Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas....

Don't have any knitting that I can show you right now, so how about another quilt?

A couple of months ago, I bought some fat quarters at Spool. The fabric was designed by Denyse Schmidt, and is a re-issue of a line called Flea Market Fancy. One thing that is fascinating to me, as a knitter looking at the world of quilting, is the different ways that these crafters approach their raw materials. Many knitters seem to get very bent out of shape when a yarn or color of yarn is discontinued. Publishers and yarn companies get all sorts of grumpy letters asking why a particular yarn is discontinued, or complaining that the yarn used in a book or pattern isn't available in every knitting shop in the world. Yarn lines are designed to last for at least a few seasons, if not longer, and lots of attention is paid to creating patterns designed especially for use with a specific yarn. On the other hand, quilting fabric collections (other than solids) are understood to be available only for a limited time. (I think, and I'm sure that my readers in the know will correct me if I am wrong, that most fabric collections have one or two production runs, and then that's it.  They are retired.) If the pattern you're using is more than a few months old, chances are you couldn't find the fabric you're looking for even if you wanted to. Quilters seem much more blase about the fact that they may have to pick out a different collection or set of fabrics, or dip into their stash and leftover bits, when beginning a new project.

I do understand that there are more variables with knitting. For example, there are at least seven different weights or categories of yarn, each of which handles differently and knits to a different size, whereas most quilting shops carry all their collections in a single weight of fabric, quilting cotton (with maybe one or two other weights, like home dec fabric and the vinyl stuff for raincoats).  The fact that knitting takes a lot longer means there's more at stake if you mess up the size of the knitted fabric you're making, and so on.

However, it does seem to me that there is a different mentality between the two crafts, a difference I find fascinating.  The point of this digression (to the extent there is one!) is that the fabric I bought for this quilt happens to be a somewhat unusual thing in the quilting world, a line of fabric that sold out, but was so popular that it was brought back for another run a while after it first appeared.

I found that intriguing, so I decided to buy some of it and play with it, to see what all the fuss was about.

The predominant colors that I chose were a coral-red, gray, a soft aqua blue and brown. I have to say that the colors did work beautifully together, and the fabrics looked good whether they were small prints, nearly solids or big prints.

I was inspired to try Film in the Fridge's tutorial on making scrappy triangles. I'd never done triangles like that before, and I wanted to see what it was like.  I wanted to feature the fabric I'd bought rather than use of lots of scraps, so most of the triangles are made out of a single print; just for fun, I did a handful "scrappy"-style, with multiple prints. I used two shades of white/off-white to set off the triangles, and then I used the leftover browns for binding.

I even went a little nutty and did a set of mini-triangles to put on the back.

I had a lot of fun making this one, and I learned a lot from it too.  Thank you, once again, to my helpful quilt holder, a.k.a. Boy Twin.....

I need your help!

I spent most of the weekend at Loop, and what a wonderful weekend it was!  Craig and his staff are always great fun to hang out with and they always treat me like royalty. Plus it's inspiring being surrounded by so many beautiful yarns and projects.

My Saturday class was scheduled to begin at 10, but the Schuylkill mocked me, sucking us into a huge traffic jam. A trip that normally would take 20 minutes on a Saturday morning took close to an hour and half -- feh.  My students were very understanding about me being late, though, so we pushed the class back half an hour and went 10:30 to 1:30ish.  I love teaching the Handpaints class. It's always filled with people who, like me, are fascinated with handpainted yarns and love knitting with them. By the time we're done with the class, I can actually see how a little light comes on the eyes of the students: they understand how handpainted yarns work and why they do what they do, and it gives them a whole new window on their knitting.

After class, I was able to hang out at the shop and see some of the lovely customers that came into Loop.

Aileen, "Kristin Dee" (if that is her real name) and Sallykins

I also got to see Mary Kay (who brought lots of beautiful projects she'd knit in BBF), Jenny the vet, Sam, Merrill, Martha, and many other knitting friends. I also got a chance to look around. Loop has always had a delectable assortment of yarns, but I was especially entranced by all of the Rowan (Cocoon! Wool-Cotton! Lima! Kidsilk Haze!) and the Brooklyn Tweed yarns (Shelter and new Loft).

Yes, some Shelter ended up coming home with me (although I was sorely tempted by the Loft, too, and I heartily believe there is a Cocoon something in my future).  I also had to stop next door to see what was new at Loop's sister store, Spool.  Laura had plenty of goodies for me to ogle, and I found that I simply couldn't resist Amy Butler's new Lark collection:

and the new Echo collection by Lotta Jansdottir:

I am now pondering what to do with them. The Lark fabric is so vivid, and the Echo is much lighter, with lots of creamy white, so I'll have to find just the right patterns for them.

Sunday ended up being a much smoother day. There was no traffic so I had plenty of time to get into the shop and get ready for the class.  I was really pleased to meet one of my most excellent customers, Tonia, who took my class and then hung out for a while. She had lots of lovely projects to show me and I was really happy to finally meet her in person.  I only had my cell phone with me to take photos, but this is a shot of her Girasole:

Stunning, isn't it?

After class, sweet Anmiryam dropped by, too, and it was terrific to see her, since I've been so crazed lately I haven't had much of a chance to see anyone in the last few months. Tom even brought the kids by, since they were excited that I had a "show," and it was fun to have them around, taking part in my big weekend. A huge thank-you to Craig and the staff of Loop for putting up with my wisecracks and being such fabulous hosts.

But before I sign off, I am asking you all for your help. I now have a bunch of Shelter in the Faded Quilt color:

While I was hanging at Loop, I cast on the Sullivan sweater, designed by Whitney Gegg-Harrison. I really want to finish this sweater so I can wear it, since I so rarely manage to knit sweaters for myself. So here's where your help comes in:  Remind me about my sweater. Harass me, harangue me, shame me. Do whatever it takes to help incent me to finish it. I will do an update of my progress on the first of every month 'til I am done. My goal is to finish it by my birthday, in March.  I'll take a photo of where I am tomorrow and post it so we have a reference point. What do you think?  Can I finish something for myself?  Will you mock me, cajole me, remind me until I'm done?