20 posts tagged “crochet”
a late father's day "surprise" because my cards didn't get here until monday. I want to buy a lot of paper to make a lot of crane-mobiles.
dainty little hair-clip that took about 10 minutes to make. wahoo.
also--that's one of my very FIRST quilt blocks. i get to make more today!
because these booties are most def cute: yes or yes?
pattern can be found here: http://www.saartjeknits.nl/
I used worsted weight wool and 3.25 mm (US3) needles.
I need some baby feet to put them on. they're about 4 inches long, so they'll fit 6-12 month old toes, I believe.
I finished the body and one sleeve of a toddler seamless hybrid (Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern I'm using from Knitting Without Tears) I put the sleeve and body on a long needle, while I finish up the second and let me say...I am totally psyched. this will be my first bottom up sweater! I'm going to be bummed the little one won't be able to wear it til fall! I made it slightly larger than the measurements I took because I know he's going to grow a bit by then AND I want to hope he'll fit in it the NEXT winter, as well.
I went a baby shower, this past weekend. I gifted a blanket, sweater (crochetme.com's Baby It's Cold Outside), overalls (part EZ, part me), a burp cloth (Mason dixon Knitting) and a bib (me) all in a basket that I lined myself! i was sooo excited and everything was well received. her theme was John Deere, if that isn't apparent. heh
<<newb socks basic top-down sock pattern with short-row heel.
next up:
when it's laid down flat like that, it looks like a huge sock toe. love it! while the box was set-up, I managed to also get pics of the Happy Hooker bunny I made over a year ago and some coasters I made as my first sewing project, this weekend-
hooray! a few things kept me from updating regularly. the major factor was time, of course.
anyway, since my last post (lace yarn), I've made a few things. I don't have pictures of the lace shawl progress, but I'm only 7 repeats into the budding lace chart. it's coming along nicely, though I get a little anxious just thinking about it. I think it's going to stay in my incomplete box a little longer.
the following are my largest FO's from the past month and a half--
first up, I made another star blanket for a friend's new baby. this one was made with a bunch of wooly scraps. it was so soft and cushy. I embroidered her initials on it, too. it was much appreciated and that made me happy!
next, I used this pattern, size US 8 needles, and a bunch of Peace Fleece to make a blanket. I increased to 600 stitches before I used a picot bind-off (crazy). this blanket took me 3 weeks to make. it's currently on my son's bed. even though it's too ridiculously hot outside to have a wool blanket, it keeps the bub warm when he falls asleep without any clothes on. it can get chilly with the a/c on.
next, I made yet another star baby blanket. this one was made in 3 days! it was a gift to my niece, who turned 3 at the beginning of April.
for this one, I used Caron Simply Soft and an H hook. I can't believe how fast it worked up. one reason I'll never ditch crochet is precisely that--it works up so fast!
next, I dyed sock yarn (Bare - Superwash/Nylon Fingering Weight) for the first time. I used various colors of kool-aid in a very large cast-iron pot. I basically just poured random colors all around. I also knit up my first complete sock in fingering weight yarn. I had started and frogged a few, so this one was very exciting to finish!
I used the yarn I dyed and KnitPicks US2 DPNs. the pattern is from the current issue of knitty, the Quill Lace socks. this pattern was very easy. I had to increase to CO 72 sts, because I used thinner yarn and slightly smaller needles. they fit perfectly!
I was so happy with the dye results, I wanted to immediately dye (and knit) some more sock yarn. I had 2 large mason jars and wanted to experiment with more organized dyeing, so I ended up hanging half the yarn in this golden yellow color and half in an orchid color. during the dyeing process, I had to renew the amount of colored water in each jar, because the hank would absorb the color (water would go clear), but parts were still bare. when I was satisfied with those colors, there was still a bare section in the middle (the part of the yarn that didn't go into any jars) and I ended up hanging that portion into the pot, after I sprinkled blue and green kool-aid into it. what resulted was some fantastic yarn!
with it, I made 2 pairs of socks. one pair was for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day and the other was a pair of baby jaywalkers for my son! I used the knitty pattern Monkey for my MIL's socks. we actually gave them to her this weekend and she loved them! we also gave her a pair of Crocs that she thoroughly enjoyed. for the baby jay walkers, I just decreased my CO sts to 44 and the number of sts between increasing and decreasing to 3. they were easy peasy!
now, I'm working on another pinwheel for my new nephew and a tomten jacket from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. it never ends.
i wish I could change my vox name to "mamacrafts" because i do more than crochet!
anyway, here are a few things I've made in the past week or so.
first up: a necklace! I saw the little star beads first and new I had to have them. the placement of the hole makes it not the greatest candidate for a stitch marker, so I figured I should make a necklace. the blue pearly beads caught my eye next and lastly, the glass pendant. it came out nicely, I think. I'm fairly certain I've decided to wear it to my younger cousin's wedding, this weekend.
I hope it's not arrogant of me to say I was then inspired by my own necklace to make something else. I made this shrug in about a day, using this fabulous tutorial on craftster.org.
I used some cheap Caron Simply Soft in "rose violet" because I probably won't wear it much at all.
I also crocheted that teal edging on the black tank top. it had little holes on the edging that were perfect for it! it was pretty much asking for it, ya know?
it's rather warm, around these parts (like 70F), so this will more than likely be what I wear on Saturday evening for the wedding. I'll probably wear a skirt, too. *gasp! shock!* hah
on top, we have Odessa sans beads in light blue. I used some leftover SS from the shrug to slip-stitch the lines. I really disliked the little holes this pattern left.
on the bottom, a basic beanie/cloche with twisted DC at the bottom, to make little eyelets, without too much of a hole. she can remove the teal yarn, if she wants. I also included two more of those yo-yos, that she can interchange. the yarn used for this is Lion Brand's Homespun in "Baroque" that was in my stash. I really like the way this one came out. it's thick and sosooo cushy!
the crochet challenge at craftster.org is 'Hats Inspired by Animals' so I went ahead and dished one out (owl). it was so cute, I had to make another in a different animal (raccoon), though it won't be allowed in the challenge.
I used LB Homespun and Jiffy and a K hook for everything except the trim on the booties; I used an H hook for that.
as modeled by a 1-pounder.
she wanted green and orange. celery and pumpkin.
the "holes" were made by ch1, skip 1, then DC in next stitch.
easy peasy!
I've got at least 2 more hoods to make and I'm working on my first pair of socks, right now. they're pretty much the opposite of exciting, but I guess that will change when I get to the heel. hooray for learning new things!
I'm currently roasting a pie pumpkin, so that I may make some pumpkin bread, this evening. my son will be so excited to have some. I remember last year wanting to give him some so bad, but he was a weee 4 months old and we wanted to abstain from solid food for as long as possible--goooooo boobies!
since my last post, I've completed 2 more hoods and started 2 others. one of the ones I completed is a baby hood and it is cute, if I may say so myself!
this pink hood is one I made for Jason's step-sister. I actually knit the scarf part using the 'Yo, drop it!' pattern from SNBN. I knit until I ran out of yarn--not very long, so I marked off the ~18in for the hood and started to DC across. when it was big enough to fit over my noggin, I fastened off and sewed across the top. I added a simple border and a button (the dropped stitches make the perfect button holes!), and voila! all done!
1 more gift down..
I've got the 'scarf' part of 2 more hoods made and I've already DCed across the hood part for a few rows. I should be done with them by the end of the week!
pattern: http://www.angelfire.com/folk/celtwich/Pixiehood.html
changes:
I used Caron Simply Soft and an H hook. I think my beginning chain was
25, instead of 15 and I made the initial scarf a little longer. I also
marked the hood in the center 18inches, instead of 7 and 4.5 inches
from the ends (if you read the pattern, you'll understand the previous
sentence;)) and just crocheted until it looked like it fit, I'm not
sure if I got the same amount of rows as the patterns says. I also
added a border to the hood part and omitted the ascot ends. it's for my
sister--she chose the colors and I chose the pattern + buttons.
so, obviously, I scrapped the double knit stars for her. she should have no qualms with this, though! I mean, she also got the knucks and she got to choose the colors.
[these bitty pics are details of the hood and the knucks i made last week or so..]
I'm already starting another hood, but this time in DC because I think it took a *little* too long for a crochet project. plus, the fabric is a bit stiff, for my tastes.
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I can't believe I forgot to post these little octopodes I made using the directions by Ferret Hammock. found here.
I have homespun in one more color and had to force myself not to make another! they're so cute. I think they'll be gifted to my Jason's littlest cousins as Christmas presents.
gah. I'm still squeeeing at how adorable they are.
