Skull Doily

 I fell in love with the awesome skull doily created by CraftsUntold over on Lettuce Craft, and knew I had to make one too.  So I created this one for TheMistressT for the Secret Modmirer Swap.  Now they are doily twins.  The pattern is by Ann Wannamaker, and can be found HERE.  She has so many fantastic skull patterns I want to try!

Wulf's Mandala Tablemat

I recently had the fun of being partnered with the wonderful Wulf, in the Use the Good Beads Swap.  The emphasis was to use your most treasured craft supplies that you've been hoarding for years, always saying 'I need to wait till I have the most perfect, special use for them!'  In talking to Wulf, he mentioned needing a mat for the center of his dining table, so I turned to my stash of silk sari yarn.  Sadly, none of the yarns in my stash were working just right for what I wanted to make, so I actually bent the swap rules, by doing a yarn trade with someone on Ravelry.  So I did use a precious material that had been hoarded, it just hadn't been hoarded by ME.  (Don't worry, I made up for it with a second project, a fiber bowl that will be posted tomorrow.  My inner Hermione is still afraid I'll be expelled from life for breaking an arbitrary rule.) 

I actually wrote my own pattern for this one.  It's crocheted with 1.5 skeins of silk sari yarn from Darn Good Yarn.  It's made by recycling worn out clothing (saris), keeping the textiles from ending up in a landfill, and at the same time giving fair wages to women & girls in India and Nepal, allowing them to work from home.  It might look tiny, as doilies are usually made with delicate lace weight yarn, but this one is actually a heavier worsted weight, so it actually measures 17" across.

Set of Chunky Mandalas for our Bedroom

Monday I was feeling the need to make a quick and easy project.  I grabbed some Bernat Maker Home Dec yarn from my stash to make a few mandalas/doilies for our bedroom.  The yarn is a chunky knitted hollow tube of material, somewhat like tee shirt yarn, but more even and without seams in the way.  It's incredibly soft, and I am definitely going to make some more projects with it.  I like how the chunky yarn keeps them feeling fresh and modern, rather than fussy & old lady.

The large mandala is made from the Bloom Mandala Centerpiece pattern.  I did the first 6 rounds as written, and since it was getting pretty big, I did an amended version of the 2 border rows.  (If you want to do what I did, then for the first round of border, sc between each group of 5 dc, then 6 ch. For the second border row, sl st, sc, hdc, dc, picot, dc, hdc, sc, sl st in each ch 6 space around.) 

This one took my just one evening, watching tv after dinner.  It's amazing how fast this yarn hooks up!  It's about 16" across and a bit over 1/4" thick.  Hhere it is on the chest of drawers in our room.  It fits just right under the antique pitcher & bowl my parents gave us.

The smaller pair was made from the medium size pattern in the Aunt Aggie's Trivets pattern.  I did the first three rounds as written, then as it was getting close to the finished size I wanted, I improvised a new round 4.   (sc, picot, sc in the dc's in the points, sc in next 4, repeat)

These are about 7" each, and took just a few hours yesterday morning.  I made them to go under the lamps on our night stands, and like how they soften up the look of the room. 

Magenta Sun & Phoenix Mats

After finishing my Charming Mat I decided to use up some more of the sari yarn in my stash by making a few more mats/trivets/doilies.  I started off with the large sized trivet from the Aunt Aggie's Trivets pattern, made from a magenta sari silk.  I didn't have enough yarn to do it exactly as written, so I did Rounds 1-6 as written, then a row of 8 single crochets per chain space.  I like how it looks like a primitive sunburst.  It measures 13" across, and I think it would be nice under a plant or under a decorative bowl on a table.

Finally I had a few balls of a red-orange silk that had some breaks in it when I balled it, so I decided to try some of the smaller trivets in the pattern. I started the size small, but it looked awful in such a busy yarn, so I frogged it and went with two of the medium sized trivets instead.  They are each 9.5" across.  Due to the thick & thin nature of the yarn, the final round of the pattern was a bit too bulky, causing a wavy edge to them that I didn't like, so I ended up skipping two of the single crochets per petal in the final round.  (Specifically in the first and last sc of the previous rounds.) 

Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with all of these, but they will either go into my shop, or into my stash of handmade holiday gifts.