Miscellaneous March 1

I did a few projects in March that didn’t merit a post, but for which I have some photos to show. There ended up being 4 so I’ve split them up into two posts. Let’s start with the one that definitely worked out: a tooth!

embroidery floss amigurumi tooth from front embroidery floss amigurumi tooth from back

Ages ago I asked on the ReveDreams Facebook page for items I could crochet out of embroidery floss, and my aunt suggested a tooth. There it is at long last. It has only two roots mostly because it’s a pain to work that small, with the reverse-engineered rationale that this way, it can sit on the edge of something.

Second, one that I completed but that really didn’t work out so well: a pair of slippers. If you have a Ravelry account you can see more of the saga on my project page for these, but long story short, after a good deal of effort to resize these, they are a bit loose and not at all the same size as each other. Crochet chain shoelaces mitigate the problem but don’t quite fix it.

finished slippers, unlaced finished slippers with laces

One thing I would consider doing again, though, is adding loops of yarn to the perimeter of a felt sole for ease of sewing it to the bottom of crochet slippers. That way I could use a blunt needle, and should the sole wear out it will be easier to remove and replace than it would be if I’d used a sharp needle to sew it directly on. That’s 3D fabric paint on the bottom, my attempt to add traction. It works better than I expected but we’ll see how well it lasts (likewise the loops of yarn, some of which appear to be pulling out already).

slipper soles showing yarn on edge slipper soles, sewn onto slippers

Bis morgens!

Barbershop Quartet Day crochet

This post is dedicated to the Champaign-Urbana Sweet Adelines chorus, Toast of Champaign.

Tomorrow is Barbershop Quartet Day, the 76th anniversary of a Tulsa songfest considered the beginning of the Barbershop Harmony Society. I’ve never celebrated, but it is nevertheless close to my heart because I grew up with barbershop music. My mother has been in a Sweet Adelines chorus (and sometimes quartets) throughout my life, and through her I heard many choruses and quartets, male and female. The latest Sweet Adeline Queens of Harmony are a young quartet called LoveNotes, but the big name when I was listening a lot was Ambiance. I believe I’ve seen them live; I know I saw Joker’s Wild and The Gas House Gang — I have the cassettes to prove it.

The latest music to hit my ears was from this gang:

Sluggos singing barbershop harmony
Be sure it’s true when you say “I love you;” it’s a sin to tell a lie…

If you have your own quartet, only lacking a barber pole, a pattern is below, in time to make for any of your Barbershop Quartet Day celebrations. It may be made with stripes in up to four colors. The one above is two white and two red stripes, but it would also be traditional to have two white, one red, and one blue stripe, with the white stripes separating the red and blue. The store has a name your price pdf of this pattern that not only prints more nicely, but also includes a 6-stranded version so you can make cheerful candy sticks, and instructions to use either the 4 or 6 stranded version for a lip balm cozy, pen case, or reading glasses sleeve.

spiral lip balm cozies spiral pen cases

Continue reading Barbershop Quartet Day crochet

Baby animals for spring

I used to crochet in embroidery floss much more than in yarn, and have a desire to try all my patterns in floss. Here are the thumbnail animals:

embroidery floss hippo and pig from ReveDreams.com

They were stitched with six-stranded embroidery floss and a size 4 steel hook (2 mm). One skein of floss (8 m/8.7 yd) made one animal, with plenty left over. I used some small beads to weight their back ends, and a tiny bit of stuffing for the rest. Each one is about two inches long.

embroidery floss hippo from ReveDreams.com embroidery floss pig from ReveDreams.com

The hippo’s little ears don’t want to show up, so I think I would add a chain to each were I to make another. Otherwise I’m very pleased by the translation. Spider Plant likes them too.