I got this really cool knitting loom kit for Christmas and over the weekend I thought I would try it out. Since my husband recently had another cardiac procedure he has to take it easy. That means some sitting around which also means he would like me to join him in the sitting around. I am not really good at that. In fact, I don't really like going to the movies because that's too long to sit still.
Enter the knitting loom kit. My friend Judy has it and she suggested I get one. I told her I did not want another hobby even though deep down, I would really love to learn to knit. Judy says it's great for those times when you want to sit down and watch tv. So now that I have the loom and sitting in front of the tv with my husband is inevitable, I figured it's a good time to break it out.
Saturday afternoon, I took it out of the box and read the instructions. In the back of my mind, I decided that I would search for YouTube videos on this thing if I didn't really understand the instructions. Luckily, they were straightforward and easy to follow. So I got out my green yarn which was part of my Christmas gift and started the process. I put it down after a while thinking this is pretty easy.
Sunday comes and the Green Bay Packers are in the playoffs. The game is intense and I need to calm my nerves so I pick up my started project and continued to knit. I knitted and knitted and before I knew it, I had this amazing thing going on the loom. I blame the Packer game for the size of the hat. But the Packers won in the last 3 seconds of the game which was incredible. So this first project is forever linked to the excitement of a darn football game.
I think the hat turned out pretty good considering it was my first shot. I do have one slipped stitch in the middle of it, which I blame on the football game. But all in all, this is an easy tool to use and I look forward to the next project. Maybe there will be more tv time in my future now that I have this new way to calm my inability to sit still.
I just finished up block 6 of the 182 day solstice quilt challenge. Even though I like having this to look forward to each Wednesday, once the block for the week is finished, I sometimes wish I could move on to the next block. For me, that's the down side of a quilt-along. Isn't there a song that goes "the waiting is the hardest part" ? ha-ha! So I will have to move on to something else.
As part of my new year's resolution, I want to participate in Pat Sloan's Winter Solstice quilt along. I've had this cute little bundle of fabric I purchased from Westwood Acres last year called Storybook Vacation. The fabrics have small prints in soft colors. They've been sitting on the top shelf of my fabric closet and every time I open the closet, I see the pretty colors and wish I had a plan for them.
There's instructions in the book for a nice fabric basket. It's quick and easy, although as almost always, I made some changes. I cut out pieces from batting and did a quilt-as-you-go thing on the sides and bottom of the basket. I chose not to put interfacing in the lining, I just left the cotton fabric as is.
I finished the Shoo-Fly quilt late Sunday afternoon while watching our Packers beat the Giants in the playoff game. Sewing the binding on this quilt was a nice distraction when things weren't going well for our team which wasn't very often since they played well and won by a comfortable margin.
