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

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:

DyeForWool yarn in 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:

Izumi crochet

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:

Izumi crochet

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!

 

what’s on the bookshelf? knitting edition

The other day we covered the crochet books I own, now it’s time for the knitting ones (the list is shorter…maybe)!

Hannah's Crafty Books

 

This Jane Austin Knits magazine is great — my parents got it for me when we had Christmas in England a few years ago.

 

Jane Austen Knits

 

Here are some of the designs found inside:

Jane Austen Knits examples

 

Jane Austen Knits examples

I really want to do some of those wraps/shawls in particular!

Next up is Knitting in the Old Way, which I got in an attempt to learn how to magically come up with perfect patterns without having to think too much.  So far I haven’t had success.

Knitting in the Old Way

 

Knitting in the Old Way example

 

Next up are a couple of books by the fantastic Arne & Carlos, 55 Christmas Balls to Knit and Easter Knits:

55 Christmas Balls to Knit

 

55 Christmas Balls to Knit examples

I love the idea of either the Christmas balls or the Easter eggs as gifts, don’t you?

Easter Knits

 

Easter Knits examples

 

My friend bought the next single pattern for me along with some yarn so I could make her one.  It wasn’t too long ago!  It was a difficult knit for me at that time but I was proud of the result:

bajada

 

Next up is Sock Knitting Master Class from which I learned little — the DVD was nice but to be honest I like using YouTube for tutorials.  There was some good beginner info in there though that’s worth getting!  I haven’t completed a pair of socks from this yet but I plan on it!

Sock Knitting

 

Sock Knitting example

 

The Cool Girl’s Guide to Knitting was a nice companion to the crochet version, and it has some cute beginner patterns in it:

Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting

 

Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting example

 

Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting example

Next up is a great reference book given to me by the wonderful Nicky from D’NALI and it is so useful!  It’s got patterns as well as technique instructions and different stitch patterns:

Vogue Knitting

 

Vogue Knitting example

 

Vogue Knitting example

 

Next up is Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, which I have not yet used.  There are some super cute things in here, but I’m not so sure about last-minute…

Last-Minute Knitted Gifts

 

Does this look last-minute to you?

Last-Minute Knitted Gifts example

I really do like this scarf/head wrap though:

Last-Minute Knitted Gifts example

 

Well that’s all for today, thanks for stopping by!  I’ll have one more of these book posts and then it’s back to projects!  See you soon!

what’s on the bookshelf? crochet edition

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:

Hannah's Crafty Books

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

Creepy Cute Crochet

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!

Creepy Cute Crochet Nosferatu

 

Creepy Cute Crochet Ninja

 

These pamphlet like little booklets were from my grandma:

pamphlets

 

The next one was from the mother of my ex:

The Great Afghan Book

 

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:

The Great Afghan Book blankets

 

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…):

Super Stitches Crochet

 

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

Super Stitches Crochet example

 

Super Stitches Crochet edgings

 

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 Cool Girl's Guide to Crochet

 

The Cool Girl's Guide to Crochet hat

 

The Cool Girl's Guide to Crochet mitts

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:

201 Crochet Motifs, Blocks, Projects, and Ideas

 

201 Crochet Motifs, Blocks, Projects, and Ideas example

201 Crochet Motifs, Blocks, Projects, and Ideas example

 

201 Crochet Motifs, Blocks, Projects, and Ideas example

 

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.

Amigurumi!

 

Amigurumi! deer

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

Amigurumi! Strawberry

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…

Crocheted Socks!

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

Crocheted Socks! example

 

Crocheted Socks! example

 

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!

 

 

 

hat pincushion appearance in Simply Crochet!

The magazine Simply Crochet has recently released a special edition, the Amigurumi Collection!

Simply Crochet Amigurumi Collection

There are so many cute patterns that it’s more like a book than a magazine, and I definitely want to make a few of the items inside!

I’m honored that my hat pincushion pattern that Simply Crochet published back in Spring of 2014 made it into this new publication:

amigurumi hat pincushion

 

Thanks, Simply Crochet!

**Edit: click here to be taken to the Revelry pattern page.**

as-we-go stripey blanket crochet-a-long 2 year anniversary!

It’s been 2 years since we started the As-We-Go Stripey Blanket Crochet-A-Long!  Doesn’t seem like that long to me!

as we go stripey blanketClick the link above to be taken to the free pattern, where you can view it online or download it as a PDF (there’s a photo tutorial version and also a shorter version for printing)!

And I owe a huge thanks to everyone who’s made the blanket (I was really surprised by the number of blankets out there, and definitely honored!) as well as to Julie, the author of the blog Little Woolie, for the pattern inspiration!  Check out her blog for so much lovely stuff!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Feel free to browse around to see the crochet and knitting tutorials and patterns available here on Not Your Average Crochet — everything’s in the drop-down menu!

Here’s a final photo of my dog on the blanket:

as we go stripey blanket crochet a long