Skip to main content

The Bells are Ringing

Well that is an overstatement, a bell is ringing.  The making of tiny ornaments has taken over my knitting and there is so much satisfaction in putting the proper yarn color and weight with the right project.  I´ve been using up those silly bits of yarn that have been stored away for years and there is the happiness that comes when within a few hours a project is complete!  And the best part is no new yarn is needed since it is all stored right here at home.

My version of the bell uses Tuula Maaria´s Knitted Bell Christmas Tree Decoration pattern (are those adjectives in the wrong order or is it just me).  Since this bell is being made for little girls, a pinkish red color of yarn seemed appropriate, even though I cannot ever remember seeing a red bell in my life.  As you will see there was more than just a girly color that motivated my selection of this particular color.

Here´s a look at the finished bell:

The bow is supposed to make it more Xmas-like
The clapper or dinger as I refer to it is the precious part of this object.  Earlier this year Mom and I decided to look at not only her button collection, but also the collection of my maternal grandmother´s.  These buttons were almost exclusively taken from old clothing.  (Do any of us remove buttons to save anymore?  I think not.)  The time we spent sorting through all the buttons allowed for a good deal of reminiscing as Mom remembered many of the clothing pieces the buttons came from in the first place and where and when the piece was worn.

There were some stunning buttons in Grandma´s collection, antiques if you will, many approaching 60-100 years old.  There were buttons from underwear (don´t know if I knew back in the day buttons were used for this clothing item) and some made of substances one just doesn´t find in notions departments today.  Case in point:

You can still see the original thread connected to a couple of these buttons
These are small red glass orbs with what looks like brass at the top.  It isn´t brass because on some buttons the coating has worn off.  I immediately fell in love with them among others and asked Mom if she minded giving them up, she said sure, so I now own a small bag of very special buttons.  These particular buttons came from a sweater that Mom once wore to high school.

Of course, there were no plans for any of the buttons, but I remembered them when I found the bell pattern the other day.  One of those buttons made a perfect clapper for my advent ornament.

The clapper thanks to one of my grandmothers
So now my grand daughters will have an item once owned and used by my Grandmother, meaning they will have something from their great, great grandmother.  How wonderful is that? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...
8 comments
Read more

Yarn Usage II: Crochet vs. Knit

All four swatches were made.  Each is 6.25" or 15.875 cm square; each prepared with the same sized yarn and needles or hook.  It took 25 stitches to get the appropriate width for the knit swatches and only 20 stitches for both of the crocheted squares.  That already says something, but I'll get to it in a minute.  (Don't know what I'm talking about here?  Check out this post first.) Unfortunately, you'll just have to trust me that four swatches were prepared and that they were all the same size.  In the excitement to get to measuring and weighing of the swatches, no photographic evidence was taken.  Luckily for me the results of this research doesn't have to be reviewed by a jury of my peer.  This blog post will be the sum and total of where this information is published. The remains of my four swatches What can be shared, however, are the balls of yarn rewound after the weighing and measuring was completed.  You will note the size ...
7 comments
Read more

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or h...
7 comments
Read more