There were several adventures along the way of most some of the projects. Starting with the Valley Yarn mobius, that one I knitted twice! It was a revisit of the mobius pattern I’ve previously made for myself. I am completely in love with this cowl and during the fall and winter I’m nearly always wearing it. I wear it out with my coat and inside to take some of the bite out of the air. I find that it is so versatile for indoor/outdoor wear. Since I can wear it double or single around my neck I also get two levels of warmth without looking silly wearing a scarf inside. I had a couple skeins of Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky made of wool and alpaca left over from my purple sweater project. From the couple times I’ve worn the finished sweater I’ve discovered the yarn is fantastically warm! My SIL works from home and her studio can be pretty darn cold so I thought that a snuggly cowl would probably fit the bill nicely. After knitting it the first time I cast off too tight and it wouldn’t go around my head to wear it doubled. I recast it with about 10 to 15 more stitches than it called for and also made sure to cast off nice a loosely. That worked out nicely.
The fingerless mitts for my nephew were the next installment in his collection of knitted/crocheted Super Mario themed gifts from me (starting with the Super Mario Blanket that started this blog!). I had never knit gloves before so I knew it would have a bit of a learning curve. I thought I could easily turn the fingerless mitt pattern found at Vickie Howell’s blog into mittens, but after finishing off the top of the mittens and having added the mushrooms to each mitt I realized I don’t know the slightest thing about knitting a thumb! I decided to just crochet a thumb but it was a bit obvious I didn’t really know what I was doing. Since it is winter there are several drives in the area for scarves, gloves and hats so I just donated them. Second try I decided to just stick with the pattern with only one minor adjustment of shortening the wrist portion. This project was my first time using a duplicate stitch method to create an image on a knitted fabric. My nephew loved them!
The other Christmas projects went off without a hitch for the most part. The Wavy scarf was a project that came about when I had one of those extreme itches to knit or crochet something, anything. I had the project added to my queue at Rav for nearly a year and decided it was high time to cast on. I went to Joann’s with this project in mind and purchased 2 yarns, Lion Brand Tweed Stripes, only to get home and realize I needed 3 yarns! Luckily I had a random skein of purple acrylic, Loops & Threads Impeccable, I had purchased previously that was nearly the same weight. I hadn’t gotten my Knit Picks interchangable needle set yet which was a problem when I discovered that I didn’t have the right size needles. I was determined to start this project regardless. The needles were one size smaller than they should have been and unless you’re a knitter you probably can’t tell. It’s a fun pattern and you get the hang of it quickly. Some nice variegated yarns are perfect for it or just 3 different colors to really emphasize the waving.
I’m currently on bed rest to avoid some issues in my pregnancy. The baby is doing great at 4 pounds which is right on target for where I am in the pregnancy. I’ve had several issues with episodes of strong Braxton Hicks contractions, which are like practice contractions. I’ve had a couple trips to labor and delivery to have my contractions monitored. After my first visit to the hospital for dehydration while having a cold I’ve seriously upped my water intake from maybe a cup or two all the way to eight to fourteen cups a day. One of my bed rest issues is low amniotic fluid so I’m now going to try and drink even more water! I used to hate drinking water and now I feel odd when I don’t have a glass in reach. Another upset in what was an easy pregnancy was a diagnosis of gestational diabetes. I’ve been monitoring my blood glucose level 4 times a day for 2 weeks now and it seems like the diagnosis isn’t one I need to be too concerned about. I’m managing it very, very well with diet and can’t wait to talk with the nutritionist this upcoming Wednesday. Thanks to my mom and several friends my GD diet has been easy to make and keeps me full. I’ve also been tracking all my meals using a website called Babyfit.com so my nutritionist will get a very detailed report of the diet I’ve created for myself. Hopefully only a couple tweaks are necessary. One perk of bed rest is the opportunity to update my blog (oh so long overdue) and knitting and crocheting more stuff! I’m currently done with 3 projects and am on the hunt for new ones.
Another month has whizzed by and I’ve been knitting and crocheting every day. On October 20th we found out that our baby is a boy so I could finally choose a cute baby item and yarn to knit something special. I had already started a gender neutral baby blanket in tunisian entrelac to keep myself busy. The blanket is made using 2 yarns; Joann’s Sensations Breeze Self-patterning and Sensations Sublime. I found both skeins in the clearance bin which now leads me to believe both have been discontinued. I purchased the yarn with baby in mind. They are both a DK or lighter weight yarn requiring a small hook. I’m using a 3.25mm hook although it calls for a 3.5mm because I don’t have what a need. The self-patterning yarn is a bouclé which can be a bit frustrating with the small hook as sometimes I just catch a fiber or two versus the yarn itself. After a quick refresher at My Life in Knots blog I quickly remembered that I really, really enjoy tunisian entrelac. Luigi and the Goomba were both done in tunisian entrelac and here I find myself a year later working in the same method. There’s something about working in small squares in the round that is very satisfying. The self-patterning yarn is fun to work in regarding colors. Every square is a little bit of a different color and I love seeing what will happen to each subsequent square as I go. The white yarn is my reprieve from the colored bouclé. Tunisian entrelac has a front and back side. I’ve thought about maybe sewing the finished piece to some fabric but the lovely knitting night ladies have said that the back is ok and doesn’t need to be covered. I guess I’ll see how I feel about it when it’s done.
After finding out our little babe is a boy I immediately hit the Ravelry pattern search for a knitted sweater or vest. I found the cutest little vest with owls on it. These little owls have caught my eye several times but I just don’t see myself wearing them in a sweater, but a little boy vest is perfect! A Caffeinated Yarn blog is where I found the pattern and fell in love. Things started falling into place after finding my pattern of choice. Stitches East was in town at the convention center and there I could buy some nice yarn to work with. I bought Valley Yarns Superwash merino yarn in a blue green color. On top of that, my Knit Picks Options Interchangeable Harmony Wood Circular Knitting Needle Set had also arrived via my sister-in-law. I think I ended up casting on 3 times for the project. Twice before I realized that the cables I had were too long and then a third time for my actual start. I’m using my long cable(32 or 34″, I’m not sure) because I have to use the magic loop method instead of just knitting in the round smoothly. At first I was a bit disappointed at that because my only other experience with magic loop was knitting my 2 purple sweater sleeves and where the two sides ‘joined’ in the round there was a bit of a gap. I mentioned this at knit night and they all said that with practice that gets better, so I’ve just made sure to pay close attention and not let there be extra slack when knitting those stitches bridging the gap. Last night I reached my first goal of knitting 4 inches of the vest and it was time to start cables for creating the owls. I actually find that using the magic loop is perfect for this! The vest has owls only in the front so I have all the owl stitches on one side of my loop and all the back stitches which are just continued in stockinette are on the other side of the loop. Yay! So far my owls have little feet and bellies. Today I will probably get into the faces and from there who knows where I’ll stop- I get a bit carried away sometimes. Being pregnant does remind me to get up, walk around and stretch all my leg muscles though so I can’t get too carried away.
Before the blanket and the vest I did a test-crochet for someone on Ravelry. She had posted the cutest little giraffe amigurumi in the Crochet Finished Projects of the Month thread for September. I commented saying I couldn’t wait to try out her pattern when she posted it on Ravelry for all to use. She sent me a private message asking me to test her pattern. I was so excited! I wanted to crochet the giraffe in some un-giraffe like colors but couldn’t find 2 yarns in my stash that were of similar weight and complimented each other. Oddly enough I did have a yellow and brown that met the requirements to work together. So a normal colored giraffe it would be. He worked up quickly and for the most part I found no kinks in the pattern. The pattern is very nicely written and the giraffe is practically seamless. It also requires very little sewing which most amigurumi crocheters are not very fond of. I finished him off, took pictures and sent my comments to the creator. A couple days later the pattern was published for all to use: Geoff Da Giraffe. My giraffe needs some stitched on eyes and then I will consider him done. He will be part of my baby’s stuffed toys and I made sure to crochet him with that in mind.
I finally finished the 15 stitch gift ghan for my sister’s wedding present on the day before the wedding; September 2nd! I even worked on it right in the presence of the happy couple, but since it’s not unusual to see me knitting or crocheting I knew they would think nothing of it. My sister and I had a good laugh when she figured out that I had been working on it right in front of her eyes. They really loved the gift and I hope that they’ve had some cool days to try it out.
My goal had been to make it the size of a twin bed at the very least. I didn’t actually take any measurements after completing it which was a bit silly of me. It didn’t reach that size, it’s about big enough for one person to use length wise from head to toe. In the last couple knitting weeks I got quite tired of working on it and so progress slowed. I still averaged 1 skein a week though so I didn’t let myself slow down too much. I used 10 full skeins and a very small portion of an 11th skein of Red Heart Collage Tundra. After so many skeins I still thought the yarn was decent and still liked the color. I would use Collage again for sure, which is good since I think I have 2 or 3 skeins still floating around. I’ve used the left over skein to crochet a baby hat and a baby wrap cardigan. The yarn crochets nicely as well, I love the slow color changes.
The blog has been quiet for a couple reasons, one is that I was just knitting that blanket and nothing else. Another is I was teaching art at a summer camp which consumes a lot of my time; I was up at 5am, out of the house by 6am and home around 6pm, bedtime at 9pm. This summer I was even more exhausted than the 2 previous summers. On July 14th I figured out why I was so much more exhausted; I’m pregnant! This upcoming Tuesday, the 27th, I will be at 16 weeks. Baby will be here around mid-March next year. We are very excited! Of course, this means time to queue up lots of baby patterns on Ravelry. I’ve told my Monday night knitting group and they are very excited to get to knit baby items again. One of the other group members just had her baby in July so baby projects are still fresh in everyone’s memories. I’ve queued up lots of stuff on Rav for the knitting group to peruse and pick from. I’ve saved a couple for myself as well. We don’t know 100% yet what we’re having so I’m waiting to make stuff after our 20 week scan in October when we should be able to find out the sex.
Now that the afghan project is done I’ve just been hovering between projects, filling my time with crocheting Snuggles for the Snuggles Project. I haven’t found any projects that are begging for me to start them, and those that are require knitting needle sizes I don’t have yet. I’ve purchased the KnitPicks Harmony interchangeables but am still awaiting their arrival. Waiting is hard when you know there are projects to work on!
I’ve started a scarf that has been in my Rav queue since November ’10 called the Waving Chevron Scarf. I had some good coupons for Joann’s and picked a project from my queue to shop for. Luckily, not all the yarn was on sale so I was able to use my coupon on the skeins I bought. But as I’ve just said, I don’t have the correct size needles for the yarn I’ve picked. The yarn calls for 6mm and my closest size is 5mm. I’m trying it out to see if it’ll work but I can see that it is noticeably too small a size because the 5 or so inches of scarf I’ve knit so far bulge a bit and won’t sit flat. I’m going to keep work on it t see if maybe it’s just because it’s still too short. This is my first time working with Lion Brand Tweed Stripes and Michael’s new line called Impeccable. All three are acrylic yarns. The LB Tweed is considered a bulky yarn and the Impeccable is a worsted. So far I like working with them; they slide nicely along my bamboo needles. The pattern calls for 1, 3 or more yarns to create the desired effect. I didn’t realize that at the time I purchased the yarns, hence the 2 Tweeds and 1 Impeccable. I prefer to use 3 of the same brands of yarn just to prevent the headache of having to find yarns of a comparable weight. Luckily, I had the Impeccable from a previous shopping trip and the color goes with the other two. The weight is similar enough I think. I’m just itching to do a more serious project than Snuggles that I couldn’t wait to start so I wasn’t going to slow things down by putting off the project until I had another Tweed that would function as a 3rd color. I suppose I could have just worked with 1 color skein but that wasn’t going to satisfy me either. So, as my husband says, it is what it is. If I change my mind after knitting a couple more inches so be it.
I’ve been busy knitting an afghan for a gift. It’s called Ten Stitch Blanket by Frankie Brown; a spiraling rectangle growing from the center outward where I knit only 10 stitches (or in my case 15) at a time before joining it to the previous edge with some slip stitch magic to create a ridge. The slip stitch ridge is a suggestion from another user. The gift needs to be done around late summer early fall and I’ve set a lofty goal of queen size blanket. My less lofty (and way more realistic) is couch afghan. I started it on June 17th and it’s now big enough to cover my legs. Knitting is soooo slooow compared to crochet. I knit for half an hour before I punch in for work and then for about an hour during and after an episode of Doctor Who. I’m on my 3rd skein in about as many weeks so I think I’m on a reasonable track to make a large blanket. I hope to do some knitting on it during the Fourth of July Festivities at my in-laws.
The yarn I’m using is Red Heart Collage. Now for a gift I would usually shy away from most things Red Heart as it can have a very scratchy acrylic feel to it, which is not very desirable. I did a lot of researching on Ravely using all the fantastic different search methods. Ravelry has connected so many things in each project that one can search by yarn, by project, by difficulty, by rating, etc. I browsed all the super fantastic projects of other folks and decided that the pattern lends itself well for a variegated yarn with long stretches of color before gradually changing. It also had to be acrylic as the giftee is not super yarn savvy so I didn’t want something with complicated washing instructions. I had done a sample 10 Stitch as a Snuggle with Caron Paints but the variegation changed quickly and abruptly so the spiraling effect was lost. Having tried it out I had a good feel for what I wanted to look for. Off I was in search of which variegated yarns people had used. I found some contenders and then looked at the yarn’s page to search the projects that had been done with it. As I’ve said, Ravelry has it all interconnected so I could search for something specific in the projects done with that yarn. I narrowed it down to something that was only be available in the UK. Well, darn it. I went to the desired yarn’s page and found in the comments section of the yarn that there is a comparable yarn called Red Heart Collage. I wasn’t comfortable buying yarn without touching it so an online purchase wasn’t an option. From there I searched all the local craft store websites and then immediately headed out the door to purchase some at Joann Fabrics. I picked up 6 skeins and started that night.
I little while ago I knitted the cutest bib featuring a goat. The pattern creator has several animal bibs and it was hard to choose which one to do. It’s knitted in cotton. I used some size 3 knitting needles I received from my mom that must be at least 15 inches long if not more. It’s like knitting with oars. I kept on poking whomever was sitting next to me when I was working on it. The length of the needles made it a bit fiddly at times as well. I will most likely take a rotary tool to them and cut them down to size. I can’t fathom any reason for me to have such long knitting needles. The other 2 pairs my mom gave me are just as long! I knitted the bib without an actual recipient in mind. I guess I’ll be prepared for any future babies.
While wandering around the Ravelry site I discovered something new to do with those little bits of yarn left over from a skein; magic balls. I even joined a scrap group to see what others had done with scrap yarn. Up til now I’ve crocheted little motifs so sew onto Snuggles. A magic ball, as I understand it, is made up of left over segments of yarn knotted together. I grabbed my left overs and my ball winder one afternoon and started knotting and winding. I produced 3 cakes of scrap yarn. My left overs are from the last couple years and 3 cakes may or may not be enough to make something neat. I’ve seen that some people make them without using scraps but of segments of yarn cut from skeins. The effect is nice though especially when contrasting the magic ball yarn with a solid yarn to keep the crazy from going too crazy. Not sure what I’m doing with it yet but they are ready for when it strikes me.
I’ve been going back to crochet again lately. I guess I’m still a hooker at heart. One of the knitting group members is expecting in July and of course we had to have a knitted baby shower for her. She made a wish list on Ravelry by tagging projects in her queue with a baby shower tag. This was a great way for us all to choose something of our liking that we knew she would appreciate. Plus she didn’t end up with piles of baby blankets (uhh, not really…). I made a little crocheted dragon and added a cute little crocheted bow. I’ve crocheted this dragon before in May 2010; read all about it here. This time I used some of my reclaimed yarn from a blue sweater and a size F 3.75 hook. I ad libbed some wings by starting them off following the spikes for the dragon. I love how the yarn looks oddly smooth in each stitch. I made sure to really sew all the bits on and hide the ends inside. I opted for yarn eyes in case baby decides to snack upon her wee dragon’s face. It was a hit as were all the other hand knitted, crocheted or quilted gifts. Everyone made fantastic things including blankets (7 all together!), a onesie, a sheep hat, sweaters, booties and even a mobile.
Something that has tickled my fancy lately is crocheting or knitting washcloths. I did an experiment with crocheted circles to make a face puff. I crocheted one circle in single crochet continuous rounds with a slip stitch join at each round. The other circle I crocheted turning at each round. The different texture produced was much more dramatic than I had expected. I sewed those two together for one puff. I also crocheted 2 circles using double crochets and no turning for another face puff. I alternate use between the two for about a week giving them time to dry. I didn’t expect them to stay so wet after use. I squeeze them out really thoroughly (I’ve even rung them! sh!) and then hang them up. They take about 24 hours to be completely dry.
I also noticed that the circle done in continuous rounds gets more of a hexagon shape because of the increases falling on top of each other. I didn’t mind it much since sewing them together would remove any hint of that. The continuous rounds circle also produces a tighter fabric. After sewing the two sides together I added a chain loop inside to hang them up. The puffs fit nicely over my fingers to wash with; no flopping around! I’ll probably make more so I can rotate them out more often. I have a 12oz skein of teal cotton to use up!
I’ve completed a Snuggle for June already using a pattern found on Ravelry called the Climbing Shells Preemie ‘Ghan. The pattern is almost ridiculously easy to learn! If you can double crochet and chain you’re all set. I am a bit annoyed with my yarn color choices in my stash and ended up using green Red Heart Super Saver left over from the Luigi pillow project. The bulky green yarn doesn’t show off the stitch the way I had wanted. I added a border of shells and on that I added an eye lash yarn edge. I dug that out while looking for other yarn in my stash. I haven’t used eye lash yarn much besides for Snuggles edges; small quantity and a little pizazz.
Another Snuggle I’ve started for June is based on the Ten Stitch Blanket by Frankie on Ravelry. I was going to make this into a full size blanket or throw but found that the yarn I chose didn’t have long enough stretches of color to really make the spiral effect show which was what I wanted. I’m using Caron Simply Soft Paints. The yarn is a bit denser than the regular Caron Simply Soft which is good. The way the blanket grows is really neat. Turning the corner is done using short rows which was a pain to figure out from the pattern instructions since it assumed you knew what you were doing! I did some searching on Rav and found the written out directions for both parts (decrease and the increase) of the turn which I then noticed was already included in the pattern instructions. I started this pattern on Friday after feeling a bit low and cranky. I needed it to work and be successful. I didn’t go to bed until I figured it out; I wasn’t going to let the cranky day win.
Once I finish the Ten Stitch Snuggle I’ll prepare my Snuggle donation to the Stray Katz rescue group. I hope that they are ready for 20 new Snuggles to distribute to cats in their shelter. I laid out all the Snuggles I’m ready to donate to count and photograph. I was also secretly hoping to attract a cat or two for the photos. All I had to do was wait a couple minutes and there they were! For Onyx I laid out all the Star Snuggles on chairs around her. It was fun to watch her check each one out and then decide which one to sleep on. I laid out the other, very random assortment of, Snuggles for Kes. She hesitated at first so I left her alone to figure it out which worked perfectly.
I’m knitting a sweater, the DROPS 109-1 Jumper with hood, and I require stitch markers. I had one already made from the Mobius cowl project that fit great on the size 11 circular needles but needed more. Monday night at the knitting group a member gave me a set of stitch markers she had made herself using jewelry wire and beads. The next day I looked closely and saw how to make my own. I overestimated the size of the needles a bit, but loose is better than too tight. I made them using a bright green bead, evidence of my ache for sunny spring weather to start. I’ll definitely try my hand at making stitch markers again, they are a quick project and useful too!
Yesterday I spent the afternoon shopping with a friend. Among other shops, we visited Christmas Tree shops where I bought 2 square ottomans that are collapsible. I’ve wanted 2 of these for nearly 3 years and just haven’t gotten around to making the purchase. After 3 years of scoping out styles and prices I was ready to buy when I saw these at the store. They cost $14.99 which is a pretty average cost but I hadn’t seen them as collapsible before so that was neat. I wanted these for storing yarn and maybe a blanket as well as for seating when we have a get together and end up playing games around the coffee table with people sitting on the floor. They look great and my husband approved although he had been hard to convince before this. I didn’t even fill one of the ottomans completely so there is some growing room. My wire basket (garbage can) where I had been storing my yarn in the living room can now be retired to another place in the house and used for its proper purpose.
While transferring my yarn from the wire basket to the ottoman I found several skeins of yarn that needed to be wound into cakes or balls. I did some spring cleaning and wound 10 cakes. I should probably crochet some Snuggles again to take care of all the scrap yarn balls/cakes I have and make room for new yarn! Something else that also takes care of yarn scraps is freeform crochet. I tried this out the other day with a purple/white/brown variegated yarn, a purple chenille yarn and a fuzzy cream yarn. I’ve run into some freeform crochet projects while browsing Ravelry and they always appealed to my style of making art; art is the journey to the end, not the end product itself. I played around with different stitches and enjoyed how there were no rules or pattern to follow. Before I knew it I was making plans of what to do in the piece and what rules I would apply. I look forward to trying it again or maybe adding to what I’ve made. At the moment the purple thing is about the size of a face. My husband thinks of it as a mask and if you look at it length-wise the white line I’ve crocheted could be viewed as a nose. I want it to be bigger but I also feel like it might be done. Freeform crochet is a change of pace from the usual crochet/knitting pattern following. I’m sure I’ll dabble in this more.
Last night, fueled by an 8pm cup of coffee and a slice of delicious coconut custard pie, I created the progression video of Luigi and Goomba. By 11:30 it was done and ready to be viewed by the world but I felt it would be best to go to sleep. I used Picasa to make the video. It’s a simple video editor but it does just enough that I could get what I wanted. Check it out and enjoy.
Nearly completed: a Handmade in 2011 Gift for my friend Kim! This is a marriage of her favorite animal and the colors of her favorite ice hockey team, the New Jersey Devils. The bag is made using tapestry crochet. I found the pattern at my favorite pattern source Ravelry. It’s called Escher’s Horses Tote by Jessica Sant and I had seen it around a couple times and loved the tessellation. When I made a promise to make some handmade gifts for friends this year this pattern came to mind as perfect for Kim. I really loved making the pattern and even managed to memorize it around the 8th round. As you can see the project isn’t quite finished, it needs some handles. I’m not sure what to do for handles; long, short, straps, wood, bamboo? I figure I should pose the question to the receiver and will do that shortly. The tapestry crochet makes a nice solid fabric so the bag won’t need a liner which is good news for me since I still don’t know how to use my sewing machine acquired at a thrift store (I have a hunch it doesn’t work but should be repairable).
I took this project with me to a get together with friends. When I pulled it out a friend’s 5 year old son came over very intrigued with what I could be doing. He quietly inspected it without touching and then proclaimed that there is a horse on it! And another, and another, and another, etc. He started counting them with excitement. Then moved to the other side of me and from this angle he was seeing it ‘upside down’ and he said, “There are more horses!” He counted even more skipping numbers in his excitement. He loved how the horses interlocked and that there was nothing else on the bag than horses. I loved this moment, an “ah ha” moment as he learned and figured out a bit more about what patterns can be. A saw a small foundation on patterns and tessellations being built in his little brain right before me. The educator in me was happy. A couple days later my husband mentioned this moment and said that before the little boy had pointed out the horses that were ‘upside down’ he hadn’t realized that the whole thing was tessellated horses. I had a good chuckle at that.
I’m crocheting a plarn bag in the diagonal box stitch using Stop N Shop bags. The bags are a beige color and aren’t very interesting but when they are turned into plarn they look like dried grass or raffia. They give a nice effect when crocheted. I’m using my usual market bag recipe: one large rectangle to form the large sides and bottom, then two smaller side panels and two straps for handles. I like this recipe because the bags can stand up on their own while I put my groceries in. I’ve finished the large rectangle and started on one of the side panels. On the side panels I decided not to do the diagonal box stitch but alternate some rows of single crochet with double crochet. That’s about where I’m at. This past Sunday I spent about an hour cutting and joining the plarn rounds. Then I wound it into a cake on my ball winder. Plarn winds nicely and it causes the flatter parts of it to become a bit softer and pliable, plus a cake is so nice to work from. The plastic and the action of winding it causes some static electricity though. I got a couple good shocks from the metal in the winding handle. Yikes!
This Monday at knit group some of the ladies asked me again to show them how to make plarn and this time someone had a spare bag to do it with. They were happy to see how it’s done and to see that it is quite easy. If you want to learn how to make plarn there are many sources from craft blogs to YouTube videos. A quick search on any search engine will get you started. I used Kate E. Austin’s Art blog entry on plarn when I first tried it out. I’m working on calculating about how many yards of plarn I get per bag when I make it. So far I’ve noted that I cut between 18 and 20 strips per bag so all I have to do now is measure the length of one, but I just haven’t done it yet. I’m sure I’ll have a plarn making session again soon for my market bag. I love the idea of using plastic bags this way, plus I love having a bag made of bags.
I went to Webs for the first time in Northampton, MA this past weekend with some knitting group friends. Webs is like yarn Mecca and it kind of felt like I was going to a Renaissance faire for the first time. I wondered if it was apparent that it was my first visit to Webs and at any moment someone might yell, “Webs virgin!” as they call “Faire virgin!” upon your first visit to a ren faire. I knew that I would potentially be very overwhelmed in a large yarn store and yarn warehouse so I made sure to bring information on patterns that I wanted to buy yarn for. This helped a lot and I wasn’t too distracted(ok, maybe a little) by all the pretty colors and soft things. I bought yarn to make the Lava Flow cowl by Dixie (teal) and a sweater from DROPS Design (purple). This’ll be my first actual garment. Eep! I decided on the yarn based on a sample sweater that was on a mannequin; it was soft and squishy, perfect for a winter sweater. It’s called Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky. I’ve cast on earlier today and I hear it calling my name right now.
I feel like I’ve been bitten by the creative bug but can’t decide what to do to satisfy it. I tried some jewelry making but that wasn’t it. I fiddled around some more and found a quick yet satisfying craft: magnets. This is something I used to do in my early college years. I did a lot of pen palling and trading stickers so I had a lot of pretty stickers without much of a purpose. I stuck them onto outdated business card magnets or restaurant magnets and then cut them out. This time I just stuck with square stickers to keep cutting easy. They are so fun and quick to make. One of the sets is made up of tiny magnets that really won’t hold anything up on the fridge, they are just cute to look at. I always think they would go well with a set of Magnetic Poetry. Of course several of the magnets turned out cat themed but that’s to be expected. This project was perfect for satisfaction and production. Another thing that was aided by the apparent creative bug was the creation of a style(or as I tend to think about it: rules for this particular drawing) in which I drew a card for my grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration.
It started while substituting for art at an elementary school I was doodling and came up with a new rules for a drawing. The students were making spring drawings with flower stencils and I used the idea of the simplified shapes and combined it with my swirling doodles. I made the lines vary in weight. I came home and immediately grabbed my markers and went to work drawing a more thought out spring picture. I’ve always enjoyed lines and making them with an opaque marker so this was very appealing. I used crayon to fill in the white space between the lines. I further worked on it by tracing the colored lines with black outlines. I applied these rules for my grandmother’s card. I drew the number 90 in a teal marker and filled in the digits with the swirling lines, then outlined the lines. I used crayon and colored in the digits with a color that complimented the marker lines. I used crayons again to create a warm orange yellow background. I totally forgot to photograph the card before sending it off.
Another way I’ve been trying to satisfy my creative bug bite is to figure out filet crochet but I’m not having much luck. I followed a tutorial on YouTube and had acceptable results but I still cannot apply my knowledge to my own chart. I’ve drawn out a chart of my own design and tried to do it 3 times but it seems my calculations are wrong. I guess I’ll have to keep searching for a source that will adequately explain it to me. I’m considering a project book for name plates but have yet to scope it out at a craft store. Looking for a beginner’s pattern online has been more difficult than I first thought. I desperately want to use the crochet thread and steel hooks my mom sent me in the box of goodies mentioned in the last post.
All of February and most of March has flown by. I spent about 10 days of February on the couch with what turned out to be a sinus infection. Those 10 days were then followed by another 5 or so where I still didn’t feel right. I’m happy to say that it’s all behind me now and practically forgotten. Time does great things like that. Something time does that I don’t like as much, is whiz by in a blink. The last 4 or more weekends my blog has been on my To Do list, but as we can all see it didn’t get done and crossed off. I’ve been busy crocheting and knitting though!
The Monday before my sinus infection I went to the weekly knitting group with knitting in hand. I didn’t realize that this was the first time I’ve actually knit at the group until several members pointed it out. Guess I’ve always crocheted. My friends Luigi and the Goomba took up many Monday nights. The project I started that night was a cowl for my sister called the Braidy Cowl. I found the pattern at Ravelry as usual. I used cobalt blue Lion Brand Microspun yarn which was so snuggly soft! The pattern included 16 stitch cables which were a lot of work. Slipping 8 stitches back onto the needles after knitting the other 8 was always a fight. Then knitting the first few of the 8 was even more of a fight. The cowl came out fabulously though, so all worth the fight. If you’re a knitter who hasn’t tried cabling I suggest trying it out on my favorite project: Warm Up America. There are instructions for a block with cables about 3/4 of the way down the page. KnittingHelp.com has wonderful videos to help get a visual example of how to do many things, including cabling. Here’s a link to the page with videos on cables. My sister has yet to receive her snuggly cowl. Hopefully she’ll send me a picture of her wearing it and I can post it here.
I finished a scarf for myself in January or February. It was another pattern found on Ravelry called the Drop Stitch Scarf. I used yarn that I bought at Stitches East in November 2010. It was a nice variegated yarn running red to deep purple to a nearly black purple. What drew me to the yarn initially was the squishiness and it kept that quality when it was knit which made me very happy. I have a nice close up of the pattern with some slight reflecting from the floor. Enjoy!
Something new I tried in January/February is tapestry crochet. This is crochet with several colors running at once working the current color around the carried colors. My test pattern was a cat tote bag which I kept simple by using only 2 colors: black and white. I found the pattern initially at Ravelry and then browsed the site of the pattern creator Carol Ventura at Tapestry Crochet. She also has a blog to tickle your crochet senses even more and to see how Carol uses tapestry crochet as art. The tote bag calls for cotton but I opted for Red Heart acrylic so that I could learn and understand what is involved a bit easier, plus it was in my stash. The instructions for starting the bag were a bit confusing at first but I had Lindsey from Poetry In Yarn next to me at the knitting group that night and she helped clarify it for me. From my slow start I quickly got the hang of switching colors and quickly felt like an old pro. The hardest part on the cat pattern was keeping the tail looking like 1 solid color. If I didn’t switch colors well and keep it tight the second color could be seen easily. I really enjoyed the pattern and made it into a small project bag. I’ve used it for my current project to take it to Monday night knitting ever since. When I first ventured into the world of tapestry crochet I joined the Tapestry Crochet Group at Ravelry. Carol runs the group and is very involved. She responded quickly to any questions I posted which was great.
Somewhere in my tapestry crochet travels I found a sample of the special grid for planning your tapestry crochet image. I created my own sitting cat pattern and then worked it using 2 colors of cotton. I used cotton to get an idea of how tapestry crochet would look in that material. It turned into a little bag with one cat on each side. I can almost put my hand in it. I’ll have to figure out how to add a zipper and use it as a little change bag or something like that. It was a lot of fun to design and then execute. My husband also seemed to enjoy the process. Using the slanted grid was a bit more awkward than I thought it would be. After creating your image on the slanted grid it’s best to transfer it to a standard grid so that you don’t get lost in the slanted squares. At the moment I can’t seem to find the page of the sample grid, ugh.
A surprise package arrived at my door this past Wednesday. In it was 3 skeins of blue cotton, 3 balls of blue crochet thread, 4 partial skeins of fuzzy acrylics, a cylinder containing 6 crochet hooks, and a drop spindle kit. All these things belonged to my mom when she was into crochet in the 70s. She dug up her box of crochet goodies and sent them along to me. She was subscribed to a crochet club in the Netherlands and still has binders full of projects that she received in the mail. I’ve been crocheting using the blue thread and the size 1 hook. I’ve always wanted to try it so this package was a welcome surprise! I have no idea how to use a drop spindle so I’ll show it off to the knitting group tomorrow where I know there are several spinners. The kit even came with undyed wool to start off with!
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