Is it spring that’s giving me the attention span of a gnat? I’m not sure, but luckily, I’ve been finding projects to match. Rachel over at CraftZine posted a link yesterday to Kootoyoo’s blog-where Kirsty shows a very pretty granny square necklace made simply with embroidery thread. I kept thinking about it all day, how nice and simple it was; how I have lots of embroidery thread and how I have tiny steel hooks which I inherited from my grandmother and never use. Last night when it was way to late, I made one little square with some size 5 thread and hook.
It turned out about the size of Kirsty’s. I decided I wanted a smaller one, and dug up some size 8 thread I had bought when I thought I was going to teach myself needle tatting (I still will, someday). I used a size 8 steel hook and got a much smaller square which seemed more my size. In the dim light, the tiny stitches were a little hard on my eyes, but I think in daylight, that wouldn’t be a problem.
Here are the two squares together for scale:
Of course, I couldn’t get by with just using what was in my stash. I quickly realized that I needed some thinner and more interesting threads to play with. Today I went to The Net Loft and got 6 colors of hand-dyed Valdini Pearl Cotton Thread in size 8 and size 12, and I’m going to experiment a little with other motifs using Edie Eckman’s Beyond-the-Square Crochet Motifs
I’m going to be travelling with Selma on Sunday to Tatitlek, a very tiny remote town up the coast from Cordova. They’re hosting a week of traditional arts and culture and they’ve opened it up to some students in the area. Selma was invited because she’s part of the Cordova native dance troop. I’m going as a chaperone. I’ll bring the thread projects with me because they’re small and portable. I’m looking foward to learning some new crafts while I’m there too.
