craftually eclectic

Fly Proud Bookmark! (or batmark?)

Happy Pride, my homies. Here's a quick rainbow bat you can stitch as a bookmark or a patch! Or whatever. This is your stitch journey!

I stitched this pattern, dubbed Fly Proud, on 14ct Navy perforated paper by Mill Hill with 3 strands. Then I trimmed it down carefully with sharp scissors. I fudged up in a couple places, oops! If I had more time, I'd back it with felt, but it still works as a bookmark as-is!

Third big knit ever— summer socks!! :)

WHO WILL WIN THIS TIME?!?

I FINISHED IT! I KNIT A SWEATER FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! YAY! so thrilled with the result and excited to knit more sweaters in the future. this was an incredibly satisfying project to work on. took a little over two months, would have taken less time if i hadn't freaked myself out and not worked on it for nearly three weeks because i was scared of picking up the stitches for the sleeves wrong. we live and learn.

I found this nifty little pinking tool at a junk shop the other day for $8.

While it looks very similar to the ones used on 18th century scalloped fabric trim it's definitely not as old as that, and is almost certainly meant for leather. Searching "T Dixon & sons" brings up a lot of leather tools, and I found one website that says the company started in 1843 and went out of business fairly recently. They didn't list any source, but the first result on google books is an 1892 ad in a saddlery trade journal that says "Estab. 1843" at the top. The ad also says "William Dixon & Son (Late of the Firm of T. Dixon & Sons)", so I think mine is from before 1892. In any case it certainly looks hand forged. I haven't looked very hard for more information yet.