Rainbow Diving: Ready. Set. Go!

My 14 new crochet threads. Not 15 as that pastel blue in exile upper right duplicates one I already have.

I unpacked and unwrapped the new thread tonight (except for the duplicate Delft Blue for today I finally finished with all the tasks I'd set myself to complete before I could dive into my newest box of crochet thread which arrived in the mail last Tuesday. Today I finished the last two of the three bookmarks I had on hooks last Tuesday, including tucking tails and dressing two of them. This one is for my sister who runs Mom's house and cares for her and her 16 year old son:



The only task still to be tended to is the prepping of the bookmarks for mailing to my RIF mini-challenge winner's from April. I'd begun that project two weeks ago but got interrupted by the daily trips to Vancouver to visit Jamie in ICU. I could and did crochet in the car and waiting room and even ICU beside Jamie's bed but I couldn't pack around and spread out the buttons, beads, ribbons and other paraphernalia in the wardrobe. Since I already had the crocheting done for the winner's bookmarks I had to wait until I was able to spend enough time at home to spread out the bling.

I'm going to allow myself to play with the new thread anyway but only if it is to make a bookmark for one of my winner's since there are a couple of threads that match one or another's preferences better than anything already made. So I'll prioritize the dressing and prepping for mail whenever I can spread out those projects and crochet when that's not possible. Like in the car and in Jamie's room in rehab tomorrow as Mom and I get to go see her again. We went for an hour on Monday but not today as my sister's schedule wasn't flexible enough.

So tomorrow I'll get to give Jamie the bookmark I started working on soon after I heard she was in ICU:



I just devised the use of ribbons of varied color, width and texture for tassels. These are the first two made. They are both unique in pattern as well for I have taken the pattern I learned last February and changed it up by using a half double stitch in place of the double stitch and varying the width of the stripes.

The original pattern:

Actually I've been changing it up almost from the start. The second one was black with five bright inserts. The next was black with all turquoise inserts. The next several were different solid colors with inserts of compatible variegated threads. After a few of those of original length I shortened it to three inserts and made dozens of solids with variegated and/or solids with a single contrasting solid for the inserts. Then I made several long ones again, a couple longer than the original and that's also when I started varying the pattern of the stripes. I made several with white like the original and the same length but with inserts of all red, all black, all pastel blue. Then I made one with red and blue inserts. Then I made several that left out the inserts and did the cross stitch stitch all the way in a single color and full length. Then I made a couple like that but with only three cross stitch stitches per row instead of four.

What am I sitting here still yapping about it for when I could be crocheting?

I think for the first one I'm going to use the only size 20 I got. This variegated blues and lavenders called Caribbean:


This was the most expensive of the threads and the only one not discounted that day. I originally had another one in my shopping cart--called Red Burst--that was several shades of dark red. But I had to take it out when other choices overrode my desire. After all, with only 210 yards it was only half the amount on the typical size 10 thread I get and yet it was more than twice as much with the size 10 discounted 30%. There were several other colors--mostly variegated--that I drooled over. It would be nice to have a few solids too tho, so I could do versions of that pattern above in size 20.

What makes this one so pricey? Well it is 100% Egyptian Cotton. It is 6 cord Cordonnet (which I am clueless about) and hand dyed. Lizbeth is the brand name. (no I'm not getting free thread in exchange for beating a drum for it--tho come to think about it...)

This is the only size 20 I have. I have two size 30, both variegated. And a size 50 and size 100 in white. Note the size of the thread gets smaller as the number goes up. By size 50 it is similar in size to regular sewing thread tho much stronger and durable. Sizes 20 and up are also used for tatting and lace making.

Seriously! Why am I still here?