Made the scarf and...

Finally finished the entrelac scarf! Part of the reason was that I was working on a wallet and bag for my upcoming trip to London.

Knitting the scarf was an amazing experience. Entrelac is a fun technique/stitch. One thing about it is that one is constantly turning the work. I got bored with that and the result was I taught myself to 'perl back' without turning! This resulted in my teaching myself to knit left handed! After knitting for over 50 years this is quite a revelation. I hope I can apply it to my next project(the green yarns from my previous post).

It looks difficult but it is not. Just a lot of picking up stitches and turning, unless you can learn to go back and forth without turning. Pardon the random rainbows. There are prisms in the window.

Meanwhile, I'm in search of the perfect bag for my trip to London to visit cousins in a couple of weeks.
I found a great piece of fabric in my stash and purchased coordinating brown strap material, the trim, and the batik lining which isn't visible here.

Oops, I haven't tacked the boxed corners yet! You can't see the lining or the fact that it is a double bag. I love the stitching on the strap! I need to add some zipper pulls. I used this pattern. which I altered a bit. Didn't do as good a job on the zippers. Need more practice.
Also I made this cute wallet from this pattern:

But I think I'm going to make another wallet from the bag's lining fabric, which is marvelous. I used a thick fabric and didn't have the proper stiffener, but now I do. This makes a nice clutch but is bulky in the bag. Stay tuned for a post with the results and a picture of the inside of the bag.

Knitting and knitting and...

Awakened early thinking about the interesting variety of green yarn I found yesterday at a local fiber sale

The sale is at a local library each year on Superbowl Sunday, sort of a super bowl of yarn and fabric. Great bargains. I always have to hold myself back.

I think these interesting yarns will speak for themselves and so a pattern that features each one seems appropriate. Sort of a sampler. Probably a scarf. There isn't enough for a sweater.

As my electric kettle's blue LED clicks off and I start making coffee the room glows from the screen of my laptop. Outside it is just beginning to lighten.

My search uncovers two interesting ideas for how to achieve the effect I'm considering.

First is undulating short rows, in waves

The second is called Entrelac. I've never heard of this before but it looks very interesting and uses short rows in a different way.

 I like the organic feel of the waves but am also attracted to the orderliness of the entrelac. The waves all seem to have a 'background' color between the different colored waves. 

Generally I'm attracted to gridded techniques. Hardanger embroidery, Viking knit with wire; bead stitches like peyote, herringbone and right angle weave.

Knitting in general. 

The yarns are all different textures and slightly different weights. I think they'll lend themselves better to the waves.

I also found some wool/silk blend variegated yarn that might lend itself to the entrelac technique. I might try that first to see if I can figure it out.

Thinking about what to use for the 'background' in the waves. I have a bright aqua/turquoise which is very close to the teal color in the variegated green yarn. I also have some white/cream yarn I could use. Decisions, decisions.

Yellow, brown, olive and teal... definitely outside my usual color palate. Feels good to branch out a bit.

Full daylight now, probably not the best time to start knitting. Lots of other things to do.

Thanks for listening! All thoughts welcome.

T-shirt quilt finished, plus more

Got this finished in early August but haven't had a chance to post about it.
84 squares, 42 per side.
It worked really well in the van during our trip from Aug 13-Oct 26.

From another angle:

The other side:

Since we got home I've been thinking about bead embroidery on photos printed on fabric.
To warm up, I dabbled with some of the beads I brought on the trip but never used, and some silk I'd ice-dyed a year or two ago.

Now working on using the heron from this image which I took on vacation on blue and white silk:

I had to zoom way in on the original image but the effect is interesting.
I drew the heron freehand on the silk(which came out ok!), then embroidered the edges and started filling in with beads. Will post finished piece when it is done.
Also have one more piece of dyed silk I'd like to try embroidering onto it a woodland scene.

Starting again

Finally dug out the T-shirt quilt and fixed my mistake (somehow a 3" strip got mixed in causing a huge offset) and attached the 3 completed rows together:

To the left is the 'rag' side.

On the right is the other side.














Funny how a project can go 'stagnant'  because of a relatively small problem. And just a little nudge (this time from a YouTube channel I like to watch) can get you going again... thanks Jo!
Attaching the third row was slightly unwieldy. I've got 4 more rows. I think I'll assemble them into two-row chunks and then assemble with 3 more long seams. Adding each row will just make it more and more difficult to handle. I should probably move the machine to a wide open space for those last seams.

In the photo above it already nearly covers a queen sized bed! This thing will be huge. It is going in the van:

Things that got in my way of starting this last week included, hemming the sleeves of my new bathrobe which were ridiculously long, and making this cute thing:

It is a hanging set of bins that uses velcro to attach to the curtain rod. The thing is I used fabric samples and hardly cut anything. It was great to use a bunch of the samples. I used this tutorial which was lots of fun. Kind of a magical mystery while assembling and finally, voila! I'll be making more of these.
Also found a video to make these cute flowers(the flower part is at about 13:30;hmm, was supposed to fold the fabric strip in half to make loops... next time!):

I used a strip of an old bed sheet and a pair of rescued rhinestone earrings and practiced my glue-gun skills which are somewhat lacking. In the background is a square from the t-shirt quilt, a shirt from an aerobic dance class I took circa 1981. The shirt was hopelessly small, I had to add strips to the sides to make it big enough.
Here are more squares waiting to get into the quilt:

oops, and a peek at how overcrowded my 'studio' is. Too many shells, too much fabric, not enough time to create. Only 7 months until I retire and can play more!
I'm also covering some cardboard boxes with fabric. Many tutorials out there including the one with the flower linked above. I'll post the ones I tried and the results soon.
Today off to breakfast with a friend and then off to a fabric sale. I'm going to try to be good. Last year I only spend $10.

PS spent $30 but $20 on yarn and $10 on fabric, not bad. Time to find a good knitting pattern....

25th Anniversary T shirt

 For a casual party, but wanting to look festive:

Followed this example:
http://www.lovemaegan.com/2012/01/pearl-encrusted-deep-v-t-shirt-diy.html

Thanks, Maegan!


For the complete story:
http://bythc.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-story-behind-25th-anninversary-t.html

Fort Hill meadow inspired bead barette

Here's a beaded barrette I was inspired to make after walking Fort Hill in Eastham.

new earrings.....

A lot of these have sold already where I have them displayed at my chiropractor's office.

Variety of experiments.

really liking these 8mm rounds with crystals around them. Very quick and easy. Also, playing with embellishing rings.