This kiln is a whole lot of crab. It also has my first test of my new batch of 2167 clear with Gillespie Borate instead of Gerstley Borate. From what I can see it looks like it worked really well, which is good because I mixed up a whole batch of 5 gallons hoping it would. Whew.

Still working on fall stuff right now. I made one of these last year and wanted to make some more. I love the dragon's blood stamp from De La Designs.


For the handle I just used a potter's thumb tool to make the scales and then cut toes at the bottom. I will use a different color on it to make it pop.




I wanted something on the bottom so I ended up using a fire stamp as a nod to fire breathing dragons. I have found that people really enjoy the extra touch when there's something on the bottom of mugs.

I made this sweater a while back and I kept meaning to write down the pattern, but I haven't. It is Juniper Moon Farm Cumulus Degrade Key Lime Pie which is a bulky 7 yarn. This yarn is amazingly soft. No pattern right now, just pictures. Maybe at some point I'll try to figure out what I did.

Clearly I have to put crabs on everything. Apparently it's required in Maryland.

Also just a reminder that I will be at the Taneytown Artisan Fest this Saturday July 22 from 10-4. Hope to see you there.

This summer sweater came together really quick. I really like summer sweaters to have fairly big holes and use a lightweight yarn. I like wearing them when there is a light breeze. I used Miss Babs yarn Katahdin in Mystery Land. This is a fingering weight yarn and the skein was 1750 yards. I used most of it, but not all of it. If I had to guess there are a couple of hundred yards left.


This pattern uses a 4 mm hook.
Stitches:

ch - chain
sk - skip
sc - single crochet
hdc - half double crochet

Back panel - cast on 100
Row 1 - hc in the 3rd stitch from the hook, *ch 3, sk 3, hdc, hdc. Repeat from * until the end
Row 2 - ch 2, hdc, *ch3, hdc in the hdc, hdc in the hdc. Repeat from * until the end
Repeat row 2 until you get to your desired length. Mine is 53 rows.

Side panel - make 2
Cast on 45
Row 1 - hc in the 3rd stitch from the hook, *ch 3, sk 3, hdc, hdc. Repeat from * until the end
Row 2 - ch 2, hdc, *ch3, hdc in the hdc, hdc in the hdc. Repeat from * until the end
Repeat row 2 until you get to your desired length. Mine is 53 rows.

Sew on the side panels leaving about 7-8 inches for the arms. I also like to start about 2 inches from the bottom.




For the arms pick up 60 stitches doing the same pattern as you did for the panels.
Row 1 - ch2, hdc, *ch 3, sk 3, hdc, hdc. Repeat from * until the end
Row 2 - ch 2, hdc, *ch3, hdc in the hdc, hdc in the hdc. Repeat from * until the end
Repeat row 2 until you get to the desired arm length minus about 2 inches. Mine is 17 rows.
Sleeve Border
Row 1 - ch 3, *hdc in the chain space, ch 1, hdc in the hdc below. ch 1. Repeat from *, slip stitch to join.
Row 2 - ch 3, * hdc in the chain space, ch 1. Repeat from *, slip stitch to join.
Row 3 - Repeat row 2
Row 4 - ch 3, * sc in the chain space, ch 3. Repeat from *, slip stitch to join. Row 5 and 6 - repeat row 4




Sweater Border
Make sure the sweater is right side out. Start at the bottom left corner on the inside.
Row 1 - ch 3, *sk st, hdc. Repeat from * up the one side, across the back and down the other side. It doesn't matter how many stitches you pick up as long as it looks ok.
Row 2 - ch 3, * hdc in the chain space, ch 1. Repeat from *, slip stitch to join.
Row 3 through 5 - Repeat row 2
Row 6 - ch 3, * sc in the chain space, ch 3. Repeat from *, slip stitch to join. Row 7 through 10 - repeat row 4




Pockets - make 2
Cast on 20
Row 1 - ch 3, hdc, * ch, sk st, hdc. Repeat from * across.
Row 2 - - ch 3, * hdc in the chain space, ch 1. Repeat from *, slip stitch to join.
Row 3 through 11 - Repeat row 2
Row 12 - ch 3, * sc in the chain space, ch 3. Repeat from *, slip stitch to join. Row 13 and 14 - repeat row 4
Sew on the pockets where it feels good for the arms. Mine are rows up from the bottom and one row back from the end of the original panel.

Mushrooms seem to be all the rage right now, as they should be since they are so cute. When I was in Chaumont a few weeks ago I had this vision of a Mushroom Jewelry holder. Initially I was thinking this would be like the birdbaths I've done in the past where it has a flat top where you can put jewelry and then holes around the outside.


But then when I was actually thinking about how to design it I realized I could make it into a jewelry box by enclosing the bottom and leaving it 2 pieces. This is effectively the same as making a mug, but shorter and without a handle.




In my original vision I saw a worm on the top for rings. It's a little inch worm. Isn't she cute? I'm super thrilled with how this is coming together.