Category: Making

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Winter Projects

Only the second week of February but it feels like it has been a long winter. It certainly has been a cold one! I’m so glad to see the days getting longer; spring will come.

I seem to be better at starting projects than finishing them lately:

  • I’ve started another Owl phone cosy, hoping to make a tutorial. I really have a hard time writing down what I’m doing.
  • My mother’s room at the Long Term Care Home is not big enough for us to personalize it with any of her furniture. She has a crocheted afghan on her bed that I made many years ago, but her space still looks institutional. I hit upon an idea: When Grandma Roth died (1981) Mama gave me some quilt patches that she (Grandma) had pieced. Mom and Grandma had given me a single bed quilt they had made after I got married; I used it ‘to death.’ These patches are in the same pattern. There are 23 of them, not quite enough for a single bed. The piecing is certainly not professional, but some of the fabrics I recognize and that is kind of cool.patchesAt any rate, I hope to finish piecing this quilt for my mother’s bed. The women of First Mennonite Church gave me some advice on how to do it, and the women of Bloomingdale Mennonite Church have offered to quilt it for me. Thank you all!
  • Trina recently sent me a link she thought I’d be interested in. I was! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/quilt-inspired-square-and-pillow Tara Murray of Alaska is a very talented designer – check out her website http://mamachee.com/ I think this quilt-inspired pillow is a fantastic way to use up bits of coloured yarn! I have 7 squares made:squares
  • And speaking of quilts – one more project that I started many years ago, and I really need to finish, is my daughter’s wall-hanging. When Trina first went to school for fashion design I took pieces of fabric from clothing I or she had made plus pictures of her wearing those articles and pieced a small quilt:

Trina's quilted wall-hanging(click on the picture for a larger version)

I really need to get my act together and finish these items while I still want to stay cosy and warm inside!

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Boots for Billie

My little dog was not made for cold weather. And it’s been COLD this winter. Billie has a hard time going outside even to answer nature’s call, much less to take a walk. We both miss the walks. Hopefully we will return to more “normal” temperatures soon.

In the meantime, I tried to make some boots for my girl’s little feet. I’d bought some at the dollar store, but I couldn’t make them tight enough to stay on. There were patterns online of the same design, but that wasn’t what I wanted. Once again, I created my own.

2657I first made an outline of her paw; adding a seam allowance gave me the sole of her boot. I cut soles out of thick black fleece and “shelf liner” to give her traction on the hardwood floors (something she didn’t have with the dollar store boots). For the upper I used a small saucer to make a circle, then cut a smaller circle in one end, then removed about a third of the bottom. These I also cut from black fleece. I used ribbing for the leg part of the boot.

2658I folded the upper in half and seamed it. Then I seamed the ribbing along the length, folded it in half and sewed it to the smaller opening in the upper. I marked both pieces in quarters to have them sewn evenly together.2660

 

 

I then used the same technique to put the soles on. I sewed them right sides together so the seams would be inside.

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When I had all four made I tried them on the dog. She was not impressed! She wouldn’t leave them on her feet. The dollar store boots had Velcro strips to tighten them — I  carefully removed them and hand-sewed them to the new boots. Now she couldn’t kick them off so easily!

10601Not a happy camper.

She did perk up when I mentioned the T-word.

B-dogBillie doesn’t really like these boots (and I’m not sure they are a good design; I may have to try again) but we have walked further when she’s wearing them. We even had a short walk yesterday when it was -11ºC (-15º with the windchill) (12º/5ºF).

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Ladybugs!

ladybug_letterI have a special affection for ladybugs. Started back when Volker wrote me letters decorated with the little critters.

My granddaughter knows that I like them. She informed soon after arriving at my house before Christmas that her ladybug slippers don’t fit anymore. Naturally I promised to make her new ones. (The previous ones had been store bought.)

My Ladybug Girl
My Ladybug Girl

I looked for patterns online, but didn’t find anything that quite fit. So I decided to wing it. I am not good at writing down the patterns I make up. I like to custom fit things like sweaters, hats or slippers. Mina was at Nana & Poppa’s house when I started the slippers so I guessed (pretty accurately) at the size of her foot. I didn’t buy anything, just used balls of yarn from my stash.

For the sole I wanted a very heavy yarn — the only one I had was navy blue — with dense crocheting, so I used a 3mm hook. I started with a chain 15 stitches long and using a single crochet worked both sides of the chain, putting 3 sc in each end ch to turn. On the second row I put 2 sc in the first 2 stitches (turning stitches), then sc in the next seven, switched to dc, putting 2 dc in each of the turning stitches below; continue in a similar manner down the other of the sole. The third row was essentially a repeat of the second, using dc at the toe end of the sole, and sc for the rest.

I didn’t have heavy yarn in black or red — and the slippers had to be black & red! So I used double strands of both colours. Because I wanted red with black spots I carried one colour along all the time. To learn how to do this visit http://www.crochettoday.com/how-to/how-work-tapestry-crochet. The upper is made of 6 rows. The first two rows are a sc in each stitch around, changing colours as appropriate (my ladybugs are not identical twins). On row three, four and five I used a decrease dc for the head to create the toe shape. The sixth row is a single crochet all around.

slippers2 slippers1

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the eyes I just used off-white yarn with a black centre. The antennae are made with a chain 4, dc, sc on side of dc and slip stitches down the chain.

Tomorrow I must go to the post office to send some “Mina Mail”!

Mina has also requested a Ladybug toy, so that will likely be my next project.

slippersP.S. Before mailing the slippers I used some (very old) fabric paint to put dots on the bottom of the sole; when Mina was here and wearing only one slipper she was able to “skate” on my hardwood floor. I hope this will prevent the slippers from sliding quite so nicely.

Mini crocheted ladybugs
Mini crocheted ladybugs
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A Christmas Owl

IMG_1589Some months ago my delightful niece, Lexi, sent me this picture wondering if I could make one of these little phone pockets that she could give her mom for Christmas.

Of course I was happy to take up the challenge.

A Google search revealed several gorgeous pictures of owls (click on the picture to enlarge it, click again to close the image):

camoflaged owl 1                   owl-tree             Camouflaged-Owl-16

Inspired by these photos I created this cell phone cozy (of course, I didn’t dare post this before today):

Cheryl's owl
Cheryl’s owl

For the body and wings I used a bit of leftover variegated wool from a previous project and a 3mm hook and an alternating dc/sc pattern. The eyes and beak are done with #8 perle cotton. I didn’t use a pattern, just invented as I went. I had to make it somewhat generic as I’m not even sure what model of phone Cheryl has. I used my iPod Touch (first generation) as a model.

Trina suggested I make a pattern and tutorial for this little guy. Perhaps I shall, someday.

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