Had knitting last night at the dome. Katie finally got done with her sweater and is working on another Clapotis.

I got the Secret Gift #3 2007 finished last night. Here’s my last progress picture. I should be able to post a finished picture next week. Click through for a larger picture!

Here is the first in a series of embroidery by my great-grandmother Valeria Kielian (according to my mother):

The first one has some unfinished tree, but shows the edging detail. The second is more finished, but there is no edging detail in the picture.

Started this one Monday night. It’s progressing:

The pinks of the recycled sweater will go with the pattern well. Remember, secret gift projects are not always oriented in the proper direction!

We’ve got a crazy weekend ahead of us, with so many friends. I’m not sure how much I’ll get to work on it. At least the crafting isn’t competing with the yard work.

Need to move on to a knitting project soon.

About 2 months ago, I started cutting up a felted sweater into a oblong purse shape. Since then many things have happened. My sewing machine needed a tune-up, I went on a plastics recycling craze, and considered 20 different embroidery ideas for this purse.

I took the sewing machine to the shop, and asked the kindly repair man for the “tune up” service, that they give for free to set up all of the machines they sell. What was wrong with it? It wasn’t sewing thick felt and jeans like I wanted it to. The man gave me the, “Well, DUH!” look. They suggested I had purchased a “toy” machine, and would have to purchase a $400 machine to get that sort of capability. I said, “just fix it”.

I came back a while later, and they had tested it on thick material (not felted sweaters, but two-ply denim and thin felt), and it had worked. I got my precious sewing machine home, and it cut through the thick felt like no other. Whipped out the rough construction for this purse:

After considering too many witty sayings, and after experimenting with the Birthday Wishes kit from woolandhoop.com, I decided to free-hand it. The pattern is a 1.5 x 3 inch rough eyeball of that design.

The handles are your-run-of-the-mill-craft-store-handles. I used embroidery floss to stitch in the handles. The purse is unlined because the sewing really turned out neat, and I like the pinked wrong-side edges. Finally for the finishing touch, the label:




Victory Garden 07 continues: The herbs are continuing to come up. Planted some lettuce and jalapeño peppers last night in planters (indoors). Called up my mother, and she says she has radishes ready to pick outside already. She also suggested just planting the lettuce directly into the ground now, or erm, tonight.

Did so much this weekend, but not that much time to go over it all.

First a finished object:

This is the “Birthday Wishes” pattern from www.woolandhoop.com.

Started half of this pattern on the felted blue purse I’ve had in my reserves. Based on how that was going, felted 5-6 more sweaters. Working on a project for Tyrone; he needs the arm rests on his writing chair covered. I’m going to use some of those sweaters because the fabric is nice and thick.

Went to the peace rally on Saturday, and gave out every last Peace Cuff I made. It was such an overwhelming experience. I almost cried after hearing the speech made by vet mother, Susan Emanuel.

Wow, there is an entire summary up. Check it out!

After admiring Katherine Shaughenessy’s Crewling Kits at Wool & Hoop for years, I was inspired to order one after finding out she published a very cool looking how-to book.

I got mine in the mail a few days ago, and I’m right in the middle of the of the “Birthday Wish” project.  I’ve dabbled a bit with embroidery, but I’ve always been disapointed by how minute the detail was, and how slow-moving each project turned out.

With crewling,  the wool fiber stitching seems to be much more forgiving than any embroidery floss I have ever used.  The first project is done on linen, and with a special crewling needle. In this case, I think it really helped to have the proper tools.  The whole process seems to be moving along quickly.

Just to let you know, she’s having an awesome sale, where you can get her new book, the “Birthday Wishes” kit, everything you need to start your own project, and her wonderful 3-D crewling designs.   The book is a very interesting read, not only outlining technique, but history.  The second half of the book demonstrates multiple places to display your new crewling ability, including ides for lampshades, skirt/jeans embellishment, greeting cards, and other appliques.

Maybe I’ll post a picture of my progress this weekend.  Have a good green beer weekend, too!