Spragues Revisited

 

I'm running out of time to prepare for the market, so I didn't want to try a new glove pattern and risk it not working. I used this Spragues pattern by Galt House of Yarn that I used last year. This time round I know that 'spragues' is an old English term meaning alert or lively, thanks to Diane. 

Here's the whole batch of gloves together:

Another Pair

 

I've completed another pair of fingerless gloves for the market basket.  I can't see a name on the pattern I used. The variegated wool probably distracts from the lace and cable pattern a bit. 

A Pair

 

Well, it's been a bit of a slog, but I now have a pair of well-fitting fingerless gloves with a Celtic knot pattern on the back of each hand. It's just as well that I made the second glove as a test knit because I did find mistakes in my reworked pattern. I made corrections on the paper version as I went along and will now go back to the computer and make changes there. 

Wave

 

The pattern for these gloves is called Nalu, which apparently means 'wave' in Hawaiian. So I thought the blue/green yarn would be appropriate. The pattern is well written and the shape of the gloves ideal, so I thought I'd combine this pattern, by Sparrowhawk, with the Celtic Knot cable that I used last week. I unravelled the horrible gloves that I made using a pattern from Start Knitting and amalgamated the two patterns:

This is the first glove, a huge improvement on the original. I did have a false start when I placed the thumb too low, but I got there eventually.  I'm going to write out the new version now, so that I can test the pattern when I knit the second glove. I don't want to go through the whole thought process again when I want to make another pair. 

Colour

 

I dyed three different coulourways to knit into fingerless gloves. I dyed each one separately, in the microwave, then rinsed them all together once they were cool. I started knitting with the blue/green one:

 After my difficulties with the last pair of gloves, I thought I'd stick with a tried and tested pattern. It's Nalu, by Sparrowhawk, which I've knitted several times before. 

A Better Size

 

I had another go at Celtic Knot Fingerless Gloves from Start Knitting, adding 16 stitches to the original pattern. They do fit better. I like the cabled pattern, but there are other aspects of the design that I find less pleasing. The gloves are knitted downwards and the cast off ribbing doesn't hug the wrist well. And then there's the thumb. The pattern uses a waste thread method to make a place for the thumb. That's clever, but it leaves a loop of thread at the base of the thumb:

I sewed the loop down when I threaded in the yarn used for the thumb, but it doesn't seem satisfactory to me. I also prefer a thumb with a gusset. I might be able to reuse the cable pattern, but won't knit the pattern again as it is. 

A Bit Small

 

The wool is spun and I'm ready to knit fingerless gloves for next month's market. I wanted to try Celtic Knot Fingerless Gloves from Start Knitting website. I did think the number of stitches was a bit low, but since it's a complicated pattern, I thought I'd best knit it as written to begin with. Hmm. I have small hands and it's a very tight squeeze for me, so I don't think this would be good for the market stall. I worked out mentally how to make a bigger size, but when I came to knit, I realised that in order to get the ribbing to flow into the cable pattern, I would have to add 16 stitches. That's 56 stitches, which I think should be alright, given that cabling pulls the work in a bit. So I'm going around again:

Of course, I could have just knitted on bigger needles, but I didn't want it to look too loose. I hope this will work. 

More Socks

 

I've finished knitting the blue/grey socks and started on another pair. I'm also spinning more wool, which I intend to make into fingerless gloves. 

There seems to be a lot of turmoil on the Just Tatting facebook page. I'm wondering whether to ignore it or leave the group. Sure, copyright is important, but it's possible to take the concept to absurdity!

Tea With Miss Caroline

 

It didn't take me as long to sew the tatting to net as I expected. I put on a podcast and sewed with half a brain. The food net is ready for May's monthly market. To recap, the crinolene ladies are Martha Ess's pattern, the magnolia pattern is Nancy Tracy's and the butterfly is Jane Eborall's. The flowers are daisy picot flowers made to empty shuttles. 

Pinned

 

I've finished tatting all the elements for my food net and started putting it together. I've sewn the beaded edging and pinned everything to the net. I have long, fine pins that will hopefully keep everything in place. I won't have much time for sewing over the next couple of days, but I'm happy to have got this far. 

Progress

 

The long weekend was more sociable than I expected, so I haven't made much progress on the food net. I have finished knitting a pair of socks though, and started on another pair. 

Magnolia And Two More Ladies

 

Picotsnkeys suggested that I pair magnolia flowers with Martha Ess's crinolene belle on a food net. I knew I had a pattern for a magnolia flower in my tatting file and, after a bit of a search, I managed to find it. The pattern is Tatted magnolia bloom by Nancy Tracy of Be-stitched.com. It's three dimensional, but I think that it could still work on a food net. 

When I finished the turquoise belle, I realised that she was facing the 'wrong' way. So I made the apricot lady to match.  In case you didn't see my previous post, the pattern is Miss Caroline, the Crinolene Belle, by Martha Ess. 

The Sun Is Shining

 

The sun came out last week, so I was able to wash and dye the wool I'd spun. I've knitted one pair of socks in natural. The pink and green was dyed in the microwave. I'll make a start on knitting this it this evening, after I've finished off another tatted crinolene lady. 

Miss Caroline

 

When I was looking through my tatting files for butterfly patterns, I came across Martha Ess's pattern 'Miss Caroline, the Crinolene Belle'. I thought she would make a good candidate for food covers. I have used her before for milk jug covers, but not food nets. My plan is to make a lady for each corner and then tat something else for the middle. Perhaps a different crinolene lady, there are several of them about. 

I was rather generous when I wound the thread for the first lady, so I made daisy picot daisies to empty the shuttles. You can see that my second attempt I was closer to the mark of thread needed. 

Butterflies And Daisies

 

I've finished the food net. I've dawdled a bit because there isn't a deadline. I've written about the butterflies here.  Did you spot that I used Jane Eborall's SCMR butterfly too? I must have one or two of them! 

Sorting Out A Muddle

 For the last few weeks, we've been sewing at our craft group meetings in a retirement home. First we made felt dolls. I showed the sample here. There's a wide range of abilities in the group, so some people work more quickly than others. Those that finished their dolls first made a bed for them. The plan is to give the dolls to a children's hospital, so I thought children in bed might like to have a bed for their doll.

 On Friday we sewed felt Easter egg pockets. They have a 'window' of net that shows off the Easter eggs inside. Everyone went home with a couple of eggs in their pocket.

Someone else will be running this week's meeting, making Easter cards - no sewing. So I thought it would be a good idea to sort out our sewing supplies. There were scissors in the biscuit box, patterns in the ribbon box, needles stuck in random bits of felt... You get the picture. It took me a couple of hours, but now everything is ship shape. And, I solved The Mystery Of The Disappearing Needles. I retrieved no less that twenty needles from the inside of my big pincushion! 

Butterflies

 

I've tatted a few butterflies for my food net. The one on the left is Butterfly with daisy picots by Jennifer Williams. The middle one is called Together we fly butterfly. It's a collaboration between Claudia Huber and muskaan, to create a pattern for a butterfly by an unknown designer. The right hand one is Mary's butterfly by Maria Pop of maryshandmade.blogspot.com. I made a mistake on the red one, so I tatted another one. It's a one shuttle pattern.  I had all the patterns printed out, but I think you could find them online with a bit of help from Google or Pinterest. 

Daisies and Daisy Picots

 

The weather still isn't ideal for washing wool so it's just as well I don't have any orders. I thought I'd leave the wool on one side make another food net. I was tatting daisies when it occurred to me that I was being rather lazy, just doing the same design as my previous one. So I thought I'd tat some different butterflies. I had a look through my tatting file and found several patterns that would fit the bill. 

I think I'll start with Jennifer Williams's Butterfly with 'Daisy Picots'. First I needed to practice tatting daisy picots, so I made a few little flowers. Just as well I did, because the first one was hopeless! On the second one I didn't pay enough attention to tension. Got it eventually. So now I'm ready to tackle the butterfly. 

Slowly

 

I'm making slow progress on the One Skein Wonder scarf by The Public Knitter. That's because I'm only working on it for a couple of hours each evening. It looks as though I'll be able to finish the ball of yarn and reach the dimensions in the pattern, which is good; I don't want left over leftovers. 

Four More

 

I've spun another four skeins, which I intend to knit myself, but the sun still isn't shining, so they'll have to wait. 

Four Skeins

 

I've duly spun four skeins of wool to hold in stock. The weather here is soggy and cold, so I haven't washed them. I'll wait until the sun comes out. 

Spinning

 

I thought I'd better spin some more wool, so that I have some yarn on hand if someone wants socks or gloves or whatever. I've spun one bobbin full, will spin another bobbin full and then ply the two together. There should be four skeins of plied yarn when I'm done. 

On And On

 

My plan was to use Kath's left over yarn to make That Nice Stitch Cowl. But when the cowl seemed long enough, there was most of a ball of yarn left! So I browsed again and decided on One Skein Wonder by The Public Knitter. 

It's very easy, knitted in garter stitch with a four row pattern, perfect for evening knitting and knitting while chatting. I saw other patterns with similar structures that had pages and pages of instructions. This one suits me very well. 

Quick Quick

 

On Friday afternoon, a friend asked me if I could make a pair of men's fingerless gloves to take with her on holiday to give as a gift. Sure. There was just one problem - she's leaving early on Tuesday morning. Mmm, I'll do my best. 

I had a bobbin full of wool on my spinning wheel that was spun but not plied. I plied it on Friday evening and washed the one and a half skeins. It was tempting to start knitting without washing them, but washing is part of the process and can't be skipped. We were going out to lunch on Saturday, so that gave time for the wool to dry. I started knitting on Saturday evening, did the bulk of the work yesterday and finished off this morning. Phew. They're ready to be delivered and packed. 

Detail

 

I was asked by a reader of yesterday's post how I attach the tatting to the net. I sew it on, using a thread matching the net. In the case of the butterfly, I have sewn so many on that I have a well trodden path, a sequence I always follow! I have written before about sewing on, but the search function isn't being very helpful, so I can't find the posts.  

Sewing This And That

 

The jewellery business has decreased dramatically since Christmas, so I only needed to make 20 bags this month, 10 of each size. 

The doll is a sample for tomorrow's craft group meeting in a retirement home. I browsed through Pinterest for a while before settling on a pattern from Shiny Happy World. Mine looks rather different to the original because I've stuffed it a lot, whereas theirs is more floppy, but it works. I needed a pattern that was simple enough to make within time and dexterity constraints. My idea is to make the doll this week and clothes next week. 

I've sewn the tatted daisies and butterflies to the food net, so it's all ready to be gifted. 

Tatting Daisies Again

 

I'm tatting daisies to put on a food net to give as a birthday gift. I wound a shuttle with yellow thread and tatted all the centres to start with. My plan is to make two flowers of each of five colours. The colours in the photo are a bit strange. The bottom two flowers are orange and the top one pale pink. I made the pattern up, it's very simple, feel free to copy it if you want to. 

More Leftovers

 

Not my own leftovers this time. A friend had this yarn left over from a project and asked me to knit a pair of socks with it. She knows I like knitting socks! I found a pattern and started knitting, but the yarn really isn't suited to socks. It's a single, ie it doesn't have two or more strands plyed together, and it's too soft and easily split to make good socks. I contacted Kath and she said make something that the yarn is suited to. I browsed the pins on my knitting board on Pinterest and decided on That Nice Stitch (cowl) by Stitchnerd Designs. 

I'm happy with how it's turning out. I really like the texture of the slipstitch pattern, and the way it's combined with stripes of stocking stitch. To use the textured stitch entirely would be overpowering.