bad yarn

Do you know what this is? It's the (aaargh!) crap yarn that I'm using for a pair of socks that is 3/5 done. The first ball went fine except for maybe one shredded spot that I ignored. The second ball... I'll be knitting along and all of a sudden the yarn ends. Because it's just broken. And then there's a whole series of these shreddy spots. I haven't seen any moth larva, and I haven't had issues with moths on any of the other yarn in my closet.

So, yarn mavens out there -- is this moth damage or just a really bad ball of yarn? Why didn't it break when I was winding into the ball? Have you ever had this happen?

By the way, it's Louet Gems, 100% washable wool. For some reason, I've now lost interest in finishing this pair...

heavy lifting

This is a weighted blanket. I have a severely disabled 11-year old niece. She was born with some unidentified genetic glitch which has endowed her with a variety of special needs. She appears to be very autistic but that's not it... anyway, for some time I've been hearing about "heavy blankets" being a comfort to many people with sensory disorders, and I've talked with my brother about them but never quite knew how to construct one.

Then I ran across a free pattern on Craft Nectar -- Weeks Ringle's blog -- and decided to give it a try. I used some winnings from the Block Lotto to make the top, and the back is a solid piece of flannel in a floral print. Basically, you sew lengthwise channels and pour in small amounts of poly pellets and then sew crosswise to create a simple series of squares. This one has about 5 pounds of pellets.

It was fairly easy to make, although those pellets seem to scatter with little provocation! If I did it again, I would either make sure that all my seams were pressed toward the bottom (so that the pellets wouldn't get caught as I poured them in) or use a solid piece of fabric on both sides. I sewed through about 10 pellets on my first row and trust me -- you don't want to do that!

I'll be delivering the blanket at the beginning of December and I can't wait to see how Keely likes it.

With a little help from my friends

It's been a quiet week here in... where am I again?

I've been busily working away at my little quilt for the holiday edition of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap, and it's now done. It started out with a little bargello; then I decided that it needed a few "crop circles" (thanks Poppyprint!); then it needed some shiny ribbon around the circles to turn them into ornaments. Finally, it was quilted with a freehand holly design lifted from Leah's 365 days of patterns. What would we do without all the talented and generous quilters out there in blogland?
I have a couple of other things that will be ready to show later this week, I hope.

I'll just leave you with the Buckster. I pulled out a stack of small batting pieces the other day to find one for the holiday quilt. That cat has batting radar, I swear -- as soon as I walked away, he took possession and has barely left it since. I guess the top piece will have to become my next quilting practice piece...

Rats and Cats

Maybe it's my Halloween mood... but I've started knitting a "rat race" scarf! Here are the first three rats:This came in a kit from Morehouse Farm (the same folks who sell the alligator scarf kit that I made for my niece last year). There will be 8 rats with beady red eyes when it's done. n This one might go to my brother... Morehouse has some seriously cute patterns but I wish the yarn was a little bit softer for wearing around the neck.

And, look! There are cats to go with the rats. This is the quilt I finished up for the East Bay Humane Society's annual cat art auction or sale. I don't know whether this will go in the auction yet, or whether I need to set a price for it. I always have trouble with that. I call it "Patient Cats Waiting for Dinner" -- sort of a lesson for Bucky, who is anything but patient when it comes to mealtime!


I tried a variety of quilting patterns in this, spurred on by Leah's 365 days of filler patterns. This one was really fun to do -- it's roughly based on her "radio static" but a little sloppier than hers!

PIQF Report

My plan to go to PIQF on Friday to avoid the Saturday crowds sort of backfired! It was jammed yesterday, and often hard to see (and photograph) the quilts. Overall I thought the show was a good one -- although I did have some "what were they thinking when they juried this in?" moments. Quilts still tend to be more heavily quilted than I like, and there's the increasing trend of "paint the fabric and then stitch it" rather than doing any piecing. I still like pieced quilts better!

Here are just a few of my favorites:

Habitat in the Sun, by Morag Orr-Stevens of Canada (65" x 67")

Parasol, by Liz Jones of the UK (39" square)

Not Even Solomon... by Ruth de Vos of Australia (71" x 58")

Storm Warning, by Shirley Prakke of South Africa (50"x55")

here's a close-up of one of the rows of tiny houses and a mola-style applique; there are words embroidered in the darker red strips

Marshland, by Lynda Christiansen of Eugene, OR (32" square)

I managed to spend practically nothing at the fabric vendors, but I did do some damage to my wallet on the scrumptious box of yarn:

It came with a pattern for a short-sleeved cardigan knitted in random vertical stripes of the various yarns. I can't wait to get started on this!

And, I did have a chance to meet up with Libby briefly -- we live pretty close together and have been blog-friends for a while but never managed to connect in person before.

Virtual Quilt Show

Today is the first day of the virtual quilt show, hosted by Park City Girl -- visit her blog to see the complete list of participants.

This was the first "big" quilt I made -- it was a block of the month on Planet Patchwork, and I remember waiting impatiently for each new section to be posted! I've always liked the brights-on-black look, even when I was a little girl, and I love the way these various blocks fit together like a puzzle. The pattern was called "Chaos Harmony" but I call mine Celestial Chaos.

Thanks for looking!

PIQF anyone?

The Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara is only two weeks away. In the past few years I've been lucky enough to meet several bloggers there and it's always a treat to see people in person after you've been "virtual" friends for a while.

So -- who's going, and which days? I'm planning to be there on Friday the 16th and probably on Sunday the 18th as well. Leave me a message if you'll be there.