Fiber Babble: Belated Bookmarks!

Belated Bookmarks!

September 05, 2011

The helicopter rose, wheeled over the Fear glacier, blue against the blue of the sky and then turned sharply south toward civilisation, away from the Land of the Spirits. "Terminal Freeze" by Lincoln Child ♦♦♦◊◊

First off, as usual I was late finishing & mailing the bookmarks for my swap - but not by the 3 4 weeks it's been since I started this post. I have you all as witnesses that for once I didn't wait until the last minute to start working on them - but (again) as usual, I had to do everything in the most complicated way possible.

First up, we have the ridiculously adorable mini-sock bookmarks, all finished.

Details:
Pattern: Sockology Bookmarks
Yarn: Jo-Ann Sensations Bamboo & Ewe, barely 2 gm per sock
Needles: US 1 (I used both DPN's and circulars)
Because I love it so much, I used Jeny's Stretchy Slipknot Cast On (youtube link).
Modifications: 4 rows ribbing, 12 rows stockinette, heel as described, 6 rows stockinette, then toe as described, but end at last decrease - not with the extra K row before grafting

(Yes! Grafted toes!)

After all the knitting, I tied a 1/8" red grosgrain ribbon to the top of the sock, added a little charm to the top and some sort of jewelry finding to the bottom. I made most of the bookmarks 'paperback' sized, though they were not all the same length...

..because I had help. Here's MoonPie with "her" bookmark. This one came from Linda 2B and I got to use it for about 60 seconds before MoonPie decided it was hers. I don't know what the deal is...

But wait! There's more!

You see, I'd never made a bookmark before I joined this swap. So, me being me, I went a-surfin' for inspiration. Among the zillions of cool things I found was a bookmark that was pretty and 'hugged' your page corner. Of course I had to try that, too!

So I decided to do some cross-stitch. Somewhere along the way the number of hug-gy bookmarks increased from 7 to 9 (can't forget Bob & Laura), but hey! They're just little bitty cross-stitch motifs! Right?

:sigh: Right. Except of course I have to go and get all fancy and try to make each bookmark specific to the recipient (Gloria & Bob, yours were first, before I got that latest bright idea). As if that didn't slow me down - research, you know - then it occurred to me that I got rid of all of my cross-stitch books (and most of the supplies) before I moved last time. So then it's on to the internet and visits to the public librarieS to find these quick (hah!) little motifs to stitch up.

Seriously? I've been stitching almost every evening and day off since I came up with this bright idea.

Finally on Monday (the first day AFTER the last day they were supposed to be mailed) I made bias binding and finished up the huggy bookmarks.

Of course, I didn't get them done until after the post office closed, so they went into the mail on Tuesday, only two days after the mailing deadline the bookmarks were sent on their way. :sigh: (again)

*All bookmarks, even those sent to Tasmania, have been received. Yes, it's been that long since I started writing this post!

Cute, huh?

Labels: knitting, stitchery

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2 Comments:

At 9/06/2011 3:37 AM,

Crispy Babbled Back:

All of your bookmarks came out fantabulous!! I'm sure that none of the swappers were unhappy waiting for them :0)

Crispy - who is impressed that you actually grafted all those toes!!

At 9/08/2011 6:33 AM,

Carrie P. Babbled Back:

Your red shawl is so delicate looking. It is going to be stunning.
Oh, your little book marks are very cute. Cross stitch takes a lot of time and they will be much appreciated.