Tote Intimidation

Apologies for the very out of focus photo. Right side trimmed, ruler placed to trim the left side.

This happens to me more often than I like to admit. I decide on a project, excitement builds as I get out pattern, fabric, whatever, and then at the first or so decision to be made, I freeze. A simple project turns into something I can't face because for a variety of reasons, I can't take the first step. That's a bit of what happened with my idea to turn the antique quilt remnant into a tote bag. As I stood assessing what I had to work with, I eventually would have to make some cuts, and there'd be no going back after that. So many questions I couldn't answer at the moment shot through my mind. But as the weeks went on and I kept going back into the studio to stare at it, I continued to think about those questions and the first cuts, and worked out answers so I could proceed. Folding the piece in half as it would be in the finished tote, I checked where my limits were on each side (since the piece was not perfectly squared up) and chose to make those border buds my guide two up, two down.

My only question as I placed the ruler for the trim on the left side was, will this leave enough for straps. It did, perfectly. Did it pain me to cut through the applique flower? Yes, a bit. But that was part of what intimidated me about working with this remnant, and I soon got over it.

I had a better piece with that same flower on it that was perfect to make a pocket out of. The top would need to be bound though, along with one side of the tote top - the other side had the original binding still intact. I had the perfect white muslin in my stash that I folded like commercial bias tape and could stitch down in one pass.

Since all these pieces are quilted, I opted for my machine's buttonhole (or is that blanket stitch?) setting to both sew the pocket in place and edge-finish the straps. Key to remember is that this tote will not get heavy use. I found a subtle variegated blue thread in my stash of King Tut cotton threads very similar in color to the blue applique pieces. 

The pocket fills in an open space on this side and works better than if I tried to just stitch the flower onto it. Trust me, I did try to make it fit while it still had its curved stem in place, but I couldn't make it work. Fine - pocket it is and the stem got trimmed away. It couldn't be centered because I didn't want to overlap the leaves on either side. Still, I love the way this looks.

I decided against lining this, again because it's a quilted piece and won't get heavy use as well as because of that one edge that was already bound. I realized I could sew the sides up using a French seaming technique that would encase the raw edges while also giving some heft to the sides. I decided I had enough room to sew across the bottom ends to form a box at the base.

Still a bit flimsy as totes go, but I'd noticed on the Staples promotional bag I'm keeping my downstairs sweater knitting in that it had binding sewn over the side and bottom creases which I think helps hold it up. Hmmm . . . I decided to do something similar by sewing a little pintuck over my edges. 

It does help, not as much as I'd hoped but I still think it was a good move. 

On the flip side from the pocket side, I suddenly saw another gap that could be filled with a remaining applique piece. This one was cut with one side of original binding and boy, did I want to make it another pocket.

Try as I may, I could not find a way to sew it anywhere keeping its pocket shape. Regretfully, I faced facts and trimmed it down, leaving a small allowance of the white background it was sewn to in order to use a zig zag stitch to attach it without stitching on the actual applique. Almost looks like it was always there. Only thing left to do was sew on the straps, which were amazingly the right length just as they were trimmed off the remnant.

Shipping bag in background, quilted tote much better

Now for the test run. My Autumn Wave sweater yarn has remained in it's original tyvek shipping package and I've been anxious to get it transferred to a more suitable bag. Perfect!

And that pocket sewn to the outside is just the right size to hold needles and any other small items. My "new" tote bag may be a little tired and worn in places but so am I - lol. A week's worth of work well worth the time spent. I still can't believe that the person who gave me this remnant didn't think it was very well done. The more I worked with it, the more I admired the workmanship.

This is all that was left over. There are still a few pieces I couldn't find a place for on the tote that I'm loath to toss out. I'm thinking maybe I can cobble together a small accessory bag or something. Waste not, want not . . .

 

Smoke and Knitting

Taken from my front steps - what "unhealthy for sensitive groups" looks like

It's been on national news for days so you may know about the devastating fires along the northwest part of Spokane WA. That's a little over an hour's drive away from me, maybe 70 miles as the crow flies, so not endangering me per se. However, the prevailing winds funnel the massive smoke plumes right into our valley, so air quality has been dicey. I think we also get smoke from some of the big fires in Oregon. My friend Sherrie has a daughter who lives in a safe part of Spokane and put up an excellent post summarizing the magnitude of the event. So rather than me reiterating, I'll just direct you to her post here.

This is from a few days ago

I generally use airnow.gov to monitor the air quality so I know if it's safe to take my walks since I have respiratory issues. It may be hazy and in the moderate range most of the time but the last few days there has been little wind to clear the smoke out. Good for the firefighters, not so good for moving the smoke along. The fires (yes there are more than one) are far from being contained  let alone out so this no doubt will be what the rest of our summer will be like - heat and smoke. 

Sleeve stitches on waste yarn, back joined to front to knit the body

So not spending time outside, masking up if I do, and glad for my knitting projects to keep my mind off the feeling of doom the smoke and news about the fires has hanging over me. I'm happy to report that I stuck to my goal of knitting on my Watermark Cardigan knitalong every day in July. Well, almost every day. On the last day of the month, I was set to tackle a major part of the pattern where you remove the sleeve stitches onto waste yarn for knitting later and join the fronts and back at the underarm of the sleeve to knit the rest of the body. But I soon realized something was amiss with the directions - I had directions for the pullover sweater inserted here instead of the cardigan. I e-mailed support but it was late on Friday and figured I wouldn't hear back until Monday. Dang!

Rather than mope, I decided to grab the Autumn Wave sweater sitting right there next to me and substitute knitting a few rows on it to keep to my daily knitting until I heard back about the wrong page of directions. Here you can see the wave pattern emerging beautifully. Then with corrected directions in hand, I did the sleeve divide and have knit a couple of inches down into the body now. I watched the wrap-up zoom session and was encouraged by how many participants were at the same stage as I am, and still awed by those who were already done and showing off their finished sweaters. Well, I'm sure they were sitting there knitting row after row each day whereas I usually knit just two. I'm guessing if I keep that rate up, I won't be finishing this up until late September, maybe longer. But it will NOT be languishing!

One last thing, when stepping out on my deck to water plants, I saw a lot of movement in what is another one of those buckthorn trees down the way. If it was a bird, it was a big one, but after watching for a bit, I realized it was the squirrel again, so I grabbed my camera, cranked up the zoom and tried to get a shot.

One thing that kept confusing me was I could see light flashes through the leaves that turned out to be its tail and body. He wasn't crawling along a branch but was hanging upside down and stretching out to reach the berries! 

Incoming!

I want to say "don't ask" but I'll try to give some sort of explanation for what's in this package from yet another Danish yarn company.

I've returned to an obsession I've had off and on over the years: yarn and knitting patterns. Add to that the trend for so many in the knitting community to have Youtube channels where they share what they buy and make, often along with critiques and helpful hints. I've mentioned before that there are several of these knitters I've started to follow, learning so much, and I kept hearing about Drops Belle yarn. Never heard of it but soon learned it was a cotton/linen blend with apparently good qualities. I started hunting for it and couldn't find any U.S. distributors. That's why I ended up at Rito where they were having a ridiculous sale on an already reasonably priced yarn. There was a bit of tariff to pay but I still wound up paying around $2 a skein - a fraction of what I pay for my wool blend yarns. Risky doing this sight unseen on the recommendation of strangers, but I decided to load up. 

I'd been looking for a very long time for a cotton/linen blend yarn for a mobius shawl, so that was the main reason I wanted to get some of this. It's another cotton yarn that is not twisted but which construction is called chainette. It seems to make for a sturdier yarn - cotton does not have the same strength and "stickiness" that wool does. Picture's a bit blurry but perhaps you can spot the chaining.

There's also some viscose in the blend, exactly what my mobius pattern was recommending.

I ended up choosing four colors - 4 skeins each of the off-white and chocolate, 10 of the lilac and blue. The 4 skeins of off white should be what I need for the mobius shawl, but not sure what I will do with the four chocolate at this point. The others should be enough for a short sleeve or 3/4 sleeve top, and I've already picked out a pattern for the lilac. But starting on any of these is way down the road. Just couldn't pass up that incredible sale.

Another incoming was this picture from my favorite nephew. I'd given him the Tetris quilt when he showed an interest in it during a visit. I could tell he would not only take good care of it but actually use it too as he asked questions about if it could be washed. He has a fiance now who decided it should be placed on the back of their couch and I'm so happy he sent me a picture of it - perfect!

The last incoming is new information on that berry-filled tree behind my place. Pat took issue with me calling it an elderberry and with good reason, so I did more research, finding a plant identification site on-line that would scan my photo and give me a name. It came up with a kind of Buckthorn, which I must admit was one I'd seen when doing some searching before and wondering if it fit. Now I went to Buckthorn specific sites including this one if you're interested, and started adding up the evidence, starting with this thorn-like protrusion at the end of branches that gives the tree its name.

I'd not actually got up close to the tree before this but needed to in order to check out the leaves. One variety has smooth edged leaves while another has slightly serrated leaves. I thought mine were smooth until I had one in hand. 

Between the wind blowing and the birds making noise showing how upset they were that I was messing with their tree, I struggled to get a good shot of the third thing that identifies a buckthorn - white lenticels on branches, which is what I think is on these branches. Added up, I think what I have here is a Common Buckthorn. According to several sites I studied, there are different kinds of Buckthorn, some native to an area while others are considered invasive and are being actively stamped out. Not sure of the situation in my area. No matter the variety, the berries are toxic for humans but a feast for the birds and a very large squirrel that I caught feeding on them as well. Mystery solved!

Slow Summer Wind

Kind of an odd week as I look back and am not sure of how I filled the time. Knitting, of course. I do two rows each day on the Watermark cardigan, first thing after breakfast, a little reading, and every other day some yoga. I've learned that this is how I actually get things done creatively rather than plopping down in front of the computer first to check mail and favorite sites. It takes 20-30 minutes to complete a row, depending on its complexity and if I have to track down where I'm missing a stitch. I'd completed row 58 I think when I took this picture. All that pattern lace makes this look and feel so luxurious.

There were days when I could have squeezed in some studio time, but I've put the tote bag on hold as I think through how I want to construct it. Questions like should it have a lining, and will it be deep enough if I create a bottom by sewing across the bottom of the sides? Straps too need contemplating as well as how to finish around the top. I'm almost there. In the meantime, I finally got over avoidance of seaming the crochet cardigan together at the shoulders. I'm always uneasy when facing a technique I've not done before. In this case, it was suggested to use a slip stitch for the join. Ok, it can't be that hard. I used those Clover Wonder Clips to hold the pieces together. Boy, do they work slick for something like this.

I don't think I've ever used this method to seam my knitting or crocheting, but it work like a charm. It left a perfect clean flat finish on both the right and wrong sides, and it was easy to line up the stitches on the panels and run that slip stitch through them. Sides seams are next, clipped and ready.

It's been very hot here, smokey too. and that smoke really has an affect on my overall mood which starts leaning towards feelings of doom even though no forest fires are threatening me. I've only gone out after the sun has gone down and it has cooled off a bit, and had to resort to wearing a mask a few evenings when I wanted to get a walk in because the air quality was in the high moderate range or unhealthy for people like me range. Several days I just skipped it. I do have air conditioning but have been trying to use it sparingly because I'm pretty sure it pulls in outside air without a lot of filtering, and I've discovered that I am quite comfortable sitting in front of a fan most of the day as long as I've cooled off the house overnight. So not any sitting on the deck time. However, I can look at my container garden blooming from my livingroom, and out beyond that, everything looks fairly lush. I'd noticed a while back that one tree - the one the arrow is pointing to - had developed some small green berries on it, a first. I wondered if it was a mountain ash tree which is common in this area, showing off red berries later in the year that often make a mess of sidewalks when they fall off!

However, the berries have now turned purple, and I'm getting a laugh watching the robins and even a squirrel land on the long bouncy branches to feed. I'm thinking it may be an elderberry tree. My mom always got a faraway look in her eyes when elderberries came up. She had fond childhood memories of picking them for jam. What do you think they might be?  

 

Muse Still Up To Her Tricks

Wellll . . . . my week of seclusion did not go as well as it has in past years in that I struggled to settle on a single focus. I knew that I'd be knitting on my Watermark Cardigan every day, and I did. I'm now on row 42, bearing in mind that every other row grows longer by 8 stitches so takes longer to complete, and have started on my second ball of yarn. I've looped the handles of the big tote bag where I keep the yarn and knitting in progress over the arm of my office chair which is working well as I concentrate on the pattern directions laid out on my desk. Things ARE moving a bit quicker as I finally memorized how to do those left and right "make one stitch" increases as well as mostly memorizing the sequence of the pattern stitches on the row I am working on, having to look at the pattern less often. Still, I'm making a few errors here and there leaving me with not enough stitches upon completing a row, and having to backtrack to see what I've done wrong, sometimes unknitting to the spot, other times being able to fudge in a stitch where it is missing when I knit the next row. As the pattern designer says, we all make these errors - even she - and rather than beat ourselves up over it, think of any visible ones as design features. Sound familiar? By the way, I've left Venetian tiles hanging on the wall where I pinned it for photos, right next to my computer, and I've just noticed that the color of my yarn is nearly identical to the green in that quilt!

Beyond the knitting, I felt I should do something in the studio but couldn't decide what. Early in the week I'd finished the last panel of the crochet cardigan, scanned the directions and realized it recommended a light blocking before attaching the front panels to the back panel. In a recognizable procrastination move, I decided to get that done before starting anything else, crawling around on the floor as I smoothed and stretched the panels to size. I'm getting too old for that much crawling around and getting up and down from the floor - I paid for it with a lot of stiffness and soreness the next day!

While messing around with that, I suddenly had a lightbulb moment of what I could work on the rest of the week - making a couple of tote bags to hold my various knitting projects. I've had that piece of antique quilt the person who'd cut it up to make a jacket had sent me for quite awhile, finding it difficult to let go of my anger at her, and not having a good idea of what to do with it, until now. I think I was inspired by Angela Walters who did a video not too long ago of how to turn quilted panels into baskets and totes (watch the video here). So I got it out, folded it this way and that, and decided there was enough for a bag.

But I did notice a large area with some light brown staining, very typical of old textiles, and remembered I'd bought a product quite awhile ago which is supposed to remove that sort of thing without damaging the textile - Retro Clean. I'd meant to use it on some heirloom handkerchiefs but as usual, had not got around to it. There was an area I could cut off to use as a test piece to be sure it truly did not disintegrate or fade an already aged quilt so got to work. 

The directions said to soak for 24 to 48 hours - I was NOT expecting it to take that long - and preferably to set it in the sun to keep the water warm. Ok, if you say so. Even though it's very hot here, the water was cool when I brought it inside after the sun went down. I decided to skip that part on the bigger piece. It did seem to lighten the brown area but not harm the fabrics in any way. Time to soak the large piece for the full 48 hours, followed by rinsing and washing (by hand). Although I think I can still see some staining it is definitely almost gone. And in wetting this piece of old quilt, I immediately could spot tiny seeds here and there in the very thin layer of cotton batting. In fact, the batting was so thin that it had shifted in some areas to leave places of no batting at all. Another bit of evidence to the old age of this quilt.

So much for whipping up a quick tote bag from this already quilted remnant. However, I also had in mind a couple of tote bag patterns bought ages ago and once again, never made up. Time to hunt them down. These two I found right away, hanging on a cork board. Technically not totes but I thought the Two-Hour Tulip Purse made in the largest size would be perfect to hold a knitting project. I'd seen it made up with a flap at a quilt show and thought it would make a perfect purse, hunting down the pattern locally, but I now have plenty of serviceable purses on hand. Better it be a tote bag. But I laugh at the "Two-Hour" designation. I know darn well it will take me longer than that!

What I really wanted to find though was a tote pattern that used that black plastic screening and as a sample showed, combined with batik fabric. I pictured myself picking up purchases at quilt show vendors and tucking them into my see-through bag, so bought the pattern and the batiks the sample was made with. I still have those batiks, but do you think I could find the pattern now? The muse apparently thinks it's funny to hide things from me. I searched in so many places, through piles again, and in drawers, and in old pattern keepers, as well as in binders where I'd filed ideas and patterns for clothing and other items. As I scanned the labels on the spines, I felt the muse nudging me to open the binder labeled "Mariner Compass" where I've filed so many ideas for mariner compass blocks and quilts. Now why would that tote pattern be in there, but shrugged and took it down. Ohhh, the muse had decided to give up where my Judy Mathieson Mariner Compass books were! When I was hunting them down expecting to find them among the other titles on my shelves, it never occurred to me to look in this binder. It has pockets in the front and back covers and there were the books, one each in each pocket. Thanks muse, but now give up that tote pattern!

By now the week was pretty gone and I settled into a weekend of watching multiple motorcycle races, deciding to be content with what I HAD gotten done, disjointed as it was, and the daily knitting. I think Allen would be ok with this. I'd changed my computer wallpaper to this picture of Allen such that when I fired up the computer each day, I'd see him smiling at me and reminding me to not dilly dally too much here but get to work creating. That's all he ever wanted of me, to be happy making things and making progress on them more days than not.

It's That Day Again

Goodness, I'm looking at the 26th anniversary of my husband's death, now gone for longer than we were married. Hmmm . . . while other widows may have moved on, finding another to fill the husband shoes, for one reason or another I have not. I once thought maybe I would but no longer feel that way. So far, no second Mr. Right has appeared, am happy on my own with my special memories.

Here's something about Allen I don't think I've ever shared with you. He enjoyed working on his motorcycle and even puttering around with our 4-wheeled vehicles. He definitely liked challenges (as do I), and I think some of this was done with the idea he was saving money (ditto for me). I wasn't always so sure of that, looking at the tools he accumulate over the years. But who am I to talk, owner of so many tools of MY trades of quilting, bookmaking, dyeing, etc. etc.?

So when I finally convinced him that there was something amiss with my old Saab that kept it from accelerating up inclines, the diagnosis was that it needed an engine rebuild. This far exceeded his capabilities, but he DID figure out a way to save some money by removing the engine, transporting it to a shop for the rebuild, and then putting it back in the car. Boy, what a difference when I made the first test run. Boy, just a little irritated that I'd been complaining about this since driving the car from Idaho to Wisconsin over several passes when we made the big move in 1993 and continued to complain for the next four. That seemed to be my fate when it came to issues with the car - this was far from the only problem I reported that he blew off until he could ignore me no more. Why he never believed me until he drove my car himself and experienced what I'd been complaining about I'll never understand.

Be that as it may, he always eventually took proper care of my vehicle, and I kinda miss having an in-house mechanic to call on. I also very much miss having someone that gases up my car, checks the vitals and runs it through the car wash for me. He definitely spoiled me on that count. 💖

Off And Running

Olive Knits' 2026 and final Knitalong has begun. The complete Watermark Cardigan sweater pattern downloaded Tuesday night and I dutifully printed out the relevant pages and marked my size-specific numbers throughout. The next day, July 1st, I cast on and started knitting while I waited for the inaugural zoom video recording to drop, and watch it I did while continuing to work my way through the first 4 rows of the pattern. It was taking me a bit to navigate through unfamiliar or seldom used stitches but I could still manage while listening. Much of that video was introductory, things she'd already talked about in e-mails and on a special Tips and FAQ page on her website. Still, there were a few helpful things to hear and a reminder that instructional video clip links are sprinkled throughout the pattern. I'm working on this upstairs next to the computer so that I can quickly access any of those links as I progress (and I definitely have looked at a few of them more than once). I also got the explanation behind the advertising that this was to be a 4-day event while also saying it would last all month. Apparently, previous knitalongs were indeed conducted over 4 days, but she got so much feedback about knitters getting stressed trying to keep up that she decided a slower pace was in order for this last one while keeping the 4-day time for consistency sake. Anyway, every Monday of July she'll be holding another zoom meeting to take questions and see how it's all going for participants.

I also printed out a handy guide to making a particular increase stitch that is made differently depending upon whether the stitches will slant left or right, something that is used here to widen all sections as one works down from the neckline. I simply couldn't remember the sequences so printing the directions with such good visuals was a smart move (you can see it above the regular directions page). The pattern isn't particularly difficult as much as it is complicated because of the neck shaping at the beginning (which I finished yesterday) and all that repeating lace pattern  (which I started today). I simply cannot work on it at the moment except in silence. Even background music would be distracting. Just look at all that text telling me what to do (using a bookmark to follow the proper line)! I have to say though, this is so well written and all the text is keeping things nice and clear along with all those stitch markers slipped on the needles. Green ones delineate the boundaries between front, back and sleeves while the orange ones delineate where lace pattern repeats start and end. The lace pattern is an eight row repeat and I'm only through half of it but I can already feel the rhythm and familiarity of it from making the gauge swatch. I'm starting to relax into it! Maybe soon I can even turn on some music while I knit. Not exactly running per se but I'm definitely off!