DIY Queen - Rayan Turner

I just LOVE the creative work of Rayan Turner at her Design Confidential site. She is smart, inventive and a super craftwoman. Wonderful!

I'm gathering the tools, the ideas, and the gumption to try some of her projects. Thank you Rayan!

Christmas Star Potholder or Hot Pad

My sister-in-law, Patty, asked if I could deduce the pattern for the potholder pictured to the left. Here is a pretty close match:

Sugar N' Cream (Lily) crochet cotton Green (Color 00016) and Red (Color 00095); Crochet hook US size G (4.5mm).

Grandma Smith's Crochet

I've completed my project to document Grandma Eva Smith's crochet legacy, beginning with my November 10, 2008 post . This represents a project that has spanned decades as I found the time to work on it. I've examined samples of Grandma Smith's crochet and developed written patterns for them. Each blog posting beyond the first few introductory posts is a different pattern and the pictures with each pattern are the samples I worked to test the patterns. You can browse the patterns sequentially starting from the introduction, or hop around by viewing the November 2008 blog archive list on the right side of the screen - just click on the little triangle next to 'November' and the list of items in the archive will appear ... just remember the chronologically first item is at the bottom of the list and the last is at the top.

Grandma Smith's Crochet , er... Knitting - "Erin" Knitted Mittens

While Grandma did a lot of crocheting, she also did quite a bit of knitting. Just about every year she would make the grandkids new mittens. Mary remembers each year Grandma having her trace her hand so Grandma could get the size right. Since this was such a regular event, I thought the pattern should be included here. Shown are a pair of ladies' size medium mittens that I made, copying a pair made by Grandma

The directions below are given for a general mitten, following Grandma's method, regardless of needles/yarn/gauge, so you can feel free to choose your yarn and needle size to suit you. Numbers in parentheses are given for the specific mitten knitted as a copy of the actual mittens knitted by Grandma-- I matched her gauge and stitch count pretty closely.

Grandma Smith's Crochet - "Kelly" Potholder

Shown: No 3 cotton thread (Aunt Lydia’s Fashion Crochet Thread in cream, by Coats) for body; No. 30 variegated cotton thread for border, and size 6 (1.6mm) steel crochet hook crochet hook.

Grandma Smith's Crochet - "Nicole A" Tablecloth Border

The sample shown at the left was worked with #10 crochet cotton using a size 6 (1.6mm) steel crochet hook. It measures 5.5” in depth.

This tablecloth border is suited for a round tablecloth since it has a natural curve. The cloth portion of the tablecloth should be preshrunk and finished, including the hem, before undertaking the crocheted border. The tablecloth border is worked in three stages: the filet point border, the point edging, then the round motifs that are attached to the 'V' spaces between the points.

Grandma Smith's Crochet - "Sheryl" pillowcase lace

DMC cotton #30, steel crochet hook size 10