Getting my British fix

We went to London 3 weeks ago and had a grand time.  We (OK, me) wanted to check out a couple of yarn shops.  Found this charming place in Hackney, Wild and Woolly Yarn Shop, so off we went.  The fun of looking for yarn/thrift/stamp/fabric shops is that you step out of the usual touristy areas and discover something new.  This is a lovely shop with yarn that I haven't seen before (and I've seen a lot of yarn from all over the world).  I bought a ball of sock yarn (and it isn't superwash, so I'll have to make it into a shawl or remember to hand wash) from Portugal.

We asked about a good place for lunch, and the owner directed us to a little French spot a couple of doors down.  Can't remember the name, but we had crepes and savory galettes for lunch.  Yummy.

Then we wandered around and found a Salvation Army thrift shop.  The Hubz' eyes start to gleem!  This man is a thrift shop lover.  And what did we find?  Bunting.  Seashore huts bunting.

So, being lovers of all things seashore-ish, we hung it up today.  A little bit of England in our sun porch.

I want to go back.  Yesterday.  We're over our jet lag (took us a week), and please, pretty please, can I go back? 

Knitting?  Working on a very lacy shawl.  Started one, hated working on it, frogged it, started another.  Not enough done to even take a photograph.

Quilting?  One quilt is at the quilt shop for longarm quilting; I'm working on the binding of another quilt.  Will take pics when I'm done.

Ravelry!

"We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry. We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is unambigiously support for white supremacy."  Good for you, Ravelry!  There is no place for the hatred expressed by Trump and his cronies.  This is neither a pro-Democrat nor an anti-Republican decision.  It's simply that white supremacy is racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, etc.  It has no place in this wonderful forum of knitters, crocheters, spinners, dyers, designers, etc. etc. 

A new quilt

A new quilt is in progress.  I finished the string quilt from some previous post, forgot to photograph it, and then dropped it off at the longarm quilter.  So no pics until it's back.

Of course I started another quilt.  This one is done all in Kaffe and friends fabric, and is a variation of a log cabin.

3 different fabrics for the center square, and then playing around with all those pretty colors and fabrics for the strips.  It is such fun to do!

On the knitting front, I very happily became canon fodder for Sock Madness:  too much pain in the wrists to keep on knitting quickly with splitty yarn and very slick needles.  I had fun, and now I'm doing other things, including this sweater.

These are swatches for me to practice the pattern and figure out gauge. The color is a bit more peach than shown. 

And here is a bit of the body.  You cannot tell anything from this picture since I have a bunch of stitches on a needle, and lace is blobby and messy until blocked.  The color is accurate here.  Yay, camera.

The beginning of a Sock Madness sock

There she is:  a toe and 5 repeats.  72 sts on a foot that normally uses 56 sts.  I think it will be big on me.  We'll see.  In order to tighten it up, I'm using 2mm needles with their nasty pointy points that dig holes in my fingertips.  There's no way I can ever get 9 sts/inch with a larger needle.

It's pleasant to knit.  I'm not going quickly at all.  I don't mind getting knocked out on this round.  We're going from 30 places to 20, and for me to make that 20, I'd have to start zooming.  Not happening.  So, if I make it, I make it.  If not, that's OK too. 

I'm on a great team!  Many of my team mates have won in the past, and are now relaxed about it all.  Smart knitters with great attitudes. 

And now I have to get back to the socks.  Maybe I'll just make it.

A little layout

My string quilt will be 6x6, so a total of 36 10" squares.  Well, actually less than 10" because of the seams, but I like to make lap quilts, and I know, from having made a bunch of these before, that this size is quite adequate for a curl-up-under quilt.

So a layout with 9 blocks done.  Just playing around here; I have 27 more blocks to make and arrange.  What always surprises me with these string quilts is how how the colors ultimately interact with each other.  I carefully put together strips in some sort of order, but when you start to arrange them, the total effect is greater than the individual blocks.  Self-evident, I know, but I hadn't planned on this being a red/white/blue quilt, but that's what's happening.  Serendipity at its best.  Those dark blues were just tossed in because I needed more darks.  Surprise!

I love doing these things.  I lay down the first strip, and then decide how to put down the rest and in which order.  It doesn't look like I do that, but I do.  Most people just grab the next strip from the pile and sew it down; I don't.  What I do is slow, but what I'm most interested in in quilt making is the interaction of the colors and patterns. Speed is of no importance to me.

A new string quilt

After all the excitement (and pain) of finishing my Sock Madness socks, I need an easy peasy project:  A new string quilt.  I love making string quilts.  The best part is picking out the fabrics and deciding what goes next to what.  It's mindless, fun and pretty to do.

 

So, here I am, with 3 blocks sewn.  After I finish all the blocks, I'll pull out the paper foundation.  I have no idea on how I will arrange the blocks, although this is what I usually do.

I have my usual basketweave sock on the needles, but I'm working very very slowly on them.  My wrists need a good rest.

Sock Madness round 2

Echoes socks.  Stranded knitting on size 0 needles because I knit loosely and really wanted this pair for me.  So I knitted tightly and my wrists hurt and I'm not knitting for a few days.  But I like them, even though the toes are way too big and too long.  I'm not redoing them; they'll be covered by shoes and are not egregiously large or uncomfortable.

And now I'm going to start a new quilt, probably a log cabin because they're fun and mindless and I love to play with the fabrics.

Thanks, Deborah!  The pattern is easy, but it's hard on my hands to knit quickly with stranded knitting.