Paw Prints

It’s been some years since i sewed, and a good many years since the clothes were particularly tailored. A Nancy’s Notions email alerted me to the existence of Pattern Masterâ„¢ Boutique, and the whole realm of clothing design software. Cool! And I quickly found a 2002 overview of products. The Cochenille products run on a Mac. They have a graphing program for crochet, and the garment designer will help with sewn *and* knitted garments. I’ve sent a query about adapting it to crochet garment design.

Could this distract me from playing with GIS? Probably not.

…Later that day i received this response from Sonia at Cochenille:

Because a stitch is a stitch if it’s crocheted or knitted – it works just
fine for both. Depending on how much designing you are going to do – you may
want to look at the possibility of buying both Garment Designer and Stitch
Painter.

Once you design the silhouette in Garment Designer and give it your gauge -
you can then generate a pixel-per-stitch graphic and import it into Stitch
Painter Gold and then design with color or knit and crochet symbols.

*tempt*tempt*tempt*

Since Paulina was made for an adult, her paper stuffing seemed perfectly reasonable. But what to use for other toys?

It seems that plastic is recycled into polyester stuffing, but i can’t seem to find a supplier that would label the stuffing as from 100% recycled sources.

I’ve run across NearSea Naturals (again) in my hunt. They offer organic cotton batting at $8.25/lb. and organic wool batting at $28.20/lb.

I suppose i could use old wool sweaters from a thrift store as stuffing.

I’m posting to crochet me & nervousness to see what others use.

I’ve verified Laura wants ORGANIC more than floofy baby-soft acrylic.

Now to figure out which Foxfibre to use:

4200 yards/lb, 1200 yards/lb [Boucle], 1000 yds./lb. [Chenille], 840 yards/lb.
Ah-ha, sort of: see http://www.charkha.biz/notes.htm

[See past the jump for calculating from Lion brand products]

Ok, the Boucle, Chenille, and 840 yd/lb i’ll consider sportweight. And i don’t think i’m ready for the Boucle, Chenille. So two cones of the 840 yards/lb and a cone of the 4200 yd/lb. (The thin stuff for playing with.) I think the brown and the green in the 840. Heathery, won’t show dirt, can do a two tone piece. And green for play. $80+$8+$25+ S/H. Yow.

Other options:

Environmental or Recycled or Organic vendors:

http://www.earthfriendlyyarns.com/index.html

http://www.recycledsilk.com/

http://www.cottonclouds.com/shopping/yarn_info.asp?id=74

sport weight, Yardage 95 yds, Put-Up 50 grams/1.75 Ounces, $7.95 each Chocolate or avacado
=> $72.69/lb 868yds/lb [the Fiberfox on the cone is half the price]

http://www.infiknit.com/searchuc.php?start=10&search=organic

Ecoknit_Cinnamon (Cream, Sage, & more) 100% certified organic cotton grown in colors, 20 to 22st to 4in on 3.5 to 4.5mm needles. Deliciously soft lustrous yarn in 50g, 100yd skeins $5.50
=> $49.89/lb 907 yds/lb
http://www.handknitting.com/s.nl/sc.7/category.180/it.A/id.3290/.f $5.44, 7 colors
(see also http://www.lindascraftique.com/yarn/ecoknit.htm – Canadian, 5 colors)

http://www.patternworks.com/PWShopping/partsvyarn.asp?action=lookup&partno=637&subject=&catpos=

Blue Sky peruvian 150yds/100g $9 nut, sand, bone, sage
=> $40.82 680 yds/lb

5. Bulky, Chunky, Craft, Rug Yarn:

• Lion Jiffy 720 yds/lb acrylic
• Lion Heirloom 493 yards/lb acrylic

4. Medium: Worsted-weight, Afghan, Aran Yarn

2. Fine: Sport Weight, Baby Yarn

• Lion Wool-Ease� Sportweight 1329yds/lb

1. Super Fine: Sock, Fingering, Baby Yarn
“Lion Crochet Cotton is an all-natural, 3 ply fingering-weight yarn with the great absorbency of mercerized cotton. Perfect for crocheting or knitting any project from doilies to bedspreads.” 3.30 oz. 400 yd = 1939 yds/lb

Consider this lacy 42 inches x 62 inches throw. It requires 13 bundles of 3 oz., 135 yd yarn = 39 ozs or ~2.5 lbs, (1755 yds) and characterize it as “Bulky: Chunky, Craft, Rug Yarn” It comes out as 720 yds/lb. This 30 inches x 32 inches baby blanket uses 6 bundles (810 yards).

Consider this rugged 41″ wide x 54″ long” throw. It requires 9 bundles of 6.00 oz, 185 yd = 54 oz or 3.4 lbs, 493 yards/lb. (1665 yds)

Consider this 38 inches x 50 inches Boucle afghan requires 6 bundles of “Super Bulky: Bulky, Roving Yarn” — and no information about how much that is.

Worsted weight approx 39″ x 45″. 5 bundles 2.50 oz., 116 yd. = 12.5 oz less than a lb., 580 yards, 742 yds/lb

Here’s a sport weight afghan, 45 inches x 55 inches, some color changes. Takes 8 bundles of 5.00 oz., 435 yd. = 40 oz, 2.5 lbs, 3480 yds!! 1329yds/lb

It’s tempting to go with Foxfibre� Cotton Yarn “Colorganic”

The color samples on this site are very informative: http://www.vreseis.com/yarn.html

while the photo here http://www.nearseanaturals.com/item.php?id=2085 helps me picture what’s on the cones.