Tuesday is for Finishing!

No-Purl Monkeys for Laura

Since I enjoy knitting objects at such a fine gauge, it takes a while for me to finish anything. Naturally, I get excited when I do finish something. I get even more excited when the something I finish was a request from a good friend who is debating about learning to knit socks herself. And she is mainly a crocheter.

She sent me the yarn and I knit it up into a pair of No-Purl Monkeys for her. I stuck a short-row heel on them because I wasn't quite sure how high her arches are and the short-row heels look more like commercial socks than heel flaps.

I was worried about not having enough yarn because she has bigger feet than I do and I made the leg longer than normal, but I finished with plenty of yarn to spare. The leftovers are going with my other leftover sock scraps to use for a pair of scrappy socks in the future.

Autumn Mother/Daughter Hot Pad Collection

The other thing I finished was a pair of quilted hot pads/potholders that I did with my mom. It was our first time quilting and my first real time sewing. I ended up hand-sewing this project because the book had excellent instructions for hand-sewing and I wanted to learn how to do it by hand.

I enjoyed hand-sewing, but I could see how having a sewing machine could help make things go faster. If I made a good portion of my clothes, then I would want to invest in a sewing machine. I am seriously considering that possibility, so mom will teach me how to use her sewing machine so I can see how I like it. It is fully electronic and it is set up so that she could actually do every step of quilting on it if she wanted to.

The Hot Pads I Made

Our next project will be a full dinner set for Christmas. This will include five placemats with matching cloth napkins, two table runners (one for the table and one for the side bar), and about four more hot pads.

I am very excited about this because we will learn even more basic quilting techniques and get a brand new set for the dining room.

I didn't think I would like sewing this much, but I do. It is more fiddly to set up than knitting where you just grab a pair of needles and some yarn, but the actual sewing part is much quicker than knitting. I am already planning a small kitchen set to do now so that when I move out I will have the home-touches that makes it feel like my own place. This includes a pair of oven mitts and some mug rugs. Best of all, I can make my own bedspread and pillow cases. Not everything has to be knitted.