Off the needle: Crewel Rabbits

I started stitching these rabbits several years ago and had only 2 left to finish...not sure why I stopped. But this week I pulled out the project and surprised myself by finishing them all. The kit is from Carolyn Barranni's company Tapis-Tree.

Unlike in the photo above, I've mounted the pieces on off-white pinked-edged wool felt using a chain stitch in size 5 pink perle cotton thread. I've hung them in the windows of my china cabinet.

Off the shuttle: tatted bookmark

The pattern is Mary Konior's "Black Magic" from Tatting with Visual Patterns. The thread is Marlee Rockley's hand-dyed size 20 in "Garden Afternoon" colorway.

Off the needles: Flamingo Scarf

The pattern is from Morehouse Farm. The bird's head and body are Plymouth Encore and the beak and legs are Corntastic, a corn-based fiber (both newly purchased...so much for depleting old stash). This was a fun project, mostly garter stitch so it went really fast. Obviously, it's a fashion statement, not a scarf for warmth!

Off the hook: draft stopper

Basically a large stuffed tube of single crochet. The yarn is from old stash: Red Heart worsted weight acrylic; colorway is Pinata.

Off the needles: 2 scarves for 2 little girls

These 2 scarves are for a friend's daughters. The caterpillar scarf is for the younger one who loves all things pink. The pattern is another Morehouse Farm critters scarves pattern. The yarn is from my very old stash. It's Unger's Roly-Poly acrylic yarn from Belgium.




The older girl likes purple and spiders. I call the design "Six Secret Spiders" because the spiders knitted into the stockinette background are rather subtle.



I used a graph from a mitten pattern I found online and picked out the spiders in purl stitches. If you hold the scarf from a little distance, you can make out the spiders, but if you look closely, they seem to fade into the other stitches. The yarn is one strand of Deborah Norville "Serenity" sport weight and one strand of Lion Brand Microspun. Both have a very soft hand. I was so concentrated on getting the spider chart right that I forgot how much stockinette edges roll. Even light ironing didn't stop this tendency completely so I added a crochet edging to stabilize the sides.

Off the hook: 4th rainbow scarf

Here's yet another rainbow crocheted scarf (7th scarf I've made by this pattern). I made this one for my friend Carol Handy who owns the Shuttles, Needles & Hooks yarn shop in Cary, NC. She gave me Noro yarn to make it so I got the try out the pattern in a different yarn this time

Off the needles: easy shrug

This shrug pattern is so easy! It's basically a long rectangle in stockinette stitch with a few rows of garter stitch at the cuffs. The pattern is "Alpaca Brush Shrug" from a leaflet that I bought at the Knitting Addiction shop at Kill Devil Hills, NC. I knit it out of Lion Brand's Amazing in the wildflowers colorway. There was too much murky brown in this variegated yarn for my taste, so I used more skeins and cut out the color runs that didn't appeal to me. I used the leftovers to crochet a scarf (photo later).