WINTER PROJECTS TO SEND TO LITTLE GRANDDAUGHTERS

When I heard that my grandkids were into watching the Olympic figure skaters and then "skating" all around the house....I couldn't resist. This sweater was made for the oldest girl, Emma. Hopefully the way this winter has been going there will still be plenty of time to enjoy it! Maybe both girls will get to share it. That's the wonderful thing about heirloom children's clothes, they can be passed on and hold their charm for a long time. The pattern is from a "Botany" yarn book from 1950 that came into my possession only days before I learned about how much they enjoyed ice skating.

Here's a close-up of the skater design. I over-embroidered the skates with silver floss.

A button detail. Thought these great little buttons looked appropriately like....sparkling ice!!!! I sewed them on with more silver floss.

The grosgrain ribbon lining the front placket--a detail I had never attempted before. Do any of you baby-boomer-age ladies remember how all our little cardigans had this feature? Worked really well and fortified the placket for machine-worked buttonholes. Wow, was I ever scared to try that after all the work of the knitting! I didn't want to ruin it!

 Sorry this picture is sideways. This is a scarf for Sophie. It will match her coat well and she had been wanting one! I decided to apply crocheted flowers with button centers.

 

Hopefully the girls will love their new handmade items!

Blessings, LORI

RUG REMOVAL!

We recently took the first six rugs off the loom just to see how the finished products were going to look before we continued on. Here is a picture of the first rugs, cut free on the weaving end, loosened and rolled up on the bench right before we cut them from the loom.

Once the rugs were cut off, we had to re-tie all the warp threads to the apron of the loom so we can weave again! This week Rhiannon has spent countless hours cutting old clothing and sewing up strips of material that we've had donated. She has gotten several rugs' worth of fabric ready for the second round of weaving!

Here are the first six finished rugs draped over an old couch in the basement. (Excuse all the junk in the background--we have our weaving set up in the basement!). From left to right--a rug of colorful fleece strips (we like to name our rugs and this one will be something like "Northern Lights," or "Neon Northwoods,"), a sock rug, mostly white, multi-colored rug of woven cotton scraps. Next is a rug made of mostly black and blue socks. The fifth rug is another of the woven cottons. The rug laying in front with yellow in it is another sock rug.

 

Sock rugs are the easiest to prepare. Socks are cut in round loops and then "looped" together, no sewing required. Nylons can also be done this way. However, I'm partial to the old fashioned woven cotton scrap rugs, just like grandma used to make. But I figure in this modern day of not darning socks, the sock rugs are a great alternative to just throwing away a pair of socks which have developed holes in them!

 

We are pretty excited about the finished products, but need to work on a few details to improve quality. Hopefully we'll be making more soon and can share more photos. This is the exciting part of the whole process--getting to see the finished product!

Blessings, LORI