Steel Silhouettes
In our part of Texas, people love metal cut-outs to decorate indoors and out. Blanton and Russell Jones, owners of Custom Iron Art, cut designs out of steel in their workshop near De Leon, Texas. We went to see a demonstration of the craft last weekend, and Blanton was kind enough to let me take pictures.
The father and son team work with customers and computers to come up with the perfect design, often combining ready-to-use artwork with images that customers bring in. Russell is the computer expert, scanning, composing, redesigning, and resizing designs until they meet with the customer’s approval.
The result is a computer graphic file that looks like a line drawing. Using specialized software, the Joneses place the design onto a screen that represents a sheet of steel, which is lying on a cutting table a few feet away.
At the press of a button, the laser cutter positions itself to make the first cut. The sparks fly!
A few minutes later, the design is cut. Then the finishing work begins. With a home made tool, Blanton knocks steel bits out of all the holes in the design.
The laser cutter leaves irregular lines of slag, which Blanton breaks off with his tool.
He smooths the edges with a power polisher and touches it up by hand. Often, Blanton paints the finished cut-outs black to prevent rusting. We liked the plain steel finish of our hummingbird, and knowing that it will soon have a patina of rust on it, we proclaimed it finished.
You can find more of the Jones’s work at their website: http://www.ciaoftexas.com. Or drop by and see them, on your way through Texas–but call first!
Crazy Eight for the Eighth Month
Our August 2009 Crochet Bouquet Along selection is the Crazy Eight (pp. 81-82 of Crochet Bouquet). It is a simple eight-petal flower, which is perfect to crochet in the eighth month.
The basic Crazy Eight is easy to crochet and then you can fancy it up with several options for trims and embellishments.
My favorite is the ‘Outline’ option on page 82.
First, crochet a large or small Crazy Eight. To make the outline, attach a contrasting yarn to a ch1-space of Rnd 1, as in this photo.
Now you outline each petal with sc, working up one side of the petal, over the top, and down the other side, where you find yourself at the next ch1-space of Rnd 1. When the instructions say to crochet around the dc, I find it easiest to fold the flower so that the dc is at the top. Then I crochet around the stitch itself.
When you get to the individual petal at the outside of the flower, you will be holding it sideways. You crochet around the ch4 (that means you insert your hook under the chain, not into it). Then sc into the tops of the treble stitches, sc down the ch4 at the other side of the petal, and continue toward the center of the flower, crocheting around the dc stitch or stitches.
Here’s the first petal finished and the second in progress. Crocheting around eight petals takes time, but the results are very nice!
The outlined Crazy Eights on the Flower Power Jeans (pp. 100-101 of Crochet Bouquet) are made with Aunt Lydia’s No. 10 Classic crochet cotton. I crocheted the ones pictured here with Brooks Farm Yarns’ Duet, a blend of mohair and wool.
Churro Rug: The Final Episode
I’m posting on the advice of the famed Knit Doctor, Karen Frisa, who is available for consultation at all Stitches events. For me this means two blog posts in three days. I hope she has a remedy for a pulled blog muscle!
At the end of the last post, the knitted churro rug was in the washer. Its fate was unknown. Would it turn out well? Or would all that knitting have been in vain?
And now…read on for the exciting conclusion to our story.
After the first washing, the rug looked good, but it wasn’t felted enough. Back into the washer it went, this time with a bunch of dark towels. I set the water temperature on hot wash/cold rinse instead of hot/hot, because the hot-cold contrast is supposed to shock wool fibers into felting better. I forgot about that the first time around.
The washer finally spun to a stop. The lid took ages to unlock. I pulled out all the towels, trying to avoid looking at the rug. Only when the towels were hung out in the heat of the day, did I go back for the rug.
The wool felted even better during the second washing. Just about perfect! And I discovered a new rule about felting things in the washing machine:
Never wash your felt project with a new, pink beach towel.
I laid the rug on top of a big towel, on the floor. I straightened the edges and the stripes, and then spent about an hour picking pink lint off of it. The pink pills are still surfacing. Maybe they’ll all be gone by the time October rolls around.
It looks great. I’m very, very happy with it.
Anxiously Awaiting Laundry
Borders are just amazing! With its mitered border and lovely corded trim, my churro rug looks very, very handsome. Yes, that’s the best word for it. Handsome.
Ella wrapped the finished rug around her waist, struck a pose, and said, “Mom, you need to knit me a dress with that same pattern.” In softer yarn, it would be a perfect lap blanket.
But now we enter the great unknown. It’s time to felt the rug. As I write, hot water is filling the washing machine, where my rug is sandwiched between a brown towel and some dark sheets. I learned my lesson when felting the swatch:
Never felt dark colors with white laundry!
There were white pills all over the surface of the felt, which took ages to pick off. Luckily, with the addition of a little vinegar to the wash, color bleeding wasn’t a problem.
In a half-hour or so, we’ll know the truth. Did the rug felt well? Stay tuned.
Gazania and Book-Signing for July
The Gazania is a bright and interesting flower, native to South Africa. It is named after a Greek-born scholar named Theodorus of Gaza, who lived in the fifteenth century. He was a famed translator of famous Greek manuscripts into Latin. Among his translations was the work of the classical botanist Theophrastus. Plantzafrica speculates that the name may also be based on the Greek word for riches: gaza.
Let’s crochet the Gazania for our monthly crochet along. Gazanias come in many variations of yellow, orange, red, and an orange so deep it is almost brown. Choose these colors for a natural-looking Gazania, or indulge your fancy with the colors of your choice.
* * *
The Knitting Nook in Wautauga (Fort Worth) is hosting a book signing for Crochet Bouquet, and offering my knitted darts class twice in the next two weeks. Here are times and description:
Sweaters that fit well make people look better! Darts solve a number of fitting problems. Learn to identify fitting situations that call for darts, and how to measure and calculate for darts, and knit vertical and horizontal sample darts. Bring a sweater pattern you want to make, and we’ll discuss how to insert darts into the pattern.
Saturday, July 18, Book Signing 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Darts class 1-4 p.m.
Thursday, July 23, Book Signing 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Darts class 1-4 p.m.
The Knitting Nook
6601 Watauga Rd., Ste. 106
Watauga, TX 76148
Phone: 817-577-6305
Great Rug Progress
The cabin we stayed in at Estes Park was just out of reach of any cell phone networks. There was no wireless internet service. Day and night, we heard the roar of the freezing cold river, which sounded oddly like an air conditioner.
What’s a person to do with no phone and no internet?
Knit!
Between knitting at the cabin and knitting during the long hours of driving, I finished the center section of my rug! It’s fairly loose and large, but that’s okay. The plan is to felt it once it is completely done.
Back at home, I threw the gauge swatch in the washer with my hot-water laundry. It felted beautifully! I was so thrilled I had to admire it several times that day and the next and the next. It lost about 10% of its length and width.
Look, here’s the knitting before and after felting. Once it the whole rug is felted, it will be the perfect size and weight.
The mitered border is about halfway done and I’ll finish it off with a knitted-on cord trim.
Estes Park Wool Market 2009-1
We’re back and mostly recovered from our trip to Colorado and the Estes Park Wool Market. Colorado is a delight to the eyes with its stunning scenery. However, the best sight I saw on the trip was in our own back seat. Here’s Ella, knitting a blanket for her cousin.
She asked, “How much more do I have to knit?” for a blanket which would cover her cousin from neck to toe. It’s so interesting to see how young kids perceive size and time and space.
After lots more knitting on the trip, the piece is about ten inches long. If I can talk Ella into it, we may change the project to a pillow, and her knitting will be just about done.
As we approached Estes Park, I announced, “I’m going to buy only one skein of yarn at the Wool Market.” For some reason, Charles seemed surprised.
The one skein of yarn would be Brooks Farm Yarns’s Duet, a blend of Texas wool and mohair, to go with the sage/brown/gold Duet we recently wound into balls.
Eva took a crocheted sample over to the Brooks Farm Yarn booth and previewed the possibilities for me. She found several reasonable choices, but the shades-of-green yarn looked best. When we went together, I agreed with her.
But red-orange-gold combination appealed to us, too.
You already know the outcome of the story, I’m sure. We came home with both skeins.
Eva, on the other hand, did not show as much restraint in buying yarn. Ah well. She is young, and must build a stash of her own.
A Crochet Bouquet Doily on Crochet Insider
Please visit Crochet Insider to find instructions for a bright doily made with flowers from Crochet Bouquet!
I tried several ways to put the flowers together, as you can see from the test pieces here.
I settled on the doughnut-shaped mat.
Why a doughnut shape? Because the many different types and textures of yarn make the surface of the mat uneven. The hole in the middle is so you can nestle in your vase or bowl, with no worries about it being wobbly!
Circles-Within-Circles is June’s Crochet Along
Our part of Texas is dairy country and we frequently laugh (in a resigned sort of way) about the “dairy air.” Now that the weather is heating up for summer, we have lots of flies.
When I am sleeping and a fly lands on my nose, or when the cats’ food is covered with the nasty little beasts, my mind turns to the lovely sundew. It is a carnivorous plant that lives in moister climes. I dream of a small field of sundews, plump with flies, while we enjoy a fly-free existence.
Our June crochet-along is the flower, Circles Within Circles (pages 22-23 of Crochet Bouquet). Why? Because it reminds me of a sundew. And my fervent hope is that hundreds of crocheters, crocheting sundew-like flowers from my book, will create a vortex of sundew energy that will keep the flies away from us this summer. Hey–it’s worth a try!
To make the perfect Circles Within Circles, finish with a needle-join, described on page 14 of Crochet Bouquet. It’s a great technique for any occasion where you have to join a round of crochet.
Churro Rug Schedule Already Off
The plan was to knit two ridges (four garter rows) of the rug per day. This was definitely doable.
I started just fine. Just to see what the next color would look like, I knitted a couple of extra ridges. The next color was only going to be one ridge in all, so I knitted that ridge, too.
The trouble with changing the color every couple of rows is that the color changes draw you in and you want to see how the pattern will look. So I kept knitting.
Then the mosaic pattern began to take shape, and I wanted to get to the next perceived milestone in the pattern, then to the middle of the pattern. I kept knitting and knitting.
Here I am, more than half way through the center section of the rug, having knitted 54 ridges. That’s 27 days’ worth of my schedule, which officially started on June 1st. My hands are sore, but I’m a happy knitter. I can hardly wait to knit the second half!
See, being off schedule doesn’t have to be bad news!