Fresh Off the Hook

All but two of these were made since last Wednesday when my eight new crochet thread spools arrived in the mail. The blue and bronze on the bottom right were made in the weeks before putting together the library display and missed the last blocking session. I'd found the blue one on the floor and the bronze one in the bedding in the days after.

The remaining four on the bottom represent the four solid colors in my order from Jo-Ann's--Parakeet (turquoise), Melon, Hot Pink, Fudge. The next row up represent the four variegated that were in that order-Mexicana (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Purple), Oasis (cream, tan, blue, sage green,), Pastel (lt blue, pale blue, yellow, pink, lavender), Lt. Pastel (pale blue, pale yellow, pale pink).

The third row up were made this past week also but not from the new thread but from the original stash of thread in Ed's grandma's sewing basket that was given to me when she passed in 2006. I'd noticed that I didn't have any of those two colors--variegated green and white; variegated purple and white--to dress for the display last week as I'd given the last of them away while in Longview in January. I've tried to keep one or two of each color thread done up in the original pattern I learned last April.

The four remaining bookmarks are from the newest pattern I learned last month. The first one I made in white plus five pastels for the inserts and it made it into the library display last Tuesday. It is pictured in last Tuesday's post.

As you can see, this one is nearly twice as long as the original pattern even before the tassel goes on. It's around eight inches before the tassel and just over a foot with it. It also takes much longer than the 30-40 minutes to crochet that the granny square original takes. I haven't done one in a single sitting yet so it is hard to know precisely how long they take me. I estimate well over two hours just to crochet the horizontal stripes. Nearly an hour to tuck the twenty-two tails. Another fifteen minutes to crochet on the border. And another five to fifteen to make the tassel. Five if the thread is already free of the drawer and there are no glitches in winding, cutting and looping the thread through. Common glitches include one or more strands bunching or sliding so they show longer or shorter at the ends. Only one of these has gone togehter with no glitches.

While I waited for the pinned bookmarks to dry, I prepared the tassels for those four.





In an earlier post I mentioned the 'box' I used to wrap the thread for making the tassels. It is actually a prescription dispenser made to hold the cards with foil covered bubbles. I discovered it was the perfect size, being six inches on each size. But what really makes it valuable for this purpose is the slot on one end with room to slip the scissor blade in to cut through the strands.



I made this one from beginning to end today. The inserts are done in Mexicana variegated. I'm planning to do versions of this using every solid that is represented in the Mexicana in place of the black.



I started this one yesterday and finished it today. The inserts are done in parakeet blue. I made this one for myself as this shade of blue is my favorite and I'm known for wearing it combined with black.



This was the second one of this pattern I made though I didn't get the tassel made until today. I was inspired to do this one because I saw the potential to combine the new fudge brown with the Oasis variegated almost as soon as I pulled them out of the box. It was either this one or some variation on the two-toned ones I made up in December and January. This won out because I was a bit bored with that other pattern and have over two dozen of them made already. Though none with the new colors yet.



This is closer in spirit to the pattern in the book off which I made the white and pastel one last week as it too uses five different colors for the inserts. Ed loved this one so I gave it to him