Art, Craft and Needlework June 2014

[Harriet]

That sounds like a wonderful time at retreat, BookSaver. About choosing neckline designs for making tops - you might want to consider jewelry too, in those decisions. See if you can design the neckline to complement a necklace you might add to its look. Either just high and simple enough to be a pretty background, or low enough to allow necklace to fall above, or directly along the edge. Along the edge looks better than I used to think it did.

I was very pleased to find recently that a sort of complicated blue pendant necklace I own falls directly on-line of the "V" neckline of a simple navy solid top I bought. When I wore it to church Sunday it looked as though they had been purchased to go together and it made the ordinary top look quite "rich", lol. That was a revelation to me.

Just as I posted in H and F, I will need some normalcy (and space from so much social stuff) before I can get back to projects. I want to make some bookmarks but you have to have a very still and calm house to work with tiny dried blossoms. I'd like to get to some sewing, but I need those chunks of time that are hard to come by.

[Nancy]

I have had lunch now focusing on the last of the the batch of spinning that I am currently working on. This is pinky.

[Nancy]

Today I have been working on learning mile a minute pineapples!

[Ivy]

FINALLY made time, while watching women's golf tourney, to sit myself down to crochet on Dgd's Christmas Butterfly Grannnies for her afghan! More word later, as to how far I went before calling it a day today.

[Nancy]

I am working up some dish clothes getting a new batch made up. One more then a couple of pot holders.

[Ivy]

I finished 3 Granny squares & started #3, but got sidetracked by decluttering magazines/purging & took a nap after dinner for about 1/2 hour. Hope to crochet more this evening & tomorrow, too.

[Nancy]

Sigh the gal that has wheels for sell will not be home till next mo.

[Ivy]

That's TERRIBLE, Nancy! That's a long wait to be patient for!

* THE VARIEGATED YARN IS CALLED "PLUM PUDDING", IF YOU WANT TO PEEK AT IT IN THE YARN DEPT., FOR EDGING FOR DGD-17.5-MONTHS AFGHAN SQUARES' EDGING AROUND.*

On dgd-17.5 months Christmas afghan:
1- I need 15 crocheted butterflies
2- ... attached to 15 Granny squares &
3- ... I need 15 CC center Granny squares
4- The squares measure 8" square
5- I need 5 across & 6 down, to make a good size for dgd-17-mos.

It'll be so pretty b/c the butterflies will be pink, edged in raspberry. The MC = white, the Grannies are white, 15 have raspberry centers with 4 rows white around, 1 row raspberry, 1 row white HDC in each stitch.

With the pink butterflies, blending in with the white & raspberry, it'll be so pretty. Also, I'll edge in colors of raspberry, pink, white, & variegated rose-raspberry-burgundy, to tie it all together. Might need more variegated yarn, too.

I have an itemized list of Christmas crochet to do, a file of patterns, & June is the month I normally begin Christmas projects. It's a nice way to spend summer, when indoors, cool, when it's too hot outdoors or the pollens are worked up, making me ill. It's nice, too, b/c I can pace activity with crocheting.

[Nancy]

Ivy verigated plum sounds nice.

Back from spinning meeting. That was fun. Found a mag, with a fan design shawl pattern I tried to figure out a while back.

@ W-mart got a cone of white cotton peaches & cream brand for more dish clothes and hot pads. So that goes on the project list. Mittens & socks w/ a gusset, granny ripple afghan still to learn.

[Ivy]

Nancy, The "Plum Pudding" variegated is really pretty.

I've made 2 Granny ripple afghans, using a Project Linus (at their site) pattern. Mine turned out lovely. 1 was for a baby boy in variegated blue-white-royal-light blue along with solid white, royal blue & light blue. Sure was very pretty. It also comes (I recall) in an adult-size pattern, there, too.

I have 15 raspberry Granny 1-round centers done, which all need 4-rounds of white added to them, so decided to do it assembly line fashion before adding the raspberry round & last HDC white in each stitch & ch-1 & ch-2 spaces around. Will baby-step it until all 15 are done. Then, will do the Grannies in white, with raspberry row & HDC white in ea/stitch around, etc... before crocheting the 15 butterflies in pink, edged in raspberry. The time-consuming part will be attaching each butterfly to their square homes, then joining all squares together. Am trying to decide if I'll whip-stitch squares together or slip-stitch the squares together. Edging around the entire afghan seems to go nicely, I've found because I feel as though I'm on the "Home Stretch" toward the finishing line- like in a horse race!