Showing posts with label Crochet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crochet. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Yarn Bombing My Neighbor Part II

The other evening, my kids wanted to go an visit our neighbor, Kathryn.

Specifically, my kids wanted to swing on her tire swing and pet Kathryn's dog.  We had a very nice time chatting with Kathryn and other neighbors, petting Kathryn's slightly nervous pooch, swinging on the tire, etc... when Kathryn mentioned that she'd been looking for a traditional, wooden swing to add to the other side of the tree. 

I had one in the garage.  Still in it's box. 

I was overcome by the need to own it while at IKEA a few months ago, wishing I had a tree large enough to hang it in, and figuring I'd make a frame or hang it from the porch, or SOMETHING... and for $15... I had to have it.  So there it sat, languishing in the garage-- a sad, terrible existence for a swing.

Seriously.  That's about the saddest thing I can think of right now... poor swing!

After some time messing with too short ropes and the subsequent finding of longer ones (that I had ALSO purchased with the intention of somehow hanging a swing... GEEZ! What is WRONG with me?!?), there are now TWO swings in Kathryn's yard.

Except that... except that... well... after we decided to move the tire swing on the other side of the tree (in  order to give the wooden swing more clearance), when we re-hung it, the whitewalls on the tire weren't showing on the street side, and Kathryn much preferred it that way. 

So, I jokingly mentioned that she really shouldn't worry about it, because I'd more than likely come over one night and paint a mural on it or something... But our other neighbor very nicely, and only half smirkingly re-hung the swing with the whitewalls in their proper location.

But still.  I had a plan.

TIRE SWING YARN BOMB


I had wanted to do this under cover of darkness for a surprise in the morning kind of a thing... but I went over to take measurements for the tire in the dark that same night, and it was pretty clear to me that there was NO WAY I was going to be able to attach this thing to the tire without light. 

So, I hung it in the day time, thinking she wasn't home. 

She was.

She came outside to see us (my kids were swinging again), and was utterly delighted... She was even happier that she was there to SEE it being done.  So... YAY!


I made it by making a line of granny squares a little bit shorter than the circumference of the tire.  I wanted to have to stretch it tight, so that it wouldn't be loose and kids could still swing.  The sides are made of simple, striped rows, decreasing stitches in each row so that the whole thing formed a donut when the ends were stitched together on site.

I was a HUGE relief when the thing actually FIT.  
 

 

It was NOT a huge relief to see the black widow in the interior of the tire halfway through the sewing.

She was really pretty and ultra creepy and spidery looking- with the scarlet-red hourglass shape of the Black Widow on her abdomen.  Creepy, man.  Oh, did I already say that?

She is now at the bottom of Kathryn's vacuum cleaner.  One just can't have a tire swing full of Black Widows. 


The kids mostly took turns swinging, and there was only one episode where one screamed loudly at the other to the point that momma had to threaten them with going home.



 

But that's how it goes.


 


And now, whenever I turn the corner into my neighborhood, there is this charming tire catching my eye.... 

And Kathryn, who has been a PEACH for the past 11 years has a fun, new swing.  Well, TWO, really...


Friday, July 6, 2012

Nyan Cat Amigurumi PATTERN!


FINALLY!  I got it done. 

Now... Who will be the first to test this bad boy?  I've worked it twice from my instructions, and it isn't the easiest thing ever, but if you have any Ami experience, you should be able to make your own!  Enjoy!

You can download a PDF on Google Docs...

Or...

Here it is:


NYAN CAT AMIGURUMI PATTERN
(by Julianna McDuffie)

STUFF YOU NEED

  • Yarn in a rainbow of colors as pictured. (I used mostly Red Heart Soft and Bernat Satin)
  • Felt for the face
  • Sequins
  • Poly-fill or yarn ends for stuffing
  • Size E or F hook
  • Hot-glue gun/glue
  • Tapestry needle
STITCHES USED
  • Chain
  • HDC (Half Double Crochet)
  • SS (Slip Stitch)
  • Bobble Stitch
  • Whipstitch for joining pieces
  • DC BOBBLE STITCH:  YO, insert hook into next stitch, pull through 1 loop YO, Pull through 2 loops. (2 loops on hook). YO, insert hook (in same stitch), YO, pull up a loop, YO, pull through 1 loop, YO, pull through 2 loops (3 loops on hook). YO, insert hook (in same stitch), YO, pull up a loop, YO, pull through 1 loop, YO, pull through 2 loops, YO pull through all 4 loops.
  • HDC SHELL STITCH:  4 HDC all in one stitch.


************************************************************

POP TART BODY

CH 20

Row 1: SC in second Chain from hook. SC across. Working on the opposite side of the foundation chain, continue to SC across in the remaining chain loops, forming an in the round pocket. Join with SS in top of the first HDC in the row. (36 stitches)

Row 2-12: CH 2 (counts as first SC), SC around. (36 stitches)

Row 13: Flattening the piece, join front and back sides together with SS for 8 or 10 stitches. Stuff lightly (it’s a Pop-Tart, not a beach ball!). Continue to SS join front and back sides across. (18 stitches).


POP TART EDGING

(Note: The edging shells may not work out perfectly evenly– especially the Round 2. You may need to add or subtract a shell to hit the corners properly. Not a big deal. There’s enough excess ruffle here – on purpose -- that it won’t be a problem, and no one will notice. The most important thing is to be sure to set up your corners IN THE CORNER on Round One. In Round Two, the corner should be made in Round One’s chain 2 spaces. Yeah. My math skills aren’t great.)

Round 1:

Join Beige Yarn at the top left corner of the closed pop Tart.

1st CORNER: CH 2 (counts as first SC) and SC in same stitch. CH 2, 2 SC again in same stitch. 1st Corner made.

LEFT SIDE: SC across to Corner.

CORNER: (2 SC, CH 2, 2 SC) all in corner stitch.

BOTTOM: SC across to Corner.

CORNER: (2 SC, CH2, 2 SC) all in corner stitch.

RIGHT SIDE: SC across to Corner.

CORNER: (2 SC, CH2, 2 SC) all in corner stitch.

TOP: SC across to 1st Corner made. Join with SS in first SC. (continued…..)

Round 2: (Changing to HDC here…)

Slip Stitch to 1st Corner CH 2 Space. All in the same CH 2 space: Ch2 (counts as first HDC), 3HDC, CH 2, HDC Shell.

LEFT SIDE: Skip 2, *HDC Shell, skip 2* across, ending 2 or 3 stitches away from corner CH2 space.

CORNER: In the corner CH2 space, (HDC Shell, CH 2, HDC Shell).

BOTTOM: Skip 2, *HDC Shell, skip 2* across, ending 2 or 3 stitches away from corner CH2 space.

CORNER: In the corner CH2 space, (HDC Shell, CH 2, HDC Shell).

RIGHT SIDE: Skip 2, *HDC Shell, skip 2* across, ending 2 or 3 stitches away from corner CH2 space.

CORNER: In the corner CH2 space, (HDC Shell, CH 2, HDC Shell).

TOP To End: Skip 2, *4HDC in next loop (shell), skip 2* across, ending/joining with a SS in top of first HDC. Weave in all ends.


THE KITTY BITS

HEAD - worked in the round

Round 1: CH2 (counts as first SC). 7SC in second loop from hook. Join with a SS in top of first SC. (8 stitches)

Round 2: CH2 (counts as first SC). SC in same stitch. *2SC in each stitch* around. Join with SS in top of first SC. (16 stitches)

Round 3: CH2 (counts as first SC). SC in same stitch. *SC in next. 2SC in next* three times (11 stitches to this point). Form a 4 DC Bobble Stitch in next stitch to make the first cheek. (12 stitches to this point). *2SC in next. SC in next* 3 times (21 stitches to this point). 2 SC in Next. In the last stitch of the round, form a 4 DC Bobble stitch for the second cheek. Join with SS in top of first SC. (24 stitches)

Rounds 4 & 5: SC around (24 stitches). Tie off leaving a long tail to stitch to the front of the Pop Tart body. Weave in end of Round 1.

EARS (Joined and stitched directly to the last row of the head)

LEFT EAR, Row 1: Find the joining stitch of the cheek bobble in Row 3 of the head. Move down to last row of the head. Count 4 stitches toward the top of the head. Insert hook in 4th stitch and pull up a loop to join. CH2 (counts as first stitch). SC in same stitch. SC in next (3 stitches).

LEFT EAR Row 2: CH1. Turn. Skip first stitch. SC in next (this is the middle of row 1). (2-ish stitches) Tie off. Weave in ends.

RIGHT EAR, Row 1: Find the joining stitch of the opposite cheek bobble. Move down to last row of the head. Count 2 stitches toward the top of the head. Insert hook in second stitch and pull up a loop to join. CH2 (counts as first stitch). SC in same stitch. SC in next (3 stitches).

RIGHT EAR Row 2: CH1. Turn. Skip first stitch. SC in next (this is the middle of row 1). (2-ish stitches) Tie off. Weave in ends.



LEGS – worked in the round (Make 4)

Round 1: CH2 (counts as first SC), SC 5 times in first loop of CH2. (6 stitches)

Rounds 2-6: CH2 (counts as first SC) SC around. (6 stitches). ALTERNATELY, you could work each leg in a spiral until you reach desired length.

Tie off leaving a bit of tail for stitching to the back of the Pop Tart body. Weave in end from Row 1.


TAIL

Row 1: CH 13. SS in second stitch from hook. SS in next. SK next stitch. SS, SS. SS three times in next stitch. SS, SS. SK next stitch. SS, SS.

Row 2: CH1 (counts as SS). Turn. SS next. SK next. SS, SS. SS three times in next stitch. SS, SS.

SK next. SS, SS. Tie off leaving a bit of tail to stitch to the back of the Pop Tart body. Weave in end from Row 1.

THE RAINBOW

Note: The rainbow is worked as a ripple stitch (think, “ripple afghan”). If you would like to make your Nyan Cat into a long, rainbow scarf, make your initial chain as long as you would like your scarf to be, and then add a few chains for good measure. You can always undo a few loops on the end of the chain to make it “fit” the pattern. Won’t hurt anything, and it’ll be easier than counting in the long run. Plus, I’m bad a math. I may have already said that.


Row 1: WITH RED, Chain 25.


Row 2: Ch 2, Turn (counts as first HDC). HDC in next two chains. *2HDC in next chain. HDC in next 3 chains. Decrease in next by (HDC 2 chains together). HDC in next 3 chains.* across.

Row 3: SKIP 1st stitch, Repeat Row 2, using ORANGE.

Row 4: : SKIP 1st stitch Repeat Row 2, using YELLOW.

Row 5: : SKIP 1st stitch Repeat Row 2, using GREEN.

Row 6: : SKIP 1st stitch Repeat Row 2, using BLUE.

Row 7: : SKIP 1st stitch Repeat Row 2, using PURPLE.

Weave in all ends.


FINISHING


1.) Working from the front, join Head to bottom right-hand corner of Pop Tart, using the long tail to whipstitch. Hide your stitches as much as possible, and leave the ears “free” so that they can stick out a little and move. Stuff the head with Poly-Fil when you are ¾ of the way closed. Finish whip stitching the head to the body and weave in the ends. Note: I chose to join the head all the way into the corner, even sewing directly to the Pop-Tart fringe in the corner, but it’s your call.

2.) Working from the back of the Pop Tart, join Legs, (let the bottom row of Pop Tart pink as your guide), using the long tails to whipstitch legs to body. Weave in ends. I started with one leg all the way in each of the bottom corners, and then placed leg three directly next to leg one, and leg four directly next to leg one, leaving a belly-space between each set of legs.

3.) Working from the back of the Pop Tart, join Tail to the upper right-hand corner (you are opposite the head on the from side, right?), using the right hand side of the Pop Tart Pink as a guide. Do not sew to the Pop Tart Fringe to keep the movement.

4.) Working from the back of the Pop Tart, and using pink Pop-Tart yarn, join RAINBOW vertically down the right-hand side of the Pink Pop Tart, one row over from the end/edging so as not to overlap the tail.

5.) Cut facial features from felt and hot glue. I kept with the theme and made everything but the cheeks square, like pixels. I tried square cheeks as well, but just thought circular cheeks added to the overall cuteness factor.

6.) Randomly hot-glue sequins on the pink of the Pop Tart. Fly through the sky…..



NyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNyaNya….

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

GOSH! Napoleon Dynamite Amigurumi


Napoleon:  It took me like three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip. It's probably the best drawing I've ever done.



Napoleon: Tina, you fat lard, come get some dinner.




Napoleon:  I caught you a delicious Bass.



D-Qwon: Welcome to D-Qwon's Dance Moves.  Are you ready to get your groove on?
Napoleon: Yessss.



Napoleon: Who are you?
Lafawnduh: I'm Lafawnduh.
Napoleon: What are you doing here?
Lafawnduh: I'm waiting for Kip.
Napoleon: Kip?
Lafawnduh: Why are you so sweaty?
Napoleon: I've been practicing.
Lafawnduh: Practicing what?
Napoleon: Some dance moves.



Holy Hannah, I love that movie.
  
Kitchy Goodness.  Another custom order to be shipped to Niagara Falls Toot-Sweet.  Am gonna have to make one for myself as well, if I can bring myself to cut out all those teeny letters again. 

 Just for funsies, here is a list of Things I Tried while making the "Vote For Pedro" t-shirt:
  • Sewing it with yarn (not good enough)
  • Nicer embroidery (yeah.... not my forte)
  • considered an iron-on (didn't have any on hand),
  • toyed with just writing it on white fabric to sew on (again, not good enough)....
....and then! I remembered how Lindsay over at Filth Wizardry makes these awesome iron-ons out of plastic bags (she DOES! It's so cool!), and I tried that, too--- writing on a white plastic bag with red Sharpie and ironing it to a test swatch (ok... I tried it like, 5,000 times), but, alas! When ironed, the red Sharpie faded to fuchsia, which made me kinda sad. And slightly bummed. Then I tried printing out the logo on a piece of paper and sandwiching THAT in between two pieces of clear plastic. It WORKED, but was a little too thick for my liking.  for THIS project, anyway.  I'm totally going to try that again for something else.

(Have I ever mentioned that I can be a bit of a perfectionist? No? Mmmm. It's true. To the point of making myself insane, really... it's a tossup as to whether it's a good quality or not.)

So the only thing I had on-hand (that I could think of) as some Heat-N-Bond iron-on fusible stuff. The kind that you aren't supposed to sew. The kind that is really tough once ironed. I also had a bit of red satin left over from Miss M's Snow White costume a few years back.

And here's the really fun part..... did you know you can PRINT on Heat-N-Bond???

You Totally Can.

I found the "Vote for Pedro" logo on the web, reversed the lettering as I would to print a regular t-shirt iron-on, sized it to fit my Napoleon t-shirt, cut out a 4"x6" swatch of Heat-N-Bond and ran that baby through my ink jet printer. Then I fused the Heat -N-Bond to my red satin and cut out a much of it as I could. With tiny fabric scissors. For a loooooong time. Couldn't get the interior of the "P"s, though. Too tiny! It isn't perfect, but it's the best I can do.

Although, I think if I make one of these for myself, I will probably go the easier route and just do it with a regular iron-on, even if it won't look as nice. I'm just a big cheapskate, and geez that took a long time.




GIMME YOUR TOTS!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

F@&$ it, Dude. Let's go Bowling. An Amigurumi Lebowski. The Dude.


As seen on Ravelry...

Yesterday, Miss Julia over at Mommy's Little Monkey asked if I might be able to make "that character from Lebowski"?

To which I replied, "WHICH character? They are ALL crazy characters!"

Turns out, she's never seen 'The Big Lebowski', and while admittedly feels the necessary shame about it, I'm shaming her in public to MAKE her watch.

Go do it, 'k, Julia???

Best.Movie.Ever.

Amirightoramiright?

So. Indeed. The Dude Abides.  In crochet.  In Amigurumi, even.

It was, of course, our hero, The Dude she was looking for. Here he is.







I love how his hair turned out. Pretty Dude-like, if I do say so, myself, and shouldn't.




Bathrobe complete with pockets for your checkbook.

You know... Because you never know when you'll need to write at check to Ralph's for $2.49 for a carton of half & half for your next White Russian.





Also, the comfort sandals. Those are important. Like... for walking on rugs that really tie the room together.




Watch out, Dude, I think Jackie Treehorn just slipped you a Mickey.



Yeah. He TOTALLY did.

Some days you eat the bahr, some days the bahr eats you.





He's a good man. And thorough.

Bottoms up, Dude.

No, there's no pattern.  Sigh. 


I just make this stuff up as I go along.... if you can make your own amigurumis, you can make Lebowski.  It's your basic head/body (although, I do use doubled-over pipe cleaners for arm and leg fillers, so that I can pose 'em), a separate bathrobe and sandals, some hair... felt bits...  it's all in how you put it together, really... and how many White Russians you've had...


Kidding.  I'm not sure I could actually make this while tossing back a few White Russians.  It would probably look more like Walter Sobchak if I did.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Tunisian Crochet (or 'Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks')





I'm not the sort of girl who can just go on doing the same old same old thing over and over and over again. No. I'm not.

I ran into a Tunisian Crochet pin on Pinterest the other day that intrigued me-- I've seen this sort of stitching before, but didn't know how it was done. Was it Knit? Was it Crochet?

Turns out, it's a little bit of both.

It's crochet in the sense that you use a hook, you pull up loops.... And it's knit because you leave pulled up loops on the hook, much as you work with yarn on a needle.

Each row is made up of two "passes"-- on the first pass, you pull up loops across, leaving them on the hook. The second pass involves yarning over and pulling through loops and dropping each stitch off the hook as you go. At the end of the row (the end of the second pass), all loops but one are off the hook.

I learned everything I needed to know over at StitchDiva. Their tutorials are perfect, and the 3-color Tunisian method has crazy potential. In fact, when my mother called me and requested some new cotton dishcloths (she loves the nubby crochet goodness), I knew this was the way to go.




This is the simplest Tunisian stitch (Tunisian is also called "Afghan Stitch", if it looks familiar to you). The vertical bars you see are the loops that you pull through on the first pass. It's very easy to see where you are inserting your hook, and the 3-color method is even easier, as each step has a single color thread to work with. So--- on one pass, you are working only with color A, on the second pass, you are yarning over with color B. Beginning row 2, you introduce color C, and just leave all the colors waiting for you at the end of the row. No joining at the end of each row... the colors are right where you left them.

It's like magic, I tell you.





This is the front of a 3-color piece that I made this morning. I like to use two solid colored yarns (here shown in lilac and brown) and one variegated yarn (here, a green/white mix).





And the BACK is what makes it perfect for my mother's nubby dishcloth needs. Very nubby. Almost scrubby, even. Looks quite similar to the reverse side of a knit piece, actually.





And speaking of knit.... This cloth was made using a stitch that mimics a traditional knit stitch so closely, I'm not sure I'd be able to tell the difference. But I didn't use knitting needles. I used a crochet hook.

There ARE special hooks for Tunisian crochet.... They are much longer than a traditional crochet hook, and have a stopper at the end, much like a knitting needle.... But I didn't use them for these samples. I found that it was easy enough to keep up to 30 stitches on my traditional crochet hook without even trying. Won't need to special order an Afghan hook, or even head out to my local yarn store until I decide to make something larger. Although, knowing me, it won't be too long until I do just that.





Front and back of the Simple Tunisian Stitch. It's worth noting that you want to use LARGE hooks with Tunisian crochet, otherwise, it's just too tight. It seems too loose as you are working the first pass, but with the second, you are adding two more strands,so it works out. For these samples, the recommended hook size for the cotton yarn was a US size H/8 (5mm). I ended us using a US J/10 (6.00.mm) for the Tunisian stitches, and switched to the H for the traditional crochet borders.





Now. If I can just convince someone to weave in all those ends for me, I'll be set.


What have YOU learned or taught yourself lately? Hmmm?

Friday, February 24, 2012

Nyan Cat Amigurumi (ALMOST with a Pattern)

Nyanyanyanyan.....

(Just found this post which I started in JANUARY! Been a little busy around here, whoa.)

I have children. I think I've mentioned that once or twice before.  My Nine-year old is ridiculously computer savvy and probably a little too interested in things like Internet memes and Minecraft and Linux Servers and that sort of thing.

Friday, September 16, 2011

The Wizard of Oz and Rainbow Blankets


My little girl, who is in LOVE with the old Tom & Jerry cartoons recently saw a new (?) Tom & Jerry TV movie, which was not just LOOSELY based on The Wizard of Oz, it totally WAS The Wizard of Oz, with all the original music (minus 'Over the Rainbow'... too expensive to licence, I'm sure). 

It was Terrible.  You'll note the capital "T".

I could NOT allow that to stand in her memory as THE "Wizard of Oz", so I quickly remedied the situation with our own Blu-Ray copy of the 70th Anniversary restored Release.

Phew. That was a close one.

She was soon signing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with the best of them, and I couldn't be prouder. 

I'm a big fan of WOO from waaaaaay back.  I even read all the original books as a kid.  Several times. 

Although, even then, I understood that there was something wrong with the way Baum characterized the "Hottentots", though, so I won't actually be encouraging my kids to read it.  He was a bit of a Jerk, actually.  Yeah.  So there's that. 


With "Over the Rainbow" ringing in our ears, and a recent request that I make her a blanket.... well.... you can see what happened next:



It's a Rainbow Blanket!


Milla Loves it. 

I used this pattern, but only as a template...

There are 9 colors in this one, and the pattern/repeat goes like this: 

Three rows of each color (dc)
Two rows of each color (dc)
One row of each color (dc)
Two rows of each color (dc)

I was going to do another repeat of the 3 rows of each color, but we decided it was already big enough, and in the end, I kind of like that it ISN'T perfectly symmetrical.

Took me a little over a week and a half to finish, and I've probably sat through The Wizard of Oz 127 times all told.  No, I'm not exaggerating.   

OK.  Maybe a just a little. 




And now, if you'll excuse me...

I have to go and make a Dorothy Halloween Costume.  Size 4. 

And maybe one in my size, too....


Friday, April 15, 2011

The Nest


You've seen me mention it before in passing. I'm a little embarrassed about it, and yet I love it.

Welcome to the "Nest" that lives beside my place on the sofa.

This is where small bits of thread ends are (sometimes) gathered in a small bowl. I'll be honest though... More often, they are just left strewn where they fell.

It's a place that is constantly evolving, littered with design ideas, mis-starts, mis-fits and works in progress.

It's a place that beckons me to sit and pick up my scratched up needles (I crochet on ROCKS, for Pete's Sake), as long as it's not too messy, in which case, I'll happily ignore it for awhile (at least until visitors are coming, and my mid-western upbringing requires that I put it all away, and we can start again, tomorrow).

(Note to self: Remember to give S. those crochet books from the library...)

Today, I made 5 pebbles, some for my friend who sent the thread, and some to sell at Buena Creek Gardens:


It's getting to the "too messy" stage, right now, in fact, but I think I'll ignore it at least until tomorrow.

Might be able to get one more good day out of it before I have to force myself into cleaning mode.

And I'm wondering... Do you have one, too?


/Julianna

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A Parcel from the Past


I am SO remiss in posting this lovely and precious thing... Sometimes life gets in the way of what I'd rather be doing.... Doctors Appointments for the young Master (he's doing SO WELL! No Heart Caths this year! Yay, TEAM!), Cleaning for the imminent arrival of my mother (my mother puts Martha to shame... it's TRUE), A slew of cupcakes and a 4th birthday party for Miss Thing, etc, etc, etc...

Remember this?

A very thoughtful and kind woman found me on Etsy and thought that maybe I could use her vintage thread collection, as she was no longer able to use it herself, and hated the thought of it just ending up in the garbage somewhere.   It is the collection of two dear ladies, and my friend even included samples of the ladies' work. Oh! So Cool!

Anyway, I couldn't help myself. 

In the midst of all my planning, list writing, cleaning, and the picking up/dropping off of small people, I spent about an hour photographing the box of lovelies, drooling over their variegations, their paper bindings, labels, wooden spools and price tags (15 cents!).  And then....

Well... then, reality hit me. 

My mother was arriving the very next day, and Holy Hannah, was my house ever a mess. 

It really was. 

So with a sad, sad heart, I very neatly re-packed the thread, and put it back in the box.  But, I left the open box on the table so that I could enjoy it for a few days.  I'll have you know that a postal box of vintage thread looks very nice with a bouquet of Alstroemeria from the garden.

I actually kept a bitty spool out and put it in my "nest"-- you know... that place beside the couch where the thread and pebbles live? Yeah.  That "Nest".  I've mentioned it before-- And I picked up that bitty spool later that night and I made a bitty curious pebble.  But I broke the thread at the very end, because I was pulling it too tight.  But!  I have since had success with another bitty pebble and another bitty spool and will post that very soon. 

Enjoy the thread riot...



A peek of pink/white tatted lace (upper left) and the purple edging of a
handkerchief swatch just below... Samples from the past...