crochet – not your average crochet

a crochet cushion: begin!

August 29, 2015 by HannahOwens 10 Comments

Not sure whether to call these bobbles or puffs, but I’ve been seeing them everywhere lately and had to make my own richly textured fabric:

It’s fun to work but it is a bit time consuming and takes a LOT of yarn. Was gonna make a cushion cover with this, then realized I might not have enough of this color to complete the square! Fortunately I have a similar color that will completment it nicely if I have to make it two-toned.

Well that’s all for right now, thanks for stopping by! I’ll update again soon!

Filed Under: crochet Tagged With: bobbles, crafts, crochet, puff

“Izumi” wrap/shawl/stole thingy: begin!

August 22, 2015 by HannahOwens 6 Comments

What do you call these large lacy rectangles? Are “wrap,” “shawl,” and “stole” used interchangeably? Well, in any case, I’ve started one using the Izumi pattern by Bernadette Ambergen, and it’s for my wedding!

The decision to make one of these items for my wedding was almost last minute, so I needed to make something crocheted (a knitted item would have taken too long). I purchased 3 skeins of Dye For Wool’s Merino/Baby Camel fingering weight yarn (55% Merino, 45% Camel) from their Etsy store in the colorway Burning Fuchsia:

It has a SLIGHT variation in color, which gives it that special hand dyed look (which is good, since it is) without taking away from delicate stitch patterns, and it perfectly matches one of the wedding colors. I believe it took less than a week to get here, too, all the way from Germany! Oh, and NO KNOTS! 🙂

This yarn is a super soft single ply yarn, and I’ve done a review on it (in another colorway), so click here for more details about the yarn!

The pattern isn’t as hard as it looks; it has 3 main sections (A, B, A) & a beautiful border on each end which you add last. Here’s my progress through the first section:

I actually had to go down 2 hook sizes to get close to the gauge required (and even so it might be a little extra wide once blocked, but I’m OK with that), so that took a little trial and error, but once I got it, it started to speed along. That might have actually been because I’m using a light fingering weight yarn instead of a lace yarn as the pattern suggests. Oh well, I love it! Here’s the second section:

You can see the ripple-y zig-zag-y pattern on the white background, even without blocking, and I can’t wait to get more done (it’s a fun pattern)!

I maaaaaaay have been taking it to work and crocheting in some of the groups I’m not leading, but my boss recently took up knitting and crocheting (and she’s really good!) so she agreed that it’s good to sometimes demonstrate to our clients that we as counselors need to use coping skills and have productive leisure activities, too. Some of the clients have actually expressed interest and have asked if we could start a crafting group in the afternoons while everyone is waiting for their vans to come pick them up. I think that would be super fun!

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll update again soon because I’m speeding right along through this project (which is really good since I have a deadline less than 2 monthss away!). Thanks for stopping by!

Filed Under: crochet Tagged With: crafts, crochet, izumi, pattern, shawl, stole, wrap, yarn

garter stitch blanket: ta da!

July 21, 2015 by HannahOwens 22 Comments

Started in May of 2014, this blanket really seems to have been a long time in the making. I am so, so pleased with how it turned out!

Using KnitPicks’ Comfy Worsted yarn (75% Pima Cotton, 25% Acrylic), this stretchy, cozy, soft blanket measures about 42″ wide by 66″ high, perfect for a lap blanket or curling up in a chair (in particular the leather chair pictured). I used 3 skeins of each of the 5 color blocks and 1 skein for the darker gray border:

It’s crocheted! I thought after posting about the books that included both knitting and crocheting I would mix it up a bit and try something new, and I really like it. I only wish I’d had enough yarn to go around a 3rd, 4th, or even 5th time, but I’d have to order more yarn and I’m so excited to be done after over a year that I can’t wait anymore!

The border is not nearly as stretchy as the body of the blanket, though, and I hope it doesn’t become a problem in the future. It wouldn’t look very nice if the knitted portion expanded a great deal over time or in the wash and the crocheted border stubbornly remained the same size. We shall see.

Now I’m all ready to go and start a knitted sweater, but I have a feeling my enthusiasm would not last the full time required by the project. Crochet really is so much faster!

Well that’s all for today, thanks for stopping by!

Filed Under: crochet, knitting Tagged With: blanket, cotton, crafts, crochet, garter stitch, knitting

what’s on the bookshelf? books with knitting & crochet

July 18, 2015 by HannahOwens 7 Comments

My mini-series of posts about crafting books is coming to a close. My knitting books and my crocheting books are great, but I have a couple left to share that actually have both in them (& more).

First up is a book called Freeform Style, and just by the name you can probably tell it’s very whimsical.

I have not made anything from it yet, but some of the ideas and techniques are cool and can be applied to other items. Who else kinda thinks the hat looks like octopus tentacles? I really like the wrap she’s wearing, though, so that might be a nice pattern to make! Here’s another example:

I do like the idea of using both knitting and crochet in the same piece.

This next one though, while it has knitting, crochet, and embroidery patterns, doesn’t really mix them together like that. This is more of a traditional book that, while older, is a great resource. It’s the Better Homes and Gardens Complete Book of Knitting Crochet & Embroidery. My ex’s mom gave this to me and I’m really glad I still have it:

It has samples of various techniques for all of these specific crafts, and it even has specific methods such as aran knitting:

Another specific method it demonstrates is filet crochet:

And then of course it has full patterns, too. I really want to make this hat (I tried back when I first got it but was still too new to crochet to understand the slightly older way of writing patterns):

Well, that concludes my bookshelf tour (well, my knitting and crochet book section, at least)! Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

Filed Under: crochet, knitting Tagged With: books, crafts, crochet, knitting, patterns

what’s on the bookshelf? crochet edition

July 7, 2015 by HannahOwens 10 Comments

I haven’t gone through my crafty books lately so I decided to look through and share with you at the same time! Here’s my modest collection of knitting & crochet books:

Today I’m just doing the crochet books. I’ll get to the knitting ones another time! First up:

Creepy Cute Crochet is super awesome. My ex got it for me but I still love it. I’ve made many of the items, including the vampire princess, the Dia de los Muertos couple, the corporate zombie, and more (and I ad-libbed a Bobba Fett for Chris a long time ago). They’re fun, quick, and adorable!

These pamphlet like little booklets were from my grandma:

The next one was from the mother of my ex:

The Great Afghan Book is pretty old fashioned, but I loved the cover image — that’s the only blanket I’ve made out of this in the years that I’ve had it. Here is a sample of some of the other blanket patterns inside:

Next is Super Stitches Crochet, which I’m scared to use to make my own patterns and write up for you all because I don’t want to break some sort of copyright rule (can anyone enlighten me on this? It seems very vague to me…):

And here are a couple of examples of what you can find inside:

The next one, The Cool Girl’s Guide to Crochet, is the book I taught myself with years ago. In fact, the hat pictured was my first crochet project (only mine was all wonky)!

The next one has a long name so I just call it 201 Crochet Blocks in my head. It has an alphabet, flowers, blocks, other shapes, and full projects as well, and I’ve used it quite a few times over the years:

Next is Amigurumi! which I’m ashamed to say I haven’t used once. Chris got it for me years ago but I just don’t really have anyone to make little amigurumi toys for! My friend that’s having a baby might like some but I’m sure she’ll get so many toys from well wishers that she’ll be wanting to get rid of some, not acquire more, hehe.

They have animals, people, food, and more cute things!

The last one I want to share today is called Crocheted Socks! and I’ve only made one pair from it — I didn’t like them because they were harsh on my feet. I thought maybe knitted socks wouldn’t be so uncomfortable…

These first socks pictured represent the pattern I tried and disliked, but perhaps if I’d used softer yarn… I dunno…

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll do a post on my knitting books, and maybe another post on the books that have both knitting and crocheted items inside. See you soon, thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed this list!

Filed Under: crochet Tagged With: book, crafts, crochet, pattern

a crochet cushion: begin!

“Izumi” wrap/shawl/stole thingy: begin!

garter stitch blanket: ta da!

what’s on the bookshelf? books with knitting & crochet

what’s on the bookshelf? crochet edition

wanna be in the loop?

post categories

a crochet cushion: begin!

Share this:

“Izumi” wrap/shawl/stole thingy: begin!

Share this:

garter stitch blanket: ta da!

Share this:

what’s on the bookshelf? books with knitting & crochet

Share this:

what’s on the bookshelf? crochet edition

Share this:

wanna be in the loop?

post categories