Using Yarn, and Quiltmaking

Since writing my last post - a tutorial for making scrappy dishes - I've turned to yarn-y things. First of all.... tah-dah! My first knitted garment!

My Summer Soul Top, a beginner knitting pattern by Julia Piro, took me much too long to knit. I'm not a slow knitter, but rather so much frogging happened that I probably could have knitted three tops in the same amount of time... if I knew what I was doing!

It's a simple knit, knit, knit design (that's called a garter stitch) with 1 x 1 ribbing added to the sleeves and neckline. 

I couldn't be prouder.

I began knitting the top in late June, so wearing it in September isn't too bad. I wore it Saturday when I gave a program about using bias tape in modern quilts, and then presented a bias tape workshop to my friends in Central Florida MQG.

The top, made with Hobbi "Friends" cotton/silk blend is just the right weight for me who runs hot all the time. 

I also crocheted a Savy Shrug (I believe Jessica Cooper, the designer, didn't know how to spell savvy. 😏) I crocheted this in seven days using Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton.  I'm learning that crocheting is faster than knitting, though perhaps it's because I understand crochet terms better than knit terms. 

Now I've begun knitting Easy Shawl (What's up with a no-name design?) by Martine Behm. I'm knitting this one with Schoppel-Wolle Zauerballe. For portability, it fits perfectly in the rice bag I made a couple years ago. 

Wanting to start another crocheted garment, I landed on this Refined Lattice & Shell Yoke Top found on Etsy. It was offered for sale by InfinitePixelsPoetry for only $2.99.

However, after downloading and printing the pattern, I found several errors, including the fact that even by the fifth round, the top (crocheted from the top down) was not looking at all like the pattern! Shells, yes, but upside-down to the finished design. And where are the double sets of five vertical bars? Someone more knowledgeable about crocheting would have to explain this to me. 

Since Etsy had sent a follow-up email about my purchase, I gave the pattern a low rating mentioning specific problems within the instructions, including that what was coming from my crochet hook did not look like the pattern! I suggested that maybe the design was AI-generated.

The "designer" Ghulam, responded with a message that included a series of 😭😭😭 faces. Am I supposed to feel sorry for her? Etsy asked if I wanted a credit. I accepted. Perhaps my lesson-learned is that if I can't find the designer on Ravelry (I could not), I shouldn't buy the pattern.

My quiltmaking update is about the quilt I'm making with Dad's sport shirts, for our CFMQG "2nd Chance Fabric Challenge." I finished piecing the backing last week, got it pin-basted....

... and when the quilting is done...

...facing fabric is ready to be sewn to it. 

Now to find my lost quilting mojo. The guilt - "You should be quilting, Linda!" - weighs heavily.