Kaffe Fassett's Kaleidoscope of Quilts

Denyse Schmidt Quilts

The Gentle Art of Quiltmaking by Jane Brocket

I've never been someone who sews. When I was 12, I was in a 4-H club that did “domestic” type projects. Sewing and basic cooking were the main subjects. We also had our colors done (I'm a “winter”), decorated shirts with puff paint (yes...it was 1989), and learned about table settings and table manners. One of my projects for the county fair was a pair of bermuda shorts in cool Miami pastels. I loved these shorts, but sewing them was a pain. Our sewing machine was temperamental at best, and my mom wasn't too familiar with how to use it.

It's far overdue, but I wanted to put up a post about my son J.

J. was born May 8th, 2011 at 12:50 pm. He weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz and was 20-1/2 inches long.

Detailed Birth Story - Lots of cute pictures at the end!

I started having contractions Saturday night around 9:30. At first I thought it was just indigestion, but the contractions just kept coming. I tried to relax. We used a timer application on our phones to keep track of the duration and frequency of the contractions. Walker helped me breathe through the pain.

By morning, the contractions were pretty intense and about 5 minutes apart. We called the midwife around 6, but since my mucous plug was intact and my water hadn't broken, she told me to continue to rest and keep watching for other signs of progression. We went back to bed for a few hours and tried to sleep between contractions. I lost my mucous plug, but my water didn't break. Walker made breakfast, and I tried to eat it, not knowing when I'd get to eat again.

Around 9:30 am, I felt very strong desire to push! We called the midwife again and she told us to come to the birth center. We grabbed our bags and got on the road. Fortunately there wasn't much traffic on Sunday morning.

After my explosion of startitis in January, I find myself not wanting to start any new projects. I just finished my Daybreak Shawl, and I have a number of unfinished projects I’d rather get completed than to start any of the items in my queue.

Here it is, fresh off the needles:

This is how it looks blocking:

• Daybreak Shawl by Stephen West
• Size 5 needles
• Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight in "Cloudy with a Chance" and "Saffron Surprise"

I’m trying to make an accessory per month. I made the bulky hat in January, and Daybreak this month. I have some gloves started for Walker, and if I actually work on them, I could easily finish them in March. I’ve started the fingers on the first glove.

I have been busy preparing for midterms this week, so my knitting time has been minimal. I also rediscovered embroidery. My very first fiber craft was embroidery. When I was maybe 6 or 7, a family friend gave me an embroidery kit for my birthday, parts of which I still have. This friend was very artistic and had a big influence on my creativity from an early age.

I used to spend my allowance to buy pre-printed fabric with smiling rabbits and work simple stitches in primary colors. I also found iron-on designs at garage sales featuring anthropomorphic fruits. I loved choosing the colors and making the designs my own.

Eventually I found counted cross stitch, and worked some small designs. I even had a larger sampler I started in college, but that was abandoned and eventually discarded.

I’m not interested in the ornate scenes or landscapes, but I like the more “primitive” bare-bones designs, such as colonial American samplers and the more modern single color designs from France and Italy.

When we lived in California, there was a great needlepoint and embroidery store just blocks from our apartment, Needle in a Haystack.

As part of the podcast we're doing a knit-a-long of patterns and yarns that remind us of clouds. Not surprisingly, I have a number of gray yarns that I am excited to use. I was especially looking forward to using the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock I got for my birthday - the color is called "Cloudy with a Chance"! I had to have it! I knew right away that I wanted to use it for the Daybreak shawl.

I love the color combination of gray and yellow, so I also got a skein of Socks that Rock in "Saffron Surprise". It goes very nicely with the gray.

• Daybreak Shawl by Stephen West
• Size 5 needles
• Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight in "Cloudy with a Chance" and "Saffron Surprise"

This is the only project I've been working on this week. It's very easy: the only challenge is that the rows get quite long. I could see knitting this again. There are so many beautiful projects on Ravelry (Ravelry link).

I hardly feel as though these tiny baby projects count. I am able to finish a hat or bib in just a day or two. Last weekend I knit 2 bibs, and during the week I started and finished a tiny, tiny hat.

• Pattern: Baby Bib o' Love from Mason-Dixon Knitting
• Size 6 needles
• Peaches and Creme Cotton in Peppercorn Ombre and Trick or Treat

These are combinations of two patterns from Mason-Dixon Knitting, the Baby Bib o' Love and the Baby Genius Burp cloth. I used the original number of cast on stitches for the pastel bib, but used the slip-stitch pattern from the burp cloth pattern. For the "Giants" bib, I cast on 50 stitches instead of 40, and then decreased at either end when it was time to make the straps.

I frequently need a "palate cleanser" project when I just get sick of all my other projects, and more often than not, that project involves kitchen cotton. I hardly ever knit with cotton, but the skeins are so small that I use it up quickly.

I’ve been getting projects done. It helps to have some extra knitting time and small, manageable projects.

Malabrigo Chunky in “Blue Lime” Size 9 needles Started 12/31/10 - Finished 1/10/11

This was the first of the 12 accessories for 2011. I’m counting it, even though I started it on New Year’s Eve. My mom had asked for a hat when she saw the one I made my sister’s boyfriend at Christmas. It was a good chance to get some more bulky yarn. The Malabrigo is plied, and very soft. I didn’t use a pattern, just cast on enough stitches and worked 2x2 ribbing until it was tall enough. This used up nearly the whole ball of yarn.

I also finished the Tweed Baby Blanket. What a great pattern! I also really love the yarn. I used the yarn as in the pattern, and I had enough of both colors, especially the border color. I just barely started the last ball, but better too much than not enough! I had difficulty picking up the border stitches, but that simply came down to not being able to count properly.

A lot of folks have knitting resolutions. Many people choose to knit 12 pairs of socks, for example, or perhaps 12 sweaters. There are groups on Ravelry where knit-a-long participants can talk about what they are making and give each other support. I've been tempted to join these groups, and last year I did try to make a pair of socks each month. I made 5 pairs, which is not too shabby, better than 4.5 pairs the year before!

However, I am not feeling that my sock yarn stash is that overwhelming. I managed to trade a good chunk of yarn with others as part of the Sock Yarn Blanket swaps. Leftovers from those trades have been slated for baby projects, little hats, socks, and legwarmers.

The items I have been wanting to knit, more than almost anything else, are lots and lots of accessories. I have only one handknit hat and cowl, but in this rainy and cool climate, I feel the need for more. I found 12 patterns I'd like to make this year. I've added the tag “aotm11” to these projects in my Ravelry queue. I might change my mind, of course, but for now this is an appealing and motivating list.

I had a request over the holidays for a ribbed hat from my mom, so that's been started.

I'm just improvising this pattern based on gauge.

Well, hello.

I had a busy summer and fall. I started school again, which was a challenge but ultimately should lead to better career options down the road. Online classes are a really great option for people like me with full time jobs. I just started my second term at Portland Community College, taking classes in Accounting and Economics. I'd like to eventually get a job as an accountant. It's been something I've been slowly working towards, I'm just finally doing something about it.

On the knitting front, there has been a shift in the types of projects I've been working on:

Baby Socks (Blue socks are improvised)

Baby Leggings and Mushroom Rattle

Tulips Cardigan and Baby Surprise Jacket

Norwegian Baby Hats

There are a number of 2011 babies on the horizon, including my baby due in May! We are super excited to meet him. I'm 22 weeks along. It's been an adjustment, but I've been feeling pretty good so far.

Summer is here at last. I've started some new knitting projects, and I finished up some others.

I managed to finish up the socks I had left over from March and April.

• Pattern: Rivendell Socks from The Eclectic Sole by Janel Laidman
• Yarn: Knitted Wit Superwash Merino Fingering Weight in kissed
• Needles: 2.75mm
• Started March 1, 2010 -- Finished May 21, 2010

The Rivendell Socks seemed difficult before I actually cast on. There are some tricky wrap stitches on the cuff, but the majority of the sock is simply twisted stitches against a reverse stockinette background.