Lampshade, why not!

July 14th

Pimp my lampshade?

Slowly ever, so slowly over the years the house has had additions of the yarny kind smuggled into
each room of the humble abode.  Why smuggled, well he that I am married to is now a tad exasperated by the quantity and number of such home made goods of the crochet and knitted kind.  At first he was amused and encouraged me with my yarny hobby and smiled at my choice.  Now into our third decade together he smiles not so much at the next produced item, hence I smuggle them in.  Others may tell white lies about dresses and shoes they have bought saying, "This old thing, no, it's been in the wardrobe for ages, you've seen this before."  To my version: "This blanket/pot cover/wash cloth/scarf...(or choose from a vast array of goods that can be crocheted or knitted), no babes, it's been in the house for donkeys, maybe you are only noticing it now as I have moved it from the other room." I say blushing and hoping he doesn't ask where was it in the other room as he cannot quite remember and is trying to 'see' where it previously was...

This brings me swiftly on to an addition that 'appeared' a few months ago and has only recently been 'noticed' with a wry smile and a "Of course you would" look.  I have covered several lampshades in the past in yarn, admittedly always crocheted, umm, now wondering about a knitted version.  anyway onto this latest crocheted lampshade, the inspiration came from the very clever Kate Rowe Kate Rowe as soon as I saw her colourful take on lampshades I knew I had to create my own version.  What better room to make it for than a teenage room!  Quirky and fun. 

The crocheted balls catch the lamp light well

 

Piercing the lampshade with holes for the
blanket stitch was the trickiest part to this make

 

Adds a sense of fun in  a teenage room

 

 

In order to make this I first pierced the lampshade base at regular 1 cm intervals with a bradle and then blanket stitched around the edge. My learning notes from this make would be to ensure that the blanket stitch on the lampshade itself was slightly looser next time, if you look closely you will see that the whole make pulls inwards, so be careful if making your own version.

 

I then scallop edged using a basic slip stitch, sc, dc, htr, tr, htr, dc, sc, slip stich combination to create the wavy edge on the base of the lamp shade.

 

Meanwhile I made lots of little crochet balls, use your preferred method or otherwise Lucy at Attic 24 has a great tutorial Little Balls For the hanging length I simply chained the desired length required and slip stitched into each chain to give it more strength and a cleaner finish. Sewed the lengths onto the ball and onto the scallop edging et voila!

 

 

♥  Lampshade bling  ♥