Shamrock Crochet Along for March
Please join our March 2009 Crochet Bouquet Along, when we will be crocheting the Shamrock from pp. 118-119 of Crochet Bouquet.
Lots of U. S. Americans boast Irish ancestry, but everyone is welcome to celebrate St. Patrick”s Day on March 17. The Shamrock is the symbol of the day.
Some use St. Patrick”s Day as a pretext for drinking green-tinted beer. School kids are eager to pinch people who forget to wear green on the day. If you’re in danger of being pinched, just say that you’re wearing green underwear. An honorable kid will refrain from pinching.
When I was a school kid, someone in my grade disdainfully commented that the true color of St. Patrick’s Day, the color that people in Ireland wear on March 17, is orange. My family lived in the UK for several years, and I saw no evidence to support this claim. Orange certainly never replaced green as the St. Patrick’s Day color in my school.
Judith, a Crochet Bouquet Along participant who has made many of the flowers and leaves from Crochet Bouquet, had some difficulty figuring out how to join the pieces of the Shamrock. If she had trouble, others might have trouble, too. So here are some photos, which I hope will help.
Start by crocheting the heart-shape leaflets. Weave in the ends before joining.
Chain the stem. Pick up one leaflet and hold it so you’re looking at the wrong side.
* Find the ch-4 at the pointy tip of the leaflet—it is the first ch-4 at the beginning of Round 2 of the Heart-Shape Leaflet. Insert the hook behind the ch and bring it back to the front on the other side of the ch. (The photo at left shows the hook at this point.) Now sl st around the ch-4. This is called slip stitching around the post.
Ch 1 and sl st into the chain that was just before the sl st around the post. Ch 1.
Pick up the next leaflet and join as you did the first, repeating the instructions from the *. The photo at right shows the hook in position to sl st around the second leaflet.
Repeat from the * once more, and then finish the stem as described in the book. Use sewing thread to sew the points of the leaflets together.
The Shamrock is meant to be sewn or glued to something else as embellishment. It won’t support its own weight. For the sample in this post, I used Crystal Palace Yarns’ Cotton Chenille.
Stitches West
In spite of tough economic times, hundreds of shoppers crowded the aisles at the Stitches West Knitters Market. People came in droves. They stood in long lines to get into the market. (If you go next year, buy a pass online before you leave home–it’ll give you lots more shopping time.)
My friend Suzanne Correira of Fire Ant Ranch) said, “…there seem to be a lot of people nesting with new fiber and stuff in this economy.” By the way, she’s going to be selling spinning supplies and teaching at the DFW Fiber Fest. It’s at the end of April in Addison, TX, just north of Dallas.
I had a chance to shop at Stitches on Saturday morning, during a break from teaching. My quest was to find lime green and bright yellow yarn to knit a pair of argyle socks for Eva. This is easier said than done! After all, at Stitches East last fall, no one had a limey enough green or a bright enough yellow.
This time we were in luck. Cherry Tree Hill had the perfect colors. The purple is for the argyle cross-hatches. Only one thing bothers me. The washing instructions are “Hand wash and lay flat to dry.” I guess Eva will have to learn how to wash her own socks.
Another booth had a wonderland of tiny flowers and insects, bouquets, dogs and kitties. These were the fabulous polymer clay jewelry of Kim Korringa. Everything was colorful, happy, pretty, beautifully-detailed, and well-made. I’ve done a bit of polymer clay myself, and I was most, most impressed.
These are the pieces I bought for myself: a pin and a hair clip. See this detail on the back of the pin? Perfect! I hope she’s there again next year, because I may need one of her necklaces.
I hope you’ll visit Kim’s web site. Go to the earring page and find the bumblebee earrings. Look at the shine on their little bodies. They are exquisite.
Back at home, Ella baked some rock cakes for a party in our tree house. She decorated them with daffodils that match Eva’s yellow sock yarn. It’s good to be back.
A Brown Project
Several members of the Dallas Hand Knitters Guild showed off finished Circumnavigated Cardigans at their September 2007 meeting. The cardigans fit beautifully. I wanted one!
The Circumnavigated Cardigan, by Medrith Glover, was published many years ago in Knitter’s magazine. She now sells the pattern through the mail. The pattern fits well, because Medrith explains how to figure the pattern based on the knitter’s own measurements.
It has sweatshirt-style pockets in front that are knitted and joined up as you go. The pattern is written so that you don’t have to sew any seams. That’s my kind of pattern!
My Circumnavigated Cardigan is going to be Seveness Brown. Seveness stands for “Suzann’s Sensational Similar Shade Scrap Stripe System.” Seven Ss. Seveness! It’s a way use up lots of leftover yarns, and the resulting knitted fabric is softly striated to look kind of agate-like.
Here it is so far. The pink is a removable cast-on. It seems like a lot of stitches, doesn’t it?! They include all the body stitches and the stitches for the pockets at the front. When the pockets are long enough, you fold them back and knit the pocket stitches together with the body stitches. At some point, you remove the provisional cast on and knit the pockets and body together at the bottom, too. It’s very clever!
Try. Try Again. Repeat as Necessary.
Writing Crochet Bouquet took me about nine months. Developing the flowers and leaves was the most time-consuming part. Once I settled on a particular idea, I crocheted a trial flower or leaf, taking notes as I went.
Most of the time, the flower needed some alteration to match my vision–fuller in one spot, skinnier in another. Maybe the center had to be smaller or larger, or have a different multiple of stitches to support the outside round of petals. Once I figured out what needed to be done, I crocheted it again. Then sometimes, I crocheted it a third time. A few flowers went through four or five alterations before I was satisfied with them.
Early on, I realized that I needed to keep the trial flowers, so I could see how the pattern alterations changed the shape of the flower. The photo shows most of my trials and some pretty bad errors. Luckily some of the errors gave me ideas for design elements.
Experienced crocheters can often figure out exactly what stitches will result in a certain shape. But every now and then, a person just has to sit down and crochet the first draft, no matter how rough it may be. At least it’s a starting point, and one can improve from there.
Old Crochet Book at Comanche Museum
The Comanche County Historical Museum (Comanche, Texas) is open to the public for only a few hours a week: Saturday afternoons from 2:00 to 4:00, Thursday afternoons 2:00 to 5:00, or by appointment. If you’re near, you should go. It is a lovely local museum, with old handwork, machines, rocks and bones, dolls, photos, uniforms, and all sorts of things that give you a glimpse into the history of the community.
It even has an old surrey with a fringe on top. Believe it or not, kids are allowed to sit in it!
My eye was drawn to an old book called Tatting and Crochet Lessons, published in 1915, apparently by a thread company that manufactured Royal Society Cordichet–“The Perfect Crochet Cotton.”
“May I take some pictures of this book?” I asked. “You bet!” the docents said. That’s the beauty of a small local museum–the people in charge are usually right there.
What a difference a century makes in what kinds of things we crochet! For example, the book offers patterns for a crocheted candlestick cover and a candle-shade cover. My favorites were these two: a hair receiver and a hatpin holder.
“Why would you want to save your hair?” asked my daughter. I knew that ladies used pads of their own hair to lift their hair-dos. Also, people used to make hair jewelry, as sentimental gifts or memorial pieces. “Ewww!” my daughter said.
Do you know any other old-time uses for saved hair?
In contrast, this collar would be fine to wear today. It was presented sideways in the book, just like you see it here. The publishers probably thought the readers, having read that it was a collar, were intelligent enough to turn the book to see what the collar would look like around the neck of a garment. You might be surprised to know how much thought goes into modern publications to spare us having to use our imaginations.
I’m glad the people at the museum thought an old crochet book was important enough to keep.
Roses Poncho Finished!
Hurray! It’s finally done!
Yarn, Beads, and Buttons in Tyler, Texas
We tagged along with Charles last weekend to Tyler, Texas, where he went to an archeological conference. Tyler is big enough to have more than one yarn shop and several used book stores. Perfect!
Granny’s Needle Haus on S. Broadway is definitely worth a visit. The store carries all kinds of needlework supplies. The yarn selection is not large, but it is fine for most knitting and crochet projects.
To its great credit, Granny’s Needle Haus is crochet-friendly! There were lots of crochet books and a good selection of threads. I bought a book with patterns for beaded crocheted snowflakes.
Right across the parking lot was Bead Crazee. It was a bead extravaganza! Eva found beads in her favorite yellows and greens. Ella and I sighed over the pink beads. We bought a strand of pink pillow beads to share (the squarish beads in the middle of the photo above).
Bead Crazee has buttons, too. I needed these.
We had to cut our shopping trip short, because Ella really, really wanted to swim in the indoor pool at the motel. We hope Charles will go to next year’s archeological conference, so we can explore more yarn stores in Tyler.
Roses Crochet Along for February
February 2009 is the month for crocheting Roses. Crochet Bouquet offers several to
choose from:
The Traditional Rose (pp. 97-99) is like the rose you might see in vintage doilies or in Irish Crochet pieces. The pattern includes 5-, 6-, 7-, and 8-petal versions.
The Rolled Rose (pp. 69-70) reminds me of a crepe paper rose. It would look great on a hat brim. Later this month, I will post step-by-step photos for assembling this rose.
The Ribbon Rose (pp. 67-68) is made with a crocheted strip. One version has a picot-like edge (except quicker than picots) and the other has a shell edging. Here are step-by-step photos for assembling the ribbon rose.
The Sweetheart Rose (pp. 93-94) is like a wild rose. Variations on the pattern include a single and double round of petals, and an optional round of picots.
The Oval Center Rose (pp. 28-29) is flat, so it would make a good Valentine’s Day card decoration. This one was inspired by the stylized roses I saw on chinaware and decorated tins. I used this rose in my Roses Poncho, which you can read about in the previous post.
So choose your favorite and crochet away! If you hurry, you can use some for Valentine’s Day gifts.
Feel free to save the crochet-along badge to your photo host, and use it on your web site or blog. If you do, please link it back to this post.
Flower Fabric Poncho
I’m almost, almost finished with a crocheted flower poncho that has been in a work-in-progress since the summer of 2006. It is what I call “flower fabric” and this is how you do it:
- Crochet a bunch of flowers and leaves–gauge not too important. I used “Oval Center Rose,” “Rose Leaves,” and “Simple Fives” from Crochet Bouquet.
- Cut a piece or pieces of fabric into the desired shape–you can use a sewing pattern or draft your own garment.
- Pin flowers face-down onto fabric, making sure the edges touch. You can put in lots of flowers to make the fabric dense, or fewer flowers for a lighter fabric.
- Use sewing thread to sew flowers together wherever they touch. The sewing thread usually sinks into the yarn, so you can’t see it.
- Remove the sewn-together crochet from the fabric. Block or press as necessary.
My poncho has about two square feet of flowers for me to sew together before it’s finished. Give me a couple of weeks, and it will be done!
Sunflower on a Grid Twin Set
After sewing two Sunflowers-on-a-Grid from Crochet Bouquet onto a cotton-blend cardigan, I cut away the cardigan fabric behind the filet center of the flower. That allows the cream-colored shell underneath to show through. Instructions are below.
You can use this technique for other projects, too. Be sure to keep in mind what will show through after you cut away the fabric behind the flower’s gridded center.
Twin Set
You will need:
The book Crochet Bouquet
Fine weight (2) linen or cotton yarn. I used Louet Euroflax Sport.
3.5 mm crochet hook (US size E/4)
Purchased cardigan and contrasting or matching top. Sample garments are from Land’s End.
Sewing needle and thread, pins
Sharp scissors
Fray-stopping adhesive, such as Aleene’s® Stop Fraying®
- Crochet one or more Sunflower-on-a-Grid from the book. Stretch and uncurl each petal by hand, then steam lightly to set the petals.
- Arrange the flowers on the cardigan. Pin in place. With sewing thread, sew around petals with a back-stitch.
- Sew around the outside of the single-crochet round.
- On the inside of the cardigan, apply a line of fray-stopping glue just inside the line of stitching from Step 3. Work the glue into the cardigan fabric with the applicator tip. Let dry completely.
- Carefully cut out the cardigan fabric that is inside the line of glue. Trim as necessary so that the cardigan fabric doesn’t show in the gridded center of the flower.
- On the inside of the cardigan, use sewing thread to whip-stitch the cut edge to the sc round of the flower.
- Crochet stem and leaves of your choice. Arrange, pin, and sew in place.