Halloween blues

October 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

Are you doing anything for Halloween?  Everybody around me seems to be doing something fun, but I’m not going to any parties or dressing up or anything like they are.  My reasoning is mostly that I don’t have enough money to go spending on costume pieces (my limited wardrobe doesn’t have much to be creative with so I’d have to go out and buy things).  It’s a little sad to see everyone celebrating and getting so excited though, knowing that I’m not participating in the festivities.

However, I decided that I wanted to make a doggie sweater for my baby:

my boyfriend named her Zero after a character from the Megaman video game

So she at least can have a “costume!”  It’s finally getting cold here at night and we’ve got our windows open, so she could probably use something to get warm besides my legs.  I’m using the Essential Puppy Pullover pattern from “Knitting for Dogs,” which you can see the pattern for if you click on the “look inside!” button on the Ravelry page.  The top part of the pattern is just a rectangle, and here’s what I’ve got so far of that part:

I’m using the Berroco Vintage Chunky, which I wouldn’t normally use for a dog sweater but I have tons of it, so why not?

Haha, do you like my old Garfield pajamas?  I’ve had them since middle school.

Anyway, the sweater is going to be so cute, and I’m really excited to show you pictures of my baby girl wearing it.  She’s really good about wearing dog clothes so hopefully she’ll look happy in her picture, like she’s actually enjoying the sweater.  We’ll see.

Do you dress your pets in fashionable yarncrafted items during the cold months?

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first knitted bobbles!

October 28, 2012 by 3 Comments

 

I made this hat mostly today, using this pattern, called the Beanpole Beanie.  I’m calling mine the Sakura Beanie because it’s pink, not green.  I love the twists in the ribbing at the bottom of the hat.  Really I just love the whole thing.  It’s hard to see the bobble/lace pattern in pictures, but here’s the best closeup I could get:

 

The only thing I changed was that I didn’t add the little bit of icord at the top.

The hat was made with Berroco Vintage Chunky, although this pattern would definitely work with worsted yarn instead.  It’s just made to be thick and warm.

That’s all for today, thanks for stopping by!

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new project: another shawl

October 20, 2012 by 5 Comments

The last shawl I made made me so happy that I want to make another one with different yarn.  I’m using this:

Two balls of Cascade Yarns Heritage Hand Painted Sock Yarn, 75% Merino Superwash, 25% Nylon, 437 yards each (or 400 meters each)

The pattern, again, is here.  Here’s what I’ve got so far:

It’s a little blurry but the color came through surprisingly well.

The hook I’m using is the G/6 hook from a Susan Bates set.  The set is really special because it belonged to my great grandmother:

The G/6 is in the top right corner of the picture.

My grandma gave the set to me, along with a set of steel hooks for lace work, but I don’t really use those because I don’t work with thread much.  I’m really glad she gave them to me — they mean a lot.

On another subject, everybody else is blogging about their beautiful fall weather and sharing their beautiful fall pictures.  I’m so jealous!  We’re having weather in the 70s every day, but that just started recently, and the foliage isn’t looking so great.  Much of it is just brown so far, with pretty colors occasionally interspersed.  I really hope this winter is colder than last winter (during which I mostly wore my usual t-shirts with a coat, and maybe a scarf).  That’s what happens when you live in South Carolina, I guess.  Winters in Oklahoma, where I lived until I was 15, were actually colder than they are here.

Also, I was asked to mention how I like the new JKR book, The Casual Vacancy.  Honestly, I’m still only about halfway through.  It’s dramatically different from the Harry Potter books, and not just because it’s written for adults.  It’s not a fantasy book, there aren’t really distinctions between good and bad people, and there’s a lot of depressing subject matter (i.e. horrid parents, awful relationships, rebellious teens, and drug users, to name a few).  I think the biggest difference, though, is that I haven’t laughed once.  The Harry Potter books made me laugh a lot, just because of funny/witty comments or situations.  This new book feels much different because there isn’t really any humor, although there is some irony.  Also, there are many points of view to follow, which is a little confusing sometimes.  I think it’s well written but it’s such a different kind of book than what I would usually read.

That’s all for today.  I’ll probably have an update on the shawl soon, and my Stylecraft Special DK should arrive within the next week or so.  Thanks for stopping by!

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crochet shawl: complete!

October 16, 2012 by 10 Comments

ta-da!

I finished the crocheted shawl in 3 days, crocheting for hours each day.  It took a surprisingly long time once I got to the longer rows.

Sorry that picture is a little blurry — it was hard to hold my phone steady and far enough away to get the whole shawl in the frame.

The pattern is $6, which, after making the shawl, seems like a lot… While it took a long time, it was pretty repetitive and easy.  Oh well.  Now I have a shawl big enough to wrap around my neck comfortably!  And even though the yarn was all leftover from other projects I think the colors are great!  I can’t wait until it gets cold enough here for me to wear it!

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back to crochet: following the neon trend

October 12, 2012 by 5 Comments

It’s been about 21 days since I even touched a hook, but this yarn was just calling to me:

color’s a little off

It’s Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca yarn, and it is definitely tied for the softest yarn I’ve ever used.  It’s 100% Royal Alpaca wool (220 yds), and it’s worth the $18.50 I paid for at the LYS.  Because of the price, though, I only got one skein, and with just one my options were limited.  With yarn this nice, though, I had to make something wearable.  Neons have had a resurgence of popularity this year, and while at first I thought it was a horrible resurrection of 1980s style, I was pleasantly surprised to see it done tastefully in many instances.  Well, as tasteful as you can get with neon.  Anyway, I thought about making fingerless gloves, but I decided on a hat.  I know I have tons of hats, but I didn’t have a chartreuse one!

this is probably the most accurate portrayal of the real color that I got

As you see, I have a little leftover.  I don’t want to waste it; any ideas of what to do with that smaller amount?

Of course I have to show the hat to you on (although the lighting in my apartment at night is awful):

It’s made in-the-round with hdc, and the edging is sc with the last row sl st.  Hdc is probably my favorite stitch for hats and scarves.  Simple, quick pattern.  I honestly made it a little big because I was terrified of making it too tight or short, which happens with my hats sometimes, even though I was trying it on as I went. I hope it doesn’t stretch too much, but if it does I’ll just roll up the edge — the yarn was too expensive and the hat too soft and pretty not to wear.

I’m sure that since it’s alpaca it will be nice and warm, so I’ll take it on my Christmas trip to England.  Man, my suitcase is going to be full of knitted and crocheted items — I just can’t stop making things for the occasion!

Soon I’ll be introducing another crochet project with you — I’m just waiting for something in the mail.  As soon as it gets here I’ll share with you what I’ll be doing next.  It could take as long as a couple of weeks to get here, though.  Hopefully not.

That’s it for today, thanks for stopping by!  Let me know what you think I should do with the leftovers.

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