Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post... Things have been ca-razy around here and posting has been out of sight out of mind I suppose.
I have my first hand knitted sweater about 89% done right now! Hoping to finish it tonight actually. I'll try to get pictures and a pattern up asap :-)
Happy crafting!
Monday
Friday
Harry Potter Sweater and Pattern
For Christmas this year I decided to make my two younger brothers a Harry Potter inspired Weasley sweater. Instead of a W for Weasley I decided to put an M for Moore.I had never tried color changing with crochet before, and it was a bit tricky, but it worked out really well in the end. I'll talk more about that a little later.
I used this pattern that I found online. It has a really great ribbing technique that turned out amazingly well. After finding the pattern, I used a piece of graph paper to chart out the big M for the middle.
Just recently I found a really great website that will chart an image for you at a 1 square to 1 stitch ratio... it's pretty awesome. knitPro is a great way to chart your pattern without much effort.
The yarn that I used felt very soft when I picked it out... buuuuut, it wasn't for the final product. One yarn that I have fallen in love with is I Love This Cotton yarn brand. It comes in many colors, is available at most hobby and craft stores and is lightweight and very comfortable when crocheted or knitting into a final product.
Anyway, I mentioned changing colors earlier so here is the technique I used with the double crochet stitch for the pattern.
It took about 18 hours per sweater for the entire process, including sewing it together, which I did with a whip stitch on the backloop of each stitch while the pieces were facing each other right side to right side.
All in all I think the sweaters turned out really well, especially for a first attempt! Next time (and yes, I'm sure there will be a next time) I will use the I love this cotton yarn for an even better result!
If you use this pattern to make your own Harry Potter inspired sweater send me a picture here and I will post it! :-)
Happy crafting!
Sneak peek... Portrait Crocheting!
My friend Lee over at Totallee.net got me interested in the idea with her amazing creations shown above. So I have started my first attempt! Which I will show you soon...
Thursday
Spinning!
A few months ago I found a new hobby... I'm beginning to think that my real hobby is collecting hobbies! :-)
Anyway, I went to the only fiber arts shop I could find anywhere near me which happened to be Yarnorama in Paige Texas. They have SO MUCH for spinning and weaving! It was so much fun.
I grabbed a pound of Cotton fibers and Bamboo fibers. I also purchased my first drop spindle. Total amount spent was only about $30! So I got the spindle home and after about 30 minutes of video instruction thanks to YouTube starting spinning my own yarn!
I have about 10 yards so far of the white cotton and the same for the purple bamboo. So pretty! I can't wait to have enough to knit something. I think I'll get back to it now...
Sneak peek...
Super geeky Harry Potter sweaters coming soon!
Anyway, I went to the only fiber arts shop I could find anywhere near me which happened to be Yarnorama in Paige Texas. They have SO MUCH for spinning and weaving! It was so much fun.
I grabbed a pound of Cotton fibers and Bamboo fibers. I also purchased my first drop spindle. Total amount spent was only about $30! So I got the spindle home and after about 30 minutes of video instruction thanks to YouTube starting spinning my own yarn!
I have about 10 yards so far of the white cotton and the same for the purple bamboo. So pretty! I can't wait to have enough to knit something. I think I'll get back to it now...
Sneak peek...
Super geeky Harry Potter sweaters coming soon!
Wednesday
Patterns
I plan on putting up patterns for all of the projects that I post so that you can recreate them on your own!
Look for the Family Tree outline very soon. It's fairly large so I'll have to scan it in pieces and then put them back together in Photoshop. So once I get all that done, I'll post it for you to download.
Now back to knitting for me...
Happy crafting!
Look for the Family Tree outline very soon. It's fairly large so I'll have to scan it in pieces and then put them back together in Photoshop. So once I get all that done, I'll post it for you to download.
Now back to knitting for me...
Happy crafting!
Tuesday
Family Tree
One of the heirlooms that my parents have hanging, framed on the wall in their home is a piece of very old quilt with many family names on it... almost like a quilted family tree.
It's small though and didn't have any sort of rhyme or reason to it as to how the names fit together. So for Christmas I decided to make a real family tree for my mother. What an undertaking, but it turned out SO well!
I started by designing the tree shape that I wanted on a piece of typing paper, then once it was perfected, I recreated it on a piece of linen by using a water soluble pen such as this:
The piece of fabric with the tree on it ended up fitting into a 36" by 39" frame. I left the leaves off during this first stage so that I could only see the tree itself. I used a medium size oval embroidery hoop and using a basic embroidery stitch worked my way across all of the branch lines. I used black thread for mine, but I think depending on the color of the background fabric, brown would also be nice.
Once all of the tree bits were done, I used the pen again to trace the leaves. I made them fairly large and in three to five leaf clusters. Be sure to leave room on the branches for the name plates. You don't want to cover up your hard work!
Using five complementary fall colors, I went over all of the leaves using the same basic stitch for the outline. I didn't fill the entire leave, but rather did one stitch from the top of the leaf to the base. You can see a close up of this below.
Once the leaves are done I needed to put the names onto the tree. At first I thought I would embroider the names right onto the tree, but you couldn't really see them very well. In the end I found some really great metal scrapbooking plaques and with a little jewelry wire, turned them into hanging name plates. I've seen them at most hobby shops so they should be readily available.
The name plates that I found were bright spring colors, so I painted them black, then sponged bronze onto them once dry. However, now they conveniently come in silver, bronze, gold and black.
I printed the names off on my computer onto acid-free paper and then placed them into the name plates with scrapbooking dots. (I love those!)
Once everything was on the fabric, I nailed the finished piece to a wooden frame and Voila! An heirloom was created.
It's small though and didn't have any sort of rhyme or reason to it as to how the names fit together. So for Christmas I decided to make a real family tree for my mother. What an undertaking, but it turned out SO well!
I started by designing the tree shape that I wanted on a piece of typing paper, then once it was perfected, I recreated it on a piece of linen by using a water soluble pen such as this:
The piece of fabric with the tree on it ended up fitting into a 36" by 39" frame. I left the leaves off during this first stage so that I could only see the tree itself. I used a medium size oval embroidery hoop and using a basic embroidery stitch worked my way across all of the branch lines. I used black thread for mine, but I think depending on the color of the background fabric, brown would also be nice.
Once all of the tree bits were done, I used the pen again to trace the leaves. I made them fairly large and in three to five leaf clusters. Be sure to leave room on the branches for the name plates. You don't want to cover up your hard work!
Using five complementary fall colors, I went over all of the leaves using the same basic stitch for the outline. I didn't fill the entire leave, but rather did one stitch from the top of the leaf to the base. You can see a close up of this below.
Once the leaves are done I needed to put the names onto the tree. At first I thought I would embroider the names right onto the tree, but you couldn't really see them very well. In the end I found some really great metal scrapbooking plaques and with a little jewelry wire, turned them into hanging name plates. I've seen them at most hobby shops so they should be readily available.
The name plates that I found were bright spring colors, so I painted them black, then sponged bronze onto them once dry. However, now they conveniently come in silver, bronze, gold and black.
I printed the names off on my computer onto acid-free paper and then placed them into the name plates with scrapbooking dots. (I love those!)
Once everything was on the fabric, I nailed the finished piece to a wooden frame and Voila! An heirloom was created.
Why Heirlooms...
Hi, my name is Victoria. I'm 26, married and live in Texas. Over the last few years I've had the growing idea to reestablish heirlooms into my family. We have so many quilts, pieces of clothing, tablecloths and so on that have been passed through the generations of crafters in my family, it is really wonderful to have something so real from my ancestors. And thinking about that I realized that if I don't change something, there will be nothing to pass down from my generation.
So, with this in mind, I have set out to Rediscover Heirlooms and make sure that they are well crafted so they can stand up to the test of time!
I hope you are able to find helpful things on this site that will allow you to create your own heirlooms to pass down through the generations.
Happy crafting!
Victoria
So, with this in mind, I have set out to Rediscover Heirlooms and make sure that they are well crafted so they can stand up to the test of time!
I hope you are able to find helpful things on this site that will allow you to create your own heirlooms to pass down through the generations.
Happy crafting!
Victoria
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