Needlework Update: 2021 Second Quarter

Posted by Harper on

We're another quarter into 2021, and it's time for another update on my progress toward this year's goals and on what I've been working on in general.


  1. The seaman's scarf that's been in my UFO stack forever has finally seen progress. Not only is it back on needles, but I finished the cabled middle section and dug out the instructions for the lace pattern I'm using on the ends. On the first lace segment, I changed the lace pattern a little at the end to create a visual transition into the cable segment, and my next step is to repeat that transition going back into the lace pattern from the cables. The scarf is bi-colored, which was intentional from the start. However, if I ever choose to make this into a pattern, I'll make another scarf in a single color. 

  2. I've edited and published five more patterns in the last quarter (that's nine, total, now) and I have two more patterns that I've edited that are awaiting photos before publication.

  3. For charity stitching, I finished the pink baby blanket I had started in my last update.  I am part of a charity stitching forum on Ravelry, and one woman on it is collecting cotton sacks for a non-profit run by a Ghanian woman who provides reusable feminine products (and relevant education) to Ghanian girls so that they can stay in school beyond menarche.  She has requested a significant number of cotton sacks on a trial basis for containing soiled feminine products, and the woman on the forum put out a call for volunteers.  I'm using the opportunity to use up various cottons in my stash.  Thus far, I have made 17 sacks, and I hope to make about a dozen more before I mail them off to meet the September 1 deadline. 

  4. I finished my son's blanket.  Eventually, probably next year, I'll need to make another for my youngest.

  5. I had a couple ideas to test out for making a poncho, so I made my daughter a new poncho and came up with a pattern prototype in the process.

  6. I also used an old edging pattern to make my daughter a dress-up crown, which I wrote about here.

  7. I made a doily, using a modified snowflake pattern for the motifs.  That doily will ultimately be a gift for a friend.  It was fun to play around with thread again.  I hadn't done that in a long time. 

  8. I dug out the doily I had started ages ago--my other major UFO. I have also searched my closets for the pattern booklet (it's a Patricia Kristofferson design), but have yet to track it down.  I know it's around somewhere (probably the basement), because that booklet is not one with which I would willingly part. If I can't find the booklet, I can purchase a download of the pattern, but I'm not ready to give up the search quite yet.  And yes, the doily is badly stained.  Time has not been kind to it.  I'll have to bleach it when it's finished, and if that doesn't work, I'll tea-dye it.

  9. One of the patterns I've recently edited is a crocheted cloche pattern. I'm almost done making a second sample (first sample on the left in the left hand picture below), but I happened across an unfinished hat from this pattern that I apparently started some time ago (right).  I plan to finish that hat while I'm at it. Originally, it was supposed to be in a single color, and I ran out of yarn.  I can make the brim in a contrasting color, and it will still be cute.
     

  10. Finally, I found my container of old CD's where I had stored all of the patterns I wrote before kids. Since I already bought an external disc drive, I'll be able to access them now.
Going forward, I have one more pattern that I want to put out this year, which will give Stitch Whisper Designs a total of twelve patterns for the year. I plan to have all of them up by mid-October. I have a couple things I want to make for my sons, but I don't have any hard deadlines for those. 

On this blog, there have been several patterns published on here over the years.  Some of those I have taken down to rework as patterns for sale (three of those are currently on the Patterns For Sale Page), but others I want to keep as free patterns.  Over the next few weeks, I want to add those free patterns to the Ravelry database.  As time permits, I also want to turn those patterns into free printables.

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