Hitchhiker has reached the end of the road

It was a fun, easy knit. At least to start with. I will admit to getting a little bored near the end. Those rows start to get long and your progress really slows.

Were I to knit this again, I’d definitely go up a needle size or two. I used a 3 mm and my Hitchiker turned out quite small. The fabric, while not quite stiff, is not as soft and drapey as it could be either. You don’t want that garter loose and sloppy though. In the end, I only had enough yarn to complete 41 teeth (the pattern calls for 42). And I was playing yarn chicken on that last tooth.

As mentioned previously, I used Knitpicks Chroma Fingering… and I don’t recommend it. While I love the gradient, the yarn itself was not fantastic. It was very unevenly spun, including a few very large slubs and some spots where it was so thin it drifted apart. There was also a knot  – not the end of the world, but it was an abrupt change from the yellow-green to dark blue, totally ruining the gradient effect. I had to do some creative cutting and splicing to get things to work for me.

But regardless, it’s complete and will be tucked away for my friend’s birthday, which is only a month away! It’s so nice to be prepared!

With so many projects cleared out recently, I’m able to start a few new things. Top of the agenda is Dave’s birthday. It’s not until July, but if I want to make him something, I do need to get started soon.

A few weeks back, I’d ordered some special Fat Quarters from Missouri Star Quilts.

It’s the Stonehenge Solstice 10th Anniversary Special Edition collection. Northcott Fabrics is holding a quilt contest. I’m not going to enter, but the fabrics are perfect for a quilt for Dave. I just have to decide on a pattern.

About the same time that the fabric arrived, my Knitpicks order with the yarn for Nera arrived too. To get to the free shipping, I’d added some extras in – one was the yarn for Hitchiker (which is going swimmingly), the other was a couple balls of Felici…

I was amazed how well it matched the quilting fabric! I almost always make Dave a pair of socks for his birthday. That they will match his quilt is just kismet!

Since Dad’s socks were off the needles, I wasted no time casting on for Dave’s…

While on vacation, I took an afternoon to finish up the Cat Fancy top…

Well – mostly finished it. I got all the blocks together, and the thin black border. But the last piece is a large, decorative border…

But that border needs to be mitered. I’m just not up to that, so the top is now up at Mom’s. She’s going to take care of it for me. (I am such a lucky girl!)

The kit didn’t come with backing fabric. Nothing jumped out at me on our last trip to Lens, so I decided to splurge a little and ordered this cute print from Missouri Star Quilt co.

It should be here any day now. Hopefully I can turn this one into an FO by the end of May!

While I was off last week, I found some time to head up to Mom’s and finish not one, but TWO quilts.

First up is Purrfect Petals

This was going to be a birthday present for Miss Rowan, but I think I’m going to hang on to it until Christmas. I want to make a quilt for her sister too, so this way they can recieve them at the same time.

The pattern is Flower Girl. It’s so easy and has a spectacular result. You can use layer cakes (like I did), or charm packs, or simply cut your own. Corners are snowballed, sashing is added, and voila – a beautiful garden of flowers!

I did splurge a little to get matching fabric for the border, but I found the perfect lime green cotton for the binding at Lens.

The backing was purchased during Craftsy’s end of the bolt sale. It was originally intended for Kitty in the Sky with Diamonds, but then I found the purple for that back, so this one was still kicking around. The pink is a little bright, but the little coral dots match the coral fabric in some of the flowers.

I branched out again with my quilting, adding little four-petal flowers here and there. Using the long arm really is like doodling with thread!

It’s not a huge quilt – abut 52″ x 64″ – but it’s a good cuddle size. Mom already made her a beautiful one for her bed, so this one is just extra.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter weekend so far.  It’s a quiet one for us. I scored a great deal on a prime rib roast, so I’m treating Dave and I, but that’s about all the excitement for us this weekend.

I’ve mentioned before, that as a child, Easter of course meant  chocolate, but it also meant a new outfit from the Easter Bunny as well. By far, my favourite was a twirly new dress.

I have to buy my own Easter dresses now…

And this year I treated myself to two! Of course, they are my favourite style from Old Navy. I don’t really need new dresses, but hey… I’m not about to pass up a classic white polkado on black. And that other… will if you look closely, you’ll see it’s covered in lilies – one of my favourite flowers!

Several weeks ago, I liberated some Wollmeise DK from Mom’s stash…

It’s a colour I think will go great with both dresses, but I’m having trouble deciding what to knit.

I’m leaning towards Cascadas at the moment…

But it will take some modifying, because it’s a pullover…. not  a cardigan….

Decisions, decisions….

My week of vacation was almost completely washed out, but I did manage to get a dry day or two to get out and tidy things up.

First on the agenda was the raspberries.

If I don’t prune them every year, they’d take over the whole yard. All those canes above are from just two plants which were bought four or so years ago. I pull tonnes of new sprouts from the lawn. On the other side of the fence, my neighbour has nothing but lawn (no gardens). If lawn maintenance didn’t mow every week, the raspberries would take over their yard too. (And if we didn’t have lawn maintenance, I’d go over and clean it up for them… I had no idea they’d spread so much when I planted them).

The first year, I didn’t do much pruning. Now, in addition to cutting back the dead canes,  I chop the living canes right down. I don’t think I could kill these things if I tried. I do the same for the blackberry beside them, though he’s nice and thornless, so it’s not as tough a job.

The roses got cut too, but their before and afters aren’t as dramatic. Elsewhere….

Happy daffies!!! Daffodils are my absolute favourite. In a few years, my bulbs should be really established and I should have quite the show. I’ve got a good mix of colours and sizes now.

Speaking of established, I’ve been collecting Bearded Irises for a couple years now (I have four colours). And each one is really spreading.

I think it’s so neat how they spread out in a ring. I’m pretty sure these are my dark red ones. I’ll probably break them up come fall, and give half to neighbour Krista.

Speaking of Krista, last year she gave me a pot of purple hyacinths for watching Wren for her.

I planted them last fall and now I can reap the reward year after year!

And, rewarding my patience….

Four of six winter sow jugs are sprouting! The first was one of the mystery jugs. It’s a mystery no more… those little five-point sprouts are definitely the yellow Lupins. I’m thrilled about that, because I adore my purple ones. Middle top is the Iceland Poppies. I’m especially pleased because it seems the ones I had in the garden haven’t come back. These will make a nice replacement. Below it, that teeny tiny sprout is a Canterbury Bell…. a fave my grandma had in her garden. The last, I’m 99% sure is the Silver Dollar… another fave from childhood. The only ones left to sprout are the Chinese Lanterns and Black-Eyed Susans. Both are more fall flowers, so they may take a little longer to get started.

Maybe I’m biased, but I think he’s just the most wonderful cat ever…

It’s not the best picture, (my man-sized sock blockers seem to have taken a walk, and I was in a hurry, so I just snapped a pic with my cell phone), but I am happy to report that Dad’s heavy man-socks are done! These will be tucked away for Father’s day, when it’s too warm to wear them, but he’ll be happy to receive them anyway.

To recap, the main, stripey yarn, is West Yorkshire Spinners DK in “Wood Pigeon”. It’s not super soft, but it’s nice to knit and it does wear well. The blue on  heels and toes was some leftover Fat Cat I had kicking around in the stash. I think the colour was Blue Steel, or maybe Cloudy… I can’t remember.

And now… time to cast on a new pair of socks….

Another top quilted!

This one has been hanging about since the beginning of January, so it’s nice to finally have it off the to-do list.

It was made from about 2.5 batik charm packs, with a nice thick batik border. The nine-patches, before I cut them up, were put together at random. Once you cut them, and rearrange, it gives a totally crazy, swirl of colour and pattern.

Even though this one was so busy, I got a little fancy with the quilting….

…adding a few heart shaped-leaves with my standard loops. I used a warm, gold coloured thread that went well with every fabric in the quilt.

The binding was just more of the border batik – I had a big chunk of it, so I figured why go searching for something else. The back was another clearance bin find. I was tempted to put a batik on the back, but batiks are quite spendy compared to other fabrics. And the clearance fabric was only $4 a yard… it’s hard to pass that up.

It’s not a big quilt – about 52″ x 64″.

… but folded up, it makes a nice little cover for the blanket box at the end of the bed. And it’s handy for those chilly nights when I need an extra layer.

And now, the pile of unquilted tops is down to two! I’m hoping to knock out another one this week.

First, I’m happy to have prompted so many happy Barbie/Midge memories with yesterday’s post. I’m a huge Barbie fan, though my era was the ’80s/early ’90s. (I still have ALL my Barbie stuff). You’ll definitely be seeing more of vintage Midge and her seasonal outfits.

But moving on… it’s a week of FOs here at Chez Wandering Cat. Today, I give you Nera…

As you know, I knit it in just six days. But as I mentioned, part of the speed was the yarn. Chunky on 6mm knits up so quick! The yarn is Knitpicks Chroma Twist Bulky… and despite not being the colour I expected, it knit up beautifully. It’s a superwash wool, so there is some itch, but it is bearable.

I made a few minor mods to the pattern. It’s knit from cuff to centre back, and the instructions have you knit the whole thing flat. But I saved myself some seaming by working the sleeve in the round, and only knittin flat when I got to the underarm.

The pattern also has you join the centre backs with a three-needle bind off. I grafted instead. With the gradient yarn, you can’t tell where the seam is at all – it just looks like one solid piece.

It’s a fantastic little throw-on cardigan, perfect for this time of year. Sadly, it the colour really only works with one of my dresses… hmmm I guess I’ll have to buy a few more… 🙂