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.
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.
