Tag Archives: log cabin

Banging out Sleeves

Posted on February 5, 2016 | 2 comments

I knit a sleeve yesterday. An entire sleeve. This is quick knitting, I tell ya! I’m on the second sleeve now.

I could have knit both sleeves yesterday; they’re that fast. But I took some time out to seam this pillow.

It’s another Snowy Woods Log Cabin Blocks pillow. I made it with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky for the Knit Picks IDP program. The pattern will be for sale on the Knit Picks site, as well as the the version that’s already up on Ravelry. More Snowy Woods! More Log Cabinning!

I also took time out to make these pillows. (Whoa. Just noticed they’re the same color as the log cabin pillow. We have a palette here.)

I was inspired to make these when I saw the cat pillows over at Mason-Dixon Knitting last month. The fabric was printed by Spoonflower. Now my grown kids can have their own cats at their respective abodes!

I’m not sure what Mookie thinks of them. But I’m sure I’ll never get that little top hat on her again.

Apparently yesterday was a very Mason-Dixon Knitting day. The #BangOutASweater KAL, the cat pillows…and I learned to log cabin from the first Mason-DIxon Knitting book. I made this blanket way back in 2008-2009.

So thanks, Ann and Kay! You’ve changed my life!

Back to the sleeves…some people are already finished with their first KAL Stopovers, and starting a second one! I’m looking forward to starting the yoke patterning. Just have to power through this sleeve, first.

2 Comments

Posted in Blogging, KAL, Knit, Other craftiness, yarn

Tagged BangOutASweater, log cabin, mason dixon knitting, snowy woods, spoonflower, Stopover

Snowy Woods Log Cabin Blocks mashup

Posted on January 18, 2016 | 1 comment

It’s a mashup of two of my favorite things! My Snowy Woods Log Cabin Blocks are based on the classic Log Cabin quilt block. The center squares feature motifs adapted from my Snowy Woods Cowl: two entwined trees, and three fir trees. Two log cabin blocks will make a 16” pillow that knits up quickly in bulky yarns such as Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky or Berroco Vintage Chunky. They require just one 100g/135 yard skein in each of three colors for the two blocks. Knit a matching throw with more blocks; you’ll get 2 coordinating blocks from each 3 skeins of yarn.

Entwined trees

Three firs (These remind me of the three Douglas firs in my back yard, the Three Graces)

After the center squares are knit, the “logs” are easy knitting in garter stitch. It’s perfect for knit nite, multi-tasking, or travel. I knit my second block while playing yarn chicken with a volcano.

The pattern is available through Ravelry as a pdf download. Use the coupon code CABIN for 20% off through January 31, 2016. Make something pretty for your home!

For those of you local to Portland who want to learn how to knit log cabin squares in general, I’m teaching a class at For Yarn’s Sake on Sunday, January 24 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. I’ll be teaching this class again at Twisted on February 6 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Contact either shop to sign up.

1 Comment

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged log cabin, snowy woods

WWKIP Day

Posted on June 16, 2008 | 6 comments

Saturday was World-Wide Knit in Public Day. There were lots of activities going on in town, but I was out camping. I love getting away; it’s like getting new eyes. Everything looks different.

My camping gear worked out fine, except for one missing item. Wool socks. I couldn’t get my feet warm enough at night, and that made me regret not bringing these.

I made these in 1997, I think. They’re from Anna Zilboorg’s book, Fancy Feet. I was lucky enough to have a class with Anna at Stitches that year; she taught me to carry both colors in my right hand (I knit English-style). I had previously taught myself to knit continental style so I could carry a color in each hand, but two in the same hand was much faster for me.

Back to WWKIP Day. What did you do? I spent the afternoon on a blanket in the grassy part of the campground. I made a bracelet (beading), worked on Josephine, and on my log cabin blanket. Bev and Laurie were knitting with me, so I think that counts as our contribution for WWKIP Day.

I’m not sure when I’ll declare the log cabin done; right now it measures about 34 inches square. It’s not big enough yet, maybe 48 inches will be the right size? I’ll have to buy more yarn soon. This was perfect campfire knitting, too. No need to look too closely, just knit, knit, knit, until it was time to pick up a new color.

We had a great campfire singalong Saturday night. I can count the chords I know on two hands, but it’s enough for a good singalong, and that’s enough for me.

6 Comments

Posted in Knit, music

Tagged Josephine Top, Knit, knit socks, log cabin, singalong

ZigZagZigZag

Posted on April 7, 2008 | 2 comments

I’ve been working on these pedicure socks for a friend’s birthday. I ran through three different design ideas before I came up with a stitch pattern that would let the yarn tell its story. This yummy yarn is Yarntini Variegated Sport, and the colorway is Mimosa. It just screams “orange creamsicle” at me. I love this yarn; it’s the same yarn that I used for my Entrelac Socks. It’s a little heavy for a sport weight yarn, but it has a wonderful springy texture.

ZigZag Lace Pedicure Socks

I hope she likes them! Pattern should be up in a few days. :edit: pattern is up!

I also put up the pattern for the log cabin baby blanket; I had already written instructions for knitting the squares for my knit group; it was just a matter of adding assembly and border instructions. Enjoy!

2 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged blanket, Knit, log cabin, pedi, socks, yarntini

Log Cabin Baby Blanket

Posted on April 3, 2008 | 4 comments

What Lorajean didn’t know when she proposed a group project is that the rest of her knitting group was already working on a group project…for her! She’s expecting a baby this month, and we wanted to do something knitty for her. The result is this log cabin baby blanket. :edit: pattern now available!

I wanted the blanket to be easy to knit because we have all skill levels in our group. I wanted it to have a theme. And I wanted it to be easy to assemble, since I was going to assemble it.

I wrote up directions and wound off yarn for the knitters. (I want a digital kitchen scale; my old analog one isn’t very precise!) The greatest challenge was getting everyone to knit to the same gauge. An encounter with the steam iron made the smallest a bit bigger, but you can’t steam something to be smaller! The blanket is made with Plymouth Encore, a blend of wool and acrylic, so it’s machine washable and dryable. I slip stitch crocheted the squares together and added a rolling reverse stockinette border. Hat tip to Kay Gardiner from Mason-Dixon Knitting for this easy, fast border. (The border recipe is described in the post from August 6, 2007.)

The whole thing was presented in a Lantern Moon rice basket.

I love these; they are the perfect knitting basket for a sizeable project. Lorajean is actually keeping baby clothes in several of these already.

Lorajean’s baby shower was tonight, and now she knows about group project number one! We’re still thinking about the next one.

4 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged baby blanket, log cabin

Knit Nite Project

Posted on March 27, 2008 | 4 comments

Lorajean brought a bounty of Frog Tree Alpaca Sport to knit nite last night, with a proposal that we all make squares for a blanket, perhaps for Afghans for Afghans. This is beautiful yarn!

We kicked around ideas, and decided on ballband squares in alternating directions. But this morning I woke up and realized that ballband dishcloths are rectangular, not square. Back to square one, haha.

The other challenge on a project like this is to have everyone knitting to the same gauge. This is either easier or harder than it sounds, depending on how willing your knitters are to rip and re-do. I don’t mind it, but I know that some knitters are completely undone by the prospect.

Now I’m thinking that mitered squares might be the way to go. I’ll do a little more research, some swatching, and bring ideas to the next knit nite.

Last night I worked on my log cabin blanket. This is perfect knit nite knitting, completely mindless garter stitch that doesn’t go off track because of chat.