i made a quilt!!

my first quilt

Though I’ve neglected to blog much about my recent forays into sewing, I have been sewing a lot in the last year, getting more confident and more skilled with every block. But I’d yet to ever complete an actual quilt, and I knew that until that happened, I wouldn’t have any credence with actual quilters. I was just a “piecer,” not a “quilter.” I changed that in the past week.

That’s right, I made my very first quilt in one week (from first cut to the binding—the planning had occurred ahead of time). Why the rush, you ask? Well, because I’d been scared to start, and then I decided I had to just DO IT, all in time for my cousin’s bridal shower …

a tale of two yarns

tale-two-yarns_preview

It’s Knitting & Crochet Blog Week! I surely needed a kick in the blogging pants much like many other of my erstwhile knitbloggers, so I thought I’d join in the fun. Day 1, March 28, asks us to tell A Tale of Two Yarns. It’d be easy to honestly say that the yarns I most want to talk about are always the ones I just worked with, from the awesome feel and colors of Alisha Goes Around to the Manos Rittenhouse I used for the first time in January. But if I were to specify two yarns that I like to go back to time and again …

from TNNA to YMN

knee-socks_preview

Whew! 2011 has been nonstop, I tell you, NONstop. My new job means a lot more business travel—and a lot more yarny fun—but it has also meant a lot less blogging. And, actually, a lot less knitting, but I can’t actually blame the job. If ever a job inspired you to knit more, it’s this one! But I did knit something so far this year, and because I began it at TNNA and finished it at my most recent conference, well, it gives me a good excuse to finally wrap up all the events of the year so far into one mega-blogpost!

macro mitts

macro mitts!

There’s so much to catch you all up on—TNNA and VK LIVE—but I knit! I knit! And I can’t hold off on showing you my first finished object of 2011.

My online BFF Lauren has really taken off as a designer, and she’s always coming up with clever little projects, which is just my type of project. A while back she posted a picture of a WIP that had a thumb gusset to die for and an off-center motif that I loved so much, I volunteered to be a test knitter.