Have crafts, will chat (updated)

Yesterday evening a bunch of us got together for a Craft n Cat at my place.  Sorta.  We live in a co-op, which gives me access to a multi-purpose room I can book at any time.  Lots of space, tables, chairs and even a fridge, microwave and kitchen sink.  Very handy.

The only down side?  Horrible lighting for pictures.

While there I worked on my first temari Christmas decoration.  I'm not at all happy with the photos, so I'll try again when I ready a new base for stitching.

I was able to salvage some other photos, though.  We took part in a coaster swap that I wrote about earlier.  Of course we all brought projects along to work on while we had our tea and munchies. :-D

 Here's one project in process.  The pattern is from Baby Styles by Beehive (Book No. 117) from late 1970s or early 1980s.  It's going to make a wonderful gift!

The last time I saw this cowl, it was just a narrow band of stitching!  It's made with a mohair blend sock yarn, if I remember correctly.  Long enough to wrap twice around the neck, light and warm!

update from the lovely maker of this cowl: "I just kind of improv'd. Cast on 300 sts, beaded the first two purled rows at every 5 sts (i think), and I did a second beaded, purled row on one edge beading every 5...carried on and on every 14th row slipped a bead on every 16th st. Finished with purled edge, beading every 5 sts. That's about it."

This set of coasters for the swap were made from a pattern found online somewhere, using Handicrafter Cotton.

These were my gift!  Aren't they awesome?  Instead of coasters, she made cabled cup warmers.  Love the knitted cables.

update:  "I got the mug cozies from a pattern on Ravelry.com, fell in love with the cabling."

This fascinating quilted coaster was finished during the Craft n Chat. I love the origami look.

I just had to get a shot of these socks in progress.  Each sock has 440 beads that need to be strung before the sock is started.  The maker of these is a knitting goddess who makes the most amazing socks and miniature clothing. 

The spiral piece you see under the socks became this after being sewn into shape.  Then, because we had a sink handy, it became ...

... this.  This is after being felted by hand in the sink.  I believe more felting is planned for it.

From the talented lady who made these:

"I found the idea for the quilted origami in a book titled, Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat (I hope that link works).  Now that I've got the hang of it, I think I'll make a pillow or wall hanging. The felted knitted coaster is from a pattern I found on Ravelry: Felted Coaster."

Felting.  That's something I still need to try.  Both this kind and needle felting. 

Add that to the list! :-D

Blast from the Past - mini felt stockings

Christmas again - this time, 1999. Less than 2 months before, we'd moved back to BC, after being away for several years. We had two children now, and were renting a house in Richmond. This move was supposed to be temporary - my husband had signed on for a 6 month contract - so we didn't bring much with us. My husband had driven out a couple of weeks ahead of us, with the car loaded down with everything we could fit. The girls and I flew out later with a few suitcases. That was all we ever brought with us.

We ended up there for almost 2 years. His contract kept getting extended by 6 months, so we never did ship anything out after us.

Our first Christmas in Richmond found us with no tree and no decorations. We bought a small artificial tree (I know this is sacrilage for some, but we never use live trees) and placed it on the top of a large storage bin for extra height, with the bin covered by a white table cloth. That came in handy, as the empty bin was used to hide the gifts until Christmas Day.


These are the only decorations I've made that included the year on them. I figured the turn of the century was a good time to do it. ;-) I had very little in the way of supplies. A few pieces of felt and a cardboard template. Some embroidery thread, ric rac and glow in the dark pain in a tube.

These have a plain back to them, and can be used to hold small items, if we want. I've never bothered, though.

That year, our tiny tree had these and some fancied up clam shells from a little basket of shells my daughter's had. When the tree came down, the shells were de-fancified and went back to the girls. Throw in a cheap dollar store garland and string of lights, and we had a pretty decent little tree that year. *L*