Pineapple Table Runner in size 20 thread, wip

I am making a table runner/tablecloth for my mother. I'm testing out to see if I like the pattern. So far, I like the pattern, but not the thread and hook combo.
I'm using Aunt Lydia's Fine Crochet size 20 and a Boye size 10 hook. This might be too small for me: It will take forever to even make a table runner with this pattern! I've made about 4 motifs so far.

There's more info at my Ravelry project page.
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/murasakinoryuu/pineapple-square-s-742

jtp/mnr

My crocheting project: Crocheted Silk Purse Fig. 1

Florence Home Needlework, Crocheted Silk Purse Fig. 1

I got this PDF from antiquepatternlibrary.org. I am thankful towards the person who donated these scans. <3 p="">
I love crocheting vintage, antique and ancient patterns. This happens to be an antique pattern. Very Victorian/Edwardian. I plan to use this all the time, special occasion or no special occasion, victorian wear or no victorian wear.

The PDF: http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/B-JA077Florence1887.pdf

The description says: 

Florence Home Needlework 1887

Florence, Mass., Nonotuck Silk Co, 1887, 96 pgs.

Pretty neat! Many of the antique patterns that are preserved historical documents are created in the northeast, specifically, my home state!

This is what is available in the booklet. This is only the image, not the complete pattern.

Anyway, here is what I have so far of this crocheted purse.

I am using a size 10 modern steel crochet hook, 1.3mm. Size 20 crochet thread (antique, JP Coats brand) with a strand of cotton sewing thread. Size 8 toho chartreuse transparent seed beads. 

Fun!

I have been working on it in the evenings and during my lunch breaks at work.

Sorry if the images are a  lil big when enlarged. I took them with my phone. I swear, I am so lazy in documenting my projects.. I'm trying to be better at posting records of what I"m doing! Its actually a marvel I've posted something. however, this is an antique pattern that isn't even on the ravelry database, so I'm thinking that I have to pioneer that effort...

Anyway, the slip of paper that was in that last photo looks to be one of those mailaway order forms, advertising more patterns and thread available from JP Coats. On one side, it says: "Doilies to Crochet! Only 10c a copy! Mail this coupon now" Hahahha. Finding anything that is 10c today is... hard. With old and antique mailers... I've always had a strong desire to mail in the coupon or order form and see if they honor it. xD

Anyway, sometime soon I will add a ravelry entry for this pattern/book and perhaps post the link here.

Edit: Here is the ravelry link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/murasakinoryuu/crocheted-silk-purse-fig-1

Here are the mostly finished images of the crochet beaded purses. These are done with bead crochet, and thus are bead crochet purses.

-MNR

Irish Crochet Edging in french: Petite Dentelle Courante

Its an irish crochet edging, vintage french pattern.

https://archive.org/stream/albumdeguipuredi16hard#page/n95/mode/2up
Here's the original page in french.

I am trying to work this out, maybe do a translation? The ONE translation I saw on ravelry... I didn't understand.
Not to say that the crocheter didn't make a lovely edging, that is beside the point. =) In size 80 thread too! 0.6mm hook.
It doesn't appear to be in the ravelry database either! I think that's one thing I want to contribute to the future of thread lace crochet: translate and replicate antique patterns.
BTW, I still haven't forgotten about the thread holders! I just get distracted easily. I have one side done, I figured out how it was made from the picture, and it looks pretty!

Anyway. Anyone else want to take a crack at it? Within the next few days. I have been working a lot, and exhausted, but I will probably make a snippet in size 20 or smaller crochet thread, and post what I have here. I love irish crochet lace. I love fine handmade lace in general. <3 nbsp="" p="">This is the thing I would picture going on a lovely mori kei or lolita dress. Maybe even hime-gyaru.

Here's the pattern as Google Translate spat it out... its rough. :/

Lace small gourante 



This lace which is very handy to decorate small items, bibs, shirts 
and baby dresses, flaps, etc., has a great advantage, it is what is done by going and 
Coming without breaking the thread; you add only after the foot and tooth.

Base: 16 chains. 

the rank cv. - 7 chains, close spike in the last 5, 11 chains, shut in
pin the last 5, 2 chains, poke in the 6th chain after 1 pip 
1 double arch (see the horseshoe lace page 42-43), poke in the 6th chain, 




Chains 7, 1 pin (it is understood that the pin is always taken on membered 
Net) and 5 chains, chain stitch in the last turn. 

2nd row. - Chains 7, 1 pin, 11 chains, pin 1, 2 chains, prick in
first arch before the spike, chains 7, 1 pin, 5 chains, poke between 
2 pins of the middle arch; Chains 7, 1 pin, 5 chains, poke after the spike,
the last arch, turn. 

3 rank. - Chains 7, 1 pin, 11 chains, pin 1, 2 chains, prick before
pin, 7 chains, prick in next loop, turn, made flanges 10 in this hole 
and an eleventh on the grid attachment, turn, take a 6-day grid on the 



flanges (days consist of 1 chain, 1 flange) - 7 chains, pieol 1, 2 membered 
net, 1 dc in the last arch, turn. 

4 th. - Chains 7, 1 pin, 11 chains, pin 1, 2 chains, prick in
1st day of the pad, 1 double arch, poke in the 5th day, 7 chains, 1 pin, 5-membered 
net, poke in the last hoop after 1 pin turn. 

5 ° row. - Chains 7, 1 pin, 11 chains, pin 1, 2 chains, prick before
pin shackle, chains 7, 1 pin, 5 chains, poke between the 2 pins of the hoop 
middle, chains 7, 1 pin, 5 chains, poke in the last hoop. 

Repeat the 1st row to 5 and still repeat well. 



Once you have the desired length lace laites one side as a foot 
for other lace and the other side of the tooth as follows: 

the 1 'rank. - Rank 1 day 3 chains, 1 flange.

2 * rank. - 4 stitches in 1 day, 2 sts, 1 pin, 2 sts in the 2 nd day
2 stitches in the 3 rd day, turn 8 chains, prick with 1 st in the 4th after 
pin, turn and do in this hole: 4 pins, preceded, separated and followed by 3 stitches, 
2 sts, 1 pin, 2 stitches in the same day of the base. 

This 2 nd forming the tooth, repeat it as many times as you need 
to finish your lace. 



For different reasons lace of Ireland, we advise our 120, 150, 180, 200 
Irish son of MFA 

Spiral Thread Holder, project

Hello there. I have been busy with work mainly, unable to post things.
I have still been crocheting.

I love going to antiquepatternlibrary.org. There's so many interesting vintage and antique patterns of all sorts. I mainly go there for knitting, crochet and tatting.
Here's the link, if you didn't know of it already. http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/
This is one of the few places on the web where you can find free antique patterns.

I am using this PDF at the moment. http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/6-JA010Nacke2.pdf

I like thread crochet, because its very victorian, and an easy(er) way to make delicate lace. Especially for pretty dress things! Or just for miscellaneous decoration.

Some of these patterns aren't really patterns, they often contain just a picture and a few lines that go on to say: "follow the picture". How people from the 1800s were able to replicate these patterns is beyond me, the patterns can be so vague, confusing, and full of errors. Not always, but its a thing to consider.
Anyway, I am making page 12's Crochet Thread Holder (#2), I'd call it the Spiral thread holder, as it isn't even given a name! Here's a screen capture of the 'pattern'.

Its very cute! If lined, it would be a great mori kei, lolita, or other type of accessory bag. I just love  the cute ribbons. I'm not sure if I would add them.

I'm currently working out the pattern. If anything, I will post notes as to what I did (on ravelry), as well as posting a link to my ravelry.
If I have time, I'll post a writeup of my version of the pattern.

The pattern asks you to use a size 7 crochet hook (1.65mm) and size 5 crochet cotton.
I'm using size 10 crochet cotton and sizes 5 and 7 hooks. More to come.


-MNR

Modified crochet hooks

No art, no.

Instead, I have links to tutorials I used to modify my steel crochet hooks.I thought y'all might be interested. ^^

http://chalklegs.com/2012/03/09/crochet-hook-hybrid/

http://www.freecraftunlimited.com/recycled-crochet-hook-holders.html

They're tutorials to make more comfortable handles. Recycling!

Yay.

Edit: Pictures.

 Various sizes of steel hooks

size 10/ 1.3mm steel hook, with a beaded purse pattern.

Size E/ 3.5mm hook

-MNR

Lacey Things!

Good morning all.

I love lace. I recently discovered this after many years of crocheting and knitting.
I feel its one of those ultimate lolita crafts. After all, the most refined ladies of all ages mastered these things and created delicate, mindboggling shapes.
I guess I got into it when I learned I would probablyu never get rid of the large holes in my crochet. Crochet is made with vertical stitches and twists, so there are often vertical "slats" of holes. But crochet also makes sturdy fabric, much more structurally sturdy than knitting.

Don't get me wrong, they both have their benefits and to me, they benefit in certain situations. But I'm not a fan of the drapeyness of knitted doilies and edgings. I like the really tight gauge, and crochet lace works up so fast toooo, so it is my method of choice when creating lace generally.

So far, my most used technique of lace making has been crochet, but I've learned that tatting, or frivolite I suppose it was called in other languages, is VERY portable and creates very loopy gorgeous laces. I feel tatting is more freeform, so larger diagrams are sooo confusing. Plus its hard to find tatting patterns larger than a bookmark or doily.

Again, I'm promoting ravelry as really good for this purpose. Ravelry

I've even sewn my handmade lace onto lolita shirts and skirts. The edging wore out on an ebay dress I purchased two years ago, and I plan on replacing it with crocheted lace, if I could find the perfect edging! I might just use tatted lace. I really want to try remaking lolita slippers with my own canvas fabric and lace.
I also wonder what lace made with plastic bags would look like. I'm really into using alternate yarns.

The types of lace-making I practice:
crochet
knitting
tatting
punto in aria (needle lace)

Bobbin lace, one of the more traditional forms of lace from the 1400s to late 1800s in most parts of the world, is entirely hard looking! I have yet to master this. I have yet to start! I have to make pairs of bobbins to practice with, and its not very portable or fast. Plus, at any time, you can have anywhere from 4 to 32 pairs of bobbins or more. That means 8 to 64 different strands of threads weaving in and out of eachother.
When I master the basics of it, I'll let you guys know. =_=

Anyway, I need to upload images of what I've been making this boring summer, so stay tuned. Most of it is lace as it comes out pretty and staves off boredom for a short while. Uuuugh... I don't have a car so I can't get a job/volunteer. Maybe I will reopen my etsy with crocheted lace?

I've also been interested in diy technical things. I want to use things I have around the house to make a wind/solar power generator, or charger. Some of the ingredients I don't have, like magnetic enamel coated wire, so I'm going to have to bus it to radioshack or walk to the hardware store and see what they have. I didn't know it was so hard and time consuming to get from place to place when you don't have a car! Well, I knew, but I was used to taking 30 minutes to run an errand rather than 1.5 hours minimum on the bus (or walking).

Also, my computer is being fixed by lenovo (it has been almost a month) so I am using my mother's computer. That means I can't do 3d things and play most of the games I have for the computer. Eeeeeh.

-MNR

Holiday Rush

Edit:
Also, I am using this pattern from ravelry. It is the only one for crocheted worsted weight golf club covers! Well I shall have to change that. When I have more time.
Also, Red Heart Super Saver yarn is so ROUGH. I have vowed to myself not to be taken in for the price ($2.19-$2.50) and buy it. I can buy softer yarn, with slightly less yardage, for slightly more money. Why?

• This yarn bruises my tensioning fingers
• Its so rough and unpleasant, like straw, even on my feet for slippers. Thus, you cannot use it for cushions/pillows, slipper socks, hats, scarves, necklaces, wrist warmers, mittens...
• It pills after a while
• It doesn't keep heat when you make it into cold weather items, and it doesn't breathe at all for spring/fall items
• When washed and dried, it might soften up, or it might turn to straw.
• When doubled up, it gets really stiff.
• Garments made with the yarn lose their elasticity.

I will not buy Red Heart SS yarn, at least until I use up the ones I have. I will also purchase softer yarn, like caron simply soft, or bernat super value cotton yarn, or lionbrand ANYTHING.
Its only good for toys and things you won't touch directly. Red Heart's other yarns are ok, such as its Soft brand yarn, and its cotton. I'm frustrated that my local shops, all they have are the rough SS yarn. Its a pity because there are so many beautiful shades. I love the sage and thyme colors, so beautiful. But I made legwarmers out of the sage, and they're rough and they sag and turn baggy by the middle of the day....

----------------

I've been knitting like crazy over the past week. Trying to finish two pairs of socks and miscellaneous crocheted necklaces for my family. We're short on money but what I"m not short on is yarn, hooks and needles. And beads. Basically crafting items. x_X
hahahah.... yeah.

Wool socks for charles.
Fingering weight socks for mother, utilizing the chiffon pattern from Ravelry, misc beaded jewelry
Irish Crochet brooch pin for aunt, misc beaded jewelry
beaded jewelry set for sister
crocheted golf club covers for james, and misc items.


Oooh, holiday rush. I will finish posting when I'm not so busy! As in, after the 25th probably.

Thoughts about yarn.

There is a certain camaraderie knowing that another knitter used the same yarn to make their different project. It is very interesting to see what a yarn can do, and the possibilities to be had with it.

It almost motivates you to do a similar project with that same yarn.
I search through the project pages on Ravelry to find interesting designs and inspirations for any of my artistic projects.
I hope that one day I will have time for a knit a long or a crochet a long.

I also wish I could find my camera... because I just got a major haul of yarn from the thrift store. I love the thrift store for finding yarn. Its got its own element of excitement when you find something that would have been 6 dollars for .99c.

Today I found:
3 balls of crochet thread, size 10, blue, pink, and cream, for 99c each
6 skeins of  3 oz worsted cotton yarn from Caron, some discontinued brand.
Size 13 bamboo Clover knitting needles
Size 15 plastic bates knitting needles.

In addition, I got three college ruled notebooks that I needed for class. I think they were 99c each.
Its cool because this thrift store is usually really expensive.

I always think to myself in the thrift store: Why would a yarnie destash their stuff to the thrift store?? You can sell that stuff for more than 5 dollars a skein online! But, their loss. Oh well. xD
Unless, god forbid, I lost the use of my hands and toes, I would never get rid of my yarn. There are so many projects that need to be knit and crocheted. I have over 1900 projects that I could make on Ravelry.


-MNR

I want a filet crochet pattern generator

I just saw some beautiful tapestry work. I kinda want to create a pretty tapestry too.
I also don't want to lose interest in it. i have a problem with that. Losing interest in a project after like... .2 days.

what I want is to design my own pattern or use my own drawings to create filet crochet tapestries that imitate renaissance paintings.

I am considering writing my own program to convert the pixels in an image, 1:1, to a chart that can be printed on one page.
I think I would use python. I could prototype it in gamemaker. There's plenty of cross stitch programs. but what if you want to turn a color image to a 2 color black and white filet crochet image? Cross stitch programs don't do that. Maybe I can look for knitting pattern generators. But they essentially do the same thing.

There are so many programs I would try and create if I had the time. I still need to be working on my game. UGH. It's going so awfully.

------------------------------

What I want to do is have the user input a black and white image that is less than 500x500 pixels. (at least for now.)
The program will make a grid by looking at each pixel. If the pixel is white, the box on the grid will be white. If the pixel is black, the box on the grid will be black. If the pixel is a certain dark grey, it will be converted to black. If the pixel is a certain light grey, it will be converted to white.


That is the first version of the program.
The next version of the program will take a picture and convert it into two colors, black and white, and then output the image as a grid.

-------------------------

Filet crochet gets to be very beautiful. Takes long as hell to make though. I would consider making it with a heavy fingering, sport, or even dk weight yarn.

http://www.crochetedgifts.com/imagepages/filetcrochetpatterns16X20.htm
http://www.unikatissima.de/e/?p=1081

I've always wanted to generate my own maze image as well. Generatikng a solvable maze is very interesting to me,because I wish to know how such an algorithm is possible. I think it would be vastly easier to generate a maze that gets decently far but isn't solvable. A great idea of a maze would be one that has bilateral or quad symmetry. More rotational symmetry would be difficult to make, like odd numbers 5, 7, or 9+.

I think that we should go further in creating art with the computer. There are so many pretty things we can create with an initial 'seeding' action, and then letting mathematics take over. I do love chaos theory, but that's talk for another day.

Drafting Patterns

I tend to draft my own patterns because I can never find ones I want, or ones that fit me. This goes for mostly sewing and knitting. With crochet, I'm still pretty inexperienced.

Not to say that I'm amazing in either of the three. My mother taught me the basics of sewing when I was little, and I had a sewing kit and fooled around making little purses and dolls. Then I stopped for several years. And when I was in my late teens and early 20s, (which I am now, being 20,) I have picked it up again, and have started patterns.

From my last post, I discovered that I found lolita when I was 13 or 14, but only liked drawing it. I feel now that I may like sewing it then drawing it. But I still love designing lolita themes and dresses.

With knitting it was the same way. I learned from my mother. I must have gotten bored with only knitting scarves, and how long it took, because I put them away until a couple of years ago as well. I then learned from youtube how to knit, purl, increase, decrease, knit socks, knit in the round, seam, and other fancy terms, that would allow me make actual garments. Now I have a ravelry account, and am working on designing my own patterns.

I find it funny that my mother wants me to teach her how to knit and crochet. Especially since SHE'S THE ONE WHO TAUGHT ME. I didn't know that's something you could forget. There are no hard feelings, it's just that that is somewhat strange/funny.

I've only recently started drafting my own knit and sewing patterns. Most of what I know I know from online searches and Youtube. Unfortunately I don't go to the library enough. The problem is, for most of the hours I am out of class, the public library is closed. It's such a shame.

I've learned to draft my own lolita patterns. I usually look at actual dresses, see what shapes the pieces are constructed in, draw them onto paper, and take my measurements. I also got a very rudimentary pattern for a jsk from egl on Livejournal. I just need to learn tailoring, which I've been getting much better at, being large-breasted. Bust darts are your friends, boys and girls. Burdastyle has helped me learn tailoring.


I'm working on a new steampunk corset styled tank top with ruffles. When I can, I will put up my preliminary picture and pattern. It will be my bust size range, with is 44-48. Right now, or soon, I have to finish up a paper and send it to my professor...
It will be knit in caron simply soft and is designed to be worn with a lolita skirt. I think lolita clothes should have more of a DIY aspect, and knitting and sewing your own outfits is moving into an untapped market.

I have some dreams about this.
I've always wanted to create a line of lolita clothing for American sized women and men. Making a line of lolita knitting patterns may be a great way to start. Victorians knit and did other crafting quite a bit. What can be more lolita than crafting your own clothing and accessories?

Themes I'm interested in: Aristocrat, regency, rococo, romantic era, medieval, ethnic, industrial, steampunk, pirate, sailor, fantasy, and to some small extent, visual kei.


How I learned:
Knitting:

Crocheting:

Sewing lolita:


-MNR

Experimental Game 2, and knit pattern drafts

I'm supposed to be working on my game right now. I'm making it in Gamemaker 8 lite. I don't have screenshots because I have NOTHING DONE. Waaah.
I love game design but making a game on your own in a total of 2 months is horrific.

I like the resolution 900x700, which is a slight scale-up of 800x600. The character sprites are going to be 100x50. I am using placeholder sprites for now, because I don't even know if I'm going to stay with that.

I've been so distracted by lolita. I'm ashamed, I woke at 8:30 and took a shower, and spent all the time I had for breakfast primping and preening and making sure my bow was on right. I only have a phone picture.
But I was late for my multimedia class. Basically art history. So, I got marked tardy. So another two tardys and my grade goes down a letter. But this is the first time I've been late to class this year.

My friend Jacob is.... not that fashion oriented. So he chastizes me whenever I take too long or go over the top with my lolita outfit. I feel guilty because I was at least 5-10 minutes late for class because I was trying to see what my body was doing in relation to my grey dress.
The waist was fine, my butt was fine. It was those infernal BREASTS! They keep growing and saboutaging me! If they keep growing I won't be able to properly fit into the dresses I have now!
But I had to re-lace the back corseting and make sure the hem was fine... I can never get ready in time for a leisurely breakfast.

I have to scan in the paparazzi image and trace over it in vector-ness to make it look clean for the game.
I also have to trace in the crowd.

My main problem is that I shall need to find code that allows my character to be fixed in one relative position on the screen, while being able to move up and down. The room is going to be a long room, and enemies spawn from the right side.

Edit: Triumph! I got my character to move up and down the screen and stop at an invisible wall!

----------------------

Patterns on another note:

I see all these brand name cardigans in these online lolita shops. They're 200 dollars and gorgeous. Cardigans are a staple of almost every lolita substyle.
I love making things, especially things I can wear. I figure, why not make replicas? They won't be exactly like the cardigans, because I'm not aiming to make something in fingering or lace weight. Worsted weight is fine. I consider these patterns to be inspired.

I get this idea from going to Ravelry and Craftster and there being patterns like: "Anthropologie Inspired capelet" or "Anthropologie Inspired Cloche". I can't find patterns for this stuff, and I want to spend my money on jsks and the little brand that I can buy, so why not make them? Or at least try?

I want to try this also because even if I should want to buy their cardigans, I will never be able to fit them. So this will be for all those women that are larger than a Japanese small/medium (or are a Japanese small/medium).

There are so many knitting patterns that can be altered to make replicas, hybrids, or even brand new original cardigans. Once I get a hang of creating cardigans and other objects from scratch, I want to design my own patterns and share. This is a project I will work on in the future. First, I must make something presentable of my game project.

But my next cardigan project will be a plain low scoop neck top down raglan, with Caron one lb sky blue acrylic yarn. It is this pattern. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/safire

If you do want to buy these cardigans, or draw them, or drool over them, they're here. These are cardigans I absolutely love and can't afford...

Inspirations for my note, and others:
http://www.marymagdalene.jp/contents/outwear/223/0404/
http://innocent-w.jp/shopping/094805/index_e.html
http://innocent-w.jp/shopping/102801/index_e.html
http://www.angelicpretty.com/shopping/item/jkt/102c-5116/102c-5116.htm
http://www.babyssb.co.jp/shopping/baby/knit/134106.html



On another note:
I love that innocent world has been making their sizes slightly larger, and they have amazing sales for brand name clothes! Angelic pretty has been doing that tooo! They have size "large". Good job lady and gentleman designers! Keep up the good work.

-MNR