peace and love and Liberty (of London)

I bought a bunch of Liberty cuts while at Purl Soho in NYC, and got right down to using them.  As opposed to hoarding them.  Which, on occasion, I have been known to do ;)

First I made a couple really cool wraps, based on the Lululemon Vinyasa scarf.  Basically it is like a big rectangle with snaps than can be used to make it a wrap, scarf, cowl, shawl...there is a video of the 10 ways to use it!  I decided to make a couple with Liberty and chambray. It has been a great fall accessory!  Don't mind the post full of crappy iPhone pictures...it seems I am too lazy to pull out my fancy camera anymore!

I also decided to make a liberty pouch.  I actually planned to make enough for all my friends I was meeting at Craft South,  but only got one done, so Kelly (kelbysews) was the recipient.  The outer is patchwork of Liberty and chambray, the inner is a robin's egg blue shot cotton.  I made it large and square to accommodate and embroidery hoop and also put a piece of felt inside, suitable for storing needles.  I plan to make another for me (eventually).

I STILL have a Liberty quilt planned, which one day I will get to actually piecing- it is cut up and ready to go.  It is such a lovely fabric to work with, so soft...but pretty pricey.  Used sparingly!

holy cowls!

I must have an instinct, much like the geese, to tell me that winter is on its way, because I have been knitting up a storm lately.  Mostly big, chunky, squishy cowls...so cozy!  

This one for me:

This one (and matching hat) will be a Christmas gift- made with the wool from Purl Soho.

This one was made for my fabulous friend Michelle (IG: ilikeorangetoo), which I gifted to her while in Nashville.

Originally the cream cowl was a gift for Angela (Cut to Pieces), but little did I know that she is allergic to wool, and it instantly made her itchy!  So I kept it (big hardship) and knit her up a new one quickly during our Sew South weekend out of a super soft alpaca yarn that she had bought herself.  Doesn't she look adorable in it?

All of the above cowls were made with the same simple pattern, bulky yarns held single and worsted yarns held double, doing a simple k3 p3, in a multiple of 6 stitches plus or minus one stitch to allow the pattern to spiral.  For most of these I cast on about 79 stitches to wrap double around the neck comfortably, and they each took 2 skeins.

I also made another very cool cowl/sling type thing, finished also while at Sew South for my bestie Samantha (IG: samsews).  It was a pattern (Panem cowl on Ravelry) based off this super cool knit worn by "Katniss" in the latest Hunger Games movie.

I love how this turned out, and it is totally the funky style that suits Sam, don't you think??  I have more yarn to make one for me, someday.

More finishes on the way!

Oh yah! I made some ruffled scarves!

Almost forgot about these, in the midst of quilting lately. I wanted to make some thing cute and ruffle-y for a friend...we've felt ruffled together many-o-times, after all! She and I have 3 kids all roughly the same age. In fact, we got the timing down to a science and by the third set, they are only 4 days apart! We are now both basking in the glory of our youngest girls in preschool and have a couple hours of FREE TIME in the mornings a couple times per week. So, we decided to have brunch...I swear it was the longest uninterrupted conversation we have ever had!

Anyways, I had picked up some cute lime plaid at a local fabric shop awhile back. My now-preschool daughter, Last But Not Least, wanted in on the fun and was helping me sew!

I love her little orange nail polished fingers!
My original idea was to make a cowl (love those!), but with the ruffles, it looked more like the neck on a clown costume....

(photo courtesy of 3 year old LBNL, head cut off and all!)

So. I joined 2 together, and made a scarf instead! In fact, I made two...one to give and one to keep.

I love the little fringed selvage :-) Left it on as the ends.

A great way to jazz up jeans and a t-shirt :-)
I thought of doing a tutorial on this, but there are a million out there. If you want one, let me know!