phila*craft

my fifth baby Jane block ("Bachelor's Buttons")









I used a "cheater cloth" (from Yuwa) to make this square with appliqued "buttons" and left out the fourth one that should be in the quadrant printed with a little package of buttons. For the Teardrops square I kept the freezer paper attached to the muslin and used it to guide my applique stitches, tucking the fabric in under the paper as I sewed. I cut through the background fabric to remove the freezer paper and the extra bulk created by the appliqued pieces (I didn't think up that craziness, it's in a book). For this square I did the reverse. I left the freezer paper on the buttons but on top of the fabric. It was still there to guide my shaping of each button, but I could peel the paper off the top without cutting the background fabric. I like the bulk for the button shape and I'm tempted to add embroidery mimicking the buttons printed on the background cloth. Wouldn't a baby quilt of just this square with each patch embroidered to look like a different card of buttons be very cute? I'm thinking about adding embroidered details here and there to patches as I go.

my fourth baby Jane block ("Rayelle's Fence")










*The hen talks to you. I don't know who made this excellent fabric or what it's called, but I got it months ago from the sale section at Cia's Palette. Cia has a wonderful folk art prints selection I'll be mining for more background fabric. And I DO care that the points don't meet up. During the quarter century it will take me to complete all the Dear Jane blocks, I expect my piecing skills will improve and that I'll develop the patience to re-do the wonky blocks.

my third baby Jane block ("Jane's Tears")

my second baby Jane block ("Field of Dreams")








Freezer paper is making my piecing one of these miniature blocks each week much more likely. It also helped to find moving hands and other quilters posting their work at The Dear Jane Project.

public service announcement

This is my older son holding a big ball of plum colored alpaca I dyed with cherry bark, birch bark, cochineal and madder root. The goal of all my natural dyeing posts is to inspire a reader to DIY. Having said that, here's a link to the site of an experienced dyer who is producing beautiful and incredibly well-priced naturally dyed yarns: The Natural Dye Studio. (Consider not clicking the link if you're only knitting from your stash in 2007.)

a baby bonnet in the yarn I space-dyed with weldYARN: Kona Superwash from Henry's Attic
NEEDLES: Size 3US single-points and size 2US dps for the i-cord
PATTERN: Joelle Hoverson's in Last Minute Knitted Gifts
GAUGE: 7 stitches/inch
NOTES: I made this for the one month old daughter of a friend, so the much tigther gauge of my yarn was just right to produce a smaller bonnet than the one made with Kid Classic in LMKG. I used "ssk" instead of "slip one, knit one, psso" to work the decreases on the right edge and I picked up only 18 stitches instead of the 31 called for along each side of the bonnet to form the bottom garter stitch edge. I also picked up fewer stitches as I worked the applied i-cord edging so that the front would be a bit more closed.

my submission (in madder and cochineal dyed alpaca) to the current -along project at Stitch Marker

a baby Jane quilt block











Hand piecing them one by one, week by week, my plan is to put something (pillowtop, wallhanging, quilt?) together inspired by Dear Jane. This is the block called Four Corner Press.

Liesl tagged me and I'm telling!







RULES: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1) I talk to myself.
b) I don't like ice cream.
iii) I like purling, but not a lot.
****) I can't sew with a thimble on.
10/2) I bid against myself on eBay (and won).
finally) I haven't knit Clapotis, but Birch is half done.

I tag Simmy and Karen. (I think I already know everything that's weird about the other bloggers with whom I correspond--as for the others...TMI if you KWIM.)

socks knit with my plant-dyed wool






YARN: one hank of Henry's Attic Kona Superwash dyed with weld (There's enough left over for a child's pair of socks.)
NEEDLES: size 1US bamboo dps
GAUGE: 7 stitches/inch over stockinette
PATTERN: Charlene Schurch's from Sensational Knitted Socks
NOTES: I had planned to knit up this wool and figure out how to space dye it for two-row stripes, but I ended up dipping half the mordanted hank in the dyepot with 1/4 oz of weld and letting that steep for half an hour. Next I nudged another five inches of the hank into the pot and let that steep for another 20 minutes or so. The result was this micro-stripe effect that I really like. I hope you can see the two shades of yellow.
I improvised cardboard sock blockers for this pair that I think I might get a few more uses from before recycling; I simply traced around one sock onto corrugated cardboard and then cut out two. Charlene Schurch's directions for kitchener stitch are the best I've seen anywhere. I liked working the "Forethought" Heel, too. Must head over to the SKS knitalong to join and post!