A WAY TO DO PICTURES/IMAGES/DESIGNS IN CROCHET -- FILET CROCHET

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Get My Handmade on Etsy or Bonanza - or Privately

"Mountain Cabin" - Filet Crochet Image Art Decor

FILET CROCHET --


I discovered Filet Crochet in 2003. I loved it -- I had found a way to do designs, even pictures and words - and a combination of any of them - in crochet thread - or yarn, I guess, but yarn is rather bulky and I do colorwork crochet mostly in yarn (I will discuss colorwork crochet later sometime).


The basic Filet Crochet of blocks and open meshes is actually quite easy. There are more advanced patterns with some variations in stitches and shapes.


You can follow charts or instructions written by others - or using graph paper or something similar on a computer, you can design your own charts for Filet Crochet.


Following are a few examples of some of the Filet Crochet I have done since 2003.

The picture at the Top is from a pattern in a Magic Crochet magazine - I loved it, because it reminds me of being in the mountains in a cabin. I call it "Mountain Cabin" -- it has some more advanced stitches in it - like popcorn blocks and half blocks - that give it texture and the picture a more artistic design. The edging I got out of a book of handkerchief edgings -- I thought it was nice for this as it looks like a picture frame around the filet crochet doily.


This first picture below is of what I called a "Daffodil Bouquet". It is four motifs of a daffodil in yellow - the motif is a design by Elizabeth Hiddleson in one of her books that I have. The edging is my own - the outside edging is done in contrasting white. It sold on eBay.






Last year for the Fourth of July, I decided to do something different - so using some pictures I have, I did a chart of a Flag Bearer on a horse carrying the Stars and Stripes - I crocheted it in white and added a blue, red & white border. It also sold on eBay.



















This one below is a new one in my shop -- it is Filet Crochet In The Round - which is a little different than the basic filet crochet in rows. It is still based on blocks and open meshes, but it is designed to be done in rounds - and you have a round doily or centerpiece as a result. This one is Grape Clusters with Leaves. The center is 8 grape clusters in a ring, which I did in a violet-lavender -- then around that is a ring of leaves in light green. I finished it off with an edging in lavender with wood beads in a dark natural finish. The 3 pictures below show the doily in full and then the detail of the grape clusters and then the leaves - just to give you an idea of one thing you can do with filet crochet.

[Update: the "Grape Clusters with Leaves Small Tablecloth" Sold in 2014 on Artfire since this article was written!!]






This one is a closeup of the grape cluster.







This picture is a closeup of the leaves.






The following is another filet crochet doily I have designed. Currently, it is not up for sale anywhere, though it has been in the past. I like bears, so I decided to do a filet crochet design of a bear head. When I put it up for sale again, it will be for a donation to The Nature Conservancy, which has conservancy preserves where bear habitat is protected -- including one in Montana that has Grizzly Bears there!!! The Nature Conservancy can be found at http://www.nature.org/.

[Update - this one Sold on Etsy in 2011.]








I hope you have enjoyed seeing these pictures of a few of the filet crochet things I have done since 2003.


If you can draw at all - or even copy pictures and want to do a chart of blocks and meshes to make your own filet crochet image -- take out a piece of graph paper and do it!! There are a number of books about it on amazon.com -- the one I like is The Filet Crochet Book by Chris Rankin.


Ruth

GREATEST SUMMER DRINK

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Crochet Thread Plus - Internet Shop of Crochet Thread


I live in a high desert in southern California - the Antelope Valley. In Spring, Summer and Fall, the temperatures can get quite high - I believe that this year we already had some days in the 100's - it has gotten up into the 90's this week.

So with the heat -- and it being dry as deserts usually are -- your summer drinks are important.

Some recommend filtered waters -- which are a good idea, but I prefer drinks that have some kinds of supplements in them - like teas and juices.

But I have found that the greatest summer drink is green veggie juice -- the best is freshly juiced by yourself in your own juicer. Yes - I said green veggie!!

I particularly stress the green veggies, because they really are refreshing and they have minerals, phytochemicals and chlorophyll in them -- which really help out on those hot days.

I have a juicer - an Omega, which I have had and kept in good condition for a number of years.

So, I can make a fresh batch whenever I feel like it -- and include whichever fresh veggies I have on hand.

For instance, I made some yesterday and included the following veggies:

celery
radishes
cucumber
jalapeno
green bell pepper
red bell pepper
parsley
broccoli stalks (as in not the florets - the stalk part)

Oh, a couple of the veggies are red (radishes and red bell pepper), but they are in the same "family" -- and I have read up about the different veggies and they are good for vegetable juices.

I really like the "bite" that radishes and jalapenos give the juice!!

I still have some in the fridge -- I have been drinking it on and off ever since I made it yesterday afternoon.

I really recommend trying some on a hot day -- you might find it really refreshing. It is a bit bitter, but I like it!!

If you don't have your own juicer -- or you are running around in the heat -- try one of the juicing places and ask for green juice or celery juice or wheat grass juice (Jamba Juice has some).

Or if you have a Trader Joe's in your neighborhood -- or wherever you are -- look in their produce section for their "Essential Greens Veggie Cold Pressed 100% Juice Blend". I have grabbed one when I was shopping there - it s great!!

It is also a good way to drink your salad -- and get the vitamins, minerals, etc. -- for whatever reason you'd rather drink your salad than eat one.

I eat salads, too, as I love them especially with fresh herbs from my container garden -- my green veggie juice is in addition to salads for me!! Had one for lunch today - with fresh tomatoes-on-the-vine, fresh garlic, various fresh greens including parsley -- and fresh rosemary, fresh thyme and fresh basil from my container garden -- with just a little bit of salt and pepper -- and the green veggie juice for my drink - YUM!!!

Ruth

HOME GROWN CHERRY TOMATOES - YUMMY!! - IN MY OWN CONTAINER GARDEN!!

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Crochet Thread Plus - Internet Shop of Crochet Thread


My garden is quite small, but a couple of years back I found that the best way to get tasty fresh tomatoes was to grow your own!!

I don't eat too many of them -- only in salads some -- because of my diet and how I combine foods.

So, I decided to get some cherry tomato plants - and have my own fresh cherry tomatoes that I can just pick off the plant as they ripen!!

Bo-o-oy, do they taste good that way!!!

I have six cherry tomato plants in containers (yes - you can grow them in containers!) on the east side of my unit, so they get the full morning sun. My plants have blooms and little green tomatoes on them already - so I am just waiting for them to ripen.

If I take good care of them (which I plan to with watering every day), I figure that I should have fresh cherry tomatoes into the early fall before it gets cold. Our warm weather lasts well into September and sometimes into early October, so that will be quite a while!!

And I had some tomato seeds that sprouted -- now I have to see how they develop into adult plants. I am curious -- this is the first time I have ever tried tomato plants from seeds and I will see how they turn out!!

And getting my tomatoes from my own plants is great for doing a Low Carbon Diet!! No packaging, no transportation - all organic (the soil I use is organic!!) -- and on top of all that, they taste much better than anything from any grocery store -- at least they did in previous years!!

My spring-summer-fall container garden is developing and I just love it!!

I'll have some pictures later!!

Ruth

MEDITERRANEAN CORK FORESTS - IMPORTANT FOR BIODIVERSITY - PROMOTE THE USE/SALE OF CORK

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Crochet Thread Plus - Internet Shop of Crochet Thread


Do you know where the cork of your cork wine bottle stoppers and coasters comes from?

I didn't until today when I read an email and post by Summer (http://www.ottoman.etsy.com/) from Eco Etsy about cork and cork trees.

Then I read the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) website on it: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/europe/what_we_do/mediterranean/about/forests/cork/index.cfm

I also looked at the map that they have.

Then I pulled out my map from Conservation International (http://www.conservation.org/) of the Biodiversity Hotpots.

There is a Biodiversity Hotspot, "Mediterranean Basin" that includes the countries mentioned on the WWF website where the cork forests are: Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia, and France. I took a good look at it and it looks to me like the cork forest areas are in the Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot.

As I have quoted below, this means promoting the sale of cork products from cork forests managed to Forest Stewardship Council standards will help to protect the Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot as "...cork is the bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus suber) which renews itself after harvesting, commercial exploitation is environmentally friendly, as not a single tree is cut down." (from WWF webpage on cork oak landscapes).

Protection of areas within the Biodiversity Hotposts identified by Conservation International is one of the environmental issues that I focus on. Below are a series of quotes off my map from Conservation International:

"The loss of bioglogical diversity is the most critical environmental issue
facing our planet at the dawn of the new millennium. The problem at times
seems overwhelming. The solution is to identify strategies that will
prevent further loss of the species , ecosystems, and ecological processes that
comprise the Earth's biological wealth. .... The biodiversity hotspots concept,
created by Norman Myers in 1988, has been the most influential priority-setting
approach of the past decade. It was adopted by both Conservation
International and the MacArthur Foundation as their principal conservation
strategy in 1989.

"The hotpots concept recognizes that a small number of ecoregions occupying a small portion of the land surface of the planet account for an inordinately large share of Earth's terrestrial biodiversity.
....

"Given the great concentration of biodiversity in such a small
and highly threatened fragment of our world, it is obvious that these areas
require very special attention from the international community. If we
fail to act effectively in the hotspots, we will lose a major portion of life on
Earth in the first half of the twenty-first century regardless of how successful
we are in other areas."

FOLKS -- WE ARE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY!!

WHAT CAN YOU DO IN YOUR LIFE TO PROMOTE PROTECTION OF THESE BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS???

LEARN WHERE THEY ARE - http://www.conservation.org/explore/priority_areas/Pages/hotspots.aspx

CONSUMER-DRIVEN CONSERVATION REGARDING PRODUCTS FROM THESE BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS THAT ARE PRODUCED IN SUCH A WAY AS TO PROMOTE ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY IN THESE BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS IS ONE WAY ANYONE CAN HELP.

A FEW SUGGESTIONS FROM ME:

1. DON'T BUY CERTAIN PRODUCTS, SUCH AS ANYTHING MADE FROM REDWOOD FORESTS IN CALIFORNIA, UNLESS THEY ARE CERTIFIED BY THE FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL -- THE REDWOOD FORESTS IN CALIFORNIA ARE IN THE CALIFORNIA FLORISTIC PROVINCE, A GLOBALLY SIGNIFICANT BIODIVSERSITY HOTSPOT IN THE UNITED STATES.

2. BUY THE TEA, GUAYAKI -- IT IS GROWN SUSTAINABLY IN THE RAINFORESTS OF SOUTH AMERICA FROM THE WEBSITE FOR GUAYAKI (http://www.guayaki.com/) : "Guayakí has pioneered an innovative business model called Market Driven Restoration in which Guayakí serves as a bridge linking consumer purchases of healthy yerba mate products in North America with indigenous communities engaged in sustainable agriculture and reforestation projects in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. Each person that drinks two servings per day of Guayakí Yerba Mate helps protect approximately one acre of rainforest every year."

3. BUY ORGANIC COFFEES GROWN SUSTAINABLY IN THE RAINFORESTS OF THE WORLD. I PERSONALLY HAVE TRADER JOE'S PERUVIAN CAFE FEMENINO GROWN DEEP IN THE ANDES MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN PERU, WHICH I BELIEVE, ACCORDING TO MY MAP FROM CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL, IS IN EITHER THE BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT "TROPICAL ANDES" OR PART OF THE AMAZONIAN WILDERNESS AREA!!

4. IF YOU BUY WINE, BUY BOTTLES WITH CORK STOPPERS.

If you live in California, like I do, there may be many things you can do to help protect the CALIFORNIA FLORISTIC PROVINCE BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT in your daily life in your community. Other than the high arid and low-lying desert areas of northeatern and southeastern California, the remaining 70% of California lands are within the Biodiversity Hotspot. Yes the well-known cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego are all in the California Floristic Province Biodiversity Hotspot (I have a map of that, too) - and I am afraid that the development in these cities are part of why the biodiversity in this ecosystem is threatened.

Our Eco Etsy motto of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" is one way we can all help to protect biodiversity on our planet -- especially if you live in a biodiversity hotspot, like I do!!

Ruth

CROCHETING WITH WORSTED COTTON -- OH THE THINGS YOU CAN MAKE!!

Ruth Sandra Sperling
RSS Designs In Fiber - Internet Shop of Handmade Items
RSS Crochet Thread Plus - Internet Shop of Crochet Thread



Most of the time when I discuss my crocheting here, I have been discussing fine thread crochet with the thinner cotton crochet threads.


But that is not all I do.


You know, when I first taught myself how to crochet as a teenager, I started out with yarn. I did make one doily as a teenager I vaguely remember, but I mostly made rather simple things like hats and scarves for me and my friends and family.


As the years went on I made more things, but always in yarn - more hats, scarves, a poncho, a sweater, a bag - later an afghan, a sweater, baby clothes, pillows, slippers - even toys -- but all in yarn.


It was in 2003 that I discovered the joys of crocheting with crochet thread and the designs that you can make. I will always love it - I love the way the designs unfold as you crochet - and I will continue doing more with it!


But, what also happened, actually back in 2002, was that I discovered Peaches and Creme worsted cotton yarn made by Elmore-Pisgah. There were cones and balls of it in the craft department of this store in all these neat colors. It was so soft and strong - I found it great to make things with. So - I got into making all kinds of different things with it - potholders, bags of different sizes, cloths, placemats - then a cotton top and matching hat, etc., etc.


Actually, I just love it - so here are a couple of matching items that I made in Peaches and Creme worsted cotton yarn and have in my shop - http://www.rssdesignsinfiber.etsy.com/.


First is this sunhat made with a strand of their color Peppermint (red and white variegated) and a strand of White held together - which gives a tweed-type effect to the hat. The multi-layer 3-dimensional flower on the hat is made just with the Peppermint.







Then I decided to make a matching bag!!


It is basically just a rectangular bag with handles long enough that you can put it on your shoulder. But I made it very solid - with a stitch that makes a solid, flat, squared-off bottom - and with the joining seams crocheted together and finished with a crab stitch ( a reverse single crochet). There are 2 handles each about 28 inches long.


I made it that way so you can put heavier things in it - such as when you go shopping or to the beach.


It is great for Precycling - use it when you go to the store instead of whatever disposable bags they provide!!


It, too, is made with Peaches and Creme worsted cotton yarn in the colors Peppermint and White.


It matches the sunhat exactly as it is made with the same yarn!!


Here it is:






I have a slightly different one in greens that I made for myself and have used for years to go to the Post Office and the local market. I love it. So, I thought someone else might just love having one of these bags made in Peaches and Creme!!


Actually, I have made a few Baby Hats in it also and the White ones sold!!


I love working with it -- so people should expect to see more items made with it in my Internet shop!!


If you want to see all the colors Peaches and Creme is made in, check out their website: http://www.peaches-creme.com/.


I take custom orders in the color of the customer's choice -- or maybe you want to make something with it yourself!!



Ruth