June 2016 in Review

June was a really busy month at work, so I held off starting anything new and focused on my existing WIPs. I was thrilled that I managed to finish three things this month.

Finished

City Gym Shorts: In 2014, I made my daughter a pair of City Gym Shorts from a free Purl Soho pattern. They were a big hit and she wore them to pieces. Last summer I put off making more, but I was determined to make some this summer. I pulled out my recent apparel fabric remnants and cut out two pairs of the 6-7 size at the same time. Making all that bias tape at once slowed me down, but I managed to finish both pairs this June. They were really satisfying to make and I hope my daughter will get as much wear out of them as she did the first pair.

Unvalentine Quilt: My Unvalentine quilt has been my least favorite WIP for a long time, and I'm so happy that I completed it! You can read more about it here.

Existing WIPs

Baltic Boneyard Shawl: Right now, my Baltic Boneyard Shawl is my favorite knitting project. I still find the "make one" stitches to be a little tricky, but with each row, there is more knitting and purling relative to the "make one" stitches, so they feel less onerous. I'm still on the first ball of yarn (out of three), but since I'm enjoying it so much, I'm not impatient with it at all.

Chaos Quilt: Back in February, I took Libs Elliott's Embrace the Chaos workshop. She taught a really innovative technique for designing a quilt and I had a blast in the class. I ended up changing my initial plan a bit and making a few more blocks before I was happy with the layout, but I really like how it's turning out. I managed to sew all the blocks into rows this month, so I hope to finish this top early in July.

River Song Honey Cowl: My River Song Honey Cowl is still coming along slowly. It's been my travel project since April, and I'm losing interest. I really want to finish it so that I can cast on something in bulky yarn. I don't know what I was thinking having two DK projects at the same time. I'm craving the instant gratification that working with bulky yarn brings.

Temperature Blanket: This is by far my easiest WIP, so it's the one I turn to when I'm too tired for anything more taxing. As a result, I'm now caught up will all of May's rows and have started on June's rows. Not too shabby for starting it 4.5 months late! I do anticipate that I'll slow down on this during the summer months. It's big enough now that I can't really work on it without also using it as a blanket, which is good for fall and winter, but not so good for summer. I also need to buy more Aqua yarn soon. I started this project with 12 balls of yarn (one of each color), but since it will take at least 22 balls to finish, I've been buying a few more here and there as I use up colors. So far Royal and Navy have been the most frequently used colors.

Overall, I am really pleased with my finishes and progress in June. For July, I'm looking forward to making additional progress on my WIPs and maybe making a summer garment or two. Stay tuned!