This took WAAAAAY more yarn than I expected. Had to change colors twice:
I’m gonna make the back in a plain sc or dc stitch, hopefully all in the pink. I’ll update again soon, thanks for stopping by!
a crochet cushion: begin!
August 29, 2015 by 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!
“Izumi” wrap/shawl/stole thingy: begin!
August 22, 2015 by 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!
garter stitch blanket: ta da!
July 21, 2015 by 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!
what’s on the bookshelf? books with knitting & crochet
July 18, 2015 by 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!
not your average crochet 