I went into my photo app and searched New Year’s Day for my throwback today. I found a quirky little project I did back in 2016, where I was experimenting with small alternating blocks of Tunisian crochet.
I think the variegated yarn and Tunisian crochet made some interesting pooling variations. When I washed this swatch, though, it puckered and buckled aggressively, so I did not pursue the technique farther.
Happy New Year, may your year be filled with successful experiments!
I designed a couple variations of minimal wallets by starting with paper mock ups.
After getting my dimensions figured out with paper, I designed the leather cut out in Adobe Illustrator, and used a blue diode laser cutter to cut and emboss vegetable tanned tooling leather.
I stained the leather and let it dry, then applied a coat of resolene, which will make it water resistant.
I wanted the insert to have RFID blocking capabilities, so I used spray glue to adhere cotton quilting fabric to faraday fabric.
My favorite part of this project was learning a new-to-me edge stitch: triple loop lacing. It took a few tries on scrap leather to get the hang of it, but it was worth it. I love the braided edge look with the heavy waxed thread.
At my Dad’s request, I knotted a macrame utensil holder for his handmade spoons. I used yellow recycled cotton cord from RockMountainCo, and a dowel. I like the geometric pattern made by the alternating rows of square knots.
Technical details: 4mm recycled cotton cord cut into 18 pieces, 90 inches in length, attached to a 1/4 inch dowel with lark’s head knots, then tied with square knots over two core cords in alternating rows. The ends were lashed together in groups of four, then untwisted and combed into tassels.
I found a source of recycled cotton macrame cord from RockMountainCo, based out of Colorado, and some recycled glass beads from our local vintage store, The Haps. The combination of recycled/upcycled materials seemed very appropriate to make macrame hanging plant holders requested by my sister.
I found that my bag twining loom works well to hold macrame in progress, and to display the finished piece.
Technical details: I cut 8 lengths of 4mm cord 99 inches long, folded them in half through a welded metal ring, lashed the strands together with 30 inches of cord, made four half-knot twisted sections with 15 knots on either side of the bead, then three sets of offset square knots to make the body of the holder, finishing with another 30 inches of cord to lash the strands together at the bottom.
In macrame, when making a half-square knot twist, the two center cords function as a core, and don’t get knotted, so the outer knotted cords get short and the middle don’t. To balance this and make the most of the cordage, I used a bead to interrupt the pattern and switch the outer and inner cords. By making the same number of knots above and below the bead, the cords end up the same length. A little macrame trick for those that read this far.
I started this large macrame hanging back in October of 2024. This basically qualifies as a throwback Thursday post, except that this project has been in progress suspension for over a year due to indecision. It has been hanging in a hallway and I’ve passed it daily during the last year. Many possibilities have gone through my head, and I’ve done a few knots, but a concrete plan never coalesced. I finally just wanted it done so I could organize my small instruments that have been living in a box in the closet. I decided to just knot a mesh of offset square knots on the right, similar to the two layer open side pockets on the left. As I started the net pattern, I decided that there should be different spacing between row to accommodate different sized instruments. It turned out perfect for my flutes, whistles, and recorders. I’d like to say I planned it for that, but really I was just desperate for it to be done and the knot pattern was the easiest path.
I’m glad the hanging is now doing its job and not sitting idle in the hallway. I would absolutely do the macrame mesh again for a different storage project, especially for long stock, such as spoons. Hm.
Happy Thanksgiving. May your projects result in satisfying completion.
Critters and Craft 