Art, Craft and Needlework, March 2022

[Harriet]

March is the month of serendipity, of luck, of looking over •:*''''*:• four-leaf clovers, of being delighted to find that we have some "achievements growing into talent" when we least expect it!

We may have a project turn out well even when our confidence was not so high, or pull out an idea for rescuing an abandoned project and happily saying, "I meant to do that!"

What might delight you in March?

[Nancy]

I have 30 new count is 41 on the blue granny squares done now.

Update:
Working on the Christmas color ones this week.17 of the red white and green ones are completed now.
Cold snap coming this week so expect I will be doing more of these.

[Harriet]

Nancy keeps truckin' along on those squares! I can just imagine how pretty.

I have space to open up my sewing table in the room now because we moved the filing cabinet to a hall closet. So maybe I can do more than smallest projects. Nothing is ideal in the room yet. But I see more opportunities.

[Nancy]

I have not counted but did three more squares for the red white & green project today. 34 total, apx 40 for this project needed.
Not sure I will be able to use earlier ones I did up.

[Nancy]

I had to stop on that project bc I could not finish the last block ran out of yarn ... had to pause to go to the store.
Back and did that last block in this batch of blocks this afternoon.
Need to attatch the final four together maybe this evening.
Then see if I need more for the shoulders & sides of this cmas colored vest.
The [lady] pastor wants one too so I am doing more. The first one can be a practice one! LOL!

[Nancy]

Process on this granny square vest is trying my patience on my estimate of how many I would need! Ack!
So I have gotten more yarn and done the next block of 4 and still need to make 16 more smaller squares. Sigh!
I started with the blue ones and would have enough if they were the proper color, for now I am doing temp. ones
for size checking. One good thing is that I have plenty of time before the holidays!

I guess I will be doing these instead of dish clothes.
The vest is harder than I thought it would be.
Plus the last project a poncho was for a size 5 child way different!

I had to have a time out to think through what I was going to do next.
My walk helped came back and decided I will try stipes of the blue colored granny squares and alternate with the Cmas colored ones.

[Harriet]

I hope you keep enjoying the project even if it's getting complicated, Nancy! That's nice that the lady pastor appreciates your work, too!

More work in my creative space has allowed me to open up the sewing machine desk (is that what you call it? It's just the ordinary type where the top is hinged and flips over to reveal space for sewing machine and give small surface to side). General work in the room has given me more clear surfaces all around.

A problem in this room is the heating a/c vent is so close to a corner at the baseboard, and it's the only one in the room. Sigh. Problems of old houses. It keeps me from using space as efficiently. Other rooms have a better lay out, thankfully.

[Nancy]

Harriet the bedrooms here only have one vent as well.

Was bummed that the count for cmas granny square project was only about half of what I needed.
Got a 22 of the first two rounds of those done up yesterday, have to do another 22 not all today of course
I will try for 12 till they are done and then start the next 2 colors on them. I am going ahead with making these
they may turn in to a throw instead of my first idea of what to do with them.

Thinking a knit shawl would be better for the first idea sigh so may be doing red white and green all year!
I can take breaks with other colors on other projects like puppets,
and shades of blue gr. sq. for future project still to be determined.

One thing I have learned to get them to the squares there are other crocheters that will finish them up if donated!
I get the fun of a project and yarn scraps are not wasted and gone.
My neighbor crochets too I may ask her.
Nope she did not want them.

[Nancy]

I have 45 centers done now one extra. I need more red & green yarn to do the outsides I have enough for a few more,
Got the yarn, green needed on 5 more squares. The red is on this batch just a few lime 5 or six of em. That project is done as well as the knit shawl.

Considering carding wool, and knitting projects to do later.
Then warp looms and weave maybe bring up table loom.

I have a jean blanket that needs recovered. Done.

I made a small puppet for kids hand not perfect but help to get me back in to the swing of doing them up.
Started one more as well it is done.

[Harriet]

The sewing machine has plans.

Will try to sew and hang little sheer curtains inside the narrow doors of an antique glass-front cupboard. It sounds delicate and it will be, I think. Half the job will be sewing, and half will be mounting the rods I'll need to create for the awkward space.

Also dd42 has asked me to try to mend a new but rare tee-shirt she bought through the mail and now finds is not made correctly under one arm. It has what amounts to a one-inch opening, 3-dimensional, at the underarm. I don't have a serger, so I'll be trying to close it using a zig-zag stitch. Let's hope. She says she has enough room under the arms to believe it will still be comfortable if it turns out there's less fabric because it was cut wrong.