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I'm getting back to my series on home fibers today. My next stop was a visit to my mom's. My mom is an avid knitter and always has a project in the works. Here's the sweater she's currently making. I love the beehive pattern. As a novice knitter, I look at this and consider how hard I would have to think about what row I was working and the stitch counting, not to mention the inevitable goofs. My mom, however, knits right along.
I said it before and I'll say it again, it's fun to go exploring for fibers in people's homes. As this was my mom's, I could snoop rather freely. Cuddling together in her closet I found Raggedy Ann and Andy. These dolls have been well cared for as they still look brand new. In truth they are probably closer to 30 years old.
On display out in the open, is a more recent addition to my mom's doll family. She looks a bit like a prairie doll with the apron and long braids. Growing up in Yorktown, VA, prairie/colonial type dress is part of my childhood and has a nostalgic affect.
My mom has also done quite a bit of needlepoint. Above her bed is the angel holding the world and I even found a creation of my own propped up on a chair. Years ago I made little quilted pillows for my mom and her two sisters. I printed a favorite picture of the three of them onto fabric and then pieced it together with classic cotton prints and lace.
These posts are almost starting to feel like a time capsule. It's interesting to see what people cherish enough to keep and it's touching to revisit the memories that coincide with the fibers in our homes.
In my last post, I introduced you to Pickup The Planet. This is my son's project. He's picking up one piece of litter everyday and hoping to inspire others to do the same. I love supporting his efforts and together, we came up with an easy craft that comes in handy when you're cleaning up the planet. We call it The Pickup The Planet Pouch.
Sometimes you run into litter that's dangerous to handle like broken glass or sharp metal. Other times you may encounter trash that's just kind of gross. These are the perfect occasions for The Pickup The Planet Pouch!
Made from a classic bandanna cut in half, this little pouch is a great size to keep in your pocket or carry with you in a purse. It's 100% cotton and can be washed and reused over and over again. Here's my son in action, showing you how to make a pouch of your own.
The Pickup The Planet Pouch
Click on each collage for a larger view and easier reading. With a pouch in your pocket, everyday can be earth day. Thank you for helping Pickup The Planet!
I hope you won't mind a little side step into environmentalism today. I want to share my son's new project. He has just started a facebook page called Pickup The Planet. In his words, "I'm planning to pickup at least one piece of trash a day, everyday. I'm hoping that people will like this idea and join me. Just imagine if everyone in the world did this. The earth would be much cleaner! This is something kids and adults can do to help the planet. I'll share my efforts along the way."
When I was helping him choose a name for his project, we were playing around with a lot of words and phrases. When we thought of Pickup The Planet, I looked up pickup in the dictionary. I wasn't sure if it was properly spelled as two separate words or as a hyphenate. What I learned is that it can be spelled either way or as one word. We thought the one word spelling was catchy and made a good title. Also, it's nice to think of pickup, not just as the act of picking up something, but as improving or elevated its state. When we clean our earth, we make it a better place for us and all of the inhabitants.
Our family lives in a nice suburb close to our local school. Many of the kids in our neighborhood walk to school cutting through an alley that passes behind our house. This is what that alley typically looks like. It's sad that so many kids don't give a second thought to dropping trash on the ground. I look at this picture and think that it's time to start setting an example and I'm proud of my son for taking a leadership role in doing just that!
Earth Day is this Friday and many of us go out and clean up our neighborhoods or try to do something special for the environment. It would be hard to do these larger efforts everyday, but picking up one piece of litter a day is something we can all do, kids and grown-ups. Won't you join us in becoming more mindful about taking care of our planet? Come on over to facebook and click the "Like" button to show your support. It would mean a lot to my son, but more importantly, it would mean a lot to the Planet. Thanks!
Recently, I've had two new babies enter my world. One is the daughter of a friend and the other, my new nephew. As a result, I've had babies on the brain. When you see a newborn and you look into those big eyes, the feelings of wonder and joy come streaming back. What a gift!
I thought I'd share a little peek at the baby blanket I'm making for my nephew. I was looking through my personal library for inspiration, when I came across a book on Bavarian Crochet about which I had completely forgotten. I purchased it rather spontaneously and then undoubtedly became distracted by numerous things. I love the look of Bavarian crochet. It reminds me of quilting and I especially like the way it blends colors together. That subtle overlapping along with the texture is so appealing to me. I hope it will appeal to my nephew too, because this is the beginning of his new blanket.
In Part II of my Home Fibers series, I talked about my Mother-in-law's antique spool collection. I inherited five of these spools and brought them home not knowing how I would display them. I thought I would just show them off in a grouping on a shelf or maybe use them as candle holders. Then I got an idea.
I decided to use them around my bath. I must be in bathroom remodel mode because this is the same room for which I just crocheted a new rug. I guess bathrooms are fun to fix up because they are small. Anyway, back to the spools. I put candles in three of them because candlelit baths are always nice. A large one with wide ends has become a soap holder. Next, I got the idea to wrap washcloths around a couple of the smaller spools. That little notion made me very happy. In my book, its just quirky enough to be cool.
Now my bath feels very luxurious. I put some bubble bath in a little Mexican ceramic creamer that a friend gave me. It has painted peacock feathers and is very sweet. Next to that is a bowl of dead sea salts because I love how salts soothe my skin. It's like my own little spa. It's even more special to me with the addition of the textiles. There's nothing like relaxing surrounded by the things you love!
I have a studio full of stuff I've made, but around my house I don't have that much on display. Just a few things. I love folk art and art in general, so my decorating involves an eclectic blend of pieces from all over the world. I enjoy this mix and I like the idea of supporting individuals over big companies. The one down side to this is the question, "Oh, did you made that?" I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. When people know you to be creative, they seem to think that you must create most of your surroundings. It's a compliment really, but I start to feel bad when I have to keep saying "no". I feel like I'm letting them down or something.
Lately, I've decided that I want to rectify this situation. I've been feeling inspired, especially after my latest trip back home where I spent time exploring the handmade pieces that my family and friends proudly display. I want to start making more things for my house. I want to start answering that question with "yes"!
This leads me to my new bathroom rug. I have a pretty big bathroom floor space on which I had a chenille throw. The chenille rug served its purpose, but it lacked any sort of personality. What you can't see is that I have these really cool sari silk curtains hanging over the bath. I wanted something that would play to that style. I chose a dark eggplant yarn because this color is in the curtains and would get along well with the color of my tile. I used 26 skeins of bulky weight yarn. That's roughly 2,700 yards to create this 5 by 7 foot area rug. I love how swirly it looks from a distance.
It began with 10 hexagons each measuring 20 inches in diameter. I called this post Three Day Weekend Rug, but I did make a couple of these hexagons before this weekend. I think I had four of them made, but the rest of the rug came together over three days. It's been a long time since I've made anything this big. The finishing touch was three rows worked around the edge. I sat in a recliner half covered by this heavy rug. It was comical to feel so pinned down and every time I needed to shift the piece, it was a major undertaking.
Finally, my rug was finished and I laid it out on the floor. I had to fight the urge to walk around it. It felt wrong at first to step on this thing in which I had just invested so much time. My son had no trouble walking on it. In fact, he thinks it looks a bit like a hopscotch board and so he's been hopping across it and encouraging me to do the same.
I sat down one afternoon this week and just kind of whipped up this scarf. When I wear it, I only wrap it around my neck once and then let the ends come forward. It's so light and airy, it's kind of like wearing a necklace, more decorative than practical. I've gotten into wearing scarves lately, and I wanted something to wear even during the warm months.
The back story on this piece is that I had the flowers already. A couple months ago, I was going to make this free form design from a book. The instructions have you create motifs and then guide you in the assembly process. I realize that using instructions to make a free form accessory is in and of itself a contradiction. I think I was motivated by seeing some of these fantastic free form works that are made up of hundreds of small shapes. They are very stunning and I feel drawn to them. However, after I made all of my motifs and started putting them together, I remembered something about myself. I don't really enjoy assemblage work. I find it tedious. I told myself that I must not be the free form type and on I moved.
About a week ago I started thinking about all those motifs I had just sitting in a bag. They were cute; flowers, wheels and little circles. I started to play with them in my mind. What would they like to be? Then it came to me, how about a spring scarf? The flowers could dangle playfully at different lengths and I could make the scarf so light that it could be worn even during a southwest summer. I began to look through my stash for an appropriate yarn for the scarf. I got very lucky. I don't even remember buying this hand painted linen lace from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. The colors were perfect and the lace weight linen ideal. The flowers were also made with lace weight yarn and the linen would feel good next to my skin and breath in the warm summer months.
I guess this is my style of free form. Now I want to turn the rest of my motifs into summer scarves. If you're out and about this summer and you see a woman with flowers dangling from her neck, it might be me!
While in southern Virginia, I paid a visit to some dear family friends. In this case, my reputation preceded me. Sitting out on the dining room table, as if waiting for me, were three tatted family heirlooms.
I really wasn't expecting to see tatting when I set out to discover fiber arts in the homes of my loved ones. I have only been tatting for a couple years now, so maybe it just wasn't on my radar. These are all precious, however the ornament on the far right strikes me as unique. At first glance, I thought I was looking at a classic wreath or ring design, but then I realized that it has been worked onto a ring that was first wrapped in crochet. The inside loops of the tatting are a little more complicated as well. They are actually loops within loops. All in all, it's a pretty intricate little ornament.
Believe it or not, I have fiber finds from three more homes to share. Just as a teaser, one of my best friends recently moved back from living in Japan for three years. She brought back some gorgeous silks as well as a few other surprises, but first, a visit to see my sister and my mom. Get ready for knitting and needlepoint!
I've been saving this design for April in honor of that old saying, April showers bring May flowers.
The Falling Raindrop Ornament looks so pretty hanging from the tree. It has that icicle effect and just imagine if they were made in sparkling silver or gold. These crochet up quickly and as an added bonus, there are no loose ends to sew. I think you're going to like this one!
Falling Raindrop
Materials
Yarn of choice and appropriately sized hook, scissors
If you need a stitch guide or help with the abbreviations, Crochet 'N' More is a great resource for all of the basics.
Ch 19
Row 1: 5 sc in second ch from hook
Row 2: (working in the round and skipping over the beg ch) 2 sc in each st around = 10 sc
Row 3: sc around = 10 sc
Completing Raindrop: *sc dec, sc* 5 times (decrease rounds), sl st into back loop of beg ch #13, 3 sc in back loop of each beg ch until you reach the first. Insert hook in back loop of 1st ch, pull up a loop, cut working yarn leaving 4 or 5 inches, yarn over with both the working yarn and the beginning tail end, pull through both loops on hook. Tie an overhand knot to create loop for hanging.
That's all there is to it. Give your raindrop a little tug to extend the spirals. Also, and this is just a personal taste kind of thing, I like to keep the hanging loop on this ornament pretty small. I make it just big enough to fit over the end of a branch. That way the raindrop looks like it's falling right from the tree branch.
I hope you've enjoyed making the Falling Raindrop ornament!
I know a few of you may be wondering about April's ornament. I haven't forgotten. This month the free crochet pattern will be for this falling raindrop ornament. This is my prototype pictured here. I want to make a couple more and tweak the design a little before I write it up. I just wanted to let you know it's coming!
Yesterday I was sharing some of my mother-in-law's collection of antique spools or bobbins. On my most recent visit, I had the fun task of selecting five to bring home with me. Among the more traditional looking bobbins were a few funny looking ones. I wasn't really sure if they were bobbins or perhaps another part of textile machinery, but I brought one home just the same.
I thought it might take a little research to figure out the function of this odd shaped part, but I stumbled onto the answer very quickly. In fact, this is a bobbin, known as a spinning frame. It was also called a beehive because of the shape of the base. The graduated ridges at the bottom gave the yarn something to grip when they started a new run. The smooth top prevented any snagging.
Though I checked my information with a number of sites, I particularly like Becki's Bobbins. She has some wonderful pictures of old textile mills and good descriptions of the different bobbins. About the spinning frame she goes on to say, "Cotton or wool rovings were transferred from a larger spool via the spinning process onto the frame bobbin. Different frame sizes were used for different weights and thickness of fibers."
I just added some Flax Top to my inventory at Wind Rose. I've been wanting to try spinning flax myself, so I thought I'd get enough for the shop too. This flax is very soft and fine. The staple length is approx 12 inches which means it would work well for doll hair. There are some very nice YouTube videos on spinning flax. Here's a couple of my favorites. Flax Spinning and Spinning Flax Into Linen Thread.
