Monday, March 28, 2011

It's a Small Wonderful World

I am so happy to report that Full Sails is on its way to its new home in New Mexico, purchased by the lovely and talented Susan, who just sold her home in another state, a chain of events that culminated in making the two of us very happy. As you may recall, this was a commission quilt that didn't meet the color or size requirements of the person who asked me to make it. I loved it just the way it turned out, learned my lesson (again) about doing commissions and thus endeth that part of the story. I blogged this episode and Susan began trying working out how to make it hers, and now she has. Woowoo!



A few days ago I blogged about not having a second ball of this yarn to make the second sock. A lovely and talented knitter, Deb from Ontario Canada, had a skein for me of exactly the right yarn!! I knew the blog would work this out for me. Thanks Deb. It is found here  She refused to take payment from me, but of course I have a plan...ha!



Since she was so nice I decided to pay it forward. I found this lovely and talented knitter Pomona on Ravelry and saw that she was knitting this blankie from leftover sock yarn. I have LOADS OF LEFTOVERS so I contacted her and I am sending her my scraps. making both of us happy. I get to empty SPACE in my stash, which money can not buy, plus I no longer have those scraps hanging over my head saying USE ME.
This is the work of a really lovely and talented knitter Marion from Germany. She is so amazing and productive and comes up with stuff only she can imagine. I drool at her designs. She has a blog too, and I got the translation that the internet provides, which was USELESS and didn't make much sense in English. I just wanted to know how some of her modules were made yet I dare not ask. Why? Well, she would have to tell me in English and since these are her originals, I figure her intellectual property is hers to keep.
But you know how I love mysteries, so I decided to try and deduce some of the shapes she makes. This part is truly for knitters, so the rest of you may chat amongst yourselves.
I am using a sl1, k2tog, psso for the center double decrease to produce this shape. Two stitches are lost on every row with this decrease.














On this module I used a regular k2tog decrease which is made on the center stitches. Only one stitch is lost per right side row.












One stitch per row is lost and it ends up looking like a regular mitered square with this method.
It gets more and more complicated, as the variations of decreasing are almost endless. No wonder she doesn't explain how to do them. Even in English it is difficult to understand.
This one is a single decrease at the edges (after the first and before the last stitch on the row...wha?) on the right side only and then a single decrease over the center stitches on every row. I am blathering. But isn't it amazing how many shapes can be made like this? OK I am done.








14 comments:

  1. Full Sails is absolutely STUNNING and Susan is a lucky woman! Congrats on creating such a gorgeous work of art.

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  2. I've always loved that quilt, too. The southwest is a perfect place to display it! Congrats, Susan.

    Mel, I think it is the second one. It gives the longer slimmer profile that looks like it is in the sweater.

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  3. Ah, the lure of a mystery! I love it. I can imagine you designing your own knockout modular design. I'd go with #1, as you can get the long sides parallel and concentric.
    It appears that graph paper will help, also. Go for it!

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  4. Marion and I chatted on Rav for a while, me with my crummy German and she with her crummy English, and we managed to understand each other. She just comes up with these ideas and now and then puts up a pencil drawing of her idea. She's lovely to talk to, and you can chat with her easily on Rav.

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  5. PS, the quilt is beyond wonderful!

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  6. WOW! That is marvelous, Mel. You know that was one of my favorite quilts. COngrats.

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  7. Anonymous3:14 PM

    Having been lucky enough to see Full Sails in person, it truly is a stunning piece people! Congratulations to Ms. Mel and Susan.

    ~RBC

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  8. Some luckylady with very good taste, the full sails quilt is breathtaking! I gasped for air when my browser opened on this page, honestly, a feast for the eyes, those colors.

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  9. How perfect that Full Sails is going to NM -- the colors were simply made for the Southwest. I hope she'll share a picture in its new location, and that you'll share with us! congrats! Knitting is beautiful, but to me it's "huh??"!

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  10. Thank you all for the congrats on my oh-so-special acquisition! I'm over the moon and have chills just thinking that I will have it soon.

    HOWEVER, I live in Nevada so please don't send it to New Mexico!!!!!!!!

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  11. It's nice to see the internet work out in such generous ways. Glad you found a buyer for this quilt, which I love, and glad you found your sock yarn.

    Yesterday I did a google search for Christmas sheet music, for a quilt idea for a 'secret sister' quilt I'm working on, and it looked like the image I clicked on retrieved tons of computer trojans! Good grief! I don't get it!

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  12. This was wery interesting. I love those modulars but I haven't knit them so much.

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  13. Lucky Susan. That may well be the Meoldy Quilt I like the best.

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  14. Yay! Glad you sold the quilt. I couldn't believe that those people rejected it in the first place.

    (A heads up: Actually, Susan lives in Michigan and also sometimes calls herself Priscilla. So please be sure to send it to Priscilla in Michigan, not Nevada.)

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Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com