Still Here, Just Not All There!

Can it be May already? I definitely didn't plan for it to take 5-1/2 months till my next blog update. I also have less projects to show off than I normally would, especially after all this time. There is a reason for this. 2015 has been an unusual year so far: good in some ways, definitely NOT good in others. (I may explain more about that later in my narrative blog.) And during pretty much the whole winter, I worked on two large projects for my own collection using my discontinued Opera #20 thread, both of which were fairly time-consuming. I had delayed photographing those two projects for my blog since I still don't have a way to block them properly. I plan to do something about that as soon as I can. I decided to try to post a halfway decent photo of both for now rather than wait even longer to update my blog. I'll re-photograph both projects once they are blocked properly.

First was the "Geometrics" table runner I referred to last time, a pretty spiderweb and shell design using #20 Opera thread in Summer Straw. I am NOT happy with this photo. I was reluctant to post this since it looks so misshapen till I can get it blocked properly, but at least this will give an idea of what it will look like once it's a perfect rectangle, which it will be. At the moment it measures maybe about 42" by 22", but I'll know its true size once it's blocked properly.

Next came a table topper made of 127 small snowflake motifs. The photo below shows most of it. It currently measures about 31" at the widest point, but will be a bit larger once it's blocked properly. (I tried to block half at one time but that didn't work too well.) I used #20 Opera thread in Aqua.

I also have a stash of #20 Opera that I want to make a special project with in a beautiful color called Tea Rose. In fact, I have twice as much of the Tea Rose as the other two colors. So that will likely be a larger tablecloth, and I have an idea which pattern to use. But that is definitely not going to happen this year, as I need to get more inventory ready for a craft fair I hope to be in this fall with my friend Dianne (inventory = mainly baby layettes, as well as kitchen items). I may not even get to that tablecloth next year. Maybe not till after I retire??

So by the time I finished the above two projects, I was definitely in the mood to get back to baby layettes. I'd been waiting to try the Granny Hexagon baby jacket pattern I'd found online for a long time. Both the boy's and girl's version turned out really cute. The jacket didn't come with a matching hat and booties, but I found a hat pattern I can adapt to go with both versions, and I have a new favorite bootie pattern that you will see in all three layettes pictured here (and probably most of my future layettes)>

As you can see, the boy's version has a wide collar, while the girl's version has ruffles on the jacket and hat bottom and the cuffs, and a smaller stand-up collar. I love making both, and they work up faster than most layettes, but now we'll see if they sell at the craft fair! I used Caron Simply Soft for both - Navy and Country Blue for the boy's; Grape and Soft White for the girl's.

I had also made two more pairs of the same booties with some extra Grape and Soft White yarn that I used for the girl's granny set, for gifts or charity. The photo didn't come out right, but they look pretty much the same as the booties in the grape and white set above. So my last photo for now is a layette I made with Red Heart Gumdrop Yarn in Cherry. I had used and liked this jacket pattern before, so I found a hat pattern to go with it and added my new favorite booties.

For awhile now, I've been working on a girl's version of a sweater and cap set I've made successfully before for baby boys. I'm using Herrschner's Baby Cloudsoft yarn in pink/lavender/white variegated, with solid pink and solid lavender trim. It's taking me longer than I planned, since I've been battling bronchitis for over 5 weeks now as I write this. Though it's getting 1 or 2% better each day, it's still not gone and it's really sapped what little energy I tend to have. Hope my next update to this blog will be much sooner and with many more projects to display!