Pocket

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

I love the denim walking skirt I bought from the Historical Emporium, but it doesn’t have pockets. I need pockets, so I added one. I used unbleached cotton cloth to make a large two-layer rectangle, then sewed around the edges, leaving a hand-sized gap at one side. I sewed the top of the pocket to the inside of the waistband, and opened up the side seam, and sewed the gap of the pocket to each side with hand stitches.

Photo description: large pocket sewn inside the skirt
Photo description: pocket opening from the right side showing the reinforcing stitching at the top and bottom

Since I had a large pile of cloth on my lap, Izzy the cat decided it was her spot, despite my protests.

Photo description: calico cat ears buried in fabric

I have a second pocket ready to be sewn inside, but it will wait for another day.

Throwback Thursday: fingerless gloves 3

On By CarynIn Craft, throwback

I’m a little surprised these gloves didn’t make the post list back in January of 2019. Hm. I knit them with merino wool fingering weight yarn and embroidered with white wool. I planned the embroidered swoops by laying down yarn scraps on the unsewn glove and taking a picture.

Photo description: red knit fingerless glove laid flat before sewing, with white scraps of yarn laid out in swoops and swirls
Photo description: finished gloves with swoop embroidery, showing two sides

Winter is looking over the horizon, and I’m hoping I didn’t give away all these gloves. I’ll look in the cedar lined hope chest soon where I stash my winter gear.

Granny Square Rectangle

On By CarynIn Craft

Just to brush up on my basic Granny Square skills, I made a quick square with scrap yarn. To get it the right 7×9 inch size for Warm Up America I added two rows of double crochet on one end, and one row on the other. A little unconventional, but functional.

Photo description: white crocheted rectangle on a dilute calico cat

Almost nine years

On By CarynIn Wildlife

We’ve lived at our current house for almost nine years. This week was the first time I saw a deer in our woods with my own eyes. I’ve seen plenty of trail cam photos, and I’ve seen live deer in other areas around the countryside and around town, and my family has seen deer on our property, but this was my first live encounter at this spot. I was out much earlier than usual, which was probably the key, heard a rustling in the woods, and looked up to stare a young buck in the eye. He stood still and I took a quick picture, then when I turned to do the task that took me outside, he hurried on his way.

Photo description: white tailed deer behind trees in the woods

The task that took me outside? One of the meadow cats, who I call Fang, came to the front yard to ask to be brushed, but the brush was behind the coop, so we walked over and saw a deer.

Tunisian crochet: joins

On By CarynIn Craft

I did another 7×9 inch swatch to test joins for Tunisian crochet using the honey comb stitch pattern. I first crocheted a narrow strip with three different colors, then I crocheted a second strip, joining the rows to the first strip at the end of the forward pass. I tried three methods: joining using the front loop, back loop, and back loop and bump behind the back loop. I like the last method best because there was no discernible gap and the patterns matched up better.

Photo description: joining the end of the forward pass to previous strip by going through the back loop and back bump
Photo description: six color Tunisian crochet blocks with the red and yellow joined on the front loop of the yellow, the orange and blue joined on the back loop of the blue, and the white and gray joined with the back loop and bump of the gray, calico cat stand
Photo description: reverse side, sleeping calico cat stand

I’m still working on best practice for me for weaving in ends.