Book Review- The Stained Glass Garden: Projects & Patterns

The stained Glass Garden projects & patterns book is great for anyone who is looking for garden-themed projects, I love working in the garden, for the garden in spring, so maybe this is the book for your springtime lead lighting glass crafts.

Grow a glass garden—and beautify any space with the exquisite decorative items you’ve created. George W. Shannon and Pat Torlen, two master teachers and artists who run the On The Edge Glass Studio, offer an array of glorious patterns for stained glass flowers, butterflies, birds, birdfeeders, planters, lanterns, and mobiles. Using dozens of close-up photos, they teach all the basics of both copper foil and lead came construction, from materials and tools to how-to techniques.

A Selection of the Crafters Choice Book Club.

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If you’ve been around here long, you know that I’m in a perpetual battle with my stash. I feel like I haven’t bought yarn in years unless I needed it for a specific project. I knit fairly a lot, and crochet some, too, but it feels like my stash never gets any smaller.

It’s not just the unused balls of yarn that are a problem. In fact, maybe a bigger issue is all the odd balls and leftover bits that seem to pile up without any effort. Even though I love scrappy projects (and knit a whole sweater dress with scraps earlier this year) it still feels like a never-ending quest to use up all the little bits.

So I’m always on the lookout for good patterns that are made to use of the extra bits of yarn. If they are super easy, too, that’s so much the better.

So it is with the Lalu Scarf by Sheena Stone. This any yarn, any gauge pattern is designed to use up whatever scraps you have on hand (assuming they’re mostly the same weight or can be held double to make the same weight).

It’s a tube scarf worked in the round, and she specifically notes that she works it outside in, so the back of the scarf is on the outside as you knit. The needle tips are on the part of the circle farthest away from you as you knit.

It also has an attached I-cord edging, which sounds really time consuming but does give the edges a nice, finished look.

The way the colors are changed as you knit you don’t really need a lot of each color. It would probably be good if you had at least enough of a color to complete one round, but you can change colors more often than every round if you need to because you’re using all your tiny bits.

Grab the free pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Sheena Stone.]

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Have you read?