Burying threads is a great way to spend time thinking of other things, such as the layouts for the final two N1C (Not 100% Cotton) quilts. I had been spending my days (after using up my 'good' vision quilting first thing in the morning) sewing up the strips for tops 5 and 6. I knew by now that I wanted the classic Trip Around the World setting for one set of strips, but offset. So: to the computer! I set up a 5x7 grid and started plopping in images of one of the blocks I had sewn up, et voila:
With this now plotted, I sewed together 4 blocks to create the 'center', and called it Good.
Of course, with the center sewn first (instead of working in segments of 4s and rows as I normally did) I now needed a game plan for sewing together all the blocks around it. So: to the computer!
With this printed out and at my elbow, I set to work on the designated pile of Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks, starting with the segments wherein all the diagonals are sewn in the same direction. Got those done, then noticed with a sinking feeling that there were only 4 blocks left. I needed 11 more to complete this top. Where had all the blocks gone?
They had fallen through the sieve of my memory.
From a previous post: "With this one, I'm going to play with layouts to see what pleases me most. I'm leaning toward a structured look. Chevrons or the traditional diagonal lines radiating out from a center square? I've also reduced the size to 24 blocks for a 4x6 setting (48"x72")."
I had set up the 5x7 grid out of habit! Old setting vs new: 35 blocks vs 24, a difference of 11.damn.blocks.
Okay, so I played with the printout a bit (because I still wanted the offset layout) and ended up folding under the top row and right column to create this layout:
Very little of what I had already constructed could be used in this abbreviated layout (only one of the 4x4 segments, for example), so there's been a lot of frogging (rip-it, rip-it). I've been amusing myself during this by listening to "Little Miss Sunshine" (I've seen in many times already), then going back and listening to the directors' and writer's commentaries. Better those voices in my head than the one saying, "Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!"
I can say nothing. I'm knitting the neck of a sweater for the third time due to inattention. The first time I was taken with a new method of short row and was so busy with that I didn't change needles after the ribbing. The second time (after writing on the pattern with a coloured pen) when I got to the chart it wouldn't fit into the number of stitches I had because some fool had cast on 76 rather than 96. My mind is only half on what I'm doing and it shows.
ReplyDeleteThe saving grace is that once we're done, no-one will ever know that it wasn't like that from the start.
I miss knitting! Not much call for sweatery things here in the middle of Texas. The last knit thing I completed (5 years ago) was a pussy hat (yes, in protest of the misogynistic pig that had slimed his way into the Oval Office), and I still get compliments on it.
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