what to do with a butterfly

I created this Irish Crochet butterfly during one of my enforced periods of resting. 

This is created by crocheting over a number of strands of cotton to create the padded appearance.  This was quite a challenging piece of work for many reasons.  The tiny gauge thread, working over multiple strands to create the padding and also the pattern was vintage.  The phraseology and ordering of instructions in vintage patterns can take great patients to work through.



Having battled my way through the pattern and the pain of stabbed fingers from the tiny hook I needed to use I finished the butterfly.  I think it looks quite pretty.

The final challenge is what to do with it.  I had considered;

1. Make a brooch
2. Thread it up for a Christmas decoration
3.  Attach it to a hair ornament

At the end of the day, I'm really not sure what to do with it - but it seems a shame to have put all the effort in and just leave it there.

Christmas Irish Rose Brooch

Walnut Baby shop

This is created using No 20 Crochet cotton for the main body of the rose. To make this brooch a Christmas Irish rose I added in DMC Metalic embroidery thread in Gold.

Initially I started creating a standard Irish rose and when I reached the fifth layer of petals I then added in the Gold thread. Then again on the sixth layer of petals I added a final row of Gold.

To finish off the rose I created a center in gold thread as well.

This particular thread is quite difficult to crochet. It tends to split into the individual strands and takes quite a bit of patients to keep the work neat and avoid stray loops.

The thread itself is quite course to work with and it can bite into your fingers when working with it. Fortunately in this particular piece the amount of working with this thread was limited so I managed to avoid too much damage!

I think the effort was worth it in the end, the gold thread catches the light beautifully. I think that it turned out to be a really pretty festive brooch.

Irish Rose crochet brooch

Walnut Baby shop

I made this using DMC pearl cotton embroidery thread & Gutermann rocailles 9/o beads (colour 9901).

The thread has a lovely sheen that makes it both a pleasure to work with an creates really pretty work. I like the effect of that the multi coloured thread makes.

Although the beads could have been worked in as I crochet, I forgot to thread them before I started !! So as a result I hand sewed them on afterwards.

To finish of the brooch I crochet a center "bead" to cover the spokes that form the center of a traditional Irish rose.