Seems I’m on a bit of a kick. It’s just so easy to avoid other things when you’ve got little tchotchkeys to crochet.
Pattern: Birds of a Feather by Hannah Kaminsky.
Hook: 4 mm/G
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Fresco, color #5367, blue turquoise.
This little guy was a gift for friend Tuko, who’s birthday was yesterday. At her house a few weeks ago I noticed this book (maybe, one very much like it anyway) on the coffee table.
Me: You know, I always think of you when I see these things, but then I second guess myself and think maybe it’s a little too cute? Maybe we’ve outgrown cute?
T: I loooove CUTE!!!
Right then.
Now that I’ve tried it I gotta say amigurumi is freakin’ fun you guys, there’s no doubt I’ll be making more. It’s like instant plump and squishy gratification. The only real problem is finding enough people to palm these off on, though judging by other people’s reactions last night, especially my Dad’s, it wont be too hard.
Next, another birthday present, this time for friend Bonnie, who has a mass of red curls and will, I think, look fab in this color.
Pattern: Queen Anne’s Lace Scarf by Khebhin Gibbons.
Hook: 3.75 mm/F
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted, color #506, mint.
Sorry about the craptacular photo, I finished it rather late in the day and only had time to steam the thing, stuff it in a gift bag, and head off to the party. I wish I had something that showed the whole scarf, instead you get the pics I snapped when I first started it, harsh noon light and all. I want to make one for myself, so maybe I’ll have some better photos to show you then. It’s just such a cool end product, so organic, so Rococo, so easy to make. Right now I’m deciding between another solid colored one or an imitation of Yarnbee’s gorgeous version.
Finally, there’s something I didn’t make, but I wanted to show you guys anyway ’cause I’m smitten with it.
Back in November Tuko gave me this bracelet, which she commissioned her friend Christa to design and make. They picked out the colors together, especially for me, and I gotta say they’re dead on. Between the juicy hues and the abundance of those many petaled flowers (so many teeny stitches!) I feel like I’m wearing summertime.
Turns out my bracelet was the prototype for one Christa sells in her Etsy store, so if you want one, you can have one too. Or maybe one of the other charming pieces she makes? Personally I’m pretty enamored with the sequin rings.
29 Jan 09 | 8:29 pm
Meet my grandmother, the person who taught me how to crochet and knit, how to dance, which fork to use, how to play cards, and, by example, that you can figure out how to do almost anything, and do it well. She’s insanely capable, I’ve seen her fix everything from a clawed up leather jacket to a washing machine. When she makes something it is perfect, and if not she’ll figure out some clever way to make it so.
Recently I was at her house and she really liked some fingerless mitts I was finishing up, so of course I had to make her these:
Pattern: As if I even have to say it, Fetching by Cheryl Niamath.
Needles: US 6/4.0 mm
Yarn: Ugh, I wish I could tell you, ‘cuz I like it. I’ve looked all over the place, but no ball band, no receipt, no luck. It’s an aran weight merino, alpaca and cashmere blend, about 105 yds to 50 grams. If any of that is sounding familiar, especially if you work at Hill Country Weavers, drop me a line. It came from the back room, somewhere near the needles. ETA: I spent a little time sleuthing on Ravelry and found it! It’s Bristol Yarn Gallery King George by Plymouth, color #1042.
As much as I like the yarn, I wasn’t too excited about the mitts themselves. The loose picot bind off the pattern calls for has its own rustic, “why yes, I did make these” sort of charm that I think plays very well with the cables, normally. Not for Grandma though, instead I went with a standard bind off.
Which came out too loose, nicely matching my goofy cast on. If I would have thought about it for two seconds I’d have cast on with a smaller needle, I think I was just too excited to get started though. Whatever the reason, I messed up, but I did think a row of single crochet around all the edges would fix things up nicely. One problem:
That’s all the yarn I had left. Just enough to do the bottom of one mitt as it turns out. At least I could see that yeah, crochet would make things better.
So instead of all the edges, I pulled out the top two rows, re-bound off with smaller needles, and used the salvaged yarn to crochet just around the bottom of the other mitt. Worked out well I think.
I hope she likes them.
In other news… Thanks for all the opinions about the color scheme of my Icelandic sweater. I think I just threw the acidy citron yarn in there because I love that color so very, very much right now. You guys are right though, the mustard harmonizes better, the overall effect is cozier.
Also, I bit the bullet and frogged the problematic bits of my Oblique. One day this thing will be finished. And one day I’ll knit a sweater in exactly the time I think it should take, not half a year later. Right?
23 Jan 09 | 9:23 pm
I’m thinking of Iceland and good ol’ E.Z.
Yes? Or should the yellow be a little more citron than mustard?
18 Jan 09 | 4:18 pm
…and kinda sad too.
Moths. That’s my best guess at least. Ugh.
I started Oblique back in September, hoping to have it done in nine days, just in time to accompany me to San Francisco. The 90 degree autumn we enjoy in Austin makes it easy to get excited about visiting a city with more sweater appropriate weather. In fact the prospect of a crisp and chilly breeze can really do funny things to your head, like make you think you can finish a highly textured sweater in nine days. I didn’t, but managed to have a good time in the city anyway.
When I got back I let Oblique sit, sadly ignored while I was distracted with hats, mitts and other bitsy projects. No more though! I’m determined to finish her before our tiny little winter is over, and have been nothing but faithful this past week, building up a nice pile of sweater pieces.
I was feeling pretty pleased with myself until I decided to lay everything out - sorta have a look at it all together/stare admiringly at what I’ve accomplished so far (you know how you do) and saw that hole, and another smaller hole near it, and the way I had really mucked up the armscyes.
That’s the right front over the left front, and there’s about a 2″ difference in length between the two. I thought my gauge had changed but nope, I counted the rows, I definitely did something strange while decreasing through the lacy bit. So what fun and fabulous things will I be doing this afternoon? I’ll be charting out my decreases, clearing some space in the freezer, and of course, frogging. Wish me luck.
14 Jan 09 | 4:14 pm
Hello! Sorry for the long delay, but thanks very much for saying nice things about my hat. I’m actually reaching near total happiness with it. And look!
I haz a pom!
It’s scraggidy and a wee bit more oblong than round, but it’s as cheerful and charming as a pom can be and I love it.
I hope all your holidays were wonderful, that you are fully recovered from them, and are now happily crafting only for you (if you want to I mean, no pressure.) Right now Bri and I are very into staying cozy and doing domestic things like decorting, cooking and playing video games. We comb Craig’s List furniture listings together, send each other links from Apartment Therapy and Design Sponge, we’ve learned to appreciate the humble staple lifter. We’ve even cleaned and reorganized the closet, which is how I came across this.
This is the last little bit of the very first yarn I knit with in what I think of as “my knitting: modern era.” As opposed to “my knitting: crap era,” which was 20 years ago and eventually resulted in a renewed devotion to my first fiber craft love, crochet. No, this comes from years later when Brian got so bored of me mentioning that it might be cool to try knitting again, he hauled me down to Michael’s, convinced me to get a Susan Bates starter kit, complete with instructional booklet (heavy on 80’s sweaters and garter stitch pillow covers,) two skiens of what I believe was Red Heart, and exasperatedly told me to just try it already.
An important archeological find if ever there was one, but what to do with it?
This jack bugs me, it’s right next to the sink and it ruins my view while I’m doing dishes, chopping vegetables, or squeezing a lime wedge into a can of Modelo. Usually I try to cover up ugly things on the wall with framed pictures, but I couldn’t decide what belonged here. I’ve got the two Nikki McClure prints right over the switch and some photos on a wall close by, so I didn’t want anything too similar, and it had to be red, and graphic, and not too representational.
I tried cutting out a blowup of a section of a suzani from a catalog, which I should have known wouldn’t work. That paper’s wooh(!) shiny, even if you throw a mat and frame around it, it still looks like you cut a picture out of a magazine and framed it because you are lame and couldn’t make the effort to find some real art, or a real piece of fabric for that matter. Still not wanting to leave the house, or wait for shipping, I tried getting out some pens and making myself a little masterpiece, something that’s hard to do when you lack direction, inspiration, or even skillz.
It was a while before I remembered that hey, I’m skilled at making things with yarn! I should make something red, graphic, and not too representational out of yarn. This thing will be flat so I can put it in a frame that will cover up the jack. This thing will be a doily!
Now my taste doesn’t really run to the lacy, flouncy or frilly, but I do have a couple flowery things lurking around the house:
Maybe I could find a not very victorian doily pattern that had something in common with the shapes I already had goin’ on? And maybe I could use up the very last of The First Yarn, because for all its acrylicness, it’s actually a very pretty shade of red. Plus it’d be ironic (satisfyingly cyclical?) to use it for a crochet project.
Ok, so not much of a doily, more of a coaster I guess, or a potholder, a yarny trivet, whatever.
It still makes the kitchen prettier right? Even though it’s a bit small for the frame, and would probably have turned out more graphic if I had used a larger hook, I still dig it.
Pattern: Some sort of variation on Kimberly’s Flower Coaster by Kimberly Andrew.
Yarn: I’m thinking Red Heart Classic Solid
Hook: 3.75 mm/US F, maybe.
07 Jan 09 | 5:7 am
