FO: Cat mat

Yesterday was your lot for knitting this week. Now back to the quilting...

Saturday saw me finish up Relic's cat mat.

And I couldn't be more pleased with it. It's nothing crazy - just 3 inch squares and HSTs assembled to form a paw print. I bought the fabric specially for it, but I think it would be fun with scraps too.

I used the cheaper polyester batting and stitched in the ditch along each square to give it some extra poof.

The back was part of the second chunk of Holly Hobby fabric, and I hope that helps to ward off the chill from the cold tiles.  I do need to put some sort of gripper on the back, because we keep waking up in the morning and finding it halfway across the house!

It's been a hit with ALL the cats, not just Relic.  Though I haven't been able to get a shot of Rupert on it yet.

  

Buttons for Blaster

I did not finish Blaster's sleeve on the weekend. But I am close. So I decided to take a dive in the button stash to see what I had.

Sadly it wasn't much. Oh, don't get me wrong, I have a WONDERFUL button stash. Just nothing that would work for Blaster.

The best I could come up with were these carved wooden ones. And they are nice - I'd definitely consider using them. Except I need eight buttons... and I only have six.

I guess I'm going to have to go button shopping now. Oh... the hardship!

FO: Chocolate Covered Pinwheels

I have to warn you - this week is going to be a little light on knitting. I had a very productive weekend - just not with the yarn.

It started on Friday. Mom stopped by after work for a late lunch and brought the near finished Chocolate Covered Pinwheels quilt. As you may remember, I'd sent it off with her for quilting. She did that, and attached all the binding for me, all I had to left to do was tack it down on the back.

So I had an exciting Friday night ahead of me! I actually love doing the binding. I put on a good movie or show, and just binge watch while stitching it all down by hand.

This quilt was started from a set of fat quarters Mom bought me for my birthday a few years ago. It was originally supposed to be for my bedroom, but I decided to change up the colours in there.  And then I decided, with a few tweaks, the old bedroom colours could become the new livingroom colours, so I decided it would be a great lap quilt.

Here you can see Mom's lovely free motion squiggles, and the pretty chocolate brown fabric I picked out for the sashing. It was the only contrast colour I could think of that would work with the colours in the pinwheels.

The binding fabric was a chunk I got in a clearance bin, and it was also used for the cornerstones and a nice contrast strip to build out some width the sides.

The backing was a chunk of Holly Hobby flannel I'd bought eons ago on clearance. I'd bought two large chunks to make receiving blankets  for a friend and never did. Then I plan to make Miss P and Miss Rowan jammie pants... and never did. But the flannel was the perfect size for this quilt, so it wasn't too hard of a decision to use it here. It's nice to have it out of the stash.

And as I said, the quilt was made for the livingroom. When I got the new couch, my plan was to get  rid of the ugly old worn-out futon. But Dave didn't' agree he liked the futon better than his arm chair. I offered to get him a more comfy chair, but in the end he won. And I'm stuck looking at the ugly old worn-out futon for a while longer. So this quilt couldn't have been finished at a better time...

...because that ugly, old worn-out futon needed something to make it less of an eyesore.

Three-quarters of the way to Oakville

I made some good progress on Oakville last week. I finished up the leg, and got the heel turned, and I'm onto the gusset.

But now, I've got to develop a new plan. As you know, these are my travel socks. Work time on them had already been cut down due to French lessons taking up Monday's commute. And as of this Wednesday, there will be no more GO train trips... at least for a while.

My office is being renovated, so they are kicking out as many people as they can since workspaces will be at a premium while work is being done. I was an obvious choice since I'm barely there anyway.  The reno is expected to last at least until May... maybe longer.

I can tell you one thing... someone here is going to be absolutely thrilled!

January Shop Update

At 10 a.m. today... I will be pushing a button and a bunch of new beauties will be going into the shop including

A few skeins of lovely Alley Cat - perfect for socks!

A skein or two of Tabby Cat Worsted. We've actually discontinued this base from our line, so it's going in at the sale price, and once it's gone it's gone! (I've got two skeins that will be part of the February shop update - and then it will be no more!)

And some gorgeous squishy Fat. It's a super plush super-wash merino DK, and I absolutely love knitting with it.  I've made a lot of hats, mitts, baby outfits, and toys with it.

Mom's also put together some pretty little stitch-marker sets if you're in need

And of course, you can still use the coupon code JANUARYBLUES to save 15%. Even on the stuff that's already on sale.

Don't miss out!

www.wanderingcatyarns.etsy.com

Friday felines

People frequently comment on how lucky I am to have a job I can do from home. And while I agree in most respects, it's not without it's downsides. Aside from the dangers of living in pajamas, never brushing your teeth and occasionally forgetting what day it is...

The water-cooler gossip is decidedly dull

And my at-home colleagues are much more demanding and have zero respect for my personal space.

Next on deck

Work is back to busy, so there's been no time to sew this week (I only sew during daylight hours), but I was able to prep my next project after finishing up the Aliza quilt.

That's all I can show you for now. But I can tell you that it will be a nice squishy cat mat for Relic.

One of his favourite places to sleep is on the floor beside Dave at the computer. But our floor is all cold tile. I threw down a cheap floor mat, and he seems happy enough, but I think we can make it better for him. He's had three years of napping on hard ground - I think he deserves some plush living.

And incase you were wondering...

I'm afraid the snoopervisor has been sleeping on the job...

Sputtering Blaster

This sad little sleeve cap...

It's all the progress I've made on Blaster. I'm not even through all the short rows yet. It's not that I'm in a knitting slump. I want to knit. Just not on this. It's a case of Second Sleeve Syndrome.
But I'll get through it. It would be nice to have the sleeve done by the end of the weekend. Then all that's left is the front and neckbands. I guess I better start searching out some buttons...

FO: Aliza in Wonderland

On the weekend I sandwiched the Aliza quilt and got to quilting. And I have to say, the pricey cotton batting makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!!

It was so much easy to wrangle around my machine. The smaller size makes a difference too, but quilting this was even easier than the placemats.

I didn't do anything fancy with the quilting. Just a stitch-in-the-ditch alongside each block, then another stitch line the width of the foot out from that. Mom got me a special foot that has a little guide so you can quilt without drawing lines on your fabric. I used that to quilt a few rows of lines around the border.

Nothing fancy for the backing either - just a bright pink solid cotton I picked up on clearance. The binding is actually a pale pink marble, though the colour variations don't show up on the picture. I had two fat quarters of it, and I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough. But in the end, I only used one of the fat quarters. I may use the other one for Wren's quilt.

And now, with this complete,  I have an empty WIP box! That means I get to start a new project! Stay tuned!

Inspired

I don't usually by knitting pattern books or magazine, much preferring to buy patterns individually (so much easier now, thanks to Ravelry!)

But this sweater caught my attention the other day...

I loved the  shap of it, and while I don't really wear pullovers, I figured it wouldn't be too hard to turn it into a cardigan.

But unfortunately, it was only available in the magazine... which just happened to be at my drug store when I went to pick up a prescription.

It was only $10 for the whole thing, and surprisingly, there's a few other patterns I like. Of course, they need some modifications

This one would look so much cuter with a button-up front, don't you think?

And these two..

Add a little more length, and both would look great with leggings! 

Soo much inspiration.... but I've really got to finish Blaster first!

Chickie top

I followed my gut (and your suggestions) and went with the yellow daisies for the sashing on the Spring Chick quilt.

And I'm so glad I did. It's a lovely shade of gold that adds just the right amount of warmth to it!

This one was also a lesson in fabric amounts (which admittedly, I'm still trying to get the hang of.) I only bought half a yard, and it was literally, just enough for 2.5 inch sashing.

That's all that was left! And into the scrap strip bin it went!

Along with the other scraps from this project.

The strip box is now officially full, so it's time to start some scrappy log cabin blocks. It will have to wait until I clear out one WIP box though. I'm hoping to finish up Aliza in Wonderland this weekend, so that might not be too far off!

Inching to Oakville

I was able to get a little bit of Oakville done on my bus trip to French lessons, and a little more on Wednesday's train ride home.

It's not a lot, but it makes me feel better. Every stitch counts!

Friday felines

Although I know we will probably never turn him into an indoor-only cat...

Nothing makes my heart sing more than seeing that Cheshire smile, belly up in the unmade bed on a bitter winter day.

I think cats rescue us as much as we rescue them!

Decisions....

On the weekend I made the trip to Lens to get my batting and glue, so I plan to tackle Aliza's quilt come the weekend.

But while I was there, I also picked up some fabric for the sashing on Wren's quilt. I couldn't find quite was I was imagining in my head... a little white daisy on a buttery yellow background. But I did come home with two options.

Option one... grey outlined flower on white

I thought the grey worked, because there's a fair bit of grey lining in two of the bird fabrics.

Option 2... a crazy gold outlined daisy on white

It brings in the yellow I wanted and is almost a perfect match for the gold in the pink bird fabric.

Now I just have to decide which one I like best. At the moment I'm leaning towards the gold daisies, mostly because the fabric is thicker than the grey one, and I think it will stand up to frequent washing better.

Which do you prefer?

And while I already had a backing piece for this one, I couldn't walk away from this Tweety Bird flannel that was on clearance...

I just love the idea of a flannel back for a baby blanket. Just a little bit of extra snuggle.

Little Rupert Lovebug

Rupert has always been somewhat of a reluctant lap cat. He'd sit with me, but very much on his terms only. And any movement on my part would usually send him running.

That is until recently.

I don't know if it's the cold weather  or what... but now I can't keep him out of my lap! It's getting hard to get things done!

Oakville en Francais

Poor Oakville...

Because of the holidays, and then last week's sick, I haven't been into the office for about a month. That means I wasn't commuting, so the second Oakville sock never got cast on. I finally pulled it out Sunday night and decided to at least get the ribbing done so it was ready to go...

But even then, my commute time moving forward is cut in half as I won't be going into to the office on Mondays any more. Instead, I'll be taking the city bus to night school...

My work is starting to involve more French documents. I took French all through high school (and was an A student) but I've barely used it since and my skills are beyond rusty. It would be nice if I could read the documents without having to run them through Google translate first!

It's a little harder to knit on the city bus (bumpier and busier) but I'll try to put a few rows on here and there. Oakville will reach the end of the line... just a little slower than planned!

Shop update

You may have noticed that the poor yarn shop has been a little neglected as of late. I'm sure many of you were wondering if we were going to continue dyeing yarn at all.

Have no fear - while I announced Mom was stepping away from the biz a bit, we are still going to be dipping into those dye pots. It's just taken us a little while to get things sorted and decide how it's all going to work.

House Cat Sport - Canary

 While the studio and dyes (production) have all moved to my house, administration and distribution remain under Mom's control.

Twisted Top Cat - Spriggand

So basically, I'm going to dye all the yarn, and once it's dry and ready for the shop, it will go up to Mom's for storage and shipping. The plan is to update the shop with new goodies once a month. When the shop is updated, announcements will be made here and on facebook.

Fat Cat - Gold Dust Woman

I took a pile of new things up to Mom's on the weekend, so you should see them in the shop by the end of the month. In the mean time, I went through inventory and made sure all the beauties we have on hand are in the shop and ready to go. There's so much to choose from, Fat Cat, Alley Cat, Twisted Top Cat, Barn Cat, Jungle Cat, Barn Cat Sport, House Cat Sport, Twinkle Cat,  Twisted Slinky Cat, Solo Cat....

Alley Cat - Bruised Ego

And... to get things moving, and brighten this grey, drab January, from now until January 31, you can save 15% off with the code JANUARYBLUES - even on skeins that are already on sale!

Twinkle Cat - Sunspots