Afghan Square for a Little Man

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Heather

I consider myself very lucky to be part of a great community on Ravelry. I’ve found a lovely group of ladies (and a couple of guys) who are great fun to talk to, trade with, and just generally have fun with. Sometimes, though, sad things happen to those great people. Right now, one lady has a very sick nephew–a 10-year old guy waiting to have open heart surgery.

So, since this is a great group of people, a bunch of us have gotten together to make squares for an afghan for him. I whipped up my square today, since a cold, rainy spring day is a great day for getting out the crochet hook.

Square for Jason

It hasn’t been blocked yet, so it is a little wavy, but for my first afghan square, I’m very happy with it. The yarn is Vanna’s Choice in colour Denim Mist. The pattern is a modified Autumn Leaves from the book [amazon_link id=”B003W0NW9G” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]50 Fabulous Crochet Squares[/amazon_link], with a few extra rows added to make the square 10″ across. (The colour in the picture is off because it is raining and dreary here today.)

As I was typing this entry up, I just heard that Jason is doing well. His doctors except the best, but it is still so sad that such a young man has undergone heart failure.

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Happy Easter

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Heather

Comments Off on Happy Easter | Posted in Site News |

Easter Egg Failure

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Heather

Holiday stitching should be fun and easy, I think. (Except Christmas stitching. That is long and sometimes difficult…) So, when I saw the new cute freebie from my LNS’s resident designer, I thought I would give it a try, figuring it would work up in a couple of nights.

Well, it didn’t.

Easter Egg by Kathrin Ellison

I know it looks okay, but my count is so far off on the one side that it is truly laughable. I have no idea what happened, other than perhaps a few too many nights of not enough sleep have finally caught up with me.

The design can be found here on Kathrin’s blog. The fabric is white 28 count evenweave from my stash, and the fibre is Lavender Skies from Ayrloom, whom I found on eBay. (It appears that their current listings are all for fabric.) The fibre uses DMC for a base (I sent them a message to find out), so it stitches really nicely. However, I don’t like the really long colour repeats in this particular colourway. So, I suppose, I wouldn’t have been happy with the finished product, even if I had been able to count correct.

This wee piece of stitching will go back in the fabric stash, and I will pick out what I’ve done some other day. Easter is far too close (tomorrow!) for me to worry about it now.

At least Easter crafting with the little man went well. (The picture is blurry because the little man is always in motion it seems.) We really need to get him blue bunny ears next year…

Bunny gift bag (from Dollarama kit)

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that they are no longer following some of the blogs they had previously followed through Google Friend Connect? Every once in a while, I run across a blog I know I follow, and yet it isn’t showing that I am.

2 Comments | Posted in Crafts, Cross Stitch |

Swedish Weaving Finish

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Heather

Back in October, at the Creativ Festival, I took a Swedish weaving class from Christine Allan of FunAndFastPatterns.ca. The project was a simple towel design called Mountain Mist.

Mountain Mist Tea Towel by Christine Allan

The finishing on the towel is pretty simple. The bottom is fringed to your preferred depth on both ends, and a line is sewed just above the fringe to stop it from unravelling. Then the perle cotton is secured with a couple of lines of stitching on the selvage edge on both sides:

Mountain Mist Tea Towel - securing thread

Then the salvage edge is folded over and stitched down along the whole length. And there you go: you have a fabulous tea towel.

Swedish weaving is quick and easy to do. Just take your needle and weave over and under the floats on the fabric, and you get a lovely effect that shows only on the front of the fabric. I will definitely be doing more Swedish weaving projects. In fact, I have all the supplies for Christine Allan’s Flickering Flakes design that was in last year’s Festive issue of A Needle Pulling Thread. I’m looking forward to starting it… once my number of WIPs decreases a little bit. 🙂

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Royal School of Needlework Profile

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Heather

CBS Sunday Morning recently did a profile on the UK’s Royal School of Needlework, highlighing their history and some of the projects they have worked on. It is a lovely video, full of beautiful pieces of needlework (and not a mention of the upcoming royal wedding).

There are not words to express how much I would love to attend the Royal School of Needlework. I know I’m nowhere near as talented as the ladies highlighted in this video, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have the desire to learn. (It is a shame, though, that my artistic ability is limited to following someone else’s pattern.) Actually, I feel very inspired to try something different, again. Maybe I should work on some more canvaswork pieces…

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Earth Socks and Sun Socks

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Heather

I’ve been knitting socks again. Surprise!

Herimone's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder

The pattern is Herimone’s Everyday Socks from Erica Lueder of Dreams in Fiber. The pattern is avaliable for free through Ravelry or through Erica’s website here. The yarn is Bernat Sox in colour Wooded Denim, a nylon/acrylic blend, which knit up quite nicely. These socks are now on their way to a lovely lady in Austin, Texas.

And, since I think the world might end if I don’t have a pair of socks on the needles, I’ve cast on my next pair:

Cookie A's Summer Sox Socks by Cookie A

The pattern for these socks is Cookie A’s Summer Sox Socks by Cookie A, a free pattern avaliable for Classic Elite. (This appears to be the same as her Kelp pattern, which is for sale for $6 from Webs.) The yarn is a hand-dyed from Yarn Hollow, and appears to be very, very simlilar to my all-time favourite sock yarn, Panda Cotton. These are yet another pair for the lady in Sarnia.

So, there are socks on the needles and all is right in the world.

 

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Ornament of the Month – April 2011

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Heather

Somehow we’ve made it well into the middle of April, and I’m only just finishing up my ornament of the month.  I’m not really sure how that happened (being halfway through April, not the stitching). But, here we are, deep into crazy Canadian spring weather (rain, snow and sun on Sunday, clouds and a little snow yesterday, -1 today, and maybe 19 on Wednesday; no wonder everyone gets sick this time of year).

Britty Kitty Christmas by BritterCup Designs

The design is Britty Kitty Christmas by BritterCup designs from the 2005 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue. The fabric is some 28ct white from my stash, and the threads are Dinky Dyes silk in colour Black Coral and the remaining silk is unknown colours from my collection of Oops packs, etc.  It is stitched over one.

As I was working on this, I started thinking I wasn’t really feeling this ornament of the month thing. It was really cutting into my stitching time for my larger designs. And, with all the commission knitting I’ve been doing, my stitching time has been very limited (not to mention all the sewing I want to do). But, when I finished it, I very nearly started another ornament. 🙂 Good to know that I know my own mind.

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