Magic & Mazeltov

The Spaniels .... Black Magic (our dog) and his brother, Mazeltov, our daughter's dog. Age about 9 or 10 months.

Reducio 15

Pictures from my swap package for Reducio 15 as well as pictures of a side swap of stitch markers made with another Reducio member during R15. The theme for the official swap was 'The Hospital Wing'.

Rainbows in my yard :)

These pictures are of a sweater knitted from rainbow dyed yarn that was gifted to me by my friend, Hreow. To say I'm very pleased with it is being  .... well, polite. I LOVE this sweater! I love colors and this gives me lots & lots of the saturated colors I prefer. Pastels ::grin:: don't even make my list ....

This is a DROPS pattern, one of their geometric sweaters. It isn't intended to be made in such ... wild colors. The sample shown is done in a lovely red/black random variegated yarn & is quite nice. I like mine better!

Since I don't have the buttons on yet (I need to go pick up the round plastic rings I need to make them), I used a bit of thyme from my garden to hold it closed. You can see some of my planting containers behind the sweater (which is hanging off one of my tomato cages). I had two LARGE! balls of this yarn (Aade-Long) - one weighed about 250 grams, the other was nearly 270 grams. I did the two fronts/collars from one ball and the back from the second ball. The pattern calls for the collars to be added on later, but I chose to do them immediately because I wanted the continuation of color from the front up around the collar sections.

Then I was able to pick up the sleeves  (one from each ball) both in the same color area and match the colorway on the edges of the backs. However, each sleeve was picked up at a different spot in the color, so the two sleeves are similar but not exactly alike. Then I used most of the rest to knit the bottom 'skirt' of the sweater. The pattern calls for the edging (done from the bottom edge of one front, around the collar and down to the bottom edge of the other front) to be done in a simple crochet pattern. However, while knitting, I found this yarn was very easily snapped with just finger pressure so I didn't think the crocheted edging was strong enough on an area that would get so much usage as I buttoned & unbuttoned the sweater. So instead, I chose to use an applied I-cord edging .... which I have to say seemed to take me nearly as long to do as the actual sweater! But the bright lime green edging against the other colors is so worth it!

The side seams are supposed to be sewn invisibly on the inside of the sweater. However, I knew that, because most of the yarn I have left is in the dark grape/plum colorway, and the fact that this yarn comes apart so easily, sewing the seams on the inside would be difficult. So instead, I chose to crochet these seams closed on the outside & celebrate the wonderful colors & contrasts of this yarn.
 
The buttons (I hope!) will also 'match' ... in that they will be made from the little yarn I have left - at least if my idea works out, they will. I am planning to pick up some of the 'bone' (really plastic) rings sold to be used as stitch markers (for REALLY big needles!!). Then I'll use a small hook (probably a B, because this fingering weight yarn is on the light side) and crochet around the ring, then continue to add rounds inside the ring until I create a button. Then I'll probably use a small plastic button both behind the yarn one & inside the sweater to give the button some strength & rigidity while allowing me to actually use them as buttons.

As it is, even without the buttons, I can wear my sweater now if I really need to.

Edited to add pictures of the sweater complete with buttons.  :)

Crocheted Miser Purse

This was a test knit for the HolidayMysteryGifts group.
The 1st picture is the front of the bag.
The 2nd picture is the back of the bag with the chains between the bag & the ring. The pattern calls for a 1" bone ring, which I didn't have. So I crocheted around a small metal memory-ring intended for use as a hoop earring instead.
The 3rd picture is back of the bag with the flap finished. The chains, which you must crochet between, is tucked behind the back piece in this picture to show the flap clearly.
The 4th picture is the back piece showing the flap and the chains.
The 5th picture is the finished bag.
The 6th picture is the finished bag with a lining of white felt (I intend this to be used for small objects that might catch on the stitches, so wanted to protect the bag).
The 7th picture shows the bag with this interesting spiral piece I spotted just after I'd started the scan on picture #6. I decided it was perfect to set off the bag, as the person receiving is my partner in a Harry Potter-based swap & she belongs to the House of Ravenclaw. Which was why I chose the blue thread with white lining to start with.