Elin's Deathflake Set

I hope she has picked up her package by now, so this doesn't spoil the surprise. It should be nice for next winter, at least.

A hat and tiny purse with the Deathflake motif. Tiny purse also has beaded dangles with Czech skull beads. I was thinking it might be handy to wear at work, for her little necessaries. I lined it with a totally girly pink & white calico floral print.

The scarf is two-color brioche rib - following instructions in the current (at time of writing) issue of Cast On magazine, I learned the technique well enough to fix some (though not all) of my mistakes.

A Little Something

There was just a bit of yarn left from Eilynna's balaclava and Christopher's stocking cap, so I knitted a Tiny Owl.

It was inspired by these.

Eilynna wasn't that interested until I embroidered on the beak. Then she knew it was an owl, and she WANTED IT.

Tiny Owl stands about 5" tall. I love the feet!

Oops.

This is the top for Lexxi's quilt. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Now I can start quilting. 

More Catching Up

Knitted in January:

Cash's stocking, "Christmas Sampler" from
Gwen Steege's Knit Christmas Stockings.

Christopher's stocking, "Snowman at Midnight" from
Elaine Lipson's Christmas Stockings: 18 Holiday Treasures to Knit.

Beth's stocking, based on a felted Christmas mitten in Bobbie Matela's
Knit Noel.

Tumbling Blocks crib blanket, in Ella Rae Amity,
for the crib at Grandma & Grandpa's house. I had to try to correct the color in the photo, and it's still not right. The blanket is a deep heathered forest green, just gorgeous.

I also made a sweater for Lucy. Being a puggle, Miss Lu has some (shall we say?) "fitting issues", and sweaters "off the rack" don't really come in her size -- er, shape. My sister and I took the relevant measurements and I just started knitting, with occasional fittings to confirm my reasoning. I was right every time. I used Wool-Ease from the stash.

Red is definitely Miss Lu's color.

A hat for my oldest son, using the Deathflake chart available here. Yes, he's pushing 40, and I'm still trying to get him to put on a hat when it's cold. He did wear it during our recent frigid spell, so I was gratified. The yarn is Cascade 220 Sport. 

There's a bit more January knitting to show, but it will have to wait for another update. 

In other news, I have Lexxi's quilt pin-basted and ready to quilt. 

Christopher's Quilt

Kit purchased at The Quilting Cupboard in Rochester, MN; fabrics from the Lollipop Collection by Sandy Gervais for Moda. Backing from the same collection, ordered from Fat Quarter Shop in Manchaca, TX.

Though the kit provided enough blocks and binding strips for a twin-size quilt (48"x80" -- 8 blocks x 10 blocks), I made the quilt crib-sized (6 blocks x 8 blocks, approximately 36"x48").

I cut stencils for the quilting from designs in Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection by Aimee Ray.

I hand-quilted the blocks with brown, except for the brown blocks, where I used red or yellow; and the one blue block where I quilted an octopus in green. I also quilted "in the ditch" with brown.

I hand-embroidered the label for the back of the quilt with DMC floss.

I had a little trouble mitering the corners of the binding, but I will get better with practice.

And here is Christopher, bundled up in his new Fishy Quilt: 

December Wrap-Up

In addition to the stockings, I knitted a commission sweater resembling the Illini varsity sweater worn by Col. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) in the CBS series M*A*S*H. Here's a fairly tiny photo, the best I could come by online, and what I worked from. Yes, I am that good.

Here is the sweater I knitted:

I used Plymouth Dreambaby DK and size 6 needles (4s for the ribbing). I got some crucial measurements from the client, and used Sweater Wizard to generate the pattern. Smooth sailing. 

I knitted a pair of mittens for another client, in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, from a vintage pattern. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture before she picked them up. They were a lovely natural brown with a stranded pattern on the back of the hand in a lighter shade. The yarn was absolutely wonderful to knit with. 

    

My sons' friend was home on leave, and asked me to knit a hat for his Army buddy, so I did, according to his specifications. I found two free patterns on Ravelry, one for the hat/beard, and another for the wings. 

I didn't have a lot of the gray yarn, so the hat is a bit skimpy, but I hope he'll enjoy the intention. 

 

I'm still plugging away on Christmas stockings for the family; the grandkids' are done, and I just have my son's and daughter-in-law's left to do. I'd like to get them finished in the next week or two, so I can put that tub away in the attic with the other Christmas stuff. 

In the meantime, I'm working intermittently on a crib blanket for the front bedroom, an entrelac throw for the living room, and a couple of quilts. My "quilt for your birthday" plan is way behind schedule, since the two November babies' quilts are (1) pinned but not sewn and (2) embroidered but not cut. And there's another birthday coming up in February. I do have a stack of appliquéd blocks that I might piece together with solid blocks for that one, so we'll see. I have until August for the final quilt in that program. 

Now to clean off my sewing table and desk, before the cat knocks any more avalanches off onto the floor. :p

Stockings #6, 7 and 8

 

        #6                                      #7

These were consigned by a client I've knitted for previously. Stockings #6 and 7 are from the same Knit O Graf pattern as #5. It was neat to have the actual pattern to work from -- and to see that I'd reverse-engineered #5 almost exactly right!

Stocking #8 is from a Bernat kit originally sold as "Jumbo Santa Claus Stocking". There is no design or pattern number given. I'd knitted this stocking for the client before. 

Bernat's description aside, the Knit O Graf stocking is even more jumbo-er, as you can see in this photo: 

Sorry about the goofy formatting - I just don't have time to dink with it right now. 

Here ends the first update.