Finish It Up Friday- I Got the Blues

In my color palate for sure but I am definately down in the dumps because I have TWO fantastic Friday Finishes! The first being my blue sweater that has been in the works since FOR-EV-ER.

I got the delicious to work with and feel Malbrigo yarn from my cousin's online shop called Needles and Ewe back in September!I kind of hit a road block at the button bands and buttons but theyre DONE and I will hopefully have lots of pictures of me wearing it today at the Dallas quilt show!!

 

 

Also finished is the mariners compass quilt!

 Valerie requested that it find a quilter in/near Dallas and I believe I have found one who will do the job quite nicely! The best part!? She's going to be at the Dallas quilt show too so I can give it to her then! Here it is all packed and ready to go!

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Finish it Up Friday!

WIP Wednesday

I'm jumping on the bandwagon because I've had quite the works in progress today!
I've been hoping to get a hand quilting group going (one especially for beginners) and Mary contributed some blocks she had to the cause. They were part of a color "phase" for lack of better words and now they don't quite mesh with what she's feeling like working on. I started putting the blocks together to make the top and consulted some quilting experts RE what to do for quilting. It was pointed out to me that with all the seams it may not be a good hand quilting quilt for learners.

SO after consulting with Mary I'm going to machine quilt it and it will go to MCC  machine quilted!
Here is the larger quilt's crib size cousin!

Today I got the big one sandwiched and started quilting it! I would have gotten a lot further if I hadn't broken the plastic piece that holds my walking foot onto the machine. I don't know if I have enough lines in yet to free motion the rest of the lines. I'm going to call around tomorrow and see if there's a universal foot to be found in Garden City. (Cross your fingers.) If not, I can get one in Amarillo, Texas on Saturday on my way down to Olton, Texas to see family! It's going to be a great extended trip that will include a fun continuation trip to see my SISTER!!!

This should be my last WIP with this sweater as I have FINALLY picked it back up to do the button bands. I know, all that's left is a dinky button band, bite the bullet and get it done right? It seems with big projects there's always a wall. Mine is the button band. I think I can, I think I can!
Many thanks to Freshly Pieced for hosting WIP Wednesday!

Garden City and the Red Sweater

Luke and I took a visit together on October 12 and 13 to check out Garden City before making any decisions whether we'd be moving there or not. We met a TON of people, got to tour schools and drive around and get to know the town. We even went to a high school football game that night! It was my first experience with the Kansas wind! Brrr!

Luke's sitting position on the way home was the first clue that were not as fit for the marathon driving of our "youth."

Take a look at the Southwestern Kansas scenery.

 The nice part about so much driving is that it gives me lots of time to knit! I spied this sweater on the cover of Knit Scene and had to have it! A few other patterns in the magazine that I was interested in helped me justify the purchase!

It was icing on the cake when I found the most luxurious Debbie Bliss yarn for HALF OFF at one of the shops on Yarn Along the Rockies.

 The only mildly stressful part was that the store only had EXACTLY enough yarn. I did the whole body of the sweater first and seamed it up.

Then I figured out how to do the sleeves top down and two at a time so that just in case I didn't have enough yarn I could make the sleeves 3/4 or something.

My sleeves turned out to be just about the same length as the sweater the model is wearing and I'm pretty happy with that. I usually end up pulling my sleeves up anyway so this worked out well!

This is my "That's right, I made this sweater and it's amazing" look.

Pondering Production: Keeping Kids Warm

"Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly." -Ambrose Bierce

One In Every Color-Tangle

Luke and I went to tangle, a yarn store on Grand Junction's main street. Upon walking in the door we saw:

Sweaters in Every Color at the door and on the tree, as well as mittens on a garland in every color! This snow man is only one color, but isnt it clever?

and YARN in every color! A bonus? They had Amy Buttler fabric!! Yum! Only sad point is they wont be getting her new line until January.

These awesome delicate looking giant snowflakes were on the wall above the yarn. Sooo cool!

Striped Sweater

I started this sweater back in August. Lynda and Maria had a yarn dying session and this amazing aqua blue/purple/green yarn as the result...and I had to have it! I'm a sucker for those colors! I had seen another baby sweater pattern that I thought would be perfect. Baby projects are fun, because they're little and quick! So no, I'm not having a baby...(not even married yet) yes, I'm too attached to the yarn to part with it...I'm putting it in the conceptual "hope chest" for a someday sort of event. For those of you who want to know what I'll do if I have girls, I'll put an aqua colored bow on it...or maybe crochet a flower pin. :)

Here "Grandmother Bear" (named this because Val's boyfriend Matt received the bear from his grandmother when he was younger. Valerie took it.) is modeling the sweater for us. Good thing the button neck gave a big enough opening for her head! I couldn't fasten all the buttons because she doesn't really have a neck.

For the Knitty Gritty aspect of this sweater:

The pattern is from Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss.It was fun to do. I liked knitting the stripes. I had a block of time between when I started it, and picked it back up again which kind of messed with my "groove." As a result I had a couple technical errors and the gauge is a little off which made for an interesting time assembling the little beast. I used buttons I found in my Grandma Freeman's stash of buttons. This is sentimental for me because she used to knit...a lot. Though I don't remember her (she died before I got old enough) it's a cool way to connect my knitting to her! Maybe it IS in the blood?!I plan to make this hat in the same yarn to make an ensemble: