Girl on Fire

I am on a finishing projects kick. Alas, because of the finishing thing I have also begun a starting things kick as well.



Which of my legions of UFO's are now complete, may you ask?

1. The quilt for my sister-in-law's wedding present. Finished at 2:30PM on the day of the wedding. The wedding was at 4:30PM.

2. The thrum mittens. Love them. Want to knit more. Have ordered and recieved two kits for thrum socks, as you are more likely to wear warm socks on the West Coast than mittens. One of the mitts is slightly fatter, as I became more generous with the thrum material on the second mitt.

3. My little snowman quilt. Wool hand applique and hand quilted. Started, oh, 3 or so years ago. Just needed to be quilted. This is the first hand quilting I have done on a finished quilt.

4. 30's reproduction fabric table runner. It could also be used as a baby blanket. Hand appliqued and machine quilted.

5. Handspun wool. Fibre was purchased at the Gibson's Fibre Arts Festival 2 years ago. I started spinning it on a drop spindle, then switched gears and spun the rest of it on a spinning wheel. I think I will call it Merlot Magic.

To celebrate all this finishing, I started knitting a new project. It was destiny at work. I got a new book in the mail, called "Knit, Swirl". I highly recommend this book and the patterns in it so far, but please go to the author's website and download the pages of errata in the published volume before starting to knit a jacket. http://www.knitswirl.com/  

Turns out that I had the exact wool required to make one of the jackets, "Stratasphere", in the exact color depicted in the book, and, get this.....4 extra skeins more than the pattern required. As any knitter knows, the chances of this happening are about one in a hundred million or so. Usually you are short one skein, and knit 95% of the garment before running out 2 inches before you finish the second sleeve. So, of course, not wanting to thwart destiny, I started casting on that afternoon. Once you have cast on the 570 stitches called for, and joined them in the round, the jacket is lovely. Perfect company knitting, you can chat with friends and not make a million mistakes because you are not paying enough attention. Of course, I am knitting it with Noro Silk Garden, which is lovely and soft and endlessly entertaining with it's color variations.

I am also currently sewing three handbags, which I started last Monday night at quilting. My niece Melissa was visiting and we started one for her as well. Needless to say, she went home with her handbag complete and I was left with three cut out only. However, things are going well on that score, I have one finished and two partly completed. The down side to this is that I have another quilt deadline looming and am ignoring said baby quilt in favor of finishing handbags. Hopefully this will be remedied by the end of the day.

I am also spinning my wheels, so to speak. I have just bought a new spinning wheel, and am really liking it. It is an Ashford Kiwi, double treadle. I really like the double treadle compared to the single. Much less work. I am spinning a single right now. I am going to name it 'Amazon Parrot". It was hand dyed by my friend Lynda, fibre content unknown. We suspect it is BFL wool and possibly a little silk. No matter. I also have to finish spinning the fibre on my borrowed wheel before I return it to my friend Barb.

Now I have to get busy and work on my baby quilt for granddaughter, Leota, who will be one year old in mid September. I have my work cut out for me.