Thanks to my son for posing for this picture of one of my latest creations. It's a very simple scarf with a masculine bent. It is completely reversible, and could easily be made into an eternity scarf by joining the two ends. The stitch rows are as follows: 7 seed stitch, 6 knit, 8 seed stitch, 6 purl, 7 seed stitch. Repeat to desired length. I used my  son's body as a gauge for length, beginning and ending at his belly button. This makes it long enough to go around the neck, and go over the head, if needed. It will use about a pound of worsted weight yarn. I used two strings of worsted yarn knit together (one from the inside of the skein, one from the outside) with American size 10.5 needles.

If anyone viewing this page wishes a "pattern" for any of my projects, please post a reply. Most of my projects come from my head, so any patterns will be in a general format, not a stitch-by-stitch pattern. Consequently, beginners must be cautious about my patterns, as they are very abstract. Unless you are able to take from abstraction to reality, my patterns will be next to useless.

Father's Day Present

Last Father's Day, it was brought to my attention that my husband's favorite gun (a bolt-action rifle he had inherited from his grandpa) didn't have a sling. It had the holes bored for the stock end, and the hardware was installed on the barrel end, so all I had to do is get the hardware for the stock end, and either make or buy a sling. While I could buy a sling, It would not be custom-made for him, and I wanted him to be as proud of the sling as he is of the gun.

I bought the hardware, then decided that I wanted to make the sling. I wanted the sling to last as long as the gun, not be harmed by the weather it's exposed to, yet comfortable to wear. I decided that paracord would fit the bill nicely. Since the barrel end would carry the weight of the gun, I decided to put the knot on the stock end. The sling is made of four strands of paracord doubled over. The shoulder pad is made of box knots (aka cross knots) with two paracord strands together. Because of the construction of the knot, the back side of the knot is parallel to the gun, so it is more likely to stay on the shoulder.


The middle of the sling is constructed like a four-strand braid, with two strands of the cord put together as though they were one strand. This makes the sling slim to fit under the arm more easily, and more comfortable to carry for a long time.

The final section was constructed with the cords being pulled through the hardware, then constructed into cobra knots, and then melted into the knot at the end. Since the sling at this end is used mostly for stability, not to carry the weight of the gun, it is not as important that the sling be as strong on this end as it is on the barrel end. However, as you will note, there are three cobra knots between the end of the cords and the stock. The hardware I bought is quick-release, so if my husband wants to switch this sling to another gun, it is easily removed. This was a challenge to design, and a lot of fun to make. My husband says he loves the sling, and he was surprised at how comfortable it is.

Water Bottle Lanyard

Whenever I attend a practice for a singing group I belong to, I take a water bottle. I don't always have a place to put my bottle on the risers, and I drink a great deal. I have a variety of bottle sizes, mouth sizes, bottle throat sizes, so I needed something that was adjustable, and that wouldn't wear out/break in about 2 minutes. Do you think I could find something like that? HAH!!! So I created my own. The throat holder is adjustable, and the cobra knot is very tight, and holds the throat cord secure. The weight of the bottle helps hold the cord on bottle. The knots on the cord that goes around my body are a box or cross knot, which makes the cord look like a chain. A very effective affect. I made a similar one with a rainbow colored paracord for my son's bottle. He loves it, too!

Glasses Case

I found a glasses case at a craft shop in the clearance section. It wasn't hard to see why it was there...I don't think the people that designed the case actually does needlepoint, and/or doesn't wear glasses. In the instructions, the designers indicated that the back of the needlepoint should be unfinished. REALLY??? All those threads and ends to catch on the glasses? Pure insanity! Not to mention the ugly colors. So I bought it for a couple of dollars, got a couple of new embroidery floss colors, added some glass beads, and pulled a scrap of velvet out of my scrap bag to sew on the back of the needlepoint. Jacob (my son) had a great idea that some of the spots looked like stars, and I decided to enhance the illusion with the glass beads.

 In the left picture, I have the picture of the original colors, and then the finished product. In the right picture, I show how, even though my work is very neat, there's still a lot of loose threads to catch on glasses.

Oval Doily

Near the end of May, I finished a doily for a dear couple that got married in the autumn of their lives. They are so cute! They didn't want any presents, but I knew that she would appreciate this gift so I made it for them. It's not a large doily, so it won't get in the way. The pattern I got this from left the edge with the picots loose, and with three more motifs. I decided that I wanted a smaller doily, and then designed the edging.

Weekend Projects

I had some odds and ends of paracord, and some brand-new thumbnail drives. Since I didn't want to lose these drives, I decided to make a paracord attachment to keep track of them, and to differentiate who they belong to.

On the far left, out of the scraps, I made a key fob, which I gave to a friend. I made it using a tatting technique, which turned out to look like a double helix somewhat like a DNA strand.

These projects were all completed within a weekend.