NorCalKnitter

Name:
Location: Crescent City, California, United States

I love to make things with my hands. My current passions are knitting and spinning.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Are you ready for a long awaited posting??? Be ready for lots of pictures. For Christmas presents for 2010, I did a little sewing and alot of knitting. In reviewing my pictures, I missed a few things, like 1 neckwarmer for mom in bulky alpaca, and 1 pair of slippers for my sisiter. So, here's what I got.....
Cogwheels quilt for my son and daughter-in-law

The kit didn't come with enough of the fabric to straighten up the edges and then cut out the pieces that were needed, so I ended up hunting for some extra fabric to finish it. I got it all pieced by the 1st week of December and then had to find someone to quilt it at that late date. There is only quilt store within 50 miles. and there was no way that they were going to be able to do it. Luckily, a friend that used to work with my husband now has her own home quilting business and took it in to quilt. She had a bubble/dot type pattern that was perfect with the fabric and had the quilting done within a week!!

I love the way it turned out. I haven't done any quilting in quite awhile (been too busy working, knitting and spinning). I had a great time sewing on this quilt and was very pleased with how it turned out. My son and daughter-in-law loved it too, which makes it all worthwhile :)

It seem like just about every year I have one project that I make for alot of people at Christmas time. Something that is fairly easy and quick to knit, and hopefully very useful. This year it was the Felted Slippers by French Press Knits. The pattern was quick and easy. She also has a great video tutorial for sewing up the seams. I had fun knitting these for the girls in my immediate family. I put buttons on most of the slippers, but purchased some pre-made felt flowers at Hobby Lobby for the black slippers. You can't beat red and black!You can't beat the Koigu neck cozy pattern for a quick and useful gift. I made about 3-4 of them last year, and mom wanted one this year. (The color is alot prettier in real life.)

My sister found some precious yarn that she felll in love with and gave to me to knit her a lacy scarf. Again, the color is off in this pic, it is really a pretty blue with beads on one strand of the yarn. This yarn was not fun to deal with when I made a mistake :(

My sis also needed a new lunchbag, and decided that she liked this pattern by Craft Apple. Yes I know it says "diaper bag," but it had all the little compartments that she wanted and plenty of room to take bottled water and containers of food. The fabric I used for the outside is Nicey Jane laminated cotton- Lindy Leaf. I used laminated fabric for the inside and outside to make cleanup easy in case of spills. The fabric was a little hard to work with- especially for topstitching on plastic..ugh. But overall, I thought it turned out well and she was thrilled with it. I bought some of the same fabric for myself to make a raincoat....someday!

I used a magnetic snap to close the flap on the bag (a first for me), and made a fabric flower with a button for the center, to decorate the flap.

The pattern for the flower is from the book Kanzashi in Bloom by Diane Gilleland.

I haven't stopped knitting gifts, but have switched gears to baby gifts for 2 friends that are having babies this spring. I have also squeezed in a little knitting for myself, imagine that!

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