Bad Winter

It's been a long, long winter. No, the weather wasn't all that bad, but the frequent weather changes have been triggering more migraines, and bad spins. Plus, I've been busy taking classes, and doing homework! Our area is very lucky to have some great local yarn stores. I have had to leave early from one class session because I was getting a real whopper of a migraine, but so far I haven't had to miss any. Although now that I've said something, I may have cursed myself.
Anyway, I signed up for a new sock class, a finishing class, a continental knitting class, and a baby blanket class. It's been nice to get out, meet people, and spend some time just knitting.
I actually finished my first sock! It's the Simple Sock from Cat Bordhi's book Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. Using the two needles worked better for me than using one long needle, aka the "Magic Loop" method. The cuff on the Magic Loop method was warped, whereas the cuff on this one is much better. I also didn't stick a hole in my finger from the sharp point on the needle like I did last time I tried sock knitting. I really enjoyed it and will be casting on the second one any day now. Really, I will. No Second Sock Syndrome for me. It won't be like my promise to blog more than once a quarter. I'll actually do this.

This is one of the blocks from the baby blanket class. It's a block-a-month class at a different yarn store than the one I took the other classes. This one meets for a couple more months yet. We've also done a garter stitch block, as well as a basket weave stitch block, and a twisted stockinette block. I'll post more photos soon. I'm using Berroco Comfort yarn, and it's nice and soft.


After all the knitting I've been doing, I felt the strong pull of crochet. I'm almost done with this baby blanket using Bernat Softee Baby in the Baby Baby color. It's the same stitch pattern I used for the Shell Baby Blanket on my Ravelry page. I've been doing some fast crochet projects, and experimenting with Tunisian Crochet, which I'll blog more about this week.(I really will)

I Should Be Careful What I Say

..because I end up making a lot more work for myself. At the beginning of December, my brother went to a craft show at a local church and saw a fleece blanket that had dogs wearing Santa hats. One of the dogs looked like one of our dogs, Chloe

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He called me and wanted me to look at it, because he liked it, but he wasn't sure. So, I went and looked at it. It was cute, but I thought I could do better. So, I called him back and said. "You know, I can go to Joann's and probably get the same fabric, line it, for less" There was silence for a moment, and then he said "Would you?" in this quiet "I feel funny about asking but I will" voice. Of course, I couldn't say no. So, I went to Joann's and was getting pretty nervous when I couldn't find the material in the fleece section. I went to the middle of the fabric department and found the material in with the Christmas fabric and some red fleece to match to use for a backing. I wasn't sure how much I would need, so I bought a couple of yards. Considering my limited sewing skills-I still have a problem sewing straight seams, I don't think it turned out too badly.

There was a decent amount of both fabrics left, so I mentioned "There may be enough for a couple of pillows." My brother said "Great" So, I went back to Joann's on the Saturday before Christmas and picked up a couple of pillow forms. I had a couple in the closet, but I wanted to make one pillow a little larger than what I had. I finished them Christmas Eve. I need more practice making pillows. I had a hard time sewing up the final side, trying to make the seam invisible.

So, I spent the days after Christmas looking for more of the same fabric so I could match what I had left. I searched all the Joann stores in the area, but they were wiped out. I did fine the same fabric, not fleece, but woven, with the same dogs. Only they don't have Santa hats on. Of course I told my brother and then said I got enough for a couple of pillows. What did my brother say? He said "Great, then we can have them out all year long." I was ready for this one, though. I got another pillow form at the same time I got the fabric. I need to get some brown fabric or another color to use for a backing. It'll be a nice project to work on now that it's so cold. Plus, there's the knitting and crochet projects I have on the front and back burner.

A Quick Announcement

All comments are now on moderation since a Spammer left the comment on the last posting which has since been deleted. This is a spam-free blog...although Spam is rather tasty warmed up with some melted cheese over it. I haven't eaten this in years, but it'd probably give me a migraine now anyway.

Well, So Much For the More Frequent Blogging,

LOL! We've been having unusually nice weather so I've been taking advantage of it. I've been spending more time outside with the dogs. Unfortunately there's been a lot of rapid changes in the weather so I've been dealing with the migraine beast as well.

But, I've actually been finishing projects, and making progress on others!
I'm putting together a baby blanket I'm now calling the Mirror Image Baby Blanket. I made granny squares reversing the colors and was going to put them together like this.

But, once I had it laid out on the bed, it struck me as being a little busy. So, I asked my brother his opinion-he actually has good taste. He suggested that I put the colors so that the lighter edge rows contrast with the darker edged squares. I liked it!

The only problem, and it really isn't a problem, is that the last row will be a darker edge row and the first row is a light edged row. I could probably do another 10 squares of the blue centers and white outside. But, I am going to edge the whole blanket in white so it might not make a difference. I'll see. If I make the squares and don't use them in the afghan, I can always make a scarf or something else out of them. I have a lot of yarn left. I used Red Heart Eco-ways yarn for this blanket. It worked up quite nicely and has a nice sheen to it.

This baby blanket worked up fairly quickly with a shell pattern I found in the 365 Crochet Stitches a Year Perpetual calendar. It's a great design tool I'm really enjoying.

This is a close up of the pattern. I used some Caron Simply Soft I had in my stash. I had a craft show a couple of weeks ago at a local church and I wanted to get another baby blanket done.
I'm happy it sold. This year I was very pleased with how I did at the show. I have a few other things I finished, but I'm having problems uploading photos right now. I'll blog more about those in an upcoming post.

Happy Blogoversary!!

Happy Blogoversary!! I can't believe another year has passed in my crafting life. It seems like only yesterday that the Dizzy Crafter was born. Crochet and knitting have been invaluable in to coping with the daily challenges and rapid life changes living with the invisible illnesses of chronic migraine, vertigo, dizziness and CFIDS bring. Being able to create something in either craft helps me concentrate and to focus which can be very difficult with the brain fog. It's also a great sense of still being able to create something that looks lovely and is functional when many days/times, doing basic functions can be difficult. Crochet and knitting provide a link to the outside world, the ability to expand my knowledge and my worldview, and a sense of community.

In the days to come, I plan to blog more often, and hopefully post some patterns, both for free and for sale both here and on Ravelry, and open an Etsy store. I want to give a whole new meaning to the term "get dizzy."

Cruel Summer

Long time, no post. It was a bad summer, with more migraines and worse vertigo due to our crappy weather and many days of overdoing it. Our little dog who was very ill, died. Her kidneys shut down, and despite our Vet's best efforts, she didn't make it. There was a lot of running around and small projects. I just didn't have the energy to do anything complicated, like my sweater or the lacy baby blanket I was working on. But, I have a lot to talk about, and plan to post more this coming week.

Going Crazy!

It's been a crazy month. Our weather has been ever changing, so the migraine and dizzy beasts have been attacking. Plus, I've been trying to catch up on outside work in between rain drops...and nursing a sick dog. Because of all this, I've been concentrating on small projects or projects with pieces I can finish quickly. Like a dish cloth kitchen/bar set, granny squares for a baby blanket and a CAL on Ravelry, and a scarf. Then there's the sweater from the "My First Sweater" class I took at a local yarn store.

This is one quarter of the Four Quarters pullover from the Simple Style book by Ann Budd. Great book, lots of patterns I want to make. I just have to get my butt in gear and get back to it. I have the first quarter done, and most of the second quarter. I guess that means I'm at the 2-minute warning and close to half time. Boy, thinking about football already, geesh!

I started a scarf in garter stitch, thinking it would be a quick project. I also wanted to see what knitting through the back loop only would look like. In my class, I was told that my stitches were twisted. I looked rather stupid and didn't quite know what the instructor meant. I think it's because she uses a different knitting technique than mine. I don't think my stitches are twisted. I may be twisted a little, but not my stitches. Anyway, I didn't realize how much more slowly I knitted using the back loop. I did a section in regular garter stitch, but didn't like the look. I found a crochet pattern that might look good with the yarn. It's Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand in the color Brick. Thankfully it's stood up to repeated frogging without much damage.


These are two of the three July squares for the Ravelry CAL. I wasn't crazy about the other square-I couldn't get it to come out correctly and I didn't want to spend any more time on it.

I was inspired by a design on some of my favorite towels, as well as this pattern from the 365 Knitting Stitches a Year perpetual calendar. This is the Squares Pattern, and it's pretty easy to do. Right now I have one dish cloth and 4 coasters from one ball of Sugar 'n Cream, and I'm hoping to squeeze at least another cloth from it. I plan to do just one repeat of the square pattern so the set isn't too visually busy. If I can find a ball from the same dye lot, I want to do a towel to match. It should make a great gift.

I haven't done regular granny squares in so long I've almost forgotten how! I had some Red Heart Eco-ways in my stash, and thought the green and soft white would be a nice blanket. I picked up some blue and pink, thinking I'd do all grannies, but am considering doing a row of squares at each end, and some simple stitching in the middle with the green and white yarn. Problem is, I'm not sure I'll have enough of the same dye lot of both yarns to do that. I could always add the pink and blue squares, and stripes to the blanket, too. We'll see.