Stripes of Satin

Satin stripes.  Lots of satin stitched stripes.  Three months ago I started this project and after weeks of working on it (and not working on it) it's finally complete!  I find myself both ecstatic and deflated.  On one hand I see all the little imperfections and ill spent stitches but on the other it is so gratifying to see the completion of an idea and pattern.  Cheers!

#12 complete an embroidery project

The summer has been a blur and September will be here soon.  I've checked a few things off of my '26 before 27' list but have fallen drastically behind on my goal to read 52 books this year.  C'est la vie.  Today I am happy to cross #12 off my list, complete an embroidery project!  There are many embroidery samplers to help you learn such as this adorable Princess and the Pea Sampler.  My frugal self decided to go for the more basic (and free) approach of practicing stitches that I found on the web in lines.

What did I learn?  I'm really bad at french knots, I can't make them stick, they'll have to wait for a rainy day and with fall in Seattle approaching I predict a short wait.

I decided to move on to some doodle embroidery with back stitches so I interpreted  'B is for Basil' from Edward Gorey's Gashlygrumb Tinies into a hoop,

then I moved on and free handed this cute pin,

but my favorite is my pillow.  The pillow case was sewn from linen, then I drew a whale on with a water soluble pencil and proceeded to stitch.

I am satisfied that I have completed my goal . . . for now.  I'll continue to work on my embroidery and master the french knot, stay tuned.

Conquering Cables

I've been crocheting for forever but only started knitting about 3 years ago.  When I first started I made a simple netbook cover, a hat and a basket weave tea cozy, then I put down the needles swearing I would never knit again.  It was awkward and I already had mad crochet skills.  6 months later I gave it another try, something clicked and knitting no longer felt so foreign.  Now I usually have at least 1 knitting and crochet project going at once.  It really frustrates me when people are elitist about one or the other.  I feel that each has their strengths and weaknesses, it all depends on the project.

One place where I feel knitting is superior is cables.  You can make cables with crochet but it's not quite as smooth and aesthetic.  The main reason I even learned to knit was to enter the world of beautiful cables.  In my mind cabling was limited to those who have mastered the art of knitting and that I would need more knitting under my belt to even try.  Well, this fall cables came crashing down from their pedestal because when I actually looked at how a simple 3/3 cable is done I felt almost cheated.  "Why, this isn't hard at all!"  And I proceeded to teach it to my sister whose knitting was limited to the purl and knit stitch.  I'm sure cabling becomes more complicated when you get into different types but seriously, I don't know why I syked myself out of trying them earlier.

The first project I made cabling was a pair of mittens.  I looked around but didn't find quite the right pattern so I just made one up.  Granted I have never made any sort of gloves but I just went ahead and did it.  They turned out beautifully!  Red and gorgeous with detailed cables all around.  I gave them to my mother for Christmas and neglected to take any pictures. BLURG!

But THEN I made a pair for myself!  Actually I made a pair of finger-less gloves for myself leaving them open and adding ribbing to the end.  Not quite as classic as the mittens but I support finger freedom.

Seattle's skies were blue today! (and I'm pretty happy with my gloves too)

palm shot

in action

Now I'm working on the scarf  below for Aaron (can you tell from this post that we both like green?)  We found a free pattern he liked HERE on Ravelry.  It uses the same simple 3/3 cable that I used for my gloves.  I might make this weave scarf for myself next, a new, different, and beautiful type of cable to learn.

The start of Aaron's Mr. O'Leary's scarf 

Polymer Clay Bacon!

Last Christmas Aaron and I acquired our first Christmas tree yet had no ornaments to offer our magnificent evergreen.  It was ingrained by my childhood that a tree should be filled with homemade ornaments so we threw together a small decorating party where I pulled out my craft stash, popped popcorn to string and put some cider on the stove.  The party was a success and I couldn't imagine a better dressed tree complete with a homemade space-themed tree skirt.  I think my favorite adornment was the Reptar-esque, pipe cleaner tree topper.

Another favorite was a creation of my own, polymer clay bacon!  Super quick, super easy, and in my opinion, pretty ingenious as clay food goes.  Today I'll show you how to make your very own to give to the bacon lover in your life this holiday season.

Materials:
*  red, burgundy, and white polymer clay
*  something to roll the clay out, ex: rolling pin, pint glass
*  a straw or pen tube


Step 1.
After softening up your clay start rolling out "snakes".  This is easily done by rolling a piece of clay against the table with the palm of your hand.  I'm pretty sure most of us mastered this technique in preschool.  Note the width of the snakes, you'll be smashing them flat so you don't want them to be too thick.  Also I recommend variation in the thickness to add more character to your bacon.

Tip:  Work with the white clay first since the red clay leaves red residue on your hands!

Step 2.
Line your snakes up side by side mixing lengths and colors.  Press them gently together as you go, you don't want to smash them into each other too much, the next step will take care of that.

Step 3.  
Use your rolling/flattening apparatus (I used a very sophisticated tool, a pint glass)  to roll your piece flat, you'll roll it back and forth a few times to your desired thickness.

Step 4.
Cut the length of bacon you want, trimming the ends and so forth.  I cut mine in half to make two pieces but all this depends on how long you made your snakes in the first place.

Step 5.
Use your straw or pen tube to put a hole at one end of your bacon.

Step 6.
Give them some waves!  Don't be too hard on them but use your fingers to create body.

Step 7.
Bake your bacon according to the directions of your clay package then string your work on yarn, ribbon, jute, etc. and hang it on your tree! I unfortunately don't have a tree this year so it will be gracing my wall.

Pretty easy huh?  And it would be super easy to make a bunch of these all at once.  Happy Holidays!

Cute-as-a-Button Mushroom

In honor of our Wild Mushroom Show visit I wanted to crochet a quick mushroom.  Although  inspired by the variety of shapes at the show I stuck with the good old button mushroom for my first stab at fungal amigurumi.  It was quick and easy and oh-so-cute, 3 characteristics which beg for a repeat.  So I did . . . repeat . . . 4 times!  A rainbow of adorable mushrooms!  This project is an easy way to use up extra colorful yarn laying around.

Cute-as-a-Button Mushroom Crochet Pattern

Materials:
worsted weight yarn (2 colors, one for base and one for cap)
size F/3.75mm hook
safety eyes (optional)


Stitches used: 
chain (ch)
single crochet (sc)
double crochet (dc)
front post double crochet (fpdc)
decrease (dec)


Start with a magic ring.
1:   sc 6 into the ring, pull tight
2:   2 sc in each sc (12 stitches)
3-10:   sc around 8X's (96 stitches)

          Tip: Change the number of repeats to lengthen or shorten your stem!

11:  ch 2 (counts as dc), fpdc in same, *(dc in next, fpdc in same) repeat  from * another 10X's
       join to top of ch 2

          Tip:  Row 11 sounds weird but it is really quite simple, just fpdc in every stitch and insert a dc between             each one.  You'll end up with 12 fpdc and 12dc (counting the initial ch 2 as a dc of course).  You'll be                 doing the same in the next row (Row 12) into every dc and fpdc resulting in 24 fpdc and 24 dc.

12:   ch 2 (counts as dc), fpdc in same, *(dc in next, fpdc in same) repeat from * another 22X's
         join to top of ch 2
13:   Switch to cap color.  ch 1, sc next 47, join
14:   ch 1 sc in backloop 0f next 47,  from here you'll be working in a spiral so no need to join or chain up

15:   sc in next 48
16:   (sc in next 4, dec) 8X's
27:   sc in next 40
28:   (sc in next 3, dec) 8X's
stuff stem firmly
29:   sc in next 32
30:   (sc in next 2, dec) 8X's
31:   (sc in 1, dec) 8X's
stuff cap
32:   (sc 1, dec) 6X's
finish stuffing
33:   decrease until closed, finish and weave in end


If you have any problems with the pattern just let me know and I will try to fix anything that's unclear.  There are so many different methods to expressing a crochet pattern and I'm working out my kinks and trying to find my style.  Happy crocheting!

Pins, Nails, and String

I'm slowly and surely becoming a Pinterest addict.  Though my pins are few I like looking at other people's boards and typing in key words like "crochet" or "cute dresses".  Some times I'm sorely disappointed but other times I find wonderful new things.  I also love that the pin links back to the page of origin.  This means that my long list of bookmarks is being condensed in a visual way and as I'm a visual person that's excellent news!  The biggest and only substantial board I have at the moment is Things to Make.  The plan is quite simply to make some or all of these things.  Then I will create a "Things I've Made" board and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  I am proud to announce the warm and fuzzies start now!  I've made something from the list and am going to share it with you!

Here is what I pinned,

It's not so much the phrase but the method I wanted to try out.  Since this was my first attempt I didn't want to be too ambitious so I started small.  There was some scrap wood left over from a shelf we built so I grabbed a 5"x 9" piece, sanded, and stained it.

wet stain

sanded edges

My sanding job was embarrassing and lackluster.  You can especially tell in the second photo where the scratches in the wood really shine through but once dry they're less obvious.

The next task was to decide what to put on it.  I thought I would start with one word and the first thing that came to mind was "VOID" because the word would be spelled out of the void left by the string.  Aaron said this was very 'meta' of me.  I took that as a positive review so I decided how big it would be, sketched it out, marked crucial nail spots, and started hammering away.  For the nails I used wire nails size 3/4 x 18 they are small skinny and still have heads so the string won't be able to slip off.

105 nails later here's what I had.

nail forest

Just rip the paper off and voila!  Can you see the VOID?  It's okay if you can't, it will become clear in about 5 seconds.

Now for the string!  Here I used doily thread for its slender width and muted color.  I tried to connect each nail to every nail within it's range.  I don't think I succeeded at that endeavor but I came close enough and in between.  Most have multiple tethers to the same nail but who cares.  The final product is pretty neat.

It's hanging on our wall now and the coolest thing is walking by and seeing it at different angles.  The nail heads catch light differently depending on where you're standing and the lighting of the day.  This is an aspect I did not foresee but am happy to discover.

Lots of ideas are flowing through my head now of ways to transform this project.  Could I do silhouettes? Colors? Maybe string the letters themselves?  So many possibilities!

I Wish Totoro was MY Neighbor

I joined the Miyazaki fans of the crochet nation and made an amigurumi Totoro and his little friend from the film My Neighbor Totoro. Everyone and their mom seem to have crocheted a Totoro as there's a million posted pictures online.  A generous soul posted a free crochet pattern  but I decided I wanted to make up my own pattern.   For the most part I really like the way he turned out.  I love that I got the ears to narrow at the base yet still stand up but I'm disappointed that the nose isn't quite right.  I actually started him back in Portland where I finished his body, ears and face. He traveled to CA where I didn't do any work on him and then back up to Seattle where a few months after starting I FINALLY picked him up yesterday and finished him.  I even whipped up his little friend from the movie that perches on his head in the Studio Ghibli logo.  I would also like to make the little blue guy and some of Totoro's accessories like the leaf he puts on his head, his whistle or the umbrella.  All tasks for my never ending list of things I want to do. With all that said here is my Totoro contribution to the infinite abyss that is the internet.

Hooray! For another finished project!

Make tree rings not water rings.

About a week ago I decided to make a coaster that looked like a cross section of a tree, so I did.  I then decided I wanted to make a simple tutorial and post it on the blog, so I am.  You can't imagine my disappointment when I saw THIS a couple days ago. UGH!  The same idea! On Craftzine! And if you go to Pinterest and search coasters it's all over that too with raving reviews of how cute it is!  All I can think is, "That could have been me!"  though probably not since I don't have many readers yet but that's beside the point.  In the end hers are cute but I still prefer mine so I suppose that helps.  It would've disheartened me even more if I liked hers better.  So cheers to two people with a good idea and a slightly different interpretation.

If you would like to make my version you should first start by downloading and printing off the pattern.  This was my first time linking a document so I hope it works, if you try and it doesn't let me know.

Materials:
brown felt
tan felt
brown thread or embroidery thread (I used regular sewing thread)

Step 1.)  If you haven't already printed out the pattern then do that.  Then use the pattern to cut the pieces out of felt.  

         
            Tip 1:  The border of the top piece and the bottom piece ARE THE SAME.  I would recommend cutting them out at the same time and then cutting the center out of one as the pattern shows.  It saves time and guarantees they'll match up.

            Tip 2:  The pattern I posted is a guideline to help you size your coaster.  You could make it bigger, smaller, groovier (as in you cut the grooves deeper and the ridges higher).  It's your coaster and your call.

Step 2.)  Stack the pieces as indicated on the pattern sheet.  Make sure you line up the top piece and bottom piece edges.

            Tip 3.)  If the heartwood (round tan piece) sticks out from between the other 2 trim it down a little but make sure it is still within the inner rim of the top piece.

Step 3.)  Sew the outer edge, you will be sewing the top and bottom piece together here.  The heartwood is not being sewn in yet.  Don't worry, it will be secure soon enough.

Step 4.)  Sew the inner edge of the top piece.

Step 5.)  Sew the rings in!  They don't have to be perfectly circular or evenly spaced.  The width of the tree ring tells you whether it was a good year for the tree or a bad one so give it some of both, it builds character.

    
            Tip 4.)  Sew rings NOT a spiral.  If you sew a spiral your arborist and plant scientist friends may get grumpy.

  VOILA! A coaster for a tasty beverage!

I hope my instructions are clear.  Now I'm going to deliberate whether or not I should pin my coaster on Pinterest to make myself feel better.  Is that wrong?  I haven't decided yet . . .