Using Jute, Rug Prototype

I am another self, having had a birthday on June 1, and having been seized with the idea of shoes, doily rug rugs and crochet and light.

My Pinterest boards – under Akua Designs – have exploded with my explorations and discoveries. I started a Crochet Lampshades and Umbrellas board on Ravelry, become a moderator for the Crocheted Rugs group and have started lists and threads on soling materials in the Shoes! Forum.

I’ll begin at the middle and talk about the Rugs.  There are three in process. An abandoned brown one, an almost finished green one, a cotton piping-based behemoth and this much smaller, but still oversized, doily en jute that is the piping one’s prototype.

PiggWiggy suggested that I prototype  before committing to a pattern for a doily rug and  while I resisted the suggestion at first, I’m glad I did, because there were holes I didn’t want or need and as there was no original picture for the pattern and some things  made at thread –size, don’t look as handsome when magnified. Also, I only used a part of the pattern and so had to  devise a different finishing edge.

(I laid it on the floor to take pictures and Zen -- the rescued-from-Sandy-with-his-sister kitty, came and claimed it).

I came to jute when I read about it in passing as a soling material. The kind I had  languishing on a shelf didn’t work out—which I’ll discuss in greater detail when I get to shoes. I bought another kind – 3 ply undyed from Amazon and it seemed to fly through my hands as I made this prototype. Then I went on to feel its figurative and sculptural capabilities as I made  oversized flowers for yarn graffiti.

 

MULTIWHIRL Motif

In my search for whirling/pinwheel doilies, I put in an ebay search which sends me an email whenever it has something I seek. Unable to find this design online, I bought the tear sheets. They arrived yesterday and I made the motif this morning. It went far faster than I thought it would, but i was disappointed with how it looked. Then I iron blocked it and the pattern that had called to me, emerged. The pattern is a chart with a few words about hook and yarn size. The most words are about joining motifs -- which is the easiest and most apparent part of the whole thing.

This set up another little voyage of discovery. The pattern noted the designer ( the tear out had three other designs “Fine Art Crochet” Floret Lace, Curlicue Lace, Scallop Lace -- with charts, written directions and no attribution). This designer Elizabeth Hiddleson has a ton of work in the library, many collections and many works in magazines. This particular design was not listed, so I’ve added it.  Her motifs are many, complex, varied and impressive.  They are published in the 80s and 90s. What has become of her? Has she retired?

Well thank you, Ms. Hiddleson.  I was glad to make your acquaintance.

Food Mourning Scrumble

 

The day's prompt at the NatCroMo Freeform CAL was about food.

I’ve been a nonmeat eater for 41 years, now. I’ve been vegan, vegetarian, macro, lacto-ova, pesco-veg. Sadly, I haven’t had ice cream for 15 years, when I became lactose-intolerant. Since I’m from NYC, I’ve enjoyed expresso/cappuchino/lattes from teenage onward. My great treats were to go to Greenwich Village and sit in the beautiful Italian cafes, write, watch, muse, flirt. The grandchild of West Indian immigrants, avocados, mangos, plantains and bananas are part of my soul food. We are rice people – my first potatoes were sweet and plain yams. My other starch — boiled green bananas —are an unexplored taste treat. And as a child of the great metropolis, I’ve eaten outside our root cuisine all my life as monthly treats included Chinese food, Italian food, or trips to the Jewish deli.  My high school sweetheart and I discovered Indian cuisine and came to love falafel, stuffed grape leaves, moussaka, hummus, tahini at our favorite haunts. I cooked to earn money in college, both freelance and as the cook for a house.  My Algerian friend taught me cous-cous – now a part of my staples. I love Pad Thai as much as sushi and miss injera and wat, foo-foo and jook, sfogiatelle and hammentaschen, West Indian bun, rotis and gazadas –  delights that none of my neighbors know. Though the mega grocery store now has a sushi stand, so something has reached these hinterlands and they import panettone in season.  Still no mooncakes, rugelach, or decent cannoli, no  place to order blackbeans and rice with kingfish, no service, codfish and ackee, or revoltillo bacaloa, until I get a care box from the city.  So, loving so much so widely, I decided to hook about loss.

This piece is about the hole in my heart when goat milk turned on me last month as have caffeine-coffee, soy, nuts, and  raisins. It is about bereavement missing long-lost cheese, whipped cream, fondues, grilled cheese sandwiches, omelets. No more the joy of dark brewed liquid swirled with light.


 

Serrato Purse in Crochet One Skein Wonders

Hip, hip, Hooray! After two years, the book is here! And my pattern Serrato Purse is in it!

Named for its serrated appearance achieved by the use of the crocodile stitch, this small bag may be dressed up or down depending on the yarn used.
It may also be sized up or down depending on the yarn and hook combination used.

The body is worked flat and then seamed with a slip stitch, then the circular bottom is crocheted. The top flap is made as a separate piece and attached, as is the strap.