And how about yesterday’s sky? If I ever need a true sky blue fabric, I can use this photo and print some!
I also spent a little time yesterday packing up summer clothes. Here’s a jewelry set I made to take to the beach. The components are from Michael’s Shoreline collection.I can’t take credit for the necklace design, I found it on their website. I changed it by using the longer chain and doubling a section and securing it with a jump ring. I have scrawny wrists so all I had to do for the bracelet was add a jump ring and lobster clasp. The earrings were another matter, and you can see I’ve misplaced one (I hope it’s in a suitcase!) I wanted small, dangly ones, so I took apart a huge toggle clasp that was part of the collection. The beads were wired around the toggle, and I just clipped the wire. (Happily, I think the toggle looks better without the beads and I can still use it. I’ll see if I can find it and photograph it. ) Three beads on a headpin, a little twisting and attaching , and I was done!
It’s the closet in my daughter’s room! What’s it got to do with crafting? My daughter’s room doubles as my sewing room. I cleaned out the closet today (well, the bottom anyway) so someone can come and give me an estimate for hardwood floors! The carpet is an almost white, beige Berber, and after about 14 years, it is grungy. The stuff is tough, but because it’s so thick and carved, my carpet steamer just moves the grunge around instead of sucking it up. I even tried using my husband’s high powered tire steamer on it. No luck.
It’s not soft underfoot, either, and pins and needles disappear when they’re dropped. I can’t have that with my grandson coming for visits every now and then. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can afford to have this room refloored.
I store different craft projects in these cardboard suitcases. The one above is my newest; pretty, roomy and 50%off! Most of them are by Punch Studio and were purchased at Michaels or Joann.
PJ’s pumpkin cap is complete and tomorrow, I’ll see if it fits. I’ve made pumpkin caps with leaves and curly stems, but I think they look a little feminine. This one is just a bigger version of the one I made him last year.
The yarn is Caron Simply Soft in Mango. The stem is knit from a small skein of leftover yarn that’s like the gift of the Maccabees. Every time I need a small amount of light brown yarn, there it is! I think I bought it years ago when Kmart still carried yarn. I know it’s worsted weight acrylic, but I have no idea what brand it is.
I used 16″ circular US#8 Baleen needles. I knitted a gauge in stockinette and found that I got 4.5 stitches per inch. PJ’s head measures 18.5 inches in circumference. I multiplied the two numbers and rounded up to a multiple of 4. The knit 2, purl 2 pattern of the brim requires a multipe of 4 to complete the pattern. I cast on 84 stitches and joined them together making sure that all the loops were turned in the same direction.(If you twist your cast on row, the garment cannot be fixed, and you just have to unravel and start over!)
I worked in k2,p2 for the length of the index finger on my right hand (I use my pinkie for newborn caps!) I used the cast on tail to tell me when I’d completed a round. I changed to knitting every row for stockinette. That’s the beauty of circular knitting; knitting every row in the round gives you stockinette, and you don’t get those ridges that come from purling tighter that you knit or visa versa! I continued in stockinette for the length of my middle finger (I usually use my index finger…I like using my fingers for measurement. That way, I always have my rulers with me!)
At this point, I tried the cap on PJ, carefully holding my needles so the stitches would not slide off. I began my decrease:
Knit 4, knit two together, repeat for the rest of the round
Knit next round
Knit 3 knit two together, repeat for the rest of the round
Knit next round
Knit 3, knit 2 together, repeat for the rest of the round
Knit next round
Knit 2, Knit two together, repeat for the rest of the round
Change to double pointed needles (I didn’t have 8’s, so I used 6’s. that made the cap get smaller, too.)
Knit next round
Knit 2 together all the way around(that left me with app. 16 stitches.)
I tied on the light brown yarn.
I worked app. 6 more rounds using the light brown yarn. This formed the stem.
I finished by knitting two together all the way around, cutting my yarn leaving a 4 inch tail. I threaded a large tapestry needle with the tail and ran it through the remaining loops on my needles. I gathered them up as I removed them from the needles. I pushed my needle through to the wrong side, turned the cap inside out and knotted the tread. I wove the brown tail through the wrong side of the stem and trimmed it.
I cut the remaining mango (orange) thread from the skein and secured that tail and the original one. I turned it right side out, folded the brim, and there you have it! I hope it fits.
I bought an Olympus SP-180UZ from QVC. (How’s that for alphabet soup?) It has lots of built-in features like these filters:
I chose to stitch the diamond pattern from the upper side of this “Mountain Landscape” design from the Cross-stitchers Club because it echoed the weave of the towel (from Charles Craft.)
I found a little frame/hoop for my beaded butterfly. I added some Elmer’s Glue-all between the inner and outer hoop and trimmed away the excess windowscreen from the back. Now if I can just find the roll of ribbon I bought to tie on a bow, it’ll be ready for gifting. I think I’ll add a small suction cup hanger, too.