dolly. Two strands of fingering, sock or 4-ply equal one strand of sport; two strands of sport equal one strand of worsted and two strands of worsted equal one strand of bulky.

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.

New Life

Here’s Rebecca’s version of a wool appliqué design Julie recently finished.

This was a week to contemplate death, but also resurrection. I see some parallels to my life, even if on a smaller scale. True to our theme, Rebecca has added a butterfly, long considered a symbol of resurrection and new life because it “dies” as a caterpillar and emerges from a tomb in a new form.

Here’s Julie’s wool appliqué wall hanging based on the same design. You may recognize it, as I included it in a blog several weeks ago.

Rebecca also had finished this lovely cross stitch for her daughter’s new house (I believe).

Another project you might remember: Barbara’s appliqué quilt. Marilyn redrafted the block so they would come out the right size, and Barbara managed to get the pieces out of the fabric she had left.

She was not happy with the directions, so it’s just as well the pattern is out of print. If you wanted to make one like it, you would have to reverse-engineer it. It's a very nice design, thought, and lovely fabrics in the kit. Here are the border fabrics that came in the kit.

The pattern was Apricot Preserves by Ann Danzig’s Granny's Attic. If you remember, this kit was left to Barbara by a dear friend who passed away some time back. She had started the appliqué, so some of her work is in it. See how this quilt fits into the resurrection theme?

Brenda has been busy. She finished her Ribbon Quilt, but packed it away, as they are moving to a new (local) location. She was happy to send me this photo for my blog, though.

The pattern is from “Strip Your Stash.”

She also had been working on this quilt, pattern by Sweetwater and fabrics from the “Noteworthy” line.

After eating and having show-and-tell, we sat around and worked on various projects.

A minigroup is a good place to share ideas about how to do things. We all learn from each other.

I’ve been hand-quilting my Delectable Pathways (AKA “Peggy’s Sistine Chapel”) quilt. Just to jog your memory, here’s the finished quilt top on my design wall:

I hope to get it up on the wall over my stairs this spring, but don’t hold your breath. The final knitted doll outfit (for now) is finished. The pattern, sort of spun off from the simple "Everyday Play" dress I designed, is now available as a free download on Ravelry.

Some of you may be aware that our DGD1 moved in with us January 2015. She has been driving my car ever since, first to look for work and then to get to her job, putting a crimp in my independence, as DH and I have had to coordinate our use of his car. Thursday evening DGD and DH went to a Salt Lake City car dealership and they found her a nice, high-mileage, pre-owned Nissan. (Hers is the one in front, and she's paying for it.) So I finally get my car back.

I'm checking into getting my car detailed. It deserves it. Again, fitting the theme of new life. One step toward getting my fiber studio back. Not exactly new life, but it feels like it.

Finally, you may remember my lament from last week regarding the impending loss of the Knit Picks Knitting Community. I can announce (for those of you who don’t know yet) the grand opening of the Ravelry group: "The Frog Prince and His Knitting Community Orphans."

We already have more than 30 members, as of the time I'm writing and scheduling this post, and it has been great to “see” some of our Knitting Community friends who haven’t been as active lately in the Community. One of the nice things is, some orphans of the Knitting Community have also been active on Quilt With Us, and we can have a quilting thread in our Ravelry group, because our group is mostly knitting, etc.

What's on my needles: Remember the Trickle Brick socks? Also back to hand-quilting.

What's on my Featherweight: Still working on cleaning fiber studio.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor Also reading A Lady of High Regard by Tracie Peterson on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Corbett Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon. I couldn’t find a vintage on the bottle, but it’s nice, and a good value.

What's my tip of the week: If you’re hand-quilting and get too many stitches loaded onto your needle, a hemostat comes in handy for pulling it through. Just be sure when you pull, you don’t twist your wrist--just pull out in the direction the needle is pointing, so you don’t break your needle.

 

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.