And speaking of knitting socks, I  added a couple new items to my sewing room. Can you pick them out?

They clamp on and off the table easily – I set them up long enough to wind two hanks into balls and then unclamped them to store in the cabinet until I need them again. Aren’t these gorgeous balls of yarn?

I was trying not to build up a sock yarn stash but it’s very hard to resist buying. I’ll finish my 3rd pair in a few days but I’ve already got yarn for another 11 pair. I’m enjoying knitting these and feel like I’ll continue to do them otherwise I wouldn’t have bought the ball winder and swift.

Tomorrow I’ll put up the design wall and start arranging the blocks for what I’m going to call the Lattice Quilt for lack of a better name.

I’m not sure what this block is called — I looked it up and the closest thing I saw was an Indian Hatchet but all those blocks slanted in the same direction. I’ve seen versions of this quilt in lots of books and Judy even has a rectangle version in her new book Weekend Quilts.

So with my GO Cutter and a big set of fat quarters, I started cutting. I’m using my 6.5 inch half square triangle die and my 1.5 inch strip die. The blocks are squared to 6 inches for a 5.5 inch finished block. EASY!

Here’s my EQ drawing.

And how about a 30’s version for Mom to make?

I pulled fabric for a backing too and I plan on getting it pieced before I go to bed tonight which will probably be very late.

The jacket looks rather shapeless in the photo above but it’s more flattering on and it has a matching sleeveless top. It also has a pretty purple piping and although it looks very VERY busy in these photos it’s more subtle in person.

First, I wasn’t a complete novice knitter but had only done some really simple things (scarves, hats, baby afghans) and hadn’t done much knitting at all in the last 3 years.

I taught myself to knit about 4-5 years ago using one of those “teach yourself to knit visually” books.

I bought several books on sock knitting when I decided I couldn’t resist any them any longer but the books by Antje Gillingham have been the ones that I’ve learned how to knit socks from.

First I bought the book –  Knitting More Circles Around Socks: Two at a Time, Toe Up or Cuff Down –  thinking I was going to knit toe up socks but quickly decided that it might be easier to learn cuff down socks. I did knit my first pair from the instructions in this book as she has instructions for both.

The book I’m mainly using now is Gillingham’s first book Knitting Circles Around Socks: Knit Two at a Time on Circular Needles and it’s the one I’d recommend unless you’re planning to do Toe Up socks.

I’d never picked up stitches in knitting before and obviously hadn’t closed the toe of a sock with the Kitchener stitch and found a couple videos that helped with those parts. These video’s use the Magic Loop technique but they were still helpful.

I’m using two circular needles to knit and bought my needles and sock yarn at Knitpicks.com.

Finally a lot of people mentioned that they’d tried two socks at once and spent more time untangling yarn than knitting and there was one suggestion to put the yarn in separate baggies but I’ve got to say, I’m not having any problems with tangling — I just set both skeins in my lap and watch how I turn my work.

If you’re new to sock knitting — I suggest you do like I did and knit one sock at a time for the first pair or two until you’ve got a little experience under your belt before trying two at once.

So if you’ve been wanting to knit socks you should go ahead and try. I’m having a lot of fun with them.

The variegated thread and Bubbles pantograph were already on the machine and were just right for this top.

Tamera used the Twister ruler for this quilt. It can be hard to find but I did a quick search and found it at this shop – I’ve never purchased anything there so this isn’t an endorsement

I was afraid I’d need a miter at the inner curves but with bias binding, I just kind of zig zagged following the edge of the blocks and made sure I didn’t sew any tucks and it worked great.

I cut bias strips using the instructions from this book (great reference!) I could have made continuous bias binding but I didn’t feel like searching other books for the instructions.

Just a few details:

I cut my strips 2.5 inches and used a 3/8 inch seam to sew the binding on.

I sewed a straight seam following the line of the block; pivoting when I hit the seam between the blocks making sure that I didn’t sew a pleat which was pretty easy to do with the bias binding.

I had to watch my corners to get my miter’s just right — needed to angle my fold to follow the edge I was turning. (I only had to take one out and redo it).

So for those of you who wrote and told me to figure it out …. go bind those tumbler quilts!

Today was kind of a lost day between running errands and knitting but I’ve got the tax stuff ready to drop off Monday and one of the two wedding quilts finished so I’m on schedule.

It feels like spring around here with temps  in the 30’s and 40’s but here’s one not so pretty sign of spring – large DIRTY piles of melting snow.