Sunday, April 29, 2018

Here, chick chick chick...

Dave brought his chicks home today. They're now about five and six weeks old, two batches of ten each. They are cute, but they are Dave's project, not mine!


While Dave played with his chicks, I searched for spool pin doily patterns. A spool pin doily goes on the spool pin of the sewing machine. It was three purposes that I can identify: 1) it protects the machine from being scratched by the spinning spool of thread; 2) when the machine stops, the doily helps keep the spool of thread from continuing to spin; 3) they look awfully cute on top of the sewing machine!

I found lots of pictures of spool pin doilies, and I even found some patterns. In fact, I tried a couple of patterns and found I just didn't like them. So, I sat down and crocheted something that I like.


I like the way the first one turned out so much, I crocheted another.


...and another.


...and another! I may spend time crocheting a bunch of these over the next few days. My wrist and hand have been bothering me, and I find that switching from tatting to either crocheting or knitting helps tremendously. I'm sure that the different hand motions cause the muscles to be used in different ways.

So, what happened yesterday? Denise and I traveled to Valparaiso, Indiana, to take a class on knitting German short row heels for socks. We had both done our homework of knitting 40 stitches in the round for 6 rows, so that when we got to class we were ready to start in on learning how to knit the heel. It was really interesting to see the heel develop, and the technique is really very simple. I meant to take a picture of my heel, but I got distracted and forgot all about it. The sample has already been taken apart so that I can practice again. It's been a while since I've completed a pair of socks, so I've decided that I'll knit at least one pair in worsted weight to refresh my sock knitting knowledge. The socks won't go to waste. I know they'll be too thick to wear inside shoes, but they'll be nice for walking around the house!

4 comments:

  1. The spool pin doilies are very cute !

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  2. Well, I'm always learning - I've never heard of a spool pin doily, but I see the logic and I do like your creation! I looked up German short row heel and it looks rather complicated, good idea to go to a class on it. I look forward to seeing your socks.

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  3. Those little doilies are so cute!! They look like coasters. :)

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