Fir Cone Lace Shell

Last but not least, I am actually making something for myself! This was inspired by my friend Melissa's idea of knitting a nice shell to wear under a suit or with a skirt for work. I came upon this beautiful Vermont Fiber Arts pattern (one of my favorite designers, all patterns cover PLUS SIZES!). Then I got some wonderful pale sage green Debbie Bliss pure silk yarn, and I think it will be beautiful when finished. Of course I may be retired by then and not need work clothes....

New Baby Sweater set

I have a new nephew on the way, and he has a sister who is 2 but will be 3 soon. I wanted to make them matching outfits. So I found this nice, simple pattern for a chenille sweater set. I adjusted the 6 month size to be 3 months. I found some great hand-dyed chenille yarn, and I chose blue for the boy and pink for the girl -- corny, I know, but there ya go. Here is the pattern:

Here is the yarn:

Sophia's Baptism Gown

This is my new niece Sophia in the gown I made for her Baptism. It is a Leisure Arts leaflet, now out of print, I think. I like long baptism gowns that cascade over the arm of the person holding the baby, so I added two extra flounces to the bottom of the original pattern. I also changed the sleeves to be flared angel sleeves instead of short puffed sleeves, because we didn't know if Sophia would be a boy or a girl! The details aren't terribly clear in this photo, I'll post a new one as the baby pictures are distributed.

Bobbin Lace Book Plate Frame

I have a beautiful, leather-bound, metallic cover stamped, boxed edition of Lord of The Rings by JRR Tolkien. I put my nice book plate inside the front cover, but it needed something to make it special. So I took a torchon bobbin lace pattern and resized it so the central rectangle precisely frames the book plate and the outer edge is 0.25" from the book cover edges. It came out well, and once I have it mounted, I'll post the complete photo.

For My Friend Melissa

Starting my lace and needlework blog for my friend Melissa. It will have my knitting, crocheting, tatting and bobbin lace work. So, here we go!

I think all the time about projects. I like to make something unusal or special about every project I plan. I keep a design book with a record of all my schtuff: thread/yarn samples, drawings, pattern copy, etc. Sometimes I change a pre-published pattern, sometimes I follow the pattern exactly but use an usual thread or yarn choice, sometimes I make up the whole thing. Even when I'm working, I'm thinking about color combinations, stitch combinations, and my next conquest.