January Hand Stitching

Posted on January 30, 2019 by prairiemoonquilts in Handstitching, Knitting and Crochet

Because our weather has been so horrific this January, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my cozy chair of an evening, and sometimes my fingers are too cold to wield a sewing needle, so I’ve been doing a LOT of knitting.

Knitting and crochet projects count towards my . . .

Handwork is handwork, and it will all eventually lead to finished items, I hope!

In my usual style, I have several knitting projects going all at once — just not as many knitting UFOs as I have quilting UFOs, altho, if I’m not careful, it could easily get that bad!

So I’ll show you what my January days of hand stitching have produced so far . . .

Since My Cowboy spent some time in the hospital, I had lots of waiting room time to do quite a bit of knitting. I’ve tried three other times to knit a scarf from this lovely green yarn, but I could never land on a pattern that showed up well with the variegated yarn. So I ripped it out yet again, and this is my fourth try:

I like this one well enough that I won’t rip it out again, and I can finally finish it. It’s from a very simple pattern on Ravelry that is no longer available.

Quite a while back, My Cowboy came home from town with 3 of these (in 3 different color combos).

It’s Mandala by Lion Brand, and it gradates itself. I chose my favorite one, and started a scarf from it. It’s nothing but Seed Stitch, and I’m gonna seed stitch the entire ball, and see what my scarf looks like!

I also took my first foray into knitting with double-pointed needles, and I will start by saying: I do not like using double-pointed needles, and I probably won’t ever do this again! But my sister bought this yarn:

And wanted a pair of fingerless mitts to wear to work. I almost gave up in frustration at the beginning of the first one, but then it suddenly became easier, and I managed to get one finished. Then I found myself lamenting the fact that my sister has two hands! I had to repeat the entire process to make a second one — ugh!

But I stuck it out, because I had good help, as you can see!

This pair of fingerless mitts is actually my first finish of 2019! And it’s not even a quilt! I wanted to plan the color striping of the yarn, but I figured it would either prove too difficult, or I’d run out of yarn trying to match them up, but somehow, it worked out that the striping took care of itself, and the two mitts are identical, without me even trying!

I also worked on a couple things I didn’t take pictures of — I started a Honey Cowl (also a free pattern on Ravelry), and I worked just a little on my Granny Stripe Afghan (a free pattern from Attic24).

It wasn’t ALL knitting, tho . . .

I machine quilted this Log Cabin quilt for a customer, and she wanted me to bind it for her, too, so part of my handwork was binding this quilt for her, another quilt for her, and yet another quilt for a different customer. So lots of hand binding going on, not even for myself.

I did, however, get around to binding one of my own, and I had good help with that, too!

Every time I sat down to work on it:

And you can see in that first picture, yet another knitting project. I started a Temperature Scarf! And I’ve been able to keep up with it so far! It’s actually bigger than this already, but I didn’t take a new picture of it yet.

I was inspired by my friend, Maria, who posted on Instagram that she was starting a Temperature Blanket. The pattern is by Andrea Shanti on Ravelry, and she has both a blanket and a scarf pattern. I decided I’d like to do the scarf version, so I decided on my colors and ordered this yarn:

I got my yarn from LoveKnitting.com, and it’s Stylecraft Special DK. It’s the same stuff I’m using for my Granny Stripe Afghan, and I love it, so I’m doing this scarf from the same yarn. I ordered softer colors, because I know that some of the colors won’t get used much, and I intend to knit baby hats for the local pregnancy center with the leftovers.

So that’s what I’ve been working on this past month! I’ve gotten a lot more done so far this year than I did in January last year — it helps that I didn’t start out this year by having pneumonia — I’m hoping My Cowboy and I can both get through the winter without getting sick (so we’re staying in a LOT).

If you have any questions or want more info on any of the above patterns, projects, yarns, etc., don’t hesitate to ask.

What hand stitching have YOU been working on this January?

13 responses to “January Hand Stitching”

  1. Virginia Smith says:

    Great work. It feels good to finish a project that is in UFO pile

  2. Mary Delia says:

    Working on a baby blanket for Nurses for Newborns. They are so grateful for items donated to them.

    • PAM C says:

      Would you share some information on the Nirses for Newborns you mentioned? Exactly what do they prefer to be donated?

      • Mary Delia says:

        Nurses for Newborns is an organization that serves liw income moms in the greater St Louis, MO area. They have a website nursesfornewborns.org if you’d like to read about them.

  3. Debbi says:

    Looking good! Love the green scarf! I hate knitting scarves tho…get bored. I’ve been working on hand quilting. Your challenge to stitch everyday is helping…I’ve been getting in at least 20 minutes most days. Yeah! Stay warm!

  4. Tia says:

    You have very cute supervisors!

  5. Darlene says:

    Your fingerless mitts are awesome that is quite amazing they striped the same, too funny!
    I to have been knitting finished a hat & baby mittens for my soon to arrive grandson. Working on a little sweater for him as well as my other grandsons unfinished Christmas sweater.
    I was inspired by you and put a calendar next to my knitting to track the days of hand stitching!

  6. Crystal says:

    I’ve been crocheting every morning…making baby blankets for a local NICU. Great way to start my morning.

  7. Rose Marie says:

    I have been doing handwork for several months. Finished quilting my Jen Kingwell Circle Game quilt. It is also hand pieced. And now I am calling the end to my Ruby McKim applique quilt……….that I have been hand doing for more than 10 years. I will soon have a finished block to show you. The fruit has to be inserted into a basket.

  8. Karen says:

    I love all your yarns. You certainly did get alot done, but sorry to hear your Cowboy hasn’t been well. Hope he’s feeling better these days. Your fingerless mitts turned out beautifully. You’ve inspired me to finish a pair I was making, but had put them aside because that thumb part is a bit tricky. I’m also doing a scarf for my daughter. It’s been great to just have an easy project that I can do a few rows each day. Think I’m hooked now and plan on making more for my whole family. Thanks for the push!

  9. I love all your projects, and the yarns are absolutely gorgeous! I’m glad you’re including knit/crochet in this challenge, it inspired me to pull out a crochet project I started ages ago. It’s a bit challenging, so it’s good to have this extra motivation. Thanks 🙂

  10. Suelynn Williams says:

    I love the pictures you take. I have a snuggly kitty, too, and my husband was in the hospital, too! I hope your Cowboy is doing well now. Happy Ground Hog Day!
    Your posts are motivating!

  11. michele Breault says:

    I’ve been working on hexie stars and grandmothers flower garden blocks made from 1/2″ hexies. And doing some knitting on my Yowza scarf/shawl
    You might want to try using a long circular needle rather than double pointed needles the next time you want to do some seamless knitting (maybe those baby hats). I’ve used them in the magic loop technique for making toe up socks and it is way easier than double pointed needles. I also use circular needles for other types of knitting– what I’m using in my Yowza and in the things I’ve knitted with Mandala (so much fun to see the colors change)

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