21 posts tagged “crochet”
Because I'm crazy, I've decided to participate in NaNoSweMo (National Sweater Knitting Month?) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). I am going to try to post on my blog every day in November and I cast on today for Anhinga, by Norah Gaughan, which I am knitting in All Seasons Cotton, of course. I am having issues with uploading and there isn't much to see so there's no picture yet. Hopefully I will work out my upload issues. Having pictures would certainly help my blog posting too. We'll see how that goes.
Since I last posted I finished a cowl for a friend's birthday.
A baby turtle for Stefan.
A robot for my friend's son's second birthday.
A top...
a bear in a hot air balloon...
and a blanket bunny for Kristi's baby.
I have to send the bunny off soon, she only has about a month left to go although I know, from experience, that the last month is the longest.
The BobaKnitters also made her this beautiful blanket, which I designed with in put from Cookie. I didn't knit on it but I did most of the seaming.
I also finished a gift for a friend who preparing to battle breast cancer. The day I found out I cast on for this gift because that's what knitters do, we cast on. I hope that my gift and the warmth it provides help her in her fight. I don't have a picture to show you because of my aforementioned uploading problem but that's probably for the best since I think she reads my blog and I haven't given it to her yet.
Wish me luck in my endeavors!
Last year I dyed some yarn. This week I tried to use it. I knew I was going to have to wash the item afterwards because the yarn never rinsed clear but I didn't realize just how much I was going to have to wash it. I washed it in the sink with textile detergent (the Dharma version of Synthrapol) then I soaked it in vinegar and washed it in the machine with hot water and the textile detergent. It's still bleeding. On everything. I'm very frustrated. Dyers out there, any suggestions on setting this crap? It's procion fiber reactive dye on a cotton/rayon yarn. It's frustrating because I think the color is pretty and I loved how it looked in this pattern (the darkside cowl - Rav link).
Last, but very much not least, a pair of socks in the self-patterning cotton sock yarn I got at Sock Summit.
Where have I been! It's been more than a month since my last post. Sorry about that. Although, in my defense, that last post was written the day after school ended for Niels, so things have been off-schedule, in good ways and bad challenging ways.
What have I been working on? Well, I crocheted a coaster because I couldn't resist a ball of Sugar n Cream Stripes at JoAnn.
The other knitting related thing that happened was that I gave my mother my February Lady Sweater. I just didn't like the way it looked on me. I don't like having to fasten my cardigans all the way to the top so a cardigan that only fastens at the top is just not a good plan for me. I'm not sure now why I thought it was. I got swept up in the February Lady Sweater excitement, I suppose.
I haven't had many editing clients recently. I don't know if fewer people are publishing patterns because fewer people are buying patterns because the economy sucks or if everyone else is as swept up in summer as I am. I'm hoping it's the latter so that in the fall when the kids are back in school maybe I'll have more to do. Time will tell, I suppose!
I got out my copy of Creepy Cute Crochet to look for instructions on how to make the general body shape I wanted for the Mystery Animal. Stefan had other ideas, though. Stefan said he wanted "the green guy", otherwise known as Cthulhu. Luckily, he's a lot more friendly looking in a small crochet version.
The part that amuses me about all of this is that Cthulu (yes, without the second H) was Erik's screen name on the MUD where we met so I feel connected to that name. Stefan still calls this "that green guy" though, which is super cute. Also, he doesn't seem at all bothered by That Green Guy's lack of eyes.
Stefan, Niels and I were at Books Inc today and they had a couple of baskets by the register filled with giant microbes. They were picking them up and admiring them and pointing out that the chicken pox one is kind of cute, and looks a bit like a chicken. Then Niels picks up one and says, "what's this? It says 'her-ups'?" That's herpes, folks. They also had HIV and The Clap. There was also staph and strep and stomachache and others but somehow, we kept ending up with the, ahem, social diseases. In fact, I practically had to pry the clap out of Stefan's hands so he would leave it there. I actually said, "Put that back, we are not bringing the Clap home." I crack myself up.
Anyway, you can see why he liked it. It's kind of cute. It also bears a resemblance to the way the mystery animal on Zoboomafoo often appears. He had decided it was the mystery animal, and that's why he wanted it. So, I'm thinking that I could reproduce a mystery animal. All I need to do is crochet a body and head piece without adding arms and legs, right? I just need some safety eyes and cuddely, fuzzy yarn.
I'm not sure why I'm so into dishcloths right now, but I am. I think it's the practically instant gratification, especially when they are crocheted. In any case, I have finished three more since my last post.
Whenever I feel like stash busting I head for the dishcloth cotton. These days it's often the dishcloth cotton and the crochet hook. In the past couple of days I finished up the last of one of my two cones of Peaches & Creme dishcloth cotton left. I made another double flower dish cloth, two diagonally crocheted potholders coasters and another totally utilitarian dishcloth which I think will be a face cloth. I like the texture.
Unfortunately, with all of this diligent yarn usage I also acquired two bags of All Seasons Cotton from Juls and the yarn I used up wasn't in my Ravelry stash which means that my stash number is now 19903.7 yards. It's going up, not down! That's not good. What is good is that I seem to have enough All Seasons Cotton to make a Susie Hoodie now! Sounds like a good plan for fall.
I opted to crochet on the a irplane rather than knit. I kept hearing horror stories about kntting being confiscated, plus crochet is easier to stop in the middle. I made most of a totally utilitarian dishcloth, I only needed to look up how to do crab stitch once we got here.
I also
started the Stitch Diva Studios Broomstick Lace Jacket. I didn't get very far, it was hard to see in the airplane light. It's a bit bigger now.
I was possessed by the washcloth urge on Sunday, as I often seem to be. I crocheted two of the Practically Hyperbolic Dishcloth while at Boba, and promptly gave them to Anabel for her girls. The wee one was interested in it while I was making it so I thought it might entertain her while Anabel got to knit. That worked for a few minutes. (Ravelry Project Details)
The fourth hyperbolic dishcloth finished that ball of Sugar n Cream and I went eagerly to my Ravelry stash page to delete it and reduce my stash yardage. I hadn't entered it. Don't you hate when that happens?
I finished a scarf for a friend's birthday tonight. It was crochet, so I feel like it's cheating. Crochet goes so fast! I actually crocheted it two times, once with a single strand of the yarn (Art Yarns Regal Silk) and then again doubled. It works better doubled. I don't have a great photo of it, though, because it's totally not my style and I feel silly in it. I think it will look great on my friend though. I hope she likes it. (Ravelry details)
I still have finished either Oblique or the February baby sweater. I did get some buttons, though. I also started working on my Amy Butler bag but my mom needed her sewing machine back, so I will have to wait until Friday to make any progress. This Thursday is my last Textiles class and then I'll have to hand sew the binding on the quilts. I might recruit some help for that one because they need to be done for the Arts reception on the 24th. That doesn't feel like much time for a lot of tedious hand sewing.
I've also been contemplating the general demeanor of knitters. Maybe it's knitters on the Internet, maybe it's knittiners on Ravelry or maybe it's just people in general but everyone feels somewhat hostile recently. Then again, maybe it's me? Don't worry knitters, it's not you, it's me.
