makin'

Hello, hello...I'm here, just not very interested in blogging these days. Also, I'm in the beginning stages of caffeine weaning, which sucks out loud and leaves me with very low energy. It's all I can do to shower, do laundry, and prepare meals just now. I love you, coffee. I'll miss you. Mwah!

In the burst of late-night energy I experience 'round about 9:30 pm, I've been working on some winter necessities:


Clockwise from upper left:

Basic hat for Daughter in wool-ease...some sort of heathered rose colorway.

Cable hat with tassels for moi, knitted using Lion Brand Fisherman Wool that I dyed myself using Rit. The pattern is from Inspired Cable Knits, and I'm happy to report it was a well-written pattern and easy to execute. Can't wait to try more from this gorgeous book.

Mittens for Daughter knit from some leftover Baby Ull in a pretty purple. I used a vintage pattern and they came out cute, but a bit snug due to my super-tight knitting. Whoops. Oh well, they fit for now.

And one of my favorite projects of all time - wee knee socks of my own design (if you can really call it a design), knitted from Naturespun Fingering in the ash colorway. These were knitted on size 1 needles at a gauge of 10 stitches/inch. I did a bunch of measuring and hoped for the best, and these fit Daughter's little legs and feet perfectly. I'm quite pleased with how they came out!

I've also done some sewing. First up, I finally used up these dang yo-yos that I started making in, like, 2003:


Last year I intended to make a garland from these for Christmas, but I ran out of time. They went back into their box until a few weeks ago when I got a wild hair to finish stuff (again). Turns out I had 107 of these babies, so I put 100 of them together in a 10X10 mat for my dining room table. It makes me happy. Daughter is using the remaining 7 as "cookies" in her play. So it was a win-win.

And for today's final f.o., I finished this little quilt last night:


This is my own "design" in that I didn't follow anyone else's written instructions. Just a basic grid-o-squares. The squares are 2" finished size, and the whole thing is roughly 30" X 30". I intended this as a decorative covering on the wall where our ugly gray circuit panel is in the hallway off the family room. Unfortunately I mis-measured and that section of wall is just about exactly 30", so I'm not sure it will work out. Too bad, I guess I'll just have to make another wee quilt!

And speaking of quilts, I just checked out a slew of great quilting books from the library - books I've never seen before, filled with classic quilt designs. I've already picked out around 15-20 that I have to make right now. Yeah, right. Let's see if I can make one. Heck, let's see if I can finish a few more languishing projects, eh?