I've Been Busy

In Progress: I've got one WIP at the moment, although I plan to finish it today, and that is a knitted penguin for my aunt, who's favourite animals are... penguins. We're supposed to go visit them this weekend, however as of right now, the plan is on shaky grounds, and it appears that the trip will be postponed to who knows when. I've used Bernat Super Value for the black parts of the penguin, Caron Simply Soft in sunshine for the
yellowy parts, and what I believe is also some Caron Simply Soft for the white belly; it was a random, unmarked ball of white acrylic I had with other left overs, but oddly enough had never marked down on my yarn sheet (all the other balls of leftovers have their locations written down). The construction is interesting, although maybe a little more involved than it needed to be, but I think it mainly avoids more sewing, which is good. The tail is very cute! Take a look for yourself. The flippers and feet are done, but have yet to be attached, and I had to add an artsy effect to the photo for the eyes to show up well. They're 6 mm safety eyes.

Finished Objects: First off, the Olive Branch shawl blocked out very nicely, and was very well received! I gave the recipient the left over yarn as well, because she's decided to pick up knitting again!
I also finished the Freya shawl, with only 2 g of yarn left over! I have thus far opted not to block it, as the composition is 80% acrylic, and I really like the flirty ruffle along the bottom, and I'm worried that blocking it may remove that. Who knows though, I may block it some day.

French macarons, yum!

The next few FO's are some things I hadn't even mentioned on the blog yet. They're 3 crocheted macarons (the French kind). The family we may go see were just in Paris over Christmas, and gave me some good ideas for my own trip in May, such as suggesting that I try macarons (I'd wanted to anyways!), since my cousin adored them. So since my aunt who loves penguins is getting a penguin, I made my cousin and other aunt each macarons! I changed up the pattern slightly, but I've already written all of that out on the project page. I also crocheted one that followed the pattern for myself ;) I used just some left over Bernat Satin in maitai and banana, and some Caron Simply Soft in pistachio and soft pink.
My last FO this week is the socks that I'd just cast on before my last post. I finished them 2 nights ago, with only 1 g left of my yarn. I didn't think that I'd like the pattern as much as I do. I believe this may become my go-to sock pattern for using up amounts of sock yarn that are too small for a normal pair. They are super comfortable, and fit really well, even without any ribbing. And the yarn is super soft- I definitely need to get more of that next time I'm near a Hobby Lobby!

Stash/Future Knitting: I had all of the yarns I wanted to share here lined up in a certain order to talk about, however I think it'd be better to deviate slightly to talk about my more immediate future knitting when the opportunity arises. 

Blue Mix colourway

I love knitting socks, I think I've mentioned that before. So with my current socks finished, and thinking that I'd have a nice long car ride through which to work on more, I've already planned but not started my next pair of socks. I decided on the sock pattern Charade (it's a free pattern on Ravelry, as are almost all of the things I make), and then by looking through the finished Charade socks, picked out my yarn. I'll be using my Rico Design Superba Bamboo in the blue mix colourway. I ordered it, along with some other sock yarns, from an online retailer called Deramores. They're based in the UK, but you can change the prices to CAD or USD, and have very decent shipping rates to Canada.

Green Mix colourway

In that order, I also got the same yarn in the green mix colourway. Where the blue is a variegated yarn with a slight striping-feel to it, the green is more of a striping yarn, where you sometimes get an almost jacquard pattern as some of the stripes (you know what I mean, I hope). The yarn is 50% merino, 25% bamboo and 25% nylon. It comes in a 100 g ball, so I will have to wind it into two 50 g balls for my TAAT (two at a time) socks. When I do wind one ball into two for this kind of thing, I wind them as two center-pull balls, and leave the outside strands of each attached to each other, in case for some reason one sock uses more, or I didn't get them as evenly measured as I'd hoped. I did the same thing for another pair, and it was good, as I have enough for only 1 sock left, and have the option of making a pair of mis-matched socks without needing to join in the second ball because they're still attached. Case in point, for the socks I just finished, I'd started with two 50 g balls, and finished one of them well before the other, so I joined the other end of the second ball on that sock and continued on until it was almost all gone.

My next future knitting/stash is some yarn that I got while on vacation in Europe. It's madelinetosh tosh sock in the Baltic colourway, which I got for a much higher price than it would have been here, but oh well, it was vacation yarn! I plan to make an

madelinetosh tosh sock

Annis shawl with it and some 6/0 Toho beads I got at Michael's. The Annis shawl is made from the bottom up, a technique I haven't yet tried, and has nupps. I'll be replacing the nupps with some matte blue/green beads, and possibly also putting those beads down the points. I've also got clear/rainbow beads for use on the center of these 'ladder' type things you get from yo's and decreases. Originally this shawl had no deadline, but now I've realized that the dress I plan to wear to my cousin's wedding in August is black, white and blue, so I can wear the Annis!

Catch Up: The next project I have for this section is a present that I crocheted for one of my oldest friends, who also happens to crochet (I didn't find out until after I'd learned how), hadn't yet joined Ravelry, and is working on her Master's degree in Chemistry. So when I saw this pattern, I knew I had to make it for her: it's an Erlenmeyer flask! I made it with Bernat Handicrafter in hot pink because I know she likes pink, and the same yarn in white for the stem. I'd seen others add some stuffing to the outside for a smoke effect, but with kitty cats around, that's probably too much of a temptation for them. The construction of it is very clever, and if you look down the stem of the glass, you can see the pink 'liquid' inside. I found some of those decorative glass balls in an old vase, and put some on the bottom inside for weight, so it'd stand on it's own. I really love the measurements on the side of the flask, and how I did the mouth, but the eye's were really tricky for me since they were curved. I found a video on youtube that helped a bit, but it was a learning curve for sure, and embroidering features like that continues to be a bit of an issue for me. 

My next project was a bit intimidating for me, and I took three breaks along the way before certain finishing touches. It was my first hat, the Kittyville Hat pattern. Most of it was actually completed in July (although I don't think it was mentioned on the blog), but it wasn't fully done until September. I used the Bernat Super Value in black (some of the leftovers of which were used on the penguin) and it was my first time using a circular needle (16" Chiaogoo bamboo) for circular knitting, or any circular knitting for that matter, as I finished the hat part before I'd even started the hamsterbean. Once I cast on and joined in the round, it was pretty easy. My first break happened before I added the ear flaps and I-cord tassels. During this break it became pretty intimidating, but I pushed through and picked it back up, and it was fine! When it was time to add the ears I took another break, as you did so by picking up stitches along the top of the hat. I'd picked up stitches before, but not along a flat fabric before... but again, once I did them, it wasn't too hard. Finally, I wasn't even sure if I'd add the pom-poms at the ends of the tassels. Most of the tutorials I'd seen had used cardboard or actual special plastic cut-outs for forming them, and it all seemed too complicated. I didn't add them until I was on Facebook and saw a video from Bernat about making pom-poms with only your hands, yarn and scissors. I haven't had an occasion to make any more, but if/when I do, I will be referring back to that video.
In the end, I finished the hat in time for winter, and I love it. I wear it about half the time I wear a hat (I've got one other I usually alternate it with).

Baltic madelinetosh wound on my nostepinne

Other: You'll notice that the yarn I plan to make my Annis shawl with is in a skein. I've used fancier yarns from skeins before (3 times so far), but it's always been wound into a ball for me at the store. Now you can wind for yourself at home with a ball winder and swift, just like at the store, but I don't have a job and would rather spend money on yarn that fork over more than $60 for a ball winder. So I got a nostepinne. I've wound balls of yarn by hand before, once I got one into a cake, but it's almost always a ball, and usually a bit hard to get it even because you have to turn the yarn on your fingers. With the nostepinne, you turn it, something you can't do with your hand. It's also super easy to make center-pull cakes on. The one I got was handmade, and cost about $10 from Etsy. It's a very nice walnut wood, with notches for fastening the center-pull strand to the top or bottom. If you go on google, there's all sorts of videos for making yarn cakes on them, and using alternative materials as nostepinnes, such as the tubes from paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls, dowels, or PVC pipes.
When I first got my nostepinne, I practiced by winding center-pull cakes out of leftover balls of acrylic. It's pretty fun to do! Then a few days ago, I wound up the yarn for the Annis on my nostepinne. In my opinion, it looks just as good as something you'd get from a ball winder. 

Quite a lot to mention today, but I did go almost 2 weeks without an update. I'll try to be a little more punctual next time, but we did have some flood-related havoc to occupy my time.

The Almost FO

I've been a bit of an obsessive knitter this week, putting huge amounts of time into the Olive Branch shawl and only that. I also had a bit of a plan for how I'd go through my catch up projects, but now I think I want to skip ahead a bit, because it'd be relevant to what I want to talk about in the 'Other' section today. 

In Progress: I'm still working on the Freya shawl, but like I said in the introduction, I've been really focused on the Olive Branch, so Freya hasn't seen much action since my last post. 

Walk Away Bamboo in Tango

Last night, I cast on for a new project, a pair of socks for myself! I'm using a small bit of Yarn Bee Walk Away Bamboo in the tango colourway, which is a fun mix of blue, pink, orange and lime green with a white strand throughout lending some extra interest to the mix. The yarn is a light fingering according to Ravelry, and composed of 45% bamboo, 40% wool and 15% nylon- it's very soft! I haven't yet covered my sock knitting adventures and how my preferences came about, but I'm knitting these toe-up, two at a time with magic loop on a 47", 2.75 mm Chiaogoo Red Lace circular. I started out planning to make the Mouches pattern, as it is meant to be a small ankle sock and has lace, but I was worried that my ~180 yards just wouldn't make it, so I switched to a pattern that I'd been eyeing that was meant to use only one 50 g ball of sock yarn, and make an even lacier ankle sock. I have about 39 g of a 50 g ball of sock yarn to work with. There are a few reasons that I cast these on now, even knowing that I want to finish the Freya shawl soon. The first is that today (June 8) is world wide knit in public day (WWKIP Day), and I thought we'd be going to a park opening/BBQ today and wanted something a bit more portable and easier than the Freya shawl to bring with me (but I ended up staying home with my mom waiting for our new stove to arrive). The second reason is that the June challenge in the 13 socks in 2013 group involves knitting with fun, springy, variegated yarn, and an option is making them for yourself too, and I've been wanting to use up the rest of this yarn for a little while. It's nice to use some of your yarn, but I get extra satisfaction from setting it as used up in my stash on Ravelry, since so few of my yarn has actually been fully used up! (Still only 5 yarns in the used up tab).

Finish(ing) Object: You may have noticed the absence of the Olive Branch shawl in the In Progress section, and that would be because it is off the needles and currently blocking! I got it off the needles and onto the blocking mats last night, and it feels mostly dry now, but I figured it can't hurt to leave it on there for a few more hours to make sure it's completely dry. I'm also happy to report that none of the dye came out in the water while it was soaking. Here it is pinned out, you may notice a white thread along the top: that is my cheap blocking wire alternative, neutral crochet cotton my grandma grabbed me for free at a destash at the local senior's center. You've just got to make sure that it's threaded through before soaking (luckily I read that tip before attempting this method).

Stash: I've already talking about my Yarn Bee Walk Away Bamboo in the In Progress section, but I just wanted to mention that I got that yarn, along with many others and my first LYS yarn on our trip to Florida this past December, since we don't have Hobby Lobby in Canada.

Luxury Sock in Crocuses

While in Florida, I also got some Loops & Threads Luxury Sock in the crocuses colourway. We have the same yarn at the Michael's here, but it was at least $2 per ball cheaper in the USA (from $8/50 g ball to at least $6, although I don't remember for sure), so I finally got some. I believe it will be self-striping which should be fun, and it's pretty soft (although a bit more 'wooly' feeling than the Walk Away Bamboo), with a composition of 60% merino, 30% nylon and 10% cashmere. I have no idea what pattern(s) I'll be using with this yarn, but it'll be something that goes well with the self-striping nature of it.

Catch Up: I've decided against going out of order for now, so the next two projects I completed were both crocheted! The first was a pattern I'd had my eye on for a while, and decided to make so that I could wear it for handing out candy on Hallowe'en: a brain slug from Futurama! The Bernat Supersaver that I bought specifically for the green colour of the slug was pretty rough on my fingers (mainly the ones holding the project while I speared it with the hook), but I finished it pretty quickly. The antennae stay up for a little bit, but gravity eventually weighs them down, and I added a small crocheted square to the bottom of the slug, so that a headband can be slipped through for wearing it on my head (it worked great for Hallowe'en, and I got a few comments on it too!), but also removed for just displaying the brain slug. 
My other project was a request from my step dad, for another crocheted coaster, similar to the others I'd made, but that wouldn't let condensation from glasses seep through to the table. So using a technique I got from making teething biscuits before, I made two of the circular coasters, and then slip-stitched them together around the outside. I also used a nicer yarn, Bernat Handicrafter in the Neptune colourway, and gave the coaster to him for his birthday. When I first slip-stitched the two coasters together, it was cupped up a little, but most of that went away after a night under my laptop.

Other: I haven't really talked about knitting socks, but I've completed 5 pairs of toe-up socks so far, and I've consistently had a small problem with Judy's magic cast-on. Don't get me wrong, I love this cast on! It's very easy and makes a great looking toe. My problem is that the first stitch on the bottom needle (opposite the slip knot) is always very large and loose on the next round. I always end up taking the yarn tail at the toe and using it to firm up that one loose stitch. So for the socks I cast on last night, once I finally figured out my issue (I kept getting huge, loose toes, and then realized after attempt 5 or so that I was using a 4 mm needle rather than 2.75 mm), I decided to try to fix the loose stitch while knitting. First I tried making that loop really tight, but that did nothing since I always make all the loops as tight as possible. Next, when I came up to knitting it, I knit it normally, and then pulled the yarn over from the back, over the top of the needle to the front, and then in back again (under the needle, ready to knit again), which pulled that large stitch over the new one, and left me with 2 bars on the needle where normally one would be. This was intentional though, and on the next round, I knit both of those bars together. And you know what, there's no loose stitch to need to try to tighten later! It looks a little different on the toe if you really examine it, but there's no gap or anything, and it probably stands out more because of the different colours in the yarn. If my explanation of what I didn't isn't painting a clear picture, it's pretty much like making a double stitch for the yo-yo or German short-row heel, but instead of leaving the yarn in front to purl, I took it all the way around to the back again. In the future, I'll definitely be using this little trick for the loose stitch, although I may try the Turkish cast on at some point, as I keep seeing it mentioned.

That's all for now, I want to get back to my socks and get through the toe increases (one of the more tedious parts in my opinion).
Happy Crafting!

Weighing the Possibilities

It's only been a few days since my last post, but I've got a lot of things to catch up on, and I said I'd post pictures of my two WIP shawls.

1/2 done Freya

In Progress: I started the Freya shawl a few days before I got the yarn for the Olive Branch. I've made some progress since these photos were taken, both projects now have only a small bit of yarn left from the first balls.

Olive Branch

The Freya shawl pattern was adapted from a circular doily pattern, and has a new element to shawl knitting for me: working the pattern on the wrong side as well as the right side. About half of the purl rows involve making a center double decrease or purl yo's (I had to youtube it).
For the Olive Branch shawl, I've finished the 4th repeat of chart one, and I'm halfway done the first repeat of chart two. I hope that there's enough yarn for 2 repeats of chart two... weighing the yarn will be required.

Stash: Since I've already mentioned these two shawls, I'm going to talk about the yarns that they're made from. Olive Branch is made of Malabrigo Arroyo in the aguas colourway. I hadn't worked with Malabrigo before, but so far I've enjoyed this yarn. There've been no problems with the yarn (joins, breaks, knots), and the slight variegation in the colour is fun, I especially enjoy the darkest green parts. Arroyo is 100% superwash merino in a sport weight, so it's not the smoothest thing running over my finger, but it's not nearly as bad as some cheap acrylics I've used. My only complaint is that I should have 200 g in two balls, and only ended up with 195 g, but at least it's only 5 g.
Freya is made with Patons Lace in the sachet colourway. I bought this yarn last year when I came across it at Michael's, since it was the first lace yarn I'd seed there. The yarn is 80% acrylic, 10% wool and 10% mohair, hence the somewhat fuzzy appearance (it's much fuzzier in person). Ravelry classifies it as a light fingering weight. I mentioned in my last post that I was shorted 23 g of yarn in one of these balls, which alone would be enough to stop me from buying more. However, I have another bone to pick with this yarn. As I was getting near the end of the first ball, I came to a knot in the yarn, where the colour switched from white to dark purple! I had to cut the yarn, and then wind it myself into a ball, because the outside of the ball would match okay with the white (it was white, starting the transition to light green), but the mohair made the strand on the outside get tangled on the ball when I tried to use it. While winding it, I got to a weak part that snapped, so add two more ends to weave in there. I wonder if maybe the other ball is so light because there isn't an extra bit tied on to it. At least the yarn feels okay, and it should block out well because of the 20% animal fiber content. 

Catch Up: Between finishing the my crocheted star baby blanket and finishing my summer flies shawl, I started and finished two small projects. The first was improvised to be functional. The light pulley in our office is pretty short, so I took some white cotton yarn and learned how to make an I-cord from youtube. When I got to the end, I decided to take some multicoloured Handicrafter yarn and crochet a little flower onto the bottom. The I-cord stretches a little when you use it, but it makes turning the light on and off with the pulley much easier. 
Around this time, I was contemplating making a pair of socks. I'd found a 100 g ball of Bernat Sox on sale at Zellers, had the dpns (only 4, I now prefer 5), and there were some good instructional videos on the Bernat Forums for a Sox knit along. But before I jumped in with that whole new concept, I wanted to try knitting in the round first. I'd had the hamsterbean pattern in my favourites for a little while, and remembered the description said that it'd be good for learning/practicing knitting in the round... so I grabbed some leftover lagoon Bernat Satin from my afghan and got started. On the first go I didn't join the round properly, and I think I got the yarn a little messed up with the multiple needles, however I got it okay on the second attempt. I didn't have any safety eyes, so I embroidered them on with some leftover black yarn from my summerflies shawl. While doing the second eye, a stray piece of the yarn fell over it's head, and I thought 'gee, that looks like the strap of an eyepatch...' and thus the Dread Pirate Hamsterbean was born! He was pretty fun to make, and a good introduction to knitting in the round.

Other: I mentioned earlier that I'd be weighing my yarn often for the Olive Branch shawl. Let me say, I love being able to weigh my yarn! I found a small Starfrit scale on sale for $10 at Canadian Tire and bought it. Once I had it, I went through my whole stash, adding amounts used to completed projects, etc. I found out that some of my estimates had been very close, and others not so much. Now I've come to realize that I'm quite the data nerd. I've got all of my yarn photographed and on Ravelry with colourway, dye lot, where it was bought and when it was bought. I've got all of my projects with when they were started and finished. Not only did I weigh all of my yarn, but I made a yarn excel sheet where I keep track of all of my yarn and the current weight of each (since Ravelry sometimes isn't precise). However, even if you aren't a data nerd like me, it can be very useful to weigh your yarn to know, say, how much you have left for choosing what to make with the leftovers, or knowing when to finish a toe-up sock, or for tracking how much yarn is being used towards the end of a shawl to decide how many more rows to go. Also, for some things on Ravelry, it's good to know how much you've used, like test knitting, or some contests; for the 12 shawls forever, there's a certain minimum yardage amount. I know that there are some other ways of doing that, but a scale can certainly be a cheap option, and very convenient for measuring while you're in the middle of a project.

Well, I'm going to go work on that Olive Branch shawl,
Happy Crafting!

And We're Back

Well, I kept up with the knitting, but not with the posting.
I've recently been watching some knitting-related podcasts, and I like some of the segments in particular, so I thought that I may adopt some of them for catching up on my yarrny blog. The segments are: In Progress, FOs, Stash, Catch Up, and then Other. 

January on the 2013 Temperature Scarf

In Progress/WIPs: Right now I've got 3 projects going, although one of them hasn't been touched in a while; that would be my 2013 Temperature Scarf. The Bernat forum KAL/CAL this year has been these scarves, where you keep track of the daily temperatures for an area (I'm doing the high temperatures for where I live), and depending on the temperature, there is a corresponding colour that you knit 2 rows in. Obviously the earliest that the scarf will be done is the beginning of next year, so I've let it sit for a few months; my scarf is a simple garter stitch with a 4 stitch seed stitch edge, the kind of easy stuff best left to school time.  I'm using various yarns from my stash or that I bought for the scarf because I didn't have the colours (orange was very hard to find).
Next up is the Freya shawl. I've had the yarn since last year, and had it paired with this pattern since at least December of last year, since I'd printed it out to bring to Florida with me (I never got to it on that trip). I'm just at the beginning of the 3rd repeat of the main pattern (each repeat doubles the number of pattern sections). I've still got 90 g of yarn left, although it should be like 113 g- I was shorted 23 g of yarn on one of the balls of Patons Lace... I got 62 g when I weighed it at home, and it's supposed to be 85 g! Either way, I plan to keep going until the yarn is gone, and I hope that it makes it at least to the end of the pattern. 
My third WIP is the Olive Branch triangle shawl. This one is for a family friend, who picked out and bought the yarn, Malabrigo Arroyo. It's a sport weight yarn, but I've increased my needle size, and she got two balls, which is more than enough. I'm making it larger than the one used in the example the designer made, which had 3 repeats of chart one and 1 repeat of chart two. I'm currently partway through my 4th and final repeat of chart one. Chart two will get 1-2 repeats (or 1.5 if it works out the way I think it will), and then the edge chart and bind off. 

The Finished Object segment will start when I've finished some of the WIPs I mention here, so nothing yet!

For Stash, I've got quite a lot of yarn since I last updated this blog. I'm a little obsessive about keeping the things I like in order (books --> Goodreads, yarn --> Ravelry), and according to my stash, I've got 147 different types/colours of yarn, and an additional 5 used up. Much of that is cheaper yarn that can be found at big stores like Michael's, but since my trip to Florida in December, I've also gotten some higher end yarn from LYSs. Those and my sock yarns will be some of the first that I'll go through on here. First though, I want to mention a cool find I had. I was going through a drawer in my room, and I came across two balls of teal/purple/lavender/berry worsted, acrylic yarn by Bernat. I looked all over Ravelry and the internet for more information, but didn't find much. It was from an old kit I had about learning to crochet, from when I was much younger. The instructions and hook are long gone, but the best part is the yarn! It's called Bernat Knitting Worsted, and was made in May 1999. According to the ball band each ball is 42.5 g, although mine are 43 and 46 g.

Catch Up is for me to catch up on talking about finished objects from when I stopped updating last August. I figure I'll just continue in order from when I stopped. Today, I'll do the updates for the three projects I had in progress during my last post. 

First up was my crocheted star afghan. I was just working on the border, and I actually completed it later in the day, after my post!

Next, I was talking about the rectangular, red pom-pom blanket that I was making for my mom. It turned out very soft and warm! One issue I had was that some of the balls of yarn I had were actually falling apart between the pom-poms. I used 8 of the 10 balls I had, and I don't really know if the last two are usable, because they were the ones with issues. Also, most of the balls I did use were of different dye lots, which led to inconsistencies in the thickness of the strand between the pom-poms, and the pom-poms themselves. Using the same dye lot doesn't fully protect you from this either, as when I knit another blanket, I had the thickness of the yarn change in the middle of a ball (it was a new strand joined with a knot).
My third project was the summer flies shawl, my first shawl project. It took me what felt like quite a while, especially during the open knotted-work section (a pity because I qutie like the look of that kind of stitch). I did the picot bind-off that the pattern used. It's nice and frilly and probably warm too, although a little bit small. It would probably be a bit larger if I blocked it (although the yarn is 100% acrylic), but I opted not to, as it's pretty cute as it is. I may get to wear it this August to one of my cousin's weddings. I have a pretty blue/black/white dress, and although I've made other shawls, none would really match except this one. I did make it after getting inspiration at a wedding after all.

In Other today, I wanted to talk about an issue I had related to tensioning yarn. Originally, I would hold the strand of yarn in my middle, ring, and pinkie fingers, with the fingers curled up around the yarn against my palm. This did create some pain, and wasn't the best way to hold the yarn. After crocheting for a while, this past December I finally started wrapping the yarn around my pinkie on my right hand while knitting (like I do with my left hand while crocheting). This has now become how I always tension the yarn, however this morning, while working on the Olive Branch shawl, I felt some irritation on my pinkie finger. It seems that I've now developed a nice red ingrown hair right in the middle of where the yarn usually goes on the top of my finger. Ow. I was tensioning the yarn with my ring finger for a bit after that (a little tight), but when I noticed that I was subconsciously switching back to using my pinkie, I decided to take a break, and write this post instead!

I'm going to try to update this at least once a week during the summer. Next time, I'll post pictures of the two shawls I'm working on as well.

Happy Crafting!

Big Update on Everything

Gosh, I did let this slide a bit, but with good reason... I've had lot's of progress in my yarrny crafts!

First off, I finished my 2010 KAL afghan! The colour combination was great in my head, scary when I was putting it together, but overall, now that it's done, I think it works well.

I learned how to cable and make bobbles! Both were just as great as I'd hoped. I started cables with a 3.5mm bamboo dpn because I couldn't find my cabling needles, but it didn't work as well as I'd hoped because the bamboo can be a little rough, although a plus was the bamboo holding the stitch onto the needle. I did eventually find the cabling needles, and settled with the smalled 'J' shaped one. I never did get the hang of or enjoy doing cables without a cabling needle as the Bernat blog had suggested trying. I could just see the stitches getting smaller and smaller without being on a needle. 
For blocking, I actually decided to block them to the same templates I used for the first afghan, after measuring squares from each clue. The biggest problem was that the clue 3 squares were much wider than every other square, so even after blocking they were the largest. 
It all came together nicely though, especially with the use of little hair clips to hold squares together when seaming, so they are sewn evenly. It's very soft and comfortable, and smells delicious since it smells like the fabric softener from the hand towels I used in blocking!

I also finished up all of the squares for my crocheted star blanket. I ended up adding a border to the two smallest star squares, and added a stitch on either side of the pattern for the remaining few I had to crochet. The star squares started going quicker though, when I stopped trying to make dc stitches inside of the chain stitches, and just worked right into the chain space (which, if anything, made them look better, and was sooo much faster)! I've blocked them all, and started on the border just yesterday, even though I finished seaming last week. The reason I waited was because the border is made up of one round of sc in white, one round of dc in contrast A (my green), another round of sc in white, and then one round of dc in contrast B (my yellow). But I'd learned from the border I added to my two star squares that if you add too many stitches on the sides, where the stitches aren't definite, then it will flare; so I was a little worried I may get the same thing happening. Thanks to YouTube though, and this helpful video, I was able to figure it out. I did occasionally have spots of flare, but today I learned something new to help combat that as well. I learned how to do a sc decrease and a dc decrease! I'm very happy to know how to do them, and they worked out well in helping to reduce those few areas of wavy flare. The border really helps make the blanket and bring it all together. I can't wait for it all to be done! I'm taking a break from it now because crocheting hurts my right hand. I can't seem to hold the yarn well. Wrapping it around my pinkie finger doesn't let it flow well and it gets tight, but the way I do it now just hurts! :(

Vanity baskets

Anyways, I've also started and finished a few more crochet projects since I last wrote. 
I made a small crocheted teething biscuit for my step-sister, who's expecting. I learned how to slip stitch two flat crocheted items together in the making of it. I also crocheted some small vanity baskets for my bathroom. The biggest, squat one is for facial scrubs, the smallest is for Q-tips, and the tall one is for makeup, like eye-liner, mascara, and lip gloss. That third one I kind of improvised, and after a few attempts ended up with one round of dc followed by one round of tr for the bottom. 

Stars of David in the yarmulke

I also crocheted a yarmulke for my dad. I used a pattern from Ravelry that uses a star stitch to make a round of Stars of David around the outside of the yarmulke. My dad chose the colour of the crochet thread, Really Royal Bernat Handicrafter crochet thread. I also got a small 2.25mm crochet hook for the yarmulke. It took a lot of work and I had a somewhat hard time figuring out the star stitch at first, but once I figured it out, I enjoyed working it. My only problem with it is that you can't really work increases with the star stitches, so the yarmulke doesn't lie as flat as I'd hoped, and my dad may need to use a few bobby pins to keep it on. 

Still need to add a button

Finally, the most recent crochet project I've attempted is a cell phone case. I want one that will fit well over my iPhone while it's in the silicon case. I made one case from a Lily Sugar'n Cream pattern. But it's much too hard to get my phone in and out of with the case on. So I tried starting two more with bigger stitches and more stitches, but both still weren't thick enough! So I've temporarily shelved my idea, but I know what I'll do next. The pattern is reminiscent of granny squares, (which I've never attempted before, yay!), but instead of starting it right off with that, I'll start off with a slightly longer version of a 'one ply' teething biscuit like I made for my step-sister's baby, and then start the granny square sides from there. That should give the case enough thickness for the silicon-clad iPhone to easily slide into and out of. I really just want it to protect the screen from hazards in my purse and backpack while in transit. 



The border for my crocheted star blanket isn't the only project I'm currently working on though. I'm working on a pom-pom blanket for my mom right now. The balls are different dye lots because I got them discounted by more than 50%, but she doesn't mind at all, she's just excited to have it! It's my first time working with pom-pom yarn, in this case it's the Loops and Threads brand. I'm using 6mm circular needles for it, and you work one stitch between each pom-pom. The pattern from Ravelry is for a square blanket, but it's quite small, so I'm making it rectangular, following what someone else did. The only problem was when I got to the point of extending the length. The blanket is knit diagonally, so if I just started knitting back and forth, it would end up like... a rectangle with a triangle on each end. I just wanted a normal rectangle like the other person had, so I looked it up and eventually found out how to accomplish it! You just increase at the start of every other row, and decrease at the beginning of the other rows. It's so soft and squishy!

And then, the other day, I started my first knit shawl. I was at a wedding a few weeks ago, and was quite cold at the reception, when I noticed a woman with a shawl over her shoulders. I was quite jealous of the warmth, and said to myself 'Hey! I could make that!' So that's what I've started to do. 
I just needed to find a shawl pattern that could be made with thicker yarns. I'd always figured you needed a lace or fingering weight yarn for a shawl. I ended up with Summer Flies. I'm using Red Heart Soft Touch yarn in black, and a 5.5mm circular needle. I'm more than halfway through the pattern row-wise, and now up to more than 150 stitches. I like knitting it though, and I can't wait to have it finished! I'm sure it will need blocking, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it! 
In the hopes of possibly making more shawls, I've got some sparkly black yarn and other yarns in colours that would be nice as shawls... really I've been stocking up on all sorts of yarn, as Zellers is closing and the yarn is marked down! They're turning it into Target (which I love, but I know doesn't sell yarn in their American stores), and I'm going to miss Zellers's selection of yarn brands and varieties, which Wal-Mart pales in comparison against, and even gave Michael's a run for it's money! I even found some Bernat Sox yarn in camouflage (which I was 'meh' about at first, but the colours have grown on me since I've seen it in person), to hopefully knit my first pair of homemade socks with. 

Things I learned:

• how to knit cables
• how to knit bobbles
• how to crochet borders
• how to sc decrease
• how to dc decrease
• how to crochet the star stitch
• what it's like crocheting with thread and a very small hook
• (kind of) how to work stitches for granny squares
• how to slip stitch things together
• how to knit with pom-pom yarn
• how to knit a rectangle on the bias
• there are shawl patterns for thicker yarns

Lot's of Updates for Knitting and Crochet

This is somewhat of a continuation on from my last post. There’s an update about my maple leaf pattern, and also my dad’s gifts. And then a few other things.

Thinking about the rollerblade keychain and the cupcake, I was pondering how I could wrap them. I was also looking through my favourites on Ravelry, and came across the pattern for a little crocheted drawstring bag. I figured I could put the rollerblade in it and just give him the cupcake without any wrapping. So I grabbed some leftover Classic Navy yarn from my afghan and set to work. There was a lot of back loop only crocheting, and I misread the instructions for how often to leave a hole for the drawstring. I ended up with 16 holes when there should have been 12. Besides that though, it turned out perfectly, and bigger than I’d anticipated! I fit both the rollerblade and the cupcake inside. I figured that once he’d taken his things out from the bag, he could put his earbuds or other electronic cords in it. The draw string for the bag suggested using the double chain stitch to make it, rather than just a chain, and included instructions on how to do that, so I also learned the double chain stitch (a bit of a pain since chains can be a nuisance) for the string!

Before I go on to the next few projects to mention, I’ve done a lot of stash building since I’ve last updated. I got lots of varieties of Bernat Handicrafter; Creamsicle, Neptune, Over the Rainbow, Fruit Punch ombre, and white. The white was one of those large skeins... 710 yards. That should last for a while! There’s also some Bernat Supervalue in Lush (a lime-ish green) and Black, some clearance Bernat Softee Chunky in Grey Heather, and Patons Decor in Rich Country Blue. I also got the circular needles I needed (but unfortunately only in 5 mm, not 4.5 mm... no one carried that long of circulars with that small needle size!), as well as two sets of dpns (3.5 mm and 5 mm), and a pair of Clover bamboo 5.5 mm straight needles.

As I mentioned in my last post, I also went to Michael’s to get some red yarn, and was quite disappointed in the lack of variety. I ended up with some Patons Canadiana in Cardinal red. It’s a very vibrant red, and soft yarn too.

Left to right, in the order they were made

Armed with some red yarn finally, I went back to the maple leaf appliqué I’d made. I found that it’s quite different working with acrylic yarn rather than cotton, even if they are both the same size. My first red maple leaf’s pointy side parts looked too small, especially when compared to the new bottom parts I’d come up with. So I added a few extra rows. The leaf looked okay but not really like a maple leaf. Next I used my original pattern (plus remade bottom parts) with some of that new white cotton Handicrafter yarn. It turned out fine, with the pointy parts as they should be, but it really needed some red for Canada. So using the last flower coaster I made as inspiration, I took that red yarn and made a border with single crochets and some slip stitches. In hindsight, I should have done single crochet for the top pointy part (the biggest area that I used slip stitches instead for), but I’d wanted it to retain it’s shape the most. Finally, I made one more attempt with the red and my normal pattern. To make sure they points stayed sharp, I bordered it with the white cotton yarn (this time single crocheting the border on the top as well), and I must say I think it looks great! So great that I went back and put a white border on the first red leaf I made as well. I didn’t end up giving them to the family that came over though. We got them Canada shirts instead.

Left to right: Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4

More progress has been made on my 2010 KAL afghan. I’m now working on square 2/3 of clue 4! This clue finally had a new technique for me, Sl3. I think my Sl3’s are a bit too tight, and vary a bit across the squares, but it’s not bad. The front of these clue 4 squares looks neat, but the back looks really cool as well. When I was working on clue 3, the pattern said to do 3 repeats of the pattern and finish. I did just that, but when I got to the last stitch, I realised that my square was much too short, and this pattern wasn’t very stretchy height-wise! Comparing it to the previous pattern’s squares, I decided that a fourth pattern repeat would be necessary... but I’d already nearly finished the bind off row. Luckily, I hadn’t yet cut the yarn, and I figured out how to tink the bind off. Looking back, I should have really only done a half more of the pattern rather than a whole repeat, but I’m counting on my other ones being kind of stretchy...

These clue 4 squares go pretty fast, but it’s just a bit annoying to do the Sl3 all of the time. Hmm, I’d thought I was coming up to some cabling soon (can you tell I want to try it!?), but that’s not actually until clues 7 and 8! Clue 5 is lacy with ssk, yo and k2tog, and clue 6 is lacy as well with Sl1 thrown in as well... it’s got quite the complicated-looking instructions, although they’re nothing compared to the cabling instructions. Wow!

Plain yellow square

And if all of that wasn’t enough, I’ve actually been working on another blanket! This one is crocheted, but also worked in squares and then sewn together. I started it on June 22.

I’d been shopping with my mom at Zellers and found out that all of their Bernat baby yarns were on sale. The Bernat Baby Coordinates caught my eye with their soft colours and shiny threads, and it turned out that smaller skeins and larger of the same yarn were the same price! On the label of one of the smaller skeins I’d been holding, there was a pattern for a baby blanket with stars on it, and I love stars, so I checked out how many skeins you need for it. It said 2 MC, 1 A, 1B, with their suggested colours being white, yellow and blue. I replaced blue with Iced Mint, and used Lemon Custard for the yellow, and got the pattern online once I was home, since the larger skeins had different patterns on their labels.

White star square made with 5mm hook

I’m now hoping that the larger skeins will save me from needing to buy more yarn! The gauge for the blanket is 6” for a square, (is that 6”x6”? I suppose...).  Using my 4.25 mm hook, my square turned out like 7.25”x6”. So now my squares** rectangles are larger than called for, and therefore using more yarn. I’ve finished all 7 of the plain yellow squares, and I haven’t yet done any of the 8 plain green squares. I started the white star squares yesterday. There are 15 of those in all, and so far I’ve done two. But I had a bit of an unhappy surprised when the first star square was done... it was too small! I’m a little worried actually that my gauge has become smaller (i.e. closer to what is normal gauge) for crocheting... which would also mess up my green squares! For now though, I’m working on the assumption that the star is what makes those squares smaller, and made the second one with a 5 mm hook. It turned out to be perfectly in line with the yellow squares I’ve done, which do vary a slight bit in size, but nothing like so much variation as the squares of my first afghan had, and nothing that blocking can’t fix! And for the first star square that was pretty tiny, I added a border to make it a bit bigger, and figure I will just stick that square in a corner. ;)

The star squares are fun to do, but it’s hard to do the double crochets above where a hole for the star is, since it’s actually working into the chain, especially now with the 5 mm hook. I’ve ended up using one of my knitting needles to spear the spot in the chain I’m going to work though and stretch it out a bit for the hook so that it’s easier going.

Things I learned:

• how to Sl3
• how to tink the bind off row
• how to crochet in the back loop only
• how to do the double chain stitch (dch)
• that cotton and acrylic yarns can act very differently

Lots of Crochet!

(This post was written on June 29)

I’m still working on my 2010 KAL afghan; I’ve finished the first clue, and I’m 2.5/3 squares done clue 2. However, my pace has been slowed by all of the crocheting projects I’ve done!

I tried a new coaster pattern. It’s really pretty, and most of these ones on Ravelry had white in the main petal part, which looks really nice, but I didn’t have any white. For that coaster, I learned how to do a front post double crochet (FPDC). It’s pretty easy to do, and it looks really neat. The single crochet border on the flower looks great too, and really makes the coaster pop!

The flowery not-leaf

With Canada Day coming up on Sunday, I looked on Ravelry and Google to try to find a free, small, easy maple leaf pattern, preferable crocheted. I found a few nice ones that cost money, and a few that were too big, and some that were too complicated for what I wanted (and knit). I was pretty surprised given all of the other things you can find patterns for. So I did two things: first, I tried making a little flower pattern I’d noticed that looked leaf-like on Ravelry because it was done in red and somewhat pointy- mine didn’t come out like that, even after I added a stem. Second, I tried making my own pattern! I wrote down how many I chained to start, but then I didn’t write down what I did for the bottom leaf part, and it wasn’t anything simple... it was pretty random actually. I wrote down the rest of what I did though. I’ll post the pattern once I figure out what I did for the bottom, hopefully tonight after I’ve bought some red yarn. The pattern is more complicated than it probably needs to be, and how one of the ends is weaved in is important. Three different pieces of yarn are used for it.

My own pattern for the maple leaf

What I was envisioning using the maple leaves for was attaching them to safety pins, and wearing them on shirts. I’ll definitely wear one, and I’m going to make my dad one. I’ve also got some family from the USA coming to visit this weekend, and I thought I could make some for the kids as Canadian souvenirs.

Next, thinking of my dad’s upcoming birthday, I’d already decided what to get him- er, I mean make him. I’d also picked up the supplies to make it too. But, hey, why not make a few more things. First there was the cupcake. I just picked a small cupcake pattern from Ravelry, of the many I’d favourited, and set to work on it. I learned how to crochet in the front loop only for that one. Once the icing and cake parts were done, I couldn’t wait to stuff it, even though I had no stuffing! So I grabbed some Kleenex, and then some more. It took 5 tissues in all, but I think it’s filled pretty well... seamed on the other hand... I don’t like how I seamed it, and it turned out a bit crooked, but it still stands, so that’s not so bad.

Then on June 29, I made my dad’s main present. Knowing he loves rollerblading, I tried to find a pattern for a rollerblade appliqué, but even worse than the maple leaf, there were none to be found! There were patterns for ice skates, but they all hinged on using something for the blade and working from there. I still used one of the patterns to try to make the rollerblade boot, which turned into my first attempt. That took place in May, when I was first learning how to crochet. Attempt 1 didn’t work out well, but attempt 2 was better. I saved it to work off of once I got the yarn. But once I got the yarn in the beginning of June, I felt I needed to get better at crochet. Finally, yesterday, I started again with attempt 3. It was okay, but not quite there yet. Attempt 4 made the grade! And I learned from the maple leaf, and wrote down how to make it this time. I mean, I did have to duplicate it myself once anyways. The keychain (which is what the final gift is), is double sided, with button-wheels sewn in between the two layers as wheels, and some white yarn as laces.

Once both appliqués were done, I sewed them together with the yarn, on all sides except the bottom. My mom helped with the button-wheels, and then I added the “laces”. I’d originally planned on putting the key ring right through the top corner of the boot itself, but that turned out harder than I thought, so I crocheted a chain for the key ring. I’m super happy with how it turned out, and I hope it holds up if he uses it. 

Things I learned:

• how to crochet in the front loop only
• how to do a front post double crochet (fpdc)
• how to make a stuffed project (kind of)
• how to make my own maple leaf and roller blade appliques