i got the book teeny-tiny mochimochi as a christmas present from my brother. he just loves those funny little knitting ideas and all kinds of knit creatures.
this is the first one i tried: a tiny chicken.
pattern: tiny chicken from the book teeny-tiny mochimochi by anna hrachovec
yarn: some scraps. i think the white is lana grossa cool wool 2000 and the red, black and yellow are sock yarn scraps. you don’t need much of every colour, so perfect to use leftovers!
needles: 2.5mm dpns
i wanted to try quilting for ages. and here is my first project. it’s made completely of different ikea fabrics – some of them not ideal for quilting i have to admit. but hey, it worked out quite well!
basically i followed this easy quilting tutorial for beginners.
i used 49 patches, a border and a binding. then i pinned down the top, batting and back and just made diagonal seams across everything.
what do you think?!
this is the complete quilt:
close-up:
back:
binding that i handstitched in the back of the quilt:
it was fun sewing my first quilt. but also a lot of work! really liked the sewing part but didn’t care much about measuring and cutting all the patches. all in all it took me days to finish and it wasn’t even a difficult design! but it definitely won’t be my last one!
it didn’t turn out huge but maybe can be used as a blanket for the little one in his stroller or to lie him on the floor before he starts crawling…
oh, boy, is it really that long since i last posted here? since january? the longer i didn’t post anything the harder it got getting into it again…. shame on me. can you forgive me for not keeping you updated on my crafty projects?!
but i think i have at least a little excuse. i had totally lost my knitting mojo! can you imagine that? usually i knit every day, but for some time i just didn’t feel like knitting at all.
at least i know the reason why: we’re having a baby! we’re going to be parents in october 2012! and apparently my body was too busy working for our little one that all my knitting energy was stolen! it even repelled me to even think about knitting. very strange. but it came back to me after the first 3 months. yay.
anyway, prepare yourselfs for a number of new posts about not so new projects of mine. i wanna try to get up to date again!
cheers guys!
i bought the yarn for this cowl in new york last august and just love, love, love it. it’s so soft and warm and cosy. i got it at knitty city which i would recommend to any knitter visiting the big apple. the shop is great and stuffed with so many beautiful yarns. i even was there twice (the second time without the impatiently hovering boyfriend 😉 ). it’s so great to go yarn shopping abroad – so much wool and yarn brands you don’t get at home! anyway, i also stumbled into the middle of a ravelry event there where some local fibre/yarn producers informed about different breeds of sheep, their wool, making of the yarn etc… had some nice chats with people and felt at home already 😉
well, first i intended to knit a burberry inspired cowl with my cascade chunky but then i found this brioche cowl pattern and thought it would match the yarn a lot better and i was right. it turned out really warm and comfortable and you can pull one loop over the head (which i had to use this morning when it was rainy and stormy on the way to work)
grafting the the cowl in the end was a little tricky. it’s impossible to graft brioche stitch without a visible seam. and i couldn’t pull the yarn ends too tight because i didn’t want to loose the stretchiness. but i’m ok with the result.
i’m wearing this cowl nonstop at the moment – my favourite piece of knitting 🙂
pattern: brioche rib hooded cowl by lisa rosen
yarn: cascade yarns 128 superwash chunky, 100% superwash merino – used about 2.5 skeins
needles: 8.0 mm circular
