Serendipity Sweater - Work in Progress

Row by row I am still knitting a sweater that I started over a year ago. Last weekend I almost ripped it all out until I mentioned it to my hubby and he talked me down.

Honestly I am so close to finishing and only have a bit left to complete (collar, cuffs and extending lower border to balance out the top half). Isn't it funny that the light tan is also rather two-toned...LOL... I suppose that is what I get for buying yarn at a deli (read on). Perhaps by this next week I will have something to show for all the effort.

I call it the Serendipity Sweater because it started out as a way to use up some miscellaneous balls of wool and speciality fibers that were beginning to overflow the bin, but then I ran out of the main wool. Definitely a no-no for the experienced fiberholic. Still I must push on I thought, after all I had already put about 8 hours into the project. That's a whole workday at my day-job...and not to be wasted. And it was impossible to get more of that yarn since it was purchased at a little deli/hardware store while on break from skiing at Ascutney about 8 years ago.

So, what would you do? My solution was to go online and order several skeins of Ecological Wool in tones to coordinate...or at least I thought it would. You be the judge.

Check back to see my progress.

Spring Thaw

As February winds continue to blow the snow and cold one cannot help but think of spring which is only a few weeks away.

To speed our transition (if only in our minds) my art quilt group (CTFAC) opens a new show titled "Spring Thaw" at the Duncaster Retirement Center in Bloomfield. Several of my pieces are shown below.

The opening reception is Sunday, March 2nd, from 4:00-5:30 p.m.  The exhibit continues at the Duncaster Center  http://duncaster.org through March 28, 2014. I hope you will be able to attend.

"Window Box" by Mary Lachman, 2013- wool, threads, and vintage crochet mounted on streched canvas,

"Roses and Old Lace" by Mary Lachman, 2013 - wool, threads and vintage crochet mounted on stretched canvas

"Spring Garden" by Mary Lachman, 2013 - cotton fabric and vintage crochet mounted on stretched canvas

Starburst

Fresh off my needle is "Starburst" a 26"x26" art quilt made of cotton fabric and batting. The design was inspired when a friend and fellow quilter suffered a strange brain phenomenon causing her to lose 20 years of memories over the course of 1 week.

I will exhibit this piece in "Impromptu Fibers" at the Legislative Office building in Hartford, CT later this spring. "Impromptu Fibers" is a combined show of two art groups, The Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective http://ctfac.blogspot.com  and Sisters in Cloth http://sistersincloth.blogspot.com
Check back for additional information on that exhibit.

The Grey Matter Challenge

Early last summer I handed each member of my art quilt group (CTFAC) a brown paper bag filled with strips of grey cotton and challenged them to create a small art quilt using at least 2 of the fabrics in the bag.

My piece is a landscape reminiscent of the view out my car's rear view window in the late fall as I drive to work early each morning. The sun is not yet over the horizon, but has begun to fill the sky with a beautiful light. It will be mounted on 11x14 inch stretched canvas as part of the next CTFAC exhibit at the Duncaster Retirement Center in Bloomfield in March.

For more Grey Matter Challenge pieces check out the CTFAC blog at  http://ctfac.blogspot.com

Jungle Fever

My nephew Dylan just graduated from the University of Florida with an emphasis in Spanish. 

I am sending him "Jungle Fever" a bed size quilt I made several years ago. It has been rolled up in my studio closet for several years waiting for the right recipient and he is the one.

The pattern is simple. I used Laura Burch fabric squares sashed with coordinating brights and cornerstones in black and white. The entire quilt was framed in black and white and the back was randomly pieced in large blocks of the same.

Lily Pads in a Tranquil Pool

Lily Pads

Mary Lachman 

  24"x 24"

How to Knit a Moebius Cowl Scarf

I am having a great deal of fun knitting my own version of a Mobius Cowl scarf using Cat Bordhi's Moebius Cast On.

Cat Bordhi's method is available on You Tube. You can watch it as many times as you wish.

I used a size 9 - 40 inch circular needle and approximately 180 yards of DK weight yarn alternating with a cotton based novelty yarn. I cast on about 100 stitches. Once you get the hang of it I guarantee you that you cannot just make one.

P.S. this is the third one I have made so far!