WIP: Zephyr Cove Scarf

I thought maybe my knitting days were behind me. My knitting group, which should be celebrating its ten year anniversary, barely meets up anymore. Rather than finishing WIPs, I have been putting most of my free hours towards organising photos and family history. 

But, it is autumn. The needles have been calling. This pattern found me.

This is Romi's Zephyr Cove Scarf.  I decided to make it with the Madelinetosh Pashmina yarn in Jade and Cousteau. Spendy, yes, but the colours are so rich and intense! I determined that if I was ever going to cast on a new project, I'd better splurge to work up some excitement.

 

Let me assure you, these pics do NOT do the colours justice!  

WIP: final square design x 4

i redesigned my square pattern a little bit:  the circle is now about 3.5 inches in diameter and the the finished square is 5 inches. i deleted the large holes in the corner,  added diagonal ridges like the ridges in the circle. they are coming out more reliably now.

WIP: baby blanket - sample square #4

this is the fourth square sample i've crocheted working out a baby blanket pattern.  the yarn has not arrived yet, so keep in mind, these are not the final colours.

after i sewed two of these together as just to see what they would look like, i decided this large dot would be overwhelming on a baby blanket. in the final piece, i will keep the circle down to 4 inches and add another row on the outside border to keep the square the same size.

another concern i had was for the holes in the corners.  i'll be eliminating those in the finish. i don't want baby fingers or toes getting stuck!

yarnin' time!

it's autumn and autumn is yarnin' time!

i have a project mapped out, a deadline and yarns being shipped to me from knitpicks.  i even spent the evening working up a sample square. the piece is a baby shower gift, but, unfortunately, the shower is tomorrow afternoon. i hope to get it done before the baby arrives! 

i whipped a few fleece projects this summer. here is one of a pair of long fingerless gloves in dark orange. i built my own pattern by measuring my hand and arm.  they are wonderfully snug and toasty.

earlier, i tried my hand at quilting to design this minecraft-inspired pillow.  one side is a "creeper" and the other is a "slime".

i'll get a picture of that sample square up as soon as i can.  it's good to be back on the needles...or hook, in this case!

WIP: teensy sweater #1 - further along

haven't updated in a while, so I thought i would show you how the dolls sweater is going.  i am close to finishing the bottom of the body.  the last bits will be joining the sleeves closed and adding a placket finish with buttons.

a fairly easy pattern--once i figured it how it was supposed to look in the end.  i think i crochet like i drive; i need to see the city in my head and then proceed.  i cannot just rely on GPS to guide me step by step!  having the the finished object in my head helps me sort out poorly written patterns and catch mistakes.  (there were a few things in this pattern that i caught and was able to work around.)  so, for a visual person like me, detail photos in a pattern help tremendously.

it also helped to have some experience behind me.  this pattern has shells and back and front post double crochet.  it actually has a lot in common with the amazing hat i did earlier, although that one was worked in a circle.

back later with the finish!

FO: Teenyweeny Top Hat

i created this teenyweeny slytheriny top hat for the deathly hallows 2 midnight opening and wore it at a jaunty angle along with my witches robes and wand!

i created the pattern myself, reinforcing the crown with cardboard and the brim with a wire crocheted around the edge so it could keep its curl properly.  it features three kinds of feathers, including ostrich, a yard of black tulle bound with grosgrain to add a touch of "mourning" and a snakey pin my dear husband gave me.  a proper send off to our slytherin hero, severus snape.  

*sigh*

FO: nigel, the nautilus

 

finally, nigel is complete!  

he now has over twice as the tentacles, a shorter head, a tighter curl and the additional triangle flap that rests over his eyes, giving him a devious look at certain angles!  this was a very fun and easy project.  the only reason it took so long to complete was a balled up schedule. however, he got my client's squeeze of approval tonight and i am very pleased!

 watch out!  nigel is giving you "the eye"!

WIP: nautie-alien!

still working on this one.

i followed the pattern, however, my "client" has requested a few changes:  a smaller head, a tighter curl, many more tentacles and big eyes on the sides.


if you take a look at the real deal, his suggestions are very good.

he should know!  the nautilus has long been near the top of his "favorite animal" list!

WIP: noah-keet

the "client" gave me feedback tonight and so far he likes the shape of first one on the left. i personally would like to add stripes, but since i am going for cute-cute, i might just keep it super simple.

i'll just save the back-of-the-head stripes for my own personal 'keet!

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noah looks like this dilute blue budgie.

First Forays into Stranded Knitting

trying out stranded colourwork by doing continental style knitting with the green yarn and english with the blue! actually, it is not hard at all. i watched eunny's demo and just had at it.

to keep my eye focused on one line of the pattern grid at a time, i cut a skinny window in a 3x5 note card and slide it down as i go . "crimson and clover" is the name of this pattern and i found it in vogue knitting stitchionary 3.

next time, i will try steeking to see how that works. :)

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also on the needles:

i accidentally cut a hole in some of my yarn while struggling to sew my nautie's head on his shell. argh. i'll need to tear out about 2 inches and re-knit, but i am really quite close to finishing him. (he has lots of tickly tentacles!)

i am also working on an amigurumi version of noah, our parakeet. unfortunately, the pattern i bought offline has not worked out to my satisfaction so far. i will need to tweak it--tweak it good!

i also learned how to do the tubular cast-on required by the fingerless glove pattern i mentioned a few posts ago. i used this video by interweave. i think i will start them tonight!

...

DK weight vs thread

the same pattern ("french square" from the crochet stitch bible) done in two differently sized threads. i like thread. teensy stitches, but such delicacy and detail. it makes me want to do a whole thread sweater!

/craaaaazy

what's on the needles/hook?

on the needles: i am halfway through the nautilus pattern. the colours requested were black for the shell and acid green for his little head and tentacles. working with black was tough at first, and i do wish i had bought that bag of black fiberfill i saw a year ago. i have about 2 inches to go before i switch out to green.

on the hook: i have some squares that i am sampling from the book the crochet stitch bible by betty barnden.




also: i have spent the last couple of days sifting through prospective patterns for my new yarn and am leaning toward knitting fingerless gloves. of course, i love the crazy-intricate ones, but i think i will try a straightforward yarn-showcasing pattern by verabee.

yeah, THAT VERABEE! d'oh! she's one of my favorite illustrators!

so...what to do next...

i checked vogue knitting's stitchionary 2 book out from the library a few days ago and my cable-lust is through the roof! i went through and tagged a few things i would love to attempt as "dishcloth practice". but...one of my fans has quietly pleaded that i return to crocheting amigurumi ASAP. alas, dishcloths and scarves do not impress everyone--even if they have amazing cables.

i would normally jump to fulfill this particular fan's request, however, i still have a sprained wrist from the car accident i mentioned a few posts ago. i have worn a brace on it all week, but it is barely improving. knitting doesn't hurt much, but boy, crocheting snakey-style certainly does.

truth be told, i crochet all wrong. i add this funky wrist twist that no one demonstrating on youtube seems to include and i am certain any of my elder masters would warn me to STOP IT NOW. the constant twisting is simply asking for repetitive motion injury. this might actually be the perfect time to re-learn my stitch motion, since i will be heartily punished with a stab of pain each and every time i fell back to the snakey-style twist.

i have also considered trying knitting amigurumi. there is an awesome little pattern out there i would love to make:

the nautie by beth skwarecki

this pattern demands i learn how to use double-pointed needles and make i-cord, both new skills for me. it may be the perfect "transitional" project while my wrist is recovering. i will consider it...

look, ma! cables!

my first cable effort!
this a bit of the cabled neck warmer by tidewaterK.

my other practice piece is this is the easy cabled dishcloth pattern by ginabean (aka dishcloth #3). little front and back cables, switching this way and that. i am trying out different cable needles to see which is easiest. so far, i don't like any of them terribly much. i would like to track down a wooden one and give that a go.

the waffle transfigured into an alligator

the previously posted waffle scarf was frogged due to pattern-inherent-edge-wonkiness. instead, i decided to use the same stitch lengthwise and so far, i am much more pleased! now the scarf looks a lot less like a big lumpy waffle and a lot more like...

(see! he's smiling! he likes it, too.)
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i also started another scarf experiment with some brilliant turquoise stash yarn. i used this same seed stitch crocheting a tawashi a few years ago and wondered if it would make a nice scarf. it is not very thick, so i decided double it up by making the stitch in the round.


it is about 9.5" wide and once i get it to a decent length, i will close up the ends. we'll see then if it needs some sort of end treatment--fringe or the like.

deliciously waffly thermal scarf

my mum asked me to make her a scarf and after i looked at a bunch of prospective patterns, the choice came down to the van ness scarf and lion brand's thermal scarf pattern. i first took a stab at the van ness using caron simply soft yarn, but the results seemed a bit more decorative than soft. i switched over to the other pattern and mmm! i like it. :) i think mum will like it too; the waffle squares are so soft and springy!

bonus: i get to use that front post double crochet stitch i just learned for the divine hat!

Quick Hobbit Costume

Yeah, yeah...authenticity is way low, but I was quite proud of being able to create the pieces just tracing his current clothing for sizes and shapes along with this online cape pattern Bits of fake fur for Hobbit feet attached with elastic bands and his dad loaned him an Elven-inscribed ring on a chain.

Total time to make: 5 hours
Total time worn: 30 minutes

WIP: amazing divine hat

My latest WIP is this spiraling Divine Hat designed by Sarah Arnold. I had to learn 2 new stitches for this pattern: front post double crochet (fpdc) and back post double crochet (bpdc). Front post double crochet makes those lovely ridges stand out--a bit like cable knitting!

The "Amazing" yarn looks a bit fuzzier and more muted than this picture above, not quite so rainbow bright. It is not the most froggable yarn ever, and you should know, I frog and rework about about 30% of every project!

the hoodie in progress

this is the hooded baby cardigan i am working on. it was designed by mon petit violon, i wish i had used a lighter colour other than grey for the alternate colour, but hopefully, once the placket trim is down the front, i will be more satisified. i am about to add the hood now, so there is still quite a bit of stripey goodness to come. i would say i was about 2/3 of the way finished. not a hard pattern at all. stripes are definitely fun since they have that little "woohoo" feeling at the completion of every colour change.

even the solid bits have the wavy pattern.