My husband went for a trip back home to see his family recently, and was gone for 2 1/2 weeks. I don't have that much vacation time (gotta hang on to what I have, at least for now anyways) and I ended up having bronchitis while I was here at our home.
Among the things he brought back was this wonderful quilt from his grandma. Grandma is making sure that each family and each grandchild gets a quilt from her. She finished this one for us in March, in time for our 15th anniversary.
We've hung it on a curtain rod on the biggest piece of wall in our second bedroom. I know it's technically upside down here (look at the orientation of the stars in the quilt), but on the backside is a separate patch that Shane wanted on the bottom so it would be easier to see. It's a patch with our picture on the back, with our names and Grandma's name on it. Shane wanted to be able to show it off. Although the more I look at it here, the more I think I might turn it around. I believe Grandma said this is a 9 Square quilt pattern.
The thing that really kills me is her response back when I sent her a thank you for this. I know a lot of work went into this quilt, because I've made one sewn quilt and I'll probably never make another. They are a lot of work. So I definitely had to thank her. She told me she was glad to hear from me about it and that we liked it because a lot of times, she doesn't hear back from people once they get a quilt from her!!!!
It measures 5'3"x5'9". Each one of the colored squares has a different style of quilting stitch on it. And that thin navy blue border around the quilt? Grandma actually sewed that on BY HAND with the tiniest stitches you've ever seen! Several of the baby quilts she's made are entirely handsewn.
Normally, I don't like to "save" thing for special use: candles, crystal, china, towels, etc. I like to use this stuff because what if there's just NEVER a special enough occasion? However, in the case of this quilt, we are keeping it safe, while hanging it like this ensures that it's still out for show for all to see.
This is a chemo cap pattern that I came up with myself last week. Since it's for my mom, I'm calling this one "Patty's Stripes." It's already on it's way to my mom's house.
Materials: I used three different colors: a slight off white (color A), a beige (color B), and a rust color (color C) that was actually left over from my Doctor Who scarf last year.
For my stripe pattern, I worked this color sequence: A, A, B, C, C, B, A, A, B, C, C, etc.
Any number of colors will work here, but you don't want to use your cheapest yarns for the chemo caps, otherwise they will be itchy. Use something soft.
Crochet hook: H
Directions: CH 2 (or 3) always counts as 1 DC.
Start this hat with a magic circle of 1 chain and 5 SC. Secure the ends with a slip stitch.
Row 1: Chain 2, work 11 DC in ring. Secure with a slip stitch, and turn the hat around. Row 2: Chain 2, work 1 DC in the same stitch. Work 2 DC in each stitch around. Secure with a slip stitch, and turn the hat around. Row 3: Chain 2, work 2 DC in the same stitch. Alternate 2 DC/1 DC around. Secure with a slip stitch, and turn the hat around. Row 4: Chain 2, work 2 DC in the same stitch. Alternate 1 DC/1 DC and 1 chain around. Secure with a slip stitch, and turn the hat around. Row 5: Chain 2, work 2 DC in the same stitch. Alternate 1 DC/1 DC/1 DC and 1 chain around. Work your DC with the chain into the space of the previous row's chains. Secure with a slip stitch, and turn the hat around. Row 6: Chain 3 and alternate 1 DC/1 DC and 1 chain around. Work your DC with the chain into the space of the previous row's chains. Secure with a slip stitch. Row 7: Chain 2 and work 1 DC in each stitch around. Secure with a slip stitch, and turn the hat around. Row 8: repeat row 6 Row 9: repeat row 6 Row 10: repeat row 7 Row 11: repeat row 6 Row 12: repeat row 6 Row 13: repeat row 7 Row 14: repeat row 6 Row 15: repeat row 6 Row 16: Chain 1 and work 1 SC in each stitch across. Fasten off the yarn.
2 unstuffed ST:TNG command uniform pillows--I love the idea of these and I love that she sent them unstuffed. Good thinking! clay ST:TNG communicator and command pipps--hee hee, she got badges from me too a selection of handmade cards with ST:TNG characters on them--LOVE THESE! outer space wall clings a ST:TNG paperback--this is funny because I almost went and got one for you too a burned CD of a ST/Doctor Who parody video and a padd with paper
I finally picked up almost everything I need to try some resin pendants this weekend. I want to make some pendants from some tiny little shells I got this last summer, with some sand from Tampa. The sand is white, and the shells came from Virginia Beach in July when my in-laws came to visit.
While they were here, I bought a "shark's tooth" from one of the local gift shops, and I use that phrase "shark's tooth" loosely, because really...who knows what animal it could have come from. Not that it bothers me. I figured it was also a nice reminder of the first time I ever step foot on the beach out here, when we moved here in 1998. A guy was fishing in the surf, right amongst the waders and swimmers there. Someone on the beach stopped me (I must have looked like a tourist way back then), and told me to ask him what he had in the five gallon bucket he was sitting on. I asked him, and he showed me a shark he had just pulled in from that same water, maybe anywhere from 1-3 feet deep. It was about three feet long and pissed it was in his bucket. I asked him what he was going to do with it. He said filet and eat it.
Anyway, when my husband's uncle was here, we took him to the Chesapeake Bay beach in Norfolk. While digging around on the beach, I found a rock with almost perfect little holes in it. The shape of it reminded me of a bird's skull, specifically, a crow for some reason. I kept it to turn into a pendant.
I finally got my ass in gear and picked up some artificial leather cording today at AC Moore. I turned both the shark's tooth (because it was cheaper for me to do it myself than buy a shark tooth pendant already) and the rock into simple necklaces.
There are actually four holes in the rock (on the right). They couldn't have been placed any more perfectly for this little project.
Shitty picture from my cell phone but I was too lazy to dig out my camera. My friend loved this little guy. I actually got a text message from her (when she found it on her porch) that just said SQUEEEEEEE!!!
The mini doctor is just too much!!! My husband beat me to the punch and started taking pictures of him for me! And he doesn't even care about Doctor Who! Everyone loves the little guy!
Anyway, all I know is that my scarf is complete, in all it's crocheted, patched and mismatched glory. I started it in mid-November. The crocheting has been completed for awhile, but I just completed the patches this evening. Right now, I am just about ready to watch Tom Baker's final episode as the Doctor, so I guess it's appropriate that I'm finished with the scarf.
I used the original scarf pattern, found at http://www.doctorwhoscarf.com/pdf/original.pdf. Even though the true scarves were knit, these patterns show rows and colors, so it was easy to work it as a series of single crocheted rows. I made it with a G sized hook, 40 sc wide. My foundation row was actually 41 sc wide, which equals 8 inches wide and roughly 19 feet long.
I purposely did not go crazy in trying to match the colors perfectly. I didn't want to get bogged down with this project. I wanted to enjoy it and just kind of take it as it all came. In fact, there were a couple colors of yarn that I didn't have enough to complete the scarf, so I added in another yarn of a similar color each time. To me, it just made me think the Doctor would approve. I'm pretty sure this is a complete list of the yarn I used.
-1 skein of SignatuR Handknits, 8 Ply Pure Wool in color #630 for the camel (love this yarn's texture and thickness. I actually preferred this camel yarn more.) -1 skein of Plymouth Yarn Encore in color #6002 for more of the camel (75% acrylic, 25% wool) -1 skein of SignatuR Handknits, 8 Ply Pure Wool of navy blue as a substitute for the grey. I had the blue and a lot of the scarves I saw online seemed to have a slate blue color instead of the grey anyway. -About 3/4 skein of Caron Wintuk in Deep Crimson in color #3048 (100% acrylic) for the rust (I thought I was using a different yarn for the red, but I just found the label of the yarn I was actually using.) -1 skein of SignatuR Handknits, 8 Ply Pure Wool in color #645 for the green (see a trend here yet?) -1 skein of American Thread Aunt Lydia's Heavy Rug Yarn in Moss, color #291 (75% rayon, 25% cotton), for more of the green, but like the yellow, this was a stringy bulky weight yarn, so I actually separated it as I used it. -2-3 skeins of Trendsetter Yarns Marino VIII in color #335 (merino wool) for the purple (a very nice plum color, but I can't remember how much I used anymore) -2 skeins of Helio in color #3727 (100% Norwegian wool) for the bronze -1 skein of Lion Brand Baby's First in color #157 (Honey Bee) for the mustard, but this was a stringy bulky weight yarn, so I actually separated it as I used it. (I like the label on this yarn. It has a ruler on both edges, in centimeters and inches, which makes for a convenient quick ruler.)
There are a few rows that are actually one row longer than what the pattern called for, because I wanted all of my color changes to take place on the same side. And there are a few big chunks of color that aren't as long as the pattern called for, because I either started to run out of a yarn or I was getting sick of working on that color.
Each tassel has a piece of each color yarn. To determine the length of the tassels, I doubled the width of the scarf.
The patches came from a plaid curtain from my mom a few years ago. It was too long for the room I hung it in, so I cut it to cafe curtain length and kept the rest. I tried using some iron on fusing first to help the patches stick, but it wasn't taking. I think it was just old, so I originally whipped stitched some of the patches on by hand. I didn't like how messy that looked, so I got out the trusty seam ripper and removed them, and I ended up sewing them on with my machine.
I have finally started a Doctor Who scarf for myself. It's about 3.5' long right now and about 7-8" wide. I actually had it about 1.5' long once before but it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too wide for my liking. Plus, I was trying something to make it look a little more like a knitted garter stitch, by doing the single crochets so they alternated in the front and back loops.
Yeah, it looked bad.
I frogged it, rolled the yarn and started over. I'm MUCH happier with it now with just the standard single crochets. I'm also doing the color changes on the same sides, so this scarf will actually end up being slightly longer because I'm adding a row, if necessary to each color, to make the color changes uniform.
It's being made on a G sized hook.
Yarns included so far: --1 skein of SignatuR Handknits, 8 Ply Pure Wool in color #630 for the camel (love this yarn's texture and thickness) --1 skein of Plymouth Yarn Encore in color #6002 for more of the camel but I prefer the first camel yarn I had --1 skein of SignatuR Handknits, 8 Ply Pure Wool in color #664 for the rust (love this yarn too but this is starting to look more like a scarlet color to me) --1 skein of SignatuR Handknits, 8 Ply Pure Wool in color #645 for the green (see a trend here yet?) --Almost 2 skeins of Trendsetter Yarns Marino VIII in color #335 for the purple (a very nice plum color) --1 skein of Helio in color #3727 (I think, the label is in Dutch) for the bronze --1 skein of Plymouth Yarn Encore in color #6002 --1 skein of Lion Brand Baby's First in color #157 (Honey Bee) for the yellow, but this was a stringy bulky weight yarn, so I'm actually separating it as I use it. (I like the label on this yarn. It has a ruler on both edges, in centimeters and inches, which makes for a convenient quick ruler.)
As the name specifies, this is a short length, short sleeved cardigan. For my own, I made it longer in length but kept my sleeves about like Monica's.
I loved this pattern because it works up like the babies' and little kids' tunics I've made over the years. This keeps me from having to figure out a toddler's pattern like this on how to make it fit an adult. My math isn't that great. There would have been a lot of swearing involved if I had to wing a pattern on my own.
It also worked up super quick, because you're working from the top down, and then back and forth. The body and each sleeves are the only pieces to it, for a total of three pieces. And really, the sleeves aren't separate, they are just worked after the body is done. There's no sewing even, because you continue to work the same pattern from the body when you start the sleeves.
For mine, I used a G sized hook. This was a total stashbuster, too, which was a nice little perk, because I am not buying any more yarn on a whim anymore. I am only buying for each project and that's it.
I wonder how long my resolve for that will last.
Here is what I used up: --2 skeins of Universal Yarns in Classic Shades in Rainforest (#715)--This looks so beautiful until you start getting into the inside of the skein. The yarn's variegated color starts taking on a muddy look to it that overwhelms the rest of the colors in the skein. --1 skein of Premier Yarns Deborah Norville Collection in Royal Blue (#ED-100-09) --2 skeins of Plymouth Yarn Boku in color #7--This color actually matches the Rainforest pretty damn well. While the Rainforest was 70% acrylic and 30% wool, the Boku is 95% wool and 5% silk, which gives it such a unique feel. I really liked the Boku yarn. Really shitty picture from my cell phone. --Almost one entire pound of Lion Brand in Denim (the same stuff I used for the overalls on a minion I made) --Almost one skein of some random other blue I had laying around in my stash. There wasn't a label on it, but I'm thinking it's probably a Red Heart yarn. The two large purple buttons were scavenged from my stash from a pillow I bought a while back at the thrift store when I needed fiber fill.
The snaps came from the sweater that I turned into hats, which, BTW, I ended up sending up to NYC for the Sandy Craftalong. I decided I couldn't gift them to people I know when I wasn't really happy with them. I am really happy with how this turned out! It's going to be especially warm, because of the yarn and how it overlaps in the front. I think this would be a good sweater for under my motorcycle jacket. I wouldn't need to zip in the lining then.
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The patches came from a plaid curtain from my mom a few years ago. It was too long for the room I hung it in, so I cut it to cafe curtain length and kept the rest. I tried using some iron on fusing first to help the patches stick, but it wasn't taking. I think it was just old, so I originally whipped stitched some of the patches on by hand. I didn't like how messy that looked, so I got out the trusty seam ripper and removed them, and I ended up sewing them on with my machine.
