Laurie's Craft Corner

Needle Tatting

2011-07-27T14:15:00.000-04:00

For the last few weeks I've been learning needle tatting. It's much easier than shuttle tatting. I've ordered some thread and books from Handy Hands Tatting. They have extremely fast service. Now to decide on my next project. It will probably be some kind of Christmas tree ornament. I've seen some snowflakes and angels I like.

My First Attempts at Needle Tatting

My First Bookmark

Crafting Update

2011-07-17T23:13:00.003-04:00

During these past few months, I've been busy with yard work, the church's Women's Guild activities and a new church crafting group. We're making items to sell during the church's Fall and Spring flea markets. All monies earned will go to the church's capital campaign to pay off the church renovations.

I'm currently making the 'Squeeze My Cheeks and I'll Give You a Kiss' frogs in plastic canvas. I'm also going to be making some ornaments in felt. I found a really cute pattern for Santa's red underwear on the internet. When I get a bunch of different ornaments made, I'll post a photo. I'm also in the middle of making a Sunbonnet Sue door stop. It's going to be so cute when it's done! It fits over a 2 liter soda bottle.

I'm also learning to needle tat. I've seen some really nice tatted ornaments that I think will sell, hence my having to learn needle tatting. Holding the needle doesn't seem to hurt my hand. It was a long, frustrating week while I tried to pick up this craft. I can finally say, I'm getting the hang of it. I've learned a very important lesson -- I've learned to make sure I not only read the instructions carefully but that I understand the instructions and to check my stitches before taking them off the needle even if I think I know what I'm doing.

There's a coral reef exhibit on the University of Florida campus (http://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/crochetreef). I'm trying to make a piece of coral to add to the exhibit. The exhibit will be here until October 2011. There are some people who meet at the library over lunch to crochet for the exhibit. I wish I could join them. Unfortunately by the time I walk across campus, I wouldn't be there for very long before I would have to leave to return to my office. So, I'm working on it at home along with everything else.

Sewing Accessories

2011-02-19T23:00:00.009-05:00

I've spent last week and this week making travel sewing accessories.
First I made a mat to go under my sewing machine. The front pocket can hold scissors or a seam ripper, etc.

Then I made a pincushion/thread catcher. The neat thing about the pincushion is it uses door hinges as the weight to keep it from falling off the table. I put a piece of felt under the hinge so that there's a small cushion between it and the table top. The pattern called for clothesline around the top of the bag, supposedly to keep it open but I like the bag having a wide opening. Then there's no excuse for the thread not landing in the bag. Plus, it will be much easier to dump everything out this way.

Finishing Up Some UFOs

2011-01-31T07:51:00.001-05:00

I spent January finishing off some quilt tops I hadn't finished - Churn Dash, Double Pinwheel, Dragonfly, and Santa's Ride. They still need to be quilted. I'm going to eventually have them machine quilted.

I can't get these photos where I want them, even when I change the code.

Long Time

2010-09-27T09:53:00.002-04:00

It's been a long time since I've posted to this blog. Life has kept me busy.

After 3 years I have cycled out of my knitting and crocheting phase and back into my first love -- quilting. Using the sewing machine doesn't seem to bother my hand as much. I've even been able to do some embroidery but not for long periods of time. A lot of it depends on how much time my hand has spent on a computer mouse.

I finally finished my grandson's quilt. I just have the binding to sew on and it's done. After all these years in quilting, I've never sewn on a separate binding. I've always folded the back over the front. Hopefully I won't have too much trouble.

I'm making a quilt for my daughter for Christmas. I'm even hand quilting it. I'm only quilting on the weekends after my hand has had a chance to rest. Thank goodness I'm not doing an intricate design. I'd never get it done in time. I'll have photos to post next time.

Qulting

2010-04-29T13:18:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm cycling out of knitting & crocheting. They're just not holding my interest like they did. Plus it's difficult to knit or crochet for any length of time with the carpal tunnel especially after work. I've gone back to sewing and quilting. I joined a quilt guild in Ft White and went to my first meeting last Saturday. They seem like really nice ladies. It was through them that I found out about the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge for charity. I started on my first pillowcase the other day. I haven't finished it yet. The instructions want me to sew wrong sides together and then do a french seam on the outside. I haven't wrapped my brain around that yet. I'm sure it's much simpler than I'm making. I'm very tempted to just use an overlocking stitch on my sewing machine and not mess with the french seams.

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T21:44:00.003-05:00

Some updates -- the Glenn Beck afghan was sent off. We have not received an acknowledgment that he received the box. I'm really disappointed. I would have expected at least a form letter thanking us. I won't participate in another afghan of that type. I donated squares to the Sarah Palin afghan and we didn't receive an acknowledgment on that one either.

In September I had thumb joint replacement surgery so it was really, really hard to do any type of crafting. I'm just now getting back to doing a little knitting. I'm working on the Sock Blankie until the Winter Term of the Harry Potter House Cup begins.

The pain of the carpal tunnel finally went away after 4-5 months. However, because of the carpal tunnel, I'm finding that I can only knit a few rows at a time and then I have to stop for the evening. Crocheting is only one or two rows before I have to stop. I can't just sit down and knit or crochet for the evening while I "watch" TV. I can't even spend time on the computer because my hand can't stay on the mouse for very long. This is all really frustrating. Hopefully the next time I post, I'll have better news that I can knit or crochet for longer periods of time.

Glenn Beck Afghan

2009-08-18T09:22:00.003-04:00

The Glenn Beck afghan is almost done. The squares are finally crocheted together and now I'm crocheting the border in blue. After that there's the million tales to be woven in. Each block is 8" square. The afghan is 8 blocks across by 10 blocks down. The squares were donated by members of the Glenn Beck group on Ravelry.

It's been a while ...

2009-06-26T14:15:00.002-04:00

I haven't been able to do much these last few months. In April, I sawed down 5 small trees and injured both hands. A nerve conductivity test was done and my right hand has severe carpal tunnel and my left hand has minimum carpal tunnel. I've tried chiropractic to no avail. Currently I'm doing acupuncture and stretching. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be working either. I've made an appointment with the orthopedist to discuss my options.

Vintage Sewing Machines

2009-04-15T12:04:00.004-04:00

My hand crank sewing machine finally got some needed adjustments and is working great. It's a 1928 Singer. When the power went out Monday night, I was able to sew by candle light. It was kind of neat.

I am now the proud owner of 2 other vintage machines: a January 1941 Singer Featherweight and a Montgomery Ward Damascus manufactured by National Sewing Machine Company (NSMC) If a company ordered a large quantity of sewing machines, NSMC would put whatever name (aka badge) on the machine that the company wanted. Montgomery Ward chose Damascus.

I need to get some more bobbins that will fit the treadle and the hand crank. The bobbins aren't easy to find. My bobbins cannot have an internal length shorter than 1 1/8" and no longer than 1 1/4".

Updates

2009-03-10T12:40:00.004-04:00

I have completed 42 blocks and 1 triangle for a total of 843 pieces so far for the Dear Jane quilt. I have 213 blocks left to go. I think I'll work on some of the triangles while I still have some of this batch of brown fabric.

Saturday is the quilt show in Trenton. I and two of my friends will be dressed in Civil War attire and demonstrating period crafts. I'll be spinning wool. While I'm at the quilt show, I need to get more brown fabric for the Dear Jane quilt.

The quilt show will end my unit's reenacting season for this year and I'm ready to go down for the summer. The situation with the economy will determine if we continue next season.

I have completed 14 of the 30 squares needed for the Cat Afghan for my grandson. I was hoping to have the afghan finished by the end of this month for the Potions OWL in the Harry Potter House Cup but I'm afraid that's not going to happen. On one hand, I'm really, really disappointed. On the other, as long as the afghan's finished by November, I'll be happy.

Dear Jane

2009-02-24T10:13:00.003-05:00

I worked on my Dear Jane quilt this past weekend. At first, I couldn't decided which colors I wanted to do. Originally in 2003, I was going to copy the original quilt but I had trouble finding some of the colors in retro Civil War fabrics. Every color combination I thought of I loved. What stopped me was the amount of background fabric I would need. One option I had was to make a Scrap Jane where each block and background fabric would be different. I kept going back and forth with myself. I hate it when I can't make up my mind. I finally decided to look at which blocks I had made in 2003 and what color were they. Most of them were brown. Because I didn't want to remake all those blocks, I finally decided on using brown fabrics and unbleached muslin. I'm calling this one My Brown Jane. I made 6 blocks over the weekend.

I found a really great site for Dear Jane. It's called That Quilt. She has put up step-by-step instructions on how to assemble the blocks. Some of the blocks she has figured out an easier way of doing them which I greatly appreciate. Because of her, I won't get as frustrated and I may actually finish the quilt this time.

I'm still working on the Sock Yarn Blanket. It's coming along very well. It's not an afghan that will be completed quickly and I accept that. I ordered a "blanket starter kit". It has 50 mini-balls of sock yarn. Hopefully that will arrive soon. That should keep me going for a little while.

Quilting

2009-02-11T10:32:00.006-05:00

I hope I'm not starting to cycle out of knitting and crocheting. I have some projects started and some commitments I must finish. But I think I'm cycling back into quilting which was my first love. I've started paper/foundation piecing the Harry Potter Quilt. I finished 8 blocks this weekend. This is a the square representing a mug of Butterbeer.

I'm also getting back into the Dear Jane Quilt. That quilt has 225 squares that are 4" square.

I was never crazy about foundation/paper piecing but I'm finally getting the hang of it.

I joined a Quilt Group that's very similar to Ravelry. It's going to take a bit to get used to it because it's format is quite different and it's still working out the kinks.

Sock Yarn Afghan

2009-01-23T15:00:00.005-05:00

I have found an afghan that will use up all the leftover sock yarn. It's the Sock Yarn Blanket by Shelly Kang. It uses a mitered square. The pattern is on her blog. I've made my very first square. What's interesting about this afghan is there is no sewing of the squares. You knit the squares together as you go. I'm a member of a group on Ravelry dedicated to this particular afghan. Since this afghan takes a lot of different colored yarns, they have sock yarn swaps every month. This is certainly one of those afghans that will take a long time to complete. Because it's made with fingering yarn, it's very light. This afghan can also be made with worsted weight yarn.

I've also started crocheting the Cat Afghan for my grandson. I want to give it to him for either Christmas or his birthday.

The quilt bug has been nibbling at me again. I'll probably do some quilting while I'm knitting and crocheting. Usually I work on one craft at a time.

Snake Scarf

2009-01-06T19:28:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I last posted. The Winter 2009 term of the Harry Potter House Cup started in Ravelry. For my Defense Against the Dark Arts class, I knitted this scarf. The pattern is called Kureopatora scarf. I used 3 skeins of Noro Kureyon. From a distance it really looks like snake skin.

Norwegian Star Hat

2008-09-15T10:08:00.003-04:00

My grandson is modeling my first fair isle type knitted hat. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The hat was made with the same yarn as the 1864 Godey's Shawl.

I got the pattern for the hat through Ravelry. The pattern called for size 7 needles but the yarn suggested size 8 needles. I chose to use the size 8. The hat came out a little large but I'm really happy about that. I don't particularly like tight fitting hats. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Spun Roving & Shawls

2008-09-05T10:45:00.005-04:00

I finished spinning my dyed roving. At first I was a little disappointed on how it turned out, colorwise, that is. I was expecting to see more blotches of red. In person it's more of an orange color. But when you look at it close-up, you can see the red. It reminds me of the color of fire so that's what I named it. I have approximately 285 yards. Now to figure out what to make with it.

This week I've been busy doing my "homework" for the Harry Potter Knitting/Crocheting House Cup (HPKCKC) forum on Ravelry. We're basically pretending to be students at Hogwarts. Since most of the sorting hat quizzes put me in Hufflepuff, that was the house I requested and was sorted to. There are classes and even a quidditch team. It was very well thought out. All the participates are having a great time.

I've started making the Danish Tie-Shawl. I'm about three-fourths done with it. I'm making it out of Red Heart Painted Sand. I figured for my first one, I'd chose a variegated so I didn't want to mess around changing colors every few rows. I'm not sure if I'll make another one of these or not.

I finished making a pair of socks that I dyed in my class at Hanks. I'll have to take a picture. They turned out very well.

Latest Activities

2008-07-31T11:30:00.004-04:00

I finally finished the 1864 Godey's Knitted Winter Shawl. Although it's a very simple pattern, I had a hard time staying motivated to finish it. It was very boring to work on. The shawl is completely knitted in garter stitch.

I took a beginner's class at Hank's Yarn and Fiber store a few weeks ago on how to dye wool. It was a very interesting class. I can't wait to dye more wool and take some more advanced classes on dyeing. I've started collecting all my supplies. Last night I mixed up the stock of the Jacquard Acid Dye in Cherry Red, Brilliant Blue and Sun Yellow.

The roving is a 100% merino superwash and dyed 4 oz of it. The merino feels like silk. It's definitely much softer than the corriedale wool I'm used to working with. I've spun what I've dyed so far. At this point, I could turn it into 2-ply yarn for socks or dye the remaining 4 oz and ply them all together. I'm leaning towards dyeing the remaining roving. I just hate the idea of hiding this in my shoes.

The Danish Tie Shawl is progressing. It's also knitted completely in garter stitch with yarn overs every other row and has definitely reached the middle of the project boring stage. I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of August.

Danish Tie Shawl

2008-07-18T14:41:00.003-04:00

Last night I started my first Danish Tie Shawl (featured in the Spring 2008 Spin-Off magazine) with the help of Sharon and Lorena at Hanks. It is such an easy pattern. I'm making the first one with Classic Red Heart, worsted weight, in a variegated called Desert Sand. The original pattern calls for spun yarn but I don't have enough yarn spun to use homespun.

2008-06-19T08:34:00.003-04:00

I finished the third pair of socks Monday night. I've ordered the book Knitting 2-at-a-Time Socks but it hasn't come yet. That will really help in making sure both socks are the same length. The first pair of socks I do using the 2 at a time technique (also a Magic Loop technique) will be for my daughter.

These socks were made with Cherry Tree Hill hand painted DK supersock yarn in Blueberry Hill.

I just love how these socks feel on my feet.

Another Pair of Socks

2008-06-09T15:00:00.004-04:00

I finished my second pair of knitted socks last night. I used Cherry Tree Hill hand painted DK supersock yarn in Cherry Blossom. This is really nice yarn. Much softer and loftier than the Lorna Laces Shepherd Sock yarn I used for the first pair.

I've already started my third pair. I'm making them out of the Cherry Tree Hill hand painted DK supersock yarn in Blueberry Hill.

2008-06-06T09:16:00.003-04:00

I finally finished my first pair of knitted socks. I used the Magic Loop technique and it was so easy. I love this method. I've already started on a second pair and it's going much faster. I have 5 more pairs of socks to make.

Back in May, I purchased an antique Singer hand crank sewing machine. I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how how to wind the bobbin but I'll eventually get it. Now I can sew even when the electricity goes out.

Here's my "new" machine:

2008-05-14T11:08:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been working on knitting a toe-up sock using the Magic Loop technique. That's a really great technique. Much better than struggling with double pointed needles. My first sock came out a tad big. I made some adjustments and started a second sock. That sock looked like it was going to be a bit too small, plus I messed up the gusset & heel part, so I ripped it back to before the gussets and am starting that part over. When the second sock is done, I'll post a photo.

I've also been teaching a few crochet classes at Hank's Yarn and Fiber store. That's been really great.

I'm also knitting a shawl from an 1864 pattern that was in Godey's Ladies Book. It's taking so long to finish that I'm really getting tired of working on it. Hopefully it'll be done within the next month or so.

Several weeks ago, I went to a spring festival. There was a booth with a man who restores and sells antique sewing machines. I'm now the proud owner of a 1927 Singer 128K hand crank sewing machine. I'm really excited about it.

Knitted Dishcloth

2008-03-27T21:57:00.003-04:00

Lately I've had this urge to knit something. I was so impressed by the knitted cotton hand towels at Hanks Yarn and Fiber, I wanted to make one too. So, I got out my needles and some cotton yarn and found a pattern. The pattern was supposed to be the basketweave stitch but I somehow messed it up. It just wasn't turning out right. I decided that I would continue with the pattern I had already started and forget trying to do the basketweave. I think it turned out fairly well.

I did discover that if I hung it by the loop (as seen in the photo), the dish towel skewed so I crocheted 2 rows across the top and put a loop in the middle. It hangs so much better now. No more distortion. You can always count on crocheting to save the day!

I've also been busy spinning some yarn. I know, I already have a ton of store bought yarn but I got this really great fiber from Hanks last week. It's a combination of wool, alpaca, and silk. It makes the prettiest silver grey color when spun. I can't wait to finish spinning it so I can make something from the yarn. I was thinking I'd knit a pair of fingerless mitts. Hopefully I'll have enough yarn.

Amigurumi Swap

2008-02-26T13:56:00.005-05:00

I belong to an amigurumi Yahoo group and we had a swap this month. This is what I sent to my swap partner. I purchased the pattern for Irish Rock People from CrochetSal's Etsy store. They are really cute and so quick to make.

I'm also making the Babette Blanket. At first I didn't particularly care for this afghan. Too many bright colors, I guess. Well, I was in the mood to make a scrap afghan and decided I'd try that pattern since it uses the solid granny square. I'm mainly using the scraps from the Molly Weasley Sweater with a few other colors I've added in. The afghan is made up of panels and I just finished the first panel. I'm using worsted weight yarn and a G hook. It's going to be a very heavy and warm afghan. Here's what I've gotten done so far.

Crocheted Socks Finished

2008-02-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

I finished the crocheted socks. Although they fit my feet, they turned out to be a tad too big for my shoes so they'll become my house socks instead. When I make my next pair, I'll make them a size smaller.

Socks

2008-01-24T10:48:00.000-05:00

For the past two weeks, I've had this really huge urge to knit and to make a pair of socks. I bought some fingering yarn and dug through my needles. I found a pair of size 3 double pointed needles. My fingers just couldn't work with them. So I went up to size 4 needles and it's much better. It's still a little awkward but I'm getting the hang of it. It would be so much easier if the knitting community came up with circular needles that had a smaller cable just for socks.

While I'm working on the knitted pair, I decided I want to crochet a pair. I'm using the basic sock pattern from the book, Learn to Crochet Socks by the American School of Needlework. It uses worsted weight yarn. Yes, they'll be thicker than store bought socks but at least I will have made them.

Finally Got a Blog

2008-01-10T09:02:00.000-05:00

I decided it was time I got a blog to chronicle my craft and charity projects. I really enjoy doing crafts. It's so satisfying to take a piece of fabric or a skein of yarn and turn it into something beautiful and useful. Here are just a few of the many items I've made this past year.

I made the Molly Weasley sweater. I ordered the pattern from here.

I made each of my granddaughters one of these afghans. It's the Stained Glass Window Afghan.

I made the Spiderman afghan for my grandson. This was my first round ripple and I have to say I'm not that impressed with the round ripple. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some very pretty ones but I think I'll stick with the traditional rectangular afghans from now on.