Fine Craft

>
Just some things I’ve been puttering with, having fun, when I don’t face the more serious tasks at hand (like tapestry!)….

This is the original ‘Carriage Driver’s glove’ from the Shetland Museum photo archives, which is worth all the words in the directions that don’t tell you why you are turning the hand inside out to cast-on along the original cast-on edge to begin knitting the other direction! Turns out they are gloves with fingerless mitts attached to give an extra layer of warmth, or to give a little extra protection from horse reins…or something. Anyway, I could not figure out why I was casting on to the wrist edge of my glove and knitting the other direction. I’ve decided I don’t want double layer gloves anyway, so I’ve just gone on to the fingers! One done!

This little pearl bracelet was the outcome of my January local guild meeting. It’s a technique called ‘right angle weave’ and very quick to do with large pearls. It used most of one strand of pearls and was done in less than two hours! I wore it the next day! Total instant gratification!

>Well, the long haul of winter starts now for me. It’s time to take down the holiday decorations, which actually should have been done already….
I finished these mitts some time ago, but never photographed them. I’ve enjoyed driving with them on since they allow me to deal with delicate operations like answering my hands-free or digging in my purse for a lipstick!

Here is little Zoe’s cap. I wanted to make a bonnet for her (she is the baby of my younger son’s long time friend), but decided on this little cap with ear flaps. The yarn is mostly angora, and the colors are fun! I’ll deliver it to Chris tomorrow, and he’ll give it to her over the weekend.

One of my birthday presents was a kit for these gloves called “Carriage Driver Gloves” from the Shetland Textile Collection. So far they are fun to knit, perhaps addictive is more accurate! I wonder if I’ll still say that when I’m doing the fingers. They are my first attempt at gloves. Thank you, Lesley!

I ordered seeds yesterday. That too, should have been done already. I’ve given up on veggies in the garden due to a family of groundhogs that has lived under my front porch for several years now. In fact, I’m starting to give up on numerous flowers as well. We used to live in harmony with the groundhogs, deer, and rabbits, but the past two summers they have taken more than I was willing to share. It’s becoming a drag… Anyway, this year, I plan to grow a few veggies in pots in the greenhouse. It has a shade cloth and evaporative cooler in the summer, so I will give lettuce, tomatoes and ancho peppers a try.

>Moments before I took this photo, there were three pairs of cardinals all within my camera lens frame! I was just a nano-second too late! Oh well.

This year my birthday arrived with lots of snow and our coldest temperatures in years. I have stayed in, hibernating and working. It’s been good!

I celebrated in my very favorite restaurant which just happens to be right down the street!

>

I hope I’m not the only one who sang that song as a kid. When Bob was finished with my basement studio renovation, we both realized how bad the stairs looked! So this weekend he ripped up the stairs and put down tiles, similar to the ones on the basement floor. We had plenty of spare tiles, but they didn’t seem the right choice for stair treads, so he picked something similar.

I’m funny about creating good karma in the places I live. I really needed the entrance to my studio to be inviting to me. I cleared off the shelves on the stairway landing and put stuff that is dear to me there, to entice me down to work!

Today I tied on the rest of a warp I’d used to make a clerical stole for a local minister. The rest of this warp will be a scarf which I’ll probably post on Etsy. When I packed up the studio stuff I put the cone of weft yarn someplace ‘safe‘ so I could get back to weaving when the reno was finished. I can’t find it! This is so typical of me. I wove off the bobbin that I kept near the loom, but I can’t find the cone I need for the rest of the weaving. I wonder how long it will take me to find it…. I sure hope it’s not months….or years!

While Bob was painting the trim yesterday, I made this braid for a workshop I’m doing through my online guild. It felt really good to braid again after more than a year!

>I started a lace panel for our half glass front door. We’ve had this front door for over 10 years now, and I have toyed with idea of knitting a lace panel for it and the two narrow side lights, and searched online for commercial lace panels to buy. When I’m out driving or traveling in other cities I’m always looking at houses with lace curtains, trying to find some inspiration.

This panel is “Rose Leaf” from Marianne Kinzel’s First Book of Lace Knitting. I thought I was probably the first person in decades to tackle one of her patterns, but no! Ravelry has quite a few posts for finished items in this very pattern! I have company! And the fact that all those other knitters finished their projects gives me a lot of confidence! I want to be among those ranks!

I’m knitting the antimacassar chart for the settee, although I’ve enlarged the pattern to fit my door’s window. The actual curtain panel in this pattern had too much plain knitting before the rose leaf design. If I’m worn out after the main window I’ll do the side lights as described for windows, with all that plain knitting.

The yarn I’m using is DMC cotton cordonnet #40. It’s the finest thread I’ve ever knitted. It’s a good experience! Also, this thread is so tightly spun and hard it is making a very crisp fabric. That should work well. Now to keep up the knitting (finished all of part A and one repeat of part B, about 6″ length in all)….