Winter Roses

I've been playing around a bit with Blogger today... do you ever get bored of your current layout and try to find something different that matches your current mood or taste or whatever? That's what happened to me. I just felt it needed a bit of a change, but I'm not 100% pleased with it yet. So... don't be surprised if you stop by for a visit and it's changed again! :)

Also--I've been a bit AWOL from here.  A bit like my silly camera which is still missing (I hate it when store things away so well I can't find them!!!) Not away from your blogs, I always read them, even if I don't always comment. I've been in a bit of a blue mood--matching the beautiful color of the sky, as we still haven't had a glimpse of Winter around here. Chilly when the sun sets, but barely a cloud in the sky and the sun always shining. So I should be perky... right? 

Though not blogging much, that doesn't mean I've been idle. On the contrary. I had to borrow a camera to take a few pictures but here's one of my latest works and one that pleases me a lot.

It's the Holden shawlette, made from a gorgeous hand-dyed and handspun wool I got from Rosário of dona maria blog. Isn't it the prettiest yarn, with all these shades that range from pale pink to a slight peachy color and deep red? A true bunch of roses! And I'm really excited to see the new yarns she's been spinning--next weekend I'll be going to a Spin and Knit meeting in beautiful Sintra, a group of yarn fans happily gathered around a table with tea and cake :) 

I probably should have used a bigger number needles to get a lacier look though this way it's warmer too. Next time I'll know better! :)

Did you notice the lacy, embroidered and crocheted white thing peeking from under my shawlette=

When I went looking for something white to make these colors stand out I picked a linen bed sheet I had stashed away in the bed linen drawers. It was in my mother's layette (or is it Trousseau?) and she handed it down to me, to cherish and love and... not dare use it! 

It's a beautiful, light, gorgeous linen fabric, hand embroidered with silver and pink silk flowers and with a wide crochet edging along the top

Can you see how tiny each one of these little wheels is? I placed a 1 euro coin next to them to put them in perspective.

Hundreds... hundreds of tiny little wheels, attahced to each other one by one, making a foot wide edging for this bed sheet. I can't imagine having the patience to make one of these bed sheets... Plus the embroidery all over it!

So... have you (re)discovered any handmade treasures lately?

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

xxx

Slanted edging, anyone...?

I always feel flattered when someone asks how I made something in crochet--you know, I'm a self taught crochetter and knitter because I'm lefthanded and back when I was a child eager to learn (and most people thought using the left hand was not polite) nobody knew how to teach me otherwise.

So I'd position myself in front of the other person working and tried to copy their work from the reverse side--your right is actually my wrong!--and in the end it would come out exactly the same.

 When MeMe Rose asked how this edging was done I thought it was a good opportunity to help out! Everybody comes up with such gorgeous projects, I'm glad my simple ones can be of use and inspiration :)

I'm sorry if I don't use the right terms, aside from being lefthanded I'm still a bit at a loss with the terminology in English :) so I'll try to show you instead...

This was the itty bitty sample I made for the baby blanket tutorial--ripped the last row appart and  made a single row of short stitch instead.

 With a different color yarn to make it stand out more, I attached it to the corner stitch and made 3 chains (you can either use a different color or just continue with the one you're working with)

...then skip 2 or 3 stitches (depending on how flat or frilly you want it to be... I find myself  using 3 stitch intervals most of the time, alternating with 2 stitches whenever I feel it's becoming too taut) and make a double stitch. You get a triangular shape and you'll be using this double stitch as the basis for the little sideways square on the edge.

 Make 3 more chains and crochet 3 double crochets on the slanted one. There's your first slanted square...

When you finish it you'll be making another one that is going to attach 2 or 3 stitches further, creating another triangle union. See?

Keep going all the way to the end of this side--to the corner stitch again. You may find you don't have the right amount of stitches (I do, as I'm not one to follow patterns too closely!) so then just ajust the distance by increasing or decreasing a stitch between the "legs" of the triangle.

Now the corner...I've tried this several ways, but the one that seems to work best for me is to make a small skip (just 2 stitches) before and after the corner, and just work exactly the same way you've been doing, as if it were round.

 It looks roundish here, see? But then the sample is merely 5inches long so it's difficult to get very square... And you can see the back side of the cushion with the same edging.

Just keep working, all the way around (looking a bit pointier here...)

 Until you reach the end of the road and poke into the last / first hole of the border. You want this to look  perfect, right?

So here's how I do it--it doesn't mean you can't join differently, but this worked out perfectly for me. 

I just make the 3 chains (that correspond to the 1st double stitch) and 2 double stitches instead of 3, and bind on that little corner up there so that this first "leg" of the edging triangle makes up for the missing double stitch.

There you go... all set to bind off and tuck in the tails!

Now... that was easy enough, wasn't it? Please let me know if this helped at all... and if you have trouble understanding my very unprofessional instructions, please yell out!

Have a wonderful weekend (it's going to be a rainy one here, it seems...)

xxx