project design and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

You’ll need to get out your potholder loom, and your spool knitter  and less than an ounce of yarn in wing colors and less than an ounce of black yarn for the body.

If you haven’t seen my video on

how to weave a triangle on the potholder loom

then, click on the link  above, because you’ll need to know how to do that.

For this butterfly, I combined a strand of variegated fuzzy yarn, a strand of rayon variegated and a strand of rayon in lavender for the wings.

I held them together throughout the weaving, as if they were a single strand.

The butterflies are great on their own, but  they can also be combined with crochet or knitting or weaving. They can be sewn to pillows, bags, curtains – whatever your imagination and inspiration come up with!

I have plans for this butterfly…. and will post updates on where it’s going and how I am going to be using it, so stay tuned.

I’ve made a video of how to make the handmade, woven and spool knitted Nifty Butterfly:

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But, go see it…..

moth

What can a butterfly fanatic say? um, not, ’spiffy’

When I said ’spiffy’….. a guzbillion people made fun of me.

Spiffy video.

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The shawl is a combination of tatting and crochet and is a small semi-circular shoulder shawl. It is super comfortable to wear as it stays in place without tugging.

I love putting crochet together with tatting as they are  harmonious  partners.

I went through a fair amount of frustration with making the shawl, as I had to frog it many times to find the perfect combination of threads.

But, now I love it, and wear it a lot!

Here is a list of the links that show the shawl being constructed:

Tatted and crocheted shawl

Some different color backgrounds for the shawl

Working on the larger butterflies

Small tatted butterflies

My kitty wearing tatted butterflies on her forehead

 The Pattern for the tiny tatted butterflies

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Well…. the first winner of the earrings didn’t respond to her email or the  shout outs on the blog  about the contest, so I did a second chance draw.

Here’s the winner: WINNER

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2 of the winners have not done that yet…. so I am going to give them until midnight tonight and if they haven’t responded by then…. I will draw again for these earrings:

Gold color tatted butterfly earrings contest winner

Tatted cotton rainbow earrings contest winner

A fair warning!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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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

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“I really like you, but….

we’ve been seeing too much of each other.

It’s time for a break.”

She and her assistant both cracked up and we all merrily agreed that we are on a break. (we really have been spending waaaaaaaaaay too much time together lately! erk)

Anyhow, while I am having to spend time in waiting rooms and dentist chairs and other tedious places, I bless my tatting shuttles.

Oh, how I love my tatting! It’s so portable, and it’s also so gentle, soothing and contemplative.

Today, while tatting on the way to the dentist’s office, I had a big breakthrough with the little tatted butterflies that I have been making for years.

These tatted butterflies are my version of a standard tatted butterfly,  but, I have always been somewhat unhappy about the body of the butterfly.

Well, today, I twigged to a little flip and chain that suddenly ‘fixes’ the body. So, I was happy dancing about it.

I decided that I had to take pics of my happy discovery.

Immediately, my beloved kitty needed to see what I was doing. She is my ‘glued-to-me’ cat and is very curious about everything that happens in the studio.

So, when I started taking pics of the new butterflies, she jumped into my lap and started helping. I took about 20 pictures of her with the butterflies, but these are my 3 faves:

Life is full of small pleasures!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

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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 

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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 

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I’ll never have time to do it, but I love it that now I COULD!

Here’s the pattern URL: Crocheted Mathematics of Chaos Butterfly Model   by Hinka Osinga and Bernd Krauskopf

thanks so much, Kristi! Wheeeeeeeeeee!

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