Wow! This 2 weeks Spring school holiday is going by too quickly!!! I had so much planned and got hardly any done. Oh well at least I am making progress on my On the Spice Market (OTSM) shawl. Nearly up to Section 3 :). ...
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For my On the Spice Market (OTSM) shawl, I’ve decided to do my 6 colours in the order below: Aconite (yellow) – CC1 Crab Apple (green) – CC2 Tweed (lighter blue) – CC3 Harbour (dark blue) – CC4 Wisteria (purple) – CC5 Red Currant (red) – CC6 Before I started, I familiarised myself with the techniques below: Weaving ends as you knit (Continental style) for CC1 to CC6 (YouTube video) German Short rows for Section 2 with MC (YouTube video) Carrying yarn up for MC (YouTube video) I also decided to add the extra YO at the start of each WS and have placed a marker to remind me to do the YO after the first stitch on the WS and to drop it on the RS. Doh! I was about to do Section 2 (using MC) for the 3rd time when I realised I have been doing it wrong! I forgot to divide the stitch count by 3 and placed the 2 markers in the wrong places :(. I decided to frog back to yellow and start again. Ahh much better! Now to start the 4th colour :)....
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Today I thought to try a row of squiggly lines then have another go at stippling/meandering. I think I am getting better! Especially with the slow start and slow stop. Although there are still some big stitches from inconsistent hand speed. Not too worried about that as there’s a big improvement since the last block! Most of my stitches seem consistent so I’m happy with my progress so far. I found it difficult to see where I’m at especially when I’m moving from right to left. I hope this will get easier the more I practise. I can not wait to do another block tomorrow :)....
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I have always wanted to try Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) ever since I made my first quilt. I have watched countless videos on YouTube and Craftsy. I have decided to just take the plunge and do it this Spring holiday (2 weeks). I really hate wasting craft supplies so I’m going to practise FMQ on small squares of fabric and join them together using Quilt As You Go (QAYG). I first got this idea from this QAYGFMLQAL on Quokka Quilts website. I have decided not to add a border as suggested by the Quilt A-Long (QAL) as I wanted to get right into FMQ ASAP. I am aiming for a lap quilt which are usually 50″ x 65″ so that is roughly 30 squares total if I made the squares ~10″ in szie. I raided my fabric stash and I’m going to do them in solids with contrasting coloured thread so I can see the quilting better. I made my blocks 11″ and might trim them down to 10.5″ before I join them up together. Before I start FMQ, I wanted to try some stitches on my Janome domestic sewing machine so I quilted the first block using the walking foot. I used stitches #1 (stitch length 3), #9 and #14. I like the way some of them look and will quilt this way if I fail with FMQ :). The second block was technically my 4th attempt at FMQ. I did some unpicking as I wasn’t happy with the way some of the previous stitches were looking. There were heaps of mistakes on this block but I’m happy with it as it’s my best so far! This gives me hope that I will keep improving the more I practise. For this block, I found I needed to start slow and finish slow. Otherwise there were too many jerky and big stitches. I also found that I needed to stop frequently and re-position my hands. I was lifting my hand in my first few attempts. Not sure whether...
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Today is the official start to our Spring Break (2 weeks holiday) and it is also the start date of the Gradient Shawl KAL 2016 on Ravelry. The KAL hostesses are Cheryl (cheryllfaust) and Christine (Christine260). Some KAL Details are: Start: September 19 End: October 23 Knit any of these four designs by Melanie Berg of Mairlynd: Solaris, The Joker and the Thief, On the Spice Market, January Skies I love all 4 designs but have chosen to knit On the Spice Market for this KAL. I have chosen to use Holst Garn Coast which is a 55% Merino Lambswool/45% Cotton blend yarn. It feels so soft and hopefully it would be suitable for the temperatures here in Brisbane. One of the best thing I love about this yarn is that it’s already wound for me! Yay! I can just jump in and start casting on :). I am hopeless at choosing colours but I have finally decided on these 6 colours with off white yarn. I originally had a darker pink/purple and darker blues but I had to substitute a few lighter colours as my local yarn shop ran out of the colours I wanted. Can’t wait to start! You can find out more information and join in the KAL in designs by melanie berg group on Ravelry or in the Gradient Shawl KAL discussion board :)....
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