Monday, March 12, 2018

No Term Limits for These Chairs!

But first: Mandy's Stavanger (Norwegian) Cardigan is finished.



The pattern is available for free here. I frogged the front bands twice before I finally got a version Mandy and I liked.



It's designed to teach steeks with a different kind of front steek finish and an option for knitting both sleeves together separated by steeks, and then seaming them before sewing them in place in the armholes.



I used Knit Picks Palette in White, Marble Heather and Pimento. The sheep motif is from Northern Lace's March of the Fibres Sweater by Elizabeth Lovick and is used with her permission. (I have this pattern and plan to make it as a cardigan.)

In other knitting news, I did a test knit for a doll-sized messy bun hat. I think the designer plans to make it available to the public, and when that happens, I'll provide a link.



I used Knit Picks Comfy Worsted in Peony. It took 21g, which is about 46 yards. I wish I could say I picked it because of its excellent stitch definition (which it has), but it was nothing so logical. It was one of the few worsted-weight yarns not yet packed up for the upcoming move. The only things color-coordinated in Lotte's outfit are her hat and slippers, and they don't really match, nor do they go together by function. However, it was what she was wearing, and she's cute anyway.

Vintage Stitchers met at Marilyn's on Thursday. I was hand-quilting my Spring Flowers Quilt.  It's coming along.

As usual, most of the ladies were sewing bindings on. Carol was sewing the binding on this sampler. Her quilts are always fun.


Barbara had this beautiful quilt she made from precut 2 1/2" strips and 10" squares. She's had the fabric for a long time, she says.



Marilyn brought out a big bin of yarn she wanted to get rid of. I was good; I didn't even look. I had just dropped off a big load at Saver's, the thrift shop close to Marilyn, and it was fresh in my mind. I have saved out about two years' worth of yarn just to get me through the time until I can open my boxes again. I really shouldn't be adding to it.

When Vintage Stitchers was almost over, I received a text saying that the chairs were done. We had dropped them off at Wardell Upholstery in Salt Lake City to be reupholstered in leather. We had to take them down to Salt Lake one at a time, because our car wouldn't hold both of them at one time, so since I was already there, I went by to pick it up. Here's what I saw when I got there.



The man who actually did the work said that our pair of chairs were the first and last he would ever do. It was expensive, but these chairs (much more substantial than the ones sold by IKEA, which are nevertheless nice) were designed by the famous Finnish designer Alvar Aalto and sell for a lot more than it cost us. They are actually better than when we bought them, because the upholstery is all leather now, instead of only in the front and the tops of the arm pads. They are also more comfortable than I remember. Extra padding was addedI should have taken a before photo. The best I could find was this:


Our lovely daughter and our lovely DIL holding our adorable grandsons at Christmastime 2012. The photo doesn't show the shredded canvas upholstery behind the headrest, and the cracked leather doesn't really show up much, either, but it will give you an idea. I never liked the off-white, and I love the new caramel.

I'm currently knitting another cataddict pattern, this time for winter sports pants. (She doesn't publish the patterns as pdfs, but she has great patterns. You have to copy and paste to a document and print that.)


I'm thinking they will look good with Mandy's Stavanger Cardigan.

What's on my needles: Mandy's Winter Sports Pants.

What's on my Featherweight: Nothing right now.

What's in my hoop: Spring Flowers quilt.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I gave up on The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf for now. I may go back to it later. I wasn't really in the mood for depressing, unhappy characters. Now listening to Miss Tonks Turns to Crime by M. C. Beaton. I really enjoy her books, and I have just discovered that she's a very prolific writer. My only complaint is that they tend to be short and they still cost just as much in credits. On my Kindle app I finished Miss Braithwait’s Secret by G. G. Vandagriff. It was an interesting story. I've listened to another of her novels and found that one to be better. It could be because I would rather listen than read. I haven't picked a new Kindle book yet.

What's in my wine glass: Terrain Vineyards Red Blend 2014. Excellent!

What's my tip of the week: When packing for a move, pack heavy items (like books or fabric) in smaller boxes so they won't be too heavy to lift. A few heavy items can go in the bottom of a larger box, if you fill it the rest of the way with something light, like down jackets or yarn. Be sure to write on the box with specifics about what is in the box.


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 or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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