Posted in knitting, painting

Unraveled Wednesday from Here

Posted on by Laura Kate

Waking up again to new snowfall. The wind blew it all about, and it’s clear that we are in for some of the coldest weather I have ever experienced.

Not to fret, I have my yarn (and blog friends) to keep me warm. Here’s what’s on my needles today.

In December I promised Bill that I would knit him a pair of socks. At Christmas, I formalized the promise with this gift, wrapped up with a swatch of the yarn.

This yarn has been in my stash since last January. It is Regia, by Schachenmayr. I have wanted to try this classic self-striping sock yarn for a long time. It was a bit fiddly getting started. I chose to knit from the cuff down using a 1 by 2 rib pattern. Getting cast-on with four sock needles was hard and the first few round tedious. But now I have my rhythm going.

As far as reading goes, the desire to stay inside and curled up has me almost desperate for new reading material. Succumbing to the stacks of detective novels that Bill has sprinkled throughout the house, I chose StillLife, by Louise Penny. I pretty much raced through it in two days. As murder mysteries go, it was fairly gentle, with more writing about relationships than graphic descriptions of violence and cruelty. It turned out to be just what I needed to get through the long, cold nights of January.

To read about posts by Kat’s other Unravelers, visit her site and link into the party.

Posted in knitting

First Finish of 2026

Posted on by Laura Kate

Hello friends. Despite the fact that I have been silent for more than a month, my needles have been busy. I cast on this shawl pattern by designer Andrea Mowry in early December. I cast off on Friday. The close-up above gives you an idea of the shawl’s textures and colors. In the past, I would have photographed my yarn selections as I bag them up into project bags. This project got all knitted up without any photographs of the yarn. Reviewing my yarn buying history, I found these Knit Pick skeins were purchased in January of 2025. So I’ll just link you to the vendor’s site.

Hawthorn in colorway Goddess

Hawthorn in colorway Sweet Home Tonal

Twill in colorway Lavender

I am particularly fond of the Twill yarn. Because it is a 3-ply yarn in a plump merino wool, it makes very nice stitches that have good definition. I’ve already bought more for a fun cardigan that is planned for later in the year.

Anyway, back to the finish: This shawl is Big:

It stretches beyond the width of my queen-size guest bed. I’m guessing the wingspan is about seven feet. That will make for a good couple of wraps around the neck. Iowa is COLD. I have discovered that the more wool items I have on, the better I feel.

To learn more about Andrea Mowry and her fabulous designs, click here.

What’s on your needles?

Posted in painting, quilting

A New Stay At Home Round Robin

Posted on by Laura Kate

Yes, friends, Quilting Gail and her talented co-horts are at it again. The Stay at Home Round Robin for 2026 (better known as SAHRR 2026) is on, starting this week. For readers who are unfamiliar, I offer a link to Gail’s post, which explains it all.

https://quiltinggail.com/2025/12/18/announcing-the-2026-sahrr/

. As usual, there will be six rounds, plus the kick-off round. That’s happening now. Each participant makes or chooses a center block from which to build the quilt, then adds a border to it each week. This will be my sixth year to make one. The thing I love about SAHRR is how it provokes my creativity while providing a gentle amount of structure to keep me corralled and focused. For 2026, I want to make an art quilt that tells the story of our Costa Rican adventure last September. My DH took terrific photos, which support my memories of what we did and saw.

My center block is a fiery-billed aricari, a smallish toucan.

Using one of Bill’s photos as my subject, I painted the background fabrics with Jacquard Dyna-Flow, fused appliques into place, stitched them down, and painted details with Jacquard Textile paint. I’m pretty happy with my choice. If all goes well, I will draw on other vacation photo images to incorporate into future rounds.

I’m aware that my choice is complex and unconventional. But that’s just me. If you want to participate in SAHRR 2026, you can start with any block you have left over from a past project, or sew up a new one. There are no rules, only suggestions.

To see the co-horts who are providing the weekly clues, check out their posts from the list here:

The Schedule

  • January 14   Each of the co-leaders will be sharing their centre blocks (you will have to visit each of their blogs to see them). Gail will host the first linky party where you can show your centre block.
  • January 21:  1st Round:    Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • January 28:  2nd Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • February 4: 3rd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
  • February 11: 4th Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 18: 5th Round:  ME!!! @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 25: 6th Round:  Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • March 25:   Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!
Posted in knitting

12-03-25 Unraveled in DBQ

Posted on by Laura Kate

It’s time to share my second CuscoCozzy Kimono project with the band of faithful Unravellers. On Wednesdays, As Kat Knits provides a link for sharing – Thanks, Kat.

By Monday, I had finished knitting both halves.

The pattern calls for these to be joined at the center back using 3-needle bind-off. I tried to work this step, with no real success, giving up after about an half hour. The edges were so curly that I couldn’t pick up the stitches. It was clear to me that the pieces would need to be blocked now. Because I had only one set of drying blocks, I washed and blocked each piece separately.

First half pinned out to dry.

Two days later, after both sides had dried, I completed the maneuver: Using two long cable needles, pick up stitches at each center back edge. Align the two edges right sides facing. With a third (short) needle knit together a stitch from each needle. Repeat. Pull first stitch up and over second stitch. Do this until all stitches are worked into the bind off.

Viola:

I know, friends, the finished object is enormous. And the intended recipient is narrower than I am. (sigh) Hopefully, she will not mind being swamped. At least the sleeve length looks good.

For those who are curious, here is a link to my first kimono knit from this design. My yarn for this version is Cascade 220 in Teal and KnitPicks Chroma in Lava Party.

To see what the other Unravelers are making this week, click here.

Posted in collage, painting

A New-to-me Design Tool

Posted on by Laura Kate

When it comes to my painting practice, I have been in a months-long drought. While knitting like a demon, I have not been inspired to paint, either on watercolor paper or fabric, since the completion of the Oregon Native quilt in early August.

That ended after reading a post by Just Sketching, in which he describes a compositional tool that blows the “rule of thirds” completely out of the water. It is called the Harmonic Armature. This tool takes the rule of thirds to the next level. In the rule of thirds, the designer/artist divides the picture plane into three more-or-less equal parts, both horizontally and vertically. The goal is to organize the major elements to intersect one or more spots where the lines cross.

I have no trouble understanding and using this rule, but I always am left with questions about how best to lay out the rest of my composition.

Now look at the Harmonic Armature

The four dots are clearly visible, but there is so much more. To get an idea of how this tool is used, have a quick listen to this video by Diante Jenkins.

I had to try this right away, so I started searching through some of my old paintings. I found one based on an excellent photograph that I did five years ago, in my early days working with watercolor paint.

I like how it turned out, but it always struck me as too empty. This past summer, I took it to a workshop I attended on making transfer prints with a laser jet printer. I transferred a photocopy of the painting to a cradled plywood board. Then I didn’t know what to do with it . I decided to add collage to it. What it needed was something alive – like birds. But where to put them?

First, I drew the HA on an 8×10 piece of tracing paper.

Next, I thumbed through some magazines and cut out various shapes of birds in dark colors. I also found some silhouetted figures in the magazine, which could work in my new design, so I cut these out.

After taping the armature over the print, I carefully slipped my cut-out shapes into place, taking advantage of the converging lines and focal points visible on the tool.

Once the glue dried, I added a few colored pencil marks to blend the silhouettes with the foreground.

It was a delightfully spent afternoon.

Now I am keen to get out my unfinished watercolors and see how I can move them to the finish line inspired by my new tool.