Winter Obsession part 2

So here are the fruits of the last few weeks of knitting pleasure. I have had to graph out the project nearly line by line, as I decided it might be possible to make this into a raglan V necked design, which pleased my sense of geometry and hopefully will fit me. All the possibilities of set- in sleeves seemed to do inelegant things to the cables, and while I will probably attempt top- down set- in sleeves in one piece in future, these cables seemed to want to merge in diagonal ways. And to make it less warm to wear, a V neck seemed like a good idea at the time.
So I began to make the braid cable emerge in the front while I decreased in the center cable panel. I'm in the middle of the 5th repeat , and took advantage of the end of this ball of yarn to work on a sleeve. I decided to add 2 stitches every 4 rows until I had a whole cable on either side of the center "seam" and then knit straight to the armpit. 5 cable repeats gives me the arm length measurement I need, so I am pleased. It is kind of scary, though , to work bottom up, as I have become so used to the control and predictability of working top down and being able to try it on as I go. Ah well, live and learn! I am enjoying this quite a bit, watching the graphs turn into stitches and seeing my measurement predictions turn out. As this is a superwash wool, it may turn out bigger than it is as knitted, after I block it, which will be fine, as it seems to be a bit smaller than I predicted from the swatch. In my eagerness to get going of course I didn't wash the swatch! Live dangerously! Luckily I don't have to please anyone except myself, so it is all good. And I can always rip and re-knit. Or find some unsuspecting child to give it to. Or put it in the Museum of Knitting Experiments.

Salon Seven Quilt Show

I spent a lot of happy hours this week quilting a quilt that I had begun a few years ago, but never finished due to getting discouraged with quilting and taking a detour into knitting. I had been invited to curate an exhibit in the New Rochelle Library several months ago, and began to realize I should at least have one new work to hang. I dug this partly finished quilt out from where it was resting and had alot of fun quilting it, and when I put the last stitch into it last night at 1am, I was pleased. It is called "Cats are everywhere"( which you can see in the detail of the quilting)... and here is my panel in the exhibit, which we hung today. You'll have to go see the other 37 quilts in the show; it is wonderful! Here is the press release:

The Salon Seven: Stitching it Together
Group Exhibition at New Rochelle Public Library, New Rochelle, New York http://www.nrpl.org/

The Salon Seven announces the opening of their newest exhibition. In a time where the very fabric of society appears to be falling apart at the seams, this group of seven textile artists continues to meet monthly to encourage and support each other while offering constructive critique. When they are together, ideas and creativity flow, excitement fills the air, and the members encourage each other in their individual explorations of color and design, stitching together their own personal view of life’s journey.
The 41 art quilts included in this exhibition, which runs from Saturday, January 3, 2009,through January 24, 2009, exhibit a breathtaking range of styles, textures, colors and subjects yet remain true to the quilt making tradition. Each member of this group has her own way of using textiles, and each uses fabric, thread, and batting to create her distinctive artwork.
Salon Seven members: Benedicte Caneill, Beth Carney, Georgia Heller, Jeri Riggs, Elizabeth Rosenberg, Linda Schoenfeld, Susan Schrott

Artist's Reception: Sunday, January 11, 2009: 1-3pm