It's Shaun the Sheep!

K and N love the "Shaun the Sheep Movie" and the Shaun dvds.  So, I made K a Shaun the sheep hat, and I'll make N's next. 

The graph for Shaun is from "Shaun's Hat" by Marianne Mueller.  This is a double knit hat pattern, but I just knit a regular hat and duplicate stitched Shaun onto it.

Yarn: Vanna's. Needles: size 5 and size 8. Gauge: 4.5 stitches/inch. German Twisted Cast on.
Pattern:  my own.  CO 96 stitches. K2 P2 rib for 2".  Change to size 8 needles.  Knit around until hat is 6.5" long for K. from beginning edge.
Decrease rows:  1. K6, K2tog around. 2. Knit around.  3. K5, k2tog around. 4. Knit around.  5. K4, k2tog around. 6. Knit around.  7. K3, k2tog around. 8. K2 k2tog around. 9. K1 K2tog around. 10. K2tog around. 11. K2tog around. Take yarn through remaining stitches and weave in end.
Duplicate stitch: Place markers for beginning of ears when on that row of face. Duplicate stitch by starting at the base of the stitch--cover the stitch above and back into base.   So to do next row above, you will come up in the center of the stitch you previously covered.

Ancient Rose Design overshot pattern, Marguerite Porter Davison

As a newer weaver, it's a challenge to center a weaving draft and add borders.  The Ancient Rose Design, p. 140, begins with a half rose.  I'd prefer to begin with a complete circle rose pattern, so I am redrafting the pattern in the Bronze demo of Fiberworks.  So, I drafted the pattern as written and figured out where to begin my pattern, and redrafted it.

I'm adding borders, too, so I played around with various threadings and treadlings.  I got a great hint from a FB weaving group to repeat a section of the draft several times that you like.  So, I am repeating a section that I like, and I think it will weave out nicely.  It will eventually be a table runner.

K loves her new sweater!

K loves her Wallaby sweater!  It looks so cute on her.  I made the sleeves a little long to give her room to grow and added length to the body.

Teacher's Purple and Gold Scarf 1

I help 3 of my grandkids weave scarves in school colors for their teachers for Christmas, and this is the first scarf they are working on for this school year.  This is N's scarf for her teacher, and T is helping her.  I'm weaving on it, too, since they don't live close enough to weave on it very often.

Yarn: Plymouth Encore worsted weight, 1606 Purple Bell and 460 Gold.  Sett: 8 threads per inch.
12 purple, 12 gold, 12 purple, 12 gold, 12 purple plus floating selvages.  Weft is gold. 6.5" wide. 2.5 yard warp. 62 ends. 15 heddles per shaft. 2.5 x 62= 155 yards warp.
Diamonds:
(1+2, 1+4, 3+4, 2+3) 4 xs
(1+2, 2+3, 3+4, 4+1) 4 xs
Threading:
{4,1,2,3 (3xs) 4,3,2,1 (3xs)} 2xs, end 4,1,2,3,(3xs)
Hemstitch over 4.  Fringe about 5-6". Scarf: about 58-60".
Can use purple weft for more purple scarf.

Chicken Potholder

This chicken potholder is from the Annie's Attic booklet, "Whimsical Potholders." 
Make sure to attach the flowers and eye before crocheting the two chicken bodies together.  I did the beak and red part like an online video instead of the pattern instructions.

Crochet with Beads

This is a fun bracelet to make.  It's a Turkish flat bead crochet stitch.  It's easy to do.
I used Lydias crochet cotton size 3, size 6 Czech seed beads, and a size D 3.0 mm crochet hook. 

This Shell Stitch Crochet bracelet is another fun bracelet to make.  I used Toho size 6 seed beads (9 grams), size B 2.25 crochet hook, Aunt Lydia's cotton crochet thread size 3, and 4 mm pearl beads.  This pattern is from Oana's crochet video.

Beaded Leather Bracelets, Chan Luu Style

Some Beaded Bracelets
This is a Chan Luu style bracelet.  It's really fun to make.  I used 3 mm suede cord, Coats and Clark Button Craft thread (doubled), La Mode antique silver button, and 6 mm or 8 mm round beads or round crystal beads.
For a 7 1/4" wrist, I used 27 6 mm beads.  I used Bead Gallery 6 mm turquoise color beads and Darice Venezia dark blue faceted 8 mm crystals.

The Wonderful Wallaby

The Wonderful Wallaby
I had made this sweater for a grandchild in 2010 and decided it's about time to make more of them.  Here's the first of 3 in a size 10 with length added to sleeves and body.  The yarn is Berroco Vintage in purple.  I used 4.5 skeins.
Needles size 6 and size 8.  Gauge 4.5 stitches per inch.  Body: 15.5 to underarm.  Sleeve 15 1/4".

Stocking stitch hood.  Purl 5 or end with purl 5 to start hood (center garter stitch).  Increase hood length to 11" Graft stitches together at top of hood, grafting stockinette part and garter stitch part.  To have garter stitch grafting accurate, do half a row so purl bumps line up on front needle with knit stitches on back needle.

Grafting stockinette:  WS together.
Set up row: 1st stitch purlwise front needle
                     1st stitch knitwise back needle
Front needle:
Knit off, purl on
Back needle:
Purl off, knit on

Garter:  Front needle purl bumps, back needle knit stitch.  WS together.  Last 5 stitches on hood.
Set up row:  Front, purl.  Back, purl.
Front needle:
Knit off, purl on
Back needle:
Knit off, purl on

Use tails of yarn to close up loose stitches on each side of underarm grafts. 

Boundweave Class

Boundweave Class:  I was fortunate to take a class from Tom Knisely at the Jefferson Fiber Retreat this past March on weaving boundweave.  Boundweave is a very dense weave and is often used for rugs.  We made a sample using up to 4 colors of yarn in various patterns.  Here's a small sample:

I'm using my Structo table loom, which has a date of 1947 on the reed.  It's a very sturdy old table loom and is working well.  It's a pretty heavy duty table loom with big metal gears.  My cousin found the Structo, and I cleaned it up, used Howard's Feed and Wax on the wood, and bought new reeds and heddles for it.  It works very well.

After making the sample, I had extra warp left, so I'm working on a Boundweave Pattern on Opposites with two colors.  It is a Rosepath pattern.  The blue yarn is waste yarn, which will be removed.  It's a fun pattern to weave.  I don't know if it will be a table runner, or a doll rug for my granddaughters to play on with their dolls. 

 The yarn is Paton's wool yarn.  Weaving on opposites means that if color A is woven by lifting shafts 3 and 4, color B is woven by lifting the opposite shafts, 1 and 2.

Block A: Color A 3+4, Color B 1+2  4 times
Block B: Color A 4+1, Color B 2+3  4 times
Block C: Color A 1+2, Color B 3+4   4 times
Block D: Color A 2+3, Color B 4+1   4 times
Rosepath:  A, B, C, D, A, D, C, B, A
Color A=red, Color B=Gray

McCalls 4817 Sundress

This is McCall's M4817 size 7.  It runs a little big, but it will still fit her next year.  The fabric is from Joann's.

This is View E.  It's a fun pattern to make.

John Dawson, Potter

On Aug. 12, we had a guest speaker at our fiberarts guild, the Franklin County Fiberarts Guild.  His name is John Dawson, and he makes pottery.  He teaches pottery at the Rock Island Trading Post in Rosebud, Mo., and he also teaches drawing.

His pieces are fired up to 100 hours.  He makes beautiful pottery.  One of our favorite pieces are his bread bowls.  He includes a recipe for beer bread, and you bake the bread in the bowl.  The bread puffs up over the top of the bowl.

Here are some of his pottery pieces.

These are some pieces that we bought to bring home with us.

John teaches children's classes, too.  A group of us will be taking a class from him in Sept.  We're planning on making a butter dish or another beginner project.  We're really looking forward to it!

My Crafting Blog

I love to knit, crochet,and sew, and I'm a relatively new weaver.  I also do some beading.  I'm going to post my projects on my new blog.