Melannen does things with yarn and thread and wool in 2021

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Melannen does things with yarn and thread and wool in 2021

1melannen
Jan. 5, 2021, 8:24 pm

Hi everyone! I've been watching this group for awhile and you all do such amazing work.

I was trying to track my projects on Ravelry last year, but the problem is I can't stick to just knitting and crochet for very long, so I though this might be a good place to be able to track everything!

I also have a bad habit of finishing something and immediately giving it away without even recording it anywhere, so I'd like to get better motivation to take photos of things when they're done.

Last year I did a hand-patchwork cover for my little pocket commonplace book, my first monk's cloth/huck weaving project, several crochet amigurumi characters, one medium-size and two small cross-stitch projects, my first try at silk ribbon embroidery, finished a long-UFO crochet afghan, just enough knitting to keep my hand in, a lot of hand mending, a whole lot of home-made masks in four different patterns, and several dozen crochet dishcloths for Christmas gifts, and I finished two tablet woven bands.

Which is more than I thought if I list it out like that! It felt like a bad year for crafting - but I always forget to include the masks when I'm thinking about what I did this year.

My plans for this year include:
-finish my second pair of handknit socks
-work on my handspinning (including figuring out how to use the flax wheel I inherited over a year ago)
-finish the tablet-woven belt I promised my sister for Christmas this year
-do the finished work to turn last year's cross-stitch into a throw pillow (and maybe do another one, for a pair)
-finish the embroidered doilies that have been in my UFOs for years
-finally finish sorting out the ~2 cubic feet of embroidery floss I inherited
-keep up with the mending

I'm also planning to move to a larger space this year (once the apartment I'm helping to renovate is ready), so there will be a lot of sorting out my work space and supplies, and probably also a lot of things I want to make for the new space! And I'm sure there will be last-minute ideas for gifts.

On the off-chance I get bored, there's the tub full of clothes projects that are ready to cut and sew, and the other tub full of half-finished quilting projects. Once I don't need them any more I'm hoping to turn most of my masks into a quilt top, too. And if I get a new couch for the new apartment, it will need a new afghan to go on top... And there's a collection of vintage dolls and animals that need mended and fixed up and maybe new clothes.

2dudes22
Jan. 6, 2021, 5:49 am

Hi Melannen - Glad you've joined our group. Sounds like you have lots of great interests and I look forward to seeing some of them. I hadn't even thought that masks could be used in quilts.

3PawsforThought
Jan. 6, 2021, 5:59 am

Hi and welcome! You kept bust last year, well done for getting so many things done.
I look forward to seeing your posts, especially about sock knitting and mending - those are things I'll be doing this year, too.

4scaifea
Jan. 6, 2021, 7:31 am

Welcome to the group, and happy crafting!

5lauralkeet
Jan. 6, 2021, 7:42 am

Welcome! I look forward to reading about and/or seeing your projects. I'm a knitter but enjoy the variety of crafts the folks in this group are working on.

6rosalita
Jan. 6, 2021, 7:45 am

I'm looking forward to seeing your projects — happy crafting!

7sallypursell
Jan. 6, 2021, 8:34 am

Hi there! Just popping in to greet you, and adding my voice. I'm looking forward to seeing your work, also getting to know you a little. What do you want to be called?

8melannen
Bearbeitet: Jan. 6, 2021, 9:02 am

Thank you everyone!

Mel or Melannen is fine! (Also Sally, but that might be confusing :)

The pleated masks will pick apart into rectangles, so that will be easy! The ones with curved seams will be harder, but I think some of them will almost tesselate, in a sort of clamshell or apple core pattern? And I can always cut them smaller.

Whether they will make an *attractive* quilt remains to be seen! But I've done my biggest patchwork projects with scrap fabric in the past, and I used prints I liked for them all.

9lesmel
Jan. 6, 2021, 12:05 pm

OH! Masks as quilt top would be really interesting!

10sallypursell
Jan. 6, 2021, 9:34 pm

>8 melannen: I wondered if they would tesselate? With a half-drop pattern, maybe?

11melannen
Jan. 7, 2021, 11:16 am

Maybe? Most of the non-pleated masks are cut to a variation of this shape, if picked apart: https://www.craftpassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/face-mask-pattern-rev3.p...

It obviously won't tesselate as is, but if I cut another curve out of the bottom to make it symmetrical I think it'll be close to a skinny apple core.

Every mask I've made is reversible with two different quilting cottons, so it's going to be a chaotic mix of colors and patterns no matter what I do! I'm thinking the rectangles for border pieces and something involving the curved ones for the main pattern, but I'd have to sit down and play with the physical pieces, I think.

12sallypursell
Jan. 7, 2021, 11:38 am

>11 melannen: That all sounds right--and interesting, too.

13melannen
Jan. 9, 2021, 1:00 pm

Here's the start of the tablet weaving! A long way to go, but I got it warped and the pattern established, and that's the hardest parts. I cut a 12' warp; hopefully that will make at least two belts.



I'm using Istex Kambgarn wool from Iceland (not actually Icelandic wool, but I didn't think unplied Lopi would be strong enough to weave with, and I'm not quite there on plying my own wool!) and a variation on a pattern adapted from an early medieval grave find at Birka in Sweden, as a gift for my sister katycat the Viking-era achaeologist.

(She made me a latrine hat a few years ago; a grave belt probably isn't proper payback but it's a start!)

14PawsforThought
Jan. 9, 2021, 1:06 pm

>13 melannen: Oh, that's super pretty! I envy your weaving abilities. I thought the pattern looked familiar, and then you say it's adapted from one found at Birka! No wonder, then!

15melannen
Jan. 9, 2021, 1:13 pm

>14 PawsforThought: The twining is a pretty standard Norse and/or Celtic pattern (the Birka original was metallic brocade and much smaller, used as trim) but this weaving pattern in particular has been knocking around re-enactor and historic clothing communities on both sides of the Atlantic for awhile.

It's neat that I can see the yarn making a similar twining pattern itself as I work!

16PawsforThought
Jan. 9, 2021, 1:33 pm

>15 melannen: Yeah, it's almost everywhere in the traditional handicrafts. One of my favourite bracelets has twinning on the edges - probably not that dissimilar to the original Birka one. All this is really reminding me that when we can travel again, I should really go visit Birka - I've ashamed to say I've never been, despite going to Stockholm about twice a year.

17dudes22
Jan. 9, 2021, 1:55 pm

>13 melannen: - That's really very nice. Love the color. I really admire weaving. When some of the restrictions had been lifted in late summer, I took in a weaving exhibit at a nearby gallery. There's a weaving guild not that far from here and some people had spun the thread/yarn that they used. It was a small exhibit but I really enjoyed it.

18avaland
Jan. 9, 2021, 4:43 pm

Very late to the party! Welcome, melannen. This is definitely I good place to hang out in when you are person who does multiple needlearts & crafting.

The tablet weaving is gorgeous!

19lesmel
Jan. 9, 2021, 6:42 pm

>13 melannen: It's so purdy! And purple!
Ok. I know nothing about weaving. What makes it "tablet weaving?"

20melannen
Jan. 9, 2021, 8:48 pm

>19 lesmel: 3You probably know the basics of weaving! You have those long stretched-out threads (the warp) and then you weave another thread above and below them (the weft) to make the weave. All of the different methods and patterns of weaving are basically about how you make the weft thread go above and below the correct warp threads. If you've ever done weaving on cardboard, or potholder weaving with loops, or basket weaving, you are manually taking the threads over and under each other one by one.

Tablet weaving aka card weaving uses tablets aka cards to lift the warp threads in the right order for you so that you can just take the weft through all at once without fussing with one thread at a time. You can see the cards with holes punched in them in the photo (mine are made of actual playing cards 'cause I'm cheap, but old ones are often carved 'tablets' of wood, bone, or ivory, and there are plastic ones now too of course.) In most tablet weaving, each card is square and has four holes, one in each corner, and each hole has one warp thread going through it. By rotating the cards so different holes are on top, I bring different warp threads to the top and send different ones to the bottom and weave in between.

If I threaded the cards in all purple and just turned the whole pack a quarter-turn at a time, I'd get a plain purple band (and it would work up a lot faster and easier!) - using different colors in different holes and turning different cards different ways makes the pattern.

21lauralkeet
Jan. 10, 2021, 7:30 am

I know nothing about weaving either, but it's one of those "maybe someday" crafts for me. Your photos and explanations are really helpful.

22melannen
Bearbeitet: Jan. 15, 2021, 7:31 pm

A friend of mine on another site set up a "Master of None" bingo crafts challenge. for people like me who do too many things.

Here's my card, with things I currently have in my works-in-progress/boxes crossed off. Clearly I need to start a new crochet afghan soon!

Maybe I'll clear it and cross off things as I finish them through the year.

23avaland
Jan. 17, 2021, 1:27 pm

>22 melannen: I love that! Ha! I did many more arts & crafts when I was younger; I'm trying very hard to keep it to just a few different things.

24melannen
Jan. 17, 2021, 5:29 pm

>23 avaland: I would be much smarter if I did! :D

25PawsforThought
Jan. 17, 2021, 6:13 pm

>22 melannen: I have a fair few squares crossed on that bingo card. Probably about the same number as you, but slightly different ones. I go through cycles when it comes to interests and hobbies - I'll be really into something for a few months and then something else pops into my head and I'll do that for a while, eventually I'll circle back around to the things I really enjoyed doing.

I remember learning origami when I was about 9 - partly because I'd recently read the story about the thousand paper cranes, and partly because Japanese puzzles where really trendy at the time.

26melannen
Jan. 17, 2021, 10:19 pm

>25 PawsforThought: I've gotten to the point with a lot of craft skills where I'm good enough at them that if I need to make something, I can - so I'm pretty good at origami boxes, so I'll pull it out every few years when I need a bunch of pretty little boxes for something. Dyeing is crossed out because there are a couple of things in the mending box that I want to try overdying to fix discoloration. I did some woodworking today in the process of replacing the baseboard molding in my bedroom. I pulled out both my sewing-machine skills and my cord-making skills when I suddenly needed a bunch of masks. Stuff like that!

So there are things I circle back to in terms of general hobbies, but there are also things where it's like "I need that! --Oh hey, I know how to make it myself, I'll just do that" and then I make one and don't touch it again for awhile. (That's the 'Master of none' part.)

I did 1000 paper cranes in starting in college! I folded them out of all the chocolate wrappers I ate when I was stressed. It took me awhile, but I finished. And then I couldn't decide on a wish, after all that! I sometimes still fold one absentmindedly if I have a candy wrapper while I'm distracted.

27melannen
Feb. 10, 2021, 7:20 pm

Finally caught up on the pile of mending! Why does mending come in waves - I'll not have any for months, and then in one week's laundry there's six things? Did some patches, re-sewed some seams, a button. A lot of these should probably just go in the rag box by now (is ten patches too many for one pair of jeans?) but they're old favorites.

And I found my cross-stitch! I had put it in a bag of things to be stowed in the sewing room when I had a chance, and then put the bag aside too carefully. :D I did it as a "stitchtober" project, one tiny motif a day, but I only got through half the patterns in October (I picked out the most autumnal ones), and then spent half of November doing the border:



I'm hand-appliqueing it to a backing in hopes that it'll become a small throw pillow, since I didn't actually plan out what to do with it before I started making it!

28sallypursell
Feb. 11, 2021, 12:36 am

>27 melannen: That's really neat. It should make a nice pillow.

29PawsforThought
Feb. 11, 2021, 3:50 am

>27 melannen: Well done! Looks lovely I think the insects and the galaxy are my favourites.

30dudes22
Feb. 11, 2021, 5:42 am

That's very nice. I like that border and the way the colors change as it goes around.

31thornton37814
Feb. 11, 2021, 7:38 am

32scaifea
Feb. 11, 2021, 7:39 am

>27 melannen: Oooh, that's very cool!

33melannen
Feb. 11, 2021, 3:18 pm

>28 sallypursell: I hope so! We have some old embroidered pillows that were done by a friend many years ago that I love, but they're starting to wear out, so maybe this can be the start of a replacement set (fall-winter-spring-summer?)

>29 PawsforThought: I love the insects too! I was hoping there would be more of them (they were releasing the patterns one square a day), but I love the geometric patterns + the insects in the ones I did.

>30 dudes22: The border was improvised with scrap, but I'm really glad it came out well, and I think it captured autumn for me.

34avaland
Feb. 18, 2021, 11:58 pm

>21 lauralkeet: That is quite a piece! It must have been fun to design and make.

35melannen
Bearbeitet: Apr. 12, 2021, 11:54 am

I finally finished the weaving for my sister's 18-month overdue graduation present! (Luckily (?) her commencement was also delayed...)

Two full skeins of Istex Kambgarn wool got me about twelve feet of tablet-woven band - hopefully that will be long enough for a belt for my sister. :P (Actually it will hopefully be two belts, one short with a buckle and one long enough to tie off with a hanging end.) I still need to take it off the loom and finish the ends, I should be able to do that tonight.

After that I'm kind of at loose ends for my next project. I wanted to start another seasonal cross-stich to match the last one (but for spring wildflowers), but I did the last one on aida cloth from my stash, which turned out to have been 11-count, which is apparently impossible to buy in stores around here! Your options are 14 or 18 or nothing.

I was also thinking about doing a bargello cushion cover - I am inheriting a bench/firewood box, but the current cushion cover is an old vinyl tablecloth with duct tape, and I think I can do better than that! I've been thinking about bargello since rosalita posted about it, and I feel like a flamework bargello would be perfect for a woodbox by the fireplace. But.... interlock needpoint canvas also seems to be impossible to buy in stores, other than in kit form, even at specialty needlework stores, and none of the kits I've seen have very big pieces.

So I guess those two will have to wait until I put in an internet order somewhere. I might just work on sorting the embroidery floss collection in the mean time - there's a big bag of loose thread that needs to be untangled, labelled, and wound, that'll take me a good while.

I have also committed to designing and sewing a quinceañera gown for my friend's cat for an August birthday. I bought four yards of teal organza and four yards of what I hope is matching synthetic dupioni (because if it's real silk I didn't pay nearly enough - I'll have to burn-test it later) at the thrift store yesterday, so I should have enough fabric! I'm waiting for the friend to send me some basic design ideas, and measurements, before I go further on that though.

(I do not have the tailoring skill for a real quinceanera dress. But I can probably manage one that will be worn for fifteen minutes of photos and then violently discarded! But my friend never got her own quinceanera and I think she and her grandmother both regretted it, so I want to do a good job within my skill. Though with eight yards I might have enough to make her a dress too!)

36dudes22
Apr. 12, 2021, 11:43 am

I think I still have some aida cloth in one of my totes that I didn't get rid of when we moved. (Not sure why I kept it as I've given up cross-stitch) I'll take a look and see if I have any 11 count. I very much think the idea of a bench with a flamework bargello pattern would be awesome.

37melannen
Apr. 12, 2021, 11:53 am

>36 dudes22: I would be happy to take it off your hands if you do! I already checked with a couple friends, but they only had down to 14 too. I'm starting to wonder how I ended up with any 11 in the first place!

(I like it though, it sure works up faster, and I'm going for the pixellated-on-purpose look with these.)

38rosalita
Apr. 12, 2021, 11:59 am

>35 melannen: With the caveat that I am a newbie at this whole needlepoint thing and may be misunderstanding the kind of canvas you need for your woodbox, I did find this listing that offers interlock canvas in fat-quarter size: http://www.needleworkdiscount.com/interlock

I've never ordered from the site, so caveat emptor.

39melannen
Bearbeitet: Apr. 12, 2021, 12:09 pm

>38 rosalita: Yes, that was one of the places I found online. I am also a newbie at needlepoint (I've done a few small kits years ago, but that's it), but I think that's right - it's what the library book I got out (Modern Bargello) suggests, and I think I would want size 10 or 12 to be able to use up old Red Heart scraps on it.

I try to avoid ordering things online if I can help it just for the sake of my own self-control, so I was hoping I could just stop by Jo-Ann's with a coupon now that I'm vaccinated - but they had no needlepoint at all! I guess it's very deeply out of trend right now.

(It usually seems to go that I get into something, have horrible trouble finding supplies and things, get out of it, and *then* it comes into style, so look for needlepoint to be all over the stores in three years or so.)

40rosalita
Apr. 12, 2021, 1:06 pm

>39 melannen: That makes sense — I've gotten so accustomed to shopping online that I forgot there are actual stores that you can go to. :-)

My bargello project has been derailed due to my lighting situation, but I've finally ordered a new OttLite and am excited to get it in the next week or so.

41melannen
Apr. 12, 2021, 8:43 pm

>40 rosalita: Good luck! I've been looking at so many patterns and getting jealous!

Meanwhile I did a burn test on the quince fabric from the thrift store and the flame is pretty adamant that I just bought ~$100 worth of raw silk for $6?? Good thing I have it earmarked for a project already or I would definitely have to put it aside for twenty years as "too nice to use".

42PawsforThought
Apr. 13, 2021, 4:29 am

>41 melannen: Holy ****! That is amazing. And I feel a little bit bad for the shop - they lost out on quite a lot.

43dudes22
Apr. 13, 2021, 7:20 am

>41 melannen: - Wow! That's a great buy! I'm always amazed when I hear of someone who bought a priceless vase at a yard sale for $5. I usually say to my husband - "Do we have one of those?"

44dudes22
Apr. 13, 2021, 7:38 am

Sorry, Mel - The tote that I thought might still hold some cross stitch fabric was only home dec fabric. I guess I did get rid of all of it.

45melannen
Bearbeitet: Apr. 13, 2021, 11:07 am

>44 dudes22: Don't be! Congratulations on having actually cleared out the stuff you don't use. :D

>42 PawsforThought: I would feel worse but I have spent an awful lot of money there over the years. I'm tempted to go back and look at the rest of their fabrics more closely though! They usually only have smallish pieces of odd textures of synthetics which I would only ever use for something like doll clothes, so I wouldn't have even looked this time if not for the cat dress plan. (Very few thrift-type stores seem to price fabric on anything other than size; I have gotten a lot of nice wool and linen very cheap at places like that. I should start keeping more of an eye out for silk I guess!)

>43 dudes22: They also had a "Darling Debbie" doll there, with a large handsewn wardrobe, for $100. I have a Darling Debbie too (from my grandmother's doll collection) but she only has one outfit, so I was very tempted... (I wonder if the nice fabrics came from the doll-clothes-sewer.)

46avaland
Apr. 22, 2021, 9:08 am

>39 melannen: Sorry you did not find any needlepoint supplies in Joanns!

>40 rosalita: I have an Ott light whose fluorescent tube has lasted FOREVER. I bought a 2nd tube when I bought the light; it's sitting in a box somewhere, unused. (Having said that, I had a 2nd Ott light, a bit more fancy one for the living room (it resembled a standing long-handled antique reading light) and 1. the bulb fell out and smashed 2. the stand broke in two different places at two different times. Too bad, I really liked the look of it (I see they don't sell it now)/

It's fairly easy these days to find full spectrum LED or fluorescent as standard bulbs fitting any lamp; so we aren't married to Ott anymore. My electrician recommended an overhead fixture that works great when I working at the cutting table.

47melannen
Bearbeitet: Jun. 16, 2021, 1:00 pm

Hi all! It's been awhile. I spent most of May working really hard on the basement renovation that will hopefully result in me having a bigger crafting space (among other things), so fiber crafts dropped off. (We are now mostly through the major renovation-y bits - there's mostly just some bits and pieces left, like a new door to hang, some lighting fixtures, towel racks and pot hooks, etc., so now I am moved on to actually putting junk back in cabinets and things. Part of that was hauling out the old sewing machine, so hopefully I can get that running & do some machine-sewing soon.)

I did do another road trip to family now that we're all vaccinated, so I worked on the monochrome embroidery that has been my car project for a long time. I finally finished the endless amounts of buttonhole stitch! Now I get to do endless amounts of stem stitch. ;)

Mostly I have continued to sort the giant bag of old tangled-up embroidery floss, and the end is in sight!!!

I also finished the card weaving on the belt, including finishing the ends (which I always put off) using a technique from Finishes in the ethnic tradition (which I always forget is weaving not sewing until I'm looking for weaving books.) As expected my sister has declared it Too Nice to use as an actual belt, so I left it full-length and added a ring for her to wear to fancy events over dresses instead.

She has promised that if I make a short one in an easy pattern with ugly yarn she will actually use it as a belt (this whole thing started because the last time I went hiking with her, her pants kept falling down) so I may end up re-stringing the tape loom after all. But that one should go a lot faster at least.

Here are pictures, since for once I didn't forget to take them!



And I got the needlepoint canvas I wanted for the cushion cover for my birthday in May, so as of last weekend I have Officially Started that project. I wanted to do a fiery flame-stitch sort of pattern, so I looked at all my books that had bargello, and despite the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework even having a "Design Your Own Bargello" section, I ended up pulling a 19th century "Irish Stitch" pattern out of a photo in Plain and Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework.

The photo was black and white, so I did a color test on aida with floss, which was just supposed to be a sampler but the pattern repeat was so long that I just filled up the whole aida scrap and turned it into a bag for cat-brushing supplies. And fluff! The cushion cover is going to be slightly different colors because I'm pulling from the old acrylic yarn stash instead of the bag o' embroidery floss, but the basic idea should be the same:



I spent a long time searching the front and end matter of Plain & Fancy to see if I could find a photo credit that would let me track down a color picture of the original handbag that used the pattern, and go nowhere, and then I realized it said on the *front cover* that it was all from the Winterthur Museum textile collections, which are online! So here is color photos of the original of the pattern I copied. Different colors, although I'm never sure with historic textile photos how much you have to correct for fading, so the original may actually be a lot closer to mine. (It looks lot more 1970s than even my oranges, but it's pre-civil war! I wonder how much of the '70s color palette comes from the "folk" movement looking at old faded textiles for inspiration.)

48avaland
Jun. 17, 2021, 6:50 am

>47 melannen: A new workspace! That sounds promising!

Love the belt! Great work. IS she wearing it? And the cat-brushing cover is adorable.

Glad you were able to find the original patterns.

49dudes22
Jun. 17, 2021, 7:03 am

I like that belt a lot. Glad your renovations are mostly over.

50melannen
Jun. 18, 2021, 2:35 pm

>48 avaland: It won't be as pretty as the other ones I've seen on here but it'll at least be nice to have space to leave a project laid out.

She has not worn it yet, but we'll see.

>49 dudes22: I am learning that renovation is more of a lifestyle than a to-do list...

51melannen
Bearbeitet: Sept. 1, 2021, 8:55 pm

Hi! I'm still here! I've been working on getting my new work area set up (and also got completely distracted by Minecraft for about a month.) And August always goes so fast!

I did finally finish the silk cat quinceañera gown I posted about above! I ended up modifying a pattern for a dress for an 18" doll with a generic pet costume bodice (I made the doll dress first, just to understand the construction.) It was a very silly project but it was a fun way to work on expanding my tailoring skills. And the cat's owner loved it, and the cat was far more tolerant than expected!




I think it needs some kind of bows or rosettes to add interest at the waist, and also maybe some more velcro on the front closure (now that we know the cat isn't going to immediately try to destroy us/the dress as soon as we put it on her). I'm going to try to dash that off tomorrow and then her owner is planning to do a real photoshoot (with tiara!) on Friday. And then we will put the dress away until another cat turns 15 and not torment the poor thing anymore. :D

I've also sewn a fair number of curtains - both modifying some old ones we had in the attic and making a few from new - because the windows in the new space are odd sizes (I took one set and basically ripped out enough seams to hang them sideways!)

Here's my sewing machine, since we were all sharing!

It works like a dream and is so much less fussy than newer ones I've used - only thing is we had to replace the old belt a few years ago, and the new ones keep snapping on me, so I might have to find a better solution for a replacement belt. I'm looking forward to putting it away and switching over to more weaving and embroidery for awhile though, now that cat gown and curtains are done!

52lesmel
Sept. 1, 2021, 10:21 pm

>51 melannen: That gown is ridiculously adorable. My cat would kill me and bury me in her litter if I tried to dress her in anything.

53melannen
Bearbeitet: Sept. 1, 2021, 10:41 pm

I honestly thought Visas there would too! The gown is made with velcro so we could put it on real quick as an ambush, take a quick photo, and then pull it off in one yank and flee. That has been par for the course in all previous attempts to clothe, or even collar, her. But? She didn't mind?? I mean she's not a cat who's super fond of manhandling generally but she didn't care any more than the usual of being picked up and put somewhere.

Probably she was just luring us into a false sense of security and is saving the true fury for when we attempt to do a full formal photoshoot for Facebook on Friday.

54lauralkeet
Sept. 2, 2021, 7:11 am

I love your description of wrangling the cat. That dress is super cute on her! If possible, it would be fun to see a pic from the photo shoot.

55PawsforThought
Sept. 2, 2021, 7:22 am

You've done a great job with that dress! And I applaud you for even attempting (and succeeding) to dress a cat in it. While my current cat is completely chill and let us put Santa hats and bows on him without complaint, our old cat would have caused a blood bath if we'd ever tried. We couldn't even get a collar on him.

56dudes22
Sept. 2, 2021, 8:11 am

That was a lot of work for a cat. You're a good friend.

57melannen
Sept. 2, 2021, 4:51 pm

>54 lauralkeet: I will definitely post photoshoot pictures too, assuming she lets us do one!

>55 PawsforThought: I really didn't expect her to be that chill! I was expecting hisses at least. She's probably just luring us in and saving it for when we try to do the real photoshoot.

>56 dudes22: It was fun! And my friend never got a quinceanera of her own, so I wanted to at least let her cat have one.

58avaland
Sept. 5, 2021, 10:27 am

>51 melannen: Well, that is an unusual project. It's terribly cute and a lot of work!

59scaifea
Sept. 6, 2021, 7:30 am

I *love* that cat costume!! I bet that was so much fun to do. When Charlie was little and our Golden Retriever was a pup, I made them matching Halloween costumes - Charlie was the Ninjago Blue Ninja and Mario was, of course, the Golden ninja. So much fun and she (Mario) was an excellent sport about it.

60lauralkeet
Sept. 6, 2021, 7:39 am

>59 scaifea: That post cries out for photos ... just sayin'

61PawsforThought
Sept. 6, 2021, 7:41 am

Yes, we want photos of the matching costumes.

62scaifea
Sept. 6, 2021, 7:49 am

>60 lauralkeet: Ha! I'll see if I can dig one up, but if I do I won't clutter Mel's thread with it - I'll stick it over on mine.

63melannen
Sept. 7, 2021, 3:19 pm

Thanks everyone! So I said I'd make a bow for the back of the cat dress and I've never made a bow that turned out well before. Does anyone have advice?

64PawsforThought
Sept. 7, 2021, 3:37 pm

>63 melannen: Wish I had any advice for you but bows are not something I have experience in making.

65dudes22
Sept. 7, 2021, 5:26 pm

I found this on Pintrest. I'm assuming you want to tack it and not tie:

https://blog.treasurie.com/diy-how-to-make-fabric-bows/

66melannen
Bearbeitet: Okt. 2, 2021, 3:32 pm

Thanks for the bow link. I managed to throw one together that wasn't too terrible and add it to the dress. Cat's owner was delighted, but the photo session is delayed for life reasons. When it goes up I will link you!

In the meantime I've mostly been working on the Irish/Florentine Stitch needlepoint that's going to be a large cushion cover. I'm probably between 1/4 and 1/3 of the way through? It's been a really good combination of not too boring but just mindless enough to pick up after work every evening, and I'm loving the colors!



I should probably put it away for awhile soon to work on Christmas presents! I still owe my sister the woven belt I've been putting off warping, and if I get ahead of myself on that I may make one for a friend too. I am thinking I will do a couple of small cross-stitch patterns for two of the friends I do gifts with, since I found simple patterns that remind me of them. That mostly leaves my mother! What do you make for a Christmas gift for a 70+ year old woman who has said for the past forty years straight that she doesn't need or want anything, and means it?? I threatened her with the most boring sock pattern I have and that may end up being what she gets!

(Since my sister went to study in Iceland, we have all agreed that if you don't get something handmade from fiber for Christmas, the jolakottur will get you. So she's getting something!)

The friend with the quincé cat has been picking up loom knitting, so I went over a few times to play with that with her. She has a giant afghan loom - over 200 pegs! I always forget how hypnotic loom knitting is until I try it again. I'm also trying to convince her to get a Ravelry account, if only to keep track of patterns! Not that I've been using mine much this year, but it hasn't been a big year for knitting and crochet.

But I'm slowly continuing on the process of getting moved into the new space! We may be moving the last large furniture tomorrow, and then it's just a matter of getting everything in order...

67avaland
Okt. 11, 2021, 6:27 pm

That is an amazing pattern! And you are moving into a new space -- that is always exciting (and usually a lot of work!) Good luck!

68melannen
Jan. 5, 2022, 3:24 pm

Hi I am still around! I kept thinking I'd finish one more project and then post...

My "Surprise new skill" to learn this fall was upholstery. There's a "low bridge" area over the stairs in my apartment. It had previously had a sign on it that said "watch your head" that had been printed on our old dot matrix years ago! So as part of the redo, I wanted to upholster it instead, to make it a bit softer on the noggin. So here's what it looks like now (cross-stitch by my mother, upholstery by me, fabric by some old curtains my dad made in the 70s)



I also re-upholstered an old stool that a friend of mine was going to throw out because the pleather upholstery was going, as practice. It turned out pretty well but of course I forgot pictures! My first post-holidays project needs to be finishing up the matching curtains I promised here.

And then there is Christmas crafting! I didn't actually do as much this year as some but I did a cross-stitch for my sister's cat:



But unfortunately she cannot read:



I'm working on one for another friend who has a budgie:



It's a bit farther along than in the picture and I have hopes I'll finish tonight!

I made a bunch of hats using scrap fleece I had around as gifts, too. These are copies of my "magic hat", which I found in a bin at a goodwill years ago - it was clearly handsewn, super warm, comfy, and versatile, and also and every time I wear it people stop me on the street to say it made them happy, so I figured I would try to spread the happy this year!



And finally, the promised second belt for my sister, this one made with an easy pattern and my nastiest wool yarn so she wouldn't have to be worried about ruining it and would actually wear it. I cut enough warp to do two, but I overlooked that my nastiest wool yarn isn't much fun to work with, so I don't know if I'll ever weave it.



Then for Christmas my sister got me a Princess Leia doll whose clothes were supposed to be removable but were very badly designed, so instead I whipped her up a cozy holiday onesie out of one of my Christmas socks that got a whole in it (Old-sock-to-Barbie-onesie actually worked really well, I may do more with some of my huge old sock collection!)


69PawsforThought
Jan. 5, 2022, 3:40 pm

I’m very impressed with your upholstery. I’d love to be able to do that.
Your embroidery is super cute, even if it’s a bit lost on your sister’s cat (I recognise that staring pose from when my kitty was a young’un).

And those fleece hats are a blast from the past! Every kid at my school had a similar one in the mid 90’s, myself included (but mine was all black and more mushroom/beret shaped). They were definitely comfy but I remember having a lot of problems with static hair.

70melannen
Bearbeitet: Jan. 5, 2022, 3:54 pm

Oh, neat! I don't remember anything much like that ever being really on trend when I was in high school in the 90s - maybe my original floated over from Sweden. (The original is actually white and sky blue, with clouds.)

71PawsforThought
Jan. 5, 2022, 4:07 pm

>70 melannen: Your hat sounds a lot nicer than the ones I remember, which were usually brightly coloured (clashing colours) in weird, very typically 90’s patterns. Like this:

72melannen
Jan. 5, 2022, 5:05 pm

Ah, yes, the mushroom-shaped ones! That does look kind of familiar.

I think modern polar fleece is a little better on the static? Also, the blobby edges really do make all the difference, though I am not sure why!

The bright colors are important though! :)

73PawsforThought
Jan. 5, 2022, 5:32 pm

>72 melannen: I don’t know how modern polar fleece is, I generally stick to natural materials whenever possible so don’t have any experience with it.

74dudes22
Jan. 5, 2022, 6:04 pm

Those are some great projects. I think one or more of my great-nieces may have a hat like that one. Maybe they're making a comeback?

75avaland
Jan. 6, 2022, 5:37 am

How amazingly industrious you have been! As Betty said, those are some great projects! I have done a bit of upholstery in my distant past, nothing very large or difficult.

76dudes22
Jan. 6, 2022, 6:39 am

I bought a second-hand chair once that I wanted to upholster and then got so frustrated I gave it to my sister-in-law instead of just taking it to someone else to upholster. She had someone else do it and I was always upset that I didn't do that.

77thornton37814
Jan. 7, 2022, 8:20 am

>68 melannen: I love the fact that you cross-stitched something for your sister's cat. It looks like the cat has the same french doors my cats have to look out. I caught them watching a squirrel in the snow the other day.

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