A Square a Day

I've been trying to hook a square a day on the handbag (well, maybe it's been more like a square every other day). There's something pleasing about filling in the grid, and it's easy to see the progress being made. It's been nice using just the leftover strips - in a way I have to think about color a little more.
And look at this sweet rabbit! Being petless at the moment, I can't resist cute animal shots. This is Tai Pae, my sister Jenny's new rabbit. Jenny raises angora rabbits and uses their fur for yarn. She's an amazing weaver, spinner, felter, and knitter.

Thinking of you, Dad

Remembering my father today and through the weekend with lots of love.

A Bag Full of Leftovers

I originally thought I'd hook my Kandinsky's circles handbag using primarily red wools. But then I looked at this basket of leftover and unused wool strips...

and decided it was time I empty that basket a bit. I'm now hooking the circles bag using only leftover strips. So far, it's coming along fine. The striped section will be the bottom of the bag.

the rain stopped

No rain yet today and the outdoors are looking more colorful, like this rug. This was the third hooked rug I made. It's no house in particular, just made up. The inspiration came from Paul Klee's "White House" painting and also antique hooked rugs with houses that often seem to have unusual shapes and motifs swirling round them. This rug gets tramped on daily in my living room. The photo is actually a scan of a small resized photo and so it's pretty grainy. I just can't find the cd with the original pic and I'm feeling too lazy to take a new one. I'll replace the pic when I find the original.

Preparing for the Farmers Market Season

Over the past week I've been practicing my crochet stitches and started a real project. Here's the beginnings of a string bag. Hey, have to start easy! The yarn I'm using is Samoa Mouline, a 50% cotton/50% acrylic. My town is finally going to have a farmers market-no more commuting around to get to a market. The market starts June 15. I think I'll have time to finish it by then and will soon bike to the market and shop in style. The bottom photo is the finished bag from "First Crochet Projects for Beginners" by Lesley Stanfield.

Hook of a Different Kind

Saturday I rode my bike over to The Knitting Room in Arlington to take a 2 hr. beginning crochet class. I probably shouldn't have had so much coffee before going! Anyway, here's my very beginner attempts at single and double crochet. It was easier than knitting, which I'm hopelessly bad at. This morning I experimented free form which resulted in the little scallop corkscrew. I ended up getting the "Stitch 'n Bitch" crochet book because the directions and drawings are very clear. I decided to try crochet because I wanted something I could easily take to work. My work space tends to spread with rug hooking and embroidery so they don't quite work at work. I'm going to practice a bit more and then decide on a simple project.

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion

Over the weekend I heard Bowie songs in 3 different places while out and about. Somehow that naturally turned my mind to fashion - and I thought, "why not turn the dyed-skein-gone-bad into fashion?" Could this semi-felted neck gaiter be a next fall trend? Well, I just couldn't discard this poor skein. What can I do with it? Trying to felt it more seems like too much work. Could it be needle felted? Hmm, it could make a fashionable bird nest.