Tag: crochet

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Knitting and Crochet

Squares and bags, bags and squares

squares for a scarfAs promised, pictures of fun, bright squares, to be used at some future date for a cheery scarf in spring-like colors. The yarn is Plymouth Encore, worsted weight–basically, whatever was leftover from the scrap blanket that I haven’t touched in months. I adore these colors and smile whenever I see them. I just need to pick up some more green, and then I have to decide if I want join the squares together, or border them all in one unifying color before joining. (There are more pictures in my Flickr–just follow the image link to find the photostream to click through.)

In other news, I got started on the Christmas bags last night, and so far I adore this first one.  It’s a deep blue (Lamb’s Pride chunky) paired with two skeins of shiny blue Aura from Trendsetter.  It’s sparkly and shiny and glittery and yes, I know that’s three words that all mean the same thing, but I don’t care, but that’s what it is, to the nth degree.  (Perhaps double stranding the Aura was a bit overkill, but it’s too late now, it’s already half done!) Yesterday I went through my feltable yarns and my novelty yarns and paired complementary colors wherever I could, then assigned each set a pattern based on available yardage. Right now I’m looking at a possible five balloon bags, two little cocos and one clutch, and there’s still an enormous bag of Gjestal in three different colors that I haven’t even touched yet.  It’s nice to have a plan, though–no more wondering what to do next.

That’s all for today.  I hope y’all are having a marvelous Saturday!

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

My path is clear

For weeks now I’ve been trying to decide what to do about Christmas–do I knit/crochet presents this year? Do I really want to make myself that crazy? And what about the company’s charity auction at the holiday party? What would I do for that this year? I’ve done the scarf and hat thing to death already.

Yarn!  
The three boxes and the blue bin in the front are what I just pulled out. The white rolling drawer set and the two boxes in the back are filled with yarn I’ve already photographed and catalogued.
 

Well, I pulled out four boxes of yarn to photograph and catalogue for Ravelry, and now my path is clear–I have so!much! wool that obviously this is the season of felted purses! Most of the wool is secondhand, passed to me when my friend Kat decided to divest herself of most of her stash, and therefore the colors are not what I’m usually drawn to–lots of earth tones, to be honest. It’s doubtful I’d ever do anything with this wool for myself, so transforming it all to gifts is the only answer.  And maybe I can get some space back in my bedroom in the process.

I’m a smidge undecided on patterns. I have several books with lots of neat felted bags that would teach and challenge me, but really, I just want to make as many purses as I possibly can before December 25 (and really, preferably before December 18th, to give myself some time off to focus on other stressful parts of the holidays, like baking and shopping). This will probably mean using the patterns I’m already familiar with–Booga Bags, Little Cocos, Balloon Bags, and the clutch purse from One Skein.

In other news, I’ve finally photographed the 12 granny squares I’ve finished in the past week and a half, but I’ll need something to post tomorrow, so I’m saving it for then. Hey, it’s something to look forward to, right? 🙂 Until then, here’s a picture of my brother-in-law playing “zombie” with his and my sister’s kitty, Greta:

IMG_3928

Categories
Blogs

Nov 1 and NaBloPoMo

It’s November first, alright–I’ve been sitting at my PC for 20 minutes with GMA on in the background and have already seen two Christmas commercials. Yay?

November also brings the start of National Blog Posting Month, and to celebrate this, I’ve committed to updating this blog every day for the entire month of November. (*fingers crossed*)  My theory about this is that my content is going to suffer–coming up with something new to post about every day? I suspect within a week I’ll be transcribing the weather report and posting memes. Let’s face it, I’m no Yarn Harlot or Crazy Aunt Purl (my favorite knitting blogs, btw).

FoliageIn yarny news, last night I pulled out the Berroco Foliage that’s been waiting for just the right project, and tried to start the short row rib scarf from Magknits…..and I didn’t get very far.  I learned that NONE of my reference books includes instructions for “purl in front and back”.  WTF? So I went to the go-to site for knitting techniques, knittinghelp.com, and guess what?  They don’t have that technique either! I tried to improve the stitch, and it turned out, well, very badly. I gave up and put the yarn and pattern down and made a couple of granny squares to rebuild my confidence, then returned to the computer later to google the technique.  I found some nice illustrations, but have yet to pick up the yarn to try again.

On the other hand, I’m building up a nice granny square stash!  They’re so easy to make–I even made one last night while I was on the phone. So far I have twelve, but I think I’ll need double that to make a decent scarf.  I promise to post pictures soon!

Red Sox! And hats.

I’m watching the Red Sox game–bottom of the 8th, the Sox are up by three, but it’s not over yet, and anything can happen.  I’m very tense at the moment.  I’ve got my candles lit (some Catholic habits die hard, even for the non-believers), my Varitek game shirt on, and my heart is hovering somewhere around my stomach.  Gah!

While watching the game earlier, I was working on a hat from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Crocheted Hats, which I purchased yesterday at Barnes and Noble (along with Amigurumi! Super Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth A. Doherty).  The had did not end well, since I don’t know anyone with a head the size of, say, Hagrid’s.  Sad, really, as the colors (the orange/pink/yellow/red Red Heart I mentioned in an earlier post) work up so brilliantly beautiful.  It was supposed to be the Aviator Helmet from page 75, but it looks more like an unfelted Market Basket from Knitty.com.  (I might link all these things later, but I’m too distracted right now.) (Go Varitek!)

I’m very much into crocheted hats right now.  They work up fast, and require no dpns or seaming, like knitted hats. I did two hats last week, completely off the cuff with no pattern, and they turned out fine–one’s a little on the bigger side, but not half-giant big.  This meshy pattern from the book?  Ugh.  In my inexperienced (crochet-wise) opinion, it’s got errors (I couldn’t find an errata sheet on it anywhere), and I think my attempt to figure out the errors might’ve led to the supersizing.  Ah well, at least now I have something to wash so I can decide if the yarn is even worth frogging for another use.

(Ouch.  I hate it when the other team makes me feel sorry for them.)

I need pictures of these crocheted wonders, I know.

(Wow, they’re walking a rookie just to load the bases.  Desperate.)

Hold on, lemme see what I can do about those pictures…

(Woooo! Pedroia!)

 Pictures are downloading.

(Yooooooouuuuuuuk!)

Ok, now the pics are uploading to Flickr.  Whew.  Did you see that inning?  Scary.  In a good way, if you’re a Red Sox fan.  Not so much for the Indians fans.

Oh, I also bought the magazine Knitting, from the UK.  In my opinion, so not worth the nine bucks.  If it were a book, I’d return it. It was a disappointment, as I love knitting magazines and always look forward to them, but they’ve gotten so expensive I have to be picky about what I buy–I won’t be buying that one again.

Wooooooooooooooooooooo! Red Sox! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Aw, the poor Indians.  I hate when they show all the devastated players.

Pictures.  Must focus. Ok, here we go.
Hat the First:
Hat the first
A little big, but not too bad.

Hat the Second:
IMG_3972
The crown is a little bigger than the first hat but the brim is snugger, so it fits better. Yes, it’s the same yarn, and the same general “pattern”–I was on a plane, and just made another when I finished the first.

Scary Aviation cap:
Saddest hat ever
Tragic, really–I adore the colors so much! I didn’t even bother to finish it up with the braiding and the flap-ties.  What’s the point?

Ok, that’s all I got for today.  Now I need to do a celebratory “Yay! Pennant!” dance in my living room. 😀

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

When it rains, it pours!

In a change of pace, I have so much to update on, I don’t even know where to start!  And I probably won’t finish before I have to bolt to go shopping with my sis, so I should get started.

First, last week I fell off the yarn budget wagon when I stopped at my favorite LYS, Handmade.  (It’s a mere seven minutes from the facility currently housing little baby Grace, which makes it way too easy to stop in before or after my visits.) I spent an hour there, going through the whole shop again and again until I found the perfect yarn and the perfect colors to make a gift for one of my dearest friends.  The yarn is half silk, half alpaca (don’t have the labels handy), and the colors, while a little softer than I’d envisioned, are still in the range of said friend’s color-leanings (can’t go into more details, just in case).  And it feels like buttery clouds sliding through my fingers!  Oh my, but I adore this yarn!

At first, the project did not go as planned.  I started a pattern from The Happy Hooker that I thought would be perfect, and was half finished (half!) when I decided it was just the wrong pattern for this glorious yarn–the gauge was too tight and you couldn’t feel the softness of the fibers.  So–I still can’t believe I had the guts to do it–I frogged it, and switched to a more traditional, far looser, knit pattern, involving garter and drop stitch.  Best decision ever, which is heartening after taking such a risk as frogging half a project.  I finished knitting it last night, surrounded by many friends for Craft Night (which deserves its own paragraph(s)), and will probably do the end-weaving tomorrow while I’m trapped on a plane.

Ok, my sister is calling me so I have to go, but soon, I shall share more–more about yarn shopping (when I fall off a wagon, I fall hard enough to crack a sidewalk!), Craft Night, neat articles in the latest magazines, and indoctrinating a new knitter. Happy Saturday!