Archive for the ‘Handcrafts’ Category
Jennifer asked for a photo of the crochet project I mentioned in my weekend crafting notes post at the notes blog. I actually happen to have one already, which is unusual for me. (I still haven’t gotten around to taking a picture of those uneven curtains you were all demanding to see the other day.) Jane and I were working out the pattern for these little picot square table coverings I’m making to hide the scratches on our cheapo end tables, and I liked the way her color sketch looked next to the squares. (The squares are as yet untrimmed, unblocked, and unjoined, obviously.)
This is the Picot Square Tablecloth pattern from Vintage Crochet, a most delicious book. I’m making two smaller cloths instead of one big tablecloth. There are pink and cream colored squares, too. I stole the yarn from another Vintage Crochet project I have in the works: the ripple stripe blanket. It’s a long-term endeavor. You can see a wee bit of it creeping into the frame at the top right.
I like these starry squares because they’re so quick and finite. Thinking in terms of “this square” is much less intimidating than “this big huge project I’d like to finish sometime this decade.”
Rilla inspects to see if it passes muster.
Hmm, I’ll need to see the pink one before I can make a judgment. I like the green one, though. It matches your bag.
I already put this Blue Yonder post in my Google Shared Items, but I know from my stat counter that only about a dozen of you will click through, and this post is waaaay too funny to be missed: Purple Daze.
“I want you to know that my house stinks. It stinks really badly. It stinks like a man from Tyre.”
We took our own little purple dye rabbit trail once, but I wasn’t ambitious enough to promise a tie-dyeing session of our own. (This is possibly a case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot. Goodness knows I wrote enough natural dyes in the Martha books. Matter of fact, the part where Auld Mary uses stale urine as a color fixative was one of the favorite parts of the Laura Ingalls Wilder estate attorney, who, along with the heir to the estate, had to approve all my manuscripts before they went to press.)
Anyway, my hat is off to intrepid homeschooling mom Stefani for following through on her stinky, stinky promise. Those are some gorgeous shirts, by the way.
I learned to crochet when I was eleven, but I took about fifteen years off. And I’d never made anything but blankets, I think. This was my first attempt ever at a sweater (either knitting or crocheting).
Here’s the pattern I used: Baby It’s Cold Outside.
Rilla drew a lot of compliments at the park, but honesty compels me to confess what a mess I made of the project. First of all, it was supposed to be a present for a newborn. Of course, since I spent over a year on the sweater about ten newborn friends grew into toddlers before I had a chance to give what I thought was going to be the perfect new-baby gift. Hee. As I (finally, at long last) crocheted the final stitches, I had two dear friends who were counting down the days to the arrival of wee daughters, and I was delighted with the timing. The only difficulty was going to be in deciding to which baby girl I’d send the sweater.
Then I began whipstitching the sides together and it became clear that this sweater wasn’t going to work for either one of the newborn lasses. Rilla bopped past as I held it up by the sleeves, biting my lip doubtfully. The sweater looked more like her size (and she’ll be two in April) than newborn size. Hmm. I am sure I followed the directions meticulously. I can’t possibly have been at all distracted during the year and a half of sporadic bursts of hooking, right? The year and a half in which I packed up and moved to the other side of the country? No cause for absentminded mistakes there, surely?
Humph.
The sizing problems, it turned out, were the least of my mistakes. I mean, there are worse fates than accidentally making a sweater the perfect size for your own child. Of much greater concern was the fact that the front left panel was some two inches longer than the back of the sweater.
Whoops.
I unraveled the extra rows, but now the two front panels are different sizes. As I said, you can’t tell from this picture. Since one panel buttons over the other, the discrepancy looks almost intentional—sort of boxy and chic.
At least, that’s the story I’m going with.
I haven’t made the buttons yet but when I do you’ll see what I mean. If you compare mine to the picture, you’ll see how terrifically I blundered.
Fortunately for me, Rilla doesn’t give a hoot about following instructions to the letter.
This is definitely not my year for attempting anything more complicated than Paas, but for those of you with more time and/or ambition than I, Billi-Jean has a great post about making egg dyes from (among other things) cabbages, blueberries, beets, and onions. If you decide to give this a try, I want to see pictures!
Tags: Easter, Easter eggs, Easter baskets, crafts, holiday
December 21, 2005 @ 6:18 am | Filed under:
Handcrafts My friend Holly is adopting a child from China, and she put the word out that his orphanage needs warm sweaters for the babies. I’m going to try this pattern—cute, toasty, and simple. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
December 10, 2005 @ 5:15 am | Filed under:
Handcrafts Last week I shared Billi-Jean’s rhapsody on glitter. Today I shall give air time to a dissenting opinion. Selkie writes:
[W]hen my friend Kate advised me not to try the glitter stars craft from the Elizabeth Foss Advent unit we’re both doing pieces of, I said, “Glitter? Glitter is evil. There will never be glitter in my home,” and she said, “Oh, I just read a blog post about a woman who loves glitter.” I asked her to send me the link, because personally I would rather have a rat in my house than a tub of glitter. A rat I could whack on the head with a mop and then he would be dead, but glitter is FOREVER.
Oh, Selkie, how my husband agrees with you. Glitter on the floor, on the bottom of socks, on the sofa cushions, in the roots of hair, brings out a maniacal (yes I’m going to say it) glitter in his eyes. But, but, I always say, it’s so pretty. It’s sparkly! Somehow this masterful rhetoric has failed to convince him.
Some good ideas here: Christmas Crafts for Kids
The star ornaments are just about my speed. Especially since my darling friend Brigid gave me a lifetime supply of hot glue sticks five years ago and I still have 98%-of-a-lifetime-supply left. Woohoo! Happy children + no shopping necessary = thank you Brigid!
In a recent post about making beeswax candles (“Fruitcake, candles, glitter and knitty gifts”), Billi-Jean writes:
Glitter is inherently good. Like babies and homemade vegetable stew. Glitter is happiness in little flashes of coloured light.I don’t care about the “mess”, how it gets stuck in the grout between the tiles on the kitchen floor. Or how, months later, you are still vacuuming up the occasional piece. It is all worth it to me. Glitter is that good.
I remember once, talking to a neighbour who was shocked that I’d let my toddler use glitter in his crafts. “You never get that stuff up. Ever! You can sweep and vacuum and wash, but you’ll still have glitter on your kitchen floor.” I grinned. “I know. I like that. Glitter on the kitchen floor. It’s like diamonds on the soles of your shoes.”
I know a seven-year-old who would certainly agree. Lovely, Billi-Jean!
