I'm sitting at my desk with my shirt front covered in wool, bamboo, silk and yak. I have spent the afternoon unpacking, photographing and listing luxurious fibers into Wind Rose Fiber Studio. I'm tired, but feeling rather contented. There's nothing like replenishing the studio with a variety of gorgeous top. I think my favorite of the day is this 50/50 Merino/Yak I have pictured here. I can already see myself raiding this fiber during Spinzilla. Oh, by the way, there's just four more days to register for this monster spinning event. I'm on Team Louet if you want to hang.
I added a few other fibers today too. There's a Merino/Bamboo/Silk which I like to call Merbamsi. Let's see, there's also some Bamboo Viscose, Baby Camel, Tussah Silk and Cultivated Silk Hankies. For the most part, I've linked to the 2oz portions, but you can find other quantities available in the shop. I guess that's all for my fiber roll call. Have a great night everybody!
Hi, Today I'm sitting down with Part II of my Tasseled Miser's Purse pattern. It is by far the hardest part and so I want to see if there are any additions or clarifications I can make that will help. The first time I made a miser's purse, it was a two-sided design from the 18oo's and I almost gave up. I kept started over because it just looked wrong to me. I could not imagine how the crochet in front of me would become anything like the sketch in the old publication. Finally, I just kept going. I figured if I was wrong, then I was wrong, but I was going to keep crocheting to the bitter end. To my surprise and delight, it all worked out. The crazy thing about these drawstrings is that they just don't seem to make sense until they are just about done. The good news is, that I have made the top portion separate from the body of the purse, so the time investment is less that what it could be. So here I go.
Here is my completed part one. I want to take a moment to respond to a question I received about this part of the pattern. Here are how many chains you should have after each row:
Row 1 - 3, Row 2 - 5, Row 3 - 7, Row 4 - 9, Row 5 - 11, Row 6 - 13, Row 7 - 15.
Now moving on to Part II. I don't really know where people are getting thrown off, so I'm just going to follow my own pattern and see if I can add anything to make it more clear. If you look at my picture of Part I, with the right side facing up, what you see are the drawstrings and the inside of the front of the purse. What we are creating in Part II is the front flap and the back of the purse. When Part II is completed, the right side or what I refer to in Part I as (front facing) will become the back side of the purse. I can see now that it might be easier to just not distinguish a right vs. wrong side. I made the distinction in Part I because I think it's easy to get your chains twisted if you're not careful.
When the pattern says: "sc in next 7 sts, ch 1, without removing loop from hook, lift next drawstring over the remaining sts of the row, sc in next _ sts", the chain 1 is creating space for the drawstring which will make it easier to pull the purse open and shut. When you sc in the remaining stitches of the row, you will be working over the drawstring thus trapping it in that ch 1 space.
When you finish Row 15 and you look down and see something like this in your hands, don't be alarmed. That's exactly what your purse should look like at this stage. I'm trying to think of anything else I should add. By now you know that each row has you working up and back down again. I hope this doesn't bother anyone. I realize it's like working two rows, but when I wrote the pattern, it seemed more clear to write it this way. I know this makes it harder to go back and count to see what row you are on. Try marking the pattern at the end of each row, or if you are working in front of your computer, highlight the row you are working on and change as you go.
Uh oh, Houston I found a problem. There is a mistake in my pattern. I guess I should say there was a mistake because I have now fixed it, but I feel terrible! No wonder people had difficulties. So this is where I went wrong in my pattern writing. I basically had one row too many. To correct the error, Row 22 has been removed and Row 21 has been changed to what the former Row 22 directed. Row 21 is the last row of Part II. I am soooooo sorry for my goof up. To make it crystal clear, in Row 8 you work in the first chain, Row 9 the second and you continue on so that when you reach Row 21, you have two chains left unworked. Row 21 takes care of those last two chains.
Well, I guess all I can say is a big thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am a perfectionist at heart, so I am glad to have this correction made. To anyone who lost precious minutes over my pattern error, please accept my sincerest apologies!
Hey hey, so I was surfing around as people do, and I came across this link for Spinzilla. What this? A spinning event of which I have not heard? No! As it turns out, Spinzilla is a brand new, monster week of spinning being put on by The National Needle Arts Association. Like the Tour de Fleece, there are teams and prizes and plenty of comradery.
You can spin along on Ravelry in the Spinzilla group. I'm on team Louet North America if you want to hang out with me. Registration for the event is open until September 23rd and the spinning week begins on October 7th. This gives you plenty of time to prepare a fun stash of fiber which is what I have begun to do. The dyed mixed BFL pictured here is just the first 4oz of the fiber I'll be spinning.
