Mini Archie’s November Furtle Around The Blogosphere

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something

Hello! ET has led me on a merry dance this month (there was a very brief moment where I wondered whether I should just set fire to it, such was the feeling) but I think we’ve come to an understanding. More of that in a moment.

I finished the soft-as-a-cloud socks for my friend Trudi and they fit, which is always a bit of relief. Particularly with a sock yarn with such a different row gauge from my usual sock yarns. She wanted double length cuffs so she could fold them over, which is why they look so much longer than other cuffs.

Yarn is a 4ply alpaca, silk and cashmere from Coastal Colours

I made another pair, this time for me, and had a bit of a needle disaster mid round:

Yarn is seaglass tonal (high twist) from Mothy & The Squid

And started some for presents (I have four pairs to knit, two of which need to be finished by the end of the year)

Yarn is Opal Rainforest 17 colour way 11095 ‘Referee’

And ET and I made friends and agreed that hand quilting was the answer. Before we reached this agreement, I took it to a friend’s (after I’d unpicked all the lines, then pressed and starched and re pressed each side of each layer of each corner on my wobbly ironing board) and she helped me to pin the hell out of one corner, but when we turned it over to check the wrinkles wouldn’t happen again (we ran our finger along where the line would be quilted), we found that it was going to wrinkle, so my pinning/backing tension hadn’t been at fault last month). We spent the next few hours trying to come up with a different quilting plan which didn’t run along the bias of the front and backing (which is what we think might be causing the problem) and eventually found one we liked. I came home, marked out one corner and…it didn’t work. For some reason, I couldn’t get things to line up and be even right across. I marked out a few other plans and didn’t like them either. Then it hit me that hand quilting might be the answer. After spending quite a while tacking each corner (closer together than usual to help mitigate any residual shift), I did the first two lines and there weren’t  any wrinkles between them on the back. Hooray! I’ve now done six lines so am about a third of the way there on the first corner. I’ve had to let go of any expectation that ET will be finished by the end of the year (hand quilting through Warm&White in black thread on a black fabric isn’t the fastest way to hand quilt), but at least now I know it will be finished at some point, and not by being transformed into ash. 

(Any wrinkles are from it being in the hoop and are temporary.)

Mini Archie has been enjoying the autumn colours as well as bossing me around:

Linking up to the November Furtle 

If you're linking up, please add a link (one per person, please) to your blog post, which could contain: a mosaic of all you've made in the month, something you've made/started/worked on, a goal which you'd like to achieve in the next month (and then in next month's post you can reflect on that goal and set yourself another one - I find this particularly handy if I'm in the midst of a big project and finding the making of hundreds of blocks to be interminable), anything crafty you'd like to share. This isn't just for sewing or quilting, but is for all crafts so if you knit, make lace, make clothes, do anything which could come under the heading of 'craft', then please link up. Please visit the link immediately before and after you and leave an encouraging comment, and more if you can manage it - we all know that comments create joy, so let's spread some around. Also, please treat all the linked posts and their authors with respect - I want this to be an inclusive space for all crafters and crafts and all are welcome. If you're not sure if you're welcome or you belong, you do - this is by no means a closed space and if you want to join, then you are most welcome. If you need help linking up, please leave a comment and I will do my best to help. Please add the Furtling button to your blog post: copy the code below and paste it into your blog post - it 

should then magically appear when you publish your blog post (I'll do my best to help if you have any problems) and it will help people find the Furtling page with all the details of the link up.

<p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://archiethewonderdog.blogspot.com/p/furtling.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXDD7-BYr5nXJtGn7HIFUcDUZfLGBTpazWKP8TCUWdkA6zd2285lbJX4aoMug6QyKDdxtxA-njWnhvf0GugU-An4z5lTFcqmYnae0Gb68FR0ZmydWYETGSa2oF1NeQDMVNwZBnUHTpsD7/s200/textgram_1548790799.png" alt="Archie The Wonder Dog" /></a></p>

To link up, go to the link at the bottom of this page and click on 'link up' (it's a blue button) and then add your link (website URL), a title (this could be your blog name but could also be something interesting to draw people to it (keep it clean!) if you prefer), and your email. This last one doesn't appear on the link (I will have access to it - I won't use it unless there's a problem and I need to contact you) so don't worry that you're about to share your email address with the world (or the handful of people who find this link), you're not! The link will remain open until 17th December; if you're seeing this post after this date, I'm afraid you can't link up to the November Furtle, but you can link next month if you like.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter