Working by Hand

When I fall out of the habit of handwork, I forget how calming and meditative it can be ... until I have a reason to sit and stitch.

I labelled the recently finished tote as a "knitting bag," in part, to inspire me to pull something out of my yarn stash and knit something.

This is a rugged version of Evelyn Clark's Swallowtail shawl. The yarn, Reynold's Mandalay, is an Aran weight silk (which, for non-knitters, is a pretty chunky yarn). I am thinking the finished silk shawl will be the perfect summer wrap for movie theaters and other over-air conditioned venues. You can see photos of finished Swallowtails and get an idea of how this might look when it's finished and blocked on this Knit-a-long blog. 

I was enjoying the knitting so much that I wanted to find something to hand stitch and decided to add some Yo yos-as-flowers to my pink basket blocks. The Clover Yo-Yo makers make it easy to sit and turn a handful of scraps into delicious little circles. I used the African porcupine quill to arrange the folds in the small yo-yos–a tip I learned years ago in a ribbon flowers workshop with Candace Kling.  It's a great tool to use for manipulating fabrics when fingers are too fat.

All the positive bio-feedback from hand-work had me thinking about what's next . . . until I remembered the pre-printed "wholecloth" pillow-sized project I bought from Sew Batik at the Dallas quilt show a couple months ago.  It's been years since I picked up any hand-quilting.  I'm long overdue and looking forward to it.