Shabby Chic Wedding Reception on the Cheap

Here's a fun money-saving decoration (since I'm in the middle of wedding preps, I am doing this~thought some of you might like to file the idea away as well).

Collect up some old round doilies. Get a bottle of clothing starch (not the spray kind, but rather the thick liquid, make sure it has no dye or bluing in it ~ I used Sta-Flo from Winco) & pull out some of your mixing bowls. I used my stainless steel bowls with the grip rings as well as a few glass bowls ~ just find a few with the shape & size you like. Throw doilies into the wash & then into the dryer.
 
 

 
 
Pour some straight starch (no watering down!) into a bowl ( not the ones you'll be using to dry the shapes) & dunk your doily.
 
 

Squeeze the starch into the doily threads ~ dunk it again, let it drip off ~ MILDLY squeeze it again, just enough so that the doily is still saturated but not dripping all over wasting your starch.

 
Turn your ~designated shapes~ bowls upside down & put the doily onto it, stretching it evenly all around, arranging it to look like you want it to.  (By the way, see that doily being stretched?  It has too much fabric in the middle & did  not make a good candidate for a doily lantern.  See the dry ones on the bowls next to it?  Those ARE good for doily lanterns.  I found out that a small fabric center is not a problem, but a larger one is.) 
 
 

Another note ~ see how there is almost too much fullness at the bottom of this doily?  I also did not care for that look, but the real reason that this doily just didn't work as well, is that the fabric is too hard to smoosh off of the bowl once it's dried.

 
 
Let it sit till it's completely dry (overnight works fine... these are "make in advance" type decorations ~:-D~)
Another note: see that doily in the background ( ecru, larger holes, on the stainless steel bowl?) ~ see how the edges are rippled up?  That is another way to deal with too much fullness on the outer edge of your doily.  Just shape it the way you want, let it dry ALL THE WAY & be sure to be careful when you are removing it from the bowl.  
 
Oh yes ~ & do you see the bag of ballons in the background?  I bought those in anticipation of making these lovely lanterns, because I had read that that was what needed, however, I quickly found out that it was a waste of money.  The balloons are not sturdy enough to pull & stretch & shape the doilies around it, & if you coat it with plastic wrap first, it's even worse.  It slides all over the place.  Perhaps if you were to use a much hardier glue than starch, & a round playground ball ( the kind that has little cross-hatches in it), you could actually pull off the round lantern, but those weren't materials that I had access to easily, and I didn't want to ruin the doilies I had with glue anyway, & I also knew I could wash out starch without a problem.  
Some folks have used sugar starch, but that takes a really long time to dry, & since I only had 6 wks to reception day, that really wasn't an option either.  (ooohhhh, only 4 wks to go at this point ~ what the HECK am I doing writing on my blog???? :-D) 
 
 

 
~ to remove the doily, press hard against the bowl, sort of mooshing it off of the bowl. DO NOT peel it up, or you will lose the shape. If you don't like it, or want to re-use the doilies later, you can just throw them into the wash, & VOILA ~ doily is back to it's former grandeur! ;-D
 

Be sure to smooth out any extra decorations on the doily, or you will have little folded over flowers like I did.  If this does happen to you ~ just put the doily back over the bowl in it's dried form, and moosh some more starch on the flower parts, fixing them, let it dry, and VOILA! ~ need for perfection completed. ;-D

Nice open airy doilies seem to work a little better than the heavier types, however, both can produce beautiful results.

 
 
These next few pics are my testers~  I went down to the church where we are holding my daughter's reception & hung a few up to see how & where & with what sort of string to hang them.  White ribbon looks pretty & intentional, while green kite string blends in very well with the trees & leaves & greenery.
 

 
Overall~ I love the effect.  A word of warning, however, if you intend to do this for your reception, be certain to start at least 6 wks in advance.  Since I only had about 5 bowl shapes that seemed to fit the doilies I had, I could only make 4 or five of these a day, & we need about 35 - 40 doilies, since I have 5 or 6 trees to decorate & it looked like about 7 per tree looked right. 
 
Next post I will show Cream cheese mints, easy molded chocolates & hand-dyed vintage cutter/stained crocheted tablecloths.

1920's Doll & Children's Clothes ~ Again!

All right, here are a few of the promised outfits.  This is the 1929 Panty Frock.  I used a vintage cotton print fabric with cotton broadcloth contrast, vintage bias, and small pearl shell buttons.

This little apron is the 1927 Slip-On Apron with Pleat Detail.  I am not altogether happy with the total length, and so will alter the pattern again to make it longer.  It is made of vintage pink broadcloth and calico, with vintage blue piping, and pearl shell buttons.

This little 1927 Polly Ann Apron is made of vintage yellow cotton, cotton broadcoth contrast, and vintage bias.  I think I would prefer this to be a little fuller as well. 

 And here is a knitted cap, in vintage sport weight wool, to match her Panty Frock. 

I am working on making the Coat right now, as well as some spat tights with buttons on the sides.
I am also making some new patterns up for some other dresses, coats, bonnets, and such.

Lately I have also been looking into vintage swimsuits.  As my daughters all need some cute modest swimsuits for this summer, I have decided to make up some cute 1940's to 1950's styles for them.  I have been researching them, obtained a few vintage catalogs with pictures, and I think I can reproduce some very cute examples for the girls.  I believe I will make them more of a sunsuit, out of light cotton, lined for modesty, and so that they won't drag unattractively when wet. 

Pictures of those coming soon.

Facebook Sucked My Brain Out

But thankfully, I was clever, and never did join the ranks of ~Farmville'ers, Mafia War'ers, & the Host of other Idle-Time Passing Games~.   Had I done so, I may never have come up for air.  What is it with Facebook?  Well, I have a little theory ~ it's like the biggest chat room you ever saw, with pictures, friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends of friends, suspended reality, suspended time, heck, even suspended belief!  You can stay in your protected little circle, sorta safe-ish (ISH!!!) for kids, you can connect with long lost family & friends, or you could meet all new people.  For the most (ish!) part, people use their real names & identities, so you don't feel like your neighbor JoAnna Smith is really Bubba down at the county jail..... The perks go on.   
But OOOHH, how it sucks your brain out!
I once spent an HOUR and a HALF on Facebook.  To ME, who doesn't even like watching tv, that's a Looooooong time ~ an embarrassingly looonnngg time.
So, in an effort to pull myself out of the whirling / yet vascilating / yet fascinating social vortex that is Facebook, I have decided to blog again. 
woo
dooble
hoo
Here's the other dealio with Facebook ~ you get feedback.  I mean, let's be honest, my fellow bloggers, you look over at the visit counter & you see 36 thooouuuusand visits, and you have only 3 people amongst them who cared enough to even make a freakin comment??
Of course, it's hard to blog on Facebook.  It's so very superficial, you might say.  And I would agree.  Bloggers are NOT that superficial, you might argue.  And I would agree again.  But Dang-it, we bloggers are TIGHT with our commentary, & you ALLL KNOW IT! 
Heck, I'm sorta tight with my commentary, and anyone who knows me on blogger thinks I'm a freakin Chatty Kathy with loose lips, where-as on Facebook, I can't seem to comment enough.
It's a strange dilemma, to be sure. 
At least I DO know that with BLogging, once I've written it all out, I do have a certain sense of fulfillment, whereas with Facebook, I have found that if you write beyond the five lines that automatically show up in the comment area, NOBODY reads it.  How irritating is that?
Sort of like the difference between eating at home ( blogging) ~takes a bit longer to prepare, but it tastes good, & 2 hrs later, you are still full ~  & eating out at McDonald's (Facebook) ~ immediately satifying, but follows you around all day like a baaaad reminder of a POOR choice. 
So yah~ there yah go ~ confessions of a blogger/sometimes Facebooker ~
Facebook sucked my brain out.  But can Blogger give it back?
Although this helps, it's still not enough.  I need mental stimulation!  AAAHHHHGGGGG.
(Sorry, my little bout of cabin fever has grown into a slightly more advanced case of ECF ( Extended Cabin Fever ) it's gone beyond the need for crafty knitty crochet-ish dollmaking woodworking sewing eBaying projects & moved right into the MUST. HAVE. SUNSHINE. SOOOOOOON. stage)~


All righty then.  A little weird, true.  BUT I NEEEEEEEDDD SUNSHINE! 
You know, only the severe lack of sunshine could possibly force me over the edge & into Facebook-ishness.
Oranges. 
You know, oranges are a sunshine fruit.
Don't you ever just smell an orange & feel a little more tropical & sunny?
Me too.
Ok, then. 
All righty.


You know what I saw the other day, that sparked a bit of imagination?  These vintage sewing books by Martha Pullen, called Sew Beautiful.
What else fired up a bit of thought?  Google the words Yarn Bombing.  heheheheheh
I think those ladies ( & a few gents) must have a bit of ECF going on too.  And perhaps a very laaaarge ~Stash~ as well.   Hmmmmmmmm.  Now there's a thought, eh?

Japanese Diagram Crochet Explained!

Ok, since writing my first post about Japanese Crochet Diagrams, I have had tons of requests on how to read them, try to explain them, etc. The first thing you should know is that I don't read Japanese. I have given some really awesome links on where you can find help with translation HERE.  There is also a chart with hook sizes comparing US, UK, Japanese, & steel hooks within the pages of this same link, so that you can easily use the correct size hooks for your projects.

But what seems to be a continuing issue, is the question of what all those diagram symbols mean, and what stitches do they symbolize? I have several fantastic books that go into great detail regarding stitch symbols, however, I will only cover the very most basic of them for now.

First, I reccomend the "Harmony Guide to Crochet Stitches" as it explains in detail in ENGLISH the diagrams & their symbols, and you should know ~ they do match up with the Japanese symbols. This is an older book, published in 1988, and so it may be a bit diffiucult to get ahold of. I reccomend both Amazon.com & eBay.com.

Second I reccomend this excellent Japanese book called "Basics of Crochet for Beginners".  It very clearly covers almost every single stitch you will run into with these Japanese Diagram Crochet books. 

Just a small sampling so that you can see that even though you may not be able to read Japanese,  there are so many pictures that it explains itself.  This book also covers basic alteration, pattern manipulation & construction.  If you are a visual learner, these two books alone will enable you to easily use the Japanese Diagram crochet books. 

Here is another great tip when looking for more Japanese diagram books on crochet ~ the Japanese also call crochet "knitting".  I don't know why, but they do.  So, if you look up books either on Amazon or eBay, be aware that it really doesn't matter if it says "how to knitting"... it's probably still going to be crochet.  Click on one of the pictures above to enlarge it, and see an excellent example of such ~ you can see in the top right-hand corner that it clearly says "how to knitting", and yet the instructions are just as clearly crochet. 

Also, several of the better sellers on eBay will include many pictures of the contents of the Japanese craft books, so you can tell whether or not it is a "knitting-but really crochet" book or a "knitting AND crochet" book, or even a real knitting book.  Because yes, these awesome diagram books are also for knitters!  There are symbols & stitch examples with a ton of pictures for knitting as well.  And, the Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches is also available from both Amazon.com & ebay.com.

I hope that this helps all of you with your Japanese Diagram Crochet Quest!  I've said it before, but I think it bears saying again ~ when you have the diagram before you ( I use a printed copy so the book stays nice), and a color pencil in hand, you can sail through these projects!!  Case in point is the three (3!!, three!, THREE!) layette items that I started AND FINISHED last week, shown in my previous post.  These were done, for the most part, while watching my kids do their schoolwork ( I homeschool, for those of you that didn't know that).  The patterns are extremely easy to follow, and I can easily mark where I am at, put it down, pick it up, & regain my place in just seconds.   Kid has a question, needs a bit of "motivation" ;-D, or even just lunch break, & it's that easy! 
Good luck on your Japanese Diagram Crochet Quest, let me know if this has helped you, and above all, HAVE FUN!

Knitting Machine Woes & Triumphs

Ok ~ so I bet you can't guess what I did? huh ~ huh ~ huh ~ bet yah can't .... well, all right, maybe the title DID give it away! Yes, it's true, I DID buy a knitting machine. ok, ok, I'll be honest. I bought three. No, wait, I only bought two, the nice lady at the garage sale threw the other one in ~for Good Measure~.



Yes, it's true ~ I can now knit at LIGHTNING SPEED!!! MWWAHAHAHAHA And guess how much $$?? ( Cuz you know it's not really a deal until you can brag to all your friends & acquaintances about what a DEAL it was...;-D) $25 bucks each!!! Yup, $50 bucks for the two, and third one thrown in for free!

AND....wait, there's more! If you ask now, I'll ALSO include the model #'s AND let you know how much they are worth on the current eBay market!!

:-D (that's a cheeser, in case you were wondering)


Well, twist my arm! Ok, so the OLDEST FREE-BEE is a KnitKing Auto KK98 punchcard. And there is a Brother ( Brother & Knit King are one & the same) on eBay right now just like it going for $1499.00!!!



WOO-double HOOOOO! And I tried that baby out, and it makes lace, and does these funky tuck stitches and slip stitches and stuff BEAUTIFULLY! Plus, it wasn't that hard to figure out. ( it took me all of 2 days....but I admit it, I was a bit obsessive about it...nevertheless... hah! 2 days!)








The next one is a KnitKing Compuknit IV (essentially a Brother KH940). It is basically like this one on eBay. Please note the $2500.00 price tag. (Mine was $25 too, hehehehe, minus about 4 zero's!!!) Mine came with all of those gadgets too, even two G-carriage's, an intarsia carriage, and all sorts of pattern disks & this garter bar thingy ( haven't used that yet), and a color changer doo-hickey, and even a funky old square disk reader.






The instructions from that were SO funny:

"An introduction to the floppy disk ~ .....there is also another quite separate memory in your machine called "RAM", which allows you to program your own stitch pattern designs.....the disk will accept information from the knitting machine quite happily."

We all know what a quite sad disk will do ~ or what we will do to it, ( didn't they used to sell sledge hammers with Win95 ??)

Yes, this one took me three or four days to figure out... it was a doozy,

BUT

I have played around on it and produced some REALLY pretty tuck stitch patterns, a funky lot of slip stitch examples and some cool thread yarn knitting that looks so fine I am gonna use it for baby clothes!!


AHAHAHA ~ all of that size 10, 20 & 30 bedspread crochet thread that I have been hoarding will actually get USED.
So eat THAT, Wood Genius! HAH! ( I may now have to get more... wouldn't want to run out... colors, this could go beyond Christening layettes....hmmmmm)
























And lastly, but certainly not leastly, I ALSO got ( for a measley $25, might I remind you all ... hehehe my bargain diva prowess is PROCLAIMED!!) a KnitKing CompuKnit Bulky (again, the same as a Brother Electronic KH270).



Which, there is also one of THOSE on Ebay as well, going for... guess it.. guess it...

$3145.00!!!

WOO HOOO!! doing the happy dance~ arm pump, butt wiggle, neck jive HAPPY DANCE!

So yah. And so it goes. In fact, I am going to have to haiku this. Sorry, you know me, those haiku just sorta roll on out ~

Three knitting machines
five days of intense study
a lifetime of yarn.

Oh that's so appropo. I just hope Wood Genius doesn't see it. He might regret handing me that $45 cash out of his pocket last Saturday at the garage sale. ( I only had $5 on me) Of course, if he hadn't, I might have had a heart attack right then & there. And then he'd be stuck doing his own laundry and making light conversation with total strangers..... sympathetic to the sad ordeal of cleaning out my ~Stash~...es. ( I have multiple stashes... but let's not discuss this right here & now, eh?)

Crocheted Baby Blankie and Layette thingy ma doo ee

Ok, I bet all of you homeschoolers are wondering if I even homeschool anymore. The answer is yes ~ in fact, I absolutely DO! The dealio is, though, I just don’t have time to post it all,

However, in the spirit of bending to my current whims & obsessions, I amazingly DID have time to photograph a couple of crochet projects I did for my sister-in-law’s new baby. (If little Lucy turns into a boy at the last minute, I’m sorta toast, because I just sent these off, and she (Lucy) isn’t quite born yet.) It helps that I specifically posted these so that my mother in law could see them first. :-D (We love you guys & miss you SO Much!)

Any way here are the goodies.



This is my stitch sampler blanket ~ or I like to call it my Jacob’s Blanket of many colors/ stitches. It is made of hand-dyed cotton yarn. The cotton yarn has a nice little rayon thread running through it which gives it a pretty baby shine.








This is the layette, which hopefully fits little Lucy. It should fit up to 3 months, but that’s if the child isn’t born weighing over 9 lbs. Which I suppose is possible. Afterall, my second oldest ( who is now ~ GULP ~ almost 17!!) weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs even. You could set her next to other babies & she looked about 3 months older/ bigger. I don’t wish that scenario on any mother! ;-D






This is just an old baby gown that I made for my 4th oldest daughter ( garsh, and that child is now.. hoo booyy! 13… whoa, where do the years go??!?) I hand-smocked it, but the funny thing is, I had no clue about how to smock, so I just did it, and that’s what turned up. I recently bought some books about smocking, and realized that there are little patterns with guidance dots, and machines that will pleat it for you, and all sorts of goodies that make it easier. As I read those books, I was like “ Ooohhh… duh… yup, THAT would’ve been nice to know!” I just posted the picture because that was what was on the dolly underneath the new crocheted outfit.




And how do you like that dolly? ~heheheh~ That is my sad attempt at putting together somebody else’s cast-off ~ found on eBay~ cheapo-deluxe ~ porcelain doll project. But hey, it’s pretty much life-size for a little older than newborn ( about 3 months) so it makes for a good try-on model, and besides which, the daughter who received her couldn’t care less that she has sorta funky arms, a tippy head, and some bad face paint..

So it’s all good.