Knitted Mittens - First Try

Knitted my first pair of mittens using Filatura Lanarota Kaleidoscope 100% extra fine Merino Wool (50 grams = 65 meters; color 009) on US size 8 needles.   In the last photo, the top mitten was just completed and the bottom mitten had been soaked in cold water to full the fibers.  The water soaking seemed to stretch the mitten out.  They may need some light felting but they feel oh so nice!

Wear Your Art - The White Jacket

this is the beginning of the white jacket.  First I printed the designs on paper.  Then I traced the lapel and pockets.  I used the tracing to make a mask - something to look through and audition the prints, and the cutting pattern (including seam lines).  I cut the paper and pin it on the jacket to see how it looks.

Tracing the lapel and figuring out seams and how to piece it

Auditioning the print

The design



The jacket with paper pinned to the pocket

 

Next step cutting and piecing the lapel and pocket.

Wear Your Own Art

We have spent the summer in the Santa Cruz area, Watsonville to be exact, awaiting the birth of our granddaughter and holding her, cuddling her and just loving her after her birth.  Oh yes, we also kept feeding the parents.  We also have friends in Aptos and this post is about a project I am doing with my friend Robin.  Robin has made some glorious Zentangle designs (kind of like doodling but on steroids) and she likes to wear artistic things.  She especially likes suit jackets, her favorite is getting to big as Robin has been loosing weight (you go girl).  So, we decided to decorate another jacket, I decided that we should use Robin's art rather than just find fabric.  Robin sent me some designs and I printed them on fabric.  Then I made a Lapel, pocket flap and some pins.

 

this is the jacket with artful additions

Her is a close up of the lapels and pins

Robin wearing the Jacket - we still have to change the buttons

 

Robin's Zentangle design

 

 



We had such a good time "co-creating art" that several things have happened.  I am going to do another jacket, a white jacket using black and white designs.  I will post some "in process" pictures in the next post.  I also went to Spoonflower.com OMG - you can design and create your own fabric and have it printed and shipped.  So of course I ordered a yard of one design, no I did not order a swatch I was to eager to see the full yard.  It will be coming soon.

Now I need to learn to edit the designs, I need to get the swatch book of the types of fabrics and I need to order some swatches of the other designs.  Limiting myself to 8 1/2 x11 size sheets is just to hard as I have to piece things together.  We would like to laminate some of the fabric and make wonderful tote bags.  More on the white jacket tomorrow.  As Robin says:
Edit it
Print it on fabric
Glitter it (Robin the glitter girl, glittered the hearts)
Laminate it
Make Stuff

More Felting adventures

Corrections for the Chameleon bracelet are in the April 2,2013 post; the free ribbon cuff is on the February 16,2013 post.

I went to NJ for my mom's 90th birthday in March.  We had a great time, a party for Mom, visiting relatives and friends, a little yarn shopping.  One of my friends took us to NYC to see a play.  We had a great time, thank you Cheryl.

My sister and I have been felting, or to be more accurate, fulling.  She knits, I crochet, we have been working on some things and when we got together at my mom's we felted them.  Marie has been doing these wonderful big baskets - they work great as cat beds and she made one for her yarn.  We also did some baskets, bowls and vases.  We did learn that the felting worked better after I had run several loads of wash.  The hot water was much hotter and it made a difference in the felting.  Here are some of our projects.

Marie's basket before felting

Same basket after one washing; you can still see the stitches

 

Same basket after a second wash in hotter water;

much more blending and it is stiffer

 

 

This is a moebius basket that works well as a cat basket;

the design has been cat tested!

 

 

Marie's bowl and a moebius basket

 

Pat's two vases (crocheted), same pattern (different rim) same yarn;
the second one is MUCH smaller, it was washed in hotter water
and it is much stiffer 

First vase with a glass vase and flowers in it

Pat's crocheted moss basket or nest.  Wool yarn with acrylic green fluffy stuff;
I want to wash it again

As you can see we got quite a bit done.  Part of the shopping was at a small yarn shop, I found lots of yarn on sale to make Guardian's of the Forest.  These will be soft and semisoft crocheted and fabric sculptures inspired by some pictures we took while walking the celery farm.  You know how you can see shapes in the clouds?  Well you can see faces in the forest.  We are calling them guardians and I have started work on them.  I will post when I get a few more done.

Corrections for Chameleon cuff

Ok - enough rejoicing - there are several errors in the directions for the Chameleon cuff.  I am so sorry, apparently they mixed up my original amethyst bracelet which is on a 1.5 inch cuff  and the bluewater quartz (a 1.25 inch cuff)that I made using their thread selection (which they did not show). 

The directions as they are will work fine for the 1.25 inch cuff using 4 mm beads and size 10 thread except that Row 3 will have 24 stitches not 28.  

As with all bead crochet, the "wrong side" becomes the right side, the beads will form on the outside of the tube, there should be NO NEED to turn the cuff at the end.

Here are the corrections.

First - the thread shown is Lizbeth lavender size 20.  The holes in chips are often smaller than beads so size 20works better than size 10.

Second you will need about 122 to 133 chips - smaller thread = more rows - I string about 150 chips myself.

The 1.5 blank is basically 2 stitches wider (front and back) than the 1.25 blank

Foundation row - ch 13,

Rnd 1:  sc blo in 2nd chain from hook and each ch across to last ch, 3 sc in last ch, rotate work and sc in unused loop on next 10 stitches, 2 sc in last stitch, join with sl st to first stitch (26 st) place marker (pm) Move marker up at end of each round

Rnd 2: Ch1 sc in next 12 stitches, 2sc in 13^th stitch, sc in remaining stitches,  2stitches in last stitch (28 st) slst in the chain 1 at beginning of row.

Rnd 3: Ch 3 (counts as dc throughout) dc in 1st stitch of previous row, dc in all stitches around, (be careful not to dc in base of ch 3, you will end up adding stitches you do not want) sl st in top of ch 3; ch 3 (28 st)

The thread should be a starting to form an oval cup, slip the tip of the brass blank into the cup to make sure that it fits the blank.

Rnd 4: Ch 3  Double Crochet in first stitch, dc in 2^nd stitch,*dc with bead (dcwb) under both loops (the chips are heavy and need the support) in next dc.  Dc in next dc (double crochet without bead).  *; repeat from * 4 times.  You will have 5 beads on the front of the work alternating with plain dc.  Dc in next stitch, dc turning stitch, dc along the back 14 st to the beginning.  Slst in top stitch of chain 3.

Rnd 5: Dc in first dc,  * dcwb,  dc in next stitch. * repeat from * 5 times (you will have 6 beads on this row – the rows alternate so the beads are staggered), continue to dc around to the beginning, join w slst to top of chain 3, chain3.

TIPS:

·         The beads form alternating rows of 5 and 6 beads

·         For bead stitches, snug the bead up next to the crochet hook before you yarn over (yo)

·         Draw up only the beads you will need on your tension hand, you will have to slide the beads along the thread to access more thread for crochet

·         Every few inches, slide the cover on to the blank.  Crocheting in the round tends to make the design twist, putting it on the blank will help straighten it out and help you see if you missed any stitches.

·         Whenever you put the project down, put a small safety pin through the working loop to prevent unraveling.  It is a good idea to store the cover on the blank when you are not working with it.

·         If the “twist” is too much for you, block the finished bracelet bead side down on a soft surface, like a towel.

Whoo Hoo - I am published!  the electronic version of Interweave Crochet is available, printed version available soon.  Electronic version available at http://www.interweavestore.com/Crochet/Magazines/Interweave-Crochet-Spring-2013-Digital-Edition.html?SessionThemeID=19&a=cmh130315. 

I cannot copy from the magazine but above are two shots of the second bracelet I made.  They are calling it the Chameleon bracelet because you can change the covers.  I think they made a mistake in row 3 - I have to check it more carefully, and they tell you to turn in inside out which you do not have to do.  Anyway for those of you who might want to crochet a cuff but do not want to use beads, go to the post, Free Ribbon Cuff Pattern on 2/16 for the pattern.  Next step - posting on Ravelry.com

Doll Dresses

I crocheted doll dress for my cousin's 2 girls.  I found the pattern at http://www.abc-knitting-patterns.com/1029.html - they have lots of knitted and crocheted patterns.  One has pink trim and the other has purple trim.  After I made the first one I found that the dress was difficult to get on the doll so I changed the pattern a bit.  Instead of crocheting in the round when the skirt starts, I crocheted in rows for about 8 or 9 rows and then started crocheting in the round - this made it much easier to get on the doll.  Also next time I will use fewer buttons on the back.  Doll clothes are such fun (and the dolls don't outgrow the clothes before I finish them).

What fun, I started sewing and crocheting with doll clothes and here I am full circle again.  Cannot wait to create some of my own designs.  BTW - the girls loved them, we may have new crocheters coming along!