I love the looks of this pattern but the name "Butter Cups" doesn't seem to suit it. It's a pattern by Jeanne Tams and I used a very soft blue monk's cloth (sorry how dark it looks in the photo) and Caron's Simply Soft yarn in a lovely variegated "peacock feather".
The center is kind of time consuming but it isn't a difficult pattern to follow. I did alter it a bit for my purpose.
Remember when you're using variegated yarn to find one with short (4") runs of colors so that you don't get large blocks of the same color in one spot.
I went looking in my stash of already prepped pieces of monk's cloth and saw this dark green one and decided to do something Christmasy with it. "Holiday Traditions" is in the little booklet "Monk's Cloth Afghans For Christmas" and one I probably haven't done for quite a while.
I started out with a green with sparkle remnant yarn so I don't know the name and also Caron Simply Soft Party in red sparkle. I was going to add in a white sparkle to the pattern but it didn't look right so I stuck with just the green and red.
The pattern is super easy to follow and one I'd use to teach newbies. I honestly just had wanted to play around with the piece but it turned out so pretty that I almost decided to keep it for myself. Then I remembered the ultra valuable 1 yard of red monk's cloth I bought just before it became impossible to find and that is what I'll make up for myself so the green one will be sold.
If anyone has any red monk's cloth you should include it's tremendous value in your home insurance in case of loss or damage. LOL!
I just spent almost 2 full days preparing 18 future table runners and, after they've been worked on, there will be further finishing time. No crafter considers the time it takes to produce an item for sale because we will never, ever be paid for that full time. Crafters create because we gain our satisfaction from creating.
I remember a lady at a flea market telling me how people complained about paying $1 for one of her dishcloths. I knew that the yarn itself cost her $1 but I understood why she kept on making them...for her own satisfaction!
Yes, the prep time is annoying but it's so much fun to watch your creation come to life as you weave on it. Just don't try to earn a living with it!
Project #1 was done after I made 3 white and grey table runners and needed to work with some color. The monk's cloth is Potato and I used Avery Hill's "Picots and Diamonds" for the pattern. Bernat Satin "Rose Garden" and Caron's Simply Soft "Bone" were the yarns.
The bottom table runner was a little larger remnant that I had so I just worked with it instead of cutting it back. The pattern is Jeanne Tams "Marquis Pillow" and I used Caron's Simply Soft "Peacock Feather" for the yarn on ecru monk's cloth. I never worry about what the original pattern was intended for (a pillow) but just adapt it for whatever I'm making myself.
I just checked my stash of fabrics and realized I had only one piece of white left that has been preshrunk so I'll spend a few hours now preparing the large pieces of white...stitching and shrinking.
I pulled these out yesterday and decided to make sure they were evenly cut and was sort of shocked to see they weren't so I had to trim all the ends. I know I bought these at Joann's Fabrics a few months ago but I do have a vague memory of taking the whole piece instead of having them cut the yardage. Someone there does not know how to cut monk's cloth because I ended up losing a good half yard by straightening the ends.
I don't know if all our Swedish weavers know that they can buy pre-cut and packaged pieces of white or ecru monk's cloth at Joann's Fabrics. It can be found at the back of the store near the yarns and I buy it with my discount coupons only. It is by far the cheapest way to buy monk's cloth any more...the packages all have 2 1/2 yards of fabric, too.
I sure wish my colors would show up more realistically in these photos but it is what it is.
The first one is Jeanne Tam's "Pumpkin Patch" but with my version for the border. The monk's cloth is ecru and I used Red Heart "Aspen" which is a lovely variegated for the weaving.
The second one was actually done on sage monk's cloth and the pattern is Jeanette Coffin's "Grenada Design". I wanted something very soft for this one so I did the weaving with Caron's Simply Soft Party in "Snow Sparkle".
I love using variegated yarns for my projects but I only use ones where the length of each color is no longer than about 4". This way I don't get large blocks of one color in the pattern. You can't eliminate all of these single color blocks but it's preferable to have only 2 rows where the blocks line up. Rarely do I get 3 rows but, even then, they won't line up perfectly.
I just finished using this yarn for a project and will post photos soon.
When I finished the 3 white and grey table runners I couldn't wait to start something with more color so I chose a small beige piece of monk's cloth and picked out a pattern I hadn't done before. I felt this was only a fun piece to do but it turned out so beautiful (like all our Swedish weaving items do) that it dawned on me that we can't really make anything that doesn't look darned good.
I think this is our attraction to Swedish weaving. No matter what colors or patterns we choose, the end result is always satisfying. Even our mistakes just make the project unique in it's own way.
I make it a practice to finish 3 table runners before setting up my sewing machine to hem them and then photograph them for the blog and Facebook. It's at times like this that I wish I had more room in my apartment so that I could always have the sewing machine available.
Anyway, it's on to the next project!
