Anybody want to see?….

What the top of my computer table looks like? It’s a mess!!!

a mess of dolls!

I was looking through my boxes of dolls (like bleumarine and others, I have to keep my dolls in boxes for lack of room and keeping them from messed up hair) And so i took out 3 to add to what i had up here already. Two are from the Star set of dolls and one is in here original outfit., but i can’t remember her name. If anyone can tell me i would really like to know. The other is a Jazzy and she is one of 4 that i have; i am missing the one in the black outfit with the cute little hat.

I lost a lot of my dolls when my marriage broke up and then when i came up here from California. However with the help of my daughter, my girlfriend in Calif., thrift stores and ebay i have managed to get a hold of those that were my favorites and a few others.

Life’s little Blessings

I’ve been going through another of life’s depressing moments that seem to last forever; and then get worse. But then life gets better again. Along with the mild heart attack that my daughter went through, she also had hurt her back at work with pain shooting down her leg at times. The doctor was treating her heart attack and the back situation was still going on so she went a chiropractor. So now she has no job, three children still at home, doctor bills and prescriptions and i started collecting Social Security this year. Well one can guess where that will be going.  I am so grateful to have something to give and that i can be of some help at this time.

Well, I prayed and my heavenly Father answered and said He will meet the need for healing and a job but you know how it goes when the situation is still there and though you have a load lifted from your shoulders little change goes on for awhile. That is when i “find” Little Blessings. Something silly (like the bubbles that float upward when i pick up the dish detergent bottle, Bear (my granddaughter's cat) rubbing up against my leg as he passes through the kitchen, or Fiona’s (Diana’s cat) who give my such sympathetic looks when she know things aren’t going right. And my favorite music such “Into the Day” and “Bring Me To Life” from Bebo Norman’s Album “Between the Dreaming and the Coming True”. Such treasures i tuck away in the scrapbook of my heart. The photo of the hard-cooked egg in the shape of a heart came as a surprise them morning i cut it open. Then I remembered the time that i had asked my heavenly Father, for a little something like a heart shaped hard cooked egg. This was that answer. God does hear and answer prayers; just usually it does not happen like we would want them to. And i thank Him most for his constant presence helping me through the days.

My Rayon Thread Came Today

I received my package of the rayon thread mentioned in a previous post today, and the results are being tallied.

The Razzle is not as shiny as normally rayon is; looks about the equivalent of size 8 pearl cotton. I did a little sample swatch and the thread comes up with 8 sc and 9 rows of sc equal an inch.2 rows of dc = 1/2 inch.

Pearl crown Rayon, however looks like the proper round thread that you would expect and the same amount of shine. It looks about the weight of #8 pearl cotton. After doing some sample swatches the findings are listed in the chart below.

Thread Name	Hook Size	sc per inch	sc rows per inch	dc rows per 1/2”
Size 10	7	8	8	n/a
Size 8	8	9	11	2
Razzle	8	8	9	2
YLI Pearl Crown	8	9	11	2

 

 

Samples are done in Razzle (black), Size 8 (DMC Pearl Cotton), Pearl Crown Rayon (Dk Rose #118). These are done with as many stitches will fit in an inch plus one for turning and then as many rows as will fit within an inch. Then two rows of dc fit well in 1/2 inch so i left it and did a little fan stitch to make it look pretty. I keep these with a note attached as to what size yarn or thread and and size of hook and the stitch count..

More on the braid

If you tried out the sc braid from the previous post you will be ready for these variations. These are all worked with just one stitch – single crochet stitch and worked ‘single file’ so-to-speak or one on top of the other. But when you put your hook into different parts of the stitch (bet you didn’t know there were so many), you can find differing patterns.

The nice little braid done in the previous post used two strands of thread. This particular one and the following variations, use only one strand

as marked in the above photo. This little braid makes it real easy for working off the one side to which you can make a little ruffle. This would work really cute for the little Kelly dolls.

The next two braids require turning each row; both examples are shown here with a line to show the difference.

for the first one…

you turn the row with the right edge going to the left and put you hook where the line indicates and in that direction.

Don’t forget you can click on the photos to get the larger view. I know my line is not very thick, but i could not get a clearer shot and figured this would make it easier to understand.

The other braid is the same but you turn the left side to the right, and use the same little loop. Always chain 1 to turn.

Just Plain Stitches

Today is the day for stitches; don’t have any reason except that when you crochet you eventually want to add to your repertoire of stitches something new and different. especially if you do any of your own doll crochet work.

The first one is named forget-me-knot.

works on Multiples of 3

Row 1: ch 2 (which counts as first dc), [dc, ch 2, sc] in 3rd ch from hk, * sk 2 sts, [2 dc ch 2, sc] in next ch, rep from * across, ch 2 (counts as first dc of next row), turn.

Row 2: ch 2, [dc, ch 2, sc] in first ch--2 sp,* sk 2 sts, [2 dc, ch 2, sc] in next ch-2 sp, rep from * across, ch 2 (counts as first dc of next row), turn

Sample was worked in Omega #20 cotton and #8 hook on 21ch and measures 2 1/16" x 7/8 inch (5 rows)

The next one is called the begonia stitch

work on Multiples of 3+2

This is really a v-st in hdc but in Mon Tricot of 1972 it was called the begonia stitch

Row 1: [hdc, ch 1, hdc] in 3rd ch from hook, skip 2 ch, [hdc, ch 1, hdc] in next ch, rep from* across ending with sk 1, hdc in last st, ch 2 turn.

Row 2: [hdc, ch 1, hdc] in ch-1 sp of each v-st across, hdc in top of turning ch or first hdc, ch 2 turn.

Sample was worked on 23 sts in #20 cotton and #8 steel hook and measures 7/8 " w. x 1 inch (7 rows)

And what about a little braid for decorating with….

this is worked somewhat like a rice stitch making a long chain (each row is 1 sc wide).

ch 2, sc in 2nd ch from hook, ch 1, then insert hook through the two strands as indicated in photo….

yo, and pull loop through and complete your sc stitch, rep for length needed.

Melissa Floral Appliquéd Sheer Ribbon

Found this at Paper Mart where I bought the synthetic raffia, There are others too like -
Melissa Floral Appliqued Sheer Ribbon

The link for their newsletter is here so you can see what is new.

Shared via AddThis

Thread – Rayon, Anyone?

I have found some rayon thread that i am going to try out and thought i should also share the link for those who haven’t found this.

Razzle Rayon similar they say to #8 crochet cotton, but they mean pearl cotton and comes 250 yds on a spool. Anyway I am having a tough time deciding what colors to get. It shouldn’t make to much of a difference if using it for a blouse (similar to Paradise P-079)…

but for using it for a complete dress the gauge is going to be different.

The first one is white, of course but then there is Baby Pink, Peony Pink,Light Country Blue. there such other lovely colors.

The next one is YLI Pearl Crown Rayon. The write-up is as follows:

”Pearl Crown Rayon is one of the most versatile decorative threads on the market. This rayon is a highly twisted, thicker, threadlike cord. It is a versatile decorative thread that will fit many of your creative needs, both on the serger and the sewing machine.”

Which means that multiple strands are going to be needed. Just want to try it out; YLI has a gold that might just work out for the Paradise P-077

This thread (Pearl Crown Rayon by YLI Corp) will not look as nice as the thread i had picked up from Super Yarn Mart years ago, but maybe it will work; the color looks correct.

Also found today, a place on eBay that you can get sport weight and fingering weight (finally found the fingering weight but i was really having a good time looking) chenille yarn. You want to go to www.thechenilleshack.com store on eBay. She is super to deal with.

Swiss Straw Experiment Finished

Here it is, the little table.

I put a circle of clear plastic under the crocheted top  to give the support needed. This makes the wire  not needed; my little experiment did not work. Another thin i noticed is that the synthetic straw had more body before i had to dampen it to make it lie flat.

I then thought that it would be really neat to  have a glass top for the table. The you could see the top row of decorative stitching on the base. So what do you think?

Now i have to wait for some more money to get more spools of straw to work on the other pieces. I also found some Rayon that I want to get and try out.