Paper Starfish

After a knitting hiatus, I cast on for Nalu Mitts. I was cruising along and thought to myself, "Self, you should take a picture of the cable-y part to show on your blog. Hmmm. That cable-y part doesn't look at all like the picture." Yeah. I was reading the cable chart right to left and then left to right like you do for flat knitting. Except these mitts are knit in the round. Grrr. To the frog pond I went!

So now I'm back at the cuff. I will say that I'm really loving the Madtosh DK and it's nice to have something on the needles.

In stash-building news, I went into my favorite quilt shop (Karen Gray) and picked up this:

Half yard cuts of several prints from Hope Valley. I really love this line. It looks vintage but still fresh. I think I'm going to use a big chunk of this for a Swoon quilt.

I made friends with the Nalu mitts and am back on track. Thought I'd post a little progress shot to prove I'm knitting and now remember how to read a chart for knitting in the round:

I went ahead and joined the Swoon-along. I just kept coming back to this pattern so I knew it was time. Resistance was futile. Block #1 is finished:

I really love this block. I love Hope Valley and plan to have all of the prints in this quilt from that line. I do no like the cutting. There is so much cutting. I'm still motivated though. I think the finished product will be worth it.

I'm crazy for the new Melody Miller typewriter print! I bought a fat quarter which is going to give me at least seven typewriters to fussy cut. I've pulled several fabrics to go with them and now I'm searching for piecing inspiration.

I'm thinking about something very simple. Patchwork or squares in squares. I want to focus on the colors and prints.

Today was Mr. Starfish's birthday. Sometimes he pops on here to check things out so I want to say "Happy Birthday" and "I love you"! This seems like it was made especially for him: