Home, owls and cables….

We’re back home from South Carolina…

I had a great time hanging out with my daughter, spending time in our lovely condo,  and visiting extended family (mother’s side of the family). Saturday we retuned to Maryland. It’s good to be home. 

Trees near Lake Marion 1

This is what I saw each morning, it was right outside our condo in South Carolina, so many trees. I felt as though I was back in Maryland! Our little community, in Maryland, is surrounded by trees, lots of green grass, and plenty of wildlife too; deer, squirrel, rabbits, and the elusive raccoon, and the shy red fox. In my early twenties I lived in the city, and while I enjoy it… I much prefer the country.

But back to my vacation… I didn’t get to take a picture of the crocheted hat I made for my four-year old cousin’s Dora doll, but that’s ok. Lord willing, I’ll be seeing her at Thanksgiving, and I’ll be sure to take pictures of whatever quick project I whip up for her then. I must say it was nice receiving compliments on my needle work. My family is direct, so they won’t be telling me something is nice, if it looks like crap. Many of the people in my family do some type of craft. So they get that it can take time to master a technique and make it look “easy”.

It was especially nice hearing the compliments from one of my Aunts, who’s an amazing seamstress.  She’s my favorite aunt; we’re only nine years apart. My mom is fourteen years older than she. Anyway she’s had her work featured in boutiques and local design shows (just like me). She “gets” the fact that many people don’t grasp how much time it takes to make a good handcrafted garment. The time it takes to make an item, designing, materials, and actually making the item needs to factor into the final price That is… if you want people to take your skills (or others) seriously. That fact alone, is one of the many reasons  I‘ve never place my designs in the regular stores.

But back to my aunt, She’s interested enough in crochet and knitting to try it out herself. I figured she would be, she asked a lot of questions while I was making the knitted cable bag, and the crocheted hat for my cousins Dora doll. And will be following up with me in a few weeks, so I can point her to online video tutorials. She said, she’s already thought of ways she could incorporate both into her clothing designs. I told her I do the same thing… How cool is that!

Knitted; Playing with cables; knitted owl cable hat

Yesterday, I did get a chance to work on knitting cables. I cast on 90 stitches, and knitted my daughter a cable hat, the way the cables were placed resemble an owl. The hat is so cute, once it’s been washed, I’ll take pictures. I started with a freestanding knitted cable owl first, before I moved onto the hat. My daughter decorated that owl with buttons for eyes, and one of my jewelry beads for a nose. I’ll be sure to post pictures of that owl also.

I guess you could say, knitting anything with cables, is my thing to do right now. Sort of how crochet amigurumi was something I was doing a while back. I get like that, I go through phases when I do one particular thing a lot, for a variety of reason. With the crocheted amigurumis, it was something new, so I wanted to get a good grasp on it before moving onto other things. With knitted cables, those are something I’ve done for years, but I didn’t do too many elaborate cables, so for the past few weeks, I’ve been changing that, stepping up my game with cables because in the back of my mind, I’ll be making the knitted Sylvi coat sometime this fall.

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Teeni

The owl cable hat sounds pretty neat. I can’t wait to see how the cables look like owls. I have to say that cables are one of my favorite things to knit because they look so complicated and beautiful in design but really are not that technically difficult. I’m glad you had a good vacation with family. You know it’s funny because I am 14 years older than my niece and very close to her so I totally get the “favorite aunt” thing. I did not know your mom was so young. My sister was also very young when she had my niece. Does anyone else in your family blog and share their creativity online? Would love to see some of your aunt’s work too! 🙂
Teeni recently posted..Green Eggs and Spam

Jennifer

Sounds like you had a great time!!! A condo sounds lovely right about now! It’s been a rough few weeks, sigh! Can’t wait to see the hat, too!!!
Jennifer recently posted..Tap, Tap, Tap…Is THIS THING ON?

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[…] During our vacation, we spotted this inquisitive little sweetie while exiting the pool.  […]

[…] loved the hat so much that I made a cowl. With the cowl I used a different stitch to make the knitted owl cables, I wasn’t as pleased with this cable results, but my daughter loves her cowl. I added a lacy […]

Allison@Shop Jovani Dresses

I think it’s great you have an aunt that understands your craft well and the time and effort that goes into making things. I have an aunt like this myself – though she’s not a writer, she appreciates all my work and is extremely proud knowing how much I put into it. She always struggled with writing, so she knows how difficult it can be to produce quality work.