Gift Wrap, Take Two

 

Back in 2017, my friend Christine gave me two skeins of yarn she had bought at Pembroke Farm, Prince Edward Island, while she and her family were in P.E.I. on vacation the summer before. I was quick to knit up most of the yarn into a shawl/wrap pattern. But then I found I had knitter's remorse on two counts. One, the shawl seemed to be such an awkward shape and length that I didn't like wearing it very much. Two, I had 60 grams of the yarn left over, which was not enough in itself to make anything, and I couldn't seem to find any yarn that coordinated with it. In 2020, I decided to take the wrap apart and knit a rectangular scarf that I would like better, and to use one with a repeating pattern that I could just knit until the yarn was gone.  

I searched Ravelry for a suitable scarf pattern and found the Duo Columns Reversible Scarf, designed by Quenna Lee. It's a nice-looking design, and is available for free. 

Here's the finished scarf, with both its sides on display. I thought this scarf design would look better fringed, and as I had plenty of yarn to work with, I went ahead and did so. When I had near the length I wanted, I stopped knitting and fringed the cast-on edge, cut a second set of fringe lengths and set them aside, and then resumed knitting on the length. I worked until I had just enough to cast off with, finished the scarf, then added the fringe to the cast-off edge, with the result that I had no yarn left over. 

The completed scarf is 82" long, which is longer than I would normally make a scarf. I usually like them just worn singly around my neck, with the ends reaching my waist. The ends of this scarf reach to my knees when I wear it a single time around my neck. 

 

But then this is a scarf that looks best wrapped a few times around the neck anyway. 

I don't particularly like making or wearing big needle knits, but there's no denying that they make for gratifyingly quick and easy projects. It also made me smile to use my 9mm needles. Years ago I saw them in a Salvation Army thrift store priced at $1. I knew I didn't have a pair of 9mm straights, and I stood there for a few minutes, mentally debating buying them. With money so tight, I try never to buy anything unless I am sure that I will use it. At the time, I'd never used 9mm needles 35+ years of knitting, and perhaps I never would. But I told myself, "It is just a dollar, you'll never get a better deal, and if you don't buy them and should need 9mm needles at some point, you'll kick yourself because you'll wind up having to pay a lot more." I bought the needles, and then just three months later was delighted to find that a pattern I'd picked out called for them. This would be only the second or third time I've used these needles, but I'm still smugly satisfied that I made the right call that day. 

This project used up the 60 grams I had left over when I knit this yarn up the first time, so I'm going to count this project as having a net stash decrease of 60 grams. 

The Abominable Snowman Afghan

My sister is what I call "Christmas crazy", meaning she really loves decorating for Christmas and goes all out on it, and she also has a thing for snowmen-themed stuff. A few years ago I got the idea of making her a special Christmas afghan -- something with snowmen on it if possible. 

I searched the Ravelry database for a suitable afghan, and came across the Patons-designed Christmas Eve Afghan pattern depicted above. I thought the happy-looking little snowmen were cute, and that the design had a bit of a country feel to it, which was a good thing in this case as my sister's tastes lean a little country. The afghan design is basically lap-sized with a finished size of 42" x 48", but I decided I'd enlarge it to what I consider the ideal afghan size, 4' x 6' -- large enough to comfortably cover one ordinary-sized adult, yet not so large as to be unwieldy. This meant knitting 60 blocks instead of 48. I decided I would also make a matching throw pillow.

As to the yarn, it had to be a budget type yarn, because I needed a LOT of yarn for this project (1730 grams by my estimate). I looked in my stash and found some orange worsted yarn for the snowmen's nose, while a partial skein of Loops & Threads Impeccable Tweed in Walnut Tweed (leftover from the owl cushion I made earlier in 2020 for my mother) would do for the arms and top hat. I bought one skein of Red Heart Super Saver in Soft White for the snowflakes and snowmen, and for the body of the afghan I bought Bernat Super Value in Forest Green. I did the math and calculated that I needed 8 skeins of the Bernat Super Value. In January 2020, I began walking up to the Michaels at Toronto's Stockyards shopping centre once a week to buy a skein of yarn using Michaels' coupons, which only apply to one item per customer per day. Or rather, I intended to walk to Michaels once a week; the reality was that some weeks I wouldn't get around to it or I decided I'd rather buy something else at Michaels when I actually got there, and as of the end of February 2020 I only had the one skein of Soft White and two skeins of the Forest Green. But hey, no rush, there was still lots of time to shop at Michaels before Christmas 2020 and get the rest of the yarn, right?

This blithe assumption turned out to be quite wrong, because of a little complication known as the COVID19 pandemic. Michaels Ontario had to close in March, and when they reopened a few months later, they had no Bernat Super Value worsted in Forest Green. I waited several more months for them to restock, but it turned out that they'd ceased to stock it at all. By this point, in August, I'd begun working on the afghan and was getting anxious. I searched online, and found that Michaels had some more still in stock in their other stores across Toronto that I could order online and have shipped to my house. I ordered six skeins. Michaels sent me a bag of four skeins and I called them and reported that I was two short of what I ordered. The customer service person arranged for another shipment of two, and then it turned out that I later received the remaining two that I had originally ordered in a separate shipment plus the extra two sent to me because I'd complained of not receiving my full order. I do wish Michaels had added some kind of statement to the packing slip for the four in order to inform me that I would be receiving the extra two under separate cover. But at least now I had no worries about running out of yarn.

Here's the finished afghan. It's a little smaller than I hoped (47" x 68", not counting the fringe), but it will do. I began it sometime in early August, thinking I'd be done in a few months -- I usually can knock off an afghan in one to two months -- only to find that it dragged on for a soul-searing eternity during which I often felt despairingly that I would be working on it forever. It took me over six months to make this afghan and a matching throw pillow -- I took just a week or two off in that time to knit a glove and a half for the tam, cowl and gloves set I'd begun earlier in the year. The afghan is a time-intensive design, of course, with its detailed little motifs. I did eventually get to the point that I had memorized the cabled and snowmen patterns, which helped some with speed, as I could make a block in an evening without so much as a glance at one of the charts. I was never able to do the same for the snowflake motif, and it took me several evenings to make each one. 

It still shouldn't have taken me more than three to four months to make the afghan and cushion, but then I made quite a lot of mistakes. I got a bunch of cable squares made before I realized I'd done them wrong, and I did the same thing with the snowmen squares. I made about snowflake blocks before I realized they were too wide. I think what happened was that the Red Heart Super Saver was a slightly bigger gauge than the Bernat Super Value. I ripped out all of them and reknitted them four stitches narrower than the pattern called for. They're still a little too wide compared to the cable and snowmen blocks, but it was workable. 

Seaming together the afghan blocks was a job in itself, but once that was done, I did enjoy getting to the point where I could begin working on the garter stitch trim on the four sides, because it meant I could use my brand new ChiaoGoo circular needle set for the first time. I'd wanted a new set for years. Then in early December when I realized I was going to have to spend Christmas alone (after an entire year spent alone) instead of going to my parents' house for a few days as I normally do, I went on Amazon to buy a few modest things to cheer myself up. Then I saw on my wish list that the price of this set was as low as I'd ever seen it, and I went a little mad and ordered one. 

When it arrived I sat down at my kitchen table with it and spent so long poring over its many attributes that my cat got jealous. Most of the things I buy are handmade or thrifted or even found items that I upcycle, or things my woodworker dad makes for me, and even when I do buy something new it's usually from the dollar store or some other low budget place. I generally have to go with the cheapest option I can live with. And I'm fine with that -- I think I probably get more real enjoyment out of making and contriving and finding deals than I would if I could afford to just go to the mall and buy whatever I wanted.  But I have hardly ever owned anything top of the line, and it was such a thrill to get something that is the best money can buy for once.  

This was my old, partially incomplete and partially broken set of thrift shop Denise circulars and the assorted circulars I owned prior to my ChiaoGoo set's arrival, so you can see why I was so excited. The Denise circs tended to come apart really easily. No matter how careful I tried to be, the needle would come off the line, dropping 50 or 60 stitches. I would groan and painstakingly pick them up again, and then five minutes later the needle would come off the circular line again. I'm amazed I didn't have a rage stroke. I'll give the assorted circulars to a friend of mine who has just begun knitting, but I really think the Denise set should go in the garbage. 

Here's a photo of the matching throw cushion. It is 20" x 20". The original plan was to make the cushion out of pieced blocks, just like the afghan, but I decided against going that route because it wasn't going to be possible to make the cushion the size I wanted it, and also because it was a lot of work. So, I adapted the cable pattern and used that for the cushion, knitting the cushion top in one long strip and then seaming it on three sides. It's more neutral than Christmassy, but that means my sister will be able to leave this cushion out all year round if she likes. 

The zipper for the cushion. I used my "two crochet chains sewn on either side of the zipper" technique for this as usual. I do wish I could have used a zipper in a shade that was closer to my yarn colour, but between Fabricland only offering curbside pickup shopping these days (which would make if difficult for me to match the colour) and my super tight budget, I decided this olive-coloured zipper that was just sitting in my zipper box would have to do. I made my own pillow form for the cushion. Good thing I'd stocked up on polyfil early in 2020. 

I did not finish this project until February 13th, 2021. Meanwhile, of course, Christmas had long past. My sister's birthday is in mid-January, so I gave her the items I'd originally bought for her birthday for her Christmas present (my mother and sister came to my house in Toronto to do a curbside present delivery and pickup on December 23rd), and I told her that I was working on something special for her birthday present, though I was uncertain as to when I'd be able to give it to her. I still don't know when I'll be able to see her again. I could ship it to her, but that would be expensive and I can't bear to take the risk it might get lost in the mail, and also I want to see her reaction when she opens it. 

My sister has what I would categorize as three basic reactions to gifts. If she loves the gift, she'll laugh in a particular, delighted, staccato kind of way ("Haw! Haw! Haw!"). If she likes it, she just seems pleased, and talks about how she'll use it. If she doesn't like it, she is polite but unenthusiastic and unforthcoming. Of course I won't pressure her to like this afghan and cushion or complain if she doesn't, but I'll be watching her carefully when she opens it, and if I get the "politely unenthusiastic" reaction for something I worked six months to make and that is probably the most time intensive knitting project I've ever done, I think I'll die a little on the inside.  

This project used a tiny amount of orange yarn and perhaps 20 grams of the brown tweed I had in my stash. I had 60 grams left of the white, and thanks to the mix-up with the Michaels shipment, I finished this project with two almost untouched skeins of green yarn (I used just a little of the one when I was finishing up the fringe), so that's a net stash growth of  436 grams. 

A Gift From the Wilds of Toronto

 

One day in early fall 2020 I walked to Toronto's Stockyards shopping complex to do some errands. It's more than 3 km from my house, and when I was walking up Keele Street, I stopped halfway between Dundas West and St. Clair to sit on a concrete wall in order to rest and hydrate. The wall bordered the grounds of  a large building, and there was a line of pine trees planted alongside the building. As I sat there I noticed a pinecone sitting on the grass beside me. I picked the pinecone up and looked at it, and found myself flashing back to the day I made a pinecone tree ornament in kindergarten, in what would have been December 1978. I can't even remember my kindergarten teacher's name any more, or the names of any of my classmates (I only attended that elementary school for one year), but I still clearly remember how I daubed the pinecone with glue and the moment of pouring glitter over it, then shaking the pinecone to rid it of the excess glitter. 

I presented that pinecone to my mother when I got home from school that day, and she accepted it with genuine pleasure -- rare for her, since she normally received my bungled childhood crafting and art attempts politely and then discreetly disposed of them as soon as possible afterwards. She still has that pinecone ornament and hangs it on her Christmas tree every year. It really is a delicately pretty little thing, and it must be the oldest surviving example of my handiwork.

Once I'd relived that crafting memory, I got the idea of making a whole set of pinecone ornaments for stocking stuffers for my mother and sister for Christmas. Why not, when I had a source for the pinecones right there in the wilds of Toronto? I had spray adhesive at home, and would only need to buy some glitter at the dollar store, so it would be an inexpensive project, and the ornaments wouldn't be all that much work.  

In what was technically an act of trespassing and petty theft, I walked among the pine trees, gathering up or picking pinecones off the trees, until I had 18 pinecones. I put them in a bag I had with me. After I got home I did some research on pinecone tree ornaments -- and other pinecone crafts -- and created and populated a modest Pinterest board on the topic. I decided this set of pinecone oranments would have ribbon bows on them. I had a whole box of Christmas ribbons left over from the "12 Drummers Drumming" Christmas centrepiece that I had made in June 2020 that I could use for the ribbon bows. I only had to buy a package of four vials of different coloured glitter at the dollar store for $1.43. (Five-year-old me never dreamed of such resources.) 

My next step was to prepare the pinecones by cleaning them. I gave them a bath in the kitchen sink, subjecting them to a gentle scrubbing with a vegetable cleaning brush. I wouldn't recommend skipping the cleaning stage -- I had hardly thought they needed it, but the bath water went surprisingly dark and dirty. After the cones had had a day or two to dry out, I baked them in the oven at 220 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. 

The rest of the process is pretty obvious: I sprayed the pinecones with adhesive and poured glitter over them. And made a royal mess in the process. My tastes don't run to glitter and I've hardly ever used it, and each time I do use it, the experience does nothing to make me want to do it more often. Glitter isn't called the herpes of the crafting world for nothing. It gets everywhere. As carefully as I worked with it, and then cleaned and vacuumed, it still infected my next couple of projects. And it reminded me of a timely illustration I saw on Twitter regarding masking up to prevent the spread of COVID: if there are twenty crafters in a room and one of them uses glitter, how many of them have glitter on their projects?

While the newly glittering pinecones were drying, I made a set of 18 perky ribbon bows, took a few stitches in each with sewing thread to keep them from coming undone, and ran a hanging loop of embroidery floss through the back of the ribbon knot. Finally, I glued the ribbon bows on the pinecones. The result wasn't bad, I thought, though I have my concerns as to how well the ribbon bows are bonded to the pinecones. But then, if they should come apart, my mother and sister know their way around a glue bottle. 

 

This is the set of nine pinecones I made for my mother. For Mum's set, I chose gold glitter and three different kinds of ribbon, all of which were rendered in red and gold. 

This is the set of nine pinecones I made for my sister. Her pinecones are decorated in silver glitter and the three kind of ribbon I thought went best with silver: green velvet, red velvet, and a silver-threaded green and red tartan ribbon. 

I packed the two sets of pinecones into two pretty dollar store Christmas cookie tins in an effort to protect them and to keep them from shitting glitter everywhere. I hope my mother and sister liked them. I didn't go to my parents' house for Christmas this year as I usually do because of the pandemic. We contented ourselves with a masked curbside pick up/drop off of our respective presents on December 23rd. But it was nice to think of my parents and sister opening these ornaments and all my other gifts on Christmas morning, as I opened their gifts at my house. At least, on that morning, they would think of me and know that I had thought of them.

Makeup Case Makeover Madness

 

In January 2020, using the tartan canopy from an old and broken umbrella, I relined the the wicker case that I use to hold my manicure kit, and made two matching vanity cases to boot. I was so pleased with how that project had turned out and enjoyed using my upgraded manicure kit so much that I soon turned my sights to my makeup case, which you see in the photo above. I bought this case in an after-Christmas sale at Shopper's Drug Mart for $16 in 2012. It came with makeup in it, all of which I gave away unused to my sister/a friend because none of it was the right shade for me, but I didn't care. The case alone was worth the $16. It's a good-looking case that is just the right size to hold all the makeup and equipment I could reasonably want, it fits nicely into my top dresser drawer, and it isn't too big to pack into my suitcase when I travel.  

But, after eight years, it had become somewhat the worse for the wear. To begin with, the faux chrome trim was coming off on the outside on the left side. 

The lining of the case's interior had become stained and yucky over the years. But, since my manicure kit refresh had turned out so well, I was confident I could fix that. Regrettably, after that tote bag and manicure kit and tissue case upcyling extravaganza last winter, I was fresh out of broken umbrellas that could be used for lining, but it's not like I'm allergic to fabric stores. I took the makeup case with me when fabric shopping to make sure I got a fabric that would go with the brown of the shell, and ultimately bought half a metre of a dark brown nylon lining fabric at Len's Mill on Orfus Road, Toronto, for $4.33. I also bought a brown 7" zipper with the idea that it would be nice to have a matching vanity case to go with the case and help me organize it. 

The makeup case with its new lining. If you've got an old beauty case you'd like to reline, I say go for it. It's not a difficult task, though it does take some time, as it's finicky work getting everything positioned and glued just so, and one needs to do it in stages to give the glue time to dry. It's also inexpensive, as you just need a modest amount of nylon fabric, glue, and possibly some cardboard.

After getting the old lining pieces ripped out, I cleaned the case. There was dried old glue on the trim that I had to scrape and scour off, and I had to use a razor blade to scrape some of the old glue out of the interior. Once the case was clean and empty, I reglued the part of the trim that had been coming off on the exterior, and left it to dry.

I then ripped all the old lining off the cardboard forms, and recovered the old forms with the new lining. I reused all the old cardboard pieces for my lining, with the exception of the upper lid piece, which had a window cut in it for the mirror. (I chose not to put the mirror back in, as I've never used it and it's just something else to keep clean.) I had piece of scrap cardboard on hand that I used to make a new upper lid form. I gave the lining pieces a day to dry, and glued the lining back in stages, one stage per day: first the top and bottom side lining pieces, then the back wall/hinging piece, then finally the big top and bottom pieces.

When I looked at how my makeup case was organized, and figured out what kind of custom cases would help me to keep my makeup tidy and accessible, I wound up deciding to make *three* matching cases for the kit. Using the leftover dark brown nylon and some remnant lighter brown satin lining fabric I had on hand, I made a tissue case, I made the vanity case I'd planned to make, and when I found I had a second 7" brown zipper in my zipper box (bought to use in a skirt for a brown suit I'm planning on making, but I won't get to that project for months and will have time to replace it), I made a third case to hold my makeup mirror, which will hopefully protect it from getting scratched and/or dirty.

The finished and (mostly) packed case. The plastic case that you see in the box holds my makeup brushes, a ziploc bag of cosmetic sponges, and a bottle of makeup brush cleaner. In the front of the case on the left are my mascaras, eye crayon, and concealer. In the right front corner are my bottles of foundation. On the right side are my blush, contouring, and two eyeshadow compacts. The vanity case I made holds my lipsticks and lip glosses. 

I'm nearly as pleased with this project as I was with the manicure case refresh. For less than $6, I have made this makeup case better than "good as new" -- it has never looked this nice or been this conveniently arranged. All my makeup and tools are reasonably easy to see and access. When I put the lipstick case, the mirror case, and the tissue case on top of everything else and shut the lid, the makeup kit is packed snugly enough that nothing shifts around much inside and it's all in the same order when I open the lid -- unless I have a dimbulb moment and open the case upside down, that is. (Yes, it's happened. And yes, it's happened more than once.)

And now I'm inspired to get out the thrift shop makeup books I bought recently and begin working on upgrading my fairly basic makeup skills. A woman who owns a makeup kit this nice ought to be able to put her makeup where her mouth is. (Or eyes or cheekbones or whatever.)  

A Walk Through Pine Creek

This project came to be because I wanted a brown-tone hat and scarf set to go with my plain brown winter coat. I thought fair isle would be a nice design direction. I also decided I would make a pair of brown gloves to go with the set. I still have the pair of brown knitted gloves I made in 2014, but I've worn them so much that it would be a good idea to have a second knitted pair. 

I searched Ravelry for a suitable pattern, and found the Pine Creek design, by Mary Henderson, which I loved at first sight. I decided I'd get two shades of brown and a contrast colour to knit it with. Now, what glove pattern should I use? I didn't want to make the gloves in that fair isle pattern too, as my rule is that while wearing two matching knitted pieces is a nice coordinated look, three knitted pieces in the same distinctive pattern are too much of a good thing -- it's too matchy-matchy a look. But I could knit the gloves in the same dark brown yarn so as to make them look like a set, and then the gloves could be worn separately with all my winter coats.   

After searching for a suitable glove pattern on Ravelry, I settled on the Nisu pattern, designed by Maraka Mari. They are plain without being too plain, and I thought the cabled pattern on the back complemented the fair isle pattern of the Pine Creek set. 

With my patterns selected, it was off to Toronto's Romni Wools to pick out the yarn. I bought three skeins of Mirasol Sulka Nina in Cafe Royale, which is a lovely blend of merino, alpaca, and silk, then for my lighter shade of brown and contrast colour, I bought two skeins of  Sandnes Garn Mini Alpakka: one in shade 2652, which is a light brown, and one in shade 3508, which is a sort of muted pumpkin.   

As you can imagine, this project was a lot of work, involving as it did not only lightweight yarns and small needles, but also fair isle. But it went smoothly. I don't think I made any mistakes to speak of. My one regret was that I hadn't chosen a lighter shade of brown than the Sandnes Garn Mini Alpakka 2652 -- a higher level of contrast would have made the set much more striking and shown the design to better effect. It's too muted for my liking as is. 

This is the first cowl I have ever made. I get the appeal of a cowl -- they are very practical as they stay in place, which means they are unlikely to get lost, and they provide coverage -- but I prefer the look of a scarf. However, while I did consider turning the cowl design into a scarf design, with this particular project, the cowl was the way to go. The underside of a fair isle scarf wasn't going to look attractive, and I was not interested in knitting a tube fair isle scarf. I was happy with the way the finished cowl sat on me, so that's good.  

Here's the tam. This really is such a lovely pattern. The photos didn't show the orange yarn accurately -- it's a sickly golden yellow here.

Once the cowl and tam were complete, it was on to the gloves. 

The gloves gave me serious attitude when I was working on them. Really, glove, who raised you?

As well as they turned out, knitting this pair of gloves was a wholesome reminder of why I don't knit gloves more often. They are so finicky and fiddly to make. I do think it is worth doing occasionally, as one does wind up with a perfectly fitted pair of gloves. But I wouldn't want to do it often, or ever make gloves for anyone else, as the intended wearer would have to sit beside me while I worked, and let me try the glove in progress on their hand every five minutes when I'm working on the fingers. 

The completed tam, cowl, and gloves. I can't help regretting my choice of a not-light-enough brown, but otherwise this is a set I am very happy with.

I had 110 grams of yarn left once I completed this project, and as I bought all the yarn for it, that's a 110 gram stash increase. 

Where Two Tartans Meet

In 2015, I bought 1.9 metres of the tartan fabric you see above for under $10 with the idea that it would be used to make a dress for me. In 2017, I used a little of it to make a pincushion for a friend. In August 2020, I used some of it to accent a dress and purse for my grandniece Cauliflower, cutting out the pieces for my dress first to make sure I would have what I needed for it, and could feel free to use what was left for Cauliflower's dress. Then, once I'd finished the dress for Cauliflower, it was time to turn back to the pieces I'd cut out for my dress. I had a certain dread of making it, remembering what it was like to make a tartan skirt from a very similar fabric years before.

This is the pattern I picked out for the dress: Vogue 8873. It's a 2013 pattern that is no longer available on the Vogue Pattern website. I love it -- it's a wearable, practical, yet stylish design that can work as either a day dress or for something more dressy, depending on the fabric chosen. It's flattering too.  When I searched for an image of the cover to use in this post, my search pulled up many a dressmaker's version of it, nearly all of which looked lovely on the wearer. And it even has pockets, which makes it practically a unicorn among dress patterns. 

But... it was probably not the ideal choice for this tartan fabric. I keep side-eyeing the sketch of view F (see bottom right of the pattern photo above) done in a tartan fabric, which shows the dress in a tartan fabric and the bodice overlay with the same tartan orientation as the skirt. Be warned: that sketch is a liar and a deceiver. The draped bodice overlay section is cut on the bias, while the skirt piece is cut straight along the grain. I had two fears as I made this dress: that I would accidentally cut one piece of it beyond repair (I had no fabric left to recut even the smallest pieces); and that it would look like a discordant mess when I was done (I hadn't had much leeway for pattern matching). 

 

Here's the finished dress. Yes, the tartan of the skirt and of the bodice are wildly at variance, but I am inclined to think that this fun contemporary tartan doesn't require the kind of fabric matching that a more traditional tartan does and that it looks fine. But I may be totally deluding myself.  

The fabric itself has a very sturdy quality to it and it should wear like iron. The style is not likely to ever date, or to become too young for me. I'll definitely be keeping the pattern for future use. 

I can't resist doing a little show and tell on how I'm going to style the dress. Some years back I scored the handbag you see above at my neighbourhood Salvation Army thrift shop for $8, and the suede pumps that sit beside them at a Le Château outlet store on Toronto's Orfus Road for $33. I spent perhaps $50 on the dress (the fabric was super inexpensive, but I had to buy the pattern, a zipper, and I splurged on a good quality lining), so the total cost of the outfit is under $100. The colour didn't photograph well, but the handbag and shoes are a rich teal, not the more turquoise-like colour you see here, and the two are an excellent match, with barely a few shades' difference between the two. As for jewelry, I think I'll go with some simple silver pieces, such as the sterling silver rose pendant necklace I wear a lot. 

 

Still not decided about that tartan mishmash -- will I be making every dressmaker who sees me in it cringe? -- but I'm very happy with the total outfit. I also managed to get a dress, contrast fabric for a second dress and a purse, and a pincushion out of less than 2 metres of fabric that I paid under $10 for, so I'm happy about that too. 

New Jewelry and a New Neck

 

In August 2020 I made a navy dress with tartan accent cuffs and hem border for my grandniece's 11th birthday. Once it was done I regretted that I hadn't made her a necklace to go with it, and wound up resolving to make her one for Christmas.

My first step was to look in my bead box to see if I had any beads that would go with the dress. I didn't have any beads the right colour, but I did have some silver beads I thought would be useful. I took some of the tartan and navy fabrics to Michaels to get a few strings of beads in coordinating colours. It wasn't easy to match it -- the red of the tartan is an off-beat shade -- and I wasn't excited about what I eventually found, but I did purchase two strings of red beads and one of turquoise that I thought would do. Michaels was having a 40% off sale on all their stringed beads, so that was a help. 

On the same trip, I scored an 18" jewelry neck for 50% off, which was much more satisfying. I'd been wanting one for several years. It will help me make an especially elaborate necklace I have in the works (I'll need to be sure the multi-strands sit properly), and will also be a nice-to-have when it comes to displaying whatever jewelry I make for photographing.   

Here's the necklace... and a pair of matching earrings I whipped up... and the jewelry neck. I'm very meh on the necklace. It's presentable and will go with my grandniece's dress, but it's nothing special. I wish I'd been able to find more interesting beads in the right shade. 

The jewelry neck does elevate it though. Doesn't the necklace look so much better on it than it would lying on a bare surface?

 

I no longer have the dress, but I did a kind of mock-up by laying a swath of the navy fabric over a piece of the tartan to get a sense of how the necklace will look over it. It goes. 

A close up of the earrings. They're not so bad. I'm still much happier about my new jewelry neck than I am about my handiwork.