Nightshade

Nightshade is my first Forget-Me-Knot with wings!  The whole idea of making butterflies was to create wings for these tiny dolls.  Nightshade has Mourning Cloak wings (appropriate, don't you think?).  They are crocheted right into her back.  For the next doll, I think I will crochet them inboard a bit closer; the clothing will fit better.

Her dress is from a lace pattern from the Leasure Arts leaflet 20 Beautiful Edgings (they are!).  I wanted one with popcorn stitches that would look like Nightshade berries when crocheted in red.  I don't enjoy crocheting with black, but the lace wasn't too hard to work up.  Putting a white sheet of paper in your lap helps to see the black stitches.

Her hair is Lionbrand Fun Fur, crocheted with a size 1 steel hook.  This is a much smaller than recommended hook for this yarn, but it made a great cap.

Nightshade among her namesake berries.  Very poisonous...Do Not Eat!

Butterflies are Free; at least, mine are :-)

Butterflies flew into my brain a couple of weeks ago, when I was thinking about adding wings to my Forget-Me-Knot kids.  I've always loved the illustrations of Cicely Mary Barker; her Flower Fairies drawings from the 1920's are delightful, and they all have very realistic butterfly and moth wings. Sooooo...

Here is my attempt at creating some realistic butterflies in crochet:

Crochet Butterflies

The patterns are done in one color, so it will be up to you to decide how to crochet your butterfly.  I used two books to come up with mine:   Butterflies of Indiana,  by Jeffery E. Belth; and Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America,  by Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman.  These are both excellent field guides full of pictures.  The Indiana book is also excellent from the wealth of information regarding habitat, ecology, conservation, and everything you ever wanted to know about the life of butterflies. 

I used acrylic paint to add some details to the wings, like dots of color and wing tips.  Dual Duty button and craft thread was used to make the antennae.  The butterflies were made with worsted, sport, and size 10 crochet cotton, with a slightly smaller than normal hook for the yarn or thread.

I've become captivated and plan to try a butterfly garden next year.  Maybe you will too :-)

Field of Flags

This weekend Larry and I went to an installation of flags honoring veterans, both living and dead, at the Muncie Minetrista center. 

My Dad was instrumental in the creation of this installation.  We were there to honor all of our family members that have served, but especially Larry's father, who was a member of the 101st Airborne during WWII. 

It was a beautiful day; a good day to remember all of those who have put themselves in harms way to defend our freedoms.

Remember them in your thoughts and prayers, and enjoy the freedom of this day.

The tail end of summer

A couple of weeks ago, I took my camera along when I rode with Larry to work.  I usually ride with him, about a 13 mile round trip.   I snapped pictures of the ride, which winds through disparate areas of the 13th largest city in the U.S.  If you are interested, you can see the entire trip at this link:

Ride to work.

I also shot some pictures of the city park we live next to.  It is the oldest public park in Indy, and one of the main reasons we settled in this neighborhood.

There are a lot of artifacts from years ago, like this stairway to heaven :-)

If you would like to stroll through the park, follow this link:

In Garfield Park

The kids are back in school, and the days are slowly getting shorter.  Time to pull out the hooks, needles, and yarn and work on Christmas future.  Hope your days are lovely.

More coral reefer madness

More coral reefer madness!  Using different texture yarns, and different increase algorithms for the hyperbolic corals is compelling, to see how the resulting coral will turn out.  Plus, a little free form crochet for coral reef denizens that aren't hyperbolic :-)

The little fish are from a free pattern (NOT one of mine) available here:

http://www.buddyrumi.com/blog/2012/7/14/little-fish-free-pattern.html

I modified the basic pattern, shown on the right, to make a little clownfish, shown on the left. 

The basic hyperbolic shapes for this reef are shown below, plus a couple of free form sponges.

I'm starting to run out of space!  It would be nice to turn this into a wallhanging. 

Crochet a Coral Reef

Pearl and Urchin need a place to live, and a beautiful coral reef is just the place.  This is something that you can make for your own resident mermaids, with stash yarn and simple stitches.  Along the way, you may discover how beautiful and fragile coral reef ecosystems are.

Here are some pattern guidelines for making your own coral reef:

Crochet Coral Reef

The idea for crocheting a coral reef has been around for several years; a driving force for this is the Institute For Figuring.  Their website has a wealth of information on coral reefs, the threats they face, and the project to create coral reefs from crochet.  Here are some additional websites with pictures, information, and patterns:

The Gainsville Florida reef information, links, and patterns
Crocheted corals on Pinterest pictures of crochet corals from many sources

This is the kind of project you can make as small or large as you like, or 'grow' it over time.  Mine is rather small and mounted on a wooden plaque, but I think that it will grow :-)

Welcome to our undersea home!

The Mermaids Tail

Urchin is a mermaid of the coral reef.  Here is a pattern to turn your Forget-Me-Knot into a siren of the seas :-)

Mermaids Tale

She needs a coral reef to live in, and so my next project will be to crochet her one.  If you've never heard of the idea of crocheting a coral reef, just do a Google search on 'crochet coral reef.'  You will be blown away by the color and forms and amazing realism of a crocheted coral reef :-)

Enjoy the day, and enjoy the crochet!

Mushroom Manor

Fern's wish has come true!  She and Merlin now have a cozy little Mushroom Manor to call home :-)  A little place to curl up in at night, and stay dry when the rains come.  I have a picture tutorial for making the Mushroom Manor on Flickr.  All you need is some worsted yarn from your stash, and some cardboard and oatmeal containers that would probably end up in the landfill.  Other embellishments to the scene are from this blog under 'Crochet an outdoor setting.'

Fern is also pleased to finally have some clothes!  I made her a dress from some pretty crochet lace, for which there is a tutorial to do this.

We've been happily crocheting these sweet summer days.  Hope you are making some joy in your life as well :-)

Merlin the Hedgehog

Fern found a friend, and named him Merlin :-)  He is a wee hedgehog, and here is the pattern:

Merlin the Hedgehog

Merlin is about 1 3/4 inches long, made from fingering weight and laceweight yarns.  The perfect size companion for the Forget-Me-Knots.  Larger versions can be made using sport or worsted weight yarns.

Enjoy the crochet!