My sisters-in-law and I absolutely love going to second hand stores.

A couple of weeks ago, we were in one of our favorites, when Sis spotted this old old crocheted piece in the back of a drawer:

She held it up to me and we both fell in love with it.

She asked the lady how much it was, and the lady tossed her wrist and went,

‘Oh, phfft, it’s free…. it’s  worthless….. there’s a hole in the middle!’

Sis and I looked at each other in amazement and had to stiffle guffaws of delight and amazement.

Afterwards, I thought that this is another perfect example of how the way we interpret things colors the world!

The shop lady (bless her heart) saw it as a ruined old doily that some idiot had cut the center out of, rendering it worthless.

But Sis and I saw it as a gorgeous crocheted collar that was intriguing and deserving of  study and re-fashioning into some smashing wonderful-ness.

I hadn’t even seen the possibility of it being a table runner! So interesting!

I am looking forward to analysing the filet crochet pattern of this collar  and seeing how those perfect corners were worked.

Once again…. trash to treasure! yay!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I posted about these little tatted butterflies . I have been making them for the red shawl that I am working on for workshops I am teaching in the fall.

I noticed as I was photoshopping the pics that the butterfly wasn’t one of the new and revised ones. Ah well, the pics are so cute I had to post them anyhow.

One thing I forgot to mention about the yarn for the shawl is that it is Coats Royale Gemini Double Strand Crochet Thread, 100% mercerized cotton. (similar to size 3) The color is 0446 Burgundy/Victory Red.

I’ll be posting more pics as the shawl progresses.

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

I’ve been working away on a crocheted and tatted freeform lace butterfly shawl.

It’s been frustrating and challenging, because it just hasn’t been going the way I thought it should.

But! I have had a couple of breakthroughs that I am really pleased about.

The first is that I have finally settled on the thread that I am going to use for the background- I’ll post pics of it later. (and I twigged to something else about the background that I needed to change- but more about that later….)

The thing that I am really happy about is that I have  come up with the perfect butterfly for the shawl.

The butterfly that I was going to use:

Isn’t right for the shawl, so it’s going back into the ‘potential’ file.

I put the new butterfly down on the floor to take a pic of it, and our greyhound immediately came and tried to curl up on it……

He’s so helpful!

Anyhow, I am pleased with the new butterfly:

So, I had better get back to my hooks and shuttle…..

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

On one of the email groups that I belong to, someone posed an interesting question about color combinations that really captivate us.  This made me think about the red shawl that I am working on… which is all about butterflies.

Which brought up for me that butterflies are, hands down, hooks up, my most beloved design motif.  (Well, I also love hearts, flowers, leaves, hands and the human form - but, other than those, it’s butterflies for me…..)

So, I wonder…. are there specific motifs that really sing for you?

Do you find yourself being drawn back, again and again, to working with a certain theme or motif?

I find this fascinating…. I’d love to know what motifs inspire and move people, and why we are drawn back to them…..

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

 Yesterday, my husband’s jazz trio was playing at an outdoor art and design festival:

That’s my Beloved in  the green shirt.  Look at the sky through the scrim of the stage behind them……

When they started playing (and they were FABULOUS!) the sky was slightly overcast, but it was warm and pleasant.

BUT, as they began their second set, look what the sky did:

The temperature plummeted, and the winds were insane!

The festival staff ran around and took down all the umbrellas from the tables.  Good plan…. we put our personal umbrellas up as it started to rain, and the wind turned them inside out!

We almost did Mary Poppins routines! wow…..

Amazingly enough, the center of the city didn’t get any hail, but all around the city and burbs got nailed.  Yoicks…..

Jim and his trio played on, and played beautifully. The sound crew was running around the stage, tarping monitors and speakers, but that didn’t bother the trio one bit. They were in a groove and kept on to the end of their set.  Bless their hearts!

Before the winds  hit, I was crocheting like mad.

I’ve been working on a red shawl as a demonstration piece for workshops I am teaching in the fall. It’s a combination of tatting and crochet and this shawl has been nagging at me for months now. I showed a peek of it at:

red shawl 

Hmmm.

Some projects can really make you crazy.

I have worked the background mesh for the shawl about 6 times now!

I did it in rainbow thread. erg…. no go.

ribbit.

I did it in red thread:

But the motifs weren’t showing up at all, so I frogged the red

ribbit

and did it in black (at the Festival, under blackening skies….)

Last night, I tore all the black background out.

It was too ‘contrastie’.

ribbit

I tried a couple of other background colors and tore them out, too….

And then I had an aha moment….. and have started all over again….

and I am hoping that I am getting it right this time - but you never know….

I’ll do a bit more and see how it looks and then I’ll post pics.

But if you hear the sound of frogs ribbitting away, it may well be me! ribbit ribbit ribbit!

It’s been a very ribbitty time around here, what with this frogging shawl, and with a project in my new book being VERY un co-operative.

Time for things to go swimmingly.

Do you ever have several things go ribbitty on you all at once, too?

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright 

In September, I’ll be teaching workshops in Portland OR at the Knit and Crochet Show

One of the demo pieces that I am making for several of the classes is a red ‘Butterfly’ freeform lace shawl that combines tatting and crochet…..

as it moves along, I’ll post more pics. This is the first…..

And here’s the  next set of pics: Frogging the background
Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

I am tickled pink!

My daughter has decided that the Crocheted Butterfly Shawl will work for her wedding ensemble after all!

I have ordered the silk bricks and will soon be spinning up a storm. Hmmm. I think that this may call for a second Royale Hare Spindle……….

If you scroll down the page, you’ll get the full scoop on the Crocheted Butterfly Shawl.

People have been asking what weight yarn/thread I used in the shawl. Lion Crochet Cotton….. 4 strands for the butterfly and 1 for the background. NOT kitchen cotton! LOL!

Can you substitute? Sure. Just be sure to swatch first.

That’s what creativity is all about! Right brain, left brain.

Inspiration followed by a heck of a lot of hard work.

This is NOT the last that you’ll be hearing about the Butterfly Shawl!

LOL!
Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright