My Craftastrophies

Dealer, enabler, friend? Not sure which any more!

2011-01-25T19:35:00.000-06:00

So in November I Participated in NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. I wrote a novel that will likely never see the light of day. During that process I buddied up with another author who I think of as Professional and had a bit of a "fangirl" attraction too. we challenged each other through Wrimo and both won. In the process of discussing our creative endeavors he suggested I follow @BrightEyedDyer on twitter. So I did.

She Dyes yarn, mostly sock yarn, but every year picks a few novels and makes a colorway blend that represents those books. After a few back and forth replies I ordered some of her yarn.

I have never knitted with Sock yarn. It is SMALL. I had to buy a new circular needle because the smallest I had was an 8 and I needed at most a 2 for this yarn. and I always get circulars because I hate straights. I drop them every time I try to throw a knitted stitch so I just ignore them at all costs.

A few days later I recieved in the mail, a plain yellow envelope. Inside it had the most fun ball of yarn I had ever seen. She called it "Childhood" and I admit it did make me giggle like a kid again. I had decided that I was going to use this new yarn in a project using an Entrelac pattern because of the way the colors shifted. The envelope also had a nice simple purple that went well with Childhood. I was good to go...or so I thought.

I make hats, lots of hats. I wanted to make a hat.

This hat started with the purple in the swirly increase I seem to do with most of my hats. 8 sections, Magic loop method, increasing 1 stitch per section on every other row until the top of the hat was big enough for my head and the number of stitches on the needles was a multiple of 6. Then I did a round of Entrelac base triangles in the purple also.

Then the first row of Childhood entrelac squares. This round took FOREVER. I was still learning the pattern and was still turning the entire project back and forth ever 6 stitches for 48 squares. Took me just over a week. This had to change. The second round of Entrelac squares went the other direction around the hat. I tried doing the Pearling without turning the project. It worked. Knocked out the second round in 3 days, but now I was running out of yarn.

Contacted @BrightEyedDyer again, asked about the purple, or a green or a teal or a bright blue or a yellow or any of the other colors in the Childhood.

Well I just got another envelope, has bright green and bright turquoise. Now I want to change my mind on how the pattern is and I have a sinking feeling that I will be ripping out ALL of the second round of Childhood so that I can fit Turquoise and green in with more purple lol.

Someday this will be a GREAT looking hat lol.

Sorry sorry SORRY I mean really, I'm sorry!

2010-12-17T20:10:00.000-06:00

Holy carp! almost 2 years since I touched this blog.

Well now that I am NOT trying to juggle college classes, parenting, working, commutes, dealing with the ex in court and a broken computer, I guess I should post now and then. I'm down to just work, parenting AND have working technology.

Maybe I should set some reminders on my calendar to ,make sure I do this more consistently. I would like to post once a month or so since I do all manner of crafty things like sewing, knitting, crochet, beading I'm sure I can come up with SOMETHING to post every month.

No less than 3 people have asked me about my hat and scarf this week alone soooo
Blows dust off blog...*cough cough gag*

Now on to the post!

Last winter I knitted a scarf and hat for myself because the soy-wool set I made the year before turned out to be too itchy against my forehead. I found a soft acrylic (my wool purists are cringing) but it was a medium gray with a strand of pastel rainbow color through it. Sort of a blocking/striping pattern. I loved it because of the picture on the package of a sweater vest made with it. Didn't have the funds at the time for 3 skeins and had some of the same brand of yarn in plain gray at home already.

I figured something simple that would show off the color pattern would be best. Thought about the fancy checkerboard knitting pattern I have seen and cant remember the name of, but figured I would never finish it if I started that way.So I tried (yet again) to do cabling for the ends of the scarf. Did I ever mention I cant do cables? Yeah, didn't work. Decided on a simple 2x2 rib pattern instead. ALSO taught myself to knit continental on this scarf as well. I go so much faster that way than thrown. I started with the scarf and halfway through stopped and did the hat, then finished the scarf.

Rainbow hat and scarf.
My favorite Top down hat style and simple width wise scarf.

Caron, Simply Soft Shadows, Mardi Gray.#0007
Medium (4), Content 100% Acrylic
Yardage 150yds / 3oz skein
Needle 8 US, Hook H-8 US
Gauge 17 stitches & 23 rows / 4 inches
Machine wash, warm, gentle cycle. Machine dry, low heat, delicate cycle.

Don't know what the solid gray was.

.........HAT..........

Done in the round using magic loop on cabled needles. Could be done with DPNs if you don't drop them constantly like I do.
K = Knit
Kfb = Knit in front and back stitch or increase (not sure how I did it)
Rib = 2knit+2pearl ribbing

With solid color, Cast on 8 stitches placing a marker between each one leave tail.
(I had one odd colored marker to show beginning of row).
R1: K 8 (8)
R2: Kfb 8 times (16)keeping markers in place.
R3: K16 (16)
R4: Kfb 1, K 1 repeat 7 more times (24)
R5: K 24 (24)
R6: Kfb 1, K 2 repeat 7 more times (32)
R7: K 32 (32)
R8: Kfb 1, K 3 repeat 7 more times (40)
R9: K 40 (40)
R10: Kfb 1, K 4 repeat 7 more times (48)
R11: K 48 (48)
R12: Kfb 1, K 5 repeat 7 more times (56)
R13: K 56 (56)
R14: Kfb 1, K 6 repeat 7 more times (64)
R15: K 64 (64)
R16: Kfb 1, K 7 repeat 7 more times (72)
change to rainbow yarn
Continue the increase pattern (increase row then knit row) as many times as it takes to get a hat big enough to fit around your head. It should be a tad bigger because of the ribbing later. I have the "math fail" gene so if you can, make sure you end with a number of stitches that is divisible by 4.

Once the hat is big enough around you can start on the body of it.
BR1: K around remove all but the row end marker while you do this.
BR2: K around
Change to 1 number smaller needles (I went 8 to 7)
BR3 - BR10: Rib around
BR11 - BR25: K around
BR26 - BR33: Rib around
BR34 - BR49: K around
BR50 - BR58: Rib around
BR59 K around
cast off
Use tail at top to tighten up opening.

Colors are top to bottom, Blue, pink, yellow, peach, blue, pink, yellow at edge.Turn it inside out so it matches the scarf. It should have a bit of a muffin top look. If you have a longer head, add more knit rows before you start the ribbing. I made mine too big and had to work some elastic thread into the ribbing later to keep it on my head.
..........SCARF..........

With rainbow yarn...
Cast on however many stitches wide you want your scarf ending in a multiple of 4 (I did 32)
1 row K
5 rows Rib
15 rows K
10 rows Rib
15 rows K
10 rows Rib
90 rows K
Switch to Solid gray
160 rows K
Switch to rainbow
90 rows K
10 rows Rib
15 rows K
10 rows Rib
15 rows K
5 rows Rib
1 row K
Cast off

With crochet hook single crochet around the entire scarf with the rainbow yarn. I used a size I because it tightened up the length of this really long scarf and gave a solid edge for covering my nose outside.

Hope you folks enjoy this. I have at least 4 other posts to make RIGHT NOW.... but I'm not gonna tonight!

NOT a crafting post

2009-02-02T20:04:00.002-06:00

I happened to check a little used e-mail address of mine, and found a lovely essey by my grandfather.

I have decided to share it here, even though it has nothing to do with crafts because I think it is important to hear what he was saying. This goes a long way towards explaining how my own mother came into her mentality that "you hate no one unless they give you a reason".

I have done my best to raise my children, in a world that seems to still find any and every reason to hate, with the understanding that everyone is indeed human and that something as simple as skin color or heritage are not sufficient reasons to judge someone.

I see now where I get it from and I am very proud to be part of the family I am in because of it.

Enjoy!

Lizzy

****TRANSITION****

Tomorrow, January 20, 2009, we are all about to witness an epic event in the history of our country. The inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African American to be our President

I recently mentioned to my wife, Betty, and daughter Peg that this so called transition period from the November election to the swearing in ceremony in a few days seems rather short compared to my own transition experience of 87 years.

For instance, in 1933, at age 12, as a 6th grade student filled with the knowledge that I would become the best left forward in the history of Evanston soccer players and also a star first baseman on our softball team, I was beaten out for those positions by one of my good friends, Elbie Watts.

The following year Elbie and I walked the ten blocks to the junior high school daily, as he lived only three blocks further than I and passed right by the apartment building my mother managed.

About two weeks after school started in the fall, my mother sat me down when I got home one day and asked that I not walk to school with Elbie any more, as a few tenants in the apartment building were complaining that I was seen with a “Negro.” She was, frankly, worried about losing her job if anyone complained to the owners of the building.

The next day, I left early and waited for Elbie several blocks away and told him about the situation and that I had no idea his being a “Negro” was a problem. His response was that he wondered how long it would take before someone complained.

We solved it by going in a different direction and meeting two blocks away from the apartments every day.

By the way, he beat me out of the soccer and baseball positions in junior high also.

It was sometime in those years that the family took a trip to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to ride in a cruise boat around the lakes.
I got curious about the signs in front of virtually every rental home or apartment that said “Gentiles only.” It was explained to me that we were “Gentiles” and Jews were not. That seemed to be the nice way to say, “No Jews allowed.”

Later, when one of our tenants married a Jewess, my mother worried for weeks about how she would tell him that he couldn’t renew the lease because of his Jewish wife, (apartment owner rule), he solved it by telling her they needed a larger place when the lease expired.

As a freshman in high school, I found that girls were actually likeable. The first true love was Jane Evans. She came into the drugstore I was working every night to get the evening edition of the Chicago Tribune as she was on her way home from the restaurant where she was hostess. I got up enough courage to ask if could walk her home after work as she was usually getting there at closing time. It was all of two blocks. The drug store owner and my mother both thought Jane was a wonderful girl, but did I realize she was Catholic?

We later found other interests so being Catholic didn’t become a problem between our two families.

Jane and I did go some eight blocks away one weekend to join a group of Northwestern students who were boycotting a local hamburger joint. The reason for the boycott? The star halfback of Northwestern , I believe his name was Bernie Jefferson, was told he would not be served because he was not white.

At age 20, I was in the Army, stationed at a radar training base in West Palm Beach Florida. The entire company was called to formation one afternoon to be told that each housing unit would be getting “one” Negro assigned to it the next week and we were to treat each one with respect or face possible court martial.

Our particular unit got a really smart and likeable bunk-mate by the name of Jim. We thought enough of him that the following weekend, when we were going into town, we refused the bus drivers order to have him sit in the back of the bus. The MP’s at the gate backed us up and threatened to take the bus driver out of the bus unless he treated Jim as a soldier and not as a Negro.

As recently as 1980, I experienced an interesting moment. I was traveling around the Ozarks with the thought of getting some property in which to retire. I stopped in a realtors office in Eastern Arkansas and explained what I was looking for. About his third sentence was “ this is the only county in the state that doesn’t have a black person.” I don’t know what his reaction was when I left without saying anything.

So, my experiences in transition has taken longer than this past election and inauguration. At this moment, I am glad I had the opportunity to do it the long way. I’m also very glad it turned out the way it has.

So, “YES WE CAN”

Robert Horn

Holidazed

2008-12-23T09:13:00.003-06:00

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmothers house we go......

More like through the snowbanks, dealing with crazy people who can't drive in snow, the threat of sub zero temperatures and explaining to my parents that I still don't have a job. On top of 30 hours of driving, 2100 miles and covering 7 states in 9 days.

I have never been in such an UNholiday spirit ever.

Current projects..... all on hold until I land in Oklahoma in 4 days...after day 2 of driving.

I can update pics and post from there.

I have made 2 kippahs for a friends Bat Mitzvah. Really easy pattern using magic loop method. Will write up directions in a few days, with pictures.

Frogged the cable knit hat for bear because DP's and I JUST DO NOT AGREE!!!! (anyone wanna trade a set of size 10.5 nickle plated dpn's? for a set of wood modulars from knitpicks I need size 4, 10 or 14. could use a 40" cable too.)

Now I am doing a "noro style" single rib scarf that IS working. I am using some pattons soy wool stripes yarn in natural blue and natural pink (I frogged the drop stitch scarf to recover the yarn for that but I think I will need more anyway). It was a good chance for me to work on knitting the ribbing continental style instead of throwing it. It is working well, my arms aren't nearly as tired.

I was trying to get my profile all set up on Ravelry, but keep finding myself spending hours searching through patterns instead. I will have to update that soon as well.

Well it is time to pack suitcases, shovel the sidewalk, change the cat box, clean the living room and load the car.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

It's begining to look a lot like.........BREAKFAST!

2008-12-12T08:50:00.003-06:00

As you all probably know, The holidays are coming.

I'm sure you also realize that just about every holiday seems to include food traditions. Latkes at Hanukkah, Big ham dinner at Christmas, Cookies, Candy, etc.

Whats more fun than trying to get kids to EAT on Christmas morning BEFORE it is time to open presents?

Well I have my ways *rubs hands together maniacally*

FROSTING!!!!!!!

My mom assigned me the task of Breakfast on Christmas Morning sooooooo off to the lab..erm....KITCHEN, I go!!!

Now I rarely cook anything totally from scratch, But I also rarely leave anything alone.

This morning I ran a trial of some cinnamon rolls.

*Basic tube of orange cinnamon rolls
*additional cinnamon sugar sprinkles
*Lemon Juice
*Confectioners sugar

No realize I have NOW IDEA how to make a glaze other than watching my grandmother when I was too young to care.

I cooked the rolls in a small springform pan that I sprayed with butter flavor spray and then dusted generously with the cinnamon sugar before the rolls went into it.

to make the glaze......

I poured an undetermined amount of lemon juice in a small bowl, likely a few tablespoons though it felt like more. Then I started adding confectioners sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Dump in sugar, mix until blended, dump in sugar, mix until blended, lather, rinse, repeat until the glaze looks like...well...a glaze. I ended up adding a LOT of spoonfulls of sugar, I lost count around 15, I am sure it was considerably more. Next time I start with less liquid.

Once the rolls were done, I plopped them on a plate and poured the packaged glaze over them. It pooled in the middle and then formed blobs around the edges didn't look thrilling. I then drizzled as much of MY glaze as I could over the top.

I am now an insane 2.5 rolls in and I will have to STRONGLY resist the urge to polish off the whole plate before lunch! Or else I will need to take a long walk in the balmy -5 degree temps we have running right now.

Honestly, It's a tough choice!

French Memo Boards

2008-12-12T02:26:00.004-06:00

I moved a couple of months ago and in the process found an ungodly amount of craft supplies from silk flowers and raffia to all manner of fabric, ribbon and even a large collection of semi precious beads.

Among all of this were a few started and unfinished projects.

3 french memo boards, 1 complete, 1 needing only some apple green buttons, and one that needed some ribbons and buttons.

WOOT! Teacher gifts!!!.

These are killer easy.

Materials:
*Pre stretched artists canvas. (purchased from Michaels)
*Staple gun and staples.
*quilt batting big enough to wrap to the back of the canvas.
*Fabric to cover front and wood on back of canvas.
*Matching ribbon, the smaller the canvas the thinner the ribbon.
*buttons for each intersection of ribbon. I needed 5 per board.
*Small bits of stabilizer for back of buttons (you can use smaller plain buttons, cardboard or squares of plastic canvas)

Put batting over canvas and then stretch fabric over the batting. Starting from the centers of the sides staple fabric to the inside edges of the wood frame. Fold the corners however it works for you and staple down (I kind of did a folded mitered corner, It won't really show).

Once all of the fabric is secured snugly around the frame, you start stapleing the ribbons across the front. Make an x, then a diamond, making sure you fold over the ends of the ribbon so it does not pull out.

Once the ribbons are on you need to sew buttons at the intersections. Use the stabilizers on the back or the ribbon could pull through.

I always add 2 extra lengths of ribbon stapled to the back as a way to hang the board from a hook. One each on a long and short side.

That's about it.

Oh and the Berrico snowflake kicked my butt one too many times. It is no more!

Found an easier pattern that starts in the middle and works it's way out instead. Not as fancy of a pattern, I can make up for it with pretty fibers instead.

Will post something about that later. I PROMISE!!!!!

Snowflakes for Hanukkah

2008-12-08T12:20:00.000-06:00

I am determined to have a decent go at my first attempt at Cable Knits.

I have a friend who will be celebrating her Bat Mitzvah during Hanukkah this year. When she mentioned she needed a new Kipot that wasn't plain, but not too fancy either. I KNEW I could find something to make for her. Little did I know this "small project" would kick my butt more than once this week.

First I flexed my Google Fu and looked for patterns for "snowflakes"

3 hours and 8000 hits later I found one! This Berroco Snowflake pattern was a free download able PDF.

OK looks simple....
My first challenge was that it works from the outside in, my mind has issues working flat pieces from the outside in.
Second was it wasn't in the round and I hate seams, but I would manage.
third, I don't own a cable needle and I have NEVER stitched a cabled anything in my life.

Found some simple baby yarn in my stashes, grabbed the smallest cabled needles I own (size 7) and started.

Cast on, started the first row and ended up with too many stitches.
Frogged it and started over.

Cast on, marking the 6 sections, figured out what I did wrong the first time and used a diaper pin as a cable needle and got to row 3 before I screwed up the counts again.
Frogged it, found thinner yarn and started over again.

Cast on, marking sections, get to row 5 and realize that even though it says gauge Isn't important on the pattern, it looks like crap, I wasn't going for lace
Frogged it again.

Went to local yarn store, pattern in hand. Showed the nice lady there what I was trying to make, and asked her what needles and yarn I should use. Got that all ironed out, bought a set of wood cable needles (short ones for cable stitches, not the long ones attached together that I knit everything on) and a ball of Drops Fable Superwash sock yarn to try again with.

NOW I have started again, using my little size 3 double points...have I mentioned I hate double points? Yeah, I ALWAYS loose stitches off the back end when I use DP's.

So I am using a set of sz.3 DP's that I made little plugs for the ends of out of some hair ties, the same hair ties I was using as markers lol.

I also decided to knit this up as a round because I have a total inability to leave any recipe, pattern or set of instructions alone.
All of my even numbered rows will now be reversed. Where the pattern says Pearl, I knit. Where it says knit, I pearl. But only on the even numbered rows.

It took 3 starts (due to dropping stitches off the back ends of my DP's) but I made it through row 4.

We shall see how this goes.

Nuff Said!

2008-12-06T20:17:00.001-06:00

Isn't this just the way of addictions?

This would be my PSA post for the stringers that follow this blog. IF you happen to have pets in the house and IF you happen to have multiple projects going at once. I would highly recommend adding a "project bag", that can be securely closed, to your supply list for EACH PROJECT!!!

I have used fabric bags, old purses, older kids backpacks and even ziplock freezer bags. Something that you can stash all of your materials, instructions and WIP in to keep your furry friends from trying to "Help" you.

I have only had this happen to me once, cat was in 7th heaven, found an open basket with balls of yarn I had just spent a week untangling and rolling into balls. I then spent 4 days making the yarn into balls again.

Remember only YOU can prevent loose ends!

Cheap Finds

2008-12-05T15:42:00.000-06:00

Im not ashamed to say I really like Dollar stores and Big lots.....
I'm cheap, they're easy nuff said.

Now and then I find some things I never expect to find there. Eyelash confetti yarn at Dollar Tree where its $3.50 a ball in the same colors at Walmart, and now this....

Landscapes. I made this panel, currently about the size of a pot holder to see how well the stuff felted down, I am hoping for a slightly large coaster.

I actually made this on a 7 hour bus ride with 2 kids Easter weekend last spring. I think this was the ONLY good thing that came out of that trip. Well other than my parents helping me find a new car so I wouldnt have to repeat the trip on the way home.

ANYHOW, I also have these

All I can think of for them would be a drop needle something, Scarf perhaps? maybe I should learn to felt, might get a couple of coasters by the time I am done.

Waiting.........

2008-12-04T08:32:00.003-06:00

I'm sitting here in a great coffee shop, supposedly working on my worthless resume. and I look up and see these pretty yellow awnings across the street!

What do I have sitting in my car? A Hank of soft dove gray wool yarn that came from the ex's grandmother.

Why do these things connect?

Those awnings belong to my Local yarn store, Yellow Dog Knits.

I have a cup of Hot Caramel Apple Latte, a White Chocolate Raspberry Scone and a lovely winter view of a textile junkies small corner of happiness. Now I will spy on them until they open and THEN I will go fondle such things as Baby merino wool, SoySilk and even a few bobbly and bright varieties while I consult them on how to handle a 25 yr old hank of yarn that really wants to be something pretty.

Weekday Quickie!

2008-12-03T09:59:00.004-06:00

This was just a little something I threw together with the leftover Soywool yarn.

You can either count out a set pattern or just go random here.

Cast on however many stitches across you want your scarf to be.
(Knit rows)Knit as many rows as you want on both sides.
(Loose row)Front Side: Increase every stitch on a row by wrapping your yarn over between each stitch. If you want longer loops wrap the yarn over twice. ( I think that's what I did on this one)
Back Side: Drop all of the wrapped stitches as you knit across. You don't knit any of the wrapped stitches, just the already knitted ones.
Then knit again.

It's an easy stitch once you get the hang of it. I have used it with a few different types/sizes of yarn to make "jewelery" scarves for friends.

way too long

2008-12-02T15:25:00.007-06:00

I got poked by a fellow knitter last night to actually UPDATE this blog.....

Is it really UPDATING if it's been over a year since the last post?

Anyway, Last year I found GOOD yarn. I started collecting, playing, then got too busy to have a hobby. Now I have some time again and I am trying to make a few holiday gifts for friends and family.

I used a new material for me last year, a Soy-Wool blend. I loved it but it was pricey. THEN I found a similar yarn at Micheal's and bought a bunch since it was about half the price of the first ball I bought. I then had to find something to make out of it.

Here ya go......

That is the inside band of a beret type hat and a scarf that matches that was knitted lengthwise. No real pattern for either other than the hat was done on round needles using a magic loop method. I think I cast on 150 stitches and did a few ribbing rows, then I reduced by dividing the stitches evenly into a set number of sections and doing a K2Tog at the end of each section until I only had 1 stitch for each section left on the needles to run the tail thread through and tie off.

The scarf was started by casting on 250 stitches, doing a few ribbing rows, then knitting 5 stitches at each end and doing knit on the front side and pearl on the back side, then finished with ribbing a few rows. I did it that way because the yarn looked better striped lengthwise than shortwise.

It was all done on KnitPicks nickle plated interchangeable size 10.5 needles on a really long cable. It was a fun project and I am still wearing the hat and scarf.

I have 2 balls of this stuff in blue, haven't decided what to do with that yet.If anyone has any ideas they might want to use it for, let me know. I think I could handle bartering or selling some of my unused materials.

OOOO not thrilled!

2007-09-23T14:33:00.001-05:00

I Loved the ball of the patchwork yarn when I bought it. how neat to have 3 different types of yarn in one ball. NOW, not so thrilled. I tried to do a simple drop stitch scarf with it. the eyelash and mohair yarn are so much thinner than the slubby yarn that it looks ridiculous. I am thinking of frogging it and doing it lengthwise instead, see if that helps. I just don't know. Maybe I should have just left it as a ball *sigh*.

Meanwhile I finished the soysilk and wool pouch, its just waiting to be felted. I kept going so that the top edge is blue, then I crocheted a cord to go with it as the drawstring that will be felted as well. I will post the before felting and after felting pics later.

I MUST be insane!

2007-09-22T12:38:00.000-05:00

I can't make this ball of yarn scan right so this picture does it no justice at all.

It is a crazy bright ball of neon pink, purple, green and yellow wool blend yarn. (the pale pink you see in the picture is actually the neon pink in real life). I want to make mittens out of it. looking for a pattern and will probably need to buy a second ball.

I admit that I am almost ready to accept my yarn addiction as a fact. I was out with the kids on Thursday and we were walking PAST http://www.yellowdogknitting.com/ and HAD to stop in. I even left my dish of "Rum Black Cherry" ice cream in the hands of my 12 yr old outside to do it.

I will not admit the addiction...yet.

FOUND THEM!!

2007-09-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

just requested 3 pattern books at the local library. Thank the yarn gods that libraries are all networked now a days. One book (charmed knits) is coming from a library 2 hours away. the other 2 books (Victorian knits today and a book of scarves and stoles) is coming from an hour away. No Idea when they will be in but once I get them I can scan the patterns I want to decide if I want to attempt them or not.

On another note, I want the gorgeous new rainbow wood modular needles they have at Knit Picks.
http://www.knitpicks.com/Options+Harmony+Wood+Interchangeable+Needle+Set_ND90306.html

My birthday is the end of November guys......

MORE yarns

2007-09-15T11:22:00.001-05:00

OK so here is the ribbon yarn from Dollar Tree. Its a dangerous thing to find funky fibers for $1 each. I picked this up in this black and gray, in a "rust" spectrum and rainbow. This is an attempt at a crocheted snood to go with my SCA garb. if this works I will pick up some pale yellow yarn somewhere and make one to match my new dress too.

It is all double crocheted stitches with increases to make it a flat circle It will be about 24" across when its done but will have an elastic band around the outside edge when its done. not sure if it will be floppy enough or not but its worth the attempt at least. if it does not work as a snood I will leave it as a flat circle for the center of my dining room table.

Here is a fun ball of wool I found. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it but whatever it is it will end up felted. probably another tube stitch dice bag.

This yarn I HAD to buy. It is called "Patchwork". It has 3 very different types of yarn. one is an eyelash type the next is a twisted wool and the 3rd is a fluffy wool. again No clue what I'm going to do with it but it looked cool.

I still have the Insane Chip Scarf to finish as well as a half granny square crocheted shawl. I also have the soy silk and wool rainbow dice pouch still on my needles.

I'm in finals week for this semester so I will have to greatly resist the urge to pick up a project instead of doing my schoolwork.

I still want to find the "Gathering of Lace" book so I can see if I should even consider attempting the Feather and fan lace circle shawl. I figure that a great project for if I am ever hospitalized again. its the only way I will have the time or the focus to finish it.

WOOT finished one!

2007-09-14T20:44:00.000-05:00

OK it's the loopy scarf. Should look really cute with my funky fake fur "Betty Page" winter coat. Well once I replace the buttons that fell off of it last winter.

New suprises!

2007-09-14T08:08:00.000-05:00

When a person states "I have craft projects I may NEVER finish" on a dating website profile, She shouldn't be surprised when she finds unfinished projects she forgot about.

While digging a sick cat out from under my bed I found a small plastic tote. Inside was the most GAWDAWFUL red heart variegated yarn. Rainbow colors...all of them. attached to that skein was a crochet hook and a mostly finished loopy scarf that was started 2 years ago. When goofy, brightly colored loopy scarves were trendy.

Best I can do for instructions are
Double crochet a Base that is 7 stitches wide and however long you want your scarf to be.
chain 10, sc around bar of DC chain 10... (continue ad nauseaum until the end of the scarf).

I guess you can make it loopier with more chains or tighter with less.

Here it is, I have about a foot left of a 5 ft long scarf.

Ok so variegated yarns and I seem to be attracted to each other like chocolate on a toddlers white t-shirt. Here is a standing dice bag made with Sugar and Cream cotton yarn. yes variegated but I like how the colors lined up on the bigger one lol. These were single crocheted in the round for friends of mine that had dice and gaming tokens and floppy bags that tipped over, i started by making a coaster and going straight up the sides with a DC row at the top and a chained string to hold it together. They look a bit like can coolies and i guess the pattern could be extended longer for a water bottle holder too.

That's it for now. Will post about the new ribbon yarn I found at Dollar Tree in another post (once I have a finished project to show it off).

Odds and Ends

2007-08-28T23:43:00.000-05:00

When one has a fetish for odd things, one finds oneself with odd collections.

Recently it has been yarns. if its anything but worsted weight acrylic I have been fondling , trying and buying it lately.

Here is a lovely sparky multicolored eyelash/bobbly type yarn I found at DOLLAR TREE! yes $1 each. I have 3 different colors. Saw them at ALLmart for $2.50

This was my second serious yarn purchase. for me anything over $3 a ball/skein/hank is a serious issue. This I found at Yellow Dog Knits, think it was $9ish. its soysilk and wool, nice thick slubby yarn that does an awesome thing with the color as you knit, it does blocks and looks fantastic knitted and then felted into little pouches (see first post for its rainbow dyed cousin). I cant wait to try this one. It is pink burgundy and brown

This was my virgin hank of wool. Its a 100% baby merino hand dyed lace weight. it was purple. also found at Yellow Dog Knits. Its so wonderfully deliciously soft that I have no idea what to do with it to do it justice. currently being added as the edge color to an insane potato chip scarf (see last post for description)

Found this yarn at Goodwill for $1.25 each. you cant see it in the picture but they are flat strands with occasional looped sections, it has a line of zigzag stitches in a pastel variegated thread holding it together. it is the cousin to the lavender bobbly yarn in my scarf (post #2). I used the entire ball making this diagonal scarf. only 15 stitches across. I consider it more of a jewelery scarf than one for warmth but it was fun to make.

I have other new aquisitions that I will share, but not today :D

Some unintended results.

2007-08-27T19:03:00.000-05:00

This was my first attempt at a "potato chip scarf"

Cast on 50,
R1 knit,
R2 Knit, Yo, Knit across, (100 sts)
R3 Knit,
R4 Knit, Yo, Knit across, (200 sts)
R5 Knit
R6 Knit, Yo, Knit across, (400 sts)
R7 Knit
R8 Knit, Yo, Knit across, (800 sts)
R9 knit
R10 cast off

Red heart variegated worsted weight yarn on size 10.5 needles (yes I like my 10.5 needles). came out too short and I didn't like the way the colors worked out in it so I frogged the whole thing. Used the yarn elsewhere. looks better mixed with a solid (see my first project scarf)

Tried this pattern with 100 sts to start and 6 doublings with lace weight yarn on my 10.5 needles, last 3 rows are taking forever. (100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 sts).

OK so finding a new pattern and deciding you want to modify it to your own liking without any care about swatches and gauges and needle sizes leads to some interesting wastes of time.

I made this scarf and though it is laying there as a nice flat feather and fan pattern when you unpress it from between the scanner plate and lid it promptly curls up into a slightly wavy tube.

turned out nice, but not what I was going for.

BUT it was good practice for the pattern.

the knitting bug begins

2007-08-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

Ok so last winter I looked at the POUNDS of cheap red heart yarn I had sitting around the house and decided I HAD to do something with it. I made a scarf for myself. kids tried to steal it so I made some for them too. 3 entire finished projects. Then I made matching hats on a round knitting loom, no pics of those though.

Super simple pattern

size 10.5 needles 40" round

4 colors red heart worsted weight yarn (you select) 1 verigated, 3 solid

Cast on 150 stitches using the 2 strands of 1 solid color strand of yarn (A) leaving at least an 8 inch tail (you wont be weaving this back in).

Knit 3 rows leaving 16 inches of unknit yarn at each end (this will become a fringe).

Drop one strand of the solid and add the verigated and color (A), leaving at least an 8 inch end. Knit 5 rows.

Change to color (B) and keep the verigated. Knit 5 rows again leaving the ends.

Change to color (C) and keep the verigated. knit 5 rows again leaving the ends.

Change back to 2 strands of a solid color (either (A) or (C). Knit 3 rows.

Change to the verigated and color (C), knit 5 rows.

Change to the verigated and color (B), knit 5 rows.

Change to color verigated adn color (A), knit 5 rows.

Drop verigated and use color (A) to knit 3 rows.

Cast off

39 rows total.

Over hand knot strands at ends for fringe.

this will give you about a 5 ft long scarf.

Heres what they look like.

This is camo colored verigated with beige, sage and black solids.

this is red white and blue verigated with red, blue and white solids.

This is mine. lavendar, sage and blue verigated. with cream, lavendar and white solids. The lavendar is a bobble yarn.

past obsessions

2007-08-17T22:59:00.000-05:00

Well I know I have been a craft a holic for years. My basement full of boxes gleaned from Michaels, walmart and any fabric, bead, yarn or hobby stores in my path will attest to that fact.

currently I am working on a huge list of things some I might never finish

10 year table cloth, stamped cross stitch, been working on it for 13 years, 1/3rd finished

Train afghan, crochet, need to do 2 more rectangles at least, forgot what my counts were might just donate what I have done.

grannysquare baby blanket, crochet, ummmmmmm

Lace weight potato chip scarf, knitted, it was easy when I started with 150 stitches, but doubled every other row, its taking FOREVER to get the last row and cast off row done.(5th doubling).

Soysilk and wool dice bag. knitted. will be felted. my first finished attempt at this project got me a gem bag that was 4 inches wide and 3 inches deep, was supposed to be 4 inches wide and 6 inched deep.

I also have started collecting (almost obsessively) different odd types of yarns. so far I have 100% bamboo, soysilk and wool, a few types of wools (something I have never used before). and I still have 2 huge (maybe 3) of cheap red heart and such.

I will do my best to post here when Im working on stuff and when I finish it. for now here is the bamboo yarn dice bag (second strand is lace weight white acrylic yarn), and the mini gem bag felted.

This is the same yarn on my first experiment with it.

I will post some of my past projects later.