I've been overcommitted. Completely over-scheduled and over-extended in every area, and nothing is coming together quite right.

Too scattered.

Too hippie.

Too big.

Too girly.

Too MySpace.

But not close enough.

Spring is coming. Soon. It has to.

Plenty of color

I've been working on this quilt off and on for months. I fought the urge to completely scrap it and start over a couple times, and I'm glad I did. Below is how I made it. It's more of guidelines rather than a pattern, so feel free to ask if you have questions.

Finished size

44.5" x 52" - I tend to make baby quilts larger than crib size, since the babies are only crib size for less than two years. I like to give them things they'll be staining for years.

Supplies

Piecing

• Six fat quarters - I used batiks in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet
• 1 yard sashing fabric (white). You might want to get a little extra, to be safe.
• 1/3rd yard border fabric (red)
• Thread and other common quilting notions

Finishing

• 1/2 yard  - Binding - I used the same fabric as the backing.
• 1.5 yards 56" fabric - Backing - I used a solid red.
• 48" x 56" Batting

Cutting

Cut each of the fat quarts into strips that vary between 1" and 2.5" at their thickest and thinnest.

Vary how dramatically the strips taper to add variety.

Divide each color into thirds. Sew the strips back together, alternating one third with the color prior in the spectrum, one third with the color after, and one third with itself. Continue to sew them together, pressing the seams open, until you have one long strip of fabric.

Final length varies based upon how thick you cut the strips, but should be approximately 64" x 20"

• Cut this reconstructed piece of fabric into 5" strips, cutting the same directions as the seams.
• Cut each of those strips into pieces that are 2.5"x5"
• From those, select 22 and cut them in half to make 44 2.5" squares - C1
• You will need 60 5" x 2.5" blocks. You should have extras. - C2

From the sashing fabric, cut

• 40 - 1.5" x 2.5" - S1
• 55 - 1.5" x 5" - S2
• 8 - 1.75" x 2.5" - S3
• 10 - 2" x 35.5" - S4
• 2 - 2" x 46" (if you use standard 42" width fabric, you'll need to piece these) - S5

From border fabric, cut

• 2 - 3.5" x 38.5"
• 2 - 3.5" x 40.5"
• 2 - 3.5" x 12.5"

Piecing

Finishing

Create 4 short rows and 5 tall rows, pressing the seams.

Short row (SR):

S3 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S1 - C1 - S3

Long row (LR):

C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2 - S2 - C2

Alternate color rows and sashing as follows. Press seams.

• S4
• LR
• S4
• SR
• S4
• LR
• S4
• SR
• S4
• LR
• S4
• SR
• S4
• LR
• S4
• SR
• S4
• LR
• S4

Sew the S5 pieces to the side.

Back and front of the quilt.

Sew short border to the top and bottom. Press seams. Sew remaining border pieces to the left and right. Press seams.

Quilt and bind.

Finished.

My Threadless 99 Red Balloons shirt was, um, well-loved, so I needed to get it out of my closet so I couldn't wear it any more. So I made it a bag!

Ta-da!

And here's how you do it. You need a t-shirt, pins, and 60 inches of fabric that 2.5" wide (I used leftovers from the binding from the last quilt I made).

To prepare the handle fabric, fold the fabric and press it. Unfold it and press the outside to the middle so that the raw edges will be on the inside.

Cut from the neckline to the armpit to cut off the sleeves.

Make sure you cut through the collar so that the top opens up all the way.

Pin the binding around the edges, folding the handle fabric around the raw edge. When you get to the end, fold the end over and tuck it underneath.

Create equal size loops at the tops when you get to the neckline in order to create handles.

Sew right along the edge.

Fold inside out and fold across the bottom

Fold the bottom so that there are triangle at the edges. This will give it a flat bottom. Sew around the triangles being careful to not sew through the sites.

Flip it right side out and stuff it full of junk

Cold floors are no match

As it gets colder, I'm discovering that normal socks are no match for the coldness of my hardwood floors. Not being much of a slipper person, I made these worsted weight socks. They are too thick to wear with shoes, but they are perfect for keeping my toes warm around the house.

These socks are knit toe up with a short row heel using the magic loop method. They are a very fast knit - I'm a slow knitter and completed them in less than a week. The pattern includes charted and written instructions.

Thanks to karinamaza, moilulu and LiveIIKnit on Ravelry for helping test.

Size

Adult women's

Gauge

2"x2" in stockinette st = 9.5 sts x 12 rows - it is not necessary to get row gauge.

Materials

• US size 5 (3.75 mm) 40" circular needles
• 90 gr Cascade 220 worsted
• Cable needle
• Tapestry needle

Notes

• W&T - Wrap and turn - slip the stitch to the right needle, bring yarn to front, slip stitch to left needle.
• CF - Cable front - Slip 3 sts to cable needle, hold to front, k3, k3 from cable needle
• CB - Cable back - Slip 3 sts to cable needle, hold to back, k3, k3 from cable needle
• YO - yarn over
• SSK - Slip slip knit
• K2tog - Knit two sts together

Cable Chart - click to enlarge

Chart Key

Chart

• Row 1 - P5 k6 p1 k6 p5
• Row 2 - P5 k6 p1 k6 p5
• Row 3 - P5 CB p1 CF p5
• Row 4 - P5 k6 p1 k6 p5
• Row 5 - P4 k2tog k5 YO p1 YO k5 SSK p4
• Row 6 - P4 k7 p1 k7 p4
• Row 7 - P3 k2tog k6 YO p1 YO k6 SSK p3
• Row 8 - P3 k8 p1 k8 p3
• Row 9 - P2 k2tog k7 YO p1 YO k7 SSK p2
• Row 10 - P2 k9 p1 k9 p2
• Row 11 - P1 k2tog k8 YO p1 YO k8 SSK p1
• Row 12 - P1 k10 p1 k10 p1

Closeup of pattern on top

Toe

Create a slip knot. Cast on 24 sts in addition to the slip knot (12 on needle, 12 on cable) using Figure 8 cast on.
Knit even one round. Do not knit the slip stitch. When you come to it, just drop it off and pull the slip knot out.

• Increase row: K1, m1, k until one st remains on needle, m1, k1. Repeat on other needle.
• Even row: K all stitches.

Alternate increase row and even row until you have 44 sts total, 22 on each needle.

• First needle - K21, m1, k1 (23 sts)
• Second needle - K1, m1, k until one st remains on needle, m1, k1. (24 sts; 47 stitches total)

K one round.

Foot

Work chart on first needle, k second needle.

Continue until sock measures 2.5" less than the length of the foot (approximately 3 repeats), stopping at the beginning of needle 2. Remember to note the last row worked.

Final row of chart worked: _____

Heel

The heel is a short row heel worked across the 24 stitches on the second needle.

• Row 1 – Knit to last stitch. W&T
• Row 2 - Purl to last stitch. W&T
• Row 3 – K to one stitch before the wrapped stitch. W&T
• Row 4 - P to one stitch before the wrapped stitch. W&T

Repeat rows three and four 5 more times. There will be 7 wrapped stitches on each end.
Now we need to pick up the wrapped stitches.

• Row 1 – K to the first wrapped stitch. Pick up the wrap around the stitch, place it on the left needle, and knit the wrap and the stitch together. Turn. Twisting the wrap will keep it tight and neat.
• Row 2 – P to the first wrapped stitch. Pick up the wrap around the stitch, place it on the left needle, and knit the wrap and the stitch together. Turn.

Repeat until all the wrapped stitches have been worked.

Leg

• Needle 1 - Continue working chart from the row you noted above
• Needle 2 - P1 [k2 p2] 5 times, k2 p1

Continue working chart on needle 1 and ribbing on needle 2 until there are six repeats of the chart.

Ribbing

• Needle 1 - P1 [k2 p2 k2 p2 k2 p1] 2 times
• Needle 2 - P1 [k2 p2] 5 times, k2 p1

Repeat until ribbing measures one inch.

Loosely cast-off and weave in ends.

Ribbing on the back allows the socks to stretch to fit many foot sizes.

Finished a damson last night. I do like it, but I fear that it's one of those things that knitters love and wear and non-crafters think are weird. There is something about making things that makes you completely blind to whether or not you should actually wear them.

I'll wear it 'backwards', so that the back bunches up in the front. Can't quite do the shawl thing. It's a little too 1940's Poland for my tastes.

Anyone else see a BSG raider?

I also finished the quilt top for one of the baby quilts. I went with a slight variation of Layout #3. I don't have any backing fabric, so odds are this one will sit on the shelf for a while.

I'll put up a pattern for this...soon...

I can't really decide if I'll actually give it away. I kind of want to drape it on Pico's chair, but that's all but a death sentence for the poor quilt.