ReCap of My Loopy Academy Semester

Whew!  I have finished all my homework for Loopy Academy.

Freshman Semester 1 Fabric projects all had to use a minimum of 1.5 yards of fabric each and the homework was

Make four placemats (with or without quilting – mine were quilted as I added the strips)

And drawstring bag(s) – I made two – one for my loom supplies and the other my hand knit sock laundry bag.  Both bags are fully lined and the sock bag should hold at least a month’s worth of socks (since I usually only wash them once a month and all at once).

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a seasonal wall hanging that had to include some quilting.  I made Winter Wonderland.  The kit was just the top section with the embroidery and mini quilt but I added blocks to the bottom from a coordinating panel to make it larger – it should be the perfect size for the small half wall on the side of my desk at the office.

  And the Sophomore year, semester 1 knitting projects:

Something with cables – the cowl my friend stole was gifted.

Something with texture – the baby sweater

and a pillow – different designs on both sides of the round pillow.

So now on to some quilting and knitting and weaving projects that have no real deadline – well I do have a two quilts to finish before Christmas – good thing all my homework is done!  It was all great fun and I’m looking forward to seeing what project assignments there are for next semester to decide if I’m going to continue or take a break from “school”.  Hmmm… does TLE offer a semester abroad Academy?

Fabric Stash Report – 11/8/15

  Here’s the state of the stash.   I used 2.0 yards to make my Loopy Academy tote bags project.     So I’m 39 yards to the “black”  having used more than I purchased so far this year.

The third bag still needs a few finishing touches but here are the first two bags.

Totally utilitarian bags – nothing fancy – but they are fully lined and I found a quick way to make them starting with just sewing a long tube  of the main color  and after sewing pulling one selvage edge up through the middle so it’s an instantly lined tube of fabric before finishing off the drawstring details and sewing the bottom folded edge shut.  Very quick to do.

The first one is for my weaving tools for the loom  –

 It holds all the extra shuttles and heddles, brackets and warping peg and even the how to video so I don’t lose it among all my other videos.

 

 

And, when it’s not in use, it hangs by its drawstrings (which are actually sort of twill tape with a tape measure design printed on it) on the side of the loom so it gets stored right with the loom and I don’t have to go looking for where I put it.   The red rectangle at the bottom is a little pocket to hold the warping hook so it doesn’t get lost in the bottom of that long bag.

 

I haven’t woven anything on the loom in quite a while — for some reason it’s something I do mostly in the winter — but I think since I’ve got it pulled out I just might get it warped up so I have a project to work on.   Of course I’m going to have to pull out that DVD since it’s been so long since I did that.  But I have a thought I my head about warping up a long color change yarn and then using a mohair fluff type yarn to weave with it…. but I digress….

The second drawstring bag is totally utilitarian to but it replaces one of those reuseable grocery totes I used to use for this purpose.

 

 

This bag  hangs on a hook behind my bedroom door.  It’s the “hand knit sock laundry bag.”  I keep them separate so they don’t get mixed in with the regular laundry and since hand knit sock wearing weather is here this will come in very useful.  The ribbon drawstring and hanging loop are recycled finds – the ribbons that The Loopy Ewe ties around its fabric packages that you order.  The fabric on the bottom of the bag is printed with a light teal/white print that looks like knit stockinette stitch so very appropriate for a sock laundry bag.   The bottom of the bag (actually both bags) have the corners stitched so they made a rectangular bottom.  In this one I put a piece of an old rotary cutting mat that is no longer useable.  I save the old cutting mat and use it to cut templates or in this case it was perfect to give a solid bottom to this bag – which helps hold the top open as it’s hanging there so it’s easy to just pop socks into it.

Hopefully I made it large enough so that it will hold all the socks since I normally only wash them when the entire drawer is empty.

Off the Needles

This week I managed to get two things off the needles.  Both are for Loopy Academy projects

My cable project – the Burberry Inspired Cable Cowl .  It is definitely going to be warm come this winter in the Tundra yarn – makes it a bit heavy.   Eight stitch cables  which alternate across the cowl – one single one in the center and then several rows later, one on each edge of the cowl – make it a more drapey look rather than a distinct cable look but I love it. I used every bit of my two hanks of yarn and actually had to rip back one row I knit because I realized I had gone too far and need some yarn to kitchner it closed.  I pulled the kitchner stitches tight as I was going along so with the bit stitches (size 10 needles) I was able to sort of add some gathering into the kitchner seam which makes the seam even less obvious since it has some drape like the rest of the cowl rather than being the only straight area on the cowl.

I also have my textured project done except for the blocking – which I plan to do today – and I need to dig through the button bin to see if I have anything that will work on this baby sweater.

  So just need to finish the second pillow design and my LA projects will be well in hand for the first semester.

 

Ounce of Flounce

Two projects down – one more to go for Loopy Academy Second Semester.  This is my “Stripe Project”, Ounce of Flounce.  Pattern can be found on Ravelry.  I made a few adjustments, made it about half again as long in number of stitches cast on and put the stripes in at random rather than strictly following the pattern.  The neck edge ends with some ribbing but this yarn was so soft it wanted to curl so I added the ribbing but then after that did a few rows of stockinette stitch so the stockinette makes a little curled edge but it only curls as far as where the ribbing starts and the ribbing now lays flat.  I picked the variegated yarn hoping it would match my butterfly shawl pin and as you can see, it picks up the colors in the wings perfectly.

Now I just have to do some shopping for my final Academy project – the “slip stitch” item.

I haven’t added this yarn useage into my knit from the stash tally yet but I’m hoping I can also add in the yardage for my Wiggle Wrap by the end of the week.  I’ve been knitting away on that and it’s nearly done!  That one used a whole lot of yardage. 🙂

Loopy Academy Project 2

My BOF from TLE has arrived with my yarn for Loopy Academy project 2.  Two of the hanks are wound – baby cakes – they look funny since they’re so much smaller due to less yardage on these hanks.  It says it’s sport weight but it feels a bit thinner but I think the colors will be lovely together.  And it feels so lovely soft  due to the baby alpaca and pima cotton blend.

Now to go find the right size needles so I can start on my Ounce of Flounce scarf.

Loopy Academy Project 2

I haven’t sewn up or felted my first Loopy Academy project yet but soon.  In the meantime, I decided I’d figure out what I wanted to do for the second project – either a striped project or a slip stitch project. I opted for the project with stripes first.

I’m going to be making An Ounce of Flounce.  It’s just a short little scarf with a bit of ruffle on the edge.  It’s been in my Ravelry library for a while as something I wanted to make and now is the time.

My yarn is now ordered – Manos del Uruguay Serena in Wildflowers and Oyster.  The Wildflowers has such soft coloring – makes me think spring.  The Oyster looks like it will be a very close match to the Wildflowers so the stripes should blend a bit more rather than stand out – which is the look I’m going for.  I’m also going to use the Wildflowers for the main color (where the brown is used in the original pattern).  There looks to be a bit of pink in the Wildflowers but I’m hoping more toward purple shaded than pink (those who know me know I don’t like pink) but in any event even if there is pink in there it looks like a pretty blend.

The real clincher when I was looking at the patterns is that since this is a short scarf it’s held in place with a shawl pin which made me remember my lovely butterfly shawl pin I bought not long ago but haven’t worn yet.  I think the butterfly wings will look perfect against this yarn.

The yarn is a blend of alpaca and pima cotton so warm but headed toward spring with the cotton – may be just right around my spring coat collar for those blustery days.

More yarn coming in but soon there will be more yarn used up so it will all even out — and I’ll really be in the black for my knitting stash report  if I finish one or two or three or four of the sweaters that are in the works.  LOL  I pulled out my Wiggle Wrap to work on during the bus ride today since I forgot to wind more yarn last night for one of my sweaters.    The Wiggle Wrap is a great pattern you can pick up and put down and no worry about losing your place since its such an easy pattern but I’m getting ready for that to be done soon — but I want it really long so I shall continue on.  But now to wind more yarn for my purple sweater.