10.10.2011

Cotton Trivets FO

This summer I took only select yarn, needles and planned/in progress projects to focus on at the cottage with the exception of a couple of wee balls of remnant cotton and a Mon Tricot stitch dictionary. My general thought was to turn the cotton into something for the cottage.

That cotton "doodling" yielded three little trivets for the table...
"Trinity" Stitch

Slip Stich Colourwork

"Bat" Stitch
Patterns: Trinity, Slip & Bat Stitch Trivets
Source: Vintage Mon Tricot Stitch Dictionary
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Eco Cotton Remnants
Colour: Red
Needles: 4mm straights
Start: Finish:
They turned out nice and thick to protect the table but it took some experimenting to get them that way.
I started out with big 5 stitch bobbles. I had seen these on Ravelry but that inspiration was in thick wool yarn while I had softer/lighter cotton.
After trying a few bobbles I found them too squishy to stay "bobbly" once any kind of weight was on them so I abandoned the idea. turning to the Stitch Dictionary for something "bobble-esque". I quickly landed on "Trinity" stitch.(on the right in photo below)
Once a square of that was done I switched to a thick garter rib until I'd doubled the length of the piece. Then I picked up and garter stitched matching sides to join the whole thing back into a square.
"Bat" stitch, has long floats across the right side of the work...

...naturally pulling the wrong side into thick ridges that yield a fabric well suited to my purpose.

These two designs, however, used almost all the red cotton so I mixed it with some white, doubling the colours and so, also, the thickness...

I love how the three finished pieces blend in with the vintage trivets that came from my MIL's place years ago...

I also love how Number One Son's Art homework blended in with the whole autumn vibe up north this weekend...

Obviously his assignment was to copy the Van Gogh "Self Portrait with Cut Ear". The colours of the pastels he used are awesome but I think the likeness is more of ex Toronto Maple Leaf Borje Salming than of Vincent!
The colours were at peak up north - maybe even just a wee bit past that point. This shot out a back bedroom window of the cottage is taken from Darling Daughter's lower bunk. (The window on the right is partially blocked by the ladder and upper bunk) The temperatures were truly summer-like although the water temperature was quite a normal-for-October 16 C (62F). Of course that didn't stop the kids from swimming all afternoon, Number One Son from Wake Skating every chance he got...

Or certain large creamy poodles from leaping in off the side of the boat!

So we had a great weekend - I hope you did too!

3 comments:

Julia said...

Great trivets! Trinity stitch is one of my favourites. I have one of those Mon Tricot stitch dictionaries too - I love it!

Brendaknits said...

The trivets are lovely - as are your MILs. But the tress are fabulous!! Great to wake to that in the morning,, isn't it?

Sandra said...

we were north as well - so hard to leave yesterday - the colours were great, the people, food and ambiance were perfect.