Stitching Update | May 2024

Happy Monday, friends! The weather here is just beautiful; I’m sitting at my desk and the catbirds are going crazy out there! I hope you all had the best possible Mother’s Day you could have. I was able to go to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival and buy a few goodies (more on that in a future post) and I enjoyed the day tremendously.

Today we worked diligently at our schoolwork so that we would have plenty of play time given the gorgeous day. My play time is being spent here at my desk and writing this post! I promised a stitching update and here it is:

Anker Sweater

I bound off on my Anker’s Sweater (my Ravelry page) last week and haven’t blocked it yet. The pattern called for plenty of positive ease and I’ll confess: I think there might be too much of it for my preference. The sleeves, especially, are big. But I’m going to block it before forming any real opinions on it. I don’t know if I’ll feel up to unraveling if it doesn’t fit to my liking – at least not right now! So I’m currently thinking of this as a big, comfy sweater built for wearing around the house. But that might change in time!

The Anker Sweater is knit up in KnitPicks Swish DK in Moss. My current favorite aesthetic is “rotting in the forest” and the Moss fits that bill. I adore the color! We’ll see how I feel about the fit as time goes on.

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Travelers Cowl

I don’t think I’ve shared this here, but Sarah gifted me a hank of her handspun in the new year! I believe it’s one of her earliest spins and is a gorgeous mix of blues and purples. Shortly after opening up the package, Andrea Mowry released The Traveler Cowl, which is designed to be used with handspun! It was wonderful serendipity and this yarn is absolutely perfect for the design.

I’ve said before on this blog that I really like this style of cowl/shawl. While I love knitting shawls, I have a really hard time wearing them because they constantly fall off. But these triangular cowls stay in place while keeping my neck/shoulders warm. It’s the best of both worlds!

I’m on the third section of the cowl, which includes decreases every other row so it’s moving really quickly now. I am excited to be able to wear it.

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Mandolin Quilt

You’d be forgiven if you forgot that I’ve been working on my Mandolin quilt since 2018! But I finished two more blocks in the last few months and have started another, which is quite a record for me. I think my two most recent blocks are the first two in the picture and looking at it makes me realize that they’re a little muddy and the colors/prints are blurring together. I might decide to rip something out and try again.

Just a reminder that I’m attempting to stitch this up with only Liberty of London Tana Lawn, which I sourced at Duckadilly Fabrics several years ago. My stash is getting very low and this fabric is really expensive, so I’m doing my best to put together unique combinations to stretch it as far as I can!

My goal is to make 20 blocks before starting on the connecting pieces, which I hope to do in light gray and light pink. I think those colors will really pop since all of the outer edges of my blocks are stitched up in darker colors. And as long as I don’t take any of these blocks apart, I’m almost halfway finished with the main units!

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I’ve also been doing a tiny amount of cross stitching, but not enough to share here. It always seems like a hassle to pick up when I have such small periods of stitching time, despite how much I enjoy my projects. So I’m trying to be patient and hoping that there will be eyeglass prescriptions strong enough for me to enjoy this hobby in my old age because it just doesn’t feel possible right now.

I hope my next post will be about the NH Sheep and Wool Festival! I hope everyone’s week has gotten off to a tremendous start. Take good care!