Monthly Archives: May 2016

Pattern: Snoqualmie Cowl

New pattern day!  I’m excited about this one. (Though, I suppose I’m always excited about a new pattern.)

It’s a super simple cabled cowl in the most luxurious yarn have left in your stash.  (I don’t know about you, but I have a bunch of little balls of bulky wool and alpaca that I can’t bring myself to throw away.)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERACovered in tons of simple cables, the Snoqualmie Cowl looks way more complicated than it is.  It’s a great way to practice cable knitting and play with colors.  And because it’s knit in super-thick yarn on great big needles, it works up in about fifteen minutes (OK, that’s an exaggeration, but it does go really fast)!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIf you want to give this cowl a shot, grab a copy of the free pattern here:

Snoqualmie Cowl

Listening to stories

I love audio books, and have since I was a kid.  Our family would always listen to books on tape (actually on tape, since it was the 90s) on road trips.  We had an old copy of Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World that we listened to over and over again- I bet I could still quote half the book.dannyWhen I got to college, I didn’t have time to read novels, since I was always reading big text books and scientific papers.  But, I did have time to listen to books on tape while I was riding the bus to and from class (well, they were books on CD that I got out of the library, then downloaded onto my mp3 player- it was a whole complicated production, but so worth it).

And, when I moved to Seattle, I discovered that our library allows us to download audio books directly to your computer through Overdrive!  But their website is kind of clunky to use.  I mean, I used it (of course- I need my audio books to entertain me during my hours of knitting) but I thought, “There must be a better way!”Overdrive_LogoI was chatting with one of the gals at work a couple weeks ago, and she says “You know, there’s an Overdrive app, right?”

WHAT!?

I immediately got on my phone, and it’s fantastic!  video-devicesYou can download audio books and e-books directly to your phone with minimum weirdness.  The app will save your place, so you can listen to more than one book at a time.  And, there’s no need to go through all the complicated steps to transfer files from your computer to your phone, like I used to do.

It’s still a tiny bit clunky, since you have to sign into your library branch to get it to work, but once you save your library card number into your phone, you’ll be golden.

I’ve listened to more books since I got the app a month ago than I did in the last year, just because it’s so much easier.

I can’t recommend it enough!  Look up your local library  to see if you have access to Overdrive. It’s worth it!

A Different Kind of Stitching

Sometimes I get an itch to do something else.  Something other than knitting (I know!  Heresy!)

This time, I was inspired by the kids I’ve been teaching in my Tuesday sewing class.  They’re all making quilts!  Some of them are making quilted pillows, some of them are making mini patchwork blankets for their dolls.  And two of them are determined to make full-on, usable quilts.  One girl has already made almost a dozen big quilt squares!

It’s so fun watching the kids put together their quilts, that, well, I was inspired.

(Also, I made the quilt we have on our bed almost 10 years ago, and it’s getting disreputable.)

I started the project (like any good Allison Project) with a sketch and a lot of math.  I decided to do a square based on a Carpenter’s Wheel, but a little simpler.  (You know, so the queen-sized quilt won’t be too much work.  Ha!)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI took a trip to the fabric store and picked out 8 different prints- 4 light blue and 4 dark blue, along with white for the background and a royal blue for the back.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI spent last weekend cutting out literally hundreds of triangles, and this weekend sewing them together.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s been a fun change of pace!  Of course, I’m still in the new-project-honeymoon-phase, so we’ll see how long I stay enamored.  (My last big quilt was started about 4 years ago, and still hasn’t been finished. Whoops!)

Have you ever made a quilt?  Do you have any tips or tricks for me?