OMG! Embroidery!

My little embroidered rabbit face…

I’m a knitter and a crocheter and… not so long ago I used to do a fair amount of counted cross-stitch.  I’ve done a very small amount of embroidery, but it’s something that I’d like to do more of.  To that end, I started making little knitted squares last year.  My thought, at the time, was that I would embroider on the squares and then stitch them together to make an embroidery book.

I did one page… and it turned out horrible.  It was seriously discouraging for the thing I’d worked so hard on to turn out so far from what I’d imagined.  I set the whole project aside and didn’t look at it again.

Today, I was working on a crocheted rabbit.  Part of that project required me to embroider the rabbit’s face onto felt.  Now, I’ve embroidered into crochet and into knit.  It never quite turns out how I want.  The felt though… it seemed to be more supportive of the stitches.  I’m really quite pleased with the results.  It makes me want to go back to that embroidered book and try it again.  This time, I’ll embroider onto fabric and stitch the fabric to the knitted squares.  Seeing how my little rabbit face turned out gives me the confidence to give it a try again.

Of Eurypterids and Crochet

Some time ago, I said that I was going to write a eurypterid pattern.  I had the best of intentions to do so.  However, I got busy doing a million other things (writing poems and stories and books and other patterns, reading, drawing, knitting, crochet, living in general, etc.) and I never got around to actually crafting a eurypterid pattern.

Never fear, however!  Someone beat me to it!  Artbyekaty on Etsy, in fact.  What a pattern it is!  I actually spent money on it and made one for a friend of mine (a paleontologist).  She absolutely loved it.  Now, I’m going to make two more.  One will be for another paleontologist that I know (who actually studies these guys!) and one for myself.  That’s the great thing about buying patterns: you can’t use them up.  You can make as many of the little guys as you want!

So… yeah.  I never wrote my own pattern, but this person wrote one that was probably better than I could ever do.  Here’s the link to her pattern.  I totally recommend it.  She also has other paleo crochet projects that might tickle your fancy, if you like that sort of thing.

The Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival

For the last several years, my sister and I have gone to the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY.  Now, generally, I’m not one of those people who is very elite about the yarn I use.  In fact, most often, I use acrylic yarns and cotton yarns.

Part of the reason for that is… I have a strange reaction to handling 100% wool yarn: my fingers go numb.  My theory for this is that the wool is processed in something to which I’m having this reaction.  That means, I generally stick with the alpaca wools and angora wools when I go outside of the acrylics and cottons.

Over the years, I’ve focused on getting tools: a nostepinne, a yarn bowl, a nalbinding needle.  Last year, I got safety eyes and two kits, as well as a couple skeins of yarn.

This year, I got some merino wool.  I didn’t have the immediate reaction to it that I normally do, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make something nice out of it.  I also picked up a few little odds and ends – buttons and some tools.  I also got a kit from a vendor that I visited last year.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get some more of her kits going forward.  They’re intended for a baby doll that she also has a kit for, but the hat I made last year fits my 14 inch doll quite nicely.  I’m hoping that the vest I go this year will be the same.

My sister and I went both days and Saturday was really packed and busy.  It meant we spent a lot of time rushing and buying things before they sold out.  Sunday was much less busy, so it was nice to be able to just take my time and look over things.  That’s part of the reason why I like to go both days.

My goal for this year is to use up the skeins that I’ve gotten last year and this year.  I also want to make the doll vest.  Next year, I want to visit that vendor, provided that she’s back, and get some more of her kits.  I’d also like to look into Russian spindles this year.  If it looks like something I can do, I might pick one up next year, along with some wool to spin.  (I don’t react to roving, which is why I think it’s something in the processed wool to which I’m reacting.)

Wasting Time?

Blog circle topic for the month!

Procrastination
What is your worst time waster? How long do you allow yourself to procrastinate? Do you regret it, or do you think it’s worth it?

Bonus: Try to forego one of your time wasters this month and see how much higher your WC is! But not that school, work, necessary stuff. We need you happy, healthy and not in trouble for truancy.

 

For me, the thing that keeps me from writing is, more often than not, crocheting.  I love writing and I love crocheting.  The challenge is balancing the two creative outlets.  There are days that I just barely get to my writing because I spent most of my free time after work finishing a crochet project.

At the same time… I wouldn’t really consider crocheting a waste of time.  When I finish a story, I have a lot more work to do: editing and rewriting and all the other things that go into writing.  When I finish a crochet project, I have something either fun or useful.  It might be an adorable cat ami or it might be a comfortable pair of slippers.  Either way, the time spent away from writing is well worth it.

Instead of completely foregoing crocheting for a month – because that would drive me insane – I’ll work to balance the two better.  For each crochet project I finish, I’ll work on finishing a story.  So far, I’ve finished two stories this month and two crochet projects.  I’ve started a third crochet project… that means I need to start a third story as well.

Bianca, watching over my desk at work.

When Things Come Together

Several years ago, now, I formed an organization at my local church.  It was called, for want of a better name, the Crochet and Knitting Group.  However, I always wanted a name for it.  Somehow, having a name opens up doors.  We can feel more official if we aren’t just the Crochet and Knitting Group.

This past year, I really started to think about the problem in earnest – searching for possible names that we could use to refer to ourselves.  I wanted something that would bring in several different crafts – since we aren’t just knitter or crocheters.  We do both.  I also wanted something that would easily reference the fact that we are a mission group within our congregation.

A few weeks ago, I began crafting a scarf that was done with rows of cross-stitch (crossed double-crochets).  I looked through pages about knitting and there it was: the basket weave stitch – also called the Cross-stitch.  Of course, there is also the cross-stitch found in embroidery and its related crafts (which members of our group also do).

So, now I’m thrilled: after years of being the Crochet and Knitting Group, we’ll have a name.  Going forward, we can be the Cross Stitchers.  Now, we can make a little logo to put on our brochures for the Prayer Shawl Ministry and the cards we tag to our prayer shawls.  We can send off items to our various missions with notes saying our name!

Getting in the Mood

For the entire month of February, Yarnspirations had a crochet along running where you were supposed to craft a scarf – day by day – based on your mood for that day.  It was a lot of fun, even though I didn’t get started until the seventh.  I’m a deeply emotional person, but I seldom really think about what my mood is on a particular day.  So, I found it to be a good growth experience for me.

The one thing that I noticed was that there was no color for a negative mood.  There was a color for relaxed (persimmon), a color for creative (pistachio), a color for energetic (gold), a color for optimistic (off-white), a color for bold (berry blue), a color for content (lavender blue) and even a color for neutral (taupe).  I decided that, for those days when my mood wasn’t going to fit into any of those, I’d used Victorian rose.  They had other color palettes for jewel-tones and brights, but the softer shades fit with my personality better.

Ultimately, I didn’t use the Victorian rose very often, but I’m glad that I included it in my palette.  There are just days when my mood wasn’t great (I was tired or grouchy or impatient) and, by having my own color category for that mood, I felt free to feel that way.  You know, there’s nothing wrong with having a bad day once in a while.  The trick is to not dwell on those bad days.  Accept that that day wasn’t good and maybe tomorrow will be better (generally, it was!).

So… would I do something like this again?  I certainly would.  I love the crochet alongs that Yarnspiration comes out with and these little ones where I have a specific goal for each day or each week are much easier than the ones where they’re like, “Let’s make a bag this month!”  Those tend to get away from me and I just never finish them.

I’ll be posting my mood scarf once it’s complete.

A Rather Fox-like Cat

I have a new pattern that I’ve written.  It’s not quite ready to publish yet, but I’m hoping to have it written up and finalized soon.

During November last year, I wrote a story with a character that crocheted as a way to relieve stress.  (I find it pretty neat that there’s a recent study showing that knitting and crocheting are the most effective ways of doing just that!)  Anyway, his wife was expecting and he spent the entire novel crocheting a little stuffed cat for the new baby.  At the end of the story, he had finished it.  The other characters, especially his cousin, decided that his “cat” looked much more like a fox than it did a cat.

At the beginning of this month, I began working on the pattern for Ilya’s little cat (fox).  I’ve finished writing the pattern.  I just have to crochet the legs and finish stitching it together.  Then, I’ll be able to write up the pattern, insert the pictures and post it to Ravelry.  All in all, it’s come out cute and I’m really pleased with it.  Hopefully, other people will think it’s cute enough to make one of their own.

Would I do it again?

Now that I’ve finished the Mystery Adventure Crochet/Knit Along from Yarnspirations, I’m going to take a moment to look back and take stock of the experience.

There were mistakes along the way. Initially, I wasn’t getting my clues. Other people had the same problem at different times along the way. I don’t think anyone got the email with the last clue. Some of the patterns had errors in them and some people didn’t like how the pieces fit together as we progressed.

At the same time… the crew at Yarnspirations was always prompt to fix any problems or errors that came up. Each clue was available on their website and, once you had the link for one, it was easy to find the others (a simple matter of changing one number). On top of that, our host was super helpful, providing the links to both the knit and the crochet clues each week. You had a lot of freedom to individualize your project. I mixed knitting and crochet with mine. Other people used a past clue for a week when they didn’t like any of the current suggestions.

Here are the last pictures of my blocks:

My sister loves her new scarf!

At the end, I had a great looking scarf and I felt like I’d learned a lot – including two knit stitches that I’d never done before. When all was said and done, each of the participants were also given a free sock monkey pattern – the mascot for the adventure.

So, when I weigh all the positive and the negative… would I do another C/KAL from Yarnspirations? Absolutely!

Trying Something New

I get emails – of the subscription type – from all manner of crafting places. Recently, one of them mentioned a CAL/KAL (Crochet/Knit along). I’ve done such things before. Basically, each person in the group crochets or knits the same item, using the same pattern. This one added a twist: each week the participants would be able to choose one of three different patterns in crochet or one of three different patterns in knit.

I decided, since the pattern was free (they aren’t always) that I’d give it a try. Today is the beginning of the fifth week. I’ve completed three sections and I’m hard at work on my fourth. I’m having a blast with it! I’m so very glad that I took a chance on it. There’s always something that I see and want to try and I’m learning new stitches too!

I am joining the blocks with a technique that I saw on Pinterest and I’m loving every moment of it! It’s working out so well.

Here’s some progress photographs:

Clue 1 – Arches Stitch

Clue 2 – Granny square

Clue 1 and 2 joined

Clue 3 – Slanted blocks stitch

Clue 3 and 2 joined

Clue 4 – Tweed Stitch (Knit!)

A Little Set to keep her warm

My sister and I each have little 14 inch dolls from the Hearts4Hearts collection.  Mine was originally named Lilian and was from Belarus.  Heidi’s was Zelia from Brazil.  We both love making outfits for them, because they work up so quickly and easily.  At the same time, we’ve both decided to sort of take the dolls and make them our own.  To that end, we gave them new names and we’re in the process of making new stories for them.

Heidi has written her doll into some of her stories as a character, Catia, who lives in a land that is bitterly cold in the winter time.  So, in fitting with that story, Heidi decided to make a little winter warming set for the doll.  She made little mittens, a hat, a cowl and a set of legwarmers for Catia.  It was super cute and I wanted a set for myself.

However, while Heidi is great at making up patterns, she’s not so good at writing those patterns out.  That means, in order to have a set of my own, I had to re-create what she did with each item.  I started doing that at the beginning of the Olympic Games, as part of the Ravellenics.  When I was done, I had a hat, a cowl, mittens and adorable little legwarmers for my own doll.

Since I was re-creating Heidi’s pattern anyway (and with her permission), I wrote the patterns up.  I’m going to have her put the set on her Ravelry “store”, since she’s the actual designer.  I hope that other people will enjoy making the little items for their dolls.

I’ll add… the hat that I made for my doll was an earflap hat, rather than the regular watchcap that Heidi made for her doll.  So, that’s going on my own shop page on Ravelry.  Our patterns are always free downloads, so no problems there.