Visible mending, old blue socks

I've been realizing I have a mending pile that's larger than I thought.

I recently found these socks in storage. These were a two needle sock pattern from Ravelry. You put so much work and time into knitting warm, comfy, and nice socks.

I like mending clothes. Its relaxing, and it gives a much loved article of clothing new life. 

I try to knit my socks so that I dont have to mend them as soon, because mending is time consuming. Its calming when I do mend though.

The mending stitch I'm doing is called the Duplicate Stitch. It mimicks knit stitches.

These are some work in progress pics. I'm almost done, I'll probably keep going down, over the heel, then crochet the cuff so its slightly longer.

We'll see how it turns out, I guess!

Jtp/mnr

'Honey napkin' tatted doily wip 1

Work in progress doily! I think the original creator is Polish. Chrome translated the text for me on the website, and the title of the doily translated to 'Honey Napkin'.

It's a large and gorgeous doily, and probably the biggest doily tatting project I've undertaken to date.

The pattern website is here: http://renulek.blogspot.com/2012/05/serwetka-miodowa-zrobiona.html
Its posted in parts. There are more tatting patterns on the creator's etsy's page.

The tatting is simple and going by quickly.

It's done in aunt lydia's size 20 crochet thread (white) and vintage Clark's Big Ball size 20 thread (the green and pink).

The shuttles: Handy Hands moonlit shuttle and a Boye pink plastic shuttle.

Jtp/mnr

Spring Cleaning in January: Deleting old projects and organizing

I've unconsciously decided that I want to keep better track of my knitting, crochet, spinning, and other yarn projects. I started deleting old projects in November of last year, but began ramping it up earlier this month. I feel its part of spring cleaning season for me. Tidying up my ravelry project pages makes it easier to remember what projects I've worked on, what projects I want to work on, and its a part of cleaning up my stash of yarn.

My stash of yarn is a mess right now, I have long since run out of places to keep all of the balls of yarn. Last year, I began ramping up my creations for charity, like For the Children of Pine Ridge group on ravelry. I like crafting for charity, and I need to get rid of excess yarn, so those two things should work nicely together. The problem is, I've purchased more yarn (at least its in matching colors). The goal is to knit sweaters for the babies, kids and teens (and perhaps parents, if the sweaters fit) at the school, to get rid of a lot of this yarn. It works well, because a lot of it is acrylic, and most people aren't allergic to acrylic.

I inherited much of my yarn stash from my mother and aunt, so its not entirely my fault for having so much... right?

• So, as for ravelry, my queue of 'want to do' projects is over 4,000, so I'm deleting projects I no longer have an interest in doing, or wouldn't be feasible for me to do.
• I'm locating and photographing old projects and trying to remember when and for what they were created.
• I'm finishing old WIPs and newer WIPs and documenting my thoughts on them.

Documenting projects serves as a memory aid, as my memory is so bad, of what I was doing in my life certain years. Its... somewhat nostalgic. I found ravelry perhaps around 2009, when I was transitioning from high school to college. I currently can't remember everything that happened then, so seeing these old projects brings back nostalgia and memories, for better or worse.

So this month some of the things I made:
Baby cardigan Joy - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-cardigan

Crown Chart (knitting or crochet)

Crown Chart (knitting or crochet)

I want to start designing patterns for Ravelry and such. I've created this crown chart, and I want to share it.

This chart/afghan block can be knit with any size needles and any yarn, and near any gauge. I wouldn't suggest a very loose gauge, because then the pattern can't be seen.

6 and 12 inch DC mitered granny square

6 and 12 inch DC mitered granny square

Here is a pattern for a simple 12" mitered filler granny square. I've been using it to make 12 inch squares for various charities. This design has minimum holes for maximum warmth.

I haven't seen any other patterns for a square of this size so... I feel that I should post this for other folk. I will start with the 6" square.


US terms.
G or H hook (4.25mm - 5.0mm)
Worsted weight yarn

1. Ch 4, sl st in 1st chain to form a ring.
2. Ch 3 (counts as first dc from now on), 2dc in loop, ch 1, (3dc, ch 1) three times,  sl stitch in top of ch 3, pull the tail tight.
3. Ch 3, 2 dc in corner, dc in next 2 dc, 3 dc in corner, ch 1, 3dc in corner, 2 dc in next 2 dcs, 1 dc in corner space, dc in the corner chain, ch 3, turn.
4. Skip first space, dc in next 5 stitches, 3dc in next space, ch 1, 3dc,  dc in next 5 stitches, ch 3, turn.
5. Skip first space, dc in next 8 stitches, 3dc in next space, ch 1, 3dc, dc in next 7 stitches, dc on top of previous turning chain, ch 3, turn.

Continue this until there are a total of 5 rows. This should be a 6 inch square.

To get a 12 inch square, continue in this manner for 11 rows.


-MNR

Pattern: Shells and V's Crochet Edging

Pattern: Shells and V's Crochet Edging

I found this picture here on LaceForStudy.co.uk. Great website for all sorts of handmade and machine made vintage and antique lace.
Here is the link to the original lace. http://www.laceforstudy.org.uk/archives/purpose/16167/2193-english-domestic-crochet-edging/

Replicating antique and vintage crochet patterns is one of my hobbies, I really like antique lace, and would like to share this one here with you.

 Here is the pattern, please comment if you find any errors.

My Version of the Pattern:

Ch: chain

Sk: skip

**: repeat instructions between

Dc: double crochet

hdc: half double crochet

V stitch: hdc, ch 2, hdc

US crochet terms. Hook and thread of whatever suitable size.

1. Ch 27, skip 4ch, *4dc, ch2, 4dc in next space, sk 4 ch*, repeat instructions between * twice more. Ch 3, sk 4 ch, dc in 4th chains, ch 2, sk 3 chains, dc in 3rd, ch 2, sk 3 chains, dc in last chain.
2. Ch 5, turn, hdc, ch 2, hdc (V stitch made), ch 3, V stitch, ch 3, V stitch.
3. Ch 3, sk 4 ch, dc in 4th chains, ch 2, sk 3 chains, dc in 3rd, ch 2, sk 3 chains, dc in last chain.
4. Repeat from 2nd row.

I reserve the right to tweak the pattern if needed.

Here is the picture of the lace, borrowed from the website (and hosted here on my blogger). I created the pattern from the image.

-JTP/MNR

Spinning cotton for knitted socks

I love spinning cotton. I most often spin it on a supported bead spindle. Then on my Louet S10 spinning wheel, and then rarely, park and draft on a bead drop spindle.

I like spinning it more than wool sometimes. However, conventional wisdom is that you can't spin pure cotton into sock yarn, whereas wool, you can.

As is apparent, since we have a plethora of cotton socks mass produced for sale, as well as organic natural colored socks from smaller independent yarn sellers.

My first goal is to make the cotton socks elastic. I spin my cotton tightly, so there might be less of a problem with abrasion.

I think I have several options for making cotton into sock yarn.

1. Cotton + nylon (or acrylic, or polyester). 

• I experimented with what I had on hand, dyelishus cotton + firestar cut into chunks, blended on 90tpi hand carders. I'm at the spinning stage and plying stage, we'll see how that goes.

2. Cotton + wool

3. Plying a strand of cotton with a strand of wool.

4. A wildcard idea: Cotton + wool + flax?

I'll add more to this entry later on, these are just some initial thoughts.

-jtp/mnr