Ella’s Mouse
We read Frederick, by Leo Lionni, about a mouse poet. At the back of the book, Ella found instructions for making a mouse out of paper, like the ones in the book.
Ella wanted to make a mouse, but hers would be out of felt, because she wanted to stuff it and make it three-dimensional. So she made a mouse out of green felt. I got to cut out the ears and thread the needle. Ella let me embroider the face.
Ella’s idea was to roll pieces of felt to make the legs, so they would be more substantial than just a single layer of felt. It was a good idea.
We cat-tested the mouse. Socks didn’t let the mouse interrupt her nap. Izzy was skeptical. Only Roosevelt was curious. All in all they treated Ella’s mouse with much more respect than they treat most mice.
It is a great mouse, and very sturdy, because Ella put many stitches in it.
May Crochet Along: Primrose Layers
“Primrose Layers” (pp. 90-91 of Crochet Bouquet) is our May 2009 Crochet Along flower. It’s a lovely Mother’s Day flower, too, if you are crocheting for your mother who lives in the USA.
In England, Mothering Sunday is in March. When we lived in England, my little family celebrated in March with the rest of the country. Then my husband and I hoped we would remember to phone our own mothers in the US in May.
When do other countries celebrate their mothers?
In Crochet Bouquet, ‘Primrose Layers’ is shown with all three layers sewn together. You can also use the layers separately.
Here are step-by-step photos showing how to crochet the Primrose petals.
Once you have made the central ring of the flower, chain the number of stitches indicated in the pattern for the size of primrose you want. Crochet back along the chain, toward the center ring.
Turn and work almost to the end of the row you just finished. You’ll be crocheting away from the center on this row. The turning chain is longer than usual.
Crochet into the chain itself as instructed in the pattern, and then you’ll be back to crocheting on top of the sts of the previous row.
Attach the petal to the center ring, and you’re ready to chain for the next petal.
The beautiful 100% wool, hand-painted yarn in the yellow-orange and red sample is from Fiber Fanatic in Denton, Texas (e-mail: fiberfanatic@hotmail.com). The yellow cotton is Cascade Yarns’ Pima Tencel, which is lovely to work with. The single Primrose Layers in pink and ecru are made from Merino Tape by Colinette.
Irish Crochet Along: Shamrock
We’re having an Irish Crochet Along in the Irish Crochet Lovers group on Ravelry. Our motif for April was this shamrock, from The Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No. 1, by Lula M. Harvey. It is Figure 27.
Our plan is to crochet one or two motifs a month for several months. In October, we’ll join them in the traditional Irish Crochet way. November is the month for adding trim to our projects.
I’m learning a lot from the crocheters in the group. Some have done a Irish Crochet for a long time. They know some very helpful tricks.
You can download the Irish Crochet book that this pattern is in free at http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org. Click on their catalog of books, and look under “Harvey.”
Help with the Fern Pattern
Lynn, a Crochet Bouquet reader from Hawaii, asked for help with the Fern pattern (pages 110-111).
I am really enjoying your Crochet Bouquet book!
But I need your assistance for the fern pattern. I cannot understand the instructions/how are the clusters created? Do I work both sides of the chain?
Then I get lost when it says chain 5 and repeat the whole thing again/
Thank you and Aloha,
Lynn
I wrote back, telling her how the fern is constructed. Then I made a suggestion that will help any time you are confused by the jumble of symbols and abbreviations in a crochet or knitting pattern:
I know there are lots of words in the instructions. Maybe it would help if you copied out the instructions into lines where you could see everything better, and leave out some of the informational words. This is what I mean:
Lower Leaflets:
* Ch 3
sl st-picot
(ch 2, sl st-picot) 2 times
sl st-picot 2 times
(sl st in next 2 ch, sl st-picot) 2 times
sl st in next 3 ch
ch 5
Repeat from * 2 more times.You can write out the “Next to Top Leaflet” and the “Top” and so on, in the same way.
So why are crochet (and knitting) instructions printed all crowded and condensed in books and magazines? Because readers, authors, editors, and publishers like to have as many designs in a book as possible.
Look at it this way: copying out instructions from time to time is a small price to pay for more patterns. Lace knitters have been doing this for years, even going so far as to write out each row on an index card. When all the cards for one pattern are written, they punch a hole in one corner of each card, bind with a ring, and Voila! A flip chart for the pattern!
Lynn’s story ended happily. She made a perfect Fern Leaf and sent me this photo. Beautiful!
The Real Thing
This is an Irish Crochet-style collar which I made for my mother in the late 1980s. Her periwinkle blue suit shows it off very nicely.
It’s the real thing! At least it’s as real as an Irish Crochet collar can be, when made by a USAmerican, a century after the Irish potato famine, which catapulted Irish Crochet lace to such fabulous heights. I make this distinction, because so many people who want to try Irish Crochet are very worried about whether they are doing it the “traditional way,” and they are nervous because they can’t be sure that our modern crochet threads are exactly like the ones used in the olden times.
I figure, unless you’re a survivor of the Irish potato famine, you crochet with a piece of wire embedded in a cork, and you crochet by candlelight after the sun goes down, you won’t be making truly traditional Irish Crochet. The best most of us can hope for is to make post-traditional Irish Crochet. That frees us to crochet it with modern tools and conveniences, and even non-traditional materials and colors. Hurray!
Having said that, I’d like to tell you that I’m teaching a workshop called “Irish Crochet Lace for the 21st Century” at the Taos Wool Festival in October 2009. Further information will soon be available at http://www.taoswoolfestival.org.
The pattern is in The Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No. 2, by Eliza Taylor (ed.), originally published in 1912. It is “Figure 85. Coat Collar.” You can download this book free at http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org. Click on their catalog of books, and look under “Taylor.”
A Fabulous Fake
We were at an antique mall at Hillsborough, Texas, when I saw the corner of a collar, peeking from a stack of doilies and other pretty pieces of needlework.
My heart beat faster. It looked like Irish Crochet lace! What a find! Had anyone else noticed this treasure? I glanced around furtively. Thank goodness, no one was else near enough to see. With trembling hands, I reached for the collar. I closed my eyes as I picked it up, afraid to look at the price tag.
Then the truth was revealed. It wasn’t Irish Crochet lace. It was machine made lace, sometimes called “chemical lace.” But wow, it was a really good copy of Irish Crochet lace, even down to the three-dimensional flowers, and the different mesh backgrounds.
I bought the collar, because it was very pretty and I can use it in workshops and I might write about it and another fabulous crochet fake that I know about. That one is in a museum.
Next time: a real Irish Crochet technique collar. How do I know? I made it!
Daffodil Crochet-Along for April
Here in north-central Texas, our daffodils bloomed in late February. They were beautiful while they lasted a bright splash of yellow in the brown winter landscape.
Even though our daffodils bloom early, they are always associated with Easter in my mind. Maybe it’s because of my German heritage. In my mom’s Frankenwaeldlerisch dialect, daffodils are called Osterglocken = Easter bells. In the pretty Easter books and cards from my German grandmother, the Easter eggs always had daffodils around them.
Let’s crochet daffodils and narcissi in April. They’re on pages 51-52 of Crochet Bouquet. Check the corrections page (see sidebar). The frill around the top of the daffodil’s trumpet should be crocheted into the BACK loops only (rnd 5).
The photo shows the Daffodils and Narcissi from Crochet Bouquet, against a background of long, thin leaves. They’re very easy to figure out on your own, but in case you would rather have a pattern, here you go:
Long, Solid Crocheted Leaf
Crochet a chain the desired length of the leaf plus 2 ch. Working in the back bump of the chain, sl st in third ch from hook. For best-looking results, work into the back bump of the chain for any of the following leaves.
Narrow Leaf: sc 1 in each remaining ch st. End off.
Medium Leaf: sc 2, then hdc 1 in each remaining ch st. End off.
Wide Leaf: sc 2, hdc 2, then dc 1 in each remaining ch st. End off.
Long, Open Leaf
Open meshes make this leaf more delicate than its close relative, the Long, Solid Leaf. Use both styles in a grouping to give it depth. Twist the leaves or fold down the tips of the leaves to make them look natural.
Chain an odd number of sts to the desired length of the leaf, plus 2 ch. Working in the back bump of the chain, sl st in third ch from hook. For best-looking results, work into the back bump of the chain for any of the following leaves.
Narrow Leaf: * ch 1, sk 1 st, sc in next st * Rep bet *s to end of chain. End off.
Medium Leaf: ch 1, sk 1 st, sc in next st. * ch 1, sk 1 st, hdc in next st * Rep bet *s to end of chain. End off.
Wide Leaf: ch 1, sk 1 st, sc in next st, ch 1, sk 1 st, hdc in next st. * ch 1, sk 1 st, dc in next st * Rep bet *s to end of chain. End off.
Tip: when you use fuzzy, loopy, or very bumpy yarns, don’t bother to crochet into the back bump of the chain. Novelty yarn obscures the stitches, so it isn’t worth the extra trouble.
Workshop Socks Done
Eva’s crocheted socks are finished! She likes them, but we’re not sure about our dear cat, Izzy. Izzy contemplated the socks for less than a minute and then ran off. We mustn’t assume this has anything to do with her opinion of the socks, or of Eva’s feet, for that matter.
I’m glad Eva likes her crocheted socks, but in the future, I will knit socks. The gauge was small (as it needs to be for socks). My poor, aging eyes found the stitches difficult to see. Yes, I wore my reading glasses. Please don’t remind me again.
It was way too laborious for me insert the hook into the small stitches. Also, the socks don’t stretch like I want them to.
With knitting, I don’t have to see the stitches so well. They’re just there on the needle and I can see without glasses where to place my needle in order to knit them. I had started Ella’s socks in crochet, but switched to knitting. Believe it or not, they are growing quicker than the crocheted version.
Thank you to Karen Whooley for her patient and friendly instruction in our online sock class on Crochetville! She got me thinking about socks again. Yay!
Roses Poncho Inspiration
The Roses Poncho is done! I wore it at Stitches West, and many people gave me compliments on it. Thank you! It is made with Oval Center Roses, Rose Leaves, and Simple Fives, all of which are in Crochet Bouquet.
I learned about Irish Crochet lace in the early 1980s. I gathered as many books on the subject as I could find. Almost all of them were reprints of much older books. These were the original inspiration to me for the flowers and leaves of Crochet Bouquet.
One of my favorites was and still is The Irish Crochet Book No. 2, reprinted by The House of White Birches in 1981. The original source was not mentioned in this reprint, but it is probably available for download at www.antiquepatternlibrary.org or as a reprint from Lacis.
One of the projects in the book was a “Collar in Wheels, Roses, and Leaves.” I crocheted it from a linen thread, much heavier than the thread used in the book. Instead of using it as a collar, I sewed around the dropped waist of my wedding dress, as you can see in the photo.
Most Irish Crochet Lace is made from motifs joined by a crocheted mesh. The collar was unusual, because its motifs were simply sewn together. And that is how the Roses Poncho is made, too.
A Crocheted Sock
This is my first crocheted sock ever! The pattern is from Karen Ratto-Whooley, who is teaching an online Toe-Up Crocheted Sock workshop on Crochetville. The yarn is Opal.
Our two-week class started on March 13, with a lesson that took us from the toe to the ankle. Karen encouraged us to work both socks to the ankle before she gave us the heel-turning directions last Friday. She hoped to help us avoid single sock syndrome.
I’m only lacking a few rounds on this sock, because Eva likes her socks to be fairly short. The second sock is already to the ankle.
When Ella found out that I was making socks for Eva, she said, “But what about me?!” She chose between two colorways of Socka from my stash. Her most important question was, “Does this look good with my hair?” (Like mother, like daughter.) Her pair is already underway.