A few pictures, and two free edging patterns!
Hi. I really haven’t written much the last few weeks, haven’t I? I’ve been a bit busy, and usually only get a post out by writing it Thursday morning between things I have to do. This isn’t much better, but I have pictures of a bunch of things I’ve been doing, including some vaguely rpg-related things and some yarn things. And I have a pattern — actually, two! I did some very pretty crocheted edgings on some mini-handkerchief-thingies (one tiny handkerchief, one triangle of fabric, and probably some more by the time I actually post this), and they turned out great, so I thought I’d share them. That means this is a nice long post, full of pretty pictures!
First, though, here’s some pictures of things I’ve finished lately. You can tell I’ve been into friendship bracelet weaving/knotting, as there’s several pictures here, plus a bunch I didn’t take pictures of.
Handkerchief Edgings: the Blackbird edging and the Odette edging
All that above is cool and all, but I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about these.
Yes, these beauties. I love them so very much, and I’m quite proud of them! Both handkerchief-thingies (that’s their official name now. I’m calling it.) are made from an old sheet that had a large rip in it. I claimed it and have been using it for scrap fabric for a long time; that’s why the second one is smaller and triangular, because I didn’t want to waste anything.
The larger handkerchief-thingie is embroidered with some very simple flowers which started out as wild roses and don’t actually look right. From left to right, they’re made with French knots, backstitch, and stem stitch (filled with some random straight stitch lines). The stems are made in split stitch. The whole thing is hemmed primarily with running stitch and also with backstitch (the first side I hemmed, before realizing how long backstitch would take to do the whole thing), and edged on two sides with the Blackbird Edging, presented here.
The smaller handkerchief-thingie is embroidered with a split stitch capital A (just because) and a butterfly flying around it. It’s also hemmed in running stitch, but it’s been edged with the Odette Edging, also presented here.
The embroidery is all done in DMC embroidery floss and the crochet is Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Thread, size 30, done with a steel hook that didn’t have a size on it, but by comparison with others appears to be about size 7. I like this combo of thread/hook for edgings, because it makes a much finer lace than size 10 thread does. As always, American crochet terms are used throughout.
The names of these edgings are from the RPG Lady Blackbird and the ballet Swan Lake, respectively. The Blackbird edging is just because I’ve been using the shell stitch that makes up most of it (the last row is based on the edging that I used for the Papagena Shawl) for all the accessories I’m making for my halloween costume this year; I’m going to be Blackbird, and I’ve made a good bit of the costume so far. I’ll share when it’s properly done and I can show it off right. It also follows the fictional-character naming trend, so that’s a plus.
The Odette edging is a little more symbolic; it reminded me of feathers and I liked the white on light blue color scheme. So I figured I might as well continue the naming tradition of the Papagena shawl and name it for a fictional character that it reminded me of. Odette is the White Swan, the good one, in Swan Lake, and she’s a girl at night who was cursed to be a swan in the daytime, along with her retinue.
Both of these were worked directly onto the hem, which I don’t recommend. It took me a long time, using a thick safety pin, to poke a hole, single crochet into that hole, and make a foundation that way. It would have been much faster to make a chain and use that as a foundation, then sew that onto the hem; alternatively, I should have buttonhole stitched around the hem and worked single crochet around that to make the foundation row.
The Blackbird Edging is worked over a multiple of 4 stitches plus 1 to start (also, 5 stitches for each corner), though it’s easy to fudge. The Odette Edging is worked over a multiple of 4 stitches plus 1 (and 5 stitches for each corner repeat). Again, fudging is easy.
Both edgings start with a foundation row (doesn’t count as a row; treat it as row 0), which is either a chain, a foundation single crochet row, single crochet directly on the surface, or anything else you work into that’s either attached to the fabric or sewn on later. Go long enough to go around your fabric to the point you want; if you’re sc-ing directly onto the fabric, a safety pin is your friend to poke holes (get a big thick decorative one if you can and save the tiny ones for stitch markers). You do need to mark where you want the corners to be (3sc in the corner if you’re doing it directly), preferably with a thinner stitch marker so that it doesn’t pull out of shape.
Blackbird Edging — Row 1: ch 3 (counts as first dc throughout), dc into first stitch of foundation row, ch 1, 2 dc into same stitch, *sk next 3 stitches of foundation row, (2dc, ch 1, 2 dc) into next stitch (shell st made), repeat from *across; for each corner, after sk 3, work (shell st, ch 2, shell st) in the corner stitch, then continue with sk 3, shell st pattern; at end of row/round, join with sl st if working in rounds (if you’re going all the way around and working directly on the hem), turn if working in rows. Row 2: sl st to ch 1 of first shell, ch3, (dc, ch 1, 2dc) into the same ch1 space, *shell into next ch 1 space on previous row, repeat from * across; at the corner, sk the ch2 on previous row and work 1 shell into each of the two shells on the corner (so there’s no increase); at end of row/round, join if working rounds, turn if working rows. Row 3: ch1, sc into first dc (rounds: the ch3 of previous row, rows: last dc of previous row), *ch 1, (dc, ch4, sl st into 4th chain from hook [the ch4/sl st makes picot], ch1, dc) into next ch1 space, ch 1, dc into last dc of same shell, repeat from * across; for the corner, after last sc, work (picot, ch 1, sc into first dc of next shell) and continue with pattern from there; at end of row/round, join to first sc if working rounds. Finish off.
Odette Edging — row 1: ch3 (counts as first dc), (dc, ch 4, sl st into 4th ch from hook [ch4/sl st makes picot], ch 1, 2dc) into same st on foundation row, *sk next 3 stitches on foundation row, (2dc, picot, ch1, 2dc) into next st (picot shell made), repeat from * across; at the corner, work (picot shell, picot, ch 1, picot shell) into corner st, then continue in pattern; at end of row/round, join with sl st if working in round. Finish off.
If you make these, let me know! I’d love to see pictures!
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