I recently finished a couple of my longer-term projects. First, this sweater. I've been making a habit of crocheting myself a sweater beginning in January, after the bustle of the holidays calms down. And by the time I finish, we don't have sweater weather anymore. But I have something new to wear next winter.
The yoke pattern of this Huldra sweater really caught my eye, and it was fun to work with Brava Sport yarn.
The sleeve motif turned out to be interesting, too. Of course I made some adjustments. I started out with the wrong size, and had to add a few rounds to the neckline at the end. And I found that decreasing once every three rounds was just right for shaping the sleeves. The roundness of the yoke makes the sweater kind of stand out in back. I'm not sure what to do about that, except wear it and not worry!
This quilt has been in the works even longer. I admired the Seville pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew for several years before buying it. I finally got around to planning out a queen-sized version last June, so actually making it spread over nearly a year.
I wanted to use Asian prints, but knew I could never choose between all the lovely fabrics available. So I ordered two ten-packs of fat quarters, trusting to someone else's eye to select them. They came with a wonderful variety.
The piecing went pretty well. The straight-line quilting was frustrating, even using the walking foot. I had to send the machine in for repairs on the stitch regulation system. It made a difference, but slowed the process down. I'm not going to show you the back--it wouldn't win any prizes. But it is all together now, and I am happy with it.
I'm sure other people could produce these things faster. Probably I could if I tried. But I enjoyed having these things to do for a while.
What should I make next?
