Crafty Corner | “Briar Rose,” Part Three

BriarRose, Part One
BriarRose, Part Two

Admittedly, my enthusiasm for this project fizzled out after a while. Part of it was due to being sick of the whole quarantine malarkey (heh, me and everyone else in the wonky world, I daresay), but another part was an odd reluctance to tackle re-drafting my princess-seam pattern.

It didn’t make sense that I’d have kept my bodice pattern, but not the full-length dress. And what about all the different-shaped neckline supplements I’d labored over? Had I tossed them, too? ’Cos I sure couldn’t find them, either, despite looking through both supply closets in the sewing room. It irked me, to be honest, that I’d have (apparently) been stupid enough to toss a pattern made specifically for my somewhat odd proportions. As my Elven characters are so fond of saying, it is not wisdom.

Fast-forward to sometime in mid-May. Mom and I were sorting through our various pillow-forms in one of said supply closets—determining just how many pillows we really need in this house—when what should come crashing down on Mom’s head but…my princess-seam dress pattern! Complete with neckline supplements!
Quoth I: “Where was this six months ago, when I searched every inch of these closets for it?!” (Well, obviously not *every* inch, LOL)

That’s the good news.

The bad news is…I just don’t enjoy sewing that much. I love the design process—possibly my favorite part of any creative endeavor, TBH—and it’s exciting when the construction phase gets to that “hey, it’s starting to look like something!” point.

However, cutting out fabric (especially in complex shapes) has always scared me, and frankly, my skills just aren’t on the same level as my vision. I can do basic sewing pretty well, but the more formal garments I’ve made myself always turned out looking like a fifth grade Home Ec project (back when schools actually taught sewing classes, oy).

And of course, once you’ve cut a piece of fabric, there’s no going back. It’s not like yarnwork or beaded jewelry, where you can just disassemble the thing if it doesn’t work out. I mean, you could re-cut the fabric into something smaller, but…yeah. I decided I didn’t need that kind of stress in my already stressful life.

Another fact I had to admit was that I’m not as fond of pink as I once was (haven’t been for the last decade, really), and a solid-pink dress just seemed like a bit much. A bit too girly and floofy, especially with white lace trim.

We’d toyed with the idea of putting the roses on a white dress—even thought of refashioning Mom’s 1970’s-style wedding gown!—but vetoed the idea, as white is hard to keep clean, and frankly…who wears white dresses these days, save brides?

Fast-forward again to this past Wednesday, when Mom and I spotted this white tunic/short dress at the local Goodwill.

It’s made of an interesting knit fabric, which we thought would go well with the crocheted roses. While it’s too short to wear as a dress (for my taste, anyhow), it’s a graceful length for a tunic with fitted trousers, or even a flared A-line skirt. I may even wear my old pink mock-up (featured in Part One) under it.
It’s fitted, but not skin-tight, and the material is soft and stretchy enough that it’s easy to move around in. I love this flared style, and the vertical lines are quite flattering on me. Really, my only beef is that the “stripes” aren’t quite centered. *ERGLE* Aw well, can’t have everything. :-P

Imagine vines between the blossoms,
and more leaves and flowers, and....

I played around with what colored motifs I had, and I must say, I’m quite in love with it, overall. The pink and green on the white background is so fresh and clean-looking.
I’m not 100% sold on the lower arm design; the Rosebud and Half-open Rose don’t quite feel right, and the Full-blown Rose seems a bit much. I may work up a miniature version of the hem border….

Also, the area between the hem and the waist looks a bit bare, and I’m not sure I want an actual “belt”/girdle at the waist.

That said, I love the large rose and cascading leaf design at the sleeve-head and neckline, and the Rosebud at the shoulder. Will probably tweak the Half-open Rose and leaf placement once I get the Vine made and sewn down.
I’m also debating whether to decorate the back of the tunic or leave it relatively plain.

So yeah; I still have a bit of work to do on this project—mainly crocheting a few more flowers, and lots more leaflets—but not nearly as much as when this was going to be a full-on party-frock! >_< I think this approach will be more realistically achievable, and be more comfortable to wear in Real Life. Let’s face it; the long dress would only have been suitable for square dances—which I didn’t attend very often even when they were still a thing (darn you, COVID!). A tunic is still elegant and feminine, but less formal and potentially costumey.

I am so looking forward to finishing this project!

Until next time, Gentle Readers,
God bless,

~ℛ~

Actually Finishing Something | Nooroo Plushie

Post #220 on The Rambling Rose, so I’m doing something special to celebrate!

A few years ago, I joined the Miraculous fandom, following the adventures of Ladybug and C[h]at Noir as they fought to save Paris from the evil Hawkmoth and the people he turns into super-villains.

via Pinterest

One character I fell in love with (and wanted desperately to see rescued) was Nooroo, the little purple Kwami of the Moth/Butterfly Miraculous…which happens to be in Hawkmoth’s control.

Somebody save this precious bean!

It’s probably safe to say that half the fandom wants to adopt this adorable little guy, and give him a better life than he has with his current master. And of course I chose Nooroo as my favorite Kwami—I mean, come on; he’s PURPLE! Plus I always did have a soft spot for the underdog. But obviously I couldn’t reach through the screen and snatch him—and his Miraculous—away from Hawkmoth and bring them into the Real World, LOL.

My solution? Crochet a plushie!

I used this pattern as a base (since most of the Kwamis use the same basic model), working it up in this vibrant lavender baby/fingering-weight yarn (doubled) and a 00/3mm steel hook. I used a smaller hook for the eyes and antennae (more on that below).

[Screencap by me, for illustrative purposes only.
No copyright infringement intended.]

For the facial features and spiral designs on his head and lower wings, I studied the photo and screenshot pictured in this post for reference. As you can see, the proportions are a bit off, and the eyes are a bit higher and more slanted than on the character model (but I couldn’t reposition them because I’d glued them on prior to sewing them down). And while it doesn’t show in the picture that much, the chalk I used to position the eyes stained the yarn, which really ticked me off.
If I were to do this project again, I’d crochet some wire along the wing-edges for stability, as they are rather floppy as-is. May revamp them down the road….

For the curious, I used a worsted-weight, super-soft purple yarn for the spirals, which has a slight sheen that the camera doesn’t pick up. These were embroidered more or less freehand, using a split-stitch. The mouth is worked in a tight chain-stitch, using the same periwinkle embroidery floss as the iris of his eyes.

Initially, I tried making the eyes out of white felt and gluing a tight spiral of the shiny purple yarn for the iris. It looked awful. Embroidering the eyes onto the crochet also DID NOT WORK. So in the end I crocheted the eyes in embroidery floss and thin crochet-cotton.

Below are the patterns I developed for the wings and eyes, since I haven’t see one anywhere online.

If you want to make up your own Nooroo plushie—for yourself or that special munchkin in your life, or to sell—all I ask is that you check with the creator of the base pattern, and give me credit for the wings and eyes. Good faith and common courtesy and all that.

But enough yakking—on to the patterns!

(For crochet term abbreviations chart, click here)

~Wings~

Antenna:
(Use US size 6 hook & single strand fingering-weight yarn or #10 crochet-cotton)

Row 1: Ch 4, 3 dc in 4^th ch from hook. Ch 3, turn.

Row 2: 1 dc in next 3 dc, holding back last st of each until last; yo, draw thru all 4 lps.

Row 3: Ch 4, 2 dc in 4^th ch from hook. Ch 3, turn.

Row 4: 1 dc in next 2 dc, holding back last 2 st of each until last; yo, draw thru all 3 lps, turn, insert hook in base of Row 1 and make 1 sc, folding yarn-end down inside work.

This forms “bobble” at end of antenna, which is sewn together at sides later. For “tail” of antenna, make a double chain-st of 30 ch.

For Lower Wing, switch to #00/3mm hook and continue working with doubled yarn. NOTE: Do not work in 3-ch of previous rows.

Row 1: Ch 4, 3 dc in 4^th ch from hook, ch 3, turn.

Row 2: 1 dc in next dc (counts as 2-dc inc), 1 dc in next dc, 2 dc in last dc, ch 3, turn.

Row 3: 1 dc in next dc (counts as inc), 1 dc in next 2 dc, 2 dc in last dc, ch 2, turn.

Row 4: Dc 2 tog, 1 dc in next st, dc 2 tog, ch 2, turn.

Row 5: Dc 3 tog .

Border: Using 1 strand yarn or CC and #6 hook, ch 1 & work in sc along edges, making a sl st at base of wing/top of antenna and upper tip. Fasten off.
Make 2^nd wing.

Upper Wing:

Row 1: Ch 4, 2 dc in 4^th ch from hook, ch 3, turn.

Row 2: 1 dc in next st (counts as 2-dc inc), 1 dc in next st, 2 dc in ch-3 of previous row, ch 3, turn.

Row 3: 1 dc in next st (counts as inc), 1 dc in next 3 dc, 2 dc in ch-3 of prev row, ch 3, turn.

Row 4: Sk 1, 1 dc in ea dc across (including ch-3 of prev row), ch 3, turn.

Row 5: 1 dc in ea dc across, ch 2, turn.

Row 6: Sk 1, dc 2 tog, 1 dc in next 3 dc, dc 2 tog, ch 2, turn.

Row 7: Sk 1, dc 2 tog, 1 dc in next dc, dc 2 tog, ch 2, turn.

Row 8: [Dc 2 tog] twice.

Make a border as for Lower Wing, working 1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 hdc around opposite tip from starting point. (For second wing, turn work and work Border in opposite direction as first Wing, for a mirror image.)

~Eyes~

Left Eye:

Using #10 steel crochet hook and 3 strands embroidery floss (or #30 crochet-cotton) in Purple and White.

Rnd 1: With Purple, make a magic ring and ch 2, 5 sc in ring (counts as 6 sc), sl st in 2 ch of ch-2.

Rnd 2: Ch 2, sc in same st, 2 sc in each sc around, join with sl st.

Rnd 3: Ch 2, sc in same st, *1 sc, 2 sc* around, join.

Rnd 4: With Black, sl st in each sc around, join.

Rnd 5: With White, ch 2, *2 sc in next st, 1 sc* 6 times, ch 1, turn.

Rnd 6: Sl st in next st, 1 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc, 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 4 sts, 2 sc in next st, 1 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc, ch 2, turn.

Rnd 7: 1 dc in next st, *1 sc in next 4 sts, 2 sc in next st* twice, 1 hdc in next 3 sts, 2 hdc in next st, 1 dcin next 2 sts, 1 hdc, ch 2, turn, 1 sc in next st, sl st in next st, fasten off.

Right Eye:
Work as for Left Eye to Rnd 4. Join in White and continue thus:

Rnd 7: 1 dc in next 2 sts, 1 hdc in next 3 sts, *2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 4 sts* twice, 1 dc in next st, ch 1, sl st in next st, pull out loop and pass ball through, pass thread under work and connect loosely to opposite corner; ch 1, 1 sc in next st, ch 2, sl st in next st, fasten off.

Glue Eyes to head in desired position (iris only). Sew outer edges to head with black thread, using a tight whip-stitch.

~*~

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how he turned out.
I think my favorite part of this project is the eyes. It still tickles me that I had embroidery floss on hand in the perfect shade of periwinkle, and I love how they just pop and give this little guy so much character. He’s definitely a keeper, regardless of whether or not I continue watching the show (which is another kettle o’ fish altogether).

What say you, Gentle Readers? How do you like my attempt at replicating a fictional character? Fellow Miraculers—which is your favorite Kwami? I want to know!

Until next time, Gentle Readers,
God bless,

~ℛ~

Crafty Corner | Springtime Flower Crown

I’ve always enjoyed wearing flowers in my hair—the kind that never die or irritate my sinuses, that is. :-P

I have several small blossoms threaded through bobby-pins that I stick in my coiffure of a Sunday (or rather, I did when church meetings were still safe and legal), but I’ve been wanting to make a full-on wreath...chaplet...flower crown...thing...for a while now, for special occasions. And I figured, hey, I have time to spare—why not use some of it to fulfill that dream?

A nice old lady from church let me look through her “stash” of artificial flowers last Fall and choose out what I liked. At first, I thought of making more individual hair-flowers, but the desire for a flower-crown took over, and I found I liked how all the different colors looked together.

These are what I picked:

Narcissus, forget-me-nots, and what I’m calling cherry-blossoms in three shades of pink. Cheery and colorful—a perfect homage to Springtime, aye?

To make the crown, I basically followed this tutorial, using silver-colored jewelry/craft wire for the base, and masking tape to hold the two ends together...’cos that’s what I had on hand. I don’t recommend this, as the shiny silver wire looks a bit odd peeking through the flowers, and of course the masking tape is a bit tacky. Florist’s wire (or even green-colored craft wire) and green tape would definitely look more “natural.”

Propped up on a pretty silver trinket-box
(which needs polishing, yikes),
courtesy of the same nice lady

Another change I made from the tutorial was to use Duco Cement instead of hot glue. I didn’t think hot glue would adhere to the metal wire, but I knew Duco Cement would. And for the record, I poked the “nub” at the base of each flower (or stem in some cases) through the wire braid where possible, glued it down, and trimmed off the nub after the glue was dry. Then I put more glue over it for extra security.

Once I had all the flowers glued down, I lined the inside with long, slender leaves that came with the cherry-blossoms, to cover the wires and prevent their snagging my hair. Plus it looks pretty. 😊

While it doesn’t show in the photos, the wires were still visible in places, so I added these pretty lavender flowers (originally slated for another project) to cover them. I also used the green plastic buds that came with them, as it added a bit of interest.

And just for funsies, I decided to wear it today in honor of May Day. Ta-da!

~What I’m Wearing~

Bare Feet—’cos it’s Spring, and shoes are optional.

Pink cropped trousers: Thrifted

“Cherry Blossom” long-sleeved tee: Thrifted. Quite possibly my favorite “round-the-house” shirt to date!

CU of finished flower crown

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, kinda went Witness Protection in these photos...but frankly, my phone case is prettier than my face these days, LOL. ’Sides, it was kinda the only way to get a good angle.)

 

I hope this little post has inspired you to take on a pet project of your own. Don’t be afraid to try something new, or just do something for the fun of it. You may discover a new skill. At the very least, you’ll have accomplished something you’ve been wanting to do, but never made time for before. 

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~ℛ~

 

Crafty Corner | Lavender Butterflies

Today, Gentle Readers, we have yet another Irish crochet project—this time, lace butterflies to decorate this T-shirt I bought several years ago.

(Please excuse the wrinkles; it’s been in storage a long time, poor thing)

I think my favorite part of this shirt (apart from the gorgeous lavender color—one of my best!) is the fagoting and dainty lace along the neckline:

What I don’t savvy are these glue-spots on the right sleeve

nor the width and depth of the neckline (a bit much for comfort). Solution? Embellishment, baby! 😊

My plan (Lord willing) is to “hook” up some pretty lace butterflies of various shapes and sizes, and scatter them across the front and sleeves (hide the glue-spots!), and fill in the neckline—perhaps trim it with this cute butterfly edging found on Pinterest.

For the back, I intend to make this beautiful large butterfly:

Instructions can be found on
Antique Pattern Library under Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No2
or on YouTube

You know those tops that were popular a few years ago—with the lacy backs? And the ones with wings printed on the back? That’s kinda what I’m going for here. “Look! I’m a butterfly! Or a Faerie...or Casual Cosplaying as Nooroo....”

What can I say? I like a bit of whimsy in my wardrobe. :-P

All butterflies will be worked in shades of lavender, using six-strand embroidery floss split in half (’cos none of my crochet threads are the right color):

The two cards and small ball are what I had on hand, which I took to Jo-Ann to find additional skeins. As you can see, color 210 and 209 are almost spot-on with my light and medium shades, respectively. The picture makes it look like 209 matches my deepest shade (center card), too, but it’s actually a bit deeper in real life, and Jo-Ann didn’t have anything that looked right. So this will be used as accents. 

 

I did a test-run of one of the upper wing sections yesterday, using three stands of embroidery floss, worked over purple Speed-Cro-Sheen as padding cord, with a #13 steel hook.

While the result looks pretty good overall, I think I’ll use three strands of padding cord when I make the real thing. One strand just doesn’t give it that raised look typical of Irish crochet.

Also, the #13 hook I used has a really shallow under-cut (which you might be able to see in the pic) that made it a bit difficult to work with. Kept splitting the threads. So I plan to work the actual motif on a #9 hook, as it’s about the same size as the one I used for the mock-up anyhow (???) and has a deeper hook.

Already, I’m loving the soft texture and slight sheen of the embroidery floss! Somehow fits the “feel” of the top....

Stay tuned for Part Two!

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~ℛ~

Goal-setting

With the New Year comes hope—hope that 2017 will be better than 2016, which was a rough year for us…especially December, since we were dealing with my Grandpa’s passing on November 30^th on top of all the other stress and over-commitment that was our Christmas season. -_-

Hope that the Good Lord will fill in the “missing pieces” in my family’s lives.

Hope that He will resolve some conflicts and frustrations that are blocking us from moving on and having some joy.

Hope that I’ll do better at reaching the goals I’ve set than I did last year. :-P I’m not going to go back through my list and count all the goals I didn’t meet—that’s too depressing. Instead, I’ll make a new list and pray for God’s strength and perseverance to complete it!

~Goals for 2017~

·        Organize. All. The. THINGS!!! Sorting and culling. Finding a place for everything from bed sheets to beading supplies. Ridding myself of things I don’t need or even want anymore (except a few special keepsakes, of course). Simplifying and streamlining my personal space.

·        Build my Dream Dollhouse. This has been a dream of mine for twenty-three years, and after a lot of second-guessing, confused praying, and almost physically painful waffling, I’ve decided that yes, this is something I want—something I almost need—to do. It’s time to stop dreaming, hoping, and waiting—and start DOING!
Also under this category: Doll-making. Deciding which of my numerous dolls/kits will have the privilege of living in the Dollhouse.

·        Writing! Main goal: Finish Prince Nácil. Before the family lock me up in the Tower of Ecthelion with nothing but bread and water, LOL. Also fine-tune and polish up some details for the rest of the House of Othniel/Main Series, the “spin-offs,” and work on that Blog Party I want to host someday.

·        Bethlehem Bazaar. This is a scheme Mom and I (mostly Mom) cooked up, due to the sad lack of much of anything Christ-centered at the local Christmas Bazaars. We’re talking with other church-folk in the community, and getting ideas for things to make that will focus on the Birth of Jesus. Mind you, not EVERYTHING will HAVE to be Christian-oriented; my contributions will mainly be crocheted hats (inspired by this pattern, with tweaks, of course), teddy bears that are safe even for babies, perhaps some Irish crochet hair ornaments, and of course my Wild Rose Designs jewelry.

·        General Good Habits. Things like being more cheerful/focusing on the positive, drinking more water, getting some form of regular exercise, being more regular with my Bible reading and contacting friends, going to bed and getting up at a decent hour—that sort of thing.

·        Taking Time for FUN! Spending less time on the computer [read: surfing the Internet] and more time doing things I used to love, like reading, yarnwork, embroidery, drawing, sculpting (polymer clay), miniatures, writing. Putting time slots in my schedule for those things and giving myself permission to do them. Convincing myself that my interests and hobbies are VALID.

I have a few fun craft projects I’d love to do this year, too, but I’ll share those as they progress (or I finish them). That way, if I don’t get to some of them (or I decide not to do them), it’ll be less awkward. :-P

I’m oddly hopeful about this year. Perhaps, please God, this will be the year when things start to settle into place. The year we can start thriving and blooming where God has planted us.

Maybe this is the year I’ll actually do something instead of just dreaming about it. ;-)

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~R~

Midway Check List

So here we are at the middle of the year. Only six months left in 2016. Zowie! Where does the time go??

Methought it fitting to check up on the goals I made back in January and see how I’m doing….

(All pix via Pinterest unless otherwise noted)

Writing Goals:

 ·        Finish first draft of Prince Nácil.

Haven’t done this yet, but I’m plugging away at it as inspiration hits. I’ll have to go some to get it finished by New Year 2017, though. (And my offer still stands for anyone who wants to beta-read it.)

Jane Foster and Elsie Douglas.
Looking forward to working with these two cuties!

 ·        Plot out the Main Series. Need to give more serious thought to this. I think I know about where it ends, so at least I have a goal to shoot for….

Stardust, the silver Water-dragoness,
who hoards books instead of shinies. ;-)

·         Organize/finalize other series/story-arcs, including dramatus personae. I drew up a sort of “timeline” to help me visualize how all the story-arcs connect with the Main Series (and each other in some cases), but I’m still debating on some of the cast. I did bite the bullet and include The Pirate-hunter in Ýdára (since the protagonist and her love interest were essentially the same characters as two others in this world), so now I get to tweak backstories and add pirates to the mix of baddies my Characters have to fight. Um, yay? ;-)

·       Read/re-read snippets from fellow “scribblers” and send feedback. The two shorter ones are DONE, *confetti* and I’m working my way through the largest one…and then I discovered another snippet I’d forgotten about. *D’oh!* So, we make a little progress….

·        Write review for Water Princess, Fire Prince.

Mock Cover by R.R. Goodwill

·       
DONE! Posted on Amazon. And eventually, I need to revamp my mock-cover. This one is blocky at best, and the Kastle is totally wrong.... /SELF-CRITICISM
Host a Blog Party for my Imaginary Worlds.
In progress. Some of my Characters started talking to me, Real Life stuff happened (Whatcha gonna do when the well… needs sanitizin’…honey?), so preparing Party Posts wasn’t a top priority. But I’d still like to do it eventually…I’m thinking sometime in September, so’s I can feature the Pirate-hunter bits on Talk Like a Pirate Day. :-D Annnnnd…since I have several worlds, and they’re all more or less intricate, I may have to break up the Party into several. Or keep what I share about each to a minimum. Cue more pondering….

Sewing and Crafty Goals:

·        SEW ALL THE THINGS!!! Actually…the Lord finally got it through my thick skull that I really don’t *need* any more clothes. He’s provided some very nice “normal” frocks via the local thrift stores, so that takes the pressure off me to sew everything in order to have stuff to wear. It’s so freeing, really, to know my fabrics are packed away in a bin for when I need them—later. I do still intend to make up the embroidered things (including my Rapunzel costume), and there are a few items that won’t take too long to alter for the Summer and Fall. But there’s no huge rush for the rest now. *Ahhhh….*

·        Design/make jewelry to match outfits. In progress. I’m still kinda figuring out my personal style—what I like to look at and design often isn’t what I’m comfortable wearing. Plus a lot of my clothes either don’t need jewelry, or the necklines aren’t conducive to wearing a necklace with them. Then, too, there’s Summertime, when it’s just too hot to have stuff around one’s neck. That’s where my earrings get to come out and play, I guess. So yeah. Still tinkering….

·        Post new Etsy listings regularly. Och, I’ve been a bad girl here. Haven’t posted as often as I intended to so far. Need to get on the ball….

·        Finish knitting and crochet WIPs. Five little bears—DONE. Bearington—DONE. Afghan—In progress. Need 52 of one type of hexagon, 11 Dragon hexagons, and 26 half-hexagons to filling around the edges. Currently have about 45 hexagons made, plus one completed Dragon hexagon (actually two; I just haven’t sewn the Dragon to the patch yet). Six other Dragons made, but a few need tweaking before I make the hexagon part around them. Also need to figure out how to crochet a half-hexagon….

·        Knit some ear-warmers. Haven’t even started on this yet.

·        “Pixie Bonnet” —In  progress. Decided not to buy the knitted “Pixie-hat” pattern when I found this FREE crocheted one late last month. I’m using two colors of yarn worked together, and crocheting gives a better “tweed” texture than knitting, anyhow.

Other Goals:

·        Stay on schedule. Eh…sorta-kinda-almost. I have a loose routine I’m following right now, but it’s not set in writing.

·        Get E-Sword on my computer. *Sigh* Haven’t done this, either. But I am trying to read a chapter a day as possible, so at least I’m not totally neglecting my Spiritual life…quite.

·        Redecorate my room. Sold my fancy furniture the Winter and now have a much simpler, less imposing bed and nightstand, and a big desk (on extended loan from our pastor’s wife) that has a fold-down easel and a light-panel for artwork. Right now, it serves as a computer desk, but I do hope to use it for art eventually, too. Not sure I’ll actually do the tole-painting, since both the desk and nightstand are on loan from other people…and not that much of the bedframe shows anyhow. I may re-finish it, though, as the old finish is kinda messed up. Not even thinking about painting the walls/trim or hanging prisms this year.

·        Exercise more. I try to take a coupe laps around the drive when the weather is good, but that’s about it. And I try to do some stretches in the evenings….

So, not doing as well as I hoped…but then, maybe I bit off more than I can chew. :-P

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~R~

Actually Finishing Something: Bearington

By God’s grace, I can finally cross one thing off my New Year’s list: As of  this afternoon, I finished my new mascot, Bearington!

Hello!

I actually started knitting him in October, I think, but what with one thing and another (and some procrastination on my part *whistle*), it took a while to finish. For the curious, I used the Mister Bean’s Teddy pattern by Sarah Bradburry for the head and body, Debbie Bliss’ Teddy Bear pattern for the ears and legs…and just winged it for the arms. I also added a neck, as the head didn’t look right just sewn directly to the body.

Because I’m an incurable tweaker, I made some other modifications:

·        I used US size 1 knitting needles instead of #3s to make the gauge as small as possible (I didn’t want him ending up too big)

·        Because the head and body ended up bigger than I expected, I had to lengthen the legs to be more proportionate

·        Instead of using felt and buttons for the facial features, I embroidered them with yarn. I also added the black paw-prints and “claws” on the paws and feet, to add character.

·        I made the inner ears cream instead of brown like the pattern called for, and I used a buttonhole stitch along the edges to have a line of brown over the cream parts. It looked less stark that way.

He ended up a bit taller and skinnier than I imagined, and his paws are a bit more squared-off than I hoped, but all in all, he turned out really cute, and I’m so happy to have him done now!

On to the next project….

Say goodbye to the nice people, Bearington.

Bye-bye! Come again soon!

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~R~