Posted by: Mare F | May 26, 2016

Reading Corner Thursday

This week I am happy to share the book Cast On, Bind Off. When I bought this book I was using Teach Yourself Visually Knitting Design and bought it only because I thought that it would complete the first and last step of any item I wanted to create. I had no idea. You can’t see all of the sticky notes in it, but there are several labeled with various patterns I’ve made stuck to the requisite pages. I love this book!

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Just before I bought this book I’d finished a pair of socks that were too tight in the cuff. I found these socks in my sock yarn basket on Tuesday and decided to correct the problem. It worked so well that I’m on my second pair of sock corrections, who knew I had 2 pair that I wasn’t wearing but had tucked away to frog out, and I can not believe the difference.

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This is the last sock I have to adapt and then I’m back to my lovely blue ones. It’s reassuring to know that I won’t have to go through this again and the variations of both casting on and binding off in this book covers all of the situations I’ve encountered so far. The directions are simple and there are pictures of each step. I highly recommend this book for any knitter’s library….it’s lovely to have on hand.

 

 

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Posted by: Mare F | May 23, 2016

Treasure troves

I am occasionally the lucky recipient of a box or bag of items that are found in a relative’s attic. For many years I have been giving or selling hand-made items so when a friend or a customer’s relatives pass on they will gift me with these packages of history and love. I wish I could express just how much I appreciate these parcels and convey  to the givers the feeling of Christmas morning that surrounds my enjoyment of the discoveries within.

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This particular batch contained a vast amount of vintage pattern books and loads of needles and hooks. Some of the extra needles and hooks will go into project bags, along with patterns (kindly gifted from Red Heart) and yarns, to be delivered to a local charity.

Some of them have already found their way into my “teaching” case so that new students can experience the different materials and styles before they go out and buy them. I love being able to see that these items continue to make the rounds and bring enjoyment to others. It breaks my heart when I hear that someone threw away their mother’s/grandmother’s/aunt’s/uncle’s stash. In fact, this is how I have been able to make so many things for donation and to set up the project bags to share with others.

 

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Posted in Crocheting, Donations, fiber tools, General, Knitting, Organizing, Patterns, yarns | Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | May 19, 2016

Reading Corner Thursday…

Update on my happy socks. I admit that through laziness, and the urge for simplicity, I ended up making my happy sock pattern from two different patterns in this book. Once I get my stash of socks to a  comfortable  level, then I plan to revisit this book to not only increase my knowledge of stitches and techniques, but to make some truly lovely socks, by following a couple of patterns in the book faithfully from beginning to end.

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Here is a picture of the finished socks from the combined pattern. socks! 002

Love the cuffs and the colors and can’t wait to move on with the next pair. Wait until you see that color!

 

 

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Posted by: Mare F | May 16, 2016

Carding table

My latest quest for a piece of crafting equipment was my search for a sturdy wooden table as a permanent home for the drum carder. I wasn’t getting as much carding done as I might do because I honestly didn’t want to haul it out of the box to set it up. I was using a board on top of 2 saw horses when I wanted to card outside which seemed a good idea with some of my fleece…some of the vegetable matter wasn’t anything I wanted inside my home on the loose, and that was definitely a lot of work to set up.

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Doug, in his travels, found this table and texted me a picture of it. I couldn’t believe that this was almost exactly what I had envisioned and he got it for nothing…it was headed to the dump. I love it when things work out this way. I did manage to get 2 nice mornings, well, breezy and chilly, but clear, on the deck to spend some time with my dyed mystery fleece and the difference that this table makes is amazing.

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This little wooden table seems to be just the right height for either sitting or standing while carding. I admit that I sit most of the time, but it’s easier to remove the carded fleece and roll it into a batt while standing up.

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This is some of the mystery fleece that I solar dyed last summer on the deck. I hope to use it for felted beads and perhaps a felted brooch or two if I can sort out the mechanics. I think that they would be very cute on my felted hats. What do you think?

 

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Posted by: Mare F | May 12, 2016

Reading Corner Thursday

Since I’ve been touting various pattern books I’ve found, enjoyed, and made items out of in the past, I thought that I would add a bit of a spin to Reading Corner Thursday by actually showing the progress of making an item, at least one, out of each book…well, some of them, anyway. This week’s selection is Quick and Cozy Afghans.

quick and cozy afghans

This book has long been one of my go-to sources for afghans and if you could actually see my physical copy you would be able to tell this easily. It has the appearance of a much-loved and much used book. My most recent trip into this was for a simple pattern to make up a baby afghan. It seems that I tend to make them in spurts, usually prompted by the request for one. Honestly, one day I will be organized enough to have a few on hand, although I promise myself this every year and every year time seems to get away from me.

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This is such a charming pattern and it is simple enough to do while watching TV, but busy enough to keep one from expiring from boredom. It’s really quite nice. I’ve started another in blue for stock, but we will see how that goes. Do you have a favorite afghan pattern for small children?

 

 

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Posted by: Mare F | May 9, 2016

Afghans..

Last year, when I attended my first FFA State Convention and discovered that there was a silent auction, which is one of the  major fund-raisers for the state chapter, I decided that I would make something to donate to the auction this year. I had on hand a supply of yarn that was spun at Barlett’s Yarns in Maine, from sheep raised  by the Ag program a few years ago and this seemed like the ideal use for it. I love the heathered colors of Bartlett’s yarns.

 

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My first thought was to do a sampler of sorts with squares done up with the outline of various agricultural items – a chicken, a tractor, a cow, a tree – and alternate them with either a seed or a moss stitch square. This was a grand idea except that with the lovely heathered colors I lost my images in the darker colors. Once I accepted this disappointing fact, I set out to find a simpler pattern that would show case the yarns.

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This is a lovely double crochet cluster with one long double crochet to give it punch that I got out of Quick and Cozy Afghans – one of my favorite afghan pattern books. It worked up fairly quickly in spite of being wool and wanting to stick on the long double crochet.

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I was so pleased with the result that I think that I will make another one up out of the remainder of the yarn I have for the house. It is delightfully warm and surprisingly soft once it’s washed. Now, all I have to do is to fill out the paperwork and come up with a value for the afghan I’m donating. This part always seems to be a challenge. Do you have a favorite charity to which you donate?

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Crocheting, Donations, Dyes, General, Knitting, Organization, Patterns, yarns | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | May 5, 2016

Reading Corner Thursday…

Today I’m going to chirp up about finding my “happy” pattern for socks after bemoaning the loss of it last week. I’m on my third shot with these socks and I’ve been marking the book, the page for basic socks, and I’ve made a notation in my pattern book. Next up will to recreate the pattern, with my minor alterations, in my notebook so that I don’t have to go through this again. This book also has some lovely patterns that I will try once I’ve sorted out  my go-to socks.

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My sock yarn is holding up well as I’ve knitted up at least 3″ each time I’ve tried a pattern and then I’ve unraveled them when they turned out to be duck socks. I’ll have to check on the yarn itself, all I can remember is that I got it on eBay.

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While they still vaguely resemble a bikini top, they really are socks and I hope to be wearing them soon. Perhaps in the future I will just keep a pair of socks on my needles at all times so that I don’t get quite so lost again. Do you have a particular item that you seem to make often?

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Posted by: Mare F | May 2, 2016

Crocheted baskets

One of the projects I have wanted to make for a while is a crocheted basket. Rug yarn, mostly Aunt Lydia’s, has been finding its way into my house for a few years now and on Saturday I had the brilliant idea of making up a couple of May Day  baskets to share with friends. I went through my stash and found a bag of rug yarn so off I merrily went to wind it into cakes. Part way through winding the hanks from the bag I remembered that I had some in a drawer upstairs and thought that I ought to see all of the colors I had before I started planning my spring time baskets.

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48 hanks of yarn, and I’ve no idea of the amount of time, later I had run out of crocheting time before May Day would be here so I backed up to the original plan of making large storage baskets. Now I just had to determine if I was going to get fancy with my stitches or stick with a utilitarian look.

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Using a “K” hook I started my base and crocheted the standard circle increase up to 12 sc between each increase. This I did a dark brown. That was sufficient progress after a day of winding so I put it aside until Sunday morning.

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I alternated the red and dark brown while I felt my way through the sizing and stiffness. I’m rather pleased that it will stay upright on its own and I also had a good time planning out the color sequence for the next 5 or 6.

 

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Posted by: Mare F | April 28, 2016

Reading Corner Thursday…

Today’s Reading Corner Thursday involves a mystery book and a still life composed of sad sock yarn and yarn bowls. Over the past few weeks I have started to knit myself a pair of toe-up socks, two at a time of course, only to find that I don’t remember which book holds my “happy sock” pattern…you know, the one that fits nicely?

 

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So, I have promised myself that this weekend I will make time to go back through all of my books and mark the possible patterns. It’s a bit irksome to find that my brain is finally full enough of interesting things that my favorite sock pattern has taken a vacation from it, but I have faith, and I fully intend to mark it very well when I do find it. And clearly, I’m not making myself enough pairs of socks if this has happened as there are countless other patterns that are happily stored in my finger tips!  Have you found yourself in this situation with a project

 

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Posted by: Mare F | April 25, 2016

Dye gardening

April is always a frustrating month for me. I don’t mind the winter and  being inside of our lovely and comfortable home with all of my toys is never a hardship, but this is the time of year when I start to “see” my gardens. It might not be quite so bad if I didn’t have a black thumb when it comes to starting seeds. Other than an avocado pit that I grew into a tree in the 1970s, along with everyone else, my track record with seeds is downright dismal.

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This year I hope to have at least 2 beds with dye plants in them and the problem becomes one of acquisition. If I can’t start the plants I want by seed I have to find a place to get them. Most of the local shops and stores carry the most popular garden plants and I can’t blame them for that at all, I just wish that there was an alternative to mail order. Even when ordering by mail I can’t always get the plant. I will try planting seeds directly into the ground and hope for the best. Maybe that’s what I should have been doing right along.

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I know that I will have the orange/yellow marigolds again for their lovely buttery yellow dye, but trying to decide on others gets a bit trickier. Madder, woad, yarrow, tansy, and dyer’s chamomile are on the list, but I’m sure that there are many more that are just waiting for me to discover them. I guess it’s off to the catalogues and books for now, but just knowing that spring will be here soon helps a bit.

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