Crochet Pink Dress:
So much more progress since last time!
The back, front, and both sleeves are complete! They are folded neatly and awaiting being sewn together. Meanwhile, onto the decoration!
The decoration consists of 22 pink and blue crocheted flowers. Once I completed a couple of “practice” rings, I felt good about how they were looking. I completed all the pink rings that were needed, placing them in a small zip-top bag. That way I didn’t need to keep counting the rings to know how many were done and how many still needed to be completed. I knew that when all the rings were used up, enough flowers had been made. In the zip-top bag I had the rings, the yarn, a scissor, and crochet hook. This made this project even more portable than before. Working on it here, there, and everywhere that I went. I was able to complete all the flowers.
I expect to be finished by next week and am looking forward to sharing the final reveal with you.
Hobby Horse:
In my last Workbasket post I told you all about this pattern and the yarn that I used on this project. I didn’t mention weaving in the loose ends of all the various colors on the interior of the hobby horse. That is because I didn’t. I figured that no one would ever see them.
Making the I-cords
Years ago, friend Daisy of La Tejadora Crafts told me that she doesn’t like making French knots while embroidering. She replaces all French knots with seed beads. I don’t enjoy making I-cords because they are too fiddly. What I like to do instead is Lucet braiding. Less moving parts, easy, & fun.
Lucet Braiding
The back story:
Back in February 2017, before this blog began, several friends and I took a train to Tacoma Washington for the Madrona Fiber Festival. The Poison Caramel Apple scarf was started on this train ride (it was eventually finished June 2018). Red Alder Fiber Festival has since superseded Madrona.
I was introduced to lucet braiding at the Madrona fiber festival. I had signed up for an all day class. It was something that I really wasn’t interested in. At the lunch break I got to talking with Pam, one of Daisy’s other friends. Pam had been in a lucet braiding class in the morning. She was interested in the class that I didn’t care for, so we traded. She gave me her lucet with an instruction card and I “gave” her the afternoon portion of my class.
Pam told me the lucet was called a “cat’s butt” because when turned upside down, that is what it resembles.
How to use the Lucet:
I could go in to a long and convoluted explanation of how to use a lucet… or I could give you a YouTube video by Heart Hook Home that would make much more sense.
Back to the lucet braided “I-cords”
To make the reins of the horse, I used the purple yarn doubled. It was so fun and easy that before I knew it I had achieved the whole 36″ inches.
The drawstring is 18 inches long, made from single thick red yarn.
Using a yarn needle, I threaded the drawstring through the eyelet round. I had Polyfil left over from some previous project. I used the Polyfill to stuff the head. Then tied the red cord in a bow.
Following the instructions to create the halter and reins with the purple cord, was a little confusing to me. Once complete, the halter moved around more than I liked. To correct that, I took additional purple yarn and “tied” it down at each side, the top, & the bottom.
Back to the construction
To make the mane, the pattern called for 72 – 8″ long strands of turquoise yarn. To attach the mane, 2 pieces of yarn were back stitched over at a time. Starting at the beginning of the orange pattern and ending at end of green/white pattern. I had to cut an additional 6 pieces of yarn to finish.
This basically completes this project. Except for the stick and the wheels. G.pa DW’s turn! 🙂
That’s all for now. See you next week!
