Binding On the Cross Grain

I can't believe that it has been almost 3 months since I finished this quilt top. I last posted about  "Is There Enough Pink in This Quilt?" way back in May when I had finished putting it together. Since then, it was to the quilter and back and has been languishing on a living room chair since my DD and FSIL (that's future son-in-law to the abbreviation challenged, LOL) were here in July and I began researching and practicing for the wedding dress. But since I am trying to clear my sewing schedule, I need to get these baby quilts done and out the door. So today, I am making more binding; but instead of binding made on the bias that I posted a few days ago, this is easier binding to make on the cross grain.

I am making binding out of the same fabric that was used as backing for this quilt. I love the cool, bright, lime green back ground against the mostly hot pink and orange quilt top. But it does well since there is cool green and blue on the front and the green fabric features hot orange and pink hearts.

This binding is cut cross grain -- from salvage to salvage. Binding can be made in many different widths. However, I like mine to be about 3/8 of an inch wide on the quilt. You will have to decide how wide you like your binding and then practice to see how wide you need to cut your binding to get it just right. I always cut my strips 2 and 1/4 inch wide. The advantage to using the same width all the time is that you can use all of your left over binding to bind a really wild looking quilt!

Once the strips are cut, you can attach them to make one continuous binding. Lay the strips with right sides together at right angles to each other. I like to use the grid on my cutting board to line them up.






Then using a ruler and a pen or pencil, draw a straight line between the corners and pin the fabric with a couple of pins to keep the fabric from shifting. You can make the line going from top left corner to bottom right corner as I show at the right; or you can make it from the top right to the bottom left. I make the line this direction as I am right handed and I hold the ruler down with my left hand -- just be consistent so that all the angles go the same directions.

Sew along the line that you drew in the last step, removing the pins as you go. (Sometimes, I get lazy and don't pull out the pins as I am sewing, but then, sure enough, I break the needle on my machine. I just did this two days ago. Thankfully. I had plenty of spares!)

After sewing all of the strips together, don't ignore the next step: pressing the joins. As much as you may think that you can just open up the strip and fold it in half -- DON'T! Proper pressing is the key to getting nice sharp creases and binding that looks crisp -- not sloppy. And when I say "press" I don't mean "iron" -- there is a difference. In pressing the weight of the iron and the heat does all the work; ironing is when the iron is moved back and forth across the fabric -- here you want to press.

First press the sewing line to "set the seam" -- steam helps although some would say it is not necessary. Setting the seam gets rid of slight puckers and is the beginning to crisp looking seams. Then flip the fabric open and press both seams to one side. I have had some people tell me that they open the seam to make the binding flatter, but I think that it weakens the binding by putting stress on the thread. Again, press the seam open -- the cut is on the bias and may stretch if you iron.

Last but not least, fold the binding in half and press again down the length of the binding. The binding for this baby quilt is only about 5 strips of 44 inch fabric long and I had a little left over for my future wild and crazy quilt. Stay tuned for my next post and I will show you how to apply the binding that we just made.

Happy quilting!

Project 2016 -- Florida or Bust: Kitchen Makeover Day Two

Before

Before

Wow! My whole body hurts! Yesterday was a long day and I hardly got started on the counter tops. I emptied all of the cabinets, moved the kitchen table into the family room and got the microwave down. I took all the extra caulk out of crevices along the edges of the counters and around the sink. I set up a work station with my new saw horses and a wooden shelf in the middle of the kitchen. I'll use this as a table where I can prepare the doors for painting and use as a station to do the counter tops.

After

After watching the counter top restoration 'how to' video again, and for about the last half hour that I could remain standing, I started sanding the finish of the laminate counter tops. It only took a half an hour to get them half done. This afternoon after I finished sanding the counter tops and taping off the sink and other areas, the DH and I did step one of the counter top transformation.

After

Funny thing about 'how to' videos, the people on the 'how to' videos smile a lot, never yell at each other, and not only are they perfectly clean when finished -- the room is clean, too! Not so much at my house. A little yelling, a paint covered T-shirt, and a HUGE mess!

The process is to roll a thick adhesive paint onto the roughed up counter tops and then using this "yard-fertilizer-spreader" applicator thing you put this substance that looks like (is?) crushed rock. The crushed rock is now everywhere!

I am glad I followed the instructions to tape up the sink. I can imagine what would happen to the garbage disposal if I had not. The crushed rock even went over the ledge behind the sink and landed all over the sofa in the family room. (I guess I needed to vacuum anyway.)

Mess

Yes, in the carpet, too.

The color is such a stark contrast to the original white. But no remorse here, I know that the cabinets will be much lighter and with clean painted walls, this kitchen will look great.

Happy (?) cleaning!

Sea Anemone Ear Flap Hat

Just the ear flaps done

After making Charlie's Chullo, I had tons of yarn left over. I bought three skeins of it, knowing that I was going to be cutting out all of the green and I only used 100 grams (equivalent of one skein). I thought of doing another Chullo for myself, but I decided I wanted to look for something different -- and something different I found!!!

I was reading some of the knitting blogs I follow and found this post by Carla Price on her blog Knitting is a Romantic Drama. BINGO! This was something different. I contacted Carla and she generously added her notes on how she created her self-designed hat. She pointed me to where she learned the stitch: a video by one of my favorite sock designers, Cat Bordhi (how did I miss that?!) And away I go. . .

I am still addicted to ear flaps, so I started directly  with the them -- no i-cord on this hat. Since the tendril is created on the knit row; I am doing my increases on the purl row. Although, both Carla and Cat made their tendrils with a set count of twists, I am being a little less rigid and twisting until it looks right as I am making them somewhat different lengths. (Anemones don't measure their little tentacles to make sure they are all exactly the same.)

I am thinking of adding a strap between the ear flaps to keep the hat tight in the Chicago winter wind. I don't want to loose this puppy! That is one nice thing that I found about the i-cord on the other hats (here and here) I made myself. If I tuck them into my coat, it helps the hat stay on in 50+ mph wind gusts. I walk across the Chicago River and the wind is always strongest there. I don't want any of my work to take a dive -- I won't go in after it.

This is a really fun project. I am taking detailed notes, so that if the hat works out, I will have a pattern to share. Who knows, maybe I will even go back and make a child size hat, too!

Happy Knitting!



How to make an tendril: 

Fig. 1

With right needle, pull yarn from back to front between 1st and 2nd stitch on left needle (Fig. 1), until you have a folded over piece of yarn about 3 to 4 inches long from fold back to knitting (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Place your finger in the fold and twirl the yarn a few times as if you are plying it (Fig. 3).

Fig. 4

Fold it back on itself and place the loop from your finger to the left knitting needle (Fig. 4).

Fig. 5

Knit it along with the 1st stitch on the left needle (Fig. 5). One tendril made.

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Be careful when knitting the tendril, that you keep the tendril under the needle as in Fig. 5. If you knit with the needle underneath the tendril (Fig.6), the tendril will end up on the wrong side of the fabric or the inside of the hat (Fig. 7).

Making the tendril the "wrong way" as in Fig. 6 is a little easier as the stitch is not stretched as tightly and I made several wrong and had to correct them.

Obsessive Compulsive Chullo Knitting

Introducing: Charlie's Chullo -- that would be Chullo number four. Alright, I know I have a problem. I just love making these things.

I used Noro Hitsuji again -- this time in a brown, black, orange and green colorway. However, Charlie wanted the colors to be more like the San Francisco Giant's uniform colors, so I removed the green and limited the grey. It is amazing how different two skeins of the same Noro yarn can look! Don't worry, there will not be any waste -- with the left over yarn, I will make myself a hat with more green in it!

When I completed the body of the hat, I attached the decorative spirals which Charlie said he would prefer over "fru-fru" pom-poms.I made four spirals, each in a different color cut out of a different part of the yarn. And each spiral is made a slightly different length.

Also known as "curlicues", spirals are really easy to do:

Leaving a long tail, start by crocheting a chain of any length --my shortest one is 14 chains. Make 3 Single Crochet stitches in each chain beginning with the 2nd chain from the hook. You will begin to see the spirals curl in just a couple of chains. When you reach the end of the chain, clip the yarn -- again leaving a long tail. Draw both long tails through the top of the last loop left on the hook.

Attaching them to the hat is just as easy:
Using a yarn needle, pull each one of the long tails on one of the spirals from the outside to the inside of the hat. Put one on each side of the circle left at the bind off of the hat's crest.







Continue to do this until all spiral tails are pulled through to the inside.

Next tie the pairs together in a knot.

Trim ends of yarn. You don't want to trim them really short, where the knot can work loose. If you use a square knot as opposed to a granny knot it will be less likely to slip.

How good looking is that!

Happy Knitting!

Avocado Carnaby -- Finishing touches

It's done! It's done! I love the drape of blocked wool. It just hangs straight off of your hand all relaxed and happy. There is no fighting with it to lie still or tussling over sides that don't quite match up. Those were my thoughts as I pulled the blocking wires out of the skirt this morning.

 I grabbed the buttons and got to work.  Now, I know most of you have sewn a million buttons on things; so have I in my lifetime. But there is a difference to sewing buttons on to a knitted item as opposed to most woven fabric.

With these buttons, using regular thread would have taken forever, so I split the 4 ply worsted weight yarn I used into two sets of two ply and threaded a small yarn needle.

I then doubled the yarn over and tied a knot at the end. This is really important for an upcoming step.

If you line up the two sides with the button hole on top, you can mark the placement of the button by sticking your needle straight into button hole.

Holding the needle, pull back the buttonhole side and look at the placement of the needle. This is where you want your button to be centered.

One difficulty with sewing into knitted fabric is that there are so many holes! So one of the tricks that I learned many years ago is: When you go up and then down through the button's holes for the first time slip the needle through the loop formed by the two legs of the yarn. This will anchor the end of the yarn with the button itself so that it won't come loose.

It only takes a few passes with the yarn to fill up the big holes in the button. Try sewing on 7 of these with plain thread!

Make sure that the direction of the threads through the button holes all go the same way. It would look really funny if some were horizontal and some were vertical. I don't think it matters which way they go as long as they are consistent.

Happy Knitting!

Alexandra Gold -- Finishing Steps

I like to use a large mixing bowl to soak my finished knitted item. Somewhere, I read that you are supposed to soak your wool for at least thirty minutes in (not too) warm water so that the water saturates the wool. The reason is that the lanolin in the wool is a natural water repellent and it takes time for the water to work into the fibers.



I add just a little lavender scented body wash. Not because it needs it, but because I really like the smell of it on the dry wool. You should just push the wool under the water and not agitate it at all. Agitation and warm water is what makes yarn felt. Felted lace shawls are not really pretty

 I then put the next smaller bowl on top of the wool and fill it part way with water. This holds all of the yarn under water so that it soaks evenly.

 After 30 minutes, I took the smaller bowl off of the yarn. Look at all of that yellow dye that has come out of the wool into the water!

 Carefully rinse the wool in cool clear water until there is no more dye coming out. Again, be careful not to agitate it too much even in cool water. I pull the wool to the side of the bowl and let the water run into the bowl -- not over the yarn directly.

After pouring out all the water, I gently press down on the wool to squeeze out more water. DON'T EVER TWIST WET WOOL!!!! The wool fiber is weakest when wet and you might have a forever stretched out item.

 After gently squeezing out the wool in the bowl, I put it on a towel. Make sure if you use a dark towel that it is older and does not give off dye or lint onto your newly made item.

 Roll up the towel with the item in it.

Then roll the towel up the other way so that you have fashioned a "ball" of sorts.










Put some pressure on the towel ball so that most of the remaining water is squeezed into the towel. You want your item damp not sopping!


I blocked my Alexandra Shawl using my new blocking wires. It was easy to thread the wires into each scallop tip and along the top edge. It only took a few T pins to stretch it out.

The lace shawl took up nearly the entire double bed and could have been stretched larger if I had had a bigger bed! At 74 X 47 this project is huge!! But really beautiful. So happy with Dee O'keefe's Design.