ladynthread

Pajama Eaters

2012-01-20T04:45:00.000-08:00

These little monsters are a pillow but be careful .....they "eat" pajama's!

I found this pattern a number of months ago over at sewfewless.com (it's a good thing I saved it then because now she's charging $10 for it!)

Other than additional reinforcing around the mouth/zipper, the only detail I changed was the feet. The originally design is darling but when I worked the feet they seemed, to me, big and bulky, so I redesigned them to about 1/2 the size (closer in proportion to the arms) and reworked the shape of the foot and leg into a circle.

The Pajama Eater starts to take on a personality after the stuffing has been inserted and I recommend deviating from the written instructions and determine the position of the eyes last.

This was a fun diversion from knitting and a cute sewing project for the grand-kids!

Forest Canopy Shawl

2011-12-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

I haven't done a lot of lace knitting, only a few simple projects (Baby Fern Lace Cowl and Beaded Eyelet Rib Socks) so when I decided to knit a lace shawl I searched on Ravelry to find an easy pattern. The Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl by Susan Pierce Lawrence was perfect. The instructions are well organized, excellently written and error free. In addition, she provides a short tutorial on lace knitting and provides a number of helpful suggestions. For me, the most useful suggestion was writing the instructions for each row out on a separate index card to help keep your place in the pattern - almost as good as a "lifeline". When I purchase a pattern I prefer them to be in books or magazines and I rarely buy only one but I made an exception here and I'm very glad I did.

I had such fun knitting the first shawl and so loved the result that I knit three more! My sister, mom, mother-in-law and a crafting swap partner were the lucky recipients. I'm ready now to work a more complicated lace pattern, however, I've got to make sure and keep one for myself.

All of the shawls went out during the rush of the holiday season and I apologize for the blurry photos.

Yarn: Alpaca Sox by Classic Elite Yarns
Color: Nor'eater (1857)
Size: 57" x 23"
Needles: 7
Note: Worked to 259 stitches before edging

Yarn:  Amazing by Lion Brand Yarn
Color:  Ruby (201)
Size:  Forgot to measure :(
Needles: 7

Yarn:  Tosh Sock by Madelinetosh
Color:  Cobalt & Tart
Size:  51" x 21"
Needles: 7
Note: Worked to 243 stitches before edging

A Knitting Performance

2011-12-03T21:00:00.001-08:00

Knitting Nation

Have you ever been to a knitting performance? Well, I hadn't until I took in Liz Collins' Knitting Nation Phase 8 - Under Construction at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston during a day long performance on November 30th. The ICA's current exhibition is Dance/Draw (thru 1/16/12) and Knitting Nation's presentation engaged the theme through eight knitting machines stationed at various levels of scaffolding and the lines of finished knitting draped among its framework and pooled onto the floor.

Knitting Nation is part ongoing collaborative performance and part site-specific art installation project and you can get a lot more information about the project over at the web site of Liz Collins

As a passionate knitter, crafter and artist I was intrigued and inspired by all of this and took video to capture the noise and movement of the knitters. At the beginning of the video you see Liz Collins and a volunteer knitter working to repair one of the machines that had gone down from the constant usage. This was a knitting project and performance so very different and interesting that I had to share!

QR Code - The knitting project that didn't work

2011-11-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not positive, but I think this is the first post I've written where things didn't work out (it's not that this doesn't happen on a fairly regular basis but I don't usually spend the time to detail it!) During the summer I was downloading and exploring apps for my new Android phone and one of them was a QR code reader. A QR code is a type of bar code that can cram a lot of data information into a pattern of squares. Companies and retailers are using them to provide additional information about themselves or a product - usually by directing you to a web page. To use a QR code reader, you point the camera of your phone at a QR code and the image is scanned and the data is interpreted. Below is a QR code which is a link to my ladynthread blog:

The crafting/design side of my brain immediately started thinking of different projects where I could use a QR code motif - maybe a bag or a scarf ? Translating the QR code into knitting seemed interesting so I started with worsted weight yarn and knit one stitch for each white and black square. I experimented using intarsia knitting on the corner squares and for the long left and right vertical edges but the bulk of the design is knitted with the stranded method.

The knitting is 'ok', a little ragged in spots (hey, it's a first prototype!), but unfortunately the stitched "squares" were mostly "V's" formed with the stockinette stitch and the QR reader couldn't read it, except for one time where the light and the angle must have been perfect, Using a fingering weight yarn and making each square of the QR code a block of four stitches might make it readable or maybe cross-stitching would work. Printing to fabric transfer paper is probably the most straight forward approach, but for now, the whole idea is shelved until further inspiration.

A New Job!

2011-09-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

I've started a new job at Framingham State University. I love this job! I'm the Laboratory Technician for the Fashion Design & Retail Department. I'm responsible for sewing machine maintenance, supply ordering and providing instructor support for all of the Principals of Construction classes (for me, the best part). I'm also learning how to run an old Meistergram Monogram machine and figuring out database requirements for the Costume and Textile Collection.

I'm still knitting, crocheting, sewing and crafting but the blogging is backlogged and will probably happen with a rash of posts the first day I find a few free hours.

In the meantime, take a moment and check out the details and upcoming events of the Fashion Design and Retailing Program at FSU.

Kindle Cover

2011-08-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

I love my Kindle 3 and because I carry it around a lot I needed a protective cover. Nothing fancy. Nothing expensive. So I decided to design my own. The pattern is a very quick crochet with little seaming (only the bottom needs to be stitched closed). The lining is optional and adds slightly more structure and protection.

It's a free pattern (pdf file) available in the original patterns section of my Ladynthread website as well as at Ravelry. Enjoy!

A Couple of Cute Baby Things

2011-08-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of cute baby items from two great patterns. Both the patterns were a dream to work - with very MINOR notes (how rare is THAT?)

I used Berroco Comfort Sock yarn (#1811 Hari Hari) for both these items and unfortunately it wasn't the best choice. I didn't realize that this yarn is a self patterning sock yarn and the repeats didn't work the best with these items.

BABY'S FIRST SOCK (pattern here)

In addition to the yarn choice there are two minor notes:

After working the repeats of the foot, my measurement from the back of heel came closer to 3½" than 3". A couple of other bloggers noted this same discrepancy so I suspect that it's a typo rather than my knitting.

These socks are for an older baby (I'm guessing 6-12mos), not a newborn. They may be the first socks that don't look like booties but they won't be baby's FIRST socks!

Update: Here's my granddaughter Natalie modeling them (along with Little Lamb Sock Critter. Natalie is 16 months so I'm bumping the age estimate for the fit up to 12-18 months.

SWIRL HAT (pattern here)
VERY cute hat! It's the perfect hat to bring the baby home from the hospital in. It's also an extremely well written pattern with sizing from Preemie to Adult. Again, the self patterning of the yarn didn't work well here.

Website Update

2011-07-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Check it out - ladynthread.com has a new fresh and updated look!

Trellis

2011-05-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with this baby sweater as soon as I saw it. It’s known as Trellis and it’s a free pattern at Knitty.com. I made it for my friend Heather who was expecting her first child. The yarn is Rowan All Season Cotton (60% cotton, 40% acrylic) in color #236 scarlet. Heather knew her baby was a girl but I chose this gender neutral color so the sweater could be easily passed down to future siblings!

My notes:

Ribbing - The ribbing was written to be worked in seed stitch with the same size needles as the body. Seed stitch is not a true ribbing so its choice is decorative rather than functional.
Unfortunately, the ribbing rippled once the body of the pattern was knit. It wasn’t bad enough to start over (and a fair amount of the rippling eased with blocking) but I did switch to needles two sizes smaller for the sleeves and front pieces.

Back/Left Neck Shaping – The setup for the right and left neck shaping doesn’t result in both being knit exactly the same and as written is a little awkward. By changing the last row of the back to the following – Next Row [WS]: Work in patt as set for 18 st, BO 11,~~work in patt to end~~ place remaining stitches on st holder – I was able to work the Left Neck Facing using the same instructions as the Right Neck Facing.

Sleeves –
     1.   In order for the seed stitch of the sleeve’s ribbing to align with the seed stitch of the sleeve’s cable pattern, the first row needs to start with a purl instead of a knit. This is not noted in the pattern and should be errata.
     2.   The top of the sleeve uses a portion of the cable pattern from the body and the underside of the sleeve is reverse stockinette stitch. This design feature is not explicitly stated in the pattern but only mentioned as purls in the two startup rows of the sleeve, so I started purling all of these underarm stitches and this resulted in a purl garter stitch. Because my sleeve wasn’t matching with the pictures (pictures ARE an integral part of a pattern!) I had to stop and figure it all out. I’m ambivalent about apportioning blame here. The pattern is listed as “tangy” (meaning for advanced knitters) but I believe it still should have been noted that the additional stitches of the sleeve’s underside are worked in reverse stockinette stitch but I’ll concede that this may be an assumption that advanced knitters are suppose to be able to make.
     3.   The increases for the sleeves were made on the wrong side with M1’s and made holes on the right side. – (and if you have followed me this far into my notes, I’d love for you to leave a comment just saying hi!) – Tim Gunn’s rule to “make it work” always echoes in my head so I used needle and thread and sewed among the stitches to close the gaps. If I make this sweater again, I’ll look into other types of stitch increases. I'm thinking purl increases on the right side should work.
     4.   From the reading of other blog posts about this sweater many knitters chose to pick up the sleeve stitches and knit the sleeve from the top down (so they could avoid sewing the sleeve in). However, I couldn't figure out an easy way to do this and make the cables run in the same direction as the body of the sweater, as well as figure out the right spot to put the increases.

Collar – The collar is the area that gave me the greatest agony and angst. The collar is knit in two sections with stitches starting from the left and right plackets. The instructions call for knitting the two sections, grafting them together at the center back and seaming the collar to the body.
     Instead of having to seam the collar I decided to knit into the edges of the body as I knit the collar. I really had no idea how to achieve this (I was just tired of seaming!) I picked up a stitch in the body of the sweater at the end of a row and then, in order to keep the same number of stitches, worked two stitches together at the beginning of the next row. That worked and looked very good on one side but “funny” on the other, so once again, I fiddled around with needle and yarn to make it look more like the other side. Next time I would just seam the collar.
     The difficult part for me, and the technique that I didn’t get right, was grafting the collar(see photos at bottom of blog post). I’m very comfortable with grafting, but it’s always been with two stockinette pieces. I’ve never grafted seed stitch and it took hours of research on the web to find an approach to the problem. The answer is to knit a swatch with one row (the one that will be the grafted) in a different color of yarn and then to use the swatch as a “map” for the grafting. Below are pictures of my swatch and the collar edges which need to be grafted. There were two problems with the grafting, one was keeping the stitches turned in the correct position (once off the needle, they wanted to twist) and the other was the difficulty of looking back and forth between the swatch and the collar and remembering where I was and what I needed to do.
     I never did get it exactly right. At some point I decided I would follow the example of Navajo weavers – I would make the mistake intentional so I didn’t offend the gods.

Shoulder Seams – I chose the three needle bind-off for the shoulder seams. I like the structure that shoulder seams provide and I’m a big believer of putting them in. This is pure personal preference and grafting the shoulder seams is certainly a possibility but it would involve the same process as the collar (making a swatch) and after my “issues” with grafting the collar this wasn’t a consideration for me.

I have a love/hate relationship with this sweater. I love the design. I hate the pattern. With its cables and shawl collar, this design is cute sophistication but there was a lot of frogging, Macgyvering and redesigning because of the pattern. So I don’t know if I’ll make another one until I have resolved some of the knitting techniques. However, I have a feeling when Heather sends me a picture of Anna wearing it I’ll forget all the pain and problems and fall in love all over again.

Notebook Covers - Valentines 2011

2011-02-25T10:02:00.000-08:00

Every Valentines I make a little gift for the girls in my life. For Mother's Day, Sarah sent me a cut of fabric with this adorable heart print -- I just had to find a project for it! About 3 months before February 14th, I start trolling through saved links, Google searches, craft books and any other inspirational source I can think of to find just the right idea to convert into a handmade valentine goodie .

The quest this year culminated with the idea to cover mini-notebooks with the heart fabric. I found the perfect size (3¼" x 4½ ") notebook at Staples and backed each cover with muslin. I stitched across the top and bottom when turning the flaps. Very little fabric was needed for each cover and I still have plenty of this adorable fabric left over for another day!

Little Lamb Sock Critter

2011-02-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

This Little Lamb Sock Critter pattern is free over at Lion Brand Yarns. I was attracted to it because of the textured pattern of the body and the interesting way the technique for knitting a sock heel was used for the face and head. However, I knew from the beginning I was going to have to make adjustments because the original pattern looked more like a rat than a lamb! I made two lambs and gave both away but I'm in love with the finished results and thinking about making one for myself!

Pattern Corrections:
There are two errata to the written pattern:
1) When working the leg of the lamb Row 17 is actually the right side and not the wrong side.
2) The pattern has both written and charted instructions but the written instructions for Row 4 of the body is blank - it should read: (K1, P1) 7 times, K2, P2, K2, P1, K1, P2, (K1, P1) 5 times.

My Changes:
These are the things I did to morph a rat into a lamb:
1) I did use Wool-Ease Yarn but I substituted the color "Natural Heather" for "Fisherman".
2) I used 9mm safety eyes.
3) I embroidered a V nose in place of a felt circle (see photo for placement).
4) I cut the size the tail exactly in half (instead of casting on 16 stitches, I cast on 8).
5) I made no changes to the knit pattern for the arms and ears, however, the biggest change in the whole pattern was how I attached them,.
     a. Once the ears were knit (and before attaching it to the head) I stitched them closed by "layering" the front and back. By this I mean I didn't press the ear together and stitch it - I pushed 1/2 of the circle a little lower than the other and then stitched closed, this reduced a great deal of bulk. After that, I stitched the ears flat to head so that they hang down the side of the face (see photo for placement). It's the ears that make the lamb look like a lamb and not a rat. So pay attention to the ears (unless you want a rat!)
      b. I did not stitch the ends of the arms closed before attaching. In fact, I stitched them down to the body in a skinny oval at the side of the body. This change to the arms doesn't really make the lamb look less like a rat but I liked it better and felt it matched the look of the legs.
     c. I didn't stitch a straight line across the lower edge of the body just above the top of legs (to allow the lamb to sit). This was personal preference only.

Baby Fern Lace Cowl

2011-02-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

Almost a year ago I took a yarn hand-dying class at Mind's Eye Yarns in Cambridge. Along with a couple samples, I dyed 4 skeins of sock yarn (see photo below). I finally got around to knitting something with one of the skeins!

The pattern is the Baby Fern Lace Hood/Hat/Cowl by Allyson Ryan and it's a free pattern over at Ravelry

It was a fast, fun and relatively easy to knit once I made the stitch change noted below.

Notes:

117 stitches has a 13 times repeat not the 16 noted in the pattern.

The pattern defines a SSK as "slip 1 stitch purl wise, knit next stitch and pass slipped stitch over (left slant)". but that definition is really for a sl1, k1, psso. I chose to do an actual SSK but an "improved" version which is: "Slip one stitch as if to knit, slip the next stitch as if to purl, knit the two together through the back loops". This is also a left slanting decrease, lies flatter and was easier to execute with this pattern.

I used a long-tail cast (essentially a knit row itself) so I started the beginning garter stitch section with a purl row rather than a knit row and eliminated row #8 before starting the repeat.

I did a regular bind off but went up a needle size. Both the cast-on and bind-off were loose enough.

Finished blocked size (you must block this pattern!) was 26" circumference and a height/length of 18".

The yarn is a Superwash Merino/Tencel blend.

I'm going to knit a pair of socks with one of the remaining skeins but I welcome any suggestions for the other two skeins as well as the two little samples.

Quilts for Haden & Natalie

2011-01-01T08:00:00.001-08:00

Mostly I knit and crochet but I also sew - it's really about "making stuff"! This past fall I was out on the West Coast visiting family and went to two local fabric shops (think local yarn shop, in other words, not a Joanne or Hancock Fabrics) In each shop I came away with fabric to make quilts for grandchildren.

Shop #1
Maisonette in Oceanside, CA is a wonderful little shop which doubles as a photography/art studio. It was here that I got the idea for the quilts (not hard, they had a sample prominently displayed!) The quilts take only a yard of material each for the front and the back. Rockets and moons for 4½ year old grandson Haden, encouragement from my daughter Rebecca that he would love it for Christmas and the project was just too perfect to pass up. Double bonus: I also found heart buttons to add to my stash for possible Valentine projects.

Shop #2
Fabric Crush in Seattle, WA is a bright and well organized local fabric shop located in an historical building in the Wallingford area. Double bonus: They are right next door to the yarn shop Bad Woman Yarn!! It was here that I found the fabric for another quilt, this time for 9 month old granddaughter Natalie. Big thanks to Sarah who prevented a potential disaster by pointing out that I needed to buy a little more than a yard of this fabric because the print was not multi-directional.

Notes:

I cut a cross grain binding of 2½" to give a 1/2" border.

On Natalie's blanket (the green one) the backing fabric is a flannel and it is a little thicker and "snugglier".

I tried a iron-on batting and I shouldn't have. I don't use iron-on interfacing when sewing garments because it can make the fabric stiff and leave glue traces -- the same principle applies here. Luckily, I didn't have have major issues washing out the adhesive but I was lucky and it did mean I washed the fabric twice (I had prewashed the fabric before sewing)

I quilted all the layers together by tying knots 5" apart with a coordinating color of Pearl Cotton #5. On a baby/toddler quilt 4" apart might be better so I'll keep any eye on how they wear.

These quilts were my first attempts at mitered corners and it went very well. I viewed a couple of websites and videos for the gist of how to do mitered corners but it was this video and it's proclaimed "no snouts allowed" that put the professional touch on them! What's a snout on a mitered corner? I have no idea how to explain it but watch the first minute of the video and she'll show you (she has lots of cool toys too!)

Sarah's Afghan

2010-12-31T18:42:00.000-08:00

This is a special afghan made for my daughter Sarah to celebrate her move into an apartment of her own. We worked on the design and its features together and started the process with her requirements for an afghan -- big and warm with flowers!

For warmth Sarah chose Lion Brand Homespun yarn which meant that a larger size afghan was going to be heavier and bulkier than a regular size one but for Sarah that meant more snuggle-ability (is that's not a word, it should be!) Homespun is a bulky and textured yarn and wasn't going to work well for flowers, in addition, it didn't come in the colors she wanted. The perfect color - Wild Berry - was found with Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice Yarn. We had the yarn and colors - now to design!

I got really lucky with a flower design when I found a newly published book, 100 flowers to knit & crochet by Lesley Stanfield, there were lots of flowers with wonderful dimension and detail to chose from. After crocheting and knitting up a few different ones we both liked the Anemone.

Now we needed a simple background where it was going to be easy to attach the flower as well as frame it. Using only double crochets and increasing the number of stitches each round it didn't take long to design and settle on a simple crocheted square. The pattern is detailed below.

I like how this design incorporates both knitting and crocheting (I love to do both) and it's not often that both are prominently featured in an afghan design. It took over a year of designing and execution to finish; that makes it a special blanket for a special person. I love you Sarah.

Notes:

There are a total of 35 squares (arranged in a 5x7) and 18 flowers.

Size 8 needles were used for the Anemone flower along with Vanna's Choice yarn. It took 3 skeins of Wild Berry, 1 skein of White and 1 skein of Black.

Each square measures approximately 11½" and the completed afghan measures 55" x 77".

I crocheted the squares with a K hook and it took 14 skeins Edwardian Homespun each skein of made +/- three squares

The border is a row of single crochet.

Square Pattern
K hook - Homespun yarn
Rnd 1: Using Magic loop beginning: (3 dc, ch 2) 4 times.
Rnd 2: *Work dc’s in each dc and in the corners work (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) *
– 7 dc each side from corner hole to corner hole.
Rnd 3: Repeat Rnd 2 from * to *
– 11 dc each side from corner hole to corner hole.
Rnd 4: Repeat Rnd 2 from * to *
– 15 dc each side from corner hole to corner hole.
(6” across at this point)
Rnd 5: Repeat Rnd 2 from * to *
– 19 dc each side from corner hole to corner hole.
Rnd 6: Repeat Rnd 2 from * to *
– 23 dc each side from corner hole to corner hole.
Rnd 7: Repeat Rnd 2 from * to *
– 27 dc each side from corner hole to corner hole.
Rnd 8: Repeat Rnd 2 from * to *
– 31 dc each side from corner hole to corner hole.

One-piece baby sleeper

2010-11-27T10:55:00.002-08:00

I love this outfit! I've knit it for almost every baby in the family. It's from a 1981 Needleworks publication titled To Baby ... With Love by Linda Dec Vikla. The outfit is big so I knit the 6 month size because the feet are not “walking” feet. It's a fun knit and a perfect gift for older babies (6-9+ months). Through the years I'm made minor pattern corrections, mostly about where to end the knitting to begin the eyelet rows. While it's a lot of knitting and a lot of seaming, the quality and durability of the garment has always been worth it.

The beauty on the left is my granddaughter Natalie wearing the newest version. This one was knit with Rowan Pure Wool 4 ply (a superwash wool) in a gorgeous raspberry color. The beauty on the right is my niece Elisa and is the first sleeper I knit (Elisa recently graduated from law school!) Below is one knit for my niece Karla and this one was passed down for two of my daughters to wear.

A true classic and almost heirloom pattern!

Note: The waist and feet are fitted to the baby with the use of ties. To prevent the ties from being pulled they are stitched to the garment at the center backs.

Anne of Green Gables - Cotton Warp Quilts

2010-11-13T13:04:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I was rereading the Anne of Green Gable books when I ran across this passage:

"Yet with all this Mrs. Rachel found abundant time to sit for hours at her kitchen window, knitting "cotton warp" quilts - she had knitted sixteen of them, as Avonlea housekeepers were want to tell in awed voices."
Anne of Green Gables
Chaper I

Later in the series there are references to the quilts as spreads and having patterns:

"Mrs. Rachel has given you one of her beloved knitted quilts of the the 'tobacco stripe pattern and she says when I am married she'll give me one, too."
Anne of the Island
Chapter XXIX

" 'I'm going to give Anne two of my cotton warp spreads,' she
resumed. 'A tobacco-stripe one and an apple-leaf one. She tells me they're getting to be real fashionable again' "
Anne's House of Dreams
Chapter II

So what was she knitting and what was she knitting it with? It took me awhile to do the research and even longer to write a blog post but this question pops up periodically in knitting forums and it is always answered in pieces. So I've collected those pieces, added a little research of my own, and hope to make a one post comprehensive answer. Here goes:

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables By Lucy Maud Montgomery, Margaret Anne Doody, Mary E. Doody Jones and Wendy E. Barry has the following note to "'cotton warp' quilt" :

"A particular type of yarn sold in stores and identified as such on the label. When it first came in, in the 1820s, this very soft yarn was used principally for weaving. What Mrs. Lynde makes is, strictly speaking, not a quilt but a bedspread. The common way of making such spreads with cotton or other thread is to knit squares on the bias and stitch them together, but Mrs. Lynde's quilt knitting involves elaborate lacy patterns. Montgomery herself knitted three such patterned quilts (see Appendix, "Homemade Artifacts")."

And the Appendix passage which is from Montgomery's 1914 journals:

"Today I began to knit a quilt...There have been so many days lately that I could do absolutely nothing,...Now, knitting has always had a good effect on me when I was nervous...so I began the quilt. It doesn't matter if I never finish it. Quilt knitting in this particular pattern especially always makes me think of Malpeque. I spent a winter there once with Aunt Emily. Every girls and woman in Malpeque had knitted, was knitting, or intended to knit a quilt -- some of them several quilts. They possessed so many patterns and considerable rivalry went on. Lace knitting was very popular also. I caught the fever and began a quilt. I think I was three years knitting it. It was very pretty but wore out long ago. Ten years ago I knitted a second which I still have."

What was Mrs. Rachel knitting?
Mrs. Rachel was knitting a counterpane with cotton warp yarn. This activity became extremely popular from the mid 19th century thru the early 20th century and its popularity is also noted in this story from The Gentleman's Magazine, July to December 1893

"We sit round in a circle in the best parlour, and are very solemn, and tea is handed round. Then we talk--at least the others do; for until the men come the women talk about nothing else but recipes for bacon-pickles and knitted cotton counterpanes. They make the counterpanes in little square or oblong bits, which are afterwards sewn together. They each have a piece which they are knitting, and there are hundreds of patterns in which they may be done; they discuss each pattern, so it takes a good long time."
A Village Fragment
by Mary Hartier

What are Knitted Cotton Counterpanes?
A knitted cotton counterpane (counterpane, bedspread and coverlet are synonyms) is composed of squares, triangles, stripes or other shapes of knitted pieces that are sewn together to make a bed-cover. The word counterpane is also frequently used to refer to the patterned knit pieces themselves.

A knitted counterpane pattern from Godey's Lady's Book, July, 1860 (a modern pattern translation is here)

Additional knitted counterpane patterns:

Bedspread (Counterpane with Leaves)

Leaf Bedspread

Quilt (Square Counterpane with Leaves)

Rose Leaf Counterpane

Knitting Counterpanes: Traditional Coverlet Patterns for Contemporary Knitters by Mary Walker Phillips is a popular resource book for contemporary counterpane knitters.

What are the patterns for Mrs. Rachael's counterpanes?
The specific patterns used for the two counterpanes mentioned (A tobacco-stripe one and an apple-leaf one) are not known. Leaves are very common patterns used for counterpanes and there are many variations of tobacco and apple leaf patterns. Mrs. Rachael worked the tobacco leaf pattern in a stripe (a long narrow band) but the shape of the apple leaf pattern is not mentioned.

What is cotton warp yarn?
Cotton warp yarn is cotton spun to be a strong and durable yarn for use in the warp of a woven fabric. Cotton warp yarn was (and still is) an easily available and economical choice for knitting a bedspread, as well as other household items.

The size of cotton yarn used for a counterpane would depend on whether a light or heavy bedspread was wanted. No yarn size specifics are given in the Anne of Green Gables literature or by L. Maud Montgomery. I provide it here for additional detail and interest.

Cotton yarn size is given with two numbers and is best explained by Rachel Brown in her book The Weaving, Spinning, and Dyeing Book, ed.1987.

"These are numbers by which yarn size and ply are described.... Cotton, linen, woolen, and worsted yarns can all be described by count. #1 describes the size of the yarn that will be produced when spinning a certain base yardage from 1 pound of fiber.... For cotton, No. 1 is the size thread that results from spinning 840 yards from 1 pound of cotton fiber. #2 would be the size thread if twice this yardage (1,680 yards) was spun from 1 pound of cotton... #10 would be a thread 8,400 yds long weighing 1 pound. So the higher the number, the finer the thread. This is single-ply thread.... When the thread is plied, the number of plies is given along with the thread size, as 10/2 (2 plies of #10 thread) or 6/3 (3 plies of #6 thread). The first number is the size of the thread and the second number tells how many threads of this size there are in the final plied yarn."

Comparison Chart
Cotton Yarn Size #	Approximate Weight
10/2	Fingering
8/2	Bedspread
8/4	DK (double knitting)
8/8	Worsted

That's it! I now know what Mrs. Rachael was knitting and why they were so highly valued. Someday I wouldn't mind knitting one myself.

Ben & Jerry Ice Cream Pint Cozies

2010-09-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Ben

Jerry

I love these! and I had a great time pattern testing them for my friend Heather. There are two patterns and each is named after the iconic ice cream flavor guru's - Ben & Jerry. The Ben pattern (blue cozy) is double-thick and definitely keeps the hands warm as you eat! The Jerry pattern (ombre/cream cozy) is a wonderful rib pattern with a nice long stitch detail that also insulates the cold well.

Each cozy was knit with worsted weight acrylic yarn from my stash. They were fun and quick to knit but the real pay-off is using them!

Great job Heather! and congratulations on their publication in the Knitting: 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar.

Mini-me

2010-07-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

I've shared before that projects and ideas get seared into my brain and don't get out until they're executed with some form of success or failure (anything from a "meh, it's ok" to "I LOVE IT!" or "where do I get these ideas??" to "I will NEVER do anything like that again!!") So when I saw this post from Stitch London, that they were creating a Stitch Yourself exhibit for the re-opening of the London Science Museum's Who Am I? gallery, then making a Mini-Me immediately become one of those projects that I just had to do.

The details:

Body Blank:The stitched self had to be approx. 6" and stitched (no clay, wood, etc. bodies) and a free pattern for a knit, crochet and sewn body "blank" were provided by Stitch London, but you were not limited to these patterns. I wound up choosing and making changes to Jean Greenhowe's Rainbow Babies pattern by working in a sock weight yarn, adding a couple extra rows to the legs and body and decreasing the number of stitches in the head. All of these adjustments brought me to about 6" in height and a more adult doll look.

Clothing:I live in New England (Boston suburbs) and for most of the year I wear jeans and sweaters. The sweater is leftover sock yarn dyed during my Independent Study sock yarn project (detailed here) and, of course, I had to work a heart motif into this project somewhere! The jeans were hand sewn from an old pair that were headed to the recycle bin. They're difficult to see but the sock feet are knit as part of the body using left over yarn from my very first pair of knitted socks!

Hair:DMC embroidery floss #840

Eye Glasses:This was the only part of the Mini-Me not hand stitched but I have been wearing glasses for over 45 years and I really wanted an accurate representation of them. A big thanks to my husband who crafted them for me ;)

Face:I HATE doing faces. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to Laura for holding my hand and making me stop when I was suppose to!!!

Bracelet:I've been crocheting beaded bracelets for years(I've blogged about a few here and here) and one of my best and favorite designs is one I do of the American flag. Because this an international project and I had to have something representing crochet! I strung seed beads in the basic pattern that I use to crochet my bracelets and sewed them down to the wrist.

Misc.:I didn't spend a penny making Mini-Me which is a representation of 1)my stash and 2)I don't throw much out!

For those who know me in person I think you'll agree that this not a bad representation of myself. At the very least, she is a symbol of what I love to do the most - make things.

Here are pictures of Mini-Me on her first adventure at the London Science Museum. Stitch London has promised further adventures and I can't wait to live vicariously through her travels ... I'll keep you posted.

Mini-me is circled - click on photos for a larger picture

BTW, this was one of those projects where I LOVE IT!

Welcome to the World Baby Girl Natalie

2010-05-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

This is my newest granddaughter born on April 17, 2010 and her name is Natalie Rachelle -- Isn't she the most beautiful baby you have ever seen?!! When Rebecca told me that her baby was going to be a girl she also gave me permission to knit with pink :) The first thing I knit was this newborn sweater. Normally, I like to knit baby garments for older babies because they'll usually get a few months of wear rather than the few weeks of a newborn garment, but I had some stash yarn available and I ran across this adorable pattern : Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater, Designed by Carole Barenys. My yarn was fingering weight and, as I knit, I periodically compared it a newborn sleeper. No adjustments to the pattern. A fast, fun and interesting knit with a wonderful ... Oh, it's soooooo cute ending!

Where's Haden?

2010-01-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

My grandson loves the Where's Waldo series of books and they were on his wish list for the holidays. When I bought the books I was inspired to add to the fun by knitting him his very own Where's Waldo? hat!

I've lost my notes with the details for this pattern but basically I "winged" it while making it. I started with a quick Google search for K2,P2 rib hats to get an idea how many stitches to start with for a child as well as how big to make the body of the hat before the decreasing for the crown -- that was about it!

I've been a VERY busy girl

2009-12-06T21:13:00.001-08:00

Pidge

Spiral Rib Hat

You thought that I wasn't doing anything because I haven't posted since August? Well I actually have been a VERY busy girl! These five knitting projects are part of a directed independent study which I blog about over at Yarn-On. The details for each of these projects are over there too.

Beaded Eyelet Rib Socks

Shades of Grey

Ripple Stitch Socks

Yarn-On

2009-08-14T10:42:00.001-07:00

Yarn-On is a side blog I have going about the adventures of a directed study in spinning, dyeing and designing with yarn.

How a Compulsion Starts (my first pair of knit socks)

2009-08-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

I traveled to California to visit my family last month and I forgot to claim my laptop computer after putting it through the security checkpoint in Boston. I flew all the way to San Francisco and drove all the way to Santa Clara before I realized that my computer bag was "light". Luckily, it was safe and sound in the hands of the TSA in Boston. I had intended to get caught up on a few web design projects while visiting and now that was not going to happen. I felt like an idiot for losing my laptop and needed a challenging project to occupy my mind so I went to the yarn store! I decided it was time to tackle the challenge of knitting a pair of socks.

I've crocheted a pair of socks (read about the adventure here)but I never intended to knit a pair of socks. Why? There were a couple of reasons. One reason is that I'm a bare foot person. When I'm at home I don't wear anything on my feet and I'll wear sandals until there's three inches of snow on the ground or my toes start to turn blue, whichever comes first. I crocheted a pair of socks for the challenge .... I don't actually wear them!

Another reason was that I didn't like knitting with double pointed needles. It wasn't until I taught myself how to knit in the round with two circular needles that I "got" the whole concept of multiple needle circular knitting. The double pointed needles took a little bit of practice but it became much easier after my success with two circulars. Double pointed needles are much cheaper too and that leaves more money for yarn.

The final reason I've never knit a pair of socks is because I believed the hype about their difficulty. Turning the heel and grafting were techniques I kept hearing knitters struggle with and I felt that my knitting skills weren't up to the task. However, a number of years ago I learned to graft and I figured now was the time to teach myself how to turn a heel. At the very least it would help keep my mind off that forgotten computer.

I found a free pattern at Michael's for this pair of pedicure socks. How cute! I decided I would make a pair of them for my daughter. I started knitting away and had NO problems following what I later learned was the most basic of sock patterns. I turned my first heel without a hitch and with a great deal of pride! I had almost finished knitting the first sock when I was quietly informed by my daughter that she would never wear them!!!!! It wasn't that she didn't like or appreciate them but 1) she didn't get pedicures and 2)she only wore ankle socks.

What to do? I could continue and finish and try to find someone to give them to (they weren't the right size for me) but now I had "sock fever" and I decided that my first sock was going to be for ME and I was willing to frog everything and start knitting new socks, this time with toes!

I read every sock book in the library and I scoured the internet for sock blogs and forums. I quickly learned that people who knit socks are very passionate about their work and that socks are pretty darn easy to design and knit to your own specifications. I was now completely enthralled!

The three books that helped the most were:
1) Knitting rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.
--This book is mostly a humorous and practical information book about knitting but there is a section that breaks down how to knit a pair of socks without a pattern and this was my inspiration and springboard for giving it a go myself.
2) Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd.
--My sock bible. The best beginning sock book I found.
3) Socks A La Carte by Jonelle Raffino.
--A fun flip book with lots of different cuff, body, heel and toe patterns.

Sock Notes:

2 balls of Patons® Stretch Sock Yarn - Olive

K3,P1 for cuff and body

K1, slip1 for the heel

Double decrease for the toe

I love knitting socks! All I want to do now is design and knit socks. I want to learn everything there is to know about socks. I am hopelessly addicted and have a serious new compulsion. I am already in the process of hand dyeing yarn and picking out a stitch pattern for the next pair. I may need an intervention. I'm definitely going to have start wearing them.

Kitchen Scrubby

2009-07-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

This kitchen scrubby is a great use for scrap pieces of worsted weight cotton yarn and an easy three step process.

1) The wash side is made using a J hook and worsted weight cotton yarn. Work three rounds of the basic granny square. Bind off and weave in ends. Instructions for the basic granny square can be found here.

2) The scrubby side is crocheted from netting (the coarse petticoat netting not the soft bridal veil netting) made into a long 1½" continuous strip by *cutting the fabric to within ½" of the edge then making another long cut parallel to the first (going in the opposite direction) to within ½" of the edge --repeat from * until all the fabric wanted is cut. Wind into a ball. Using a K hook, make a chain from the netting strip as long as the granny square plus one chain more. Each row is single crocheted through the back loop only until the netting square measures the same size as the wash square. Bind off and weave in ends.

3) Using the worsted weight cotton single crochet the wash square and the netting square together. Bind off and weave in ends.

That's it! The kitchen scrubby pictured measures 4"x4" but by altering yarn, hook size or the number of rounds for the granny square you can custom size your scrubby.

Bouquet of Booties

2009-06-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is a project done bb (before blogging) that I wanted to document for uniqueness. It's a baby shower centerpiece of booties folded to form flowers which are secured with floral tape to wire and leaves.

The pattern and idea was in the July 2003 issue of Crochet! Magazine. There are four different cuff patterns and the foot is the same pattern for all the booties. I worked them using Herrschners Afghan and Apparel Yarn which is a 2 ply, 100% acrylic, fingering weight yarn.

There were no problems with the patterns and they were easy to follow. It was my first exposure to the reverse single crochet (also know as the crab stitch)and I am happy to report that I was able to execute the stitch without fuss, although it is not on "my favorites" list. The only difficulty I had was making myself stop crocheting them --I think I made well over a dozen pairs before I managed to apply the brakes!

Bunny Blanket Buddy

2009-06-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

This darling toy has been knit and in my work basket for THREE YEARS!! Why? Because I have a face phobia. Whenever I make something that entails putting a face on it -- I freeze. I have no sense of proportion or spacing when it comes to placing eyes, noses and mouths and that's in addition to the technical difficulties of embroidering circles on knit or crochet items. *sigh* I always need help from my daughters or my husband to verify that I have a pleasant looking face (eyes placed too close together produce a rather creepy look). A couple of days ago I had a bout of "face confidence" and managed to finish this cute little toy!

Bunny Blanket Buddy is a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarns and available here.

Notes:

I substituted Red Heart Baby Teri for the Lion Brand Velvetspun. Apologies to Lion Brand Yarns for not using their yarn with their pattern but, in my opinion, Velvetspun sucks and it really is an awful choice for a baby toy. The Baby Teri is a much better yarn for this project.

I worked with two strands of the Baby Teri.

I used size 6 needles for the head (instead of the size 8 recommended for the Velvetspun)

Wrap the first stitch of each row tightly when doing the double knitting of the head so that the ends do not gap.

Thanks to my Hubby for designing a face that I liked and one that was easy to embroider.

Thousand Ends Lapghan

2009-06-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

I love to challenge myself but sometimes I have brain farts and wind up being appallingly stupid. This lapghan was meant to be a nice way to use up scrap yarn. Instead, it was tedious and boring and ended up surpassing the Endless Ends Afghan for the number of ends that needed to be woven in.

The afghan is a combination of yo-yo's and Priscilla Hewitt's flat braid joining. It's cute, I love it and I'm going to keep it for myself but when am I going to learn??

There are 389 yo-yo's (made from scrap yarn)

Joined together with Red Heart Super Saver Aran Fleck using the flat brain join.

The border is a row of three single crochets in each of the unattached loops around the edge.

The afghan measures 44" x 35"

There were 1558 ends. 778 (389*2) for each yo-yo + 778 (389*2) for each flat braid join + 2 ends for the border = 1558.

I really can't complain too much about this afghan because it did inspire the design of the adorable Romi-Yo!

Tiny Striped Turtle

2009-05-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

I found this cute little amigurumi turtle pattern here. No problems with the pattern. I used scrap yarn and 9mm eyes. I'm on the fence about the size of the head. Sometimes when I look at it -- it's fine, other times when I look at it -- it's too big. Either way it's cute!

Upside Down Sweater

2009-05-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

This is an Upside Down Sweater, you can wear it two ways -- one way is with the k2p2 band as the collar and front edges (left picture) or "upside down" with the k2p2 band as the bottom edge of the sweater (right picture). The design intrigued me immediately upon seeing the pattern and I had to knit it! I've listed my changes to the pattern below and while I do love the sweater I love it only with the k2p2 band as the collar. The upside down way feels slightly twisted and the collar, which is now 1" of k1p1 ribbing doesn't lay nicely.

Notes:

The pattern was written for Plymouth Yarn - Ashton (50% Baby Alpaca, 40% Fine Merino, 10% Silk) but I substituted Naturally Caron - Country (75% Microdenier Acrylic, 25% Merino). I used 9 skeins (185 yards, 85 grams) of Charcoal.

Because the sweater is suppose to be worn upside down, I didn't really understand why you would have a shoulder seam for one version and not the other, so I put the last rows of the back, the left front and right front on stitch holders and eliminated the shoulder seam entirely by grafting the front pieces to the back.

The k1p1 ribbing needs to be more than 1" -- maybe 2" and even consider doing a k2p2 ribbing to match the big band.

I lengthened the sleeves (I like lonnnng sleeves!) and knit them in the round so I didn't have to seam those as well. Increasing a circular k2p2 pattern by 2 stitches every 6 rows proved a challenge! There was a lot of frogging and experimenting. How you increase and where makes a difference as evidenced by this:

Pretty increasing

Not so pretty (frogged!)

Victory Junction Afghan #4

2009-05-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is the second summer I've been able to make and donate two blankets (The other afghan is here) to Victory Junction, a summer camp for children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses. At the end of their camping experience each child gets to take home a hand-made afghan and a hand-made teddy bear.

This blanket was made from a granny square called "Fox's Little Boxes" and it worked up incredibly well in the Victory Junction colors of red, yellow, green and blue. It's a quick and easy pattern to use and follow.

Details:

Each square measures 7" using a J hook.

Red Heart Super Saver colors Cherry Red, Paddy Green, Bright Yellow, Royal and Aran.

A total of 30 squares -- 8 green, 8 yellow, 7 red, 7 blue

The squares were staggered in a pattern of:
GRGRG
YBYBY
RGRGR
BYBYB
GRGRG
YBYBY

The afghan measures 35" x 41". This is a little short of their requested minimum of 35" x 45" so next time I'll add another row to the length.

Edging:
Row 1: Dc into each stitch and ch 1 space of the last row working (2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc) into each corner.
Row 2: *Sc, fpsc* (front post single crochet) around the blanket working 3 sc's into each corner.
Row 3: Sc around the blanket working 3 sc's into the middle sc of each corner.

Notes:

The last row works (3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc) into each corner and all of the previous rows worked (2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc) into each corner. I kept forgetting to add the additional dc's for the last row!!! In the end I had to take out about 1/2 of the last rows and rework them. I kept the (2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc) pattern because if I corrected with the right amount I would have been short and had to add yarn which would have resulted in weaving a bunch more ends -- something I try and avoid at all costs!

Most of the rows begin by slip stitching to the corner to start the round and I adjusted the beginning of a few rounds by starting the new round where the last round ended. I know the pattern was easier to write by having each round start in the corner but it did reduce bulk slightly by making this adjustment.

I think this afghan would look great in random scrap colors and I will try out that idea when I make the next one.

Romi-Yo

2009-03-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

I had a few crochet yo-yo's left over from making a scrap yarn afghan and the idea for making this guy popped into my head. I was inspired by a fabric yo-yo worm that I made years ago from a commercial pattern. My daughter Sarah came up with the name Romi-Yo and ta daaaaa ... an amigurumi worm is born!

It's a free pattern (pdf file) available in the original patterns section of my Ladynthread website. Enjoy!

Valentines 2009

2009-02-20T14:28:00.001-08:00

Every year I craft something small for Valentines. The project this year was lollypop covers!

There is not much to note. The pattern was perfectly written. I used red, pink and white Red Heart Super Saver Yarn and the recommended hook. Soooo cute, soooo fun, ...... awhhhhhhhh ;)

I found this pattern years ago, copied it and filed it away for "someday". The pattern use to be offered for free over at www.crochetmemories.com but I can't find it there anymore (thank heavens I saved a copy!) and they are blocking their site from the Wayback Machine. It's not a difficult pattern though, so maybe you can pick it out from the photo ;)

Wristwarmers

2009-02-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

This wristwarmer pattern is one of my first designs. I like keeping my hands warm and I also want use of my fingers. These have been a favorite item of my daughter Sarah for whom I have made many pairs! Through the years I've fine tuned the pattern by adding shaping across the top of the wristwarmers (giving it a snugger fit) and around the thumb.

It's a free pattern (pdf file) available in the original patterns section of my Ladynthread website. Enjoy!

First Felting Project

2009-02-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to try a felting project for some time but have never gotten around to it -- other projects always crowded ahead of it. During the fall 2008 semester I took a fabric structures class and one student chose felting for her semester project and from her work I was inspired to push it to the front of my "to do" list and give it a try.

This bag is called "Snaps" by Laura Kochevar from the book Bags - A Knitter's Dozen. It turned out "ok" but the fabric of the bag is very thick -- I felted it too much :( -- Also, the design did not have a bottom for the bag, it is just two pieces of knit fabric sewn together and because I over-felted it, this is accented even further. I love the knit design but I'm not sure when or what I'll find a use for this bag.

DETAILS:

I used Classic Wool Merino by Patons
--2 skeins - Black Tweed
--1 skein - Rich Red Tweed
Both these colors had flecks of colored yarns woven in and I had hoped that since these yarns were acrylic and not wool that they would "pop" out when felted. Unfortunately, there was no "pop" of flecks -- because I over felted I don't know if the flecks felted into the fabric or fell off.

Before felting, the bag measured 19½" across the top, 23½" across the bottom and 21½" deep.

After felting, the bag measured 15½" across the top, 16½" across the bottom and 12½" deep.

To make the handles the pattern called for knitting a strip of fabric in stockinette stitch, sewing it up and then felting it. Well, that was too much work for my taste, so I hauled out my icord spool and knit the cord around a doubled piece of twine.

Little Teddy Bear

2009-01-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and I just had to give it a try. This cutie is the Little Teddy Bear from the book Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! Amigurumi by Tomoko Takamori.

There were a couple of aspects with the book worth noting (I didn't buy it, I borrowed it from my library). The patterns are written using an interesting mix of words and symbols that I hadn't seen before but they were explained well in the book and I found this method easy to read and follow. The biggest problem was missing instructions. Both the arms and legs were incomplete -- an additional 8 rows had to be added for each. A search on the internet for the answer found that other patterns in the book had errors too and for many people it was a frustrating aspect of the book. The assembly instructions were VERY clear and precise and I appreciated that because it's not my favorite part of making stuffed animals.

Notes:

I used scraps of Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. Other people report successfully using Lion Brand Wool-Ease and Caron Simply Soft.

Because Super Saver is stiff, I threw all the parts into a laundry bag and washed them before assembly.

I used a H hook and it turned out fine but a G hook would work too (producing a slightly smaller bear)

The eyes are 9mm solid black eyes with a washer back from Darice.

He measure 8" (stretched out) from the tip of his ears to the bottom of his feet and 6" high when sitting.

I think he's just the cutest and he joins "the boys" who sit on the bookshelf overlooking my desk!

Grrlfriend Market Bag

2009-01-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

I've been busy making things ... I promise! I have quite a few small projects to blog about and one HUGE one that I haven't figured out how to write about so I'll start with the little ones.

I love making bags and this one intrigued me by the way it was started using the Emily Ocker's Circular Cast On, which is another knitting technique from Elizabeth Zimmerman's book Knitting Workshop.

I learned about a technique when knitting a lacy pattern that would save a LOT of heartache and prevent a headache if you have to rip out rows: After the last row of a repeat (or whenever you want, just remember to write down the row number) using a yarn needle with a piece of waste yarn, thread it through the stitches on the needle. If you ever have to ripe back then these stitches will be held in place and can easily be put back on the needle.

The lace pattern of this bag is very simple and when I did have to rip back I didn't have too much of a problem, but if I was working a more complicated pattern I would want to use this technique!

I stash bushed my Bernat's Organic Cotton:
1) The bottom portion was knit using yarn which was dyed in my Fabric Structures class using just yellow onion skins!
2) The body of the bag is the color Hemp
3) The top band and strap uses the color Mineral Spring

I forget which size needles I used. The pattern lists ranges of needle sizes for the various parts of the bag and is not specific (that's the beauty of the pattern, wing it for any size and a one-of-a-kind bag!) I think I used 6's for the bottom, cuff and strap and 8's for the body. I wanted a small netting for the body so I did not go up to suggested size 10's for the body.

The pattern for Grrlfriend Market Bag is available for free over at Ravelry. The designer has granted permission for the pattern to be given freely away so if you're not a member of Ravelry and would like this pattern then email me from the contact page over at my web site ladynthread.com and I'll send you a copy.

Double Sided Cable Scarf

2008-12-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

Super cute scarf with a cable technique I had to try. The cable is done as k1,p1 ribbing which makes it reversible! The pattern is from the Sweater Surgery blog and available for free here:

To make this pattern work I swapped ROW 5 and ROW 10 – I don't think I was reading the pattern backwards or incorrectly but whichever way I was reading it, switching the instructions for those two rows made it work.

Notes:

Size 8 needles

1 skein of Naturally Caron Country Yarn-Peacock

Slipper Boots

2008-12-25T11:13:00.001-08:00

I loved the challenge of this pattern. There were lots of different crochet techniques and I have two pages of written notes that helped me get through the pattern!

The pattern is from an Annie's Attic publication titled Quick Stitch Simple Slippers and the pattern is called Slipper Boots. The pattern is clearly written (there was never a question about what to do) but I did have to diagram out what was happening (and where) and I also needed to make a list for the ending stitch count for each row. Markers are a MUST for this pattern!! My advice -- mark, mark, mark and mark again for good measure. You'll be glad you did.

There were two crochet techniques used in this pattern that look like knitting. One is rows of slip stitching in the back loops and the other is the split single crochet stitch. These stitches are very thick so it wouldn't be practical to crochet an entire garment using these stitches(just knit it, in that case!) but for an accent area they are extremely effective and interesting.

Notes:

2 skiens of Moda Dea Washable Wool in Raspberry

Scrap amounts of Red Heart Super Saver in Aran and Grey Heather

I achieved gauge with H and I hooks

I worked the 9-inch size

I made these slippers for Sarah and she has carpeting throughout her apartment but I would add some sort of gripping material for the bottoms if these were to be used on tile or wood floors.

Baby Surprise Jacket

2008-10-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Everyone who knits eventually gets around to an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern! Here's my first "pure" EZ project -- I say that because Jacqueline Fee's The Sweater Workshop borrowed extensively from Elizabeth Zimmerman (and is acknowledged as such) so Laura's Harry Potter Sweater is a pseudo first EZ project.

Blog entries, forum discussion boards and a Yahoo group dedicated specifically to this pattern had me so intimidated me that I broke down and bought the video. I probably didn't need to, a little time and dedication to figuring things out would have sufficed, but I did enjoy the video and picked up a few techniques as well.

I stash busted with this project and used Wool-Ease Oxford Grey (1 skein) and Buttercup (less than 1 skein.) It didn't occur to me until too late that I should have thrown in some Cranberry and I could have had a baby Harry Potter Sweater, maybe the next one!

There is one modification that I need to figure out. After the center 90 stitches have been worked for 10 ridges, there are 10 stitches that are picked up on each side and this is done in two rows (1/2 from the right side and 1/2 from the wrong side of the knitting.) The picked up stitches wind up on the front two sides of the sweater and there is a visible difference in their appearance that I don't like. I think a consistent look can be achieved with the simple solution of cutting the yarn and restarting the row from the beginning, so that all the the stitches get picked up on the same row, but I need to check that out.

I did applied icord for the final row and continued around the neck by picking up stitches and applying icord there as well.

The sleeves for this pattern are 3/4 and I like long sleeves (if I'm cold then the baby's cold, right??) so I added a k2,p2 cuff for 1 ½".

The finished measurements are 14" length, 21" chest, and 7" sleeves.

A cute pattern that will be fun to try in different weights of yarns. The design possibilities are endless!

It's In The Bag

2008-09-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

In order to avoid acquiring new (and even more) bags while errand shopping, I had started to throw a few grocery bags into my purse for reuse. In an effort to keep the bags neat and tidy the idea to crochet a bag to store the bags popped into my head and here's the result:

I submitted the pattern to the Crochet Pattern-a-Day Calendar 2009 and they accepted it! "It's In The Bag" is the pattern of the day for April 24, 2009. This is my first design to be published in print and I'm hoping it's a catalyst for getting even more ideas out of my head!

There are actually two patterns designs, but I submitted only one. After the 2010 calendar has been released then I will offer both patterns for free on my site.

Mini Teddy Bear

2008-08-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

I have a whole pile of "wannado's". It's a collection of patterns that have caught my eye as something I might like to make someday. Occasionally, I go into the collection and weed out the patterns that no longer say to me, "make me", "make me" and periodically I actually get around to making something!

When I wanted another project for the Ravelympics (an event held during the Beijing Olympics over at the knitting and crocheting social network of Ravelry) I dug into the "wannado's" pile and pulled out this Mini Thread Bear. The bear is know as Monique and was designed by Edith Molina. The free pattern can be found here.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my mini teddy bear! She's as cute in real life as she was on the pattern page. I needed help from my daughter with placing the facial features (my usual face phobia) and there is one pattern correction I made, but other than that --- LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

Pattern correction: The bottom of the legs were off until I made the following adjustment to the beginning of the leg -- Ch 6, sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st, TURN AND CONTINUE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CHAIN, 2 sc in next st, sc in next 3 st. ..... continue with pattern ....... The items in red are my additions/corrections. Once I made this change I had no problem with how the foot came out and all other instructions worked perfect.

I used Aunt Lydia's Classic Crochet Thread (size 10) in Wood Violet and DMC Cébélia Cotton size 30 for the muzzle. I didn't have a size 11 hook for working the muzzle so I used an 10 with no problem.

I did not follow the directions for jointing the bear. Instead, I placed the legs, arms and head where I wanted and stitched them down. She's securely sewn together.

I'll be making more!

Victory Junction Afghan #3

2008-08-25T13:01:00.001-07:00

Over at the knitting and crocheting social network Ravelry I needed to find a couple of projects for the "Ravelympics". The idea of the Ravelympics was to challenge yourself with projects during the Beijing Olympics. I picked two projects - The first one was to work another afghan for the Victory Junction Gang and to use the square "Fox's Heart of a Child" which I had previously pattern tested.
Project Notes:

I used Red Heart Super Saver colors Cherry Red, Paddy Green, Bright Yellow, Royal and Aran.

Adjusted/rewrote rounds 4 & 5 of the original pattern to get symmetry.

Made 5 squares each of the red, green, blue and yellow for a total of 20 squares.

Using the last three rounds of the square pattern I designed a border using red, blue and yellow.

The afghan is bright and cheery and somebody at Victory Junction is going to love it. The results, for me, are satisfactory -- BUT -- I am not completely happy. The final round of each square looks fine on their own but when it was time to join the squares the corners became thin looking and pulled in and I do not like it. The pattern calls for a ch-2 in the corners for the final round that must, at the very least, be changed to a ch-3. If I use this square again I would think about something different for the corner and test the join.

Why this stuff needs to be written down!

2008-08-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

I love this bear. I made it a long time ago with some yarn that I picked up on clearance for $1 a skien. I still have a lot of the yarn left and I'd like to make more bears but I can't find the pattern! I could have sworn it was from Toy Knits by Debbie Bliss because I definitely remember making a pig for Sarah and a rabbit for Laura using this book. However, there isn't a matching pattern for this bear in that book and I have no memory of another knitted teddy bear pattern. I've searched my collection with no results and now I'll just have to be patient and wait for it to turn up. This illustrates the importance of writing this stuff down for future reference. Memory is like a hard drive .... back it up.

Anyway, while searching for the teddy bear pattern. I remembered a few toys I had knit or crocheted through the years and figured I had better heed my own advice to "back it up"!

"Girl Rabbit" from Toy Knits by Debbie Bliss	"Piglet" from Toy Knits by Debbie Bliss
"Little Pink Piggy" from In Love with Crochet published by Leisure Arts

The crocheted pig was done with Red Heart Super Saver yarn and I'm not positive about the knit rabbit and pig but it looks like Wool-ease.

The Empty Nest

2008-07-30T11:50:00.001-07:00

Laura wants to learn how to design and build houses. This is something she's always loved to do. When she was very young (and before she was allowed to use scissors) she built houses and villages by tearing and taping paper. Soon after that she was painting and decorating bird houses. Some of them were meant to be bird houses and a couple were purely craft projects but I liked them all and there was a perfect spot to hang them right outside the kitchen window. I put the houses up in the spring of 2002 and they were pretty to look at but not a lot of bird action took place. Bees, but no birds. The two small craft houses fell apart during the next couple of years but the big ones held together ... however, still no birds.

It had, almost exactly, been six years since I hung up the bird houses when, lo and behold, we started seeing sparrows around the "472" house!

It started with this sparow hanging around the outside of the house. In addition to the bird activity, the feather sticking out of the back of the house was a clue that a nest might have been built.

All speculation ended when we saw birds being fed. At first we only saw one, but it became clear very quickly that there were two.

Here they are taking their first look at the world.

All grown up and getting ready to fly away.

But, FIRST there must be a party!!

All of this happened outside my window during the month of June and the timing and symbolism is not lost on me. Sarah graduated from college on May 25th and has moved to Seattle to live and work. Laura graduated from high school on June 4th and leaves for college on August 22nd (to study architecture!) For the first time in over 25 years there will be no children at home in September. I will have an "empty nest". I watched a cycle of life played outside my window this spring while another takes place in my life. Fly high and strong birdies. Live free, strong and happy, my daughters.

Grandama's Tablecloth - The Finishing Details

2008-07-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who emailed me or left a message at the original blog entry. They were all a great contribution in helping me determine how to finish the tablecloth.

The final decision was that some sort of border was needed to stabilize the edges. The original border was not a good design and through the years had not held up well, so I decided not to recreate it. The slight visual differences between the old and new thread meant the edging needed to be small and simple -- so I started with a round of single crochets. I liked the look of this but the row "curled in" on itself and didn't look right. A second row of single crochets looked awful and I experimented with a number of single crochet, chains and picot patterns for the second row and hated them all.

The winning effect was to turn the tablecloth after the first round and slip stitch around for the second row. This produced a thin, stable and non-curling border which was exactly what I had in mind. I LOVED IT!! I worked the first row of single crochets with a size 10 hook, and this matched the gauge of the tablecloth, but the slip stitches made using that size hook were tight and pulled the edging inward so I bumped up to a size 5 hook to get them loose enough.

Before & After

Without Border	With Border

Unfortunately, I don't have a good way to properly block the tablecloth. So far I've managed using a stair railing and a touch-up with an iron. My Aunt remembered a very interesting device called a curtain stretcher. Lace curtains had to be washed, starched and stretched and the curtain stretcher was a wooden frame with sharp pins around the edges which held the curtains while they dried. Mom said Grandma had one and she'd take the tablecloth over there and use it for the tablecloth. They're actually available for about $10 on eBay and Craigslist. They're big and bulky and from what I've been reading, not friendly to the fingers! So considering the number of times I'd actually use it .... I'll make do.

I've picked out the pattern for the motif and written it out. It's available over in the free vintage patterns section of my website.

Fox's Heart of a Child Square - Pattern Testing

2008-07-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, I like to test the patterns of other designers. This is a necessary step in designing because fresh eyes and hooks are needed to get a pattern written down correctly and into instructions that most crocheters will understand. This is not only an important process but, for me, a lot of fun.

Donna Mason-Svara aka Smoothfox designed this gorgeous heart square, which I immediately feel in love with when I saw it. There was no problem reading her pattern (she provided pictures for every round which were most helpful) and in an evening I had crocheted two squares! Donna also had a great idea to have the tested squares sent back to her so she can assemble them into an afghan to donate. So these first two are off to her but I'm starting another afghan using scraps for the hearts and a soft white for the main color.

Thanks Donna for a great pattern and the opportunity to help out!

Update 8/25/2008
Check out the afghan I made using this square!

A couple of repeats

2008-07-14T14:31:00.001-07:00

I had three family graduations this spring! My niece Karla and my daughter Sarah both graduated from college and my daughter Laura graduated from high school. It's becoming a tradition for me to make afghans for these life transitions.

The afghan I made for Karla is a remake of the Soft Boucle Throw. This time I bumped up a hook size -- to a M! and added a pattern repeat to the width (an additional 24 stitches to the beginning chain). These two adjustments were exactly what was needed, I won't need to tweak anything more. I love this pattern! The afghan is light and soft and is a perfect warm weather throw. The finished size was 49" x 59" (not stretched)

However, once again, working in Boucle has it difficulties. It's hard to see the beginning chains when I work in Boucle and that's exacerbated even further with a dark color of yarn. Because I can't see those chains, I'm crocheting mostly by feel when I work the first row of the pattern and I know I'm skipping some chains or working two stitches into others and this is a problem if I come up short at the end of my chain (it's easier to take chains apart or spread stitches out at the end of the row than it is to bunch a number of stitches together.) So my strategy when working in Boucle and making the beginning chains is to work about 3 or 4 more chains then the pattern calls for and take them out if I don't need them.

The afghan I made for Laura's "Going Off to College Afghan" is a remake of Teatime Elegance this time worked in Red Heart Super Saver Country Blue, Soft Navy and Soft White. The finished size is 54" x 72".

I followed all my notes and adjustments from the first time I made this and the results are perfect! I made no further adjustments.

Sarah is waiting until she has moved and found an apartment so that she has a better idea of what kind of pattern and which colors she'd like for her afghan. Stay tuned!

Laura's Harry Potter Sweater

2008-06-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

My daughter Laura liked a sweater she had seen in the book Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter by Alison Hansel. For my part, I was interested in learning to use the techniques for a seamless sweater that I had found in the book The Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee. So I had a project!

The sweater from the Harry Potter book is a classic preppy grey V-neck design with alternating burgundy and gold stripes above the ribbing of the body and sleeves, based on the Gryffindor house colors. However, in order to follow the design suggested by The Sweater Workshop, I needed to convert the V-neck to a crew neck. In addition, Laura wanted to change the striping around the body to a solid burgundy, but to keep the burgundy gold striping around the sleeves. Laura liked the crew neck but thinks that the neckline would be better if it were wider and dipped lower.

Here are my notes & adjustments:

I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Oxford Grey, Burgundy and Gold.

Shoot, I can't remember how much Oxford Grey I used for the body! Four or five skeins? One skein each of the Burgundy and Gold with plenty of yarn left over.

I used size 6 needles for the ribbing, size 8 for the body and size 10½ for binding off the neck band (see note below).

2" of K1,P1 ribbing for both the body and sleeves.

Semi-shaping for the sleeves (about 1/2 of the increases were done at the end of the ribbing and 2 stitches were added about every 7th row for the second half.)

In order to make the neck binding loose enough I went from size 6 to 8 needles on the last row of ribbing and then bound off in 10½. I am not sure whether this is a technique that always has to be applied when making a crew neck, or something that happened to be needed in this particular instance.

Laura wanted the sweater to have a longer body, but all of the shaping for the body occurs right after the ribbing, so finding a way to achieve a more gradual shaping needs to be considered in future projects. The book points out and gives options for more gradual shaping in the sleeves but not for the body where it is useful as well.

This is the second sweater that I have designed using the techniques from this book. I made my first one many years ago, before I had developed an understanding of gauge and garment fit. As a result of that, together with my liking for loose fit, that first sweater finished with a size that would have been large enough to fit a gorilla! My more recent attempt fits much better, and I expect my next design to be even more refined. Stay tuned!

Grandma's Tablecloth

2008-05-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

It's been revived! My mom gave me a tablecloth that has been in our family since I was born. It was a present from her mom and during the years of my childhood it was an elegant fixture for special family occasions. However, through the years it was stained, had yellowed and a number of areas developed holes so it's been in storage for a long time. It came to me in rather bad shape, with the hope that it could repaired and used again.

Step 1: Clean. I filled up the bathtub with water, Oxiclean and a 5 day soak (it may have been longer.) Result: a clean WHITE tablecloth with NO stains!!
A long soak in a spare bathtub washed away
the years of stains & yellowing.
Step 2: Figure out what thread and pattern was used. I inherited my Grandmother's crochet books but none of them had the pattern for this tablecloth. Fortunately, the pattern is not complicated and it wasn't difficult to figure out the pattern for the motif. I also tested many different kinds of white thread for the best match, which turned out to be Aunt Lydia's Fine Crochet Thread, size 20, 100% Mercerized Cotton. I'm working on writing out the pattern for the motif and will publish it here when I have it.

A simple & elegant motif
Step 3: Assess the damage. The tablecloth measures approximately 56" x 70" and is made of joined motifs, each about 3.75" and a border had been added around the joined squares. The vast majority of the damage was a lot of broken stitching around the border (see photo). It was clearly a weak design area that did not stand the test of time. The damage to the border was too extensive and unrepairable. So with the blessings of my mom, I ripped it out (but not before I picked out and wrote down the pattern!!) I tried to save the thread so that I could reuse it in the repair of the motifs but the last two rows of the border were long chains and time and wear seemed to have fused the crochet and combined with the damage I couldn't get pieces long enough to be useful for repairs.

Example of the extensive damage around the border.
Only one corner area survived intact. (see photo below)
Step 4: Repair the motifs. This picture is an example of the typical damage to the motifs. Luckily it wasn't extensive or too difficult to repair. I took the crochet back far enough to be able to secure down ends and attach thread to work the new repair. The new thread is slightly whiter than the old but you'd have to have eagle eyes and a microscope to pick out the repairs so I'm quite proud of my conservation efforts.

Example of motif damage
Step 5: Decide what to do about a border. So the question becomes -- What do I do about a border? Here's a picture of the original border. It only looks good because it was opened up and pinned to paper -- see the Step 3 photo for the way the border actually looked.

The only corner of the border that was intact
1) Do I rework the original border? The Aunt Lydia's thread is a good match that is not discernible for the small repairs of the motifs but it would be noticeable once three rounds of border have been worked. The border was probably original to the pattern but with the test of time and wear it was not a great design. The first round is fine because it finishes off the petal design of the motif but the last two rounds are a series of long chains that during years of use got scrunched together and became a weak area where the most damage occurred (see Step 3 photo).

2) Design and work a new border? I would have the same thread difference issue as reworking the original border but perhaps some type of stabilizing border would be beneficial. If yes, what kind of new border? A simple round of single crochets? or reverse single crochets? Should I follow the first round of the original border and end there?

3) Leave it the way it is now with the original border removed? The picture below and the one at the top of this post were taken after the border was removed and all motif repairs had been worked. It looks fine. My daughters argument for this choice is that, except for restoration repairs, the entire the tablecloth remains crocheted by my grandmother and should stay that way! This choice would leave it a little unfinished by regular crochet standards and not in it's original state but may be the best way.

I need help deciding what to do! Please leave me a comment with your thoughts.

7/29/08 - Update
Grandama's Tablecloth - The Finishing Details

Victory Junction

2008-04-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

I received the squares for this afghan from a "secret buddy" and I can't really tell you about the squares themselves except they're very interesting and I have yet to run across the pattern. So I didn't completely make this afghan, however, I did assemble it and crocheted the border and all of that is the pain in the ass part, right? I used a joining technique found in the Braids for Baby afghan pattern from Mile-A-Minute Afghans by Leisure Arts. I've used this join a couple of times now and it's the best of all things --solid and decorative-- I love it!!

The edging pattern is:
Round 1: sc evenly around blanket, working 3 sc in each corner.
Round 2: *dc, ch 1, skip 1 st repeat from *around blanket, working 2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc in each corner.
Round 3: *dc in each dc and ch 1 space, repeat from * around blanket, working 2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc in each corner.
Round 4: *ch 3 and 2 dc in same stitch, skip 2 stitches, sl st in next stitch, repeat from * around blanket, working ch 3 and 2 dc, sl st, ch 3 and 2 dc in each corner.

This afghan and the Autumn Glory afghan are going to be donated to Victory Junction, a summer camp for children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses. At the end of their camping experience each child gets to take home a hand-made afghan and a hand-made teddy bear. My niece was a camp counselor there for a summer and told me about how the campers love their blankets and bears. I just had to make a contribution and hope to make more.

Autumn Glory

2008-04-03T04:32:00.000-07:00

This pattern is called Autumn Glory and can be found in "101 Easy Scrap Crochet Projects" published by House of White Birches and edited by Laura Scott.

My finished size is 35" x 44"
The original pattern uses black as the main color to tie in all the scrap colors but I wanted to brighten it up, so I used Red Heart Super Saver - Aran Fleck. In addition to swapping the main color I also made the following adjustments:

Because this blanket will be given to a child I decreased the overall size. I began by chaining 121 instead of 163 (I still used a K hook).

The double triple crochet shells for the boarder did not work for me so I reverted to a simple shell of 7 dc's. The pattern for the border thus became: *shell (7 dc's in the same st), skip 3 stitchs, repeat from star around and adjust the number of stitches skipped, if necessary, in order to work a shell in each corner. I also put 3 sc's in each corner.

Teatime Elegance

2008-03-04T16:26:00.001-08:00

I love patterns with texture and this is an interesting one that caught my eye. I was a little unsure the first time I did a panel and worked all those double triple crochets (that's one loooooong stitch!) but everything worked up easily and I enjoyed crocheting this afghan. I was also concerned about the area where the green border is worked around the center shells -- it looks like a weak spot in the structure -- but this afghan has seen a lot of use because it is big and remarkable warm (even with the open work center) and so far there has been no damage or repairs. In fact, I'll soon be making another because Laura has requested this one as her "going off to college blanket".

Notes:

Teatime Elegance from "Mile-A-Minute Afghans" by Leisure Arts.

Used J hook (instead of listed I hook)

Measures: 52" x 74" (this was measured after a few years stretch and the fact that I moved up one hook size -the size listed with the pattern is 44" x 66")

Red Heart Super Saver Yarn - I don't have the exact color name but I did use a lighter green. Bone and Lt. Rose are the other two colors.

Because this afghan is big and fairly heavy I slipstitched rather than whipstitched the panels together, a sturdier joining that I prefer to use when I can.

Plarn Gift Bag - Valentines 2008

2008-02-19T06:16:00.000-08:00

Plarn: Yarn made from plastic bags.

I finally got around to making and crocheting with plarn. The push to try it came while I was writing a paper for a consumer textiles class about using yarn from recycled materials. Plarn has been around for awhile and been made from newspaper and bread bags but the real explosion of its use came with plastic grocery bags.

Making plarn is pretty straight forward and easy. I followed the instructions over at Marlo's Crochet Corner for cutting the bags and once I had a few nice sized balls I started experimenting. I've been working on a design for another bag project (details to come!) and so this small bag just evolved. Personally, I think it's one of the cutest things I seen or done and the timing was perfect to be this years Valentine!

All details and the complete Plarn Gift Bag pattern can be found over in the original patterns section of my website.

#31 Jeff Burton

2008-02-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest Nascar associated project. It's a washcloth with the #31 of my sister's (the source of my assimilation into the racing world) favorite driver --Jeff Burton.

This pattern is from Woodhill Design Knits and patterns for most numbers of the different drivers are available.

Specs:
#7 needles
Lily's Sugar'n Cream - Hot Orange

That's it!! It's an easy, fast, fun and no hassles pattern.

My other Nascar related projects have been beaded bracelets in the colors of our favorite drivers and a checkered flag afghan.

BTW - My sister is a league bowler and uses this as a wipe cloth for her bowling ball. Other bowlers have noticed and and admired it. Can't ask for more than that.

One Skein Scarf

2008-01-31T18:19:00.000-08:00

Writing up journal and blog entries just doesn't seem to produce the same feeling of satisfaction or sense of accomplishment that creating and making things does so I'm trying to catch up my blog about a lot of projects I've finished the past few months but haven't written about.

This is another skinny scarf for my daughter Sarah's collection (see: *K2, P2 *across, K1, Skinny Scarf - Boucle and Skinny Scarf - Homespun

An easy peasy, pattern from the book Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. Unfortunately, that's the only pattern from the book that really caught my eye.

I worked the scarf in TLC Amore yarn. I LOVE this yarn! I designed my wristwarmers and a hat (patterns I haven't written up or posted yet -- but coming!!) using this yarn and I try to use it when ever I can. It's on my list of projects to work up a Heart Silhouettes square with this yarn and see how that works.

Glittens

2008-01-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

Glitten: A fingerless glove with a retractable mitten, as worn by anyone who wants to stay warm and still grab stuff. (www.urbandictionary.com)

Yep, that's me! My favorite glitten pattern is from Sirdar's pattern leaflet #9445. There are patterns for two needle mittens, gloves. fingerless gloves and glittens in sizes for children, women and men -- a choice of everything in one leaflet!

I've just finished making two pairs. One pair (the grey) for me and one pair (the turquoise) for my daughter Sarah. I splurged on yarn and bought Jo Sharp's Silkroad DK Tweed (85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere)

Here are my notes:

1) The pattern makes the glittens by adjusting the fingerless glove pattern. However I wanted full mittens when the flap was over the fingers and this pattern didn't close the thumb so I adjusted the pattern by following the full glove pattern for knitting a thumb.

2) I like long cuffs so I added 2 rows to the wrist between the cuff and the thumb gusset. This worked well for Sarah's glittens but I think the next time I make them for me I'll add at least 4 more rows between the cuff and thumb gusset and an additional 1/2" on the cuff.

3) These patterns are worked with two needles so there are seams. However, I did not follow the instructions by binding the mitt top off and sewing a seam. Instead I grafted the final row to make a smooth top to the mitten. I purled two stitches together in the final row of the mitt(to get down to an even # of stitches) and divided the stitches onto two needles and grafted. A very nice top for the mitten!

4) I have had 100% success from the great grafting instructions found in the book Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee.

Towel Topper

2007-12-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

I don't do a lot of designing. I find it a difficult and painful process. I'm a builder, I love the process of making things -- useful projects, good materials and excellent techniques. When I do design it's mostly to improve upon someone else's design but occasionally I'll write a pattern to meet my needs and aesthetics.

Towel topper patterns can be found by the hundreds but somehow the vast majority of them have long skinny necks or cutesy faces and flowers and I was looking to make something quick and easy with a short neck. I had to write it myself! It's now a family favorite and is regularly requested.

The pattern can be found at the Original Patterns section of my website. Enjoy!

Heart Silhouettes

2007-11-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

A pattern from:
Vanna's Favorite Gift Afghans
by Vanna White and Susan Frantz Wiles

I fell in love with this pattern because of the heart motif but I now love it for the simplicity of the pattern and the ease of putting it together. I will be working this pattern again and experimenting with different types of yarns.

Here are my details:

Finished size: 51½" x 65"

Hook size: J

Yarn: TLC Cotton Plus (I bought 15 skeins and used 13.5) I loved working with this yarn and I love that it's 51% cotton. Such a different feel then wool or acrylic. I'm hoping the 49% acrylic blend helps the dimensional stability.

I easily memorized the pattern for this but I kept working the last round wrong. I would forget the 2 holes toward the corners (which make the square motifs when the squares were joined. I discovered my errors when I was stitching the motifs together so not only was I having to frog back a round of crocheting but I had to undo the sewing. Remember to watch out for this next time!!

MAJOR PATTERN ADJUSTMENT: I made a VERY important aesthetic pattern correction by changing where the rounds start & end. As written, the pattern rows end and start in the middle of one of the four hearts (you can clearly see this in the picture from the book). I moved the start of rows 2 thru 7 by slip stitching to the corner. From row 8 -11 I didn't slip stitch to the corner but started the row where I was and followed the pattern. It wasn't a difficult adjustment to make and it looks 1000% better.

Why I blog

2007-11-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

I never had the chance to share my love of crochet with my grandmother. She died when I was 11 and that was well before my enthusiasm and passion for the craft emerged. I have a few things she crocheted and I admire the detail, fineness and perfection of her work. I also inherited her crochet books. Her work and the books are the only crocheting memory I have of her.

I wish she had written notes, made comments or kept a diary of her projects. I wish I knew what her favorite things to make were and the problems she had making them. I wish I had known her as a crocheter. So that is why I blog, because maybe someday a daughter, a granddaughter or great-granddaughter will find a passion for crochet or knitting and make a connection to me and my grandmother.

Since I'm not real keen on pictures of myself. I've finally gotten around to working out an "avatar". I've scanned a motif my grandmother worked called Crinoline Lady. It was originally done to decorate a woman's handkerchief and the pattern is in the leaflet Crinoline Lady in Crochet . Since my user name is lady_n_thread it is a perfect match.

How Long to Make a Scarf

2007-10-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

While I was working on my scarfs for the 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge I needed to research how long to make them. Basically, you make a scarf any size you or the wearer wants but here are some facts to help you decide.

Most scarves measure between 40" to 66"
Many people swore by the rule that you make a scarf as long as the person is tall. In the United States, the average female is 64 inches tall and the average male is 69 inches tall (numbers are rounded from the Wikipedia article on human height)
The most common figure bouncing around for a child's scarf was 31"
The average scarf length is 48"
A super long scarf length is around 95"

60 Scarves in 60 Days

2007-10-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a long sports day and I needed a project to knit or crochet. Luckily on Saturday night, I was reading and catching up with my favorite bloggers when I came across Dee's progress report for her 60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge. I had found my Sunday project!

I took a skein of Caron Simply Soft and chose one of my favorite patterns -- the *K2, P2 *across, K1. I also decided to challenge myself and knit the scarf using only the continental method. There's a lot of wasted motion and strain on my wrists when I knit with the English method because I hold my wrists at funny angles, so I've been teaching myself using knittinghelp.com videos and switching to exclusive use of the continental method. This was going to be my first attempt with a knit ribbing.

The Details:

Caron Simply Soft (the color is actually Iris, my camera does not do purple)
Size 9 needles
33 Stitches
Finished size: 4½" x 48"
Will be donated along with my hats to Caps for Kids

Oh, the sports results??

The Boston Red Sox swept the Los Angeles Angels and advanced to the American League Championship Series.

"My guy" Jeff Gordon won the Nascar race at Talladaga and now leads in the championship race.

The New England Patriots remain undefeated.

Do you think knitting a scarf for the 60 scarfs in 60 Days Challenge had anything to do with such great results?? ..... Hmmm, maybe I should try it again next weekend!!

A Note to Myself

2007-09-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

I need to write down inspiration and details as they come to me, so I love taking notes. I make them all the time. My family knows I will stop in the middle of a shopping expedition to jot down the finer points of something I've seen (I carry a special notebook in my purse for just this purpose). When I'm working at my desk I have note cubes for that quick reminder or "to do". These usually get tossed once the note is not longer needed or transfered to a notebook for more permanent remembrance.

The kinds of things that get written down are:

Titles of books that I'm not going to buy but I want borrow from the library
A drawing of a garment that I'd like to "knock off" for myself
Phone #'s and addresses
Bridge hands so I can retell a story or work out a problem I didn't get right at the table
Notes from an article found in a waiting room magazine
Crochet or knitting design inspirations
Questions I want to find the answers to, for example: Do you put periods at the end of lists items or does the list item notation function as a period?
Anything I'm afraid I'll forget

I didn't know until yesterday that when you're buying a box of note cubes you need to pay attention to the little cutout on the box. THAT is what tells you how many pieces of paper there are in the cube -- NOT the size of the box!! The arrows on photo show the bottom of the window where the paper ends, the rest of the box is filler. Both boxes are the the same size but the one on the right held less paper than the one on the left and neither box listed how many sheets of paper it contained.

I buy note cubes mostly based on the design rather than how many sheets there are and I think that's why I'm irritated -- I liked the note paper than came from the box on the right and it ran out faster than I was expecting.

What's the point of this entry concerning crochet, knitting or crafting? Mostly, to express how important to my creative process note taking is but it is also a note to myself to check the cut out of a note cube the next time I purchase one.

Caps for Kids

2007-09-21T09:30:00.001-07:00

Every fall I make a couple of hats and donate them to the Caps for Kids program. I first heard about Caps for Kids at my local yarn shop who is a distribution point for the program.

Hats are a great project to try a new pattern or stitch and a wonderful way to get your feet wet with your own designs. Hats are very forgiving projects to knit or crochet -- Someone somewhere will be a fit for your hat!

This year I knit two hats using a pattern I give to my elementary school knitting class. The garter stitch hat is simple and easily adapted to any yarn or head size. The simple structure of the hat makes it easy to add your own design features.

Here's the pattern:

Simple Garter Hat

Size 9 needles, cast on 72 stitches loosely (multiples of 12).

Knit every round until piece measures 6” (8” if you want a 2” cuff)

Shape top of hat as follows
Round 1: (K10, k2 tog) around.
Round 2 (and all even rounds): Knit.
Round 3: (K9, k2tog) around.
Round 5: (K8, k2tog) around.
Round 7: (K7, k2tog) around.

Now, begin working the decreases every round as follows:
Round 8: (K6, k2tog) around.
Round 9: (K5, k2tog) around.
Round 10: (K4, k2tog) around.
Round 11: (K3, k2tog) around.
Round 12: (K2, k2tog) around.
Round 13: (K1, k2tog) around.
Round 14: k2tog around.

Finish by running the yarn through the remaining stitches and pulling tightly to close the opening at the top.

Sew seam with mattress stitch.

Leave as is, or top it with a tassel, pompom or other decoration.

Green hat specs:
Size 9 needles
Caron Dazzleaire (a stash busting hat because Dazzleaire was discontinued in 2004)
Circumference: 19"
Hat height: 7¾"

Brown hat specs:
Size 8 needles
Lion Brand Wool-Ease
Circumference: 16½"
Hat height: 7¼"

Portfolio

2007-09-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

My current project is to create a portfolio using Picasa Web Albums. Each album will contain pictures from a particular topic and each picture will include a link to the blog entry or pattern source and notes if I haven't blog about it. I've just finished an album of Afghans and Baby Blankets and I'll list additional albums over in the portfolio sidebar as I finish them.

Dress Bookmark - revisited

2007-09-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

I've updated this post with a video for round 5. Thank you to my lovely daughter Laura for taking the video. -- I love my new camera!

This is a follow-up to a previous post about a very adorable crochet bookmark that sits on the corner of a page and looks like a dress. The previous blog entry is here and the pattern is here.

The pattern is pretty straight forward through round 4 but figuring out round 5 from the pattern can be a little difficult so I've put together a tutorial with pictures and a video to help out.

At the end of Round 4 everything should look like this:

The beginning of round 5 looks like this (I've worked round 5 in red thread to highlight the work):

Also, I don't end my rounds like this pattern has written for them to be finished. The pattern has you joining the end of one round right into the space that you'll be starting the new round from (effectively skipping a number of stitches that originally began the round)

I always join the end of one round with a slip stitch to the beginning chain of that same round, then I slip stitch into the next couple of stitches and into the space that it wants me to start working from on the new round. I have found this to be a clean/flatter finish to the round.

Continue working rounds 6 thru 10 and you'll have a very cute crochet bookmark!

Throw - Soft Boucle

2007-09-01T12:52:00.002-07:00

This throw is sooooooooo so soft and was very easy to crochet (the only stitches are chain and double crochet.) The Bernat site categorizes it as an intermediate pattern (I'd really like to know what they think is simpler than this!) --pattern ratings are arbitrary and no one should dissuade themselves from attempting a project because of one. The hardest part about crocheting this throw was frogging. It's very difficult to take out stitches with Boucle yarn. The stitches get caught, the yarn pulls and before you know it you have more ends to work in!

I didn't quite get gauge with an L hook and my finished size was 44 x 60 (however, the throw is very stretchy and I took this measurement without a lot of stretching.)

The pattern for the throw is here. However, you may need to have a membership with Bernat to see it. My advice -- MAKE IT UP. You do not have to give real information in any way, shape or form. I have an internet persona (with matching Yahoo mail box) made up just for this purpose and I hope if mucks up the demographics of every site I use it with.

Crochet at Colonial Williamsburg

2007-08-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

There is a very strong argument that crochet did not exist before about 1800¹ so you don't see crocheted items at Colonial Williamsburg. However, at Basset Hall, which was a home for John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife beginning in 1936 (and is now a part of Colonial Williamsburg,) I found two crocheted pieces. One elaborate and another extremely simple.

The picture above is a crocheted bed covering decorating one of the guest bedrooms and these are close-ups of the two motifs.

If anyone knows the history of this bedspread or information about the pattern I'd love to hear about it.

The last room we toured at the Basset House was the kitchen and my eye caught this as we were leaving -- a crocheted dishcloth! It looks like worsted weight cotton thread and rows of single crochet (but it looks a little different than that -- any ideas?)

¹Crochet and its Origins -- FAQ

What's in the past should stay in the past

2007-07-31T12:57:00.001-07:00

I'm still busy going through my craft magazines and I ran across this yarn ad from the Fall-Winter 1973-74 McCall's Needlework and Crafts.

When the poncho, shawl, shrug rage of the past few years happened my children always wanted me to knit them items and never wanted anything crocheted because "it would look like we were wearing one of your afghans". I have to say I understand their point of view. This look may have worked in the 1970's (and maybe not even then!) but that's where it should remain. When it comes to garments I'm almost exclusively a knitter.

Knitting Loves Crochet - book review

2007-07-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've never reviewed a book at Amazon.com before but this book compelled me to publicly warn others. Crocheting is my needle art of first choice but knitting comes in second and combining the two together hasn't been done a lot so I thought I had hit a gold mine with this book ..... unfortunately it was fools gold and the following is my posted Amazon.com review:

Knitting Loves Crochet by Candi Jensen

In the past year there has been a lot of exciting and interesting work created that combine both knitting and crochet. With the hope of finding inspiring and innovative designs and based solely on the book's description and intriguing cover, I bought this book to fill in an Amazon order and get the free shipping.

I was extremely disappointed. There are 22 "stylish designs" in this book but only 7 patterns are garments. The other patterns are accessories or home decorating and over half of those are simply crocheted flowers slapped on a knitting project or the tired basic granny square worked into one more design.

The knit i-cord dog leash with chain 3 crochet loops around the handle for "trim" is the worst of the book but others come very close. I wish I had been able to scan through this book because it would never have passed my buy test -- are there at least three patterns that I might be interested in or that inspire me? The pattern on the cover of this book was the ONLY one.

Let Nature Take Its Course

2007-07-27T17:23:00.001-07:00

I'm in the process of organizing and downsizing my collection of crafting magazines. I'm only saving the stuff I find really, really, really inspirational and the patterns that, after all these years, still makes me say "I want to make that". I have been asked if I haven't gotten around to it by now, am I ever going to? I Don't know, but there are a few things that have been PIM's (projects in mind) for 30+ years and I still intend on getting around to them!

Anyway, I'm flipping through a copy of Seventeen's Make it! magazine from the spring/summer of 1972 and I find this little gem (click on photo for larger view). See what's interesting about it?? That picture would never be shown today because some idiots would go out and wrap a hammock around their neck and lose what few brain cells they had to begin with, resulting in a major lawsuit that would have the publisher of Seventeen taking care of them for the rest of their lives (if they hadn't managed to suffocate themselves to death).

Nowadays a picture like that will have a slew of disclaimers. Starting with the environmental one : "No trees were harmed in the making and using of this hammock." Followed by the liability one, "do not attempt this yourself, the humans used in this advertisement are professional stunt doubles for trees."

Granny Square Heart Afghan

2007-07-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

This afghan was actually made quite some time ago and I remembered it while I was blogging my woes from the Endless Ends Afghan. This is the first afghan I duplicated solely from a picture. The afghan measures approximately 57" x 68" (including the borders) and each square is three rounds of the traditional granny square pattern and measure 3½".

These figures from my notes represent generous allowances for the yarn used:
White - 1700 yards
Dark Pink - 290 yards
Blue - 290 yards
Pink/Blue/White Ombre - 570 yards
Light Pink (for border) - 400 yards

Click on the photo to the left for a larger version of the graph and additional details.

I really like the boarder I put on this afghan:
Round 1: Sc evenly around, working 3 sc in four corners. Join.
Round 2: Ch 3, 2 dc in same st, *skip 2 sc, 3 dc in next st. Repeat from * around but make adjustments (by skipping only 1 sc, if needed) so that the three corner stitches are worked such: 3 dc in first stitch of corner, ch 2, skip middle sc of corner, 3 dc in third stitch of corner. Join
Round 3: Slip st to next space between 3 dc clusters. Chain 3, 2 dc in same space, *skip next 3 dc, 3 dc in next space. Repeat from * around working 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in each corner. Join.
Round 4: Slip st to middle stitch of dc cluster. Ch 1, sc in same st. *Skip 2 dc, 5 dc, skip 2 dc, sc around (you should end up with a 5 dc cluster in each corner - you may need to frog and start with a 3 dc cluster at the beginning of the row instead.)

This afghan is no longer my daughter's favorite because it's a little too cute but mostly because it's not airy enough --but her rabbit, Dusty, liked it so much he chewed on it!

Chasen En Crochet

2007-07-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

It was the hot item to crochet about a year ago (I know, I know -I'm that behind on finishing my projects!) The advantage to having a work basket of UFO's is that by the time I got around to making this, most of the errors in the pattern had been fixed with an errata page. I made a few minor adjustments along the way but I don't know if that was because I was reading the pattern wrong or if there were pattern corrections still to be made. The pattern for the Chason En Crochet is here and the corrections from the errata page have been incorporated into the latest release.

I used Caron Simply Soft and my piece came out exactly to gauge. However, I am a 5'9" woman and it's just a little short for my preference. If I had thought about it better at the beginning, I could have added length by repeating a section somewhere in the middle.

A couple of baby sweaters

2007-07-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

This is a catch-up blog entry about two baby sweaters I made about a year and a half ago!.

The first sweater was for my grandson Haden. Rebecca's husband liked the pattern called "Garter Stitch Cardigan" from the book Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas. I knit the sweater with Lion Brand Wool Ease using the colors Woods, Forest Green Heather and Mushroom. It's a beginning knitting pattern and was very easy to knit (lots of ends!) Structurally the button band may prove to be a problem (the simplicity of the pattern didn't provide sound facings) but Haden will probably outgrow it before it's an issue!

The second sweater was one I made for Salem, the daughter of Rebecca's friend Lori. It's a crocheted sweater from a Leisure Arts Leaflet (No. 2630) titled Baby, It's Cold Outside. I stashed busted the yarn used for this and unfortunately, other than the fact that it was a sport weight, I don't remember what I used. The pattern worked up quickly once I figured out the special pattern stitch called the Double Crochet Cross Stitch. Rebecca helped me shop for the creative buttons -- I had never thought to use two different sizes. Very cute!

The Endless Ends Afghan

2007-07-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Insane. Insane. Insane. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. That's how I feel about myself for taking on this project and having a major bout of obsessive compulsiveness kick in (about finishing what I start) didn't help.

It all began when I found a photo of an afghan. I liked the looks of it immediately and it suited my geometric design impulses so very nicely. I filed it away in my afghan patterns folder to wait for the right time. When I was looking for an afghan pattern, with the intent of stash busting some pink yarn, this pattern jumped out as a perfect project. It's not the first afghan that I've picked apart from a photo (oops, never blogged about that one! details soon). Warning signs did not light up during this phase.

The first thing I needed to do was to graph the granny squares. Picking out the pattern was a challenging puzzle and great fun. In retrospect, I should have stopped here, but again, no serious warning bells were going off.

Once I had the pattern graphed I knew that it was going to take 145 white squares, 66 dark color squares and 66 light color squares. Yep, 277 squares. Major warning bells should have gone off at this point but I was still having a blast knocking off the design.

Quick math determined that a 4" square would make the afghan 84" across at the widest point and a 3" square would make it 63". So I searched my pattern books and the internet for a 3" square that would be interesting (a simple granny square was not going to "pop" the design.) I found the perfect square in the Leisure Arts publication 99 Granny Squares to Crochet. It's square #75 and the interesting middle is done by turning the granny square around to the wrong side and working a sc and dc in each stitch around and then turning back to the front to work the final round (since the pattern is copyrighted I can't give any more hints than that!)

So I merrily began crocheting 277 squares. Each square only took about 10 minutes to do and hey, it was crocheting so it was fun. The warning bells finally began to scream when I started to sew the thing together ...... have you done the math on how many ends there are to sew in?? If you have, you are soooooo much smarter than I am. There are two ends for each square + two more for sewing one to another + two more for putting each strip together. BUT -- sewing the strips together took more than one color, after all, I couldn't sew a pink to pink portion with white yarn. I sewed in almost 1000 ends. I was insane. I was stupid.

I edged the afghan with a reverse single crochet but I was so fed up with the thing by this point that I don't think I executed the stitch properly - it doesn't look like cording. It did look better than regular singular crochet so I just left it.

Crochet at the Smithsonian American Arts Museum

2007-07-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

This summer we visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum and there were two pieces in the Folk Art exhibition that caught my eye. I love traveling and visiting new places and I really love it when I see crochet!

Indian Woman(ca. 1970) by Miles Burkholder Carpenter

Smithsonian Photo

Embroidered Garment (ca. 1949) by Alice Eugenia Ligon.

For many folk artists, life-changing events such as death, injury, or disease that affects the family may trigger a period of great creativity. According to the embroidered inscription, Ligon created this dress as a Christmas gift for her children while she was a patient at Fulton State Hospital. She was hospitalized there in 1949 and 1953 for an unspecified condition. Ligon enjoyed sewing, crocheting, and quilting, but this garment; this gown, probably her first hospital gown or uniform, shows her remarkable skill. She crocheted the hem and sleeves and used every available inch of cloth to embroider religious, patriotic, popular, and personal portraits, vignettes, and inscriptions.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

Potholders

2007-06-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

The largest number of books from my Grandmothers crochet book collection are for potholders. These two potholders were made for me by my mom and are from patterns found in my grandmother's (her mom) books. There are a lot of interesting potholders in these books and I may stash bust by making up a few!

The potholder above is the "Star" potholder and the pattern can be found in Potholders (Star Pot Holder Book No. 101). The pot holder on the right is the "Lantern " pot holder and can be found in Suggestions for Fairs and Bazaars (The American Thread Company - Book No. 98). Both books are offered on my ladynthread.com site for a nominal cost.

Simple Shrug

2007-06-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is about the trials and tribulations of "simple". First, I couldn't get the gauge right so I ran out of yarn and it took A. C. Moore more than six months to get it back in stock. I had almost given up and was going to order online (pay shipping, which I hate to do). Second, The pattern is worked in stockinette stitch so I worked increases every 4th row instead of every 5th row (how do you increase on a purl row???) This probably contributed to my yarn shortage as well. Third, using smaller needles for the collar/border around the shrug produced an uncomfortably tight fit. I frogged, bumped up to the same size needle that the body was knit with and added a half dozen more stitches and it fit much more comfortably.

The pattern was on the wrapper of the yarn (Caron Simply Soft Shadows - Pearl Frost) and can also be found online here.

My shrug is nice, warm, soft and comfortable and I love it now but the pattern is flawed (fixable but flawed none-the-less) and between the yarn shortage and reworks it took almost a year to complete.

Friendship Quilt

2007-05-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

I love family/friend/album quilts! This one was done for our daughter Rebecca by her husband for her 31st birthday. David did a square with limericks he had written about boys. Sarah did a monster square and Laura's is a saying that she and a friend came up with (which I LOVE and wear on a t-shirt!) I did, what else ..... hearts?! I used the Little Granny Square Heart. I DID find a project for it!

Pineapple Fan

2007-05-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

It's not often I get a request from my Mom to crochet something. A few months ago she requested a chair back and arms cover set and hoped I had the book with the pattern that her mother frequently used. I did have the pattern! it's in the book "New and Old Favorites". I've scanned it and made it available over at my website ladynthread.com

The pattern called for size 30 thread but I used size 20 and my gauge came out about right. I used 1½ balls (approx. 600 yds total) of J.& P. Coats Royale #20 Natural and a size 8 hook. It's the first time in a very long time that I've needed to block any of my work and I had to search the internet for a refresher course. Here are the two sites I referenced: How To Spray Block Crocheted or Knitted Squares and How to Block Thread Work

I love vintage crochet thread patterns. My mom recently gave me a tablecloth my grandmother made for her and I remember it being used at many family dinners. I have to do some conservation work on it and I'm hoping I can find the pattern grandma used. Details of that project to follow.

NASCAR Bracelets

2007-05-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

I'm here! I'm here! It may not look like it from my blogging but I am around and crafting. I like to make stuff more than I like to journal it so I have a backlog of finished projects to show you and I promise to work on it this month before the summer lazies hit.

Resistance was futile. I am now a NASCAR fan. In March my sister and I met in Las Vegas to hang out and go to the races (my sister is the one who assimilated me.) She's a Jeff Burton fan and told me that if we went to the races I had to "pick a guy" to root for so I picked Jeff Gordon. Of course, that meant I had to design and crochet bracelets.
A DAY AT THE RACES

Here's me working my Jeff Gordon bracelet:

Here's my sis wearing her Jeff Burton bracelet:

Lipbalm/Lipstick Cozy for Valentines 2007

2007-02-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

Here's my valentine's project for 2007.
It's a lipbalm/lipstick cozy and I found the tutorial here in a forum thread at Crafster.org.

Notes:

I used a 4" x 14 ½" swatch of fabric. This differs slightly from the 4 ½ x 14 ½" suggested in the tutorial. I don't know what caused the difference, perhaps seam allowance or D ring size. Be careful with directional fabric. I originally had the heart pattern going in the other direction but that resulted in some hearts pointing up and some pointing down so I decided on side to side.

I used 1¼" D-rings

I used size 1 sew-on snaps (I tried a batch of no-sew snaps but just couldn't get them to attach well while working with the tight space)

My seam allowance was approximately 3/16"

There are a few minor sewing adjustments I made. 1) After sewing the swatch and before turning the tube I pressed the seam in the middle and stitched across one end. 2)The dimensions of my cozy didn't make folding it up evenly work well. I folded up one end by 3½" and the other end 3" (leaving an open area of approximately 1½") between them.

K2, P2 across, K1

2007-02-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

I was given a scarf that has a knit pattern I really like and I've been intending to "pick the pattern". I just never got around to it. A friend has returned to knitting and she was given an easy scarf pattern by the local yarn shop. The pattern is a multiple of 4 +1 and then *K2, P2, repeat from * across and K1 at the end of the row. Repeat row. What do you get? MY PATTERN!!!

It's another skinny scarf for my daughter. Here are the details:

#8 needles

17 stitches

Width = 3 1/2"

TLC Amore - Red Velvet.

Rambling Rose

2007-01-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

My grandmother did exquisite crochet. I didn't learn how to crochet from her but I learned what quality work looked like. Every summer during vacation Grandma would make a trip to the local variety store and purchase three items: a crochet hook, thread and a pattern book. As the crocheter of the family I was given these vintage crochet books. I've started scanning them and have a few of them available on my website lady_n_thread.com for a nominal price.

I have several pieces of her work and one of my favorites is a pair of pillow cases. The pattern is called Rambling Rose and is in the pattern book Pillow Cases Decorative Crochet

Skinny Scarf - Boucle

2007-01-19T17:35:00.000-08:00

This is a knitted cousin to the Skinny Scarf - Homespun

Bernat Boucle
Size 10 1/2 needles
12 stitches
k1, p1 pattern
3" wide
Approximately 84" long.

My daughter likes her scarves long and skinny but this pattern and yarn can be adapted to any width or length with ease.

Very soft and warm!

Spoon Angels

2007-01-19T16:55:00.000-08:00

I love these little Spoon Angels. You make them with the wooden spoons you get with Italian Ices or Ice Cream cups. I made a number of them for a holiday exchange group and they work up surprisingly quick.

This pattern was available on freepatterns.com but I when I went to track down the link for it, I couldn't find it.

Remember: When you find a pattern you like on the web and think you might like to do it sometime -- don't bookmark it, save it to a file.

Patterns have a disconcerting habit of disappearing from the web. If you get that dreaded "404 - File Not Found" error then try The Wayback Machine. Pictures are frequently missing but text of the pattern can often be found.

Checkered Flag Afghan

2007-01-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

Oh my, that's way too long between posts! The holidays got in the way of my postings but still ......

Here's the checkered flag afghan for my sis.

Notes:
1) The pattern I used for the squares is: Pumpkin Patch Square.
2) I used an I hook and each square is 8"
3) 24 white & 24 black squares
4) (4) 8oz skeins - Red Heart Super Saver - white
(4) 8oz skeins - Red Heart Super Saver - black
--I had a fair amount left but it took 4 skeins of each color.
5) I single crocheted a border around the afghan matching the squares (more ends, I know, but it needed that for a finished look.)

The problem:
The cat believes it was a gift for him! The name of the cat? Pitstop

Granny Squares

2006-11-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

I've started a couple of projects recently using Granny Squares. I like granny squares because they're usually portable (especially if only one or two colors are being used). I'll write about both projects when they're done but in the meantime, I thought I'd share my collection of granny square information.

Basic info
How to Make a Granny Square -- Basic information about how to make Granny Squares after you've mastered that you're ready for hexagon, octagon, rectangle and triangle granny squares!

Special Techniques
Hidden Ends Tutorial - A MUST have technique. This tutorial shows how to finish the end of a granny square in a manner that makes the finishing join look seamless.
The Magic Adjustable Ring - This is a technique for starting the granny square ring. Also shown are the other more usual methods of joining a chain to form a ring and crocheting into the first chain.

Link Pages for Granny Square Patterns
Star Gazer's Exchange Square and Motif Links

Granny Square Fun
A Trunk Full of Grannies - All kinds of things to make and do with granny squares.

Caps to the Capital

2006-10-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Knitters and Crocheters for Newborns:
Caps to the Capital

24

Is the number of caps I have knit and crocheted for Caps to the Capital, a child advocacy program sponsored by Save the Children. I boxed them up and sent them off today.

Visit today and download the action kit — Please join me in this very important cause.

Make-it

2006-10-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

makeit.ladynthread.com
While most of this blog is about crochet, which is my main passion, I'm primarily really about making stuff!

I needed a project when I first started teaching myself how to do frames in html -- so I went to my collection of "how to make-it" articles. My collection is old newspaper and magazine clippings, handwritten notes, handouts from Girl Scout and 4H seminars and anything free and generic that has been around for ages.

The result is a website I call "Make-it" and it is my special gift to the crafting community -- enjoy!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2006-09-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

This year a beloved aunt lost her fight against breast cancer.

In remembrance, I crocheted a couple of pink beaded bracelets for me to wear every day during October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month). Visit The National Breast Cancer Awareness Organization to learn how you can help the fight against breast cancer.

Travel Jewelry Pouch

2006-08-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

Little projects like these are when I sometimes have the most fun crocheting. I love reading the pattern, crocheting, assembling and then figuring out who will be the recipient (like most crafters I've met, I rarely keep the finished item for myself -- it's all about the giving.)

The designer is The Crochet Dude and it's a free pattern that you can find here.

I didn't have any problems with the pattern until Round 10 which I rewrote to get the symmetry that I am so obsessively compulsive about. Here is my rewrite and a photo of how the round begins (my version):

Rnd 10: Ch 5, *(skip one dc, dc in next dc, ch 2)repeat from * up to the ch-2 space; (dc, ch 2) twice in ch-2 space; dc in next dc, ch 2, repeat from * around ending with a slip stitch into the 3rd chain of beg ch-5.

Finally, I had a problem interpreting the assembly instructions, which read: "Attach the layers together by stitching through (it is odd wording .... what did he mean by through??) the ch-2 spaces and creating V shaped pockets". I got the gist of it (make V shaped pockets!!!) but was there something special being done by stitching through the ch-2 spaces??? I finally just whip stitched together the 12 sides which were formed by the ch-2 spaces.

Maybe I was just being dense in thinking that there was something special and/or different being done with the assembly but the real disappointment was that I made two posts for help on the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) membership message board and received NOT ONE reply.

By the way, the Travel Jewelry Pouch went to my granddaughter :)

Homespun Afghan

2006-08-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

This is the last of my planned projects that involve working with Homespun yarn from Lion Brand. Once again, working with Homespun presented a problem. This time it was the consistency of color between skeins. Some skeins had much more in the way of lighter highlights and other skeins were mostly grey (I used the color Edwardian). Thank goodness I noticed it fairly soon (not when I was buying it but at least early on in the work.) I alternated lighter and darker skeins to get a striping that looks fairly natural and planned. All's well in the end but just one more annoyance to add to the Homespun saga (see blogs Plaid Baby Blanket and While You Recover Afghan.

This afghan was a thank you present to my daughter for her help getting me through an English Composition class. Thanks sweetie!! I couldn't have done it without you. It is also the biggest afghan I've ever done (60" x 72") -- a snuggleghan for her and her hubby :) The complete pattern for the Homespun Afghan is over at lady_n_thread in the original patterns section.

I don't have any Homespun patterns on my wannado or my wips's and I'm going to swear off working with it until memory fades.

Plaid Baby Blanket

2006-08-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to get away from working with Lion Brand's Homespun yarn. I keep finding patterns I like for it and projects I need to make.

This little baby blanket should have been done quickly and with no problem. However, like any project of mine, *#%@ happens. First, I couldn't find Homespun baby at my usual haunts of A.C. Moore or Michaels (I later found it at JoAnn's). So I needed to switch to the regular Homespun line and pick colors. There are two things that terrify me the most about any project, the first is picking colors and the second is embroidering faces onto dolls. Usually when I'm picking colors I bring along my husband who has a good sense of matching colors (left on my own I just pick tone on tone or exactly match pattern specs.) Luckily this time I had talked my daughter into coming with me (Frappuccino's at Starbuck's are wonderful bribes) and she guided me through my color psychosis.

That should have been the end of it. It was an extremely simple pattern and therein was the problem. The pattern was so easy I worked it while not really paying attention and crocheting with Homespun and not keeping my eye on the stitches is a recipe for disaster. Once again, I kept missing the turning chain and sundry other stitches. And once again, I ripped as much as I stitched. *HUGE SIGH*

The pattern for the Plaid Baby Blanket is here. However, it appears you need to have signed up with Lion Brand to see it. My advice -- MAKE IT UP. You do not have to give these people real information in any way, shape or form. I have an internet persona made up just for this purpose and I hope if mucks up the demographics of every site I use it with.

Crochet Flowers

2006-06-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

These flowers evolved from a pattern for a knit flower. The girls in the knitting class I teach asked me to knit them a flower from a pattern they saw in one of my books.

I tried. I really did. But I just didn't like the way the flower came out so I designed and crocheted these instead. The pattern for Crochet Flowers is posted on my website.

--I think they want to learn how to crochet next :)

Crocheted Socks --Start to Finish

2006-06-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

I started this project when the Crochet Guild of America ran its first Crochet Along. I have always wanted to try making a pair of socks. I'm not really a sock person (see post about my beaded foot sandals but I'm always interested in learning new techniques and, as always, I love to make stuff!

The CAL (crochet along) was broken down into five tasks and here are my notes and pictures about the project:

Task 1 - Gauge Swatch (no photo) With an 0 steel hook and Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton (multi jacquard, color 405) yarn I was able to get a spot-on gauge both stitch and length (very rare for me!!). However, my swatch was worked back and forth and the pattern is crocheted in the round; my gauge changed once I started working the socks. This proved to be ok in the end because I needed to decrease the number of stitches to fit my foot but my next sock swatch will be worked in the round to get a more accurate gauge.

Task 2 - Toe
This task went really fast and I worked it through all the recommended rounds. I found it difficult to judge the fit of the sock at this point and it wasn't until the next task where I could tell that the toe was too big.

Notes: I started the toe using the slip stitch into the bottom loop of the beginning chain method featured in the book Crocheted Socks! by Janet Rehfeldt and Mary Jane Wood. Also, adjusting the size of the sock would be here and I'd like to figure out a calculation for various foot sizes so that I can easily make socks for family/friends.

Task 3 - Foot
After a few inches of straight work the sock was turning out to be too loose around my foot and I frogged back to row 9 and starting working with 58 stitches for the foot body. The book Crochet Socks! recommends that the sock measure ½" to ¾" inches narrower than the measurement around the ball of the foot and once my sock fit well on my foot my measurement was falling in that range. Because I knew I was going to be crocheting a longer foot than the pattern I should/could have adjusted when I made the top of foot increases. Instead of 4½” up I could have gone 5½" or 6" but I don't really notice a major difference in fit because of this. The length of my sock at the end of Task 3 measured 7½".

Task 4 - Ankle & Cuff
I added 4 stitches to the starting chain that began the ankle/cuff section. Originally, I added 1/2 of the 58 stitches (in keeping with pattern proportions) and tried increasing as I went but this resulted in a tight fit over the ankle so I frogged back and did all my increasing in the starting chain. Other than that this section was straight forward and I look forward to experimenting with different cuffs in future socks.

Note: I began working my sc's in the back loop of the starting chain. I do like the sturdier feature of this technique when working both ends of a chain.

Task 5 - Heel
This went smoothly. I did forget where my ends stopped/began so my heels finish with two different stripes but it wasn't worth frogging.

Misc Notes:

I worked both socks at the same time and kept the striping the same for both socks (this strategy held through the heel where I did not start the second heel in the same spot and so the heels are different -- but who really notices that? LOL)

When I bought the yarn I was told that crocheted socks use more yarn than knitted ones and it was recommended to get two 100 gram balls. This was wise advice because I have big feet and like taller socks. I would never have been able to finish this with one skein.

While You Recover afghan

2006-05-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

This pattern is from the book
Vanna's Favorite Gift Afghans

Adjustments:
1) Instead of working 2 strands of worsted weight yarn together I worked one strand of Lion Brand Homespun (barrington) with one strand of TLC Amore (plum) -- Very soft.
2) I filled in the chain 1 spaces around the bobbles with a dc.

I like the afghan. It was quick to make and it's snuggly soft, but I had a lot of problems remembering to work a sc in the turning chain at the end of my rows. I did a lot of frogging on what is a very simple pattern. I'm pretty sure it was because of Homespun's texture and I was just not seeing it clearly enough --I have a love/hate relationship with Homespun that has yet to be resolved.

Homespun Love:
1) I love the texture and softness of the yarn.
2) Love the colors to choose from.

Homespun Hate:
1) The difficulty of working with the yarn. It's very hard to work the foundation chain of anything crocheted and when knitting the yarn grabs and pulls making it sometimes impossible to get off a clean stitch.
2) The quality control from the company. For a long time they had a problem with the glue from their wrappers ruining the last 5-15 yards of a skein. Now I've been encountering large sections of fuzzy unspun yarn. The company was good about replacing yarn when it had the glue problem but I don't really need more skeins of the color Baroque and this time I don't feel like bothering.

Beaded Foot Sandal

2006-05-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, it's almost summer. It's time to go get a pedicure (Mother's Day gift from a daughter) and start showing off the feet (these feet however, are my daughter's, not mine!) I love sandals and barefeet and this little project caught my eye right away as the best of both.

The pattern came from Beadwrangler and the only adjustments I made were: 1) I used the cheaper jewelry elastic from A.C. Moore instead of the Rainbow Elastic (I was able to make over 12 of these sandals from one cone) and 2) I used sc's down the front rather than the V formation of stitches used in the pattern. --That's just me and my taste though. I'm a straight line kinda gal.

Using black and white beads I also made a "Checkered Flag" one for my sister (Nascar Nut Fan) -- Love ya Sis ;)

Little Granny Square Heart

2006-05-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

I LOVE hearts motifs, especially crocheted ones. Many crocheted hearts are a variation of the same stitch theme but this one was a little different.

The original pattern is here: Little Granny Square Heart.

I did rework the shape heart portion of the pattern, because I couldn't figure out how the stitches were being counted, but it wasn't a difficult adjustment.

My heart measures 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 in size 10 cotton thread with a 7 hook.

Now I need to figure out what project to use them in!

Finger Puppet

2006-05-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

This little cutie is known as a Poppit Petpet and is from the online game Neopets. I designed her for a contest at the site (she took a third!)

She sits beside me at my desk and I love to pick her up and play. I may just have to make a few more!

The complete pattern.

Make Your Own Rug yarn

2006-04-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

Found this little tidbit in some saved notes --

Materials:
1 skein acrylic worsted weight yarn
G crochet hook

Chain stitch the entire skein.