I've been trying to find a pattern called Sea of Tranquility, which also seems to go by Feather and Fan. No matter what it's name, every site I've found with directions has been so wonked that I'm surprised anyone can knit this pattern. If you follow these patterns exactly as written you will end up with more stitches on your needles than you started off with and that's not supposed to happen, you're supposed to get a wavy pattern without adding stitches.
Try this dishcloth for example.
With the feather and fan pattern you're supposed to end up with the same number of stitches on your needle that you started with after doing Row 6 of the pattern row which is:
Row 6: K3, *(K2 tog) 3 times, (yo, K1) 6 times, (K2 tog) 3 times, rep from * to last 3 sts K3
If you follow that row to the letter, on each pattern repeat of that row you will end up with 3 more stitches on your needle. Anyone with any math sense knows that if you want to end up with the same number of stitches on your needle then for every YO increase you put in your pattern you should also have a corresponding dec. In this line of the pattern you have 6 YO inc in each pattern repeat and only 3 dec. That line should read:
Row 6: K3, (K2 tog) 3 times, *(yo, K1) 6 times, (K2 tog) 6 times, rep from * to last 9 sts (K2tog) 3 times, K 3.
This way, you have symmetry-by splitting the first (K2tog)6 times your project would be symmetrical.
The other two patterns I came across were for afghans and were similarly wonked, I even tried the baby afghan one and ended up with almost 200 stitches on my needles when I was only supposed to have 159.
I'm working on a pattern very similar, with minor differences, that I will be posting to my Pattern Blog very soon. If I write it right then even a beginner knitter should be able to follow it.
For any knitters who read this blog-what is your favorite knitting needles to use and why?
For myself, I'm liking the circular needle for a variety of reasons.
Knitting in the round-no seams, very little sewing.
Knitting afghans in one piece-you can get a ton of stitches on a circular, especially the longer ones and you don't misplace a needle because they're attached to each other.
You can use two of them to knit small things in the round, there are a couple of websites that show how to do this, including doing socks. I still like my dpn for socks and one day might finish the ones I have on the needles but for a change of pace, doing them on two circulars is interesting.
I think I'm going to end up getting sets of circulars in different lengths. I do like the bamboo ones because the stitches don't slip off the needles as badly as they do on the aluminum circulars or straight ones. I don't think I'd get bamboo in straight needles, I'd be too afraid i'd break them but the circulars are nice.
One other thing, how are the rosewood needles to knit on? I don't think I could ever afford to get any but I am curious how they knit and might get a pair just to see.
This is just me being curious, I hang around cats too much, LOL.
These are still on the needles so you can't see a lot of detail but you can see how the needles double over on themselves when you get the twist in the scarf. This is what makes the first round so difficult to do but if you persevere the rest of the scarf goes just like knitting anything else.
The fun fur one is being done in garter (k 1 rnd, p 1 rnd) since the yarn is the focus of the scarf rather than the stitch and the other one is being done in k2, p2 ribbing.
I've put the scarves down for now since I'm trying to get the feather and fan baby afghan going, hopefully this time will be the charm, then maybe I can post pics of it on the needles.
Don't be. if you've only been knitting a short while you should still be able to do one. The hardest part about the whole thing is establishing the twist then knitting the first round. After that it's pretty much routine knitting. Just make sure you use some kind of marker at your beg/end so you don't get lost.
If you've been knitting a long time, it's time to try one of these things. If you aren't sure of yourself just get some old cheap yarn out of your stash that you can practice on, get your needles out and go. I promise you won't be disappointed. As long as you do an easy stitch that looks the same on both sides-such as some kind of ribbing or seed stitch (difficult patterns could be tried later, after you get used to the technique)-then your scarf will look good. Unless you want half the scarf to look like reverse stockinette and the other half stockinette anyway.
I've got another one on another pair of needles. I decided I wanted to see what one would look like done in fun fur so I picked up two balls of LB Fun Fur in Sandstone and some RH Soft Baby in white. The white, while adding an interesting contrast to the fur, also helps me to see my stitches better. I'm doing a garter stitch (k 1 rnd, p 1 rnd) since the fun fur basically covers up the stitch detail anyway. I'm on the first purl round and it's looking really interesting, I'll post a pic when I get around my digicam so you can see what it looks like on the needles.
That gives me an idea for a future project-a tute with pics to make it easier to learn this technique but that's far into the future.
I finished my first practice knit Moebius scarf. I didn't make it very wide, I was just practicing to see what it would look like. I used some old yarn so I'm not going to take a picture of it.
It does get much easier after you suffer through getting the Moebius twist in and then do the first round, it's just a matter of knitting it to the width you want then BO and tie off. I ended up doing some of the stitches wrong in the very beginning because I wasn't watching what I was doing so I just used it as a learning experience for my next one, which I've already started.
It's going to be in RH Soft Baby and I'm using the same needles. I'm going to try something a bit different-I'm going to make it a K2 P2 ribbing and make it wide enough to use as a head covering. With the lighter weight yarn it should be useful with spring approaching and the need for heavier scarves and headwear diminishes.
Maybe I can finish it before Easter and use if for an Easter head covering, the colors are also good for easter as well as babies-soft pastels.
We'll see, I just hope I don't screw up on the stitches this time.
*It's easier than the directions would have you to think.
*I wouldn't use less than a 29" length circular needle, size is irrelevant, that would depend on what you want your stitches to look like.
*If you can tough out establishing your Moebius and knitting the first round then you've got it made.
*A marker between the first and last stitch is ESSENTIAL, otherwise you would not know where the beginning/ending of your round is.
One of the sites I looked at about this said that it was easier than it would appear and that's right, it's just a bit difficult to knit with your circular doubled over on itself as if it was still in the package. Once you get past this then the rest is easy, you just knit your pattern (whatever it is) until it's the width you want it to be then end it.
You just have to pick up your needles and start knitting, not letting the first couple of rounds frustrate you. I would not recommend a beginner knitter try this until they get more experience under their belt.
No, it isn't anything terribly exciting, I'm trying a knitting style I've never tried before-knitting a Moebius Scarf
Anyone knows what a Moebius strip is-a circle with only one side and one edge because it's been put together with a half-twist. I'm doing this scarf in the round with no seams to join. The technique is unusual and the first round is/will be a little slow and difficult, I just hope I can keep all my stitches on the needle as I go around.
Anyway, more on this when I get further than just starting, I'm not even halfway around the first round yet.
Editing to add: I found this person's instructions to be slightly easier to follow so I'm doing it this way, it's a bit faster and easier to get to the bottom strands.
I'm still not sure which stitch pattern I'm going to try when I get this first round done but I'm leaning towards the seed stitch which will look the same on both sides and is very easy to do, even if you are a beginner knitter, which I'm not, I just never tried this before. I also will need to dig out a safety pin to use for a marker when the time comes.
More later.
With my roses afghan. I have 7 more rounds of border to crochet, then I can send it off to its recipient.
This is a picture of it before I started the border, it's bigger than me and will be quite a bit bigger with 9 rounds of border on it. That's the way she wanted it so that's the way she'll get it, I hope she likes it because I think it's the prettiest one I've done of the two I've done and this lady will have both of them.
I'd really like to knit more and as soon as I finish my roses afghan I think I will pick up the knitting again, I do have several pairs of socks I should finish.
Meanwhile, to get back into the groove I found a neat knitters forum. It seems to have just started so anyone out there reading this and you're a knitter come by and have a look-see, they're just as friendly as Crochetville.
I'm also working on a pair of double strand slippers which shouldn't take too long, I had to frog the first one back because it was too small-I'm using 10-1/2 needles and they used 8 so I was making them smaller just in case. Anyway, I'm glad I had a pretty long tail on my cast-on row so all I had to do was frog back to the first cast-on st and add on the number of sts called for in the first size. Looks like this might be more like it. The pictures of their slippers look kinda plain but I'm using a sportweight in white held together with RHSS in Bikini which will make some wild looking slippers-will post pictures as soon as I finish and you'll see what I mean.
Anyway, back to my knitting.
I'm making another beret, this one out of LB Homespun. It's for a friend of mine who's been going through cancer treatments and has lost all her hair. She liked the beret I was wearing so I asked if she wanted one and she said she did. I'm using a partial skein of a light purple that I had on hand and while it's a PITA to crochet with the hat will be soft on her head.
Will post pics when I'm done, I only have the last dec rnd then the band.
And while I'm talking about hats for others, my nephew David asked me to make him a black beret and send it to him. Didn't know my beret pattern would be so popular ;)
Well, it will be a big blue star when I'm done, I'm only just about at the end of the first one ounce skein but it looks like I just might have enough yarn to make a fair size afghan. I know the farther out I get the more yarn it takes but it really doesn't take all that much for this type of pattern so I should have a nice size blanket if I use all seven skeins.
Yes, there's a 'but' in there. An older friend of mine from church gave me 7 one ounce skeins of really pretty light blue baby yarn because she found out her great-grandbaby was a girl instead of a boy. I finally figured out what I'm going to try to make from it-a Beth's Little Star. I hope that will be enough, it'll be more like receiving blanket weight since the yarn called for is RHWW. I'm using an H hook and it's looking really good.
I did change the way the center is done, I don't like the center hole that her instructions leave and there's other crocheters at Crochetville haven't made it because of that. What I did different was to make 14 dc + the beg ch-3 for 15 dc. Then I just make the shells of round two in 5 of the dc and skip 2 dc between them then go from there like the pattern is written-it works just as well and the afghan lays nice and flat. The only difference in looks is that the center is round instead of pentagonal and I can live with that.
Anyway, I'll have pics of it up when I'm finished, I guess I can call it Joseph's Big Blue Star ;)
I made these using the wristwarmer pattern from Hip Vintage Crochet. It's really easy and lends itself to be altered if I'm using a different yarn than called for.
The first is one I made using chenille yarn, thank you, Amber. The second is just some grey yarn I got from a friend at church. I really had to alter the pattern some for the chenille one.
I would NOT recommend that a beginner try this pattern with chenille yarn, the stitches are very hard to see, beginning it and ending it is a major PITA, but worth it for the soft texture. If a beginner wants to try this pattern then I would recommend regular WW.
I did say I'd get pictures up of the Flapper hat and the other beret as soon as I could.
Pay no attention to the model, the hats are supposed to be the stars anyway.
The Flapper-top and side view:
The blue beret:
Enjoy.
The shawl was the last gift for my secret pal, as I said in an earlier entry and she loved it. The beret is for me and that's me modeling and taking the picture. The glare in the back is the windows.
The other beret I did before this one looks like it only it's varigated muted blues. I think I might make one in bright varigateds just to see what it would look like. The only other difference between the two is the bottom band, on the blue one I did a ribbed band like Dot does and on this one I just did two rounds of hdc evenly when I got down to where it fit my head. I think I like that better.
I've finished a couple of hats and am making another one.
One is a beret that I made up and the other is the Claire Modern Flapper Hat by Yarn Cat. I really like that one and might make some more. I didn't put the flower on it, just left it plain and like it like that. I might put a pin on it or something if I feel like dressing it up.
The other one I'm working on is another beret in a different color. I really like them, you can wear them with just about anything-dressy or casual. I wore mine to church Sunday and severaly people really liked it. When they found out I'd made it they said they didn't think they would have the talent to do something like it-a beginner could just about do it, it's just the band that's a bit complicated-I used Dot's method of making an attached ribbed band but I would bet with a bit of practice a beginner could do it.
Anyway, soon as I can get pics I'll post them, just thought I'd share some news.
The Roses afghan is coming along too, gonna work on it starting tomorrow.
I just finished two of Deneen'sBubbles Baby Blanket
The solid pink one is for Gregg's brother, he and his wife are having a baby girl next month. The multi color one is for Joseph and the red/black one is also for Joseph. I'm using LB Homespun and with the N hook it's not so bad to crochet with, although a little slower than with the RHSS. It's going to be an interesting blanket-mostly red on one side and black/white on the other.
Bubble Blanket
I just saw a finished one at CPC in Baby Show and Tell and I had to make one for Joseph. He's supposed to come home from the hospital Friday, whether he's off oxygen or not, they'll just send him home with oxygen. I don't think he'll be on it too much longer even if he comes home on it cause he's a scrappy little dude who won't give up.
Anyway, I wanted to get a blanket done in a hurry and this is a hurry up type of blanket. I'll post a pic soon as I get done, might take longer than 3 hours but I'll get it done before the day is out, I have to run some errands in a bit.
There is one thing I found when I started it, the starting chain should be a multiple of 3 + 2 instead of 3 + 1, I came out with two chains left when I got to the last pattern repeat. I counted my stitches just to be sure and I had 61 and had not miscounted in any way while making the foundation row.
Born two months early and on Christmas day. He's 3.6 pounds and 16" of wriggly, beautiful baby. He was born by C-section and everything is going well, Jen is home and has had her staples removed, Joseph is off oxygen and breathing on his own, now they can concentrate on getting his weight up and getting him on a bottle. They're feeding him through a tube right now, until he can take a bottle.
I guess I better break out my Shortie Sleeper pattern and make some full sleepers for him. I'll have to go down a hook size to make sure it's small enough and make the legs/sleeves longer. I don't think I can find any clothes his size in stores unless I find a specialty store that charges an arm/leg for their stuff. I might break out my sewing machine and sew him some flannel sleepers too, just make sure he has enough things until he gets big enough to wear the clothes they already have for him.
I had to start DH's truck this morning so the windshield could thaw before he went to work. It's around 28-30F outside and everything is covered in a blanket of frost.
DH commented that he wished he had a ski cap because he works outside so after he got to work I did a search at CPC and found a perfect cap that I'm working on right now. The Ribbed Ski Cap at Dot's looks like it'll fit the bill. I'm using a J instead of K hook since DH's head is slightly smaller than mine and I'm using RHSS Aran Fleck from my stash since my camo is in use. I'm working my way down the forehead right now and it's going pretty quickly.
Will post a pic as soon as it's done and I can get DH to model it for me.
I have two more rows done and attached. Not without some small setbacks-I had to completely redo one rose because I didn't notice that I had only made 7 petals instead of 8. So far I haven't had any big setbacks except for putting it down for a long while but I do that anyway. I only have one other project I have to finish soon then I might put crocheting down for awhile.
I don't have a picture yet but I might in after awhile. I only have 5 more rows of squares to do then the borders and I'm going to try my darndest to finish it before Thanksgiving so I won't be surfing as much even if I'm online, I'll be crocheting while surfing-mostly crocheting.
See you all around now and then.
My scarves arrived today and boy are they gorgeous!! A big thank you to my swap partner for such pretty purples and patterns. I can't wait until the weather gets cool enough to try them out.
Here they are:
I got another row attached on the roses. I couldn't get a picture till today since the batteries in my camera went out and I didn't have any more.
Anyway, here's the next row, this is going to be really pretty:
I spent nearly 3 days at it but I finally got it, at least I got it close enough. I've been trying to graph a filet dragon I saw a picture of so that I could make one and I finally got it. I'll put it back in the WIM pile until I get some WIPs out of the way but at least I have it when I get ready to make it. I don't know if I'm going to use thread or get yarn and make an afghan out of it. I'm thinking about making a black afghan with the dragon worked in gold, that would look awesome.
It's still the same but maybe if I keep posting it I'll eventually get something done.
A Rose in Bloom afghan-size I hook
2 thread ties-a red one in a pineapple pattern-size 8 hook and a blue one in hdc-size 10 hook
A Cocoon sweater-size K hook
A 63 squares afghan-size H hook, could be anything from G to K, depending on pattern
A pair of crocheted socks in baby yarn, 2 colors of pink-size E hook
A pair of knit socks in RHSS camo-size 3 dpnA pair of knit socks in baby yarn-lilac-size 3 dpn
A pair of knit slipper socks in Caron SS-baby varigated-size 7 circ
A crochet tank top-size G hookA sherbet tank top-size H hook
A knit basketweave scarf-size 10½ straight needlesA crochet eyelet wrap-size J hook
A doily for the doily swap in Aunt Lydia's ecru-size 7 hook(hope that's ok with my swap partner, AL is the only thread I can afford)-I switched to a multicolor thread, hope she likes it.-finished.
Finish detangling that tote of yarn, almost there, just got tired of it, plus I need to finish that shawl and those ties. There's some more stuff in there that needs frogging too.
A beret from the Homespun I used on my black/white pineapple shawl.-size K hook
2 mini-shawls-black in size 0 hook and blue in size F hook, same pattern as the pineapple shawls I've been making only in lighter yarn and smaller hook. This is really an experiment to see what it'll do, it could flop or it could fly.
A knit dishcloth-size 8 needles
A crochet dishcloth-size H hook
A Fleuri Bag-needs to be lined and put together
UFOs I found that I want to finish:
An arrowhead afghan-if I can find the colors I'm using-size ? hook, will have to experiment, not sure if I used hook specified in pattern or went larger.
A scrap afghan in the step pattern-I'm calling it Around the World in 80 Scraps-it's in the quilt pattern called Around the World and I probably can find 80 different scraps to use in it.-size H hook
Also: A hat from Yarn Cat's site-Claire-almost finished
A Cats Afghan-using baby yarn and a H hook
All of these except my swap doily are still WIPs, I'll be working on finishing the rose afghan first then the cats afghan
I have 2 rows joined on the roses afghan so I guess that's progress.
I guess since I have a WIP bar for my Roses afghan I should also post pics. I decided that each row would be 10% and that the border would be the last 10%.
This is the one that I posted about losing, so I had to start over. I was almost through making the roses anyway then I lost it at a shelter. I don't know if someone picked it up and kept it or what but I hope whoever has it now enjoys all those roses ;)
Here's the first finished row, these are the 6 colors the lady chose for this afghan:
I ran across a post in the Blog forum of Crochetville of someone asking if anyone knew where they could get a percent bar to use to track progress on crochet projects. Someone responded with this. I played around with it on this blog and finally got it to do what I wanted. It's just under my profile on the right sidebar. I'm going to keep track of my Roses afghan and see how long it takes me to get it done since I've had to start over again. Each square will give me almost 2% so I'll probably stick in 1% now and then to make up for the difference.
We'll see how it goes, now that I have it in there changing it won't be a problem anymore.
I got to thinking that if I just count squares then I'm not counting putting them together so I'm going to give it about 10% when I get a row done and attached since I have 9 rows to do then the last 10% would be when I finish the edging.
Yeah, that sounds about right.
I've enabled word verification in my comments. What this means is that anyone commenting in my blogs has to pass word verification similar to when you created a blog before your comment will post. I did this in response to 3 spam comments in one of my posts, the word verification cuts down on automatic comment spam.
To enable this in your blog go to Dashboard>Settings>Comments then click yes at word verification.
Me, I'd rather go the extra step like that instead of getting spam.
I just deleted 3 comments from my previous entry because:
1: None of the comments had anything to do with what I posted.
2: While none of them were vulgar or anything like that, they were still advertising something and none of them had anything to do with crocheting. No I didn't click the links but I could tell anyway.
So, just so everyone knows, unless you have a specific comment to make on any of my entries, please do not comment in this blog, I much prefer my spam scrambled with eggs and not posted in my blog. Keep your comments strictly limited to the particular post you are commenting in and don't post links unless they're relevant to that post because I will not click them.
A Rose in Bloom afghan-size I hook
2 thread ties-a red one in a pineapple pattern-size 8 hook and a blue one in hdc-size 10 hook
A Cocoon sweater-size K hook
A 63 squares afghan-size H hook, could be anything from G to K, depending on pattern
A pair of crocheted socks in baby yarn, 2 colors of pink-size E hook
A pair of knit socks in RHSS camo-size 3 dpnA pair of knit socks in baby yarn-lilac-size 3 dpn
A pair of knit slipper socks in Caron SS-baby varigated-size 7 circ
A crochet tank top-size G hookA sherbet tank top-size H hook
A knit basketweave scarf-size 10½ straight needlesA crochet eyelet wrap-size J hook
A doily for the doily swap in Aunt Lydia's ecru-size 7 hook(hope that's ok with my swap partner, AL is the only thread I can afford)-I switched to a multicolor thread, hope she likes it.-finished.
Finish detangling that tote of yarn, almost there, just got tired of it, plus I need to finish that shawl and those ties. There's some more stuff in there that needs frogging too.
A beret from the Homespun I used on my black/white pineapple shawl.-size K hook
2 mini-shawls-black in size 0 hook and blue in size F hook, same pattern as the pineapple shawls I've been making only in lighter yarn and smaller hook. This is really an experiment to see what it'll do, it could flop or it could fly.
A knit dishcloth-size 8 needles
A crochet dishcloth-size H hook
A Fleuri Bag-needs to be lined and put together
UFOs I found that I want to finish:
An arrowhead afghan-if I can find the colors I'm using-size ? hook, will have to experiment, not sure if I used hook specified in pattern or went larger.
A scrap afghan in the step pattern-I'm calling it Around the World in 80 Scraps-it's in the quilt pattern called Around the World and I probably can find 80 different scraps to use in it.-size H hook
Also: A hat from Yarn Cat's site-Claire-almost finished
A Cats Afghan-using baby yarn and a H hook
All of these except my swap doily are still WIPs, I'll be working on finishing the rose afghan first then the cats afghanYeah, it’s the same as last time and I haven’t had a lot of time to work on anything since Katrina either.I’m really mad at myself, I had the roses to the Rose afghan I’m making in a bag, crocheting on them at the shelter I was volunteering at and I’ve misplaced it, lost it or someone got it. It happened last Friday and no one at the shelter has seen it so I’m going to have to get some more yarn and start all over. I’ll have to crochet nonstop to catch it back up and no stopping for any length of time until it’s back where I had it. I had almost the whole afghan in that bag, luckily I didn’t have all the yarn in there but I’m still going to need to buy more so I’ll have enough to finish it.The squares don’t take long so I’ll just have to get off my lazy butt and crochet like I’ve never crocheted before.
For a few weeks there I just didn't want to crochet or actually do anything at all. I was depressed over something and was feeling really down, maybe the heat and humidity around here had a lot to do with it too but I just didn't want to do anything. Maybe I had just gotten burned out on crocheting for awhile, I guess I'll never really know for sure.It didn't help that I had to rip my doily swap doily back 3 rows when I was trying to finish it but when I did I guess it felt so good to finish something again that I finally started wanting to crochet againI've picked up the roses again, I only have 2 more colors in the roses to finish then I can get to the other rounds of the squares and start putting it together. I'll be working on it pretty much exclusively since it will now have to be mailed off and I want to finish it quickly to make up for the time I wasn't working on anything.After that I think other than the winter scarf for the swap I just joined will be the only new project I start until I get some of my others finished. I really need to work better on being as good a finisher as I am a starter.Anyone else out there like that?
A Rose in Bloom afghan-size I hook2 thread ties-a red one in a pineapple pattern-size 8 hook and a blue one in hdc-size 10 hookA Cocoon sweater-size K hookA 63 squares afghan-size H hook, could be anything from G to K, depending on patternA pair of crocheted socks in baby yarn, 2 colors of pink-size E hookA pair of knit socks in RHSS camo-size 3 dpnA pair of knit socks in baby yarn-lilac-size 3 dpnA pair of knit slipper socks in Caron SS-baby varigated-size 7 circA crochet tank top-size G hookA sherbet tank top-size H hookA knit basketweave scarf-size 10½ straight needlesA crochet eyelet wrap-size J hookA doily for the doily swap in Aunt Lydia's ecru-size 7 hook(hope that's ok with my swap partner, AL is the only thread I can afford)-I switched to a multicolor thread, hope she likes it.-finished.Finish detangling that tote of yarn, almost there, just got tired of it, plus I need to finish that shawl and those ties. There's some more stuff in there that needs frogging too.A beret from the Homespun I used on my black/white pineapple shawl.-size K hook2 mini-shawls-black in size 0 hook and blue in size F hook, same pattern as the pineapple shawls I've been making only in lighter yarn and smaller hook. This is really an experiment to see what it'll do, it could flop or it could fly.A knit dishcloth-size 8 needlesA crochet dishcloth-size H hookA Fleuri Bag-needs to be lined and put togetherUFOs I found that I want to finish:An arrowhead afghan-if I can find the colors I'm using-size ? hook, will have to experiment, not sure if I used hook specified in pattern or went larger.A scrap afghan in the step pattern-I'm calling it Around the World in 80 Scraps-it's in the quilt pattern called Around the World and I probably can find 80 different scraps to use in it.-size H hookAlso: A hat from Yarn Cat's site-Claire-almost finishedA Cats Afghan-using baby yarn and a H hookAll of these except my swap doily are still WIPs, I'll be working on finishing the rose afghan first then the cats afghan.
I finally managed to extract the picture of my doily I received in the doily swap off my camera. I downloaded the software from Kodak and it didn't want to work right so I uninstalled it then used a program in Windows to get it off and XnView to convert it to jpg because the program that got it off my camera saved it as a tiff.Anyway, here it is, I just love it:
I'm charting a peacock standing on a pedestal for filet crochet. It'll be daunting but once I'm through will be well worth the effort. The piece will be pretty large but it's so beautiful.It really isn't hard, just tedious and finding the best way to do so took awhile. I found some online graph paper and now it's just a matter of fill in the squares using MSPaint.I'll also be doing the Lord's Supper too and that one will make the peacock look easy.
I finally got my doily for the doily swap finished this morning. I was 5 rounds from finishing it when things got really busy last week and I couldn't pick it up much. I probably still could have finished it if I hadn't noticed 3 rounds back that I'd skipped a round so I had to frog 3 whole rounds.
I used a multicolor thread and I hope my partner likes it, her preferences are lighter colors so I hope these aren't too bright for her. I didn't get a picture of it before I packed it so maybe she has a camera, I'd have to dig around for mine since it's been awhile since I've taken any pics with it. The package will go out this afternoon when I have to run out and pick Ricky up from work, the post office is on the way and I'll save gas that way-the way the prices are nowadays you don't want to waste any with unnecessary driving.
I haven't even updated this thing all August, this is my first post this month, I'll try to update more often, I've just been busy and a little depressed but I'm getting better.
I do have to get going on the rose afghan now and finish it up so I can get going on the cats afghan for my grandbaby.
Updates later when I start putting the roses together.
A Rose in Bloom afghan-size I hook2 thread ties-a red one in a pineapple pattern-size 8 hook and a blue one in hdc-size 10 hookA Cocoon sweater-size K hookA 63 squares afghan-size H hook, could be anything from G to K, depending on patternA pair of crocheted socks in baby yarn, 2 colors of pink-size E hookA pair of knit socks in RHSS camo-size 3 dpnA pair of knit socks in baby yarn-lilac-size 3 dpnA pair of knit slipper socks in Caron SS-baby varigated-size 7 circA crochet tank top-size G hookA sherbet tank top-size H hookA knit basketweave scarf-size 10½ straight needlesA crochet eyelet wrap-size J hookA doily for the doily swap in Aunt Lydia's ecru-size 7 hook(hope that's ok with my swap partner, AL is the only thread I can afford)Finish detangling that tote of yarn, almost there, just got tired of it, plus I need to finish that shawl and those ties. There's some more stuff in there that needs frogging too.A beret from the Homespun I used on my black/white pineapple shawl.-size K hook2 mini-shawls-black in size 0 hook and blue in size F hook, same pattern as the pineapple shawls I've been making only in lighter yarn and smaller hook. This is really an experiment to see what it'll do, it could flop or it could fly.A knit dishcloth-size 8 needlesA crochet dishcloth-size H hookA Fleuri Bag-needs to be lined and put togetherUFOs I found that I want to finish:An arrowhead afghan-if I can find the colors I'm using-size ? hook, will have to experiment, not sure if I used hook specified in pattern or went larger.A scrap afghan in the step pattern-I'm calling it Around the World in 80 Scraps-it's in the quilt pattern called Around the World and I probably can find 80 different scraps to use in it.-size H hookAlso: A hat from Yarn Cat's site-Claire-almost finishedA Cats Afghan-using baby yarn and a H hookThis list keeps getting longer and longer......Ok, I really didn't need to start the hat but it looked so nice, the cats afghan is for my first grandbaby so that one's justified *G*
I went to my LYS and was looking at the yarn again. I really can't afford to get much of what they have but I wanted to get some to try the wristwarmers with. I found some Cascade superwash wool from Peru at a little over $10 for 100g. I think it's a sportweight yarn, it doesn't feel very heavy. One should be plenty to knit a pair of wristwarmers. I'll be using my dpn and doing them in the round so I won't have any seams to bother with. If they turn out I might write out how I do them.I like the fact the wool is superwash, I hate handwashing things. I'll probably air dry them though.
I thought I'd try a different yarn to see how they would look, I'm knitting this pair with size 8(US) needles and Bernat Frenzy in Black Blast. If they turn out good, I might post the pattern in my pattern blog, I'm using the same method the crochet ones used only I'm using garter st since they're knitted side to side and the ribbing wouldn't be going the right way.This yarn is hard to see the sts, that's why I'm only using garter st, the yarn will add the pizazz, if you've seen Frenzy you'll know what I mean.
That way I won't have anything after it that has a specific deadline. This doesn't either, really but I want to finish it first since it's for someone else and most everything else is for me.
I'm about halfway done with the roses in 2 more colors and starting the last two colors then I can start making the squares.
The only other thing that has a deadline is the doily and I'm about halfway on that one, hope my swap partner likes it, it's in varigated purples.
I just finished a pair of wristwarmers for the Cold Hands, Warm Heart CAL at Crochetville, well almost. I still have the fun fur trim to finish on one. I got the pattern here and I really like them because you can whip out a pair in almost no time at all. They were a little plain though when I tried them on so I got some Lion Brand Fun Fur in a coordinating color and crocheted a fun fur trim around the wrist, hand and thumbholes. I like them a lot better now:
I think I'll be making some more of these.
The room I've been cleaning on is almost done, all I need to do is get Ricky to move the old computer junk and other stuff out for me then do a little more rearranging. It's almost time for after pics and anyone who's seen the before pics here will be surprised-scroll down a few posts. Where once you couldn't walk in without stumbling over something now there's almost nothing at all on the floor and the center of the room is clean, except for running the vacuum. The ironing board has been cleaned of the stuff I put on it while picking through stuff, been folded and is leaning against the wall, all the stuff I thought I wanted to keep is in a box in the closet floor and the guitar equipment is towards the back of the room instead of the middle. All my yarn, thread and stuff is either in a box in the closet, in a tote under the milk crates or in the milk crates except for the stuff still in my bedroom, living room and dining room. I'll get to those when I get to the rooms to clean.I wonder if I subconciously don't want company and that is why I keep such a cluttered up house....
I posted a couple of posts ago about how I was a pack rat so I figured I might as well advertise the fact. I was looking for a pack rat picture on Google so I could make a button and also came across a website called Pack Rats Anonymous. I don't have time right now to explore it but since I'm a pack rat I thought I'd also link to the site since I am using part of their picture in my button, it's only fair, right?I don't think I'll join, I just thought I'd link to the page since I was using their pic, there's no cure for me, I've been a pack rat for much too long ;)Anyway, if anyone else is a pack rat too click the button on the sidebar and have a looksee at PRA ;) and if you want, grab the button and advertise the fact on your own blog:
I woke about 5 this morning and Ricky told me to go wake BJ up-he had to be at work by 6 and since he's living here temporarily it'll take him an hour to get to work. Thankfully that will only last about a month until he moves to his USM dorm. He had already got up and left, never hurts to make sure though.I really don't want to get back in that room and clean anymore but if I don't it'll never get done-I'm the world's laziest when it comes to cleaning and I have my grandmother's pack rat tendencies. At least I got all the junk out, it's just a matter of setting the trash bags out for the trash men to get today and rearranging all the stuff still in there. Still I'm tired and have a crick in my neck so I don't feel like doing anything. Once I get in there I'll be ok cause once I start something I usually try to finish-except crochet/knitting for some reason-go figure.Guess I better get going, I have to go to town in a bit for a couple of things.At least I'm getting a good start on transforming the room into my crochet/knit room.
I knew there was a lot of junk in that room, I just wasn't aware how much until I started cleaning this morning-the hazards of being a pack rat, I suppose. I still have a lot of organizing to do in there and there's some things that Ricky will have to throw in his truck and take off for me but the biggest part is done.
I thought I'd show what the crates on the wall look like, they're almost full of the yarn I've been buying lately, most of it is for projects I have ongoing but some of it was just because I liked it. I usually buy RHSS because it's just about all W-M sells. They have some Mainstays and a few Simply Soft and Lion Brand. I have a LYS but their prices are way out of my league. The yarn I've had for years has been organized for the most part either into boxes or totes. I have a couple of boxes full of stuff that needs to be frogged and I still have quite a bit of tangles stuff to untangle but when it's all done I'll have quite a stash, even though most of it is quite old. As long as it can still be crocheted or knitted then it's still worth having. I'm also going to try scrumbling sometime or other so all the little bits will come in handy. One of the bins is pretty full of Bernat Frenzy that I've been snatching up while W-M has it on clearance. $1.94 a ball is pretty good for that stuff and it makes nice scarves.
Anyway, pay no attention to the stuff still underneath the bins, like I said, I'm not through organizing yet ;)
I've had these milk crates for a long time, years even and usually they become a catchall of stuff that can usually be thrown out. I've been cleaning the front bedroom out so we'll have room to store some of my son's stuff that he can't have in his dorm room in there and I had 5 of them, 2 of them crammed with stuff that mostly got thrown out. I'm not saying how many 30 gallon trash bags I have filled so far from that room but the trash man will probably wonder what's going on ;)
Anyway I got some nails and nailed 4 of the crates along one wall where I found 4 studs and nailed the 5th one under the first one I nailed up. I started putting my skeins of yarn that still had wrappers on them in the crates and I have a lot of that although most of it is slated for various projects I have going on. I plan on separating the skeins without wrappers into boxes according to whether they can remain a skein or if I'll have to wind them, it will depend on if they're tangled or not. The room is still a big mess but only because I haven't organized what's in there, most of the trash is gone except for some stuff I can't get to until I start organizing.
So I guess I best get to organizing while I feel like it, huh?
Looks like I had some takers for the Cathedral Window CAL, now to get started on a page for it. I have a free account at ASP with plenty of space. I can host pictures at Image Shack so I don't use up space at ASP.
I'm still scratching my head over the design and how to do the picture page so I'll be playing in MSFrontPage. I code my own stuff and I don't let MS code it for me but it is a good program to play with HTML then I can just C&P the code over to ASP when I get it right. The only gripe I have about ASP is the timeout if you're idle for a certain length of time, and when you're writing code in the code block you're still idle. It's much easier to write the code, tweak it then C&P it to ASP than to risk losing it by losing track of time.
Anyway, be on the lookout for the new page sometime within the next week or so.
I just posted a new thread in the Crochet Along forum at Crochetville to do the Cathedral Window Afghan. I can host it at a site I have so that isn't a problem, the only problem will be if there are any takers.
I did make a button, just in case:
And other stuff. I found some pretty colors in RH to do the Cathedral Window in so I guess I don't have a choice.
My colors are:
Mainstays:
I got my black and white in that to save some money, every little bit helps around here.
RHSS:
Lt Varigated:
Monet
Dk Varigated:
Plum Pudding
Here's a pic, the black is on the bottom and kind of hard to see:
But it's such a gorgeous afghan! Cathedral Window
I've acquired this pattern and I'm going yarn shopping today. Not that I don't already have enough to keep me busy, but I've also heard this thing is a bear to make. I've also heard it's totally worth the frustration when you get it made. It's huge-around 6'6" diameter. I'll just have to work on it a little at a time until I get some other stuff done-yeah, right, how many times have I already said that? LOL
Anyway, that thing is just too pretty not to make so I'm going to give it a shot. Hopefully I can find the purples I'm looking for, if not my second choice is blues.
And I don't need a cure......or do I? ;)
It's gotten to where I can be doing the most ordinary things and see something and think "I can do that in crochet" or "I wonder what that would look like in crochet"
Ordinary things like tank tops, bags, whatever. The latest was when I was using the restroom at a pool party and saw a mesh bag hanging on a hook and thought "I bet I can crochet that" It was made out of some kind of plastic screen stuff with cloth handles. It was lime green with pink handles.
Is there even a cure for this?
Do I even care?
Not really and maybe someday I will crochet something that pops into my head like that.
Just wanted to get that off my chest before I went to bed.
A lady in our church is pregnant and I wanted to make her something other than a blanket, clothes or anything that is normally crocheted for babies. A newbie to Crochetville was asking for suggestions and someone else suggested a portable diaper changing pad done in the potholder stitch. I don't like holding the piece the way the tutorial describes, it slows down my progress so I hold it like I always hold my crochet projects and just crochet through the back lp and next loop below, I get the same results and it goes almost as fast as doing plain sc.
I found a partial cone of some Peaches n Cream cotton yarn and I'm trying this with that. I'll have to wash it when I'm done to make sure it's clean and sanitary but it's coming along pretty well. I'm using a size J hook and ch 56 to have 55 sc across the narrow end. I'm figuring at least 30" long should be long enough and I'll be putting a tie on one end so it can be rolled up and tied for portability.
She looks like she's pretty far along and I haven't heard when her shower is yet so I'm trying to hurry with this, now that I have the stitch down (after frogging a couple of times cause I lost a st somewhere) I should be able to have this done fairly quickly.
She's my former sister in law's niece so I wanted to do something I hadn't done for anyone else, this sounded like something special.
Now that I've got the stitch down I might be making some potholders from some old yarn I have lying around, no more making two squares and joining them together. For functional potholders this stitch is great.
I've started another shrug, this one is from a frogged sweater. I frogged the sweater awhile back and wasn't sure what I was going to make with it and this morning it spoke to me and said it wanted to be a shrug. It won't be exactly like the one I just did although I'll be using the same stitch-a V stitch, it's easy and works up fast. The pic I'm posting is the start of the sleeve, I don't know if I'll try to finish or put it up until I do a few more roses but I just wanted to start it.
If you can't see it, the yarn is a light blue and I think I have enough to make a shrug with longer sleeves and still be able to add the ruffle. I'm hoping I can make it a little looser too, I made the starting circle a bit bigger so that should help. I might make the back a bit bigger too. I'm not sure exactly how long I want the sleeves yet, but I'm thinking maybe ¾ length, we'll see, that seems to be the length the yarn is telling me to make it so that's probably what I'll do.
Here's the pic, FWIW:
At least it's helping me with one of my crochetalongs, the Recycled Yarnalong ;)
I just finished the shrug I started yesterday. I wanted to finish last night but the Voyager DVD we were watching was really interesting, we're into season 7 and it's really good. I don't think we ever saw season 7 when it first ran so these eps are new to me.
Anyway the shrug turned out better than I thought. It fits snugly, which is ok, I want to wear it over some of my sleeveless dresses to church so my shoulders will stay warm when the building A/C is working a little too well.
I can't tell you the name of any of the colors, there was no label and like I said in my earlier post I've had this yarn for a long time now, it's just now told me what it wanted to be so there it is. The ruffle kind of gives it a more sophisticated look, I think. I didn't want just the shrug, I wanted it to come a little more around to my front and I knew I didn't have enough of those yarns to get it all the way across my big bust so I think this is a good compromise.
Anyway, here's the pic. I took them with my webcam so they aren't the best. I had to shrink them down a lot to get them to not look fuzzy and the color isn't the best but here it is:
The colors are teal and a varigated in purples, darker teals and navy mostly.
The shrug bandwagon. It's surprising how fast these little things work up. I picked up a couple of skeins of yarn that I've had for *mumble, mumble* too long. One is a very pretty turquoise yarn and kind of soft, there's only a partial skein of it. The other is a varigated in mostly purples and teals. I had a full 3-3½ oz skein of the varigated and thought I had another so I set out to start the shrug this morning. I used the turquoise to start the sleeve then switched to the varigated when I got to the body. When I got low on the varigated I looked around for the other skein I thought I had and couldn't find it. I knew I had some more of this color somewhere and finally found it, in a throw I was going to frog anyway since I didn't have enough of any of the colors in it to finish it and wouldn't be able to get them anywhere either, that's how long I've had this yarn.
Anyway, I frogged the throw back to where I could get the varigated off and it's about another full skein so I rolled it up, now to see about finishing it.
I'm thinking about doing something with the sleeves, I left them short but they're kinda plain so I'm going to scratch my head about what I'm going to do with them. I'm also going to be getting another color that coordinates with all the ones I'm already using and make a little shawl collar on it too. I'm hoping to finish before Sunday so I can wear it to church, it should be just right for keeping my shoulders warm, they keep the temp a little chilly in there.
Anyway, let's get back to shrugging along ;)
I figure I might get it done faster if I post progress on it.
I just finished the last of the orange roses I need for it. I finished the yellow ones earlier this morning.
Now all I have left are the lilac, pink, white and red ones to do then there's turning the roses into squares and putting them together. I'll be crocheting them together, to me it's faster and makes the afghan stronger plus I hate sewing squares together and won't unless there's no other way.
Another update will come when I finish another color, think I'll go with lilac.
Seems a lot of people like my little thread thingie. Others have said they use old milk jugs or coffee canisters or paper towel holders. All of those are good ideas as long as they keep the thread contained.
I do have to make a modification on the thingie, a big ball of thread (like Aunt Lydia's Big Ball) won't sit on it freely, it's just a bit too short. I'm thinking about a couple of ways to modify it without taking it apart that should work, or I'll just use my paper towel holder, no one seems to want to hang paper towels on it anyway. I'm working on an idea anyway and holding 2 threads together, the paper towel holder should hold both balls for me. That way I won't have to do any cutting on my other one, I can just use my paper towel holder.
That was another good idea, Michelle ;)
I got this idea about a week or so ago and Saturday when me and Jen had to run to Fred's for some more cleaning supplies for the church I got what I needed.
I made a thingie to hold my balls of thread while I'm crocheting. I bought a toilet paper roll holder for about $4 from Freds and got a piece of a 2x6 from church. They were throwing a lot of old lumber and stuff away so I figured they wouldn't mind if I snitched that little piece. I rescued it from the dump, right?
Anyway, I finally got everything out a little while ago and put it together and tried it out. It works! The ball of thread is off the ground and rolls freely on the holder. I'm sure it's not perfect but it's a lot better than it rolling around the floor or something.
I just wanted to show it off. I would have done it yesterday but after scrubbing 3 swimming pools I could barely lift a hook, much less a screwdriver.
I'm probably going to paint it later, don't have any so I'll have to hit the dollar store and see what they have.
BTW, whoever's in the Doily Swap, that's a sneak preview of the doily I'm making, hope whoever gets me likes it.
After almost 2 balls of Frenzy the scarf is done. It hangs just below the bust on both sides and is just about the length I wanted to make it. It's so soft I'm going to have to make me one too in one of the other colors I have. I hope she likes it.
I'm definitely getting some more of this to play with if they still have it when I get more money.
Here's the pic:
I'm working on a scarf for my secret pal at church out of some of that Frenzy I just bought. It's turning out pretty good, I'm using a MAM pattern from a book of MAM afghans I have. It's really just nothing but V sts with a dc on each end, very easy to do. I don't want the scarf to be one of those mile long things, just something to wear with her outfits or in cool weather to keep her neck warm. It should do that pretty well, it's soft and cozy feeling with just a little prickliness to it.I never really looked closely at the label of this yarn before because I've never bought it, price was just too high for 50g of it. I looked at this one and this is what Frenzy is made of:37% nylon30% acrylic12% polyester10.5% alpaca10.5% mohairNo wonder it normally costs almost $5 for 50g, with alpaca and mohair in it.I guess our W-M must be discontinuing it since they've marked it down to $1.94. I'm hoping to get more if I get some more extra money, doesn't really look like anyone's buying anything in the discount buggy, or they have loads of the yarn they've discounted because the buggy is always full when I see it.They also have some Lion Brand bouclé and some Bernat Galaxy yarn there, if it's $1.94 I might get some of that too.
I came into some extra money today so I went to W-M to see if they still had the discount buggy out in crafts. They did so I picked up a ball of Bernat Frenzy but none of them were marked. They had been marked at $3 but they weren't marked so I took it to one of the pricing thingies and scanned it. To my surprise they were now $1.94 so I went back and picked up 8 of them in 4 different colors-Ok, one of them is still marked $3 but it was still $1.94. I also picked up a couple more Bernat Softee Baby (not on sale) in the mint and lilac since I seem to be using that in several different projects and will probably pick up some more next time I have some money so that I'll have enough for all the projects. Then I picked up 3 balls of Aunt Lydia's #10 crochet thread (not on sale either) in some colors because I really want to do my swap doily in something other than ecru or white. I'll finish the ecru one and keep it but start a new one in one of the colors I just bought.
I just did the math and if I had bought the Frenzy at the regular price it would have been $34.56 + tax. I paid $15.52 + tax so I saved more than half getting it on clearance. I've always wanted to try some of the novelty yarns but as you can see, they're pretty expensive unless you can get them on sale like I just did. I want to use one of the blue ones in a skinny scarf for my secret pal at church since I haven't given her anything this month yet and blue is her favorite color.
Anyway, here's a pic of what I got. Crochetville is rubbing off on me, I'm impulse-buying yarn now, hehe:
I've kinda-sort of, put my WIP list in the order I need/want to finish. The first two are definitely the two that need to be finished first, as for the rest, they're kinda-sorta in the order I'd like to finish them. I've also found a couple of UFOs in the tote I've been detangling that I'd like to finish, that list is under the WIP list just in case I find more UFOs.
WIP:
A Rose in Bloom afghan-size I hook
2 thread ties-a red one in a pineapple pattern-size 8 hook and a blue one in hdc-size 10 hook
A Cocoon sweater-size K hook
A 63 squares afghan-size H hook, could be anything from G to K, depending on pattern
A pair of crocheted socks in baby yarn, 2 colors of pink-size E hook
A pair of knit socks in RHSS camo-size 3 dpn
A pair of knit socks in baby yarn-lilac-size 3 dpn
A pair of knit slipper socks in Caron SS-baby varigated-size 7 circ
A crochet tank top-size G hook
A sherbet tank top-size H hook
A knit basketweave scarf-size 10½ straight needles
A crochet eyelet wrap-size J hook
A doily for the doily swap in Aunt Lydia's ecru-size 7 hook(hope that's ok with my swap partner, AL is the only thread I can afford)
Finish detangling that tote of yarn, almost there, just got tired of it, plus I need to finish that shawl and those ties. There's some more stuff in there that needs frogging too.
A beret from the Homespun I used on my black/white pineapple shawl.-size K hook
2 mini-shawls-black in size 0 hook and blue in size F hook, same pattern as the pineapple shawls I've been making only in lighter yarn and smaller hook. This is really an experiment to see what it'll do, it could flop or it could fly.
A knit dishcloth-size 8 needles
A crochet dishcloth-size H hook
A Fleuri Bag-needs to be lined and put together
UFOs I found that I want to finish:
An arrowhead afghan-if I can find the colors I'm using-size ? hook, will have to experiment, not sure if I used hook specified in pattern or went larger.
A scrap afghan in the step pattern-I'm calling it Around the World in 80 Scraps-it's in the quilt pattern called Around the World and I probably can find 80 different scraps to use in it.-size H hook
Actually, she loved it. Ms. Janie, the lady I made the Candy Apple pineapple shawl for.
I took it to church with me this morning and when she got there I handed it to her and told her it was for her. The look of surprise and delight on her face was worth it (as always), especially after she unfolded it and tried it on. It's really roomy on her and she should get lots of snuggles from it. She mentioned that it must have taken a long time and I didn't say anything, as anyone who's made it knows, it only takes a few evenings to get one done, they work up so fast. I did take my time with this one to make sure I didn't make too many errors and there was only one that I found that won't show so I didn't frog it back.
I don't have a picture of the finished one but since the other picture is of the finished one before weaving in ends I'm sure most can see how it looks and can imagine it without the loose ends.
They will be leaving Thursday for their new home and I told her I wanted their address. I didn't tell her why but I'm still working on his ties and I can just send them when they're done. I'll send along washing instructions as well since this is #10 thread and has specific washing instructions. I might just include the part of the wrapper that has the washing instructions on it for her. Tonight is their last night at church, he'll be doing Wednsday services at the new church so I'm glad I at least finished the shawl.
I'm going to miss her and not just because she makes the most mouth-watering baked goods you've ever eaten but because they're the most wonderful people anyone could know.
I'm still going to miss her cinnamon rolls too *drool*
Thought I'd make a list of some WIP that need finishing plus a WIM list too.
WIP:
A Fleuri Bag-needs to be lined and put together
A pair of crocheted socks in baby yarn, 2 colors of pink
A pair of knit socks in RHSS camo
A pair of knit socks in baby yarn-lilac
A pair of knit slipper socks in Caron SS-baby varigated
A pineapple shawl-just need ends tucked in
2 thread ties-a red one in a pineapple pattern and a blue one in hdc
A doily for the doily swap in Aunt Lydia's ecru(hope that's ok with my swap partner, AL is the only thread I can afford)
Finish detangling that tote of yarn, almost there, just got tired of it, plus I need to finish that shawl and those ties. There's some more stuff in there that needs frogging too.
A beret from the Homespun I used on my black/white pineapple shawl.
A 63 squares afghan
A Rose in Bloom afghan
2 mini-shawls, same pattern as the pineapple shawls I've been making only in lighter yarn and smaller hook. This is really an experiment to see what it'll do, it could flop or it could fly.
A Cocoon sweater
A knit dishcloth
A crochet dishcloth
A knit basketweave scarf
A crochet tank top
A sherbet tank top
WIM:
From the Woman's Day Granny Squares 1974:
Pastel Camisole
Shell Strap Camisole
66 Square Afghan
Stained Glass Shell
Swiss Vest
Granny Pullover
Pouffy Beret
5 Square Pouch
Cardigan and Scarf
Turtleneck Dog Coat
*Told you I'd like to make just about every pattern in there, these are just the ones I REALLY want to make*
A Serafina shawl
I'd like to get back into more thread crochet, maybe small things like bookmarks, doilies, toys, snowflakes, etc.
A cape for this winter, shawls and ponchos are nice but I think capes are about to make a comeback too ;) and they're so cozy.
That's about all I can think of, I'll probably update the WIM list as I think of things I'd like to do.
I had more WIPs than I thought I did, once I started listing them, going to have to finish some of the WIPs before I get to the WIMs, I'll just keep adding to the WIMs. When I get some of the WIPs finished then I can pick from the WIMs for future projects.
I just joined my first swap at Crochetville. It's the doily swap that just opened up. I filled out the survey and said I wanted to do a small doily then changed my mind about an hour later. I had been going through the magazines (that I could find) and found one that I really liked. It's much bigger than 8" so I edited my post to say to switch me to the large doily group. I found the pattern in a magazine a friend of mine gave me called Diana's Crochet Collection-Classic Crochet Number 1. The magazine is from April, 1986 and there's a doily in there that's really pretty but it uses #5 Pearl cotton which I don't even know if I can get. I think it would look better in the #10 thread anyway so I broke out a new ball of Aunt Lydia's in ecru I had bought a couple of weeks ago and started the doily with a #7 steel hook. It'll still be quite large since the original doily is supposed to be 19", I don't know how big mine will be but it's a safe bet to say that it will be bigger than 8".
I'm not saying what the pattern is or what the doily looks like since I don't know who my swap partner will be yet and I'd like to keep the doily a surprise, with maybe a teaser every now and then.
I haven't made a doily in years, the last one I made was a pineapple one I have in a magazine I can't find right now. It has basketweaves on the very outside and turned out really pretty. I gave it to my MIL that year for Christmas and she had it framed. I might have to go over there one day and take a picture of it since I didn't have a computer back then nor did I have the foresight to take a picture of it. Now that I have a computer and a sorta decent digicam I can get a picture of it to keep.
Anyway, I hope by starting the doily now I can get it finished in between the rose afghan and the 63 squares afghan that I also need to do.
You know what else I like about this pattern? It's charted, all the patterns in this mag are charted. I think all doilys should be charted because IMO you can work a doily faster from a chart than you can from a written pattern. That's just me, of course, someone else might think differently.
I took a picture of the shawl, I still have all the ends to tuck in but that's all. I plan to give it to her on Saturday if she shows up at the workday at church. If not she'll get it Sunday morning.
Here it is:
I'm too tired to tuck in the ends right now, that's some dark yarn and is hard on the eyes so I'd rather tuck the ends in when I'm not tired so I won't miss any or put them where they'll slip out. I left them long so I can work them in good.
While the yarn is incredibly soft it's also incredibly frustrating to work with. I broke the J Crystalite hook I was using just before I had to start the last row of pineapples on the pineapple shawl, where you work each point separately. I figured I'd break one before it was over with but I'd hoped I could finish the shawl before I did, my aluminum Boye J hook snagged the yarn pretty badly and it took me twice as long to finish a point as it did when I finished one with the Crystalite hook.
I'll post a picture of the Candy Apple pineapple shawl after I get the ends tucked in, right now I just want to put the thing down and rest my wrists awhile, maybe pick up something that isn't so hard on them, like regular yarn, I have 2 pineapple shawl collars started-the same pattern as the shawl only with sportweight yarn and a small hook. They'll be way smaller than the shawl-the black one got to row 6 before it was as big as row 4 on the shawl, so we'll see how they look when I finish. I have in mind a miniature shawl, closed in the front around the neck with a couple of buttons that are crocheted together in a small chain. You can wear it over a sleeveless top, dress or even a sweater/turtleneck in cooler weather.
We'll see if my idea works.
I'm finished detangling for today anyway, we have an early church this evening and I need to get a bath and wash my hair so it'll have time to dry before we go. It's sort of going to be a fellowship/goodbye dinner at 6 since our pastor is leaving next week. Dinner will be at 6, bible study at 7 and cake/ice cream afterwards. I'm really going to miss them. Ms. Janie's shawl should be finished by then, don't know about the tie, might have to send it to him.
Anyway, my idea. I just got through rolling a 4 oz ball of black sportweight yarn, don't know if I bought it or if someone gave it to me but I got to thinking, usually a dangerous thing for me to be doing (see posts about crochet dummy ;)) Anyway I got out my #0/3.25mm steel hook and I'm going to see how the pineapple shawl will look as a scarf. I think it will be big enough to go around my neck as a scarf when I'm through, I'm only to row 6 which is the starting of the beginning shells. I'll let you know how it goes, I'm off to the bath, then I'll pick up the shawl and try to do some more on it, I just don't feel like detangling anymore right now, especially after those 3 balls of country blue I had to wind-1-7 oz, 1-4 oz, and 1-3 oz ball-that gives me a heckuva lot of country blue yarn to figure out what to do with, I'm thinking maybe a Serafina after I finish a couple of other projects. After I finish the rose afghan I'm going to start crocheting for me, it's about time, out of all the stuff I've crocheted over the last year I've only kept a few things, a Homespun pineapple shawl, some socks and a couple of dishrags and a capelet.
I think I need to start crocheting/knitting for me now.
It's good to know my estimating skills are still good. I just finished winding that big skein of country blue and I was curious as to how much it weighed so I pulled out my kitchen scale and made sure it was set to 0 then weighed the cake. It weighed in at a tiny bit over 7 oz so it was just about half of one of RH's Pounders. I remember years ago when W-M was selling the pounders that I bought some and this is what's left.
I'm glad the whole skein wasn't tangled, just the two ends or I would have been forever untangling then winding that one. As it was, it still took awhile cause the closer I got to the end the more it tried to tangle when I would pull it out but I managed to get a decent looking cake from it. It looked kind of dirty in places but I think when I use it I should be able to wash the item and it will come clean.
Well, back to the tangle pile.
I just liberated a huge old skein of country blue RHSS from the tangle. I think it used to be one of the pounders and it looks like there's still half of it or better left on the skein. I would leave it as a skein but it looks rather untidy that way and I'd be afraid it would tangle too badly if I didn't wind it. I hope my toilet paper roll can handle it, I seriously thought about seeing if I had a paper towel roll for this one but we'll see.
Back to winding, I brought it over to the computer since it'll take awhile and I have a couple of friends on MSN, even though we aren't really saying anything ATM, I think they're both a little busy since they're both at work.
*Roll, roll, roll your yarn till it's all wound up
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, winding is such fun*
The more I detangle the easier it's getting, there isn't so much to go through each time I get a bunch out. I think I'm going to run back to the Dollar General and get another 20 quart drawer tote, they stack and I want to use them to store all this old and leftover yarn in. I got 2-18 gallon totes from W-M the other day to use for the new yarn I buy, I'm buying a few skeins every time I get some extra money so I'll have a good stash built up this winter when I don't have as much extra money coming in from the swimming pools and I'll be able to crochet/knit without running out of yarn. The totes were even on sale, they were $2 apiece and I'm really tempted to go back and get a few more to put in my yarn room because they had a bunch of them there. They had the 4-drawer things on sale too but they were still almost $10 apiece and I figured the tote would be the better deal. Maybe if they're still on sale when I get paid by one of my customers later next week then I might get 2 or 3 more of them-can't have too many totes ;).
Well, I was just rambling while I was taking a break and getting some breakfast so I guess I better get back to detangling.
I made a pretty good dent in the tangled yarn. Some of it looks like it would make interesting scrumbles. I'll have to go through all the yarn when I get it all detangled and set aside what I think I'll need for the dummy then set aside the ones I might want to play scrumbling with.
Can't wait till I get through with these other projects so I can play around just for me.
I've been slowly but steadily going through that 35 gallon tote of UFOs and tangled yarn. I started around 7pm last night and went till 10 when we went to bed. I started up again about 7 this morning and it's just past noon now and I'm making some headway. I bought one of those 20 quart stacking drawer things from the Dollar General store last week and am filling it up with the yarn I'm winding. It's almost full with tiny to pretty good size cakes of yarn and there's still a lot left to untangle. I'm still not sure if I want to try untangling the #10 thread, I'll decide when I get more yarn out of the bunch. If I can wind it several times around my hand I'll keep it cause I can use it in the small granny squares I'm making for my dummy. It doesn't take much to make the first round so there isn't any reason to throw away the small bits unless they're really tiny.
I've been thinking that when/if I get through with my dummy I've been toying with the idea of trying scrumbles with what's left, I should have a lot to play with and should get some interesting textures. That's one reason I'm thinking about trying to untangle the thread because I can use it in the scrumbles since there aren't any rules to scrumbles/freeform crochet.
Anyway, I was just taking a small break before I finished winding the latest yarn I pulled from the tangle so I better get back to it.
One of the things I'm going to need to do if I'm going to do this dress dummy is untangle some of this tangled up old yarn I have. I'll be using as much scrap yarn as I can find and will probably frog some UFOs to use since some of them I can't tell what I wanted them to be so I might as well use them for something constructive and be doing something for the UFO-along I'm a part of.
As tangled as all this yarn is I don't believe in throwing it away. If it got tangled it can be untangled, you just need lots of patience. I have a 35 gallon tote full of UFOs and tangled yarn, some of it isn't tangled but I'll have to go through the tangles to find that.
So, in between finishing the Candy Apple Pineapple shawl and tie for our pastor and his wife by the 23rd, when they leave, the rose afghan I have to make and the dress dummy I should be quite busy for awhile.
At least I'll have my yarn untangled and the UFOs either frogged or set aside to finish later.
I'm not going from the neck down, I'm going to make small squares and join them. I can fill in the curved gaps with sc, I think.
I'm going to go to some stores around town and see where I can get a foam mattress pad the cheapest then cut out 2 pieces from my measurements for a front and back then I'll have something to go by to lay my squares out. I can use fiberfill to stuff sections that need a little more shape.
As for the bust, I've been thinking about that boobie pillow they've been talking about over at Crochetville, I think I can adapt that pattern to do the bust. I don't need the dummy to be a perfect match to my measurements since I probably won't be making any fitted clothes (not with my body anyway, hehe) I just want something to use to see how tops or skirts will fit and how shawls and ponchos will drape.
I've decided that some small circumference PVC pipe should make a good stand and support for my dummy, I'll just need to hit the hardware store for the stuff I need when (if) I get the dummy made. I'll have to have the stand in it before I stuff it too much because I'm going to make a support for the dummy to sit on across the shoulders, kind of like a big T.
I hate it when ideas grab me and won't let go, sometimes I hate it anyway. If hubby knew what I was doing he'd probably send me on to the loony bin but oh, well ;)
Yeah, I'm really off my rocker here, but isn't that the way most inventors are? ;)
I was just reading at Crochetville about someone who got a dress dummy for real cheap. Someone else posted about a thread at Craftster about making duct tape dress dummies and I posted a site where there's a tute for making one. The trouble with the duct tape dummy is that you need two people to make one, the model for the dummy and the person to wrap the model.
I just had a wild idea to crochet one. Using old leftover yarn and a small hook for a firmer fabric I think I can make one. I can start at the neck and work my way down using my measurements. Then I can stuff it to my measurements and put it on a stand. If I decided to use it for sewing then I'd be able to stick pins in it without them getting the sticky stuff from the tape all over them. I don't know when I'll be able to attempt this since I have some stuff that needs to be done first but when I get an idea like this it usually won't let me go until I try it.
Wish me luck. I have no idea if it'll work or if I'll be able to write a pattern for it but for now I just want to see if I can make one.
I said I might make 2 ties for Bro. David in an earlier post and I think I will. I started on a tie that is incorporating a small pineapple pattern in the middle. I hope to have the pattern written up as I make it and will post it to my pattern blog. This tie is being done in some red #10 thread that I've had for a long time and I'm using a #8 steel hook. I think it's Red Heart but I'm not sure since the label is long gone. It could be Aunt Lydias but it's doubtful I usually only buy the big white or ecru balls of that.
Anyway, keep a lookout for my tie pattern in the near future (I hope)
For anyone who's just starting out to knit and wants to practice stitches but not make swatches that can't be used for anything or don't really want a scarf then why not try potholders or dishcloths. You can use acrylics for potholders and ww cotton for dishcloths. For potholders I'd recommend you make 2 just alike then sew them together wrong sides facing.
Another tip: If you aren't doing any fancy patterns but just basic stitches then try slipping the first stitch of each row without working it
For instance: If you're working stockinette stitch then on the knit row slip the first stitch like you're about to knit it but slip it to the right-hand needle without working it, on the purl row slip the first stitch like you're about to purl it but slip it to the right-hand needle without working it.
For garter stitch simply slip the first stitch of each row as if you're going to knit it.
Some suggested dishcloths:
Stockinette stitch: Cast on the appropriate number of stitches for how wide you would like your dishcloth to be, work in stockinette st (k 1 row, p 1 row) until the dishcloth is a big square. Bind off
Garter stitch: Cast on the appropriate number of stiches for how wide you would like your dishcloth to be, work in Garter st (k every row) until dishcloth is a big square, bind off.
Seed stitch: Cast on an odd number of stitches. Work in seed st (k 1, p 1) every row until dishcloth is a big square, bind off in k 1, p 1. The odd number of sts cast on lets you start with k 1 each time, if you have an even number of sts cast on then you would work the first row k 1, p 1 and the second row p 1, k 1. Work these 2 rows until dishcloth is a big square then bind off either in k 1, p 1 or p 1, k 1- whichever row you happen to be on at the time, just keep to the pattern.
Personally, I like the seed st for dishcloths for the texture. Seed st gives a good texture for scrubbing.
I think dishcloths and potholders are better for stitch practicing because they're small and don't take long to make, plus they're usable after you're finished.
Of course you could always make smaller squares of practice sts and sew them together into an afghan or even a poncho. Sampler squares can be used in any number of ways, just like in crochet.
Tata for now, just thought I'd throw my 2¢ into the tips bucket
I posted in an earlier post about making a crochet tie for our pastor as a goodbye gift from me. I'm using #10 thread and a #10 needle so the work is very small. I have to take my glasses off to see it straight (I'm nearsighted and wear bifocals and the bifocal doesn't let me see my work right or something) I'm making the tie up, using only hdc and I've figured out my row count. I know how many rows I need to go before starting the decreases for the other part of the tie and hit on an idea to help me count the rows. I put a small safety pin (wish I had the tiny gold ones) every 10 rows so I only have to count 10 rows at a time. It really helps my eyes if I don't have to constantly count from the bottom.
I'm sure somone thought of this but I thought I'd put it here in case someone hasn't.
While they're a little different to use and not quite as smooth as an aluminum hook I found one thing out-they crochet Lion Brand Homespun better than Boye aluminum. For some reason the Boye J hook snagged the yarn on almost every stitch and I was starting to get frustrated when I decided to try my J Crystalite hook. It barely snags it once in awhile and I'm much happier now and should get this shawl done in no time and with much less frustration. I don't know why it's better with the Homespun but when I made my Homespun shawl I had been using the Crystalite K and didn't have a problem with snagging. I guess it's the way they're made or something. I don't know how a wooden hood would do since I don't own any but for Homespun yarn Crystalite hooks crochet it much better than Boye aluminum, at least for me they do.
Many, many thanks to my fairy godmother who RAOK'd me with them, you have saved me a lot of frustration with Homespun yarn, which I love to work with for it's softness but found frustrating because of the snagging.
It's a good thing too because I just had to frog the whole thing because I miscounted on the first row, now I can redo it without all the frustration of snagging the yarn.
Yesterday our pastor informed us that he had been called to another church. He and his wife will be leaving at the end of the month. They've been with us for 11 years and it will be hard to say goodbye but I understand that when God tells you it's time to move then you have to move.
I've decided to make them goodbye gifts. I'm making him a tie from #10 crochet thread in dark blue. I might make 2 in different styles, I don't know yet. I have one started, it's just simple hdc but the color is really pretty.
I'm making his wife a pineapple shawl in Homespun, color Candy Apple. It's a gorgeous red and red is her favorite color. She's quite a bit smaller than me so I will be able to use a smaller hook, I'm just trying to decide whether to use a I or a J. I used a K on mine. I have 5 skeins of the yarn just in case, I'd rather have too much than not enough and I can always find something to do with any leftovers.
Anyway, even though it'll be hard to lose them hopefully they'll enjoy my gifts and we'll get another pastor as loving as he is.
God always knows what He's doing so I'll just trust that He has already sent another pastor our way, we just have to find him.
I will post pictures of the gifts as soon as I get them done, I've only just started on the tie.
