Fall Finished Projects

I love the first day of the new season, whatever the season. It gives me a chance to look back and put challenges of the old season away, and to look forward to new projects and plans for the upcoming season. I thought I’d share some handwork projects I finished this fall; it seems so much more satisfying than just focusing on the multitude of works in progress everywhere!

I just finished this cotton washcloth today! It’s so soft, I loved working with the yarn. I wrapped up a bar of lemon-poppyseed soap I made with it for a gift and tied a pretty silver ribbon around it. I’m going to share the pattern with my fellow knitters, because it is easy-peasy:

Use size 8 needles (and honestly, I have no idea what size I used 🙂
Cast on 4 st. K one row. K3, YO, K to end of row. Repeat until you have 43 st.
K2, K2 tog, YO, K2 tog, K to end of row. Repeat until 4 st remain.
K one row.
Cast off.

I’m fairly new at knitting and I’ve been learning to crochet, too. These wrist warmers also were finished very quickly, using romney wool that one of my friends spun and dyed a beautiful cranberry color. I love how the ruffles just peek out from my jacket sleeves.

I got the pattern for the wrist warmers here:

And this is my miracle project. I say miracle, because it’s a *miracle* I actually finished it. I was SO frustrated using four (four!) double pointed needles, and I could never get the gap to close between needles as I was going around (and around…). My very gracious and patient friend (kiss kiss!) fixed my mistakes and put me back on track I don’t know how many times. And oy, the amount of times I had to rip out! But I was persistant and stubborn; I wanted to wear this amazing soft wool and silk blend that I myself had spun. And yes, I’m addicted to spinning now.

And the beautiful thing? It FIT!!

Here’s where I got the pattern (that I had to fix because it missed a step!):

I finished a basket and I wish I had a photo ready of how lovely it looks stained with walnut. I like how deep and roomy it is, and I’ve been using it as my “purse” for a couple of months now. I have another basket pattern I want to play with, but it may have to wait until we get into the next house. Whenever that is.

I got the pattern from here:

Lastly (I think), I finished a quilt that I thought looked very autumnal with its dark greens and golden yellows. It’s hard to tell in the photo but I had it quilted with a leaf pattern; it looks so neat! I love just snuggling up in my papasan chair underneath it with my iPod on and my hands busy with knitting needles. I didn’t use a pattern for this quilt; I just used whatever scraps I had on hand and made them all rectangles.

So now winter is here and new projects are calling my name! I plan to finish knitting my second pair of socks, applique a bed cover, sew a couple of dolls, and embroider a gingham apron. We’ll have to see just how well that goes in between getting the house ready to list for sale again and packing up boxes of our lives to put into storage. It sure would be nice if the Lord would reveal where we were to be moving to, but I suppose that is another blog for another time.

Happy winter handworking!