Battle Wounds

Well it was a long and crafty weekend here at Chez Lola. Unfortunately I'm going to have some scars from all the quilting fun. 'Tis but a flesh wound. Really, it's already healing. But how I could have been so stupid I don't know. Sometimes you just don't think some of your actions through. It all started as I was preparing to cut my lovely fabric for my first quilt at my sister's house. I brought my rotary cutter and a new blade, since I mostly used it in the past for paper cutting. Changing the blade went just fine, the mistake came when I realized there was some oil of some kind on the blade. I figured it's good for it, but didn't want it to get all over my beautiful new fabric, so I decided to wipe it off... with a paper towel... turning it while wiping, and well I think you can imagine what happened next. A slip of the finger and I've got a v-shaped gash on the tip of my index finger. I'm sure you don't want to know how much my finger can bleed, but really it's a lot. More than you would think a little cut on a little finger can bleed. But I'm ok, I've survived. And now I have battle wounds, that will probably turn into battle scars, and who doesn't want battle scars from crafting? It's like showing your manliness, only in this case, your craftiness. At least I didn't sew through my finger like some poor girls over at Craftster... Now that would hurt!

So I got 8 out of 10 log cabin squares all done this weekend, well Monday really. Only two more to do and then I'm ready to sew them together and into a quilt! I'm loving how it's turned out. Did I mention that it's my own pattern? Finished measurements will probably be around 60x72" including the border. Unfortunately I didn't have time to snap some progress pictures yesterday, since the light was fading by the time I called it quits for the day, but I'll definitely have to post some tomorrow. I'm using the strip method which is making it go so fast! If I wasn't piecing them randomly it would be even faster! In only two hours I got over 75% of the quilt top done! Ok, that's just sewing time, with cutting it takes a bit longer, but I still was very impressed with it. The new machine is working great too! No more fussing with tension and having to pick up scissors and cut the thread every time I stop sewing. It's great.



Stephanie, aka the Yarn Harlot, has officially declared the Knitting Olympics, which will start with the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. I've decided to join, just for the extra push it will give me to get something done and I've decided to complete my first sweater during that time. Do you think I can knit a sweater in 16 days? I'm going to do a top-down raglan with a scoop neck. Either the "Somewhat Cowl" pattern or my own design. I'm going to work really hard on finishing it. Since it's all stockinette I think that will make it easier, especially on circulars, and I'm planning on using worsted weight yarn on size US8's so that too will speed it up. Wish me luck! I'll be swatching soon, which is allowed before hand, as training.