Pet Projects

These lovely ladies are three of my new housemates. Chloe, a 2 year old Mini Poodle is on the left in the chair. Heidi, is a 7 or 8 year old Chocolate Lab is resting on the floor, and Katie, a 10 year old terrier mix is on the floor in the background. They, and my brother moved in a little over a month ago. It's been a lot of fun having them around, but it has cut down on my crafting time. Instead of crocheting after dinner, we usually go outside and play fetch. Plus, Chloe's a lap dog. She loves to sit in my lap, lick my face and get petted. The girls love to lay on the sofas and on the afghans my mother and I have made. They usually lay on the floor when they're downstairs, and it can get cold down there, especially at night. So, I decided to make them a dog bed based on the pattern in the March, 2008 issue of Crochet! magazine.
This is the bottom half. Instead of the four strands of the original yarn it called for I used one strand of Red Heart Grande, a super bulky yarn. I found that for $1.99 a skein at our local Ollie's Bargain Outlet. For the top, I used a strand of TLC Essentials I found on sale at JoAnn's, along with a strand of the Grande. The two strands are plushier than just the
Grande by itself. I have about 4 rows to go until I do the border, block and sew it together. Depending on how it looks, I may sew a muslin lining for it before I stuff it.

I also finished the dishcloth I had been working on, and started another square from the old book I found. I really need to get back to it, but I've been crocheting when I'm up to it. I've also got a hoodie from a Bernat yarn label that I started, frogged and re-started. And for the socks? I started then frogged. The Panda Cotton is nice yarn, but I somehow twisted it so it didn't look right when I joined the first row. If I'm really lucky, I'll have one sock done by the time this month is over.

New Years Resolutions One Month Later

I made a couple of New Year's Resolutions in the creative area of life, since I figured these would be easy to keep, right? Wrong! For 2008, I resolved to: Knit a pair of socks; crochet a pair of socks; knit a sweater; crochet a sweater; learn cable knitting, learn how to knit Continental style; start designing and enter the CGOA design contest. I'm considering entering the baby blanket I just finished, but I'm not sure it doesn't look like athousand other shell stitch baby blankets out there. I want to make a pattern that's original. I used an old stitch dictionary to find a pattern stitch that I liked. I think that deep down, I feel like that's cheating, so I should do something completely original for the contest.

I have Panda Cotton Sock yarn put aside for a pair of crocheted socks. I'm using the book Crocheted Socks: 16 Fun to Stitch Patterns by Janet Rehfeldt and Mary Jane Wood and will start with the first sock pattern. I've been meaning to start them, but need to get up the nerve to do it. I don't know why I feel intimidated by a sock or a sweater. For crying out loud, I worked as an ICU nurse dealing with life or death matters and situations, which didn't phase me. But put a pattern. a hook and sock yarn in front of me makes me twitch with fear. Weird. February starts tomorrow. I need to take a deep breath, buck up and suck it up and take hook in hand. Why cotton and not wool? I'm very allergic to wool and most animal and some plant related fibers. I get itchy and have to drag out my inhaler when I get near the stuff. Navigating a yarn store is like walking in a mine field. I had to cut this last trip short because I ended up handling a couple of skeins with wool in them and I started to react.

Knit-wise, I'm working on the Inspired Allover Cable Spa Cloth designed by Kathy Wesley pattern from the most recent issue of Creative Knitting magazine. At first, I had some trouble getting my stitches to go the right way, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn't too bad. I notice that my stitches seem pretty tight on the cable needle when I go to knit the stitches off of it. I'm using some Sugar n' Cream yarn I had in my stash. Using up yarn in my stash was another New Year's Resolution, lol. I have needed to buy sock yarn, since I didn't have any, so I guess I haven't broken it. Lent starts next week, so maybe I should give up buying yarn. That, will be a real challenge.

Photos

Here are the photos I promised. This is the completed scarf done with Lion Brand Incredible. It's knit in garter stitch (knit every row)
on size 50 needles. It does spread out so it does act like a shawl.

The next photo is the baby blanket I started from the Lion Brand Pound of Love. I put it down for a while, since I caught the knitting bug again, but now I really want to get it finished.

At this point, there's a base of single crochet around the border, then a row of double crochet for a little lacy effect. Since this photo was taken, I've added another row of single crochet. I'm not sure if I'll add a row of shells on top of the sc and call it finished, or add a couple rows of pattern stitches.

New Name

I changed the name of this blog, as well as my other one to bring it more up-to-date. Face it, at 44, I'm not a girl anymore. I'm an adult woman(geez, when did that happen, lol!) Plus, I think this has a more authoritative sound to it, like I know more about what I'm doing (craft wise that is. Life, well..that's a work in progress.)

I've recovered enough from the holidays to resume work on the crocheted baby blanket I started from the Lion Brand Pound of Love. I've done a row of single crochet around it, and will expand on the edging so I can hopefully get it done by the weekend. I want to pick up the crochet sweater I started a couple of months ago, since crocheting a sweater is one of my New Years resolutions. The others are to crochet a pair of socks, knit a pair of socks, and knit a sweater. I still find it hard to believe that someone who worked in a high tension, high stakes atmosphere of an ICU is scared so easily by crocheting and knitting a garment. This year, I'm tackling that fear head on.

I finished another square from the book I mentioned, or at least I hope I mentioned in an earlier post. (damn brain fog!) I was going to start another one, but I received my new issue of Creative Knitting, and am going to do the cabled spa cloth pattern. I want to get more into cable knitting this year, and this is the perfect project. The newest issue isn't at their website (as of 9:00pm Eastern), so it may be a couple of days before it's there. I'll post photos of my projects within the next couple of days.

Clearance Yarn is a Wonderful Thing...

Christmas came early to my house. I strolled into my local AC Moore a couple of weeks ago and found an entire aisle of clearance yarn! Everything was marked $1.00 a skein. There was a lot of furry novelty yarn that I wasn't too crazy about. I'm just not a fan of the furries. But, I found two skeins of Lion Brand Jiffy Thick and Quick in Catskills color. I'll probably use this for a hat or scarf.

I also found a hand dyed 100% Cotton yarn from Chile I've been admiring from afar. It was a little too expensive for my blood, but at a buck a skein, I pounced on it. It's called Pehue'n distributed by Araucania yarn and is distributed by Knitting Fever here in the US. I grabbed a pile of it.

There should be enough for a sweater here. My New Year's resolutions include knitting a sweater, and crocheting a sweater. I've been afraid to since I royally messed one up around 20 years ago. Gauge was a foreign concept, but now that my skills are better, I'm working up the courage to try apparel.

Also at the clearance sale, I found some Aunt Lydia's New Wave Crochet cotton in a peach color. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'm sure I'll find something.

Last, but certainly not least, I'd been eyeing this King Tut cotton yarn that was also a little expensive at its regular price. It was also in the clearance bin. I didn't buy it my first trip, because I'd gotten the other three items. However, I wandered back in there yesterday to check out the Christmas decorations-floral picks I can use to spruce up the wreaths at the cemetary, and it was still there, in the clearence bin. Before I knew it, it had jumped into my basket and I had to take it home. I felt so bad for it, just sitting there- the other clearance shelves were nearly bare.
Granted, I'm not a huge fan of the bright orange color, but I'm sure I can find something else to put it with to mute it a little.








Yesterday, I also found a skein of Lion Brand Incredible for a buck. It was the color Purple Party and is pretty cute. I dragged out my size 50 knitting needles and started a scarf/shawl. It looks pretty cute if I do say so myself.

I haven't done a whole lot of knitting or crocheting due to the holidays and the increased migraines and vestibular symptoms.
I had been knitting squares from an old stitch pattern book I found at a local antique co-op.
I've had a lot of fun trying the different patterns. I've stuck to the easier patterns, since the brain fog from the CFIDS and from the vertigo makes it harder for me to interpret complex directions. I used a piece of paper to track my rows when I did the one at the top right. I'll have to do something similar if I try to tackle something more complex, since I can lose my train of thought in the middle of a row and forget what I've done.

As far as crochet goes, I've done more work on the baby blanket from Lion Pound of Love. I don't have a picture to post yet. It's about 1/2 way done, so I'll take one after I do a little more.

Baby Blankets and the Holidays

I know it's been over a month since I last posted. I got sick, had an allergic reaction to the medication, and have been fighting a flare up of my CFIDS. Toss a few more migraines and Thanksgiving into the mix, and I've been down for the count.

Also, my brother needed a baby blanket for a friend who's expecting. I found a pattern I've used before-Cauliflower, from the ASN leaflet A Garden of Baby Afghans designed by Sandy Scoville.
The person who received the first one I made loved it, so I figured I'd do it again. I did it in Caron Simply Soft, Soft Pink. Here's a close up of the design:


Here's a photo of the finished blanket:

It took me a good hunk of November to do, and I finished it last week. Normally, I can do a baby blanket in about 2 weeks, if I can crochet every day. I guess four weeks wasn't too bad.
My brother really liked it, so I hope the recipient does, too.

On the knit side, I went back to making squares from an old stitch pattern book I found at our local Craft-Antique Co-op. It's from either the fifties or the sixties (I stink at interpreting Roman numerals- I know the X, V, I, but once you get to the L, M, and C, I'm lost!). I've got three of them done and will probably stitch them together for an afghan once I've finished. I'll have to take photos of them once my new camera arrives. The one I used to take these photos with, died shortly thereafter. It was only a 2 megapixel, so it's not worth getting fixed.

Sewing wise, I really need to get the night shirt I cut out a couple of months ago sewn together. Then I want to make my brother and S-I-L, a couch protector for Christmas. They have three great dogs who love to sit on the couch. They've been using bed sheets to cover the sofa, but they would like something that looks a little nicer. I'm not the world's best sewer, but I'm going to give it a go!

The Case of the Mysterious Changing Yarn

I made some progress on the baby blanket I mentioned earlier until...the yarn changed color on its own! I couldn't believe it. It had been a couple of days since I worked on it, and when I went to check my progress from a distance, I was shocked. The color went from a nice bright white to more of a muted white. In the photo below, it might be hard to see it, since my camera is an old 2.0 megapixel that Santa (moi) will have to replace. This was Bernat Softee Baby yarn, which I've used before without any problems. I'll have to send the skein to the company or send them a photo, just to see what they say. I miss my old white Simply Soft!


I started a different blanket with some Lion Brand Pound of Love in white, which is turning out okay so far. I found an old stitch dictionary at a charitable garage sale and it's based on a shell
pattern. I'm in a shell rut, but they look so nice in a baby blanket.

I have to have a knitting project going at the same time and started a scarf. I have a table reserved at a sale my church is having, so I want to have original designs to take with me. This is a scarf from Lion Homespun mill ends. Because of my brain fog, I can lose track of things very easily...like what pattern of knit and purl stitches I want. I started off doing a simple k1, p1 rib, and was going to keep it up...
But, then, the migraines hit and I ended up doing a seed stitch instead.


Then, I thought that the scarf could be a kind of "sampler" scarf. Why not mix up the seed stitch and the rib stitch to add a different texture to the piece. I did a few rows of ribbing again, but I'm not sure if I like it that much. We'll see.