I pieced the quilt, but the process of handquilting it took suprisingly long. It hurt my hands, too, so I didn’t work on it for very long at one time. C helped me, though!

Katy(posted on Feb 22, 2010 at 9:06 am)

Last year, at the beginning of my Knitter’s Almanac project, my first finished item was this aran sweater. I planned it as a pregnancy sweater, and it served me well for the time. Since then, I steeked it into a cardigan to wear it around the baby sling (unfortunately no action shots…) A staple of my wardrobe!

Katy(posted on Feb 21, 2010 at 3:12 pm)

Not having very much experience with handquilting, I asked Kim to come over with her quilting frame and give me a lesson. Alicia and Lola came over to help, too. It was great to have so many hands to work on the quilt… not only because this was a communal gift, but because quilting is hard on my thumbs!

Katy(posted on Feb 10, 2010 at 8:29 am)

I had a big knitting project going (Dr. Who scarf for Ben’s Billion Seconds). It was a lot of knitting! I took every free moment I could to work on it… even some only ½-free moments.

Katy(posted on Feb 9, 2010 at 5:43 pm)

Grandma Susie made these dresses for the girls for Christmas. We had a funny little photoshoot at Opera after the Juletrefest (end-of-season Christmas party). The dresses were of the same material, and fully lined in matching pink. Apl’s is sleeveless, but Ruby’s has sleeves. Ruby’s also has an off-center bow with long tails. It’s very cute! They are not wearing the matching sweaters Grandma bought because it was warm at the party.

Katy(posted on Feb 5, 2010 at 8:23 pm)

After buying about 15 hanks of yarn in Sacramento, I decided I should probably get a swift. This model was recommended because it folds away small and is relatively durable (according to the shop lady). It does feel somewhat like a cheap umbrella, but it held my hank open while I made a center-pull ball by hand. I was able to ball it in less than 10 minutes, whereas before this activity took about an hour or more. So, yay!

Katy(posted on Feb 3, 2010 at 8:31 am)

These crowns have been pretty popular and local fairs and handcrafts markets, and Ruby’s been pretty interested in getting one. I’ve been putting it off because they cost between $15 and $30, and I just couldn’t bring myself to buy one knowing that it’s one skein of yarn for about $5 and about 3 hours of knitting.

This yarn is Rauma Vamsegarn and took be about one night to knit, and then felted it a little bit. I sewed on some rhinestoney buttons for a little bling, though Ruby tells me now she really wanted the version that’s sprinkled with seed beads. Maybe another winter…

Katy(posted on Jan 31, 2010 at 3:22 pm)

On our first visit to the LYS I picked up a few yarns. (I freely admit that we went back another day and bought a few more :).

Katy(posted on Jan 28, 2010 at 1:55 pm)

After I took up the challenge of my first lace shawl for Missy’s wedding, I felt like lace for weddings was a nice tradition. So when (some time later) Aly is getting married, I decided to continue the tradition. I even used the exact same yarn!

Katy(posted on Jan 22, 2010 at 10:21 pm)

It’s Jojoland Harmony, which is so beautiful! I had just learned about this brand of yarn from one of my favorite knitbloggers so it was a pleasant surprise to open up my package and see the three gorgeous skeins, complete with a ziggy-zaggy shawl pattern. I have cast on, and knit up just enough to satisfy my curiosity before turning back to other projects that have been promised to various important people. But I look forward to getting back to it!

Katy(posted on Jan 15, 2010 at 11:03 pm)