Needlework Tuesday: What Goes Up . . .

... must come down.  Or, more appropriately, "What gets knitted, gets unknitted."  I spent a large part of my weekend undoing progress.  I've been learning to loom knit - and loving it!  I spent the week working on two projects.  The first is a shawl for myself, made from a tweed-look chunky yarn.  The finished shawl will require four panels and I have one completed and waiting to be blocked.  Hopefully there will be pictures next week.

The second project is a baby blanket for my great-nephew, who is due to arrive in July.  I'm using Bernat "Baby Blanket" bulky yarn.  The pattern requires two 15 x 36 panels (the multi-color) and one 4 x 36 stripe (solid blue) down the center.  I began the project with a regular knit/purl stitch, but this heavy yarn needed something looser.  After a lot of experiments and unraveling, I finally settled on the Figure 8 stitch, which is tight enough for warmth, but loose enough to wrap easily.  

If you haven't used Baby Blanket yarn, at least touch it the next time you're in your favorite yarn shop.  It is so soft and snuggly!  I may need a blanket of my own. :)

I also made progress on my book quilt - 2 "shelves" completed, 6 to go.  I ordered the brown fabric for the sashing and backing - a coordinate of the beige I'm using for the negative space above the books.  It arrived this week, and I also spoke with the lady who will be quilting it on her long-arm machine.  Everything is going well and I'm excited to complete my very first full-size quilt.  Hopefully there will be photographable progress by next Tuesday.

Thanks to Heather for hosting Needlework Tuesday.  Visit Heather at Books & Quilts and see what everyone's stitching up.