Not without mistakes but I think I love magic loop knitting — so much easier than switching to double point needles. Love the “color” work too but not sure I like stranded colorwork … will check out slip stitch or mosaic knitting that doesn’t leave strands of yarn on the back side!
I’m not a fan of doing sashing but some quilts call for it. Recently I was wondering whether I’d like my spiderweb quilt without sashing to break up the blocks and today I saw a free pattern of a similar quilt …. bottom line, I like my sashed version better!!
I was fortunate tonight to have happy hour and a sunset with Keith and then dinner with his team. Living in Tampa I don’t see them as often as I did when we were in Minneapolis but I always enjoy seeing them.
How is it possible that time flies by so quickly?! Mom pieced my Baskets quilt in Feb 2011 … yes, 8 years ago! I had plans through the years for quilting it – first I thought I’d do some custom quilting with something special in the alternate blocks, then I thought I’d hand quilt it using the big stitch method … finally, I decided it was time to quilt and use it! It got a plain old pantograph – Hearts in Bloom – and not only do I like the quilting on it but I’m thrilled to have finally quilted it!!
I won’t get it bound until next week but it will be wonderful to finish up one of my oldest UFOs!
This was probably one of the first kits I purchased from Connecting Threads and Mom agreed to piece the top for me … for years, I’ve quilted for her and she has paid me back by piecing tops or stitching down appliqué blocks for me and we’re still helping each other. She appliquéd the butterflies in the quilt on my design wall and has already finished appliquing all my Heart blocks that she took home with her at the beginning of the month!
My backing is pieced and the baskets are loaded on the longarm and ready for quilting.
The inner border has been added to the Ohio Star quilt and the outer border fabric was presssed and is ready to be cut.
The magic loop hat has been cast off and just needs ends woven in.
The butterfly and nine patch blocks are up on the design wall. I’ve moved them around a little and will probably make some more changes before starting to sew them together. As I mentioned before, this one is based on one I saw on the Accuquilt site although my blocks are smaller and my butterflies are positioned differently.
I had Orkin coming today to do a spot treatment for termites … oh the joys of living in Florida! We do everything we can to monitor and treat so I try not to worry too much about termites and the damage they do.
While I was waiting I decided I’d knit rather than sew because it’s easier to pick up and down when I know I’m going to be interrupted.
SO, how do you knit in the round? When I knit socks (several years ago) I used the method of knitting two socks at a time on two circular needles. For hats, I’ve always switched to double pointed needles for the crown decreases but I’ve been wanting to learn another method. I though I’d just relearn the two needle method but it wasn’t clicking with my brain when I read a pattern a few months ago so today I decided I’d learn Magic Loop.
I read a couple descriptions, watched a video, and still didn’t think I was getting it right so I did another search and a BluePrint class came up on Google (Craftsy is BluePrint now if you didn’t know). Since I have an annual membership so I can watch any of the classes — I went to the website, and pulled up just the part of the class that told me how to knit a hat using magic loop. One good thing about the annual membership is that I don’t feel like I have to watch the whole class to get my money’s worth and can just watch the section I need.
In addition to the video showing me HOW to knit the hat, I get the pattern in the course materials also. This particular pattern also has some color work which I’ve never tried before and I almost just made the hat without it but then felt that I might as well learn that today too!
I’ll knit a few hats using the magic loop method and then decide if it’s easier for me than switching to double pointed needles.
If you’re interested in the BluePrint class it’s this one – Knit Lab: In the Round. She also shows you other projects and ways to knit in the round but lucky for me, she demonstrates the hat using Magic Loop.
Yesterday before Keith’s brother left, I snapped a photo of him and Finn with Craig and Mary. They don’t look much alike!
