Happy Summer! I made an angel!

"festival shawl"

Whew!
It's been a while! I hope everyone out there in interweb land is having a wonderful, relaxing and productive summer. I know I am.
With the dog days of summer and the husband taking some time off work I've been spending less and less time at the computer and just enjoying some time with my family. And crocheting. Always crocheting.

disgruntled bird

I've been working on some cool weather projects. A lovely shawl in mohair for myself, viking hats for the children and some fun stuff for my nieces and nephew etc.. But lately it's been far too hot to think about wooly warm goodness so I've finally worked up the nerve to work on some lacy things.

little panda

"Penny rose" necklace

Tiny hooks, thread and  the colour white make me nervous. So this is a big step for me and of course my being who I am I don't start small.. No no. My first project... A friggin 9 inch tree topper angel for my Mother in law (shhhh don't tell her. It's a seceret).

head and torso formed, beginning work on the skirt

I cannot tell you how happy I am with how it turned out. Especially considering I used a smaller crochet hook than the pattern calls for and made a little bit up as I went along.  I was a bit nervous in a couple of spots. Like the head/neck and right where you join it to make the sleeves for the dress. I just kept chugging along and I met with success.

So close

Because I used a smaller hook and I wanted to maintain the size I added a couple of extra rounds in the head, body and skirt as well as I changed up the skirt just a tad and did a round of V stitches near the bottom. I also added a round of picot stitches around the wings to give them a little extra fancy. 

halo

 I also thought it could use a little extra sparkle so I used a thread with a strand of silver woven into it for the wings and halo. 

you can't really see the sparkle..

Over all it was much easier than I thought working with thread this small would be (especially with children around). Honestly, my biggest fear was getting it dirty. White and I just aren't friends.



Starching it was a bit of a pain too. I used a couple of coats of spray starch on both the angel and her wings before I sewed them on.

 

letting the starch dry

To keep her shape I taped a ring of newspaper around a wine bottle and covered it with plastic bags and i cinched her waist with a little bit of yarn then just let her dry outside.

After I put the wings on I used a 1/3 white glue and 2/3 water solution in a spray bottle and soaked her really good, letting her dry a bit and shaping her as I went. After she dried a bit I took her off the wine bottle and stuffed the body a bit with a little newspaper. Then I just lay her down on some plastic

I did that so I could rotate her front to back to keep the head and wings in place. I let her dry over night and repeated the glue/water soaking and even hung her upside down for a bit to keep her neck straight. Serious pain. Bus SO worth it.

finished front

wings

For the finishing touches I improvised a little green sash and bow and we're calling this project done! Isn't she lovely, despite my poor photography skills?!