maggistitches

Spring Bolero

Two weeks ago Wee C asked me to make her a cropped sweater; she was pretty specific about its angled "hemline" and one-button closure. This came sometime after she'd requested that we cut off the bottom half of her white cotton cable cardigan (that's half of a twin set). I found myself up to the challenge, stash-dove for some Paton's Kroy, and grabbed The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. I doubled the yarn and did a quick swatch on US7s, then cast on for the Child's Raglan. Garter-stitch edges and three-quarter sleeves were my "design modifications." Ten days later I was sewing on the button she selected and crochet-chaining a loop. It's a tiny thing, but so is she!

She's not even seven, but she said, "Mom, you, like, made me a sweater in a week!" Almost, love. Even faster than I whipped up Gesta on 10.5s. At least the sudden spring chill gave me a chance to debut the vest on Easter. (Those matching Fibonacci sox are done, too.)

We're on spring vacation now and I've brought along a scarf project, of all things!

Happy Easter!

I made these bunnies for the Easter baskets using Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderfuls pattern and fabric left over from Little B's starfish costume along with two quilting cottons. Fun stuff (and fun to stuff).

The girls like 'em; Wee C's already requested additional pairs of shoes, which may be a good idea since they tend to fall off already!

Stars for Zach

Stars for Zach
Originally uploaded by maggistitches

Here's the extra small baby quilt I made for the new son of Wee C's first-grade teacher. The strips of blue stars and yellow lilies were lying around from other projects so we decided to whip this up. With the occasional other print thrown in, the steps of the pieces remind me of the letter Z. I added the wide border to bring it beyond doll-quilt size, but it's only 29 x 31". The border is that same black with blue stars that's a random other print in the cabin part, and I quilted it all in a variegated yellow; the backing is more of the lily fabric.

I have so much of that lily print because it was left over from the fourth-grade quilt I stitched up for the school auction earlier this month. The project coordinator had bought enough to back a huge quilt of 72 10-inch squares, but I chose to make the quilt reversible, with 36 squares on each side -- otherwise I don't think I could've managed it. Kudos to that volunteer mom, Lara, whose efforts brought in nearly $2,000 for our school. And now she's hooked on quilting!