Keeping Myself in Stitches

Remember this? Charlie's T-shirt quilt has been languishing while I figured out how to do the backing and then worked on other things.

Well, the back is done. I talked with the quilter about how to get the rows of footprints lined up with the edges of the quilt on the back, and we decided I should appliqué them on afterwards, so that's what I'll do. Here's the backing, folded in half. The other side has another T-shirt front (or back?) facing the other direction. The dark blue batik square is right in the middle, and hopefully it will end up in the middle after quilting. The rows of footprints are like the bottom of this piece of T-shirt, but without all the other stuff.

Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along Clue #1 dropped on Wednesday, so I got a nice start on it then. I finished the first clue on Saturday. It's going to be a cowl, and it's knitted horizontally in the round, so all the floats will be hidden inside, so they don't catch on anything. When the last clue is completed, the live stitches will be grafted to the live stitches at the bottom of this photo, provided by a provisional cast on using waste yarn (the white cotton). 

The pattern is designed by Jamie Lomax of Pacific Knit, who does the doodle cards and projects to go along with them. The clue included several different charts for light or dark background, and we got to choose which ones we wanted to use. I went with two with a background and one with a light background. The yarn is mYak Tibetan Cloud in Flame and Lotus Blossom.

I got back to work on my Sunday Morning Wrap on Saturday, when I put on my reading glasses and learned to my horror that the needle size was supposed to be 5mm, not US5, which makes a big difference. (It pays to wear your glasses when you're getting this information from the pattern.) So I started over with the right size needles. First I had to rewind my yarn. This time I decided to do the long-tailed CO, using the inside end and the outside end tied together so I wouldn't run out of yarn while casting on. It means two extra ends to weave in when finished, but I didn't want to do the knitted CO again, as it's rather tedious. Now I'm almost done with the first set of twisted rib. It's much easier with the bigger needles, because the yarn is fairly thick. The yarn is Kelbourne Woolens Scout in Cinnamon Heather.

I hope to get a bit more done before Clue #2 for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along drops this coming Tuesday. I have an appointment with the quilter on January 30, so should be able to pick up Charlie's quilt sometime in February. That should give me time to get the binding and the two appliqué pieces ready to go.

In the meantime, here's Sandy with his new Lamb Chop toy.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: The Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along project and the Sunday Morning Wrap. Also some other projects.

What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows.

What's on my sewing machine: Binding for the T-shirt quilt.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: If you don’t understand the gravity of the situation, read this. In the story, gravity is explained so a child can understand it.  Here’s Ups and Downs.

What's my tip of the week: I prefer the long-tailed cast on for most knitting projects, but it's hard to know how long that long tail has to be. I solve the problem by using the tail from the outside of the ball of yarn along with the tail from the center. Tie a knot to hold the two ends together, then use the yarn on each side of the knot to start casting on. When you get done, cut the yarn from the outside of the ball and continue working with the yarn from the center.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut. 

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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