Garden Views

I'm almost finished with the last washcloth in my rainbow series and have been thinking about working on some smaller appliqued/embroidered pieces next.  The garden gives me much inspiration ... I spend some time most morning puttering around and always notice something new, some new way of looking at what I see every day.  The beets we planted last fall are fat and ready for harvest, some of the Italian pepper plants made it through our mild winter and have picked up where they left off.  I've been experimenting with letting some of the vegetables go to seed for collecting ...  who would've known carrots end up with lacy blooms and radishes with such delicate lavender flowers?

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Knit Washcloth - Cat

I'm back at the knit washcloths and this one was little c's idea.  She love, love, loves cats!  I made two of these - one for the rainbow washcloths project and one for her.

 

Materials:
*Knitpicks Cotlin in Swan and Cerise
* size 4 (3.5mm) knitting needles *size E crochet hook

1.  With Swan, cast on 40 stitches.

2.  Work rows 1 - 7 in garter stitch (just knit stitch).

3.  Begin stockinette stitch.  For rows 8, 10, and 12, knit 4 stitches, purl for 32 stitches, and knit the last 4 stitches.  Work rows 9 and 11 in garter stitch.

4.  Beginning with row 13, you can work from the chart.  The chart shows the uneven rows through row 51.  For the even rows, work 4 knit stitches, purl for 32 stitches, and knit the last 4 stitches.

Rows 13 - knit all the way across
Row 15 - knit 16, purl 9, knit 15

Row 17 - knit 15, purl 11, knit 14
Row 19 - knit 14, purl 12, knit 14

Row 21 – knit 13, purl 13, knit 14

Rows 23 and 25 – knit 12, purl 2, knit 1, purl 11, knit 14

Row 27 and 29 – knit 11, purl 2, knit 2, purl 11, knit 14

Row 31 - knit 11, purl 2, knit 3, purl 9, knit 15

Row 33 - knit 11, purl 2, knit 4, purl 7, knit 16
Row 35 – knit 11, purl 2, knit 5, purl 5, knit 17

Row 37 – knit 12, purl 2, knit 3, purl 7, knit 16

Row 39 – knit 13, purl 2, knit 1, purl 9, knit 15

Row 41 – knit 14, purl 1, knit 1, purl 9, knit 15
Rows 43 and 45 - knit 17, purl 7, knit 16

Row 47 - knit 17, purl 2, knit 3, purl 2, knit 16

Row 49 - knit 17, purl 1, knit 5, purl 1, knit 16

Row 51 - knit straight across

5.  Rows 52, 54, 56 - knit 4 stitches, purl 32 stitches, knit 4 stitches.
Rows 53, 55 and rows 57 - 63, work in garter stitch.

6.  Cast off.

7.  Join pink yarn and single crochet evenly around the washcloth, putting 3 single crochets in each corner.  Join to first single crochet with a slip stitch.  Chain 1 and add a second row of single crochet, again putting 3 stitches in each corner.  Finish off.

Our resident cat is Raven - when little c visits, she's usually on a mission catch a glimpse of her and try for a pat or two.  Little pieces of bacon often help! 

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Refashioning Sweaters

One more batch of refashioning and then I'm moving on!  I have a whole pile of wool sweaters that have been washed and felted and are just waiting to become something new.  Here are some interesting uses for old sweaters I've come across in my searching:

I love this fish from Betz White!  I can envision a whole school of them!  See her work here.

Prudent Baby has a tutorial on baby pants made from old sweaters here.  These are darling!  I have some sweaters sitting here that would make very unique baby pants ....

There are quite a few sweater quilts around but this lap quilt from Fiberlicious has one of the best designs I've seen.  This would work great with textured sweaters.  See how she did it here.

And there's always Kitty Wales' sweater dogs!  She deconstructs recycled sweaters and attaches them to a frame.  

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Refashioning - Dyeing

One of the simplest ways to refashion fabric items is to dye them - one of my favorite things to do!  These pieces all began as plain white finds from Goodwill.  I forgot to take before pictures - just imagine them white!  I used fiber reactive Procion Dyes (I order them from Dharma Trading Company) and these instructions.

I used Kingfisher Blue for this shirt.  It dyes a nice chambray color - and this shirt has little white dots that didn't pick up the dye as well, so it has some nice contrast.

This is a thicker cotton knit fabric cardigan that I dyed with Plum and then changed the buttons out to my favorite pearl ones.  Oddly enough I end up wearing cardigans more in the summer in Phoenix than the winter!  Most places around here are air conditioned to arctic frigid.

This gorgeous tablecloth was on a $1 close out - granted, it did look pretty plain in white.  I dyed it with a mixture of 3 parts Peach and 1 part Terracotta and did not leave it in the dye for the full amount of time - I just kept an eye on it until it got a little darker than what I wanted.  It has a beautiful handmade look - it's machine made, though!

After a short break from the rainbow washcloths I'm back working on them!  Next week I'll have the second to last one.

Happy Creating!  Deborah