crocheting from leftovers

I love using leftovers because it makes me feel like I’m being economical.  The past 3 days I’ve been making this baby blanket out of leftover Stylecraft DK:

babygrannyI used the join-as-you-go method for the squares, since I hate sewing/crocheting them together at the end (although it does look neater).

babygrannycloseHere’s pictures of the border and corner:

babygrannyedge

babygrannycornerAnd no, these were not taken at my house.  My internship has better light and I only saw 1 person today so I had plenty of time.

And guess what?  The cluster stitch, which I recently made a tutorial on, made an appearance (although I clustered 2 instead of 3 stitches together):

babygrannyjoinMuch the best way of joining granny squares at their corners — keeps the border from becoming ruffle-y.

It felt good to be crocheting something again afters such a long break.  I am sorry it’s been so long since I’ve shown you a crocheted item.  Very shameful for a blog called “not your average crochet.”

The baby blanket is kind of small, though… It’ll have to be for a newborn or something.  I just ran out of yarn for some of my colors and I couldn’t put the blanket’s colors into imbalance by continuing further.  I dunno.  Maybe I could use it for something else?  I mean it’s not like I know any babies, or any friends who are about to have babies.  I don’t know what else I’d use it for, though.  My dog does not get such nice things because she unwittingly tears up yarny things with her claws.  *sigh*  The blanket might just stay stowed away until someone I know has a baby.  I could donate it, I suppose.  We’ll have to see.

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

[Edit]:  Btw, did you know that Deramores isn’t stocking the Lucy Pack?  I looked to get another one and it’s gone.  I’ve emailed them to see if they might be getting it back.  I don’t know where else to get one. 😦

https://notyouraveragecrochet.com/2013/03/13/2045/

2 more stitch tutorials up, plus other stuff

I’m pleased to introduce two more stitch tutorials!  Please welcome the cluster stitch and the pineapple stitch to the crochet tutorial family!

cluster stitch

cluster stitch

pineapple stitch

pineapple stitch

I hope you like them!  If you have any questions feel free to ask!  Now on to the other stuff…

I took a trip to my local yarn shop today, seeing as how it’s been a really long time since I’ve been and I always love buying yarn (who doesn’t?).  After perusing their usual wares for some time, I realized that I was finding all of their usual prices to be really high.  I suppose it’s because my most recent yarn purchases have been such good online deals that I’m finding the store’s prices so exorbitant.  I’ve always preferred buying from the LYS because I want to support the local business and I really like feeling the yarn before I buy it, and the only reason I started buying online is because the LYS has a rather limited and unchanging selection.  So now I’m thinking that I’m probably going to take most of my business to the Internet because there’s more yarny variety and it’s so much cheaper, but I can’t help feeling a twinge of guilt, abandoning the LYS like that.

What do you prefer?  Do you have a nice yarn store near you that you prefer, or do you purchase your necessities online?  Perhaps a combination of both?  I’m interested to see how many people in the current day and age buy online versus in-store.

Thanks for stopping by!

3 new textured stitch tutorials up!

I asked, you told me, I listened!  Here are new tutorials for the bobble stitch, the popcorn stitch, and the puff stitch!

bobble stitch

bobble stitch

popcorn stitch

popcorn stitch

puff stitch

puff stitch

I’ve got two more textured stitches that I am going to make tutorials for, as well: the bullion stitch and the cluster stitch.  Hopefully I’ll get those photographed and written out soon, but I must say it might be a few days.  I’ve got a really long take-home test to do, some studying for a national counselor certification exam, and I’m hanging with my mom tomorrow and having a dim sum day on Sunday.  Of course, it may be tomorrow, or even later tonight — you know how I love to procrastinate and do yarny things instead!  After the next two textured stitches, I do have more stitch ideas to add, as well.

I also realized that some of my knitting tutorials had somehow gotten their pictures all mixed/messed up (probably when I merged my knitting blog with this one), and I’ve fixed those.  I apologize if you’ve looked and been confused — they should make much more sense now!

Thank you for letting me know what you wanted to see!  I enjoy making these tutorials.  Also, thanks for stopping by, and let me know if you have any questions or things I need to fix!

up for suggestions

Hello everyone!  I’m in a bit of a lull as far as my cardigan and other projects are going, so I was wondering if there’s anything else in particular you would like to see me post.

stash1

I’ve got some scrap yarn; would you like to see more knitting tutorials or more crochet tutorials?  I’ve got tons more stitch variations and patterns up my sleeves.  Would you like me to talk about/review my favorite yarns?  Would you like to see my latest Ravelry or Pinterest favorites?  Would you like me to do a Crochet Along project?  (By the way, is it Kosher to do CALs with other people’s patterns, or should I stick to my own?  I’ve never done a CAL or KAL before.)  Would you like to get to know me more through a “day-in-the-life-of” post?  I’m open for suggestions.  What do you want to see?

Please comment with any suggestions or questions, and thanks for stopping by!